Once again, I found myself really enjoying this episode like I enjoyed the previous episode. I probably enjoyed just about as much I enjoyed the previous episode. I found all of the storylines thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining.
My favorite storyline was definitely Silver, Naomi, and Adrianna going after Mr. Cannon and trying to get proof that Mr. Cannon really had raped Naomi. One of the main reasons I liked it was the fact that almost of the girls, with the exception of Ivy, had a lot of scenes together in this episode. I feel like some of the girls had storylines that kept them away from the other girls last season, namely Annie. Although, having Annie off doing her own thing last thing was kind of the point of her storyline last season because she was supposed to be an outcast after everyone thought that she had slept with Liam in the season one finale.
I have to say that I kind of felt sorry for Silver having to take advantage of Mr. Cannon creepy obsession with her as a part of their plan to get poof that he actually raped Naomi. Although, I have to say that the scene where Silver is instant messaging with him while Adrianna and Naomi were telling her what to say in order to get him to agree to meet her at a hotel and how they thought adding dots to the end of her sentences would make them sound sexy was hilarious.
Once they were all at the hotel, they installed a hidden camera in Silver’s hotel to film her with Mr. Cannon while they watched them in another room. In the end, their plan backfired and it turns out that Mr. Cannon was one step ahead of them, and he brought the principal and the school’s therapist with him when he went to the hotel to meet Silver. He told her that after they talked to each other on the Internet he went to the principal and showed her the transcript of their chat on the Internet. Apparently the principal and the school therapist told Mr. Cannon that Silver is bipolar, so he convinced them that Silver’s behavior was merely due to a bipolar episode. Given the fact Silver is bipolar, they decided to not to treat the situation as a disciplinary matter, but they would be speaking to her parents and she had to agree to talk to the school therapist. The fact that Mr. Cannon managed to outsmart Silver, Naomi and Adrianna really pissed me off. Although, I have to say that even before I saw this episode for the first time I knew that something would happen to keep them from getting proof Mr. Cannon actually raped Naomi this early in the season.
This brings me to my main complaint about this episode. Silver is supposed to be living with Kelly even though Jennie Garth doesn’t want to guest star on the show anymore. We’re supposed to know that Kelly is around, we simply don’t see her anymore, so you would think the school would know that and should have said that they would be contacting her. Also, Kelly is supposed to be the school’s guidance counselor, and suddenly the school has a therapist? I know that some high schools have more than one guidance counselor, but that just seems weird to me, but since Jennie Garth doesn’t want to be on the show anymore and the producers decided that they didn’t really want to feature cast members from the original Beverly Hills 90210 anymore, I think we’re supposed to overlook all of these inconsistencies and details.
My second favorite storyline was definitely Teddy’s. Teddy and Ian were serving time in detention as punishment for their fight in the previous episode when the principal offered to cut their detention time short if they cleaned the gutters on the school roof since the janitorial staff had more work that they needed to get done than they had janitors to do the work. The principal told them that they had use the long claw apparatuses that they had given them; I’m not sure what they are called, to clean the gutters and that they weren’t allowed to go on top of the roof to clean the gutters, but of course they ended up going on the roof anyway. I don’t blame them for not obeying her instructions. Using those tools to clean the gutters makes no sense to me at all, because they wouldn’t be able to see what they were doing or if they had gotten everything out of the gutters. I think the whole thing with them being told that they couldn’t go on top of the roof was merely a plot device to get them on the roof where the real problem that they had to deal with unfolded.
Once they were on the roof Ian used the gutters as a metaphor to give Teddy a hard time about not being able to accept the fact that he’s gay, saying that gutters hide garbage in them and they get more and more garbage in them until they eventually break. Teddy got frustrated and lunged at Ian, which caused at Ian to almost fall off the roof. Luckily, Teddy caught Ian and kept him from falling off the roof, but Ian broke part of the gutter with his foot when he almost fell. Teddy immediately got mad, because he thought the principal would extend the amount of time that they had to serve in detention if she caught them on the roof with the damaged gutter. Luckily, it turned out that Ian had some tools in his car and they managed to fix the broken gutter and get off the roof right before the principal came back without her finding out that they had gone on top of the roof. She told them that they were done serving their detention and that they were free to go.
Once they were alone together, Teddy apologized to Ian for hitting him and for calling him a fag. Ian made a joke saying that dying by falling off the school roof would be a pretty dramatic way to die. He quickly ruined the moment by telling Teddy that he knew what he was going through, because he went through it when he was coming to terms with his own sexuality. Teddy got mad and walked off. I know that Ian was trying to be helpful and trying to make Teddy feel better, but I don’t think he should of said that to him simply because Teddy’s made it pretty clear to him that his sexual orientation is a pretty touchy subject for him to talk about right now.
Toward the very end of the episode, Teddy was making out with a girl that had asked him if he wanted to hook up with her at the beginning of the episode, but he had rejected her then. They were about to have sex when she noticed that he didn’t have an erection. Of course this being a teen drama, they could state that outright. He told her that he wasn’t turned on by her simply because he didn’t think that she was all that hot. Although, it’s pretty obvious that he had decided to hook up with her because he was feeling insecure about his sexuality because of what Ian said to him earlier and he was trying to prove to himself that he’s straight. I have to say that I think Trevor Donovan did an amazing job in this episode and his season three storyline as a whole.
One last thought that I have about Teddy’s storyline with Ian in this episode is that I thought Ian was hilarious when he was talking to the principal when she told them that she wanted him and Teddy to clean the gutters. When he was rambling on and on and saying that she would be able to eat out of the gutters once they were done cleaning them, Kyle Riabko really reminded me of Seth Cohen from the O.C. and the way that Adam Brody played the role, which was really fun for me to watch.
I have to say that I once again loved Liam in this episode, mainly because I feel like he really acted the way he did when they first introduced Liam back in the first season and he came across as this dark, brooding and moody bad boy with the way that he lashed out at Annie when she found out that he was living in his car and later trashed Charlie’s hotel room that he had invited him to stay in was classic Liam, if you ask me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always loved Liam, but I feel like he lost most of that edginess in season two when he was trying to prove to Naomi that he hadn’t slept with Annie and that Jen had manipulated him into sleeping with her in the season one finale and began to hang out with the other guys more in the second season. I’m glad that the writers brought back some of that bad boy quality that Liam had initially had as a character, but also gave him some comedic material as well this season, which has been fun to watch.
However, I have to say that Liam’s anger toward Annie for dating Charlie is still frustrating me since she didn’t know that Charlie was his brother when they started dating. I just feel like he’s being really unfair to Annie.
In addition to being involved somewhat with Naomi’s storyline and continuing her relationship with Charlie, Annie’s storyline with being Catherine’s egg donor also continued. The episode began with Catherine showing Annie how to do the hormone injections to get her body ready for when they harvest her eggs. I know I said this in my last thoughts posts, but I don’t get why Catherine and her husband would ask a girl in high school to be their egg donor. I don’t think that most teenagers would be able to understand that donating some of their eggs if they’re a girl, or their sperm if they are guy would ultimately result in the conception of a child that’s biologically theirs’, but they will probably never see the child depending on who they are donating some of their eggs or sperm to.
Meanwhile, Debbie got a job as Jen’s personal assistant who hired her on a trial basis. I thought that Jen was a total bitch to Debbie, constantly insulting her and for telling her that she was extremely under qualified for the job and that she was basically giving her the job because she felt like Debbie had a certain sense of desperation that she was responding to. Jen gave Debbie a long list of things to do such as renew the club membership and making a spreadsheet of the cost of the food they make at the country club she owns, as well as other spreadsheets. Debbie ended up finding the bag of the hormone drugs in Annie’s room when she was trying to work on the list of things Jen gave her to do and was calling Annie to ask her how to use the flash drive Jen gave her. Debbie immediately assumed that Annie was doing drugs, so she confronted her about it.
Annie told Debbie about Catherine’s offer, which Debbie immediately objected to. Annie told her that she was doing because they knew that they needed the money, because Debbie had been bouncing checks and was getting final notices from bill collectors. I’m glad Debbie pointed out that Annie was too young to be an egg donor from someone, but I thought it was pretty harsh on Annie’s part to tell her that nobody would want to hire a housewife with no college degree and no skills. I don’t get why the writers have been writing Debbie as someone who dropped out of college and can’t get a job anywhere this season. Maybe they did it to give Debbie a storyline and to give something for Lori Loughlin to do on the show this season. I’m not sure
When Debbie gave Jen everything that she had told her to do, Jen promptly threw it in the trash and told her that that was “just busy work” to see if she had a can-do spirit and told her that she wouldn’t be doing anything like that. Instead she told Debbie that she would be doing things like getting her coffee and brushing her hair when she’s lying by the pool. I can’t believe Jen told her that she was under qualified for the job if she was going to be doing stuff like that. I’m glad Debbie told her off and said she didn’t want to take the job when Jen told her that she got the job, because I wouldn’t want to work for someone life that either.
Jen’s water broke right after that, so Debbie told her that she would take her to the hospital. Jen agreed, but she told Debbie that they would take her car because she looked like she drives a minivan. That was a pretty bitchy thing for Jen to say to Debbie when she needed her help, but at the same time I did think that it was pretty funny.
Once Jen was at the hospital, Ryan showed up at the hospital looking for her, but he quickly figured out where she was when he heard her yelling and screaming at the doctors and nurses. Once Ryan had found her room, she told him that she wanted to kill the doctors and nurses. Soon after that, the baby was born and Jen and Ryan learned that the baby was a boy and not a girl like they had initially thought. Jen started freaking out, because she wasn’t ready for a boy, but Ryan reassured her that everything would okay.
Jen wanted to name the baby Jacque, but Ryan told her that he would be calling him Jack, because he could already imagine the kids at school calling him Jockstrap when he got older. I don’t blame Ryan for wanting to call him Jack, because Jacque is a ridiculous name for a kid to have even in this day and age, if you ask me.
Jen was also bossing the nurses around telling them to change Jacque/Jack’s diaper, but they refused to. I thought it was hilarious when Jen told a nurse that she was fired after she refused to change the baby’s diaper. I’m glad the nurse told her off and said that she didn’t work for her. When the nurse refused to change Jacque/Jack’s diaper, Jen asked Debbie to change his diaper, but she told her that she needed to say please when she asked people to do things.
Debbie also told Jen that if she was going to work for her that she would need health benefits and that Jen would have to pay her overtime if she had to work over forty hours a week. I’m glad that Debbie finally stood up to Jen because it’s obvious that Jen doesn’t realize how rude she is to people. After all, she did tell Debbie that she didn’t have any idea why her last several assistants had quit. Jen really needs to be nicer to people.
Annie was with Debbie at the time, and she realized that her mom wasn’t completely incompetent like she had thought her mom was and apologized to her. Annie also told her that part of the reason why she had accepted Catherine’s offer was because she blamed herself for her parents’ financial problems because her legal bills for the hit and run had been absolutely crazy. Annie also told Debbie that she also thought she was the reason that she and Annie’s dad, Harry, were getting a divorce. Debbie assured Annie that none of that was her fault and told her that she and Harry had been having a lot of marital problems long before all of that happened.
That’s another thing that frustrated me about the show, not this episode, but season two mainly. Toward the end, the writers suddenly acted like Debbie and Harry were having a lot of marital problems without much buildup or development toward that reveal. That sudden storyline was obviously developed as a way to write Rob Estes off the show since he decided to not come back for season three at the last minute.
Annie also realized that she couldn’t handle donating some of her eggs to Catherine and her husband so they could have a child after she held Jacque/Jack. I’m really glad that Annie realized the gravity of situation and what donating some of her eggs to Catherine and her husband would mean. I still don’t have any idea why Catherine and husband asked Annie to be their egg donor in the first place.
Toward the end of the episode a nurse brought a cot into Jen’s hospital for Ryan to sleep on because she assumed that he would want to stay with Jen and baby Jacque/Jack. At first Jen acted like she didn’t want Ryan to think that she wanted him to stay, but she reluctantly admitted to him that she wanted him to stay and he agreed. They later showed Jen waking up in the middle of the night and looking at Jacque/Jack who was resting in Ryan’s arms while Ryan slept. I have to say that while Jen can be a total bitch sometimes, there are definitely moments when I can sympathize with her, and I think that Sara Foster plays the role very well. She’s really able to make Jen come across as a total bitch, but at the same time that quality makes her really funny. Plus, the writers are great about giving Jen moments where you can like her.
I also really liked Dixon’s storyline as well. Dixon was freaking out about the fact that he might have HIV after Sasha told him that she was positive in the previous episode. He went to the doctor to get tested. It turns out that the doctor that he saw was played by Robert Gant from the show Queer As Folk. I thought that it was kind of funny that Robert Gant played the doctor that Dixon saw to get tested considering the fact that the character he played on Queer As Folk was HIV positive.
Thinking that his test results would come back positive for HIV, especially after a nurse told him that he would have to come in to get his test results, Dixon broke up with Ivy who turned to Oscar for comfort. In the end, it turned out that Dixon didn’t have HIV. The doctor simply wanted Dixon to come see him so he could to talk to him about the importance of practicing safe sex. Dixon called Ivy at the very end of the episode so they could talk and get back together, but they showed her cell phone ringing, as she was lying in bed asleep with Oscar after they had had sex with each other.
I have to say that a part of me wishes that it would of turned out that Dixon was HIV positive, because it would have been an interesting storyline and being HIV positive is something that some teenagers have to deal with in real life. Plus, I do think that Dixon can be the most boring character on the show at times. I’m wondering if the writers even considered going that route with this storyline.
All in all, I absolutely loved this episode for the most part. My main complaint that I have about this episode is all of the plot holes and inconsistencies that the writing for this episode had with Silver trying to help Naomi get proof that Mr. Cannon actually raped her. Plus, the whole thing with Debbie suddenly being written as a college dropout who can’t get a job anywhere and doesn’t have any marketable skills in the job market still all just seems very contrived to me. However, I definitely like 90210 a lot more than Gossip Girl like I’ve mentioned in my past thoughts posts, because the kids on 90210 are definitely more relatable. They are dealing with a lot of real life issues that a lot of teens and college kids are actually dealing with in the world today.
Also, the kids on 90210 actually act their age unlike the kids on Gossip Girl, and their storylines aren’t redundant where almost all of their storylines revolve around basically the same subject. For example, Serena constantly having problems with her love life or Chuck always being obsessed with business and trying to act like he’s in his forties when he’s in his early twenties. I just can’t relate to the characters on Gossip Girl all that much unlike 90210 where I can really relate for the characters and sympathize with their problems. I still love Gossip Girl though. All that being said, I give this episode a rating of an A-.
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