Krystle's quiet kind of strength

[tommie]

It's funny but I've watched the nuDynasty pilot like three times now and I've analysed where nuCristal gets it wrong - it's not so much in the writing, but how she portrays her. Linda Evans, before she became RoboKrystle, had a very quiet kind of strength.

Like, she'd hug you and you know inside it would be alright. NuCristle - judging from the pilot alone - is missing the mark.

It's funny because I think nuFallon and nuSteven are hitting the mark despite lack of character development.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Yes, we've talked about this many times. Krystle started out as a poetic character, one whose goodness came from a quiet strength. But later, due to the S.A.D. and the scripting, she gradually morphed into a shrieky, victimy and hollow vessel.

That's why Jeanette's 9.1 line that "for years she hasn't been herself!" was so important: the show not only gave an explanation for Krystle's change, they finally acknowledged it for the first time.

 

[Alexis]

I agree that's why it feels like this Cristal is doing something wrong. Being bitchy goes against that sort of quiet strength you mention. She went with her gut and didn't make a scene about it, she just quietly did the right thing. No bitching, no scheming, no theatrics. This Cristal is all wrong and it feels like the actress could actually play her better but is being directed and told to do it a certain way and that's sad. But that's also history kinda repeating itself.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I agree that's why it feels like this Cristal is doing something wrong. Being bitchy goes against that sort of quiet strength you mention. She went with her gut and didn't make a scene about it, she just quietly did the right thing. No bitching, no scheming, no theatrics. This Cristal is all wrong and it feels like the actress could actually play her better but is being directed and told to do it a certain way and that's sad. But that's also history kinda repeating itself.

Krystles, in her earliest incarnation during S1 and S2, and Linda Evanses are just hard to come by -- which is one of the things which made the original DYNASTY so promising (and no doubt why I start so many threads about Krystle and what they coulda/woulda/coulda done with her... Linda, by the way, had the same frustration).

I don't post all that much about Alexis because although equally well cast, and an unusual example of an actress who could both play a great dragon lady bitch and was genuinely beautiful, they mostly did with Alexis what was possible (although the writers fell short even for her). They came closer to fulfilling her potential, because the brass "got" the villain concept.

And then there was the yin-yang chemistry both actors brought it (that's an Aries Rising-Scorpio Rising dynamic, but I digress).

That's what really made oldDYNASTY so special -- or, at least, almost did. But the writers proved they were every bit the hacks as those writing the new show (and maybe worse). And so they ruined it by turning a character they did not understand, Krystle, into exactly the sniveling and squeaky goody-goody that Alexis said she was (but Krystle had not originally been) ignoring Krystle's intelligence and her intuition (and even that goodness itself) as she arranged flowers, said absurdly naive things, and didn't have a clue as she'd cock her head to the side once again and moan "Darling!" in lieu of an actual storyline.

At least Season 9's medical storyline allow us to forgive all that, slightly, as a kind of retroactive foreshadowing.

Today, of course, they still don't understand a Krystle. So all they can do is look back at Linda's character from the '80s, proclaim her "weak/eye candy/trophy wife" and make the new incarnation, Cristal, a grasping bitch more like Alexis, but one who will occasional break character and say something maudlin and pro-family here and there so we'll know she "has a heart" despite her saying it in vocal fry, the irony of which will lost on all participants.

 

[Michael Torrance]

I don't post all that much about Alexis because although equally well cast, and an unusual example of an actress who could both play a great dragon lady bitch and was genuinely beautiful, they mostly did with Alexis what was possible (although the writers fell short even for her). They came closer to fulfilling her potential, because the brass "got" the villain concept.

It's true that they had story and often good lines for Alexis, and I think Joan Collins was able to rebel against the brass more than others did. But Krystle was not the only female that lost its own character logic after season 2. Alexis when she came on board was a typical woman who grew up at a time when women were not equal to men, so she would get what she wanted by getting men to bring about her desired result--that could have been Blake, Cecil, Tony, you name it. You would admire her cunning by how much she was able to do things behind the scenes and cover up her tracks best she could. Her villainy was different from JR's in that she was able to fool most of the people (sans Krystle) all of the time, and her fooling them was part of her art, wit, and personal enjoyment.

By contrast, Fallon as a younger woman was someone who was willing to demand for herself what a man had in terms of power, influence, and self-determination; she was never gonna be happy to be someone's wife. So what happens in the following seasons? Fallon is first tossed a god-awful hotel to play with and goes from one awful man to another (Mark, De Vilbis), "dies," and finally is resurrected in THE COLBYS as an L.A. house-frau.

Meanwhile Alexis suddenly knows how to run Colbyco and outmaneuver Blake three times (merger, south China sea leases, DC and house takeover) yet she would still give it all up to win back Blake. So which was she? A female Trump (as Collins said she played the role like) or a souped-up Harlequin heroine? Not only were the producers intentionally making her confused, they would frequently write the exact same scene every two years or so when Alexis in some negligee tries to seduce Blake, he turns her down, and then she swears she will get revenge on him and destroy him because nobody does that to her (hello? They would stop walking all over you if you did not lie down right in front of them).

 

[tommie]

Meanwhile Alexis suddenly knows how to run Colbyco and outmaneuver Blake three times (merger, south China sea leases, DC and house takeover) yet she would still give it all up to win back Blake. So which was she? A female Trump (as Collins said she played the role like) or a souped-up Harlequin heroine? Not only were the producers intentionally making her confused, they would frequently write the exact same scene every two years or so when Alexis in some negligee tries to seduce Blake, he turns her down, and then she swears she will get revenge on him and destroy him because nobody does that to her (hello? They would stop walking all over you if you did not lie down right in front of them).

With Alexis, I feel the writers started feeling pressure to have her be a "smart and ambitious business woman" a la Angela on Falcon Crest and Abby on Knots, which she, of course never was. If Alexis was really that savvy she would have saved up a nest egg and been in Denver exacting her revenge on Blake years ago. Instead she got lucky and the DA called her and then a fortune felt in her lap via Cecil. But she was always a petty vindictive woman - the stereotype of a woman scorned. When Shapiros paid attention to the show again midway season six they basically had her returning to her original story arc with wanting to take Blake down. Then they dropped the ball and then when Paulsen came aboard in season nine and started paying attention to who the characters were, he once again went back to Alexis' exile storyline and acknowledged the fact that yes, Alexis is terrible at running a business.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

And then there was the yin-yang chemistry both actors brought it (that's an Aries Rising-Scorpio Rising dynamic, but I digress).

For those horoscopically curious, I always found it funny that while Krystle and Alexis were Sun in Scorpio/Scorpio Rising and Sun in Gemini/Aries Rising, respectively, over on DALLAS, Barbara Bel Geddes was Sun in Scorpio/Aries Rising and Alexis Smith was Sun in Gemini/Scorpio Rising. (All different Moons, by the way).

I mean, there were two Scorpios, two Scorpio Risings, two Geminis, two Aries Risings --- and even two different Alexises who were both homicidal!

But Krystle was not the only female that lost its own character logic after season 2

Oh, but of course. No one questions that most of the characters suffered, male and female.