Dynasty - Season 5, Episode 16

Alexis looks fabulous while suffering from a faux migraine

"Foreign Relations"
Original airdate: 1/23/1985

Episode summary: Blake turns to a rich widow named Lady Ashley Mitchell when he needs help negotiating with a Chinese delegation. Steven decides 'ah fuck it, I'm gay' and hooks up with Luke. Krystle buys her first Arabian. 

---

Recap: Alexis is lunching with Adam and reading aloud a newspaper article about Lady Ashley Mitchell: a photojournalist who inherited a fortune from her late rich husband Maynard (who was friends with Cecil). After Alexis makes a few catty remarks about the beautiful rich widow, Adam tells her he arranged a meeting in Paris with Blake and a Chinese delegation (who Lady Ashley somehow has close ties to) in order to rehash the South China Seas oil leases storyline. Alexis makes a sassy wisecrack about Adam's undying loyalty to Blake, then says she'd like to kept in the loop about the negotiations so she can get in on the oil deal - but Adam firmly refuses to "play spy" on her behalf. 

Rock Hudson accompanies Krystle to a horse breeder so she can look over the available horses and make her first purchase. He briefly schools her on what to look for in an Arabian...then abruptly says he's gotta go and good luck with that. 

After horse shopping, Krystle returns to the mansion and excitedly tells Blake she bought her first Arabian today...and he's like, "Whoopee shit" and sarcastically asks if her "partner" approved of her choice. Krystle shrugs and says she has no idea 'cause she made the purchase on her own, then invites him to come see her pretty new horse - but he declines and says he's too busy preparing for his Paris summit with the Chinese delegation. Krystle pouts as she retorts, "This horse is my Paris", and Blake rolls his eyes and sarcastically tells her how utterly thrilled he is about her newfound hobby. Krystle reminds him he used to have the decency to show regret whenever he was too busy with work to spend time with her, then wonders aloud, "Whatever happened to that time?" before turning around and quietly exiting the study.

"I don't have time for your BS horse hobby."

"Whatever happened to that minute and a half when you acted far less dickish than usual?"

Over at ColbyCo, Steven apologizes to Luke for being a snappy bitch to him during the previous episode, but Luke just shrugs and says he's A-OK with them dialing it back and interacting in a strictly professional manner. Steven jokes about calling him sir from now on, then chides him for giving up on their friendship merely 'cause he threw a tantrum. He places a hand on Luke's shoulder and tells him how much he appreciates his honesty - just as Adam appears in the doorway and is all, "Mmm hmm.." at the flirty non-hetero vibe he's detecting. Steven quickly pulls his hand away and asks Adam whassup, and Adam smirkingly says it's not important and that he'll call him later. Luke shakes his head in dismay at the awkward interaction and wearily tells Steven to give him a call if he's ever ready to come out of the closet. 

Jeff returns to Carrington manor and introduces Blake and Krystle to his new bride, Nicole. Blake and Krystle stare at the two in shocked bewilderment before congratulating them and extending an invitation to join them for dinner so they can tell them all about their ill-fated quickie wedding.

Alexis calls Lady Ashley Mitchell and gushes about the photos she took of the Queen Mother's birthday, then gets down to business and says she'd like progress reports on the negotiations regarding Blake's South China Sea oil lease proposal. When Lady Ashley asks why she should expend a single ounce of her energy doing that, Alexis reminds her that Maynard and Cecil were friends - plus she would owe her a favor if anything ever came up. Ashley mulls that over, mumbles something unintelligible, and - much to Alexis' annoyance - abruptly ends the call. 
​
Jeff tells Blake that the main purpose of his Bolivia trip was to track down Fallon...and when Blake asks him how in blazes he ended up marrying a tacky gold digger like Nicole, Jeff just shrugs stupidly and mumbles, "I dunno." Blake says that he and his new bride are welcome to live at the mansion...and Jeff wanks him about what a generous man he is before giving him a thank you hug.

Dex arrives at the penthouse after being informed by Alexis' manservant that she has fallen ill with a debilitating migraine. When Alexis - who's lounging atop her bedroom chaise with a well coiffed 'do, full makeup, and decked out in a lacy black teddy - hears Dex come up the stairs, she shoos away her pet Shih Tzu, and pretends to be sickly and asleep. Dex tiptoes over to the chaise, hovers over her, and whispers, "Darling.." and she "wakes up" looking all pretend groggy and poutishly asks him if he's here to pick up his laundry. He tells her he's here to make sure she's OK, and that he's been miserable during their estrangement for the last episode and a half. He proclaims his love for her and insists that he really does want their marriage to work - but that at some point they (though mostly she) will have to make concessions for one another. Alexis makes an ew face at the prospect of any kind of personal sacrifice and says she's in no mood for a marriage counselling session, then pulls him towards her for a smooch. When he gently chides her for luring him to the penthouse on false pretenses, she giggles and points out that he did fall for it...and he laughingly replies, "Yep, you got me there!", then mounts her so that the two can smooch more intensely. 

"Alexis darling? Are you dying?"

"It's a miracle! I suddenly feel well enough to knock boots with my sexy husband."

After the commercial break, Dex and Alexis indulge in a sexy breakfast of caviar and champagne while canoodling in front of the living room fireplace...and Alexis jokingly points out that it's cocktail time in Paris, meaning they can pretend to be Parisian lovers reconciling. When Amanda enters the room and glares at the spectacle in icked out bewilderment, Alexis invites her to join them for caviar - but Amanda snappishly says she's not hungry, shoots Dex a pouty glare, and storms off. An irked Alexis declares Amanda the moodiest of her children, then asks Dex to spill whatever secrets he's been keeping with respect to Rock Hudson and their military escapades. When a miffed looking Dex asks how she found out about that, Alexis tells him that some unnamed person spilled the beans to her...and Dex angrily replies that that person needs to keep his/her mouth shut.

​Over at Carrington Manor, Nicole wastes no time adapting to her new role as a wealthy man's haughty wife by admonishing Jeannette for addressing her as Miss Simpson instead of the preferred Your Royal Highness, Mrs. Jeff Colby. She then says she has a shit ton of laundry she would like done immediately - but Jeannette's like, "Sucks to be you" and tells her there's a maid shortage today. When Nicole bitchily asks what the hell she's supposed to lounge around the mansion in, Krystle suddenly appears in the doorway and politely asks Jeannette if she wouldn't mind laundering at least a few of Nicole's outfits so that her immediate "clothing problem" is solved...and Jeannette dutifully obeys before scurrying out of the room. Krystle informs Nicole that half of the servant workforce is currently out with the flu, and so the mansion dwellers have been doing their best to go easy on them. She then half-heartedly welcomes Nicole to the family and says that Jeff deserves to be happy, and Nicole agrees and insists that she really really wants to make him happy...then glares over at the Fallon portrait staring back at her. 

Steven is doing a boxing workout in the mansion's gym when Adam wanders in to ask him where he spent the night, assumes the answer is 'in the sack with Luke', and snidely accuses, "You're having an affair with that little fag you work with." Steven's all, "Wha-a-a?!" as he and Adam quickly step aside so that their stunt doubles can punch each other while rolling around on the floor, damaging gym equipment - until Claudia rushes in and yells at them to stop. When she demands to know what's going on, Steven snaps, "I can't deal with you or your questions right now!" and Claudia snaps back, "You never could!" After Steven storms out, Adam tells Claudia he takes back what he told her about doing her best to make her marriage with Steven work, and urges her to unyoke herself from her unhappy life as Steven's wife-beard. 

​Steven heads straight over to Luke's apartment - but Luke looks less than thrilled to see him and says he has zero desire to help him sort out his 'I can't decide if I'm gay/not gay' impasse. Steven assures him he's finally re-resolved that conundrum and knows for sure where he wants to be. He then steps inside the apartment, and the two stand in the foyer for several long seconds, staring longingly at each other. Mmm hmm..

The head of the Chinese delegation, Mr. Wang, tells Blake and Adam he'll consider Denver Carrington's South China Sea deal proposal, but can't guarantee he'll get around to it any time soon. Blake politely says he'll patiently wait out the decision for as long as it takes...and everyone shakes hands and politely nods at each other. Lady Ashley Mitchell arrives at the hotel and stares into the meeting room, giving Blake an appreciative once-over. She then greets her old pal Mr. Wang, and escorts him out.

Dex drives over to Delta Rho to ask Rock Hudson what he told Alexis about their military missions, and Rock shrugs and says he didn't tell her anything. Dex accuses him of abandoning him in a war zone and snappishly adds, "We're out of business!" - but Rock reminds him he's never been able to turn down a challenge. Dex snarks back that he's turning it down now, then storms back to his car.

Amanda returns to the penthouse after a night out, drunk and stumbling around the foyer in a poofy black and silver gown. When she falls to the floor and starts giggling uncontrollably, Dex is conveniently on hand to help her to her feet...then scoops her into his arms when she proves too drunk to stand upright. She gazes lustfully at Dex, purrs about how appealing he is, and eggs him on to kiss her - just as Alexis appears in the stairway, looking less than pleased about her husband being so tenderly helpful to her beautiful young English rose of a daughter.

"Oh hi, mummy. We're just bonding as step-father and daughter."

"Put that down and come back to bed at once."

The next morning, Alexis serves Amanda tomato juice with a raw egg in it and wryly says it'll help with her hangover. She then suggests that Amanda look into moving to Carrington manor ASAP so she can..

• Give her newlywed mother and stepfather/one time lover the privacy they need so they can doink in common living areas of the penthouse
• Stop trying to live out her schoolgirl fantasies starring Dex
• Spend more quality time with Blake so she can eventually figure out what a douchebag of a father he can be

Nicole throws a party at Carrington manor with a group of rowdies...and two stressed out manservants struggle to maintain order and keep enough champagne flowing. One of the partygoers, Bill, remarks to Nicole how unsettling it must be for her to have Fallon's portrait staring down at her all the time...so he drags a chair over and climbs atop it to remove the offending portrait - just as Krystle enters the room and tells him to get down. She snaps, "Party's over!" ... and everyone quietly files out and mutters to one another about what a big downer this party suddenly turned into. Krystle makes it clear to Nicole that Fallon will always be part of this house and that she's going to have to find a way to respect that...and Nicole nods in sheepish agreement. Once Krystle's out of earshot, she stares up at Fallon's portrait and bitterly concedes, "You win again."

Blake gets irked when Adam admits to meeting with the Chinese delegation on his own...which, for some reason, offended Mr. Wang so severely that he abandoned the negotiations and departed Paris. Seems like a weird overreaction, but OK. Adam offers to approach Lady Ashley Mitchell to see if she can coax the Chinese back for another meeting, but Blake snappishly says he'll handle things from now on.

Jeff finishes up a call with Blake about the negotiations debacle when Krystle enters the room and looks irked that Blake didn't ask Jeff to hand the phone over to hear. Jeff shrugs and points out that it was strictly a business call...and after a miffed Krystle stalks out, he places a call to Lady Ashley Mitchell to set up a one-on-one with Blake.

Blake implores Lady Ashley to do whatever she can to bring the Chinese delegation back to the negotiating table...and she chuckles about the high level of confidence he has in the level of influence she has with Mr. Wang. She then gets a dreamy look on her face and recalls seeing him (Blake) for the first time at some rich person event in Vienna six years ago. She explains that at the time she was on assignment as a photographer, and thought to herself that of all the old billionaires in the room, he was by far the most passably attractive silver fox...and Blake blushingly chortles at the compliment and says he's very flattered. She then gets down to business and asks him if he thinks Alexis would approve of a successful negotiation with the Chinese, and Blake says he's pretty sure she would not. She perks up at that and says she has no intention of being a part of Alexis' manipulation and will therefore do whatever it takes to convince Mr. Wang to return with his delegation to Paris.

"When I first saw you, six years ago, I thought you were the belle of the ball."

"Had you considered getting your eyesight checked?"

At Delta Rho, Krystle receives the shipment of her new horse, a beautiful white Arabian named Fantasia. Rock Hudson looks over the animal and finds fault with various physical features, and Krystle stares at him incredulously and says there's absolutely nothing wrong with her. Rock abruptly shifts gears and asks her why she would let him talk to her like that, then warns that she must never ever let anyone push her around. Krystle scrunches her face confusedly, says she doesn't like him administering these confusing tests, and shoves him. Rock chuckles with delight and says he's proud of her, then leads her over to a nearby barn he's planning to renovate. The two start to climb up a pair of loft stairs and accidentally tumble into a pile of hay...and a man positioned nearby with a camera starts taking compromising looking shots of Krystle hovering over Rock, asking him if he's OK. (He's fine, btw.)

Back in Paris, Blake and Lady Ashley are standing in front of the fireplace in her swanky apartment, chatting about all the American food she's missed out on while living in France. Blake promises to host a barbecue for her next time she's in Denver so he can serve her the world's tastiest burger, and she happily chirps, "It's a date!" He thanks her for her help in getting the Chinese back to the negotiating table, and she responds by leaning in and giving him a smooch...then explains that she couldn't help herself from giving in to her impulse. Blake grins goofily and says goodbye...and once he's out of earshot, she nonsensically murmurs, "Good..? I'm not so sure about that."

Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!

---