Dynasty: Season 2

• Shrink-wrapped.

"That's a lie," an outraged Blake Carrington, on trial for murder, insists to his attorney, "She's lying." "She" is Blake's despised ex-wife, who has resurfaced in court to testify against him. And Blake, you'd better get used to it, because as Dynasty's second season unfolds, perjury will be the least of her offenses. Joan Collins joined the cast as the vengeful, scheming and manipulative Alexis Carrington and immediately put Dynasty on the as a formidable ratings rival to Dallas. It doesn't take long for Alexis to literally make herself right at home. She moves back into her former art studio on the Carrington estate and insinuates herself in the tumultuous lives of her ruthless ex-husband ("'Don't' and 'Can't' are not in my vocabulary," he procls), his "ever so noble" new wife, Krystle (Linda Evans), her sexually confused son, Steven (Al Corley), and her spoiled, resentful daughter, Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin). Events transpire in this instantly addictive sopre season at a fast and furious pace beginning with Alexis's divisive return and the verdict in Blake's trial, and proceeding with familial estrangement; calamitous accidents; shocking revelations; pregnancies; sexual shenanigans; infidelity; temporary blindness; a suicide attempt; and a kipping. And did we mention the introduction of luscious Heather Locklear as golddigger Sammy Jo, who marries Steven, or Alexis and Krystle's first "cat fight," a pillow-walloping, vase-throwing, furniture-cing smackdown? The writers oblige their game cast with delicious, menacing exit lines along the manner of "I won't rest until I pay you back." Another collateral pleasure is Brian Dennehy, devouring the scenery as the prosecutor out to get Blake (the line forms behind Alexis). For all its scandalous goings-on, Dynasty seems almost quaint today (in the courtroom, the word, "sexual" triggers a maelstrom of shocked murmuring). A blast from the "Greed Is Good" decade, Dynasty has lost little of its luster. It's wicked fun. --Donald Liebenson