nuDynasty Episode Chat S3E19: Robin Hood Rescues

Daniel Avery

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The Moldavian rescue was a joke
Yes, they were still operating as if they were doing episodic drama rather than serialized. And yes, they were not playing it like it would happen in the real world. In fact, they went too far in playing it like a comic caper rather than a life-or-death situation. The turn toward comedy might be a consequence of trying to have the rescue contained to one episode, and the 'dramatic license' inherent in stories happening in a fake place.

This Moldavia caper (at least this stage) is the kind of story that can only be done over multiple episodes to be effective. I was struck by how they didn't even observe the effects of time-change in the storyline. "The cavalry" left Atlanta in the morning and were back in the evening, despite having traveled to Eastern Europe (seven or eight hour time change) and back. They played it like they went to South Carolina or something. Also, how easy was it for them to land the Carrington jet at a Moldavian (read: hostile) airport? Even if it was a private airport (Liam's friends?), a fancy corporate jet entering restricted air space isn't easy--they'd have to interact with the country's air-traffic controllers and/or the military (controlling their air space) in order to get approval to land (and avoid not being shot down as a hostile force), thereby announcing their arrival. An argument could be made that this was why A&L were captured so quickly, but if that was the case, why did they not apprehend everyone on the plane (like Sam and the offscreen pilot)? Also, once Liam and Adam were captured, the King would have impounded the jet and have it surrounded by military men, not leave it open as a means of escape for the Carringtons.

I noted in the previous episode's thread how quickly they introduced the concept of Moldavia and involved the family company in its problems. This was an extension of that hurried pace. I still think this pace was in service of what would have been the events in the cliffhanger, likely something (or things) that would have raised the stakes of Blake's war with the Moldavian King. Rather than this whole kidnapping/rescue thing being the main event, it was just the appetizer. But the kitchen's now closed, so we'll just have to snack on appetizers until October.

I did enjoy how Laura supposedly just screwed Blake over by selling him Carrington Atlantic and I guess the Van Kirks were actually the ones in hot water with the Moldavians.
I think Laura was (literally) in bed with the Moldavians (at least their King), but when the relationship was no longer useful for her, she dumped him. He then decided to get revenge by nationalizing the oil industry, hoping it would bankrupt Laura and her family. Laura instead dumped C-A on Blake, selling it to him at a premium right before the King's efforts came to light. So Laura was the "real" target of his anger, but Blake (by blocking the King from taking back those C-A oil tankers full of crude oil) wandered in and made the King angry in a different way. If given the choice, the king would probably prefer allying with Blake to make Laura pay for her betrayal, but Blake isn't making it possible for the two of them to come to an arrangement. I wonder how the King would have instructed the guards to treat Liam if they had known he was Laura's son.
 

Brian Kinney

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First: thanks for giving Rafael de La Fuente the usual hairstyle back because it was terrible in Episode 18.

I liked this episode as much as most of Season 3. I still prefer this Alexis to OG Alexis because I don't want the obvious former character traits back - btw. none of the roles are too similar to their originals. Of all 80's prime-time-soap-villains I disliked only Alexis because she was full of hate against Blake and an anti-feminist (absolute no match to Abby Ewing or Angela Channing who thought about climbing the ladder professionally or saving a family estate), she was only bearable with her grand-kids. Elaine Hendrix's Alexis shines more in the scenes where she hasn't to act opposite Fallon because Fallon is the most dominant/ aggressive part and this is a dynamic where the writers need to soften Fallon and enable Alexis (also: Blake/ Adam) to get the upper hand at least sometimes.

They've checked Moldavia and I'm okay with it. Male bonding is a rare thing on this Dynasty and Liam seemed not integrated enough into the family that C3 couldn't remember his job - they've checked that too. And I agree about not being irritated by social media replacing old media which in OG Dynasty was Alexis' newspaper and Caress' book. Dominique's story in that could be juicier of course as it happened when filming at the party where they overheard stuff. My current favourite TV show is Westworld which is dystopian, I'm still glued to How To Get Away With Murder (the final season, where Falcon Crest's :sigh: William R. Moses has an important supporting role) but I also love Dynasty for being just care- and violence-free popcorn entertainment: a satirical dramedy.
 

tommie

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Yes, they were still operating as if they were doing episodic drama rather than serialized. And yes, they were not playing it like it would happen in the real world. In fact, they went too far in playing it like a comic caper rather than a life-or-death situation. The turn toward comedy might be a consequence of trying to have the rescue contained to one episode, and the 'dramatic license' inherent in stories happening in a fake place.

This Moldavia caper (at least this stage) is the kind of story that can only be done over multiple episodes to be effective.

While I agree that in order for it to work properly as a drama it probably would've needed to be spaced out in at least two or three episodes, I'm grateful that they didn't. They just don't have the budget to pull off them in a foreign fictional country (remember Steven in Paraguay?), so it was better to get this over and done with rather than further embarrassing themselves with trying to expand the fictional Moldavia (which would've looked a lot like someone's backyard in Atlanta). As you said, this was probably more about setting up for the season finale rather than to have this be a thrilling event on its own, though I guess in an ideal world it could've been both.

At least now if the Moldavians come, they'll come to Atlanta rather than the other way around.
 
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thomaswak

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Yes, they were still operating as if they were doing episodic drama rather than serialized. And yes, they were not playing it like it would happen in the real world. In fact, they went too far in playing it like a comic caper rather than a life-or-death situation. The turn toward comedy might be a consequence of trying to have the rescue contained to one episode, and the 'dramatic license' inherent in stories happening in a fake place.

This Moldavia caper (at least this stage) is the kind of story that can only be done over multiple episodes to be effective. I was struck by how they didn't even observe the effects of time-change in the storyline. "The cavalry" left Atlanta in the morning and were back in the evening, despite having traveled to Eastern Europe (seven or eight hour time change) and back. They played it like they went to South Carolina or something. Also, how easy was it for them to land the Carrington jet at a Moldavian (read: hostile) airport? Even if it was a private airport (Liam's friends?), a fancy corporate jet entering restricted air space isn't easy--they'd have to interact with the country's air-traffic controllers and/or the military (controlling their air space) in order to get approval to land (and avoid not being shot down as a hostile force), thereby announcing their arrival. An argument could be made that this was why A&L were captured so quickly, but if that was the case, why did they not apprehend everyone on the plane (like Sam and the offscreen pilot)? Also, once Liam and Adam were captured, the King would have impounded the jet and have it surrounded by military men, not leave it open as a means of escape for the Carringtons.

I noted in the previous episode's thread how quickly they introduced the concept of Moldavia and involved the family company in its problems. This was an extension of that hurried pace. I still think this pace was in service of what would have been the events in the cliffhanger, likely something (or things) that would have raised the stakes of Blake's war with the Moldavian King. Rather than this whole kidnapping/rescue thing being the main event, it was just the appetizer. But the kitchen's now closed, so we'll just have to snack on appetizers until October.


I think Laura was (literally) in bed with the Moldavians (at least their King), but when the relationship was no longer useful for her, she dumped him. He then decided to get revenge by nationalizing the oil industry, hoping it would bankrupt Laura and her family. Laura instead dumped C-A on Blake, selling it to him at a premium right before the King's efforts came to light. So Laura was the "real" target of his anger, but Blake (by blocking the King from taking back those C-A oil tankers full of crude oil) wandered in and made the King angry in a different way. If given the choice, the king would probably prefer allying with Blake to make Laura pay for her betrayal, but Blake isn't making it possible for the two of them to come to an arrangement. I wonder how the King would have instructed the guards to treat Liam if they had known he was Laura's son.

Yes. Absolutely none of the rescue could be taken seriously. It was a joke, all along. The show is schizophrenic. And when we tend to forget it, they sure know how to remind us.
From the set, to the situation, everything felt badly staged.
 

Daniel Avery

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I hope they will force themselves to Fallon/Liam's wedding... To bring their special gift.
I thought this was how it would be done--proposing at first that the disastrous wedding occur an inn and resort in the north GA mountains named The Moldavian just for the nod to the original series. Now that the country itself has been invented in their universe, it would be the actual Moldavians (or proxies of them) disrupting the event rather than just having the wedding become a disaster via various other antagonists in their lives all coming together at once. Now, I can picture the Moldavian King targeting the wedding simply due to it being the union of the children of two of his current enemies. I just hope they don't make it as hokey as this "rescue effort" turned out to be. I can imagine a boatload of gun-waving, camo-clad, quasi-Russian soldiers landing on the shore of the lake in front of the manor, having rowed all the way across the ocean and up the Chatahoochee River to Atlanta.

It doesn't really matter where Fallon and Liam decide to get married, though I would imagine the producers would keep it close to (if not in) Atlanta rather than doing a destination wedding due to costs. The destination might very well be changed due to continuing social distancing measures.

BTW, I hope they can do a clever stunt casting for the role of the King. He needn't be around very long, but I think we deserve to actually see what he's like.
 

Toni

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I thought this was how it would be done--proposing at first that the disastrous wedding occur an inn and resort in the north GA mountains named The Moldavian just for the nod to the original series. Now that the country itself has been invented in their universe, it would be the actual Moldavians (or proxies of them) disrupting the event rather than just having the wedding become a disaster via various other antagonists in their lives all coming together at once. Now, I can picture the Moldavian King targeting the wedding simply due to it being the union of the children of two of his current enemies. I just hope they don't make it as hokey as this "rescue effort" turned out to be. I can imagine a boatload of gun-waving, camo-clad, quasi-Russian soldiers landing on the shore of the lake in front of the manor, having rowed all the way across the ocean and up the Chatahoochee River to Atlanta.

It doesn't really matter where Fallon and Liam decide to get married, though I would imagine the producers would keep it close to (if not in) Atlanta rather than doing a destination wedding due to costs. The destination might very well be changed due to continuing social distancing measures.

BTW, I hope they can do a clever stunt casting for the role of the King. He needn't be around very long, but I think we deserve to actually see what he's like.

Maybe it´s time for a king to be a queen...

 

thomaswak

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I don't who from the writers or the show, or the characters themselves, are the most schizophrenic.
 

Edie70

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I just finished this episode for the first time - it has got to be one of the worst ones on the show. No wonder Sammy Jo faded away into the background and he no longer deals with his own stories but only serves as a supporting character in stories of other characters. He is one of the worst characters on the show and the "actor" is terribly annoying. He has no reason to remain on this badly written sitcom without Steven. Dominique, Culhane and Vanessa should also leave the show. They have nothing to do anymore, this reality show storyline has been stretched out for way too long and there is no impact on the Carringtons in the end. No consequences and the writing without consequences has no meaning ... just like this show. I gave it another chance out of curiosity and wanted to finish the third season now that their hiatus is over but it is too hard to keep watching.
 

tommie

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I just finished this episode for the first time - it has got to be one of the worst ones on the show. No wonder Sammy Jo faded away into the background and he no longer deals with his own stories but only serves as a supporting character in stories of other characters. He is one of the worst characters on the show and the "actor" is terribly annoying. He has no reason to remain on this badly written sitcom without Steven.
I actually like Rafael de la Fuente (ok, a lot of it might have to do with the fact that he's a cutie), but what's happened to him is exactly what I feared when they turned Sammy Jo into a gay man - instead of a fun, greedy and amoral vixen, he's turned into the likeable gay guy who everybody wants to be friends with and is friendly with the young teenage girl demographic that CW targets. I wouldn't mind him as a recurring character that just owns La Garbage, but having him on the main cast means they'll have to throw him a bone storylinewise.
 

Willie Oleson

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He has no reason to remain on this badly written sitcom
Everybody loves Rafael, it's impossible not to love him.
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I agree he should definitely find something better, and coming from Dynasty that doesn't even have to be a lot better.
He would have been perfect for PROMISED LAND (aka the new FALCON CREST) but unfortunately the whole idea has been scrapped.:(
But there must be something else where he can be his loveable self.
 
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