Lately, 90210 has been a little stale, recycling storylines and being unreasonably trite. However, tonight's episode, "Trust, Truth, and Traffic," gave freshness to the season. I'm not going to pretend that the show isn't just different puzzle pieces trying to fit themselves together. But a couple pieces found each other and the bigger picture is starting to show.
Annie, Dixon, and Austin
Last week, Dixon and Austin brought havoc and destruction to the sorority house after Holly caused the downfall of Austin and Naomi. Later, they find out that later that night, the house was set ablaze and burnt down. This left a number of sorority girls without a home, so inevitably, Bre (the girl who got Annie into the escort business) comes to Annie and asks her for some hospitality and giving her a place to stay. And of course Annie's going to bring her to Dixon and Austin's. They have no logical reason to say "No," besides the fact they might have been the cause of her homelessness.
Over dinner, Bre overhears Austin and Dixon discussing their acts of vandalism surrounding the arson. The next day, the police are knocking on their door. Because Austin isn't home at the time, Dixon is solely under arrest faced with counts of arson. Eventually Bre admits to Annie that she actually set the house on fire because if it was vandalized, the police were going to have to search it, and there was a good chance they would find evidence of their escorting. But Bre couldn't come forward because if she was found guilty, she would surely get jail time, whereas Dixon would get some community service. Annie was at a crossroads. She couldn't come forward to Dixon without admitting she had a hand in the prostitution scandal. Boy, do I love a moral tug-of-war. In the end, Austin comes forward, taking full credit of the vandalism and arson. I guess that means "So long, cowboy." It was fun while it lasted.
Silver and Adrianna
Navid told Adrianna about Silver dating her baby's adoptive father at the end of last week's episode. She desperately wanted to see her baby, who is now three. After eavesdropping in Silver and her boyfriend, Adrianna creates a diabolical plan. Okay, maybe "diabolical" isn't the right word, but I miss diabolical Adrianna, so give me a break.
Greg told Silver that she could pick up his daughter from day care, but Adrianna had a different idea. Pretending to be Erin Silver, Ade takes the kid and goes off with her. Meanwhile, Silver and Navid are looking all over the place, the former threatening to call the police. After finding a letter written by Ade to her just-born daughter, Silver realizes where they might be. She makes her way to this park and surely enough, they're there. Silver forgives Ade and they hold hands. As corny as this was, I was so relieved that the Silver-Ade tiff was over. And it was a pretty touching scene too.
Silver brings Ade to the house and Greg breaks up with her after accusing Silver of keeping such a secret from him. Really, there were a great deal of sighs of relief during this episode. Austin leaves. Greg leaves. Silver and Adrianna make up. Sh*t's coming together. You go, 90210.
Liam, Vanessa, and Naomi
For some reason unbeknownst to me, Vanessa decides to revamp and "reopen" the beach bar. How many times has this happened already? I feel like they're doing a grand opening every other week. She goes all out and Liam brings in the services of Naomi to aid the project. I can't say there was too much plot in this, but it was a nice filler. And plus, we got a nice Naomi/Liam one-on-one scene. They were good together. I miss that. The show should stop bringing in randoms and just keep the friencest (get it?) going.
On Naomi's side of things, she's failing Physics because no one on 90210 does homework, especially Naomi Clark. Her T.A., who looks a lot like her ex, Max, informs her that if she doesn't hand in the final project, she's not going to be able to become a sophomore. She decides that this guy just needs to have a little party fun and he'll let it slide. During the aforementioned Naomi/Liam scene, Liam gives Naomi the ol' WWMD (What Would Max Do?) and Max would have told her to suck it up and do the damn thing. At the party, even though T.A. guy would have given her enough extra credit to pass, Naomi instead pulls a final project out of her ass (figuratively, of course) and assembles a structure made out of pepper shakers, toothpicks, and bent forks. He gives her an A for the project, which puts her at a C. Completely not what happens in college (at least at mine), but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.
Ivy
Ivy, Ivy, Ivy. I see you getting a storyline. After a spot opens up at a gallery run by none other than Alex Rousseau her boyfriend's ex, played by Lost alum Tania Raymonde, Ivy presents her portfolio and Alex Rousseau rejects it. She returns a couple days later and argues that her work shouldn't be judged just on who the photographer is dating. Alex Rousseau understands and lets her into the gallery. Ivy looks completely badass in next week's episode, so I'm hoping and praying to the Beverly Hill Gods that the writers give her something good!
Sumology: 90210 appears to be on the uptick, bringing satisfying conclusions to multiple storylines and introducing some interesting new ones.
Grade: 8/10
Leftovers:
I'm not the only one who's glad that the show is suddenly dropping all its supporting characters, right?
I was filled with so much delight when I realized that that girl was Alex Rousseau. But then I was like, "Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Lost to 90210.
"Hook up with the right person and anything's possible."
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