Fallon’s need to control everything was at the heart of another Dynasty episode. “New Hopes, New Beginnings” wasn’t true to its name as the majority of the plots were retreads of past storylines. Instead of moving forward, the Carringtons and the Colbys have looped in on themselves to be back to where they started. Will they change for the better? Will the same hurdles pop up? At this point, it’s a lot of expected déjà vu. Dynasty Season 4 started off so strong, but it’s failing to keep that momentum fresh and new.
Carrying over from the previous review, Fallon once again went overboard to steer the Carrington ship. Hasn’t she already learned this lesson? Making rash decisions, commanding her employees, and tightly micromanaging every little detail of her business have been common Fallon qualities she’s shown for quite some time. It’s evident by now that Fallon can’t do everything, regardless if her intentions were to fix the family image and succeed at business. She should’ve learned from her chats with Liam that she needs to delegate and prioritize the most important pieces in her life. If Dynasty had Fallon learn from her experiences, she would’ve avoided a lot of her issues here, like yelling at the kid and dropping the ball on all her projects.
Her epiphany during the press conference felt forced and took away from the emotional family struggle going on between Dominique/Jeff/Monica. It shouldn’t have taken the conference for Fallon to realize that being around her friends and family were the most important priorities. Once again, she had already learned this lesson. Having the issues going on between Dominique, Jeff, and Monica tie into Fallon’s storyline undercut their significance. The Colbys had bigger issues to face that didn’t need to be a plot device for Fallon.
Speaking of the Colbys, it’s great to have Monica return after so long. She was always a good foil against Dominique and she balanced the antics of Fallon and Jeff. Monica returning for “New Hopes, New Beginnings” provided a lot of the needed backstory to fill in the gaps about Dominique’s mother. We knew the history of Dominique abandoning her kids and her mother looking after them, but it was the emotional connection needed to show how it affected the family. Dominique’s mother played a significant part in how the Colbys connected to Dynasty, so to have her character pass away, it’s a big emotional hit to the trio.
At least there was some form of resolution between Monica, Jeff, and Dominique. Granted, their family has been a roller coaster of being allies and enemies, but this moment seemed like the time it will actually take effect. Monica and Jeff are willing to give Dominique a chance; let’s hope that Dominique doesn’t screw it up again. Also, Monica should’ve eased up on Dominique a bit about not knowing her mother loved to design outfits. There are somethings they may not have talked about–fashion might’ve been one of them.
I’m calling it now: Blake is going back to his business ways. He jumped at the chance to work with Fallon on the tech business venture and enhance areas within her company. His mind is too focused on making money and deals to sit back for anything with less power. Breaking up Cristal and the priest was a way to potentially get her back, but it felt more like his pride needing another victory. Blake wanted to tear them apart and he didn’t stop until he got his way. It won’t be surprising if the same issues pop up again if Cristal takes him back; Blake will be too focused on business over her. Blake and Cristal are on two different pages.
The Sam and Culhane team-up came across as filler. Culhane took the advice to finally record his conversations with the commissioner and it ultimately saved the day. Though, why didn’t the commissioner think Sam’s behavior was weird? Sam could barely keep it together in the hotel room; he made it obvious that something was going on due to his sketchy behavior. He didn’t need to expose his entire plan to Sam and use wording that would’ve incriminated him, especially when the mood was off and Sam didn’t want to hook up. It felt like a 3-episode arc that needed to close off a storyline Dynasty didn’t want to talk about anymore (i.e., the Atlantix).
“New Hopes, New Beginnings” retreaded the same plots in an endless loop of self-sabotage and family drama. The characters pushed themselves forward to start new plots, but it didn’t guarantee they wouldn’t do the same things again the future. The strong momentum from early in the season has faded into predictable territory. Hopefully, now that all the filler is out of the way, Dynasty can get back to being Dynasty and move forward in its story instead of looking back.
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Dynasty airs new episodes Fridays at 9 p.m. EST on The CW and streams Thursdays on cwtv.com.
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