“Dynasty” does “The Hangover” in the unscheduled finale of its shortened third season. And while the premise has been done to death, “My Hangover’s Arrived” does have some fun with it, plus there’s some delightfully sudsy stuff in the subplots.
As the episode begins, Fallon is still steamed that Liam kept Blake’s Moldavian kidnapping a secret from her. So she’s already in a sour mood when she’s spirited away by Sam for a bachelorette party in New Orleans, attended by him, Kirby, a crashing Cristal, and her assistant Allison (and sidebar – I rant often about the show’s Steven erasure...and will again shortly...but here is where I have to mention the Monica erasure. Because seriously, no Monica at Fallon’s bachelorette party, or even an excuse why she’s not there? I really missed Wakeema Hollis in this half of the season and I hope she comes back next year. Anyway.). Ready to let loose, the “bride tribe” cheers with colorful cocktails prepared for them by a renowned mixologist Sam hired. And then...it’s “The Hangover.” They wake up the next morning in their trashed hotel suite, they have no memory of what happened the night before, they start chasing what clues they’re able to cobble together around town, etc., etc., etc. The show even does the beat at the end of the story of them finding pictures from their hazy crazy night and having a laugh over them.
But as I said, there were some enjoyable bits and bobs throughout this plotline. At one point, they’re cooling their heels in a jail cell and Kirby decides that it’s the perfect time to announce she’s dating Adam, which gets a great disgusted reaction from Fallon. Fallon and Cristal also have a spirited snitfight about the state of their relationship, and their respective relationships with Liam and Blake. Finally, Allison is emerging as a fun side character; actress Nicole Zyana has a spunky on-screen presence that I really responded to these last two appearances.
The one story element that may reverberate going forward, though, is a male stripper named “Scorpio” (played by Lachlan Buchanan, who’s also been recurring on “Station 19” this year). Throughout the episode, Fallon is fretting that – fueled by the booze – she married someone to spite Liam. But when they finally track “Scorpio” down at the strip club where he works (Elizabeth Gillies does an adorable shimmy, by the way, when Fallon climbs up on the stage to get his attention), he reveals that it’s not Fallon he married, but Sam! Nice twist! “Scorpio,” whose real name is Ryan, is super chill about Sam wanting an annulment, but hopes they can stay in touch. And given we later see Sam mooning over a picture of them together, it’s a safe guess that we will see him again next season.
Meanwhile, back in Atlanta, a vexed Alexis is venting to her son about Blake swooping Carrington Atlantic out from under her and Jeff. But sharing that he’s been given a position of power within CA, Adam voices his intention to destroy the company, and Blake, from within. His opening volley is siccing the Department of Energy on Blake by spinning a story in the press that he stole the Moldavian oil. His father isn’t too concerned, though, managing to get a DOE official who owes him a favor on-side, even after Adam chucks a smoke bomb into their meeting and frames it as a warning from Moldavian terrorists. So he goes bigger with his second plan – paying off the captain of one of the oil tankers to taint the product, causing an explosion at one of CA’s refineries that will cost Blake billions of dollars. Boy sure does like setting his dad’s stuff on fire!
But while Blake remains in the dark about Adam’s involvement in his misfortunes, Anders is beginning to see him in a new light. Early in the episode, Blake asks Anders to put together a profile on Adam to promote his new position at CA. And he’s concerned when he uncovers sealed juvenile records in Montana that reveal Adam lashed out physically at his “adopted” mother. Blake duhs that they know Adam has a temper and Anders agrees to drop it...until he realizes that Adam is the man Kirby has been seeing. And that’s when he goes to Alexis with questions about the night she burned her face in the fire. I really liked this, the show finally looping back around to Adam’s attack on Alexis. Alexis does an admirable job of lying about what happened (Elaine Hendrix is so great in this scene, smooth as silk while being questioned and then shaky with relief the moment Anders leaves), but Anders finds proof that her version of events can’t be true. He takes his concerns to Kirby, who dismisses them as parental overprotectiveness (her lobbing back Alexis’ lies about her burning down the manor back in season two when Anders mentions her was another nice use of in-show history, I thought). But Anders refuses to back off and, when we last see him this season, he’s flying off to dig up more dirt on Adam. Hey, this would be the perfect opportunity for Anders to FIGURE OUT WHAT ADAM DID TO HIS OTHER CHILD, STEVEN, STEVEN CARRINGTON!
Apart from plotting against her ex and protecting her son, Alexis this week is also dealing with real feelings for her fake husband. She and her boobalicious black dress are surprised to walk in on Jeff in bed with Mia, that college sweetheart of his he bumped into a few episode ago. And when Jeff announces that he wants to end their arrangement early and get divorced, Alexis is quick to frame Mia as a gold-digging whore. When confronted by Jeff (I did enjoy how easily Jeff unraveled her scheme), Alexis first claims that she didn’t want to lose the societal cache that comes with being Mrs. Colby. But later, she and her negligee come to Jeff’s bedroom and get him to admit that there’s a real “seed of something” between them. And then...they sleep together! I’m kinda here for it, if only because – as Jeff correctly notes – it’s gonna get messy and that will make for some fun television.
And with that, it’s a wrap on season three of “Dynasty!” Will “My Hangover’s Arrived” linger with you until the Carringtons can crack open the champagne again? Or has it already faded from memory? Come share your final finale thoughts in the comments section.
