Dynasty 3×12 Review: “Battle Lines” loves dating drama for Valentine’s Day

Relationship drama was the central theme of “Battle Lines” and it caused a whole mess of chaos on Dynasty. Being so close to Valentine’s Day, you would think that these characters would have their love lives in order, but let’s face it, the soapy drama felt right at home. Between manipulating to get what they want and the troubles they put themselves in, their secret admirer was Karma. And she offered up a juicy episode in typical Dynasty fashion.

After last week’s review, it was obvious that Kirby was going to pursue her crush on Adam. She felt the spark and left behind her earring as the perfect way to engage in some conversation (the perfect teen soap excuse). Her only mistake was not being honest with him right from the beginning. The party at La Mirage could’ve gone smoother and avoided all the chaos had she just told him that she liked him. Adam has a lot of baggage to overcome involving Nadia and manipulating him into believing that she was coming was only going to blow up in Kirby’s face. Luckily, Kirby and Adam’s chemistry dominated, so they still have the potential to make it work.

On the other hand, their pairing has the making of being a toxic mess. Adam lashing out in the loft and breaking the stick showed that his baggage might be too much. Kirby could be the only one who can handle him, but if neither overcomes their issues, they will only tear each other down when things get tough. Their troubling relationship will have plenty of soapy and heated moments, but both Adam and Kirby are unpredictable people so this could be a fiery situation.

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The same can be said about Fallon and Liam’s situation: honesty and communication could’ve helped them greatly. Firstly, Liam should’ve spoken up sooner about his resentment for Fallon controlling everything in their relationship. Fallon is a Type-A queen who takes on each day with power and authority; she gets what she wants and makes it happen. However, they can leave her in a one-track mind. If Liam had kept it bottled in, that resentment would’ve festered and broken them apart. It’s good that he spoke up about his feelings and what he wants in life.

Secondly, why have Liam and Fallon not talked about their future life and kids yet? They were going to get married before Adam tried to drown him. This is a conversation you should have had! It’s shocking that neither were on the same page. Ambiguity doesn’t help in romances because it leaves everything and expectations up in the air to be shattered. Thankfully, they chatted about it, but I think they made the wrong call in their final decision.

Liam was heated about not wanting kids and Fallon was heated in wanting/a big family home. More often than not, that’s a deal breaker for most people. They can live their lives and see what progresses. However, that debate is going to come up and it might be too far down the line when major decisions have been settled, like marriage, careers, home, etc. Once again, their ambiguity has made their “endgame” status blurry.

And finally, honesty would’ve helped Fallon get the dream house from Esther. These elaborate plans of deception, while fun, more often than not blow up in her face. Whether it was Liam or the kids, the plan was going to fail. Esther would’ve eventually discovered the truth from a simple Google search or from the talk in town.

What are you doing Culhane? Why would you sleep with Dominique?! Seriously, he’s now slept with Dominique’s daughter (Monica), step-daughter (Vanessa), and niece (Fallon). Dominique should’ve been off-limits as a smart move. Plus, Dominique is manipulative and always has an ulterior motive up her sleeve and you never know if you can trust her or if she’ll stab you in the back. Whatever reason Dominique needed to seduce Culhane and record their hook-up session must be something scandalous. She’ll no doubt hold it over his head for leverage now that Vanessa is back in town.

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Sam also made a questionable decision in the end. Sure, he’s lonely on Valentine’s Day without Fletcher (or Stephen), and we’ve all made questionable texts to an ex in the past, but he doesn’t need a guy to be happy. Fletcher is married and deceived him; there’s no telling he won’t lead Sam on if they rekindle their affair. Sam has to protect his heart if he plays with this fire.

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With the Carrington Atlantic plot, I can see Jeff/Alexis and Blake find a way to make a business relationship work. Animosity is strong between them and they want to defeat each other, but they each have leverage. Jeff will compromise to ensure that a cure is found and Blake will do anything to get back control of Carrington Atlantic. The only other way this will end is if one of them is dead…

“Battle Lines” blurred the lines of Dynasty’s relationship endgames. Some reignited their flames, started new ones, or fan the flames of potential disaster in the coming weeks. It’s a relationship train wreck that’s bound to happen, but we can’t look away from the drama. The drama is getting too good, even with the messy decisions.

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