'Melrose Place': The one with the four former tenants

Oh, "Melrose Place." First you entice fans of the first show by dropping former cast members into various plot lines as quickly as you drop said plot lines. Then we're told that we've moved on from the old characters and that the children are the future. Then, in this episode, you give us the best of both worlds when all four former characters who have shown up on screen and who are not really, really dead reunite, appropriately in the courtyard. And they weren't even the ones who fought and ended up in the pool.

Actually, the Jane/Michael/Amanda/Jo reunion (for one night and one night only!) wasn't nearly as contrived as expected, even if Jo, Michael and Jane weren't at all suspicious as to why the others were there. Jane was finally coming to collect on Amanda's need to live in the penthouse again and search for the missing painting, and she's still holding a grudge against Ella because Ella didn't give in to Jane's attempts at blackmail a while back. Lucky for her, Amanda has found a way to pin Ella and get rich doing it -- blame the younger blond for WPK's embezzlement problems.

But then there's Jo and her morals coming around to ruin the fun, conveniently calling Amanda out while Ella was strategically hiding behind a tree. I love that Jo was like, donate to a charity and we'll drop the whole thing. More interestingly, Jo's involvement means we now have a full-on Amanda-Ella war at the office, as it now looks like Ella won't be fired but will officially be Amanda's slave.

Because I think Dr. Mancini's indecent proposal to Lauren -- sleep with me or I'll tell the world about your prostituting recent past -- was essentially a setup for a rape scene, I was a bit tickled when Jane opted out of a quickie rekindled romance with the good doctor. Also, thank goodness Lauren came clean to her friends about all of this, even if Ella should have forced her to forever ago. So what now? Are Lauren and David finally going to turn the tables on David's dad? And who is watching Noah now, because Noah is really David's kid -- not Michael's?

And while it's great that Jonah and Drew can have a drunken brawl in the pool, I am not happy with the prospect of Jonah and Riley getting back together. Riley is much more interesting and sympathetic as the scorned woman.

Also, we got a taste of Drew's secret that Michael Rady hinted to me a few weeks ago. Sadly, it doesn't seem to involve a "Nip/Tuck"-like plot twist, but it is weird that Drew was cutting into dead bodies. As he would say, "Diagnosis: awkward."

What do you think? Would you like to see more original "Melrose Place" cast members back? Can you dream up some scenarios for the Ella-Amanda battle? Any chance Drew wasn't kidding when he joked that he was a vampire a few weeks ago? Share your thoughts in the comments.

-- Whitney Friedlander

More "Melrose Place" coverage

Upper photo: A "Melrose Place" 1.0 reunion. Credit: Michael Desmond / The CW

Lower photo: Jonah and Ella try to help Lauren forget her problems. Credit: Michael Desmond / The CW

Comments

[Michael]

I was almost ready to give up on Melrose Place, but the last few episodes have been fun! It's great having the previous tenants bop in and out every now and then. Now it's getting closer in tone to what made the first show work so well...but it's still got a ways to go. Hope it makes it another season.

[O-town]

Keep using the old characters to keep it interesting. Like the new characters but don't like a re-tread of the old characters. Amanda vs. Ella - awesome!

[Karl]

i didn't watch the original melrose.
when i started watching this one i taught it was stupid but kept on watching it hoping riley and agguie would get together....now however i am so happy she is with drew!