I used to watch Grey's Anatomy religiously, and when my then-roommate would tease me about the latest wacky plot point, I'd just say I was watching my "soaps." The more the seasons went on, and the more ludicrous things happened — a shooting in the hospital, a plane crash, and an amputation all within just the first few years — the more it fell into that genre of TV that's fun to watch despite being wildly unbelievable.
Suspending your disbelief can be strangely satisfying when you're trying to tune out things like budget-crushing inflation and the impending darkness of winter. Over-the-top shows allow us to focus on the insane mishaps and what-will-they-possibly-do moments of fictional characters rather than the comparably smaller (but perhaps harder to face) drama of our day-to-day lives.
Recently, the CW's reboot of the 1980s soap opera Dynasty (all modern seasons now on Netflix) filled that dramatic void. Who doesn't love a voyeuristic glimpse into the life of the 1 percent? Private jets and caviar-covered breakfasts are banal to the billionaire Carrington family, whose oil-based wealth faces the modern-day pressures of investors more interested in tech companies and clean energy. And honestly, what family spearheaded by wealthy assholes wouldn't deal with kidnappings, murder trials, vengeful stalkers and more?
SPOILER ALERT: Let's highlight some absurd plot twists that, although laughable, keep you coming back for more.
SPOUSE SWAPS
Throughout five seasons there's a ridiculous rolling cast of billionaire dad Blake Carrington's spouses. Blake's second wife Cristal dies, only to be succeeded by third wife Cristal (the woman whose identity Cristal 1.0 stole). Cristal 2.0 is inexplicably played by two different actresses, which makes it funnier when Cristal's cartel-involved brother replaces his sister with a lookalike imposter while holding her hostage. Meanwhile, Blake's conniving ex-wife Alexis is initially played by Nicollette Sheridan. After a face-melting fire incident her character gets "plastic surgery" and is played by a significantly younger woman for a few episodes (literally the same actress who plays Fallon, Blake and Alexis' daughter), and after the character AGAIN gets "plastic surgery" she is replaced by Elaine Hendrix.
SECRET SIBLINGS
Blake Carrington has a secret half sister, Dominique Deveraux, due to his dad's affair with his secretary. Blake's kids, Steven and Fallon, find out they have an older brother, Adam, who was kidnapped as a baby and reappears with a vengeance. Oh, and Steven is actually the son of major-domo Anders and not Blake (making him the half sibling of Anders' daughter Kirby) and we also learn that Alexis hid a pregnancy and gave up daughter Amanda to cousins in the U.K. Plus, Dominique hides stepdaughter Vanessa from her kids, Jeff and Monica Colby.
WEDDING SHOCKERS
Steven marries Sam, the "nephew" of Cristal 1.0 (the actors who play Sam and Cristal are literally two years apart...) but immediately freaks out and goes on a trip to South America. Steven meets a spirit guide he doesn't know is his long-lost brother Adam, who ultimately traps Steven in a mental hospital by convincing Sam and Fallon that Steven hallucinated the "guide" he keeps talking about in a drug-fueled spiral.
At one point, Fallon is set to marry Jeff Colby, but after sleeping with him, she finds out he's actually her cousin who's plotting to destroy their dynasty from within. She ensures the wedding is fake by marrying a random guy off the street beforehand so the marriage to Jeff can't be legal. That random guy, Liam, just so happens to be from another billionaire family and after their divorce from the fake marriage, he evolves into her real love interest. Adam almost kills Liam, who gets amnesia and has to remember his love for Fallon all over again. Then, their real wedding is ruined by the homicidal brother of Fallon's childhood friend Trixie, whose body is found in the lake on the Carrington Estate.
Believe it or not, there are so many more wild plot twists to discover if you, too, want to dissociate through dynastic drama. ♦