I have always liked both until I got the DVDs rewatched them. Wow, what a difference!

Season 3 was fun and cheeky with lots of mischievous, evil dialogue, crazy plots that somehow worked and the lighting was so glamorous. Everyone looked like they had been filmed in beautiful Technicolor when it first came out. The whole show had a certain intensity and fun, driving spirit that is just completely missing from Season 4.

Season 4's lighting seemed very dim, not glossy at all. This added to the effect of the characters, who all seemed to have lost their spark from Season 3. Everyone suddenly got very serious and stopped having fun. While there were some genuinely exciting, fun moments to watch in Season 4, I found it just runs out of steam halfway through and turns into a feel-good show. Something you can never say about Season 3's dastardly plots. After Fallon is hit by the car and Kirby loses her baby the show just lost most of its story momentum.

It's like they concluded these intense storylines at the wrong point in the season. These things should have happened more at the end, around cliffhanger time. Everything that comes after that just seems weak and dull by comparison. Every character seems to get along much too well with each other after this point, completely forgetting all of the rivalries and conflicting agendas they had from the previous season. There was no real tension at this point, no plot cohesion leading up to an explosive cliffhanger ending like there was in Season 3.

The only plot worth with any real drama is that of Alexis trying to ruin Blake through the China Seas oil deal and her backroom agreement with Rashid Ahmed.

The beginning and above all the end are great but the middle is really so so. Not so boring than the second part of season 7 fortunately. But it really lacks of drama.

What do you consider the middle part of Season 4? I liked the high drama and swirling chaos of Jeff & Kirby's divorce, Kirby's illness, Fallon's engagement to Peter D., and Allegre kidnapped.

It's everyone under the same roof, getting along that rings incredibly false to me. That happens when Fallon comes home from the hospital. Snore....From that point on, it's dull until Alexis ruins Blake's China Seas deal. Then it gets fun again. Oh and Fallon starts having headaches.

Season 3 was much more outragous and a bit over the top, but in a delicious way. Claudia's breakdown with the doll was a classic Dynasty moment, and when they were taking her away to the sanitarium she says "Good-bye beutiful house and beutiful flowers..." I couldn't help but laugh. I loved the evil storylines involving Adam and Alexis's death-bed-wedding to Cecil.

Season 4 is not as colorful but there are some great moments. I especially liked the custody battle between Steven and Blake. Especially when the Sammy Jo returns to get revenge. I loved Sammy Jo when she was a total bitch. She was much more interesting that way. After the plot with Rita in season 7 the writers killed her character in my opinion. I never understood why she didn't become a regular cast member untill season 6 or 7.

I also liked the storyline involving Mark's death and Alexis's arrest. And when Alexis meets Dex. Also when Adam blames Alexis for trying to kill Jeff to cover up his own tracks. And of course the bitch-slapping scene between Claudia and Sammy Jo.

Season 1 had the best writing in my opinion.

I totally agree Bret!


For me, it's from the arrival of Peter to his departure. His character was boring and he made Fallon boring too. Before the lost of the baby of Adam and Kirby, they didn't do nothing. Tracy is uselss untill the last episodes (before that, there are a lot of episodes in which she appears in only one scene and has a little to do). Claudia hasn't material before the Lancelot's plot. And finally, it's terribly deceiving that Alexis didn't schemed anything to prevent the wedding of Blake and Krystle or to perturbate their honeymoon. Instead of that, she lived in her own spin-off, making love all the day with Dex and dancing country in bars. She rarely shares a scene with other characters (like in The Reunion for instance).
Do I have to mention Mark, lol?

Fortunately, the writers waked up in the last episodes and made a terrific job for every characters.

I absolutely agree. Peter Devilbis and Fallon had absolutely no chemistry--and the fake paralysis story was worse than ridiculous, it was completely predictable and boring. The problems with Fallon's character actually started with the 2nd season, though, her character never recovered after childbirth. She became too nice and too much of a victim.

The only thing that can be said for the Kirby-Adam story was that it wasn't predictable--it was about the only thing in the fourth season that wasn't. It was very distasteful to think of Kirby marrying her rapist. Again, the problem with the storyline started earlier in the 3rd season when they had Adam rape Kirby. I think the story would have been far more interesting if she had slept with him willingly despite her love for Jeff.

Undoubtedly the worst was the Tracy plot. Again, completely predictable. Was there any doubt that Blake was going to stay faithful to Krystle? Judging by the Singapore ratings, they really should have given Alexis the opportunity to use the Blake-Krystle estrangement to try and get Blake back. Having Blake show an interest in Alexis would have provided more tension among the characters. I really think it would have provided a boost to Fallon's character. Her conciliation with Krystle was forced and really took an edge out of the story. Knowing that her father didn't love Alexis as much as Krystle, I could see Fallon trying to help Alexis get Blake back to ensure she remained first in his life. I think it would have given Fallon her bite back.

Peter D. could have been more interesting if the actor hadn't been coked out most of the time. I guess he was so unhealthy that they gave most of his lines to his lawyer. THAT was boring. I liked the scene where he tries to tempt the impulsive Fallon into doing coke with him! I guess Art imitates Life. The scene after that where she runs into Blake with the champagne bottle made me wonder if she had actually gone for it after all. She seems more than drunk, like she did a line of coke, then champagne, then coke again.

If only Helmut Berger had kept himself together, it could have made a terrific storyline. Fallon would have become some drug-addicted party girl who ran around with him and then they could have written her off in a plane crash without having her break Jeff's heart again.

As for Kirby and Adam, they interacted mainly in Kirby's mind. She was scared out of her wits about the baby being his so she had nightmares. Then when they did have two scenes together, she was so awkward and cryptic that it made you wonder if Adam was going to figure it out. After all, she was wearing maternity clothes way before she had to. She was supposed to be 3 months along and instead was 5 months. People will notice something like that!

I thought the building tension for her secret to be revealed was one of the main reasons they didn't put Adam and Kirby in scenes together. So it was more of a shock for both characters when they were forced to interact. Hope that explains what I thought the writers meant with that plot.

ITA. They should have made her just sleep with him because she was attracted to him only sexually and frustrated with Jeff. She did tell Jeff that the reason she accepted his invitation to dinner was because she wanted to be treated like a woman. One can hardly blame her.

The rape storyline was the wrong way to go with this plot. As it was, they tried to backtrack from what was shown and indicate that Kirby 'gave in,' whatever that means , and that she found herself responding to Adam. Based on what she told Alexis, we get more information about that scene. She told Alexis that "your son raped me right here in this living room." Which supports my theory that it was non-ambiguous rape and there was no enjoyment at all for Kirby. In light of that, it makes her agreement to marry him completely baffling and repulsive. I liked Jeff's reaction to her, "Are you crazy?! After what he did to you!" Yeah, I think Kirby was starting to go round the bend at that point.