Driven by the new head writer and producer
Camille Marchetta, who had devised the wildly successful "Who Shot J.R.?" scenario on
Dallas five years earlier,
Dynasty hit #1 in the fifth season. During the season,
Dynasty attracted controversy when Rock Hudson's real-life
HIV-positive status was revealed after a romantic storyline between his character Daniel Reece and Evans' Krystle. Hudson's scenes required him to kiss Evans and, as news that he had contracted AIDS broke, there was speculation Evans would be at risk. The event led to a
Screen Actors Guild rule requiring the notification of performers in advance of any scenes that require open-mouth kissing. Undoubtedly the most famous
Dynasty cliffhanger is the so-called "Moldavian Massacre" which occurs in the May 15, 1985 fifth-season finale. Amanda and Prince Michael's royal wedding is interrupted by terrorists during a military coup in Moldavia, riddling the chapel with bullets and leaving all of the major characters lying seemingly lifeless. Esther Shapiro later said, "It was a fairy-tale terrorist attack. It was beautifully shot, like a Goya painting." It became the most talked-about episode of any TV series during the calendar year of 1985, with a viewership of 25.9 million. In 2011, Ken Tucker of
Entertainment Weekly named it one of the seven "Unforgettable Cliff-Hangers" of prime time dramatic television. ==Plot==