Dynasty: Season 3, Vol. 2

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This hugely popular prime-time soap opera follows the exploits of the Carringtons and Colbys, both "oilrich" family dynasties in Denver, CO, as they accrue and manipulate power and wealth. .com ---- In one of this set's two episodes that are absolutely essential for Dynasty fans, Krystle (Linda Evans) and Alexis (Joan Collins) bring it on like "common mud wrestlers" in a titanic lily pond smackdown. This is what OMG looked like in 1982-83. So, where were we? (It's hard to keep track with these split seasons.) Steven is still missing and presumed dead. Jeff (John James) is beginning to show the effects of the toxin that Adam (Gordon Thomson) mixed into the paint used to redecorate his office. The "brilliant, beautiful, and conniving" Alexis is scheming a takeover of Denver-Carrington while trysting with Mark (Geoffrey Scott), Krystle's former husband, from whom she is not legally divorced. Sammy Jo (Heather Locklear) is back in town with a vengeance, a new name (Samantha), and her and Steven's son. The stage is set for more instantly addictive serial shenanigans between the feuding Carrington and Colby clans, and the innocent (and not so innocent) bystanders whose lives they impact. Over the course of these remaining 12 episodes, Alexis and Adam, her kipped at birth son, form an axis of evil to destroy Blake (John Forsythe). Steven, lo and behold, is alive and in a hospital in Singapore. In another series benchmark episode, "The Mirror," his bandages are dramatically removed to reveal a new face (Jack Coleman replacing Al Corley). Kirby (Kathleen Beller, the Anne Hathaway of her day), butler Joseph's daughter, marries Jeff. Good news: She's pregnant. Bad news: Jeff is not the her. Until that eful trip to Muldavia, Dynasty excelled at season finales, and this Season Three cliffhanger was one of its best: an apocalyptic cabin inferno that traps natural born enemies Krystle and Alexis. "This is all your fault," Alexis screams. "Every time you come into my life something terrible happens to me!" Dynasty's third season was its highest-rated yet, and the episodes that comprise Volume Two are representative of the series' many guilty pleasures. Not to worry if this is your first encounter with Dynasty. Each episode contains helpful expository dialogue to get you caught up ("I'm not just talking about my obsession about Steven being alive after that oil rig disaster"). --Donald Liebenson