Cristal4.0

[Michael Torrance]

I have yet to read a season 3 review that makes me think "I wanna see this"

For a birthday present, ask someone in the family or circle of boyfriends to edit together all the Sam Underwood scenes. Adam is written very much to the talents of the actor, and the actor enhances the material written for him: a peach version of the Collins/Alexis role/script serendipity.
For example, an angry Fallon tells a blind Adam: "you can't see me, but I am furious."
Adam, smelling a la Hannibal Lector Fallon's scent: "You're right. You smell mad."
Fallon (catching the reference): ewwww

 

[Daniel Avery]

I think they segued into the Adam/C3 rivalry-scheming because they had milked the Adam/Fallon rivalry-scheming for all it was worth and needed to "share the wealth" with other characters. Fallon has so much going on, and other characters need to have items on their plates, as well. They established early on that Fallon knows Adam had "something" to do with Liam's near-drowning, but rather than forcing a confession with her usual 'bull-in-a-china-shop' approach, she's taken a page from her father by out-sourcing the project to someone else (Nadia). I'm assuming she hired Nadia to get a confession about Liam out of him. Meanwhile, the writers seem to have so much fun writing juvenile pranks and remarks that they transferred the Adam/Fallon rivalry onto C3 rather than just retire that shtick for good.

 

[Michael Torrance]

I think there are some characters they don't want/care to get right: for example Fallon, because they want her to be the screen projection of the millenial CW brat viewer. Then there are some others that they simply do not understand enough to get right--Cristal (Krystle) and Alexis are actually two of them. Others were never that meaty in the original (Culhane) so you can't flesh out a skeleton. And then I must admit there are some that they did improve on (Dominique; Sam) and some that they did take to a different direction that was an enjoyable one: Adam. I also see Liam as an attempt to make a non-Jerk Jeff, which is a tall order.

But where is Cecil Colby? And what happened to the tarot reading that predicted a rich wedding for Alexis with a man who would expire? Instead, Sheridan expired, as did the second season show-runners. Adriana had such a wicked sense of humour...

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

OMG -- it's the very first two Cristals together, perhaps preparing for their inevitable cat fight...

So many Krystles, so little time.

 

[Milescolby]

and Daniella's resting bitch face

Yes! That’s exactly it! Thanks for expressing it so much better!

But again too, it’s the lack of natural warmth. Cristal needs I think to be a much warmer character - and the writers completely ruined that.

Hopefully things get better after the festive break. You gotta be optimistic, right??

 

[thomaswak]

But where is Cecil Colby? And what happened to the tarot reading that predicted a rich wedding for Alexis with a man who would expire? Instead, Sheridan expired, as did the second season show-runners. Adriana had such a wicked sense of humour...

C2 expired too.
Steven too by the way. Till now he has been... erased.

 

[thomaswak]

Yes! That’s exactly it! Thanks for expressing it so much better!

But again too, it’s the lack of natural warmth. Cristal needs I think to be a much warmer character - and the writers completely ruined that.

Hopefully things get better after the festive break. You gotta be optimistic, right??

I don't know if they know how to write warm characters or moral compass. Even if they knew, I think they don't want to. I read an interview of one of the original show runner, saying that they thought it was more interesting to write a not so "pure" Cristal. Well, they thought wrong.

Noting that Krystle, in the original series, "was pure and the moral center of the show", executive producer Josh Schwartz said of the reboot version of the character portrayed by Kelley, "With this new Cristal, we liked the idea of not letting her be quite as pure and raising some questions about her past and having her stir the pot—making her more formidable.

source : https://www.emmys.com/news/mix/first-sight

 

[Michael Torrance]

Noting that Krystle, in the original series, "was pure and the moral center of the show", executive producer Josh Schwartz said of the reboot version of the character portrayed by Kelley, "With this new Cristal, we liked the idea of not letting her be quite as pure and raising some questions about her past and having her stir the pot—making her more formidable.

source : https://www.emmys.com/news/mix/first-sight

Of course Krystle was not pure as new snow--not the original one in seasons 1-2. She was a flawed human being that wanted to do right by her ethical code. But problem #1 is that the Gillieathon never understood any of the characters--and I don't think Esther Shapiro went into much trouble trying to enlighten them. She just wanted the royalties.

But problem #2 is that having Cristal be "not quite as pure" (as their perceived idea of the original) meant a couple of things. First, that they would have the original audience with them so they could defy their expectations. Fat chance with the Gillies teenage mess they created. Then, to create an unexpected twist, you need to first set up the regular situation, then twist it. But they never cared to present a Cristal that was anything but bitchy. Even Celia was cat-fighting in the first episode and had her brother declare her the black sheep of the family.

I think the real problem is that those in charge don't know/understand how to tell season-long stories: how to have plots unfold over many episodes rather than in a single episode, as most of them too. I can see them with Blake's trial how they are trying to build it up into a pivotal event, but after two and a half seasons where the Gillieathon has played every single event as a Three Stooges skit, they are the modern-day equivalent of Aesop's boy who cried wolf: the show-runners who cried drama.

 

[Daniel Avery]

But where is Cecil Colby? And what happened to the tarot reading that predicted a rich wedding for Alexis with a man who would expire? Instead, Sheridan expired...

I still firmly believe Jeff is "the new Cecil", that once Jeff realizes that he won't have enough time to get his revenge on Blake and/or Adam, that he will make a bargain of sorts with Alexis to continue his plan(s). Jeff was said to be "away" in the Thanksgiving episode; he might be away visiting (and conspiring) with recuperating Alexis. He may confess to her that he's terminally ill and why. That would perhaps compel Alexis to tell him the real reason she's having a new face attached. Armed with more information on the true extent of Adam's villainy, Alexis and Jeff return to Atlanta* and Alexis testifies at the trial, etc. while he gets his affairs in order (new will, etc.). Something will then occur as Jeff's mental state is deteriorating (dementia or something). Dominique attempts to get power of attorney, only to learn she's forbidden to make any decisions over his healthcare--and his fortune--per a new will. Dominique goes to his bedside and while goading her son to change his will, etc. Jeff has a stroke that ultimately kills him. People heap scorn on Dom for 'killing' Jeff with her money-grubbing ways. And yet when security camera footage is pulled by the hospital, there is footage of a mysterious person ina doctor's lab coat entering and leaving Jeff's room shortly before Dominique entered, leading the viewer to believe that not-so-blind Adam may have given Jeff a fatal injection of something, or maybe Alexis sent someone to finish him off when she got greedy.

Whatever the case, Jeff's will is opened and only then do we discover that Jeff and Alexis were married on Thanksgiving Day in London, and that other than $50 million or so left to Monica, Jeff's entire fortune and business empire is now Alexis's. They could shoot some flashbacks to flesh out the events prior to Jeff's death that would allow SA to remain a cast member long after Jeff's death, including their plans to bring down Adam.

* Spoilers say Alexis is returning "with a new man"--but maybe instead she's returning with Jeff, only no one knows they returned at the same time and had gotten married overseas.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I don't know if they know how to write warm characters or moral compass. Even if they knew, I think they don't want to.

And that's it entirely. Writers don't tend to know how to write for genuinely nice characters and always portray them as boring, neutral people who don't truly counter-balance the malevolence within the social structure of the show. And, yes, they don't really want to, and view such characters as saccharine and wimpy and uninteresting (and are much harder to write for if they're not going to be so).

And frankly, many actors think the same way, and can't -- or don't want to -- act a warm character with a moral compass. Or they do it in a manner that eliminates those qualities, essentially, by playing it superficially or too edgily (ie., bitchy under the surface, to prove she's "strong").

Despite accusations that she can't act, Linda Evanses are hard to come by. When oldDYNASTY was still writing for the characters in S1 and S2, she was great: an imperfect but poetic character played with intelligence and sincerity. And the audience really liked her initially. But as we all know, even that went south within 18 months or less as the scripting got neurotic & lazy and S.A.D. kicked in. (Only Paulsen's S9 explanation that Krystle was having neuropsych problems for years allowed the viewer to "understand" the early shift in her personality into poorly-written automaton rigidity).

Funny, now that folks say CW's nuDYNASTY has improved, I've forgotten that it still exists.

 

[TJames03]

Having Krystle as the moral compass is what made Dynasty work. In this version, no one is and the show means nothing......

 

[thomaswak]

And that's it entirely. Writers don't tend to know how to write for genuinely nice characters and always portray them as boring, neutral people who don't truly counter-balance the malevolence within the social structure of the show. And, yes, they don't really want to, and view such characters as saccharine and wimpy and uninteresting (and are much harder to write for if they're not going to be so).

And frankly, many actors think the same way, and can't -- or don't want to -- act a warm character with a moral compass. Or they do it in a manner that eliminates those qualities, essentially, by playing it superficially or too edgily (ie., bitchy under the surface, to prove she's "strong").

Despite accusations that she can't act, Linda Evanses are hard to come by. When oldDYNASTY was still writing for the characters in S1 and S2, she was great: an imperfect but poetic character played with intelligence and sincerity. And the audience really liked her initially. But as we all know, even that went south within 18 months or less as the scripting got neurotic & lazy and S.A.D. kicked in. (Only Paulsen's S9 explanation that Krystle was having neuropsych problems for years allowed the viewer to "understand" the early shift in her personality into poorly-written automaton rigidity).

Funny, now that folks say CW's nuDYNASTY has improved, I've forgotten that it still exists.

OG Krystle was the heart of original Dynasty. Yes, I thought she was boring most of the time after early seasons. Yes, I preferred bitchy and strong characters like Alexis or early Fallon. But Krystle's kindness and moral values were much needed to balance the stories.

I am rewatching season 1 of Nu Dynasty (a bit as a background thing). With the light of what we have now, It makes me love Cristal 1 even more than i thought.
And the writing was way more organic. There was a real chemistry with Grant. The characters' relations were organic : Steven, Sam, Cristal, Blake, Fallon and Alexis.

Cristal 1 was not the moral compass we surely needed, at the start of the season, but the writers fixed her mid season. She was strong, she had moral values, she had compassion for Michael and for his father. She wanted to do what was right, she was fighting for the victims rights. The writers did great with Cristal 1 by the end of the season. I'm sure that they never wanted to kill her. I'm almost sure that it was a CW corporate decision. And a really, really stupid one. Getting rid of Steven was a stupid move too.

 

[Rove]

Funny, now that folks say CW's nuDYNASTY has improved, I've forgotten that it still exists.

Agreed. By the time Dynasty makes its way back to Netflix I'm afraid I will have moved on. It will take a reminder from Netflix to tell me it's there.

 

[Rove]

"was pure and the moral center of the show", executive producer Josh Schwartz said of the reboot version of the character portrayed by Kelley, "With this new Cristal, we liked the idea of not letting her be quite as pure and raising some questions about her past and having her stir the pot—making her more formidable.

I didn't wish for a carbon copy of original Krystle but having the character polishing Blake's office desk with her back was just nasty. Perhaps in this retelling the writers should have had Krystle as a gold-digging, social climbing, two-faced back-stabbing bitch and when Alexis finally makes her grand entrance it turns out she is the moral compass of Dynasty.

...now that would have been an interesting spin on the original.

 

[Milescolby]

Pigeons learn faster than the writers on the show. They royally screwed up C1 while the powers that be assumed the problem was Nathalie Kelley. Shame that they’d finally got it right with the character and NK was working really well by the time they roasted her in the loft - IMO underlining the unnecessary slide into ridiculous banality that was most of S2 (ditching Steven was the second major problem, pushing other characters in weird and unrealistic directions after the dynamics in S1).

Then with A-BC they went full Mafia Princess and now with DA they’re making her some jealous, aggressive, morally dubious bitch. I thought DA fitted in well and liked her in the first couple of episodes: now it’s cringe-worthy just watching how flat and uninteresting they’ve made the character. She really does need to be more the NK character in the 2nd half of S1 to balance the selfishness and power-crazedness of most of the other characters. Talking of which - hope Monica isn’t away for long, she nicely represents the much needed moral compass aspect the show needs.

 

[thomaswak]

Pigeons learn faster than the writers on the show. They royally screwed up C1 while the powers that be assumed the problem was Nathalie Kelley. Shame that they’d finally got it right with the character and NK was working really well by the time they roasted her in the loft - IMO underlining the unnecessary slide into ridiculous banality that was most of S2 (ditching Steven was the second major problem, pushing other characters in weird and unrealistic directions after the dynamics in S1).

Then with A-BC they went full Mafia Princess and now with DA they’re making her some jealous, aggressive, morally dubious bitch. I thought DA fitted in well and liked her in the first couple of episodes: now it’s cringe-worthy just watching how flat and uninteresting they’ve made the character. She really does need to be more the NK character in the 2nd half of S1 to balance the selfishness and power-crazedness of most of the other characters. Talking of which - hope Monica isn’t away for long, she nicely represents the much needed moral compass aspect the show needs.

I'm afraid I absolutely and totally agree with you.

Rewatching the show made it more obvious for me. Nathalie Kelly was the best Cristal. The writing was bad early season 1 but they fixed the character and it worked pretty good.

Anyway, everything now is a bit too late... Nathalie Kelley would never reprise her role even if the producers/writers wanted to bring her back from the dead. And I'm quite sure they wouldn't even ask, to preserve some big egos in their big CW offices...

So far, almost everything they've been doing with C2 and C3 is not working. C2 was good, as the genuine healer, spiritual character she was. It fitted well with A-BC's acting and aura. I loved the relation she had with Fallon. Remember when she confronted Fallon when she was upset to turn into her mother ? They had almost a "mother/friend" relation. Then they turned C2 into a scheming and manipulative character, and later into (may I quote you as I love your description of C2) a full Mafia Princess. It didn't work imo.

Same here, I really liked Danielle Alonso at first, but now, the writing is not working for be. Her facial expressions when she's not happy are quite unpleasant. But the writing for C3 is the worst. Now her relation with Fallon is cold. It's like a new character. And a character that is quite hard to enjoy or to love. And don't get me started on her feud with Adam that came from nowhere... Writers really don't know how to writer a relation's progression properly. If they had kept C3 as nice, kind character, she would balance evil Adam. C3 should have been nice to Adam. As someone new to this weird family, she could relate and try to be friend with Adam. In a better world, C3 should have compassion... Being friendly and caring about Adam and then slowly understand that he is evil would have been more natural. Again, her grudge against him came like foot in a plate.

In a perfect world they should have kept C1 alive, and Elaine Hendrix should have been Alexis since day 1. And a powerful one. Not the white trash trailer they wrote for the poor Nicollette Sheridan. The reason I prefer Elaine Hendrix is mainly because of her chemistry with Elizabeth Gillies, and the fact that she looks like she could be related to her. It would have worked so much better than Nicollette, from an organic standpoint. But I suppose that The CW wanted "a big name"* for Alexis (Like ABC and Esther Shapiro wanted Elizabeth Taylor or Sophia Loren for OG Alexis)... On paper the idea wasn't bad. But now I think that for some reasons Elizabeth Gillies and Nicollete Sheridan didn't get along.

* This should lure someone to come here and say that NS is not a big name, lol. Well of course NS is not a big name, but in the soap world, she is way more famous than Elaine Hendrix

 

[Rove]

Shame that they’d finally got it right with the character and NK was working really well by the time they roasted her in the loft

It's though the head honchos listened to those hideous focus groups and the writers adjusted Cristal No. 1 accordingly. So by the time the wider audience began to appreciate her it still wasn't enough to save Nathalie and was sacrificed accordingly. Of course those responsible for creating Cristal put a BACK IN 10 MINUTES sign on their office door prior to ducking under their creative desks when the sound of heavy footsteps were heard coming down the hallway.

 

[Rove]

ditching Steven was the second major problem

I wonder if the sudden plot that Steven wasn't a Carrington was another last minute adjustment to the script. Seriously? That scene was out of left field and hasn't been properly dealt with. Everyone just moved on.

 

[Daniel Avery]

Speaking of Cristal 1.0/Celia, here's a little something to get in the holiday spirit: "Happy Birthday Jesus" from S1.

 

[Rove]

here's a little something to get in the holiday spirit

And this ladies and gentlemen shows why the decision makers got it so wrong by letting Nathalie go.