‘90210’: Family drama

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Hallelujah! Last night’s episode -- all about families and the secrets they keep -- was an improvement over ‘90210’s’ frantically overstuffed pilot. Not that it was perfect but, hey, ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ never was, either. The iconic Fox series was, however, shamelessly addictive -- something the CW spinoff is starting to show signs of as well.

It took them all of a whopping week, but new kids Annie (Shenae Grimes) and Dixon (Tristan Wilds) are already so entrenched at West Beverly High -- what with rehearsals for the school musical, lacrosse and a posse of filthy rich friends -- that they simply don’t have time to sit down to breakfast with mom (Lori Loughlin) and their high school principal pop (Rob Estes). Which prompts said parents to insist on a Family Night like the ones they used to do regularly back in Kansas. Annie and Dixon aren’t sold on the idea for several perfectly solid reasons: (A) It’s a Friday night. (B) The proposed activity is -- oh, the old-fashioned horror! -- bowling. And (C) They’ve already made plans. Dixon’s been invited over to Navid’s (Michael Steger) to watch an advance cut of the new Bond film, and Annie -- she of the perpetually squinching eyes -- has scored a second date with ‘Spring Awakening’ lead Ty (Adam Gregory). Presumably, Ty suggests seeing a hot new band in L.A. rather than taking the private jet again because he is newly conscientious about the environment.

As it turns out, the Wilson kids have it pretty good in the parental department, especially compared to the rest of their West Beverly peeps. Wild-haired Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord) is counting on an annual trip to Vegas with her dad to help ease the pain of her recent breakup with lacrosse jock Ethan (Dustin Milligan), but he bails in order to make out with a woman who is not Naomi’s mother in his office parking lot. Oh, if only Naomi hadn’t gone and let her guard down in order to swing by with food from Nobu -- girl could’ve remained blissfully ignorant! Still, nothing would’ve likely prepared her for her mom’s reaction when she spilled the ‘news’: Yeah, sweetheart, I know. I’m cool with it -- as long as your father keeps gifting us both with new Mercedes SUVs!

Meanwhile, Silver -- who’s quickly shaping up to be one of ‘90210’s’ most intriguing characters -- is crashing at a women’s shelter where she volunteered last summer because her mom is a raging drunk. Like any good codependent kid, she won’t admit the situation to anyone -- not even big sis Kelly (Jennie Garth). Instead, when Kelly expresses concern over her perpetual lateness and wearied appearance, Silver’s all ‘It’s chic to look post-rehab, don’t you know?’

Meanwhile, Annie and Dixon, still too wholesome to outright bail on Family Night, have done the next best thing: Invited their friends and potential hookups to meet them at Lucky Strike. Naturally, they’ve also neglected to mention this to their parents. (Those Wilson sibs -- growing more Beverly Hills every day!) The two other points in Annie’s love triangle -- Ty and Ethan -- both show up, but I gotta say, so far that story line’s not exactly bowling me over. Ty’s just a recurring character and Ethan, though trying his hardest to be heartthrob cool, is just Steve Sanders bland.

Much more interesting were two other budding romances. First, guidance counselor Kelly and sexy-but-slightly-nerdy English teacher Ryan (Ryan Eggold), who met for dinner, as Ms. Taylor somewhat unconvincingly put it, ‘colleagues -- hanging out’ and wound up, by the end of the night, in a full-on make-out session. (Love. It.) Whoever the father of Kelly’s towheaded tyke turns out to be -- and however soon he shows up -- he’ll have some sturdy competition from the new guy which, story-wise, is a very good thing.

And then there was Dixon and Silver. Their sparky banter was woven throughout the episode, but it was after he found her crashing outside Casa Wilson in her car -- what else is a girl to do when the shelter’s all booked up? -- that we really started to see the possibilities. She finally came clean about her dirty domestic sitch and he admitted he could relate. Filling in some of the blanks about his life before he was adopted, Dixon explained, ‘I didn’t grow up in the Cosby family.’ What could’ve easily played cheesy wound up, in the hands of these two actors, being pretty sweet.

Which leads me to the best scene of the night: The reunion/confrontation between Kelly and her -- and Silver’s -- off-the-wagon mama, Jackie (Ann Gillespie). It came late -- at 8:55 p.m. to be exact -- but holy smokes, was it worth the wait! In a mere two-minute span, Hurricane Jackie managed to whip up memories of ‘Beverly Hills 90210’s’ glory days (remember that classic episode where she got trashed at the West Beverly fashion show?) and propel ‘90210’ into its potential must-watch future.

What did you think of the episode? How long will it take Silver, now firmly ensconced at Kelly’s crib, to discover her sister is dating her teacher? And finally, did you miss Brenda (Shannen Doherty) and the gin-swilling Wilson granny (Jessica Walter), neither of whom appeared in last night’s episode, as much as I did?

-- Shawna Malcom

(Pictured: Shenae Grimes as Annie and Jessica Lowndes as Adrianna, courtesy Michael Desmond / The CW)