Dynasty (1981 TV series, season 5)

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Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 29
Release
Original network ABC
Original release September 26, 1984 (1984-09-26) – May 15, 1985 (1985-05-15)
List of Dynasty (1981 TV series) episodes

The fifth season of Dynasty originally aired in the United States on ABC from September 26, 1984 through May 15, 1985. The series, created by Richard and Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, revolves around the Carringtons, a wealthy family residing in Denver, Colorado.

Plot

Driven by the new head writer and producer Camille Marchetta, who had devised the wildly successful "Who Shot J.R.?" scenario on Dallas five years earlier, Dynasty hit #1 in the fifth season.[1][2] In the story, Alexis is exonerated and her secret daughter Amanda Bedford (Catherine Oxenberg) comes to Denver and discovers that Blake is her father. Steven has married Claudia but leaves her for a man and Claudia starts an affair with Adam. The marriage of Blake and Krystle is in crisis after the birth of their daughter Krystina, Dominique struggles to be accepted as a Carrington and loses her husband Brady Lloyd (Billy Dee Williams) in the process, and Sammy Jo discovers she is the heiress to a huge fortune. At the end of the season, an amnesiac Fallon (now portrayed by actress Emma Samms) reappears while the rest of the family go to Europe for the wedding of Amanda and Prince Michael of Moldavia (Michael Praed).

During the season, Dynasty attracted controversy when Rock Hudson's real-life HIV-positive status was revealed after a romantic storyline between his character Daniel Reece and Evans's Krystle. Hudson's scenes required him to kiss Evans and, as news that he had contracted AIDS broke, there was speculation Evans would be at risk.[3] The event led to a Screen Actors Guild rule requiring contracts to notify performers in advance of any scenes that require open-mouth kissing.[4]

Over the run of the series, the rivalry between Alexis and Krystle is a primary driver for the melodrama. Alexis resents Krystle's role as Blake's wife and mistress of the Carrington household, and tries to undermine her at every opportunity, while Krystle makes increasingly bold efforts to keep Alexis from interfering in the lives of their mutual loved ones. The pair have numerous verbal spats that sometimes lead to physical altercations. "Unfortunately, the thing people remember about this show is the catfights," noted Collins in 1991.[5] Entertainment columnist Sue Cameron said in 2018 that the catfights became so popular that the press were invited to watch the filming of them.[6] Krystle and Alexis famously brawl for the first time in Alexis's studio,[7] and then later in a lily pond.[8] They also hurl mud at each other at a beauty salon,[9] and slide down a ravine together into a puddle of mud,[10] before having their final showdown brawl in a fashion studio in the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion.[5] Later in the series, Alexis also has a catfight with Blake's half-sister Dominque (Diahann Carroll),[11] and then her own cousin Sable (Stephanie Beacham).[12] She even has a brawl with her on-again, off-again lover and one-time husband, Dex (Michael Nader). Krystle's niece Sammy Jo (Heather Locklear) also has her fair share of catfights, as she first engages in a slap fight with Claudia (Pamela Bellwood) before taking on Amanda (Catherine Oxenberg) in a brawl in a swimming pool.[13][14] Sammy Jo later fights Fallon (Emma Samms) in a horse trough and the mud around it.[15] Evans even battles with herself at the climax of a 1985–1986 storyline in which Krystle is imprisoned and replaced by a lookalike named Rita (also played by Evans); Krystle ends up battling Rita in order to escape.[16] In 2008, Entertainment Weekly termed Alexis and Krystle's catfights "the gold standard of scratching and clawing."[17]

Undoubtedly the most famous Dynasty cliffhanger is the so-called "Moldavian Massacre" during the May 15, 1985 fifth-season finale. Amanda and Prince Michael's royal wedding is interrupted by terrorists during a military coup in Moldavia, riddling the chapel with bullets and leaving all of the major characters lying seemingly lifeless. Esther Shapiro later said, "It was a fairy-tale terrorist attack. It was beautifully shot, like a Goya painting."[18] It became the most talked-about episode of any TV series during the calendar year of 1985, with a viewership of 60 million.[19] In 2011, Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly named it one of the seven "Unforgettable Cliff-Hangers" of prime time dramatic television.[20]

Cast

Cast notes
  1. Locklear appears only in first four, last two and 23rd and 26th episodes and is credited in the opening credits for those episodes.
  2. Oxenberg first appears in "Amanda".
  3. Williams appears in "Disappearance", "The Mortgage", "Amanda", "The Avenger" and "Triangles" and is credited in the opening credits for those episodes.
  4. Praed is credited in the opening credits from "The Ball" to "Royal Wedding", except "The Collaps" and "Life and Death" in which he didn't appear.
  5. Samms is credited as a guest in "Kidnapped" before becoming series regular in "Royal Wedding".
  6. Hudson is credited in the opening credits from "The Holiday Spirit" to "Sammy Jo", but he didn't eppear in "The Will", "Triangles" and from "The Collaps" to "Photo Finish" nor is credited in those episodes.
  7. MacGraw is credited in the opening credits from "Foreign Relations" to "Royal Wedding", except in "Triangles" where she didn't appear.
  8. Carroll wasn't credited in the opening credits in 10th, 16th, 18th to 19th, 23rd 26th and 28th episode nor she appeared in those episodes.

Episodes

No.
overall
No. in
season
Title Directed by Written by Original air date Prod.
code
US viewers
(millions)
89 1 "Disappearance" Irving J. Moore Story by: Camille Marchetta
Teleplay by: Edward De Blasio
September 26, 1984 (1984-09-26) DY-087 22.20
90 2 "The Mortgage" Jerome Courtland Story by: Camille Marchetta
Teleplay by: Dennis Turner
October 10, 1984 (1984-10-10) DY-088 25.10
91 3 "Fallon" Gwen Arner Story by: Camille Marchetta
Teleplay by: Edward De Blasio
October 17, 1984 (1984-10-17) DY-089 26.10
92 4 "The Rescue" Irving J. Moore Story by: Camille Marchetta
Teleplay by: Dennis Turner
October 24, 1984 (1984-10-24) DY-090 26.30
93 5 "The Trial" Gwen Arner Story by: Joel Steiger
Teleplay by: Paul Savage
October 31, 1984 (1984-10-31) DY-091 24.90
94 6 "The Verdict" Jerome Courtland Story by: Camille Marchetta and Joel Steiger
Teleplay by: Stephen and Elinor Karpf
November 7, 1984 (1984-11-07) DY-092 25.70
95 7 "Amanda" Irving J. Moore Story by: Camille Marchetta & Joel Steiger
Teleplay by: Edward De Blasio
November 14, 1984 (1984-11-14) DY-093 23.50
96 8 "The Secret" Jerome Courtland Story by: Camille Marchetta
Teleplay by: Dennis Turner
November 21, 1984 (1984-11-21) DY-094 24.30
97 9 "Domestic Intrigue" Irving J. Moore Story by: Camille Marchetta & Joel Steiger
Teleplay by: Edward De Blasio
November 28, 1984 (1984-11-28) DY-095 25.20
98 10 "Krystina" Jerome Courtland Story by: Camille Marchetta
Teleplay by: Will Lorin
December 5, 1984 (1984-12-05) DY-096 25.30
99 11 "Swept Away" Irving J. Moore Story by: Camille Marchetta
Teleplay by: Dennis Turner
December 12, 1984 (1984-12-12) DY-097 26.50
100 12 "That Holiday Spirit" Curtis Harrington Story by: Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin
Teleplay by: Edward De Blasio
December 19, 1984 (1984-12-19) DY-098 25.90
101 13 "The Avenger" Irving J. Moore Story by: Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin
Teleplay by: Dennis Turner
January 2, 1985 (1985-01-02) DY-099 26.20
102 14 "The Will" Nancy Malone Story by: Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin
Teleplay by: Noreen Stone
January 9, 1985 (1985-01-09) DY-100 27.70
103 15 "The Treasure" Curtis Harrington Story by: Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin
Teleplay by: Stephen & Elinor Karpf
January 16, 1985 (1985-01-16) DY-101 27.00
104 16 "Foreign Relations" Kim Friedman Story by: Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin
Teleplay by: Edward De Blasio
January 23, 1985 (1985-01-23) DY-102 25.00
105 17 "Triangles" Irving J. Moore Story by: Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin
Teleplay by: Dennis Turner
January 30, 1985 (1985-01-30) DY-103 27.00
106 18 "The Ball" Jerome Courtland Story by: Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin
Teleplay by: John Pleshette
February 6, 1985 (1985-02-06) DY-104 25.90
107 19 "Circumstantial Evidence" Curtis Harrington Story by: Camille Marchetta & Donald R. Boyle
Teleplay by: Edward De Blasio
February 13, 1985 (1985-02-13) DY-105 23.40
108 20 "The Collapse" John Patterson Story by: Camille Marchetta & Donald R. Boyle
Teleplay by: Donald R. Boyle
February 20, 1985 (1985-02-20) DY-106 24.60
109 21 "Life and Death" Irving J. Moore Story by: Camille Marchetta & Donald R. Boyle
Teleplay by: Dennis Turner
February 27, 1985 (1985-02-27) DY-107 24.80
110 22 "Parental Consent" Kim Friedman Story by: Camille Marchetta & Donald R. Boyle
Teleplay by: Edward De Blasio
March 6, 1985 (1985-03-06) DY-108 24.00
111 23 "Photo Finish" Robert Scheerer Story by: Camille Marchetta & Donald R. Boyle
Teleplay by: Susan Miller
March 13, 1985 (1985-03-13) DY-109 24.20
112 24 "The Crash" Irving J. Moore Story by: Camille Marchetta
Teleplay by: Dennis Turner
March 20, 1985 (1985-03-20) DY-110 22.60
113 25 "Reconciliation" Nancy Malone Story by: Camille Marchetta
Teleplay by: Edward De Blasio
March 27, 1985 (1985-03-27) DY-111 23.10
114 26 "Sammy Jo" Irving J. Moore Story by: Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin
Teleplay by: Dennis Turner
April 3, 1985 (1985-04-03) DY-112 23.10
115 27 "Kidnapped" Jerome Courtland Story by: Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin
Teleplay by: Dennis Turner
April 10, 1985 (1985-04-10) DY-113 24.50
116 28 "The Heiress" Irving J. Moore Story by: Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin
Teleplay by: Edward De Blasio
May 8, 1985 (1985-05-08) DY-114 21.90
117 29 "Royal Wedding" Jerome Courtland Story by: Camille Marchetta & Susan Baskin
Teleplay by: Edward De Blasio
May 15, 1985 (1985-05-15) DY-115 25.90

References

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  7. Season 2 episode "The Baby" (March 3, 1982)
  8. Season 3 episode "The Threat" (April 13, 1983)
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  10. Season 6 episode "Ben" (February 26, 1986)
  11. Season 7 episode "Fear" (December 31, 1986)
  12. Season 9 episode "Blasts from the Past" (May 4, 1989)
  13. Season 6 finale "The Choice (a.k.a.) The Vendetta" (May 21, 1986)
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  15. Season 9 episode "Alexis in Blunderland" (December 15, 1988)
  16. Season 6 episode "The Vigil" (January 22, 1986)
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  19. E! True Hollywood Story: Dynasty (2001)
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External links