I Hardly Recognized You

"**I Hardly Recognized You**" is the first episode of the first season of The CW's *Dynasty*. It premiered on October 11, 2017.

## Synopsis

**SERIES PREMIERE** — Fallon Carrington is charismatic, cunning, and poised to become the new COO of her father Blake's global energy empire – or so she thinks. Along with her brother Steven, Fallon is horrified to learn that they were called home not to announce her promotion – but rather to make the acquaintance of their stepmother-to-be, Cristal. When Blake chooses Cristal over his own daughter, Fallon sidles up to Blake's biggest rival, Jeff Colby, to seek her revenge. Meanwhile, when Cristal's nephew Sammy Jo comes to town, her carefully concealed history could bring her future crashing down – and who knows who else she might take down with her.

## Plot Summary

**SPOILERS AHEAD**

* Plot Outline
* Plot Summary

Heiress Fallon Carrington is unhappy to find her billionaire father Blake engaged to Cristal Flores, and plots to drive a wedge between them by giving her father photos of Cristal with her former lover Matthew Blaisdel. Fallon's plan backfires, pushing up the wedding and securing Cristal the promotion Fallon wanted for herself. Feeling underappreciated by Blake, Fallon sets herself up as his business rival, backed by Blake's nemesis, Jeff Colby. Anders, the Carrington family butler, makes his knowledge of Cristal's shady past known to her, and the arrival of her opportunistic nephew Sam—who has just slept with Fallon's brother, Steven—puts her in further jeopardy. Matthew is killed in the aftermath of a suspicious explosion, and his unstable wife Claudia appears at Blake's wedding to accuse him of her husband's murder.

Flying high on her personal jet, go-getter of the family, Fallon, took over the path her brother Steven should be on when it comes to the family business. Unfortunately for their father, Fallon is, well, a girl. Her brother Steven is a homosexual, bleeding heart, liberal who lacks his father's cut-throat personality.

Fallon isn't giving up though. She returns home as per her father's request, making a pit stop along the way to sleep with her father's chauffeur, Michael, who fills her in on her father's recent business transactions. One of which involves a possible deal with the Braves. She hopes this is it. She'll finally step up into the role of COO.

When she arrives home to the sprawling Carrington manor, surprisingly, Steven is back from Haiti. Their father, Blake, has a major announcement and he wants both of his children there. He is engaged to be married and he wants them to meet his new love, Cristal Flores.

Cristal is a sweet brunette who works for Blake. And according to Blake, she isn't the type of woman Fallon will be able to chase away easily. That doesn't mean Fallon won't try. It's obvious that Cristal isn't as sweet as she seems because she is maneuvering the crazy Carrington family dynamic just fine so far. After a quick meeting with her soon to be step-children, Cristal takes off to meet her girlfriends to celebrate her engagement. Telling all of her friends just how much she loves Blake.

The next morning, Blake checks his email after Cristal gets out of bed. He has been sent a picture of Cristal and her ex-boyfriend, Matthew, meeting up the night before. He doesn't say anything but just goes with the flow and takes part in some elegant pre-wedding pictures outside pictures with his soon-to-be bride. He has invited his best field engineer to stop by the house. Matthew shows up. Fallon is eating it up while Cristal looks terrified. Matthew and Cristal pretend not to know one another too well.

That night at dinner, things are extremely uncomfortable for the new family of four. Steven comes home. He is angry his dad sent him to look into a possible opportunity at Windbriar because the associate there was also gay. Fallon makes an obvious observation after hearing that Steven was sent - her father is a master manipulator. Cristal seems to agree after his Matthew stunt. Blake is left sitting at the dinner table alone.

That night, Fallon takes it upon herself to hash out a deal for the Braves with an old acquaintance, Jeff Colby. She just can't seem to stop working, and working for her father's approval. Meanwhile, Steven sits on the sidelines, staying away from all of the chaos like Switzerland. Can you be this normal given the family he comes from? It is clear, Steven might have something up his own sleeve.

Blake shows up at Cristal's. He has come to apologize. After sharing that Fallon was the source of the photo, Cristal is angrier than ever. But Blake has a proposal that will make her sour mood go away. He wants to move up the wedding date. Now Fallon is the angry one, and becomes even angrier when she comes home to see Cristal in a wedding dress.

Cristal tells her new step-daughter that she has been offered the COO position. Fallon rips part of the neckline of her wedding dress prompting the two to tangle. The gloves are off. These two hate each other! It makes you wonder why Cristal would want any part of this family. We learn later that Cristal has something to hide when Sammy Jo, her nephew, shows up at the wedding and tells Steven that Cristal is the black sheep of their family.

The wedding has lit a fire of vengeance under Fallon. She makes a deal with Jeff after the ceremony that will allow her to run her own company, taking Windbriar as her first client and placing her father's company as her new competition. Blake is beside himself when Fallon rubs it in his face during the reception. Don't forget, she has the inside track on her father's company thanks to Michael. Let's see if he is willing to play spy still after Fallon leaves the wedding with Jeff arm in arm.

Before taking off on her honeymoon, Cristal is pulled aside by the family butler. He knows all about Cristal after some digging. He wants her know, but he isn't going to say anything yet!

While in the fields working for Blake, Matthew gets hurt after an explosion occurs. He is laying on the ground and tells his co-worker to call Cristal to tell her he is injured. His wife Claudia is the one who is notified. She shows up at the Carrington's just when Blake and Cristal are out front with all their guests, saying their goodbyes as they head out on their honeymoon.

Claudia's arrival shakes them all to the core when she gets out of her car yelling and crying at Blake for killing her husband. Cristal staggers in her heels a bit and looks like she might die of a broken heart.

## Cast

* Nathalie Kelley as Cristal Flores
* James Mackay as Steven Carrington
* Robert Christopher Riley as Michael Culhane
* Sam Adegoke as Jeff Colby
* Rafael de La Fuente as Sam Jones
* Alan Dale as Joseph Anders
* Grant Show as Blake Carrington

Guest Starring* Nick Wechsler as Matthew Blaisdel
* Brianna Brown as Claudia Blaisdel
* Wakeema Hollis as Monica Colby
* Dave Maldonado as Willy Santiago
* Jordan M. Cox as Ryan
* Devyn Tyler as Brianna
* Chelle Ramos as Libby
* Shawn Passwaters as Don Jr.
* Morgan Roberts as Eric
* Fiona Hardingham as Alice
* Amelia Jeffries as Ida
* Brandi Payne as Desk Clerk
* Denitra Isler as Waitress
* Zack Arias as Photographer
* Daniel Norris as Thumper Driver
* Suzanne Salhaney as Glynnis
* Skylar Morgan Jones as Young Fallon
* Paul Luke Bonenfant as Young Steven
* Craig S. Murphy as Minister
* Trayce Malachi as Village Kid

Uncredited* Aiden as Bo
* Unknown as Alexis Carrington *(hinted)*

## Trivia

* The title of the episode comes from a line said in the original Dynasty 1981 series, first said by the original Alexis Carrington, portrayed by Joan Collins, to Krystle Carrington in the Season 6, Episode 21: *Masquerade*.
	+ In the 2017 reboot, Fallon says it to Cristal when she sees her in the wedding gown: “*You look so elegant, I hardly recognized you.*” This is the exact same line as in the original series.
* Liz Gillies ate at least eight chocolate bride heads for her scene with Cristal in her wedding gown.
* The ladies did their own catfight, in heels; this is different from the original TV series which used male stunt doubles.
* There are several visual tributes to the original pilot throughout — in costume, compositions, props, etc.
	+ Fallon returns to Atlanta from Denver. That is where the original *Dynasty* series was located.
		- This might be interpreted as a transition between the original and the reboot.
	+ There's a nod to Bill Conti's original theme song since that's what young Steven is playing on the piano.
		- You can also notice Alexis filming Steven in the mirror.
	+ Blake interrupt Krystle's/Cristal's bachelorette party with her friends in both episode : in one he came to her appartement offering her diamond earrings, in the other he offers them champagne ;
	+ In the original, Krystle is lost making choices for the wedding and Steven proposes the wedding to take place in the ballroom with strings for the music, in the reboot Cristal told Anders she doesn't want the engagement party to take place in the ballroom with a string quartet ;
	+ In both episodes Fallon wears a black and white dress to the wedding, eat the head of the chocolate bride from the wedding cake and interrupts Cristal/Krystle's bridal make-up preparation ;
	+ In the original, there's a problem at one of Walter's rig and a guy end up harmed, in the reboot, there's a problem with a windmill and Matthew gets killed ;
	+ In both episodes Fallon plays pool with a Colby family's member : Cecil in 1981, Jeff in 2017 ;
	+ Fallon caught Cristal's bouquet during the wedding, before throwing it to Steven, this is a reference to the original Dynasty series.
		- **[SPOILER]** This scene also foreshadow that Fallon will get married in episode 15 and Steven in episode 22.
	+ When Blake and Krystle are leaving for their honeymoon, they are stopped by Walter accusing Blake of destroying his rig, in the reboot, it's Claudia accusing him to killing her husband.
	+ Blake and Fallon's discussion by the stables might be a reference to Blake and Fallon riding horses in the original episode.
* There are also many noticeable differences between the original and the reboot :
	+ The setting is moved from Denver to Atlanta ;
	+ Krystle is renamed Cristal and is Latina rather than White :
	+ The Colbys are now African-american rather than Whites ;
	+ Sammy Jo is now a gay man rather than a woman ;
	+ Matthew Blaisdell dies in this episode while he dies at the end of season 1 in the original, even making a return in Season 7.
* The show is set and shoots in Atlanta, and around the time the pilot was shot, it was spring and everything was budding just in time for Cristal's wedding.
* David Bowie's “Modern Love” was there on the page from day one and the crew were glad they were able to use it as the perfect theme for Cristal, the untraditional bride.

## Quotes

**Fallon**: Like it or not, we live in an age of dynasties. Who else can you trust to run the family business?

**Fallon**: (*seeing Cristal in her wedding gown*) You look so elegant, I hardly recognized you.

**Fallon**: Bite me, Cristal.

**Cristal**: Please, call me mom.

**Steven**: Forgive my sister. She thought she was getting a promotion, not a stepmother.

## Multimedia

### Images

* Promotional
* Behind the Scenes

## References

1. ↑ http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/wednesday-final-ratings-oct-11-2017/
2. ↑ This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).
3. ↑ http://ew.com/tv/2017/10/11/dynasty-premiere-blog-sallie-patrick/
4. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0567436/characters/nm0001058
5. ↑ http://ew.com/tv/2017/10/11/dynasty-premiere-blog-sallie-patrick/
6. ↑ [1]
7. ↑ [2]
8. ↑ [3]
9. ↑ [4]
10. ↑ [5]
11. ↑ [6]