Why is this scene so listless?

[Willie Oleson]

The flashbacks ruin the pacing of the scene

These could have been shorter, or better still: just images combined with Krystle's narrative.
Heck, Alexis, Cecil and the doctor could have "lip-synced" Krystle's voice. That would have been eerie.

Krystle should make her points about the nurse and the doctor but she doesn't need to go into so much detail.

I think it needs to show how much she has invested in the story, and that the ammunition is for real, especially when it's published in a certain context.

Imagine all the family drama it would (could) have caused if Krystle had decided to pursue The Destruction Of Alexis, it could have been similar to "JR's Masterpiece" (NuDallas).
And they could simply end with Krystle's disappearance.

 

[Gabriel Maxwell]

The scene may seem fine because the idea behind it is great and the two actresses are of course great, but the end result still falls flat. As if nobody including the ladies remembers how to do great Dynasty anymore, but they're trying as evident in their tapping into the show's heyday.

The flashbacks ruin the pacing of the scene; it also doesn't help that there is too much exposition. Krystle should make her points about the nurse and the doctor but she doesn't need to go into so much detail.

I'm torn on the flashbacks. They definitely throw the pacing of the scene off, but it's fascinating to see the jarring contrast between the current incarnation of the show and its former self. They almost seem as if they came from a different series. In one we see Alexis Carrington and in the other Joan Collins.

These could have been shorter, or better still: just images combined with Krystle's narrative. Heck, Alexis, Cecil and the doctor could have "lip-synced" Krystle's voice. That would have been eerie.

That's a little too Agatha Christie for me, but then again, why the heck not? It wouldn't make the scene any worse.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

In one we see Alexis Carrington and in the other Joan Collins.

Just, yes.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Quite a bit of soap history has been retconned or ignored in order to support the plotline du jour, but this is an interesting spin on the soap staple as it simply puts the exact same story in a new light.
It's all smoke and mirrors, of course - but I like the witch hunt angle.

 

[Rove]

what the hell was Krystle wearing?

That was the 80's!

 

[colbyco]

I like flashbacks but this one really took away a lot to build up this scene and this little storyline was one of my favourite moments in this season - but in old Dynasty-style it was just another missed chance ....

The idea of "the doctor could have "lip-synced" Krystle's voice" sounds great - could have given her a chance to build up her voice from "talking about the weather" to "I make you pay"

 

[GillesDenver]

That storyline should have happened in season 3, not 8 ! Krystle accused Alexis of "killing" Cecil at the beginning of the season, this should have been pursued and settled at the end of it.

Krystle would have done that to prevent the merger between Denver Carrington and ColbyCo. Also, having Blake preventing her to do so could have created a serious trouble between them (the fact that they argued so much over Steven was a little odd to me). Finally, it would have explained why Blake later gave the job of head of public relations : because she proved to him that she have some abilities for that.

 

[tommie]

That storyline should have happened in season 3, not 8 ! Krystle accused Alexis of "killing" Cecil at the beginning of the season, this should have been pursued and settled at the end of it.

Krystle would have done that to prevent the merger between Denver Carrington and ColbyCo. Also, having Blake preventing her to do so could have created a serious trouble between them (the fact that they argued so much over Steven was a little odd to me). Finally, it would have explained why Blake later gave the job of head of public relations : because she proved to him that she have some abilities for that.

It also would've been a great lead up to the cabin fire cliffhanger.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

This is the way to underplay a scene...

 

[Ked]

Huh. I didn't know Alexis wanted to name Steven after his father, and that it was Blake's decision to name him after Alexis' father. Course I don't re-watch Season 1 very much.

 

[Michael Torrance]

Course I don't re-watch Season 1 very much.

You really should. I can't think of any other of the 80s soaps have such a well-crafted season as that one Dynasty had. And I think a lot of the crazy/camp/outrageous plots the show engaged in later (and I do include the Cruella De Ville Alexis, much as I loved her) would not have been possible if they did not have that strong bank of gravitas, real emotion, and nuanced writing, directing, and acting to draw from. Although they did eventually manage to bankrupt it.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

The difference is so subtle and yet not at all.

As we've said previously, in the first two seasons Linda spoke in a measured, melancholy way, always in the moment. But afterwards, her delivery became increasingly falsetto, as if no longer in her own head and body. Was she told to do this in keeping with the program's shift toward frenetic melodrama? Or was it a subliminal reaction on her part to the increasingly florid, unfocused scripts?

We may never know...

"I've been slipping cocaine into your tuna for years, darling..."

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

….and then there's this scene, arguably the best face-off Krystle & Alexis ever had in that it perfectly captures the dynamic between them which had originally made the show work (beginning ~2:00) with Alexis bragging and sauntering and name-dropping and taunting --- unforgivable given what she actually had done, while Krystle is focused and disdainful, quietly tormented, and poetically regal.

Even somebody in the YouTube comments section, perhaps unfamiliar with the early seasons, observes that: "Krystle's voice is much deeper and normal here. Why did she get more breathy and light as the seasons went on? It made her sound more wimpy and goody two shoes. Here she has a more strong voice."

 

[GillesDenver]

I think what's made this scene better is that Linda is intimidated by Joan (even though she did not stutter or hesitate). Her eyes light up for instance.

I remember reading an interview of Linda saying she was very shy during the two or three first seasons of "Dynasty" and then she was able to relax. Ironically, that made her much stiffer on screen that when she was uncomfortable.