Melrose Place 1.06 “Shoreline” Recap

Even though there was a lot of character development on Melrose Place tonight, the episode was a tad bit tame. Just a tad. There was still a lot of crazy, a lot of zingers, and a lot of ‘eww’, the latter being courtesy of Violet.

Riley Richmond: A Model?

During a photo/video shoot for a WPK client named Anton V, Jonah finds out that he left a crucial camera piece for the shoot at home. He calls Riley to bring it in for him and when she gets there, Anton V falls for looks and wants to cast her in his newest campaign called Real Denim. Anton thinks Riley is the face of a real woman and feels that instead of casting a model, he should cast the real thing instead. First of all, Riley is hot and is, by far, NOT ordinary and secondly, the clothes he had on the model is not for an ‘ordinary’sized woman. I don’t know one thing about fashion, but I do know that we here in America are still lying to ourselves (and countless women) when it comes to what is considered a normal size in the model world. Anyway, Ella balks at the idea of Riley being a model, but goes with the plan since Caleb doesn’t want to upset Anton because Anton is a big client and Caleb wants to bed him. Well, Caleb, you should’ve assigned yourself to the account instead of letting Ella do your dirty work.

Ella breaks the news to Riley and while Jonah (and even Ella) is excited about the good news, Riley doesn’t want to do it, despite the pay being $10,000. Her reasons went from her not being model material to her first grade class needing her, but all in all, her reason were just a barrage of excuses that Ella saw through clearly. A fed up Ella declares Riley selfish, not because Ella didn’t win her over, but because Jonah had told Ella earlier that his videography business was going south. In other words, Jonah and Riley need the money. Badly.

Later, Riley gets a call saying that Jonah’s check for the apartment bounced even though Jonah says that he has money in the bank. The next day, Riley walks in on Jonah selling his camera to a guy for $5500. Riley stops the sale and demands for Jonah to come clean. Jonah discloses that since people aren’t requesting his services as much, he has had to scale down his pricing and that he is going broke and fast. The palm finally connects to the back of Riley’s head for her to suck it up and do what she has to do. Riley shows up at WPK the next day and accepts the job to Ella and Caleb’s delight.

At the shoot, Riley is breathtaking and Jonah is shocked that she took the job. She tells him to not hide things from her and that he can’t be Mr. Fix-It on his own. Really, Riley, I can’t keep defending you in the forums if you keep this up. I love you, babe and want you to do better!

Oh, and Caleb got a date with Anton. The only reason I mentioned this is because they wasted two minutes showing it and I hope that it turns into something to show that Caleb is more than a stereotypical snotty person.

Double Lives

Lauren catches the professional eye of Dr. Michael Mancini as he sees how good of a doctor she is. He tells her to say hi to David, before she answers a call from Wendi, who has set up a date that requires multiple girls on a yacht. Lauren accepts the job, but with some reservations that are quickly squashed by Wendi. Meanwhile, David meets with Hassan, the guy who buys his stolen goods. Hassan invites David to his cousin Amir’s yacht to talk about a field in stealing high priced art.

As Lauren leaves for the gig, she runs into David. The two seem to have some chemistry and I wonder if David has had all of the women in the complex sans Violet and Riley. Later on the yacht, Lauren meets another girl, Carla, who promises to get Lauren through the night. The guests arrive and Lauren spots David and immediately freaks out. She calls on Carla to be an distraction to leave the boat, despite Carla’s warnings of how Wendi will be pissed. Lauren escapes the boat and doesn’t look back.

David finds out that Amir wants David to go and retrieve a statue for him. David doesn’t take too kindly to being considered a fetch it boy and he insults Amir, who demands for him to be beaten on spot.

The next morning, Lauren sees a battered and bruised David and takes him to the hospital. Michael comes across David and demands to know what happened to him. David lies about him being in a motorcycle accident, but Lauren knows he’s lying and he slightly comes clean. After Michael demands Lauren to find out what happened and to report to him on all of David’s activities, Wendi calls Lauren and expresses her disappointment. Wendi eventually gives Lauren another chance in the end and tells Lauren that she is now in debt with her. Uh oh…

The Crazy Violet Moment of the Week: Her Presence?

In an attempt to pinpoint this week’s Crazy Violet Moment, I am torn between everything she did last night. First, she was found in Auggie’s apartment (unbeknownst to him) going through his things and rolling on his bed in ecstasy. David eventually walks in on the craziness, but Violet lies about house sitting for Auggie. She leaves, but with a letter to Auggie from Sydney stating that she fell off the wagon due to Michael hurting her. Violet flashes the Crazy Eyes and I shudder in fear for Michael.

Violet spruces up and drinks a crap load of energy sports drinks. I am lost about this action, but when I see her in Michael’s office it all makes sense. She went on an energy drink binge to make it seem like she had a heart problem for Michael, who is a cardiovascular surgeon, to check on her. But then I see what Violet is wearing and I am thinking: ‘NOOOOOO!!!!’

But Michael falls for her charm as she invites him to Coal later that night for a drink on the house. She heavily flirts with him, but he gets a call from his wife Vanessa (guest star Brooke Burns) asking him to come home to help with Noah, since their baby-sitter flaked. Michael makes note to Vanessa that he put in for a new sitter at a temp agency, but says that he is on his way. Violet follows Michael outside and then she seduces him into having sex with her (WTF?!??!?! and a slight ‘eww’) as she records it on his phone.

The next day after coming home from work, Michael finds out from Vanessa that she is in the process of interviewing a baby-sitter she likes. It’s none other than Violet. Michael is pissed and wants to know why she is there and Violet tells him that she is Sydney’s daughter and that she is going to make Michael’s life a living hell for what he did to Sydney. In a move to show that she means business, Violet takes his phone and plays the clip of them going at it in Michael’s car, sporting a menacing smile as she does it.

Now, you tell me which scene fits this week’s Crazy Violet Moment of the Week…

Observations

I wonder if Michael believes that Violet is not Sydney’s daughter and what he plans on doing to get her out of his life. Also, when Vanessa finds out what has been going on behind her back, I wonder will she take it sitting down or go mental. I pray she goes mental.

The Lauren plotline reminds me so much of when Sydney skipped out on a job hooking job back in season two of the original MP and how her madam, ironically named Lauren, came at her about the consequences of that happening again. I wonder if Wendi will be more menacing than Sydney’s madam was back in the day…

Caleb and another guest star got screen time alone this week. Again, I wonder where that is heading…

Is David’s thieving for thrills or is it actually for money? I’m slightly confused at this point.

Your thoughts?