We have arrived: peak Dynasty. So peak that I’m splitting Season 5 into two posts because: is big, is very very big. Peak fur fashion and peak ratings, as Season 5 is when it became the #1 show on TV. From Episode 7, there is an almost uninterrupted string of furs on the show until Episode 27. Since I’m splitting it up, I’ll touch on the whys of that in the next update, but, short version: no one packed furs for Moldavia.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 01

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 11:00 – sable stole, holding, brief, JC
• 21:15 – 23:30 – lynx stroller, LE

The season starts strong with a brief sable stole won by Alexis and a much better-shot lynx stroller on Krystle that has the courtesy to hang around a little longer. Now would be an appropriate time to wave “bye” to Alexis for the time being.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 02

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 30:45 – 32:40 – sable cuffs, DC
• 39:00 – 39:40 – white fox stole, DC

Dominique Deveraux closed out the last season and does the most work in the early part of Season 5. We start with some basic sable cuffs. Dominique is chatting with the duly appointed African-American-male-who-briefly-exchanges-lines-with-her-from-time-to-time. This role originated with none other than Billy Dee Williams, but it will be filled by progressively less well-known actors as the seasons progress.

The very full white fox stole seen later is a significant improvement.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 04

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 37:50 – 40:35 – sable hat + trim, DC
• 45:10 – 46:05 – black mink coat, DC

Dominque returns with sable trim and a hat, skipping an episode entirely here. I know, it’s a cape. Fortunately, while capes remained a “thing” this season, they were joined by enough sleeves to keep me happy, at least.

Case in point: Dominque finds a decent pair of sleeves on a mink coat later in the episode.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 07

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 43:50 – 46:20 – fox hat + trim, JC

Another episode skip, 2 this time, and now we shall address why. Until the end of this very episode, Alexis has been “benched” on the fur fashion front because she has spent most of this time in the slammer. Yes, her opening arc is spent chiefly in prison jumpers while on trial. Now, I would have expected her to be able to afford better lawyers and bail, but I suspect such considerations were neatly set aside for the sake of drama.

The good news is that we get a triumphant return in Episode 07, with what I would call a “signature” outfit: a dyed fox-trimmed top and hat.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 08

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 2:30 – 4:35 – ”
• 15:25 – 17:50 – white down robe, JC
• 19:00 – 19:55 – white fox hat

It’s so good; why not keep it going? There is zero time skip between the end of the previous episode and this one, so we see even more of the fox outfit. Alexis is having a little get-to-know-you session with her presumably-not-exceptionally-long-lost youngest daughter, Amanda, the newly arrived Catherine Oxenberg. 

Since I have been doing this already, I am counting the down nighties favored by Miss Colby. However, this season it is certainly overkill. 

Finally, there is a short scene with Alexis in a white fox hat later in the episode.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 09

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 19:20 – white fox trimmed wrap, brief, CO
• 24:30 – ‘’, brief, CO

Unlike Dominque, Amanda is not quite the “value add” on the fur fashion front, but she is not entirely absent from the roster. In this episode, she basically walks into two different locations holding a white fox stole or trimmed wrap. It is not on screen for particularly long in either scene.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 10

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 22:40 – 23:45 – black fox stole, JC

Alexis black fox stole returns in Episode 10. There are several furs that “return” in Dynasty this season, and this is one of them. 

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 11

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 25:30 – 27:20 – Brown trim JC
• 44:35 – 44:50 – white lamb coat JC

Episode 11 features this sable-trimmed dress, followed by an odd choice of Persian lamb stroller. I can only assume they were out of white fox that day? Pity.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 12

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 02:11 – 02:30 – lynx coat JC
• 09:15 – 10:10 – fox stroller LE
• 15:25 – sable hat + scarf LE
• 27:30 – 28:20 – black fox trim LE
• 28:45 – 30:20 – fox hat + stole JC
• 45:45 – 46:15 – fox jacket LE

Episode 12 is one of the “big ones” of Season 5, and it is also a Christmas episode, though I doubt that it was a consideration. We start with a frustratingly wide shot-only lynx that is not only distant but also covered by credits most of the time. It could be the same coat from S04E07, but it’s impossible to say for sure.

Krystle took some time off but returns in a fox stroller, at the hospital, of course. She follows it up with a relatively brief glimpse of what I suspect is a sable boa worn as a headband/scarf and, finally, with a black fox-trimmed red coat. This is only seen through a window, and unfortunately, it is not well shot either.

Alexis brings things back with a lovely gray-dyed fox hat and boa combo that is well-shot and on screen for some time. 

Krystle rounds the episode out with a different fox —well, vest—because the sleeves are knit. Someone in the costume department must love that because it is similar to the one she wore in S03E20, though that one had a knit collar instead of sleeves.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 13

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 02:30 – 03:20 – ”
• 06:40 – 08:45 – down trim nightie JC
• 20:40 – 23:00 – fox jacket LE
• 34:30 – 35:40 – black fox trim LE

Another “no time skip” on the fur fashion front. We return to Krystle and extra special peak Dynasty guest star Sammy Jo’s Baby Daddy (Rock Hudson) chatting. After Alexis finds another down-trimmed robe we’re back to the ranch, and Krystle’s knit sleeves mocking me.

Krystle rounds out the episode with another fur-trimmed hospital visit, though this one is black on black and kind of hard to make out.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 14

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 32:40 – 33:20 – belly lynx coat LE
• 37:20 – 38:50 – black fox stole? PB

Is there “peak” peak Dynasty? The giant belly lynx fur coat that receives 20 seconds of screen time in Episode 14 makes a case for it. I am… conflicted. If you weren’t picking up what I’ve been putting down lo the last few updates, I am an Alexis simp. I will state calmly that I feel Dame Collins should have worn “the best fur in the entire series,” but that is not the case, and I will accept that.

And just how peak is peak Dynasty? Claudia gets to wear fur! Yes, that’s right. Claudia, who you may remember previously “wore” a rather distressed stole in S03E03 to “subtly” convey she was bonkers, has received her junior fur-wearing license from the showrunners.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 15

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 10:05 – 12:20 – black fox trim  + hat JC
• 33:00 – 34:05 – black fox stole JC
• 39:25 – 41:20 – fox hat + vest JC
• 43:25 – 45:10 – black fox trim JC

Another possible return engagement is the black fox hat/cape combo from S04E10. The cape is lost quickly, but the hat sticks around, which is apropos since the black fox stole also returns a little later.

Fortunately, Alexis can afford some new furs, too. I guess she did save on those lawyers. A fox hat and trimmed vest combo appear near the end, followed by a black fox-trimmed dress.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 16

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 04:30 – 05:40 – black fox stole LE
• 29:05 – 30:20 – ” CO + pink fox cuffs JC

Did Krystle get black fox stole envy? Perhaps, though she certainly didn’t get a quality DP who knows how to showcase the fur in this scene.

Amanda, fittingly, has a junior black fox stole, a black fox boa, that she stumbles in wearing to be found by that-one-black-haired-guy-Alexis-sleeps-with-sometime. As the plotline involves the possible seduction of said black-haired guy by Amanda, Alexis walks in at the wrong moment, wearing the pink fox-cuffed robe from S04E16.

Dynasty Season 05 – Episode 17

Find-a-Fur:

(All times are approximate)

• 02:30 – 03:25 – down nightie JC
• 13:45 – 15:05 – black fur hat + coat JC
• 30:35 – 34:00 – fox hat DC + mink sleeves JC

Kicking off with more down nightie, we move on quickly to a very short-haired black fur with a rather rakish hat. 

Finally, in Episode 17, something rare in Dynasty happens: Two characters wear fur simultaneously. That would be Alexis’s mink sleeves while chatting with Dominque and her fox fur hat. While one might think (hope) it would have happened more often, it does not.

To be continued… Think if it like a mid-season cliffhanger, which was totally not a thing back when this show was on the air.