90210 Season Two Review

Rebounded. Renewed Spirit. Rollercoster Ride. Train Wreck.

All those and more could describe the tumultuous sophomore season of 90210, The CW’s contemporary take on the pop culture classic, Beverly Hills 90210. While having a more cohesive year than it’s inaugural season did, 90210 had a few tears in some areas that looked like a hastily wrapped birthday present when it was all said and done. Now, don’t get me wrong. The kids of West Beverly’s junior year had a lot of great moments that brought plenty a stupid grin to my face, but those salient events were cocooned by a lot of tomfoolery nonsense, which unfortunately out shined the goods by being the most talked about moments of the season. Showrunner Rebecca Rand Sinclair kept her promise by declaring to help the show find it’s own groove and to leave the past in the 90s, but did the show get lost in it’s own vision quest? Not really, but I wouldn’t blame you if you thought it did.

While reports of the upcoming season slowly trickling in, I thought it would be great to take a look at some of the high and low points of the previous season to see where 90210 can improve on and leave far behind. Let’s start with the good, shall we?

The Good

Like I stated before, there were several good things about this season that got overshadowed by the crazy, but these little morsels of greatness still shined in my opinion and hopefully in yours as well.

New Students: Ivy and Teddy

While I was a bit cold to the two newcomers when they arrived, I quickly warmed up to them as they gave the crew of West Bev more to chew on in terms of story than the obscure, and painfully obvious, guest stars that paraded through the show this past year.

As soon as I saw Teddy, my mind screamed “Steve Sanders clone”, but I was thankfully wrong. A bit. Teddy has something that Steve Sanders rarely had in season two of the original series: a heart and a brain. While the tennis jock caused some trouble for my boy Navid and beloved Adrianna at the beginning of the year, he still managed to come out on top when he paired up with Silver, which was the only pairing I was truly rooting for all season. After we got to see more of the The Blue Eyed Wonder, it was just a matter of time before he would be added as a series regular, something that we had to wait on after another new castmember got her hire slip first…

After hearing about Ivy Sullivan’s character coming to the show, I wrote her off as a not being long for the world of 90210, but the surfer girl came to West Beverly and conquered my heart. I haven’t heard discontent geared towards Ivy, but I think she is a great addition to the cast. Why? Because she brings a different type of girl to the show, unlike Silver who isn’t as anti-social as she was last year, which necessarily isn’t a bad thing. So Ivy gets an A for bringing a different girl perspective on the show, even though she tries to fight the feelings that most girls have when it comes to boys.

Jen

While Jen was the annoying sister of Naomi for the latter part of Season One and most of Season Two, she slowly became a Joan Collins/Alexis Carrington and a fan favorite of mine. Not only did she bring a much needed element to the show, Jen gave Naomi something else to do than snarl at Annie any chance she got, which was a lifesaver in the eye and ear department, mind you. But like I said, Jen went from a one dimensional foil to a three dimensional Hell on Heels addition to the show. And another thing that I love Jen for? She’s given Ryan Matthews some sort of purpose other than to annoy me and the students of West Beverly. So dare I say Jen is some sort of savior in the 90210 world? Yessir, she is.

Cohesiveness – AKA “Group Lovin'”

One of the things we loved about the original West Beverly gang was that they did things together like a family. Now we all know that reality is not like that and so did the writers of nouveau 90210 realized this too, but what the writers did give us was something close to reality, with a tinge of nostalgia in the gang’s group time. While it was a bit hokey in some areas, the scenes played out nicely with my psyche… that is when there wasn’t any RME (‘rolling my eyes’) moments involved.

The Bad

Dixon’s Mother Storyline

This storyline was one that I was really looking forward to, but when we finally got to it, imagine my gawk factor when it really was a set up for Dixon’s gambling ‘addiction’ and another catalyst in the deterioration of Harry and Debbie’s marriage? Color me annoyed with this one…

Naomi Cries Wolf… Then The Wolf Actually Attacks

While this one really isn’t bad, it’s just unfortunate for Naomi, because she technically didn’t start this whole thing. Mr. Cannon did. When he asked her if she was trying to sleep with him, I thought that was something out of character for a teacher to ask a student, because she never insinuated that she would do that to get back on the Blaze. She was wrong for twisting it the way she did, but Cannon threw the bone and Naomi caught it and ran with it. Another reason this was an unfortunate event? With Naomi crying wolf before, people will not believe her, which unfortunately, is why Naomi might go through the ringer for most of next year.

Javianna

Javier came out of nowhere and too damn late for my tastes. As soon as Navid and Adrianna were about to reunite, Rico Suave wants to make an impromptu appearance and ruin everything. It wasn’t that he was a bad guy, just highly inconvenient at the moment. That is until the finale. I hope that Mr. Pop Star doesn’t stick around too long, because I for one would love a Navianna reunion. Besides, Diego Boneta is busy in Rosewood on Pretty Little Liars at the moment, which could be a good thing for my other favorite couple of West Bev..

The Death of Jackie Taylor/Weeding Out of Kelly Taylor

I can’t stress how much Jackie’s death was not handled the way it should have been. I mean, it was a decent sendoff, but there was no funeral, no emotional impact there. I know that most of the original 90210 stars couldn’t (or wouldn’t) show up for such a thing, but… I don’t know. I personally think that with Jackie Taylor gone, there was little to no need for Kelly Taylor to stick around. But… Oh, wait! Kelly is now Silver’s guardian! So it would only make sense for Kelly to be around in some capacity. Not too much, but you know. Stick her head in every now and then to say “Hello, Silver! Still taking your meds?” Instead, we had to watch painfully as Kelly ‘gained’ feelings for Harry before disappearing from our eyes. As you can see, I am bitter about this scenario, because it was a so-so send off for two iconic characters.

Naomi/Liam/Annie

The first half of the second season dealt with Annie being outcasted for sleeping with Liam, which she didn’t. That was Jen’s doing. But thanks to Naomi, Dixon’s lack of loyalty, an unfortunate sext, and Liam’s affinity of being a wuss when it came to the Clark sisters, Annie’s life was a living hell that sent her into the arms of a psychopath (read below) and Liam kept pining over Naomi with Jen blocking his every move to make things right. This storyline went on so long that I kind of didn’t care if Naomi and Liam hooked up again, and it seemed that the writers didn’t either since they broke them up again immediately afterwards.

The Ugly

Gade

The highly ‘anticipated’ (and hyped) lesbian storyline heated up between the heartbroken Adrianna and new gal pal Gia, but fizzled like a dud firecracker just as quickly. Turned out that Adrianna was a rebound for Gia’s own broken heart, which pissed me to the most infinite power, especially after Gia got on Ade’s ass for hiding their coupledom. In other words, the storyline didn’t live up to the hype. At all. But I did love Rumer Willis as Gia. Hope to see more of her soon.

Dixon Can’t Do Right

Out of all the characters this past season, it seemed that Dixon was the one who stayed in the crap pool the most. He experienced more trouble and awkward moments that I would’ve thought that he’d learned his lesson from a previous faux pas he had gotten himself in, but nooooooo. He refused to act right. Let’s count the misadventures of Dixon shall we? First, he gets mixed up with an older woman, which ended up in a faux pregnancy plot. Secondly, he tries to throw a wrench in the Teddy and Silver hookup for selfish reasons. Thirdly, he gets involved with gambling that quickly spirals out of control. Lastly, said gambling problems gets him in trouble with this season’s school douchebag, Mark, that lands Harry without a job. Then let’s not get started on him skipping the country without his parent’s permission. Hopefully, Dixon will mature next year about three years.

Harry Wilson’s Departure

We knew this was coming every since Rob Estes (no relation ;)) announced he was leaving the show. But that’s the problem. We KNEW it was coming, so why not give us a decent departure? Some fans thought that Harry would leave with Kelly on his arm or in some other elaborate way. Some rumors even stated he would die from trying to save Annie from Jasper, which would have been some finale! But the way Harry ‘left’ was as if Rob Estes quit during summer hiatus, leaving the writers to do damage control and salvage potential storylines. Now if that was the case, all would be forgiven, but will the guy even make an appearance in the season premiere? I highly doubt it, which makes the whole thing smell worse than Ryan Matthews’s car, which I bet has to smell God Awful. Goodbye, Harry! Hope you come back really soon! Seriously!

and The Downright Atrocious

Jasper

Oh. My. God. Where do I freaking begin?! This guy comes onto the show seemingly normal, yet antisocial. We initially thought that he will be clueless about Annie pulling a hit and run on his uncle, who died afterwards, and that he would be a harmless beau and would be hurt when he found out the truth. But what we got was a psycho to the tenth power that even Emily Valentine would be scared of. My hatred for Jasper grew to know no boundaries to the point that I really wanted this guy dead instead of fading into the guest star ether, because if he wasn’t dead then there was potential for him to return. List of major offenses? He pushed Navid down the stairs, stole Annie and Dixon’s car, set Liam’s boat that he had been building on since Season One on fire, and most of all, he created numerous headaches and screaming fits for me that I am still taking medication for. And he did all this for what? His love for Annie? Who has this guy been getting dating tips from? Mel Gibson?

The problem really wasn’t Jasper per se, it’s how long the writers drug this storyline out. Not only did it last all season, but now it’s heading into the next season! Jasper has sooooooooooooo over stayed his welcome and ruined the potential salvaging of Annie’s character with time wasted on trying to see how crazy they could make him. Hopefully this fool makes ONE appearance in the season premiere as the pulp on Liam’s fist, but in this world I doubt that will happen.

The New Horrid Opening Credits…

Need I say more?

The Finale

Oh, man, talk about a complete letdown. The finale was like sex with someone you have been dying to get with and when you do, it’s disastrous on so many levels. The finale was hyped more than the Gade saga and had people on pins and needles wondering how it was all going to end. Half of the stuff that we were looking for (Teddy confronting his father about Silver, Annie finding out that she was NOT responsible for the death of Jasper’s father) ended up on the cutting room floor or was changed completely. In retrospect, it wasn’t all that bad, but with knowledge of how it could’ve been, you can’t help but still have a sour taste in your mouth behind it.

Summary

The second season of 90210 started off great but got murky with Jasper’s presence (nothing against Zachary Ray Sherman, he played the part brilliantly) and other ball dropping moments. It wasn’t a complete disaster, but it was hard to not notice some of the whiplash inducing events that permeated throughout the season. I have extremely high hopes with Season Three, though, and can’t wait to see what Rebecaa Sinclair and crew have up their sleeve. I mean the woman did work with Joss Whedon, you know…

Grade: C+