There’s a “New Lady In Town” this week on “Dynasty,” even as the rest of the show is gearing up for the season’s endgames.
Let’s start with the woman in question – one Dominique Deveraux, played by Michael Michele of “ER” fame. The Colbys – including father Cecil, who we haven’t seen in a minute – find her waiting for them when they bring Jeff home from the hospital (and sidebar – despite how grave he was looking last week, and the news that his doctors haven’t figured out what’s wrong with him (because who thinks of poisoned paint!), the episode downplays Jeff’s illness a lot. He’s up and at ‘em, decked out in his usual stylish duds, drinking booze at dinner, etc.). When we first see her, Dominique is sprawled on a couch, wearing a big hat and a rad coat, and thus fits right in. “You may be Blake’s sister,” Monica snarls at one point, “but you remind me a lot more of Alexis.” And given she pats herself on the back for abandoning her kids and thus giving them the freedom to pursue their dreams and come together as a team, that’s a pretty spot-on assessment!
Jeff and Monica react pretty much as you’d expect – he wants to give Dominique a chance, she wants to claw Dom’s eyes out, though she is mutely relieved when Dominique doesn’t dime her out for ordering her to stay away when Jeff reached out the last time. But after catching the women in this lie, Jeff offers Dominique a big ol’ check as a type of loyalty test. It looks like she’s taken the bait when Jeff and Monica catch her trying to sneak out, but when they find she’s trashed the check, they all agree to a trial reconciliation period. But uh oh! Dom sneaks away from family time to take a call...from a secret second family! So it’s clear she’s up to no good, and is probably angling for a bigger payday. I wasn’t sold when Michele was cast – based on her years as Dr. Cleo Finch, I worried she’d play a big personality like Dominique too coolly – but I liked her intro here, and I definitely like that Dom’s presence is giving my beloved Monica/Wakeema Hollis more to do. But I do hope Dominique isn’t siloed in this story; I really want to see her and Blake interact.
Speaking of siblings in conflict, Fallon is determined to punish Adam for his “Carrington-on-Carrington crime.” Liam advises her to take both the high road and a romantic getaway with him instead, but when he finds out about Adam sleeping with his mother (I gasped when Adam taunted Liam about him and Laura being a “tight fit”), he’s ready to get down in the dirt with Fallon. I must say, the recurring beat throughout the episode of Fallon and Liam getting turned on by the other being naughty was rather delicious. Too bad their scheming doesn’t yield much success. Fallon and her very “Dynasty” sleeves first try to report Adam’s misdeeds to Blake, but Adam is able to snow their father yet again. Their attempt then to snoop around Adam’s Atlantix office for incriminating files is foiled by security cameras he installed. Even a very convoluted plan involving Fallon awesomely impersonating Alexis and then trying to drug Adam at the team’s launch event (which included a fun sequence of Fallon and Liam spiking various hors d'oeuvres trying to get Adam to bite) fails because Adam is several steps ahead of them.
But having realized that Alexis is his weak spot (Sam Underwood does a great job playing this, by the way, the cracks starting to show), Fallon presses the mommy bruise to provoke a reaction in front of Blake. At first, it sparks a childish slap fight between the siblings, but when Adam slaps Fallon for real, Blake fires him on the spot. Fallon chalks it up as a win, but we see that, while Blake is pissed about the public spectacle, Adam’s only fired on paper because of the optics. And now, Adam is super gunning for his sister.
The last storyline to talk about is Culhane’s (because, except for Alan Dale donning a floral print shirt, the Sam/Anders subplot about taking a vacation is beyond boring. I’ll also note here that this is the third episode in a row with no Kirby). He’s pissed that the evidence he brought the FBI about Blake’s illegal doings isn’t enough of a smoking gun. Threatening to take Culhane down for the Ada Stone stuff instead (...which, didn’t Fallon ensure that couldn’t happen when she bribed that Van Kirk flunky in the midseason premiere?), the FBI wants him to wear a wire and get something damning on tape. He gives it a go, but Blake’s blusterings aren’t enough. So instead, he seeks out Cristal and tells her what’s going on, advising her that Blake will protect “himself and his blood” above all else and that they both should flee town. But obviously, this was a ruse as he knew she’d go running to Blake, and he arranged it so the senator Blake blackmailed was wearing a wire when Blake met with her to get their stories straight. So the episode ends with the FBI storming the launch party to arrest Blake, the cuffs being clapped on him just as the team is taking the field. It’s a very soapy development in what’s become a muddled story, but me thinks this might have sealed Culhane’s fate as a character.
What did you think of the “New Lady In Town,” both the episode in its entirety and Dominique’s entrance? Dive into the suds of this week’s “Dynasty” in the comments section.
