Review: Dynasty Season 4 is out, it's time to settle down with a soda and popcorn

Dynasty's Season 4 dropped on Netflix last month and I’ve already binged it. (That’s what reading week is for, right?) It's one of my guilty pleasure shows, and with Elizabeth Gillies ever-present as the brilliant but acerbic Fallon Carrington, I was hooked from the pilot.

Spoilers below!

The show has its writing faults - where is Steven?? - and some characters start to become predictable. There are only so many times Adam can cycle between redemption and resident murderer. But nevertheless, Dynasty’s petty drama, witty lines and incredible costume styling keep me coming back.

One of Season 4’s biggest storylines is Fallon and Liam’s relationship. Their love is portrayed beautifully by Gillies and Adam Huber, even as their marriage proves not to be the concrete bond they hoped for. Their relationship is stripped bare, with roadblocks like Liam’s new, obsessive interest in an exposé to clear his father’s name and Fallon’s drive to continue the Carrington dynasty with a skewed concept of 'work-life balance'. This train wreck culminates with #Falliam teetering on the edge of divorce when it is revealed that, well, this is one twist I’ll leave for your enjoyment.

The first episode also immediately slaps viewers with a mystery character death. They tease a lot of near-death situations, with Cristal’s (Daniella Alonso) health scare, Kirby's (Maddison Brown) stabbing and overdose, and Fallon and Liam getting held hostage. Again! But to my utter devastation, it is Anders (Alan Dale) who meets his end, and it's all the more heart-breaking as he dies after banishing Kirby from the manor. I thought Season 4 handled the theme of grief well, and this arc repeatedly brought me to tears as he continues to appear to each character to offer advice and help them start to heal.

Overall, I quite liked this season of Dynasty. I enjoyed seeing Fallon taking the lead of the family, but also realise how to care for her loved ones. It was also good of the writers to explore more friendships like Sam (Rafael de la Fuente) and Culhane (Robert Christopher Riley), and I'm interested to see how new character Amanda (Eliza Bennett) will fare. With it all ending on a huge cliff-hanger, I can’t wait to see what happens with Season 5.