‘90210’: When school freezes over
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This week’s episode was the much-anticipated Winter Wonderland formal. I was excited about this episode for several reasons. First, “90210’s” costume designer, Frank Helmer, told me they outdid themselves on this one: ballerina waitresses, gorgeous dresses on our starlets, and it snows! Also, we all know that West Bev never throws a boring party – at least plot-wise. This week, a lot of the storylines that we’ve been following all season have taken awesome twists.
Jasper’s clock seems to be ticking. Thank you, “90210.” I can’t stand the guy. After Navid’s realization that Jasper (Zachary Ray Sherman) is the one who pushed him down the stairs, he has been on a mission to expose Jasper as a drug dealer. Navid’s motivation is further bolstered by his desire to get Annie (Shenae Grimes) out of her insane relationship with the grease monkey. When Navid (Michael Steger) approaches Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes) about going public about buying drugs from Jasper, she says no. She’s still on probation for last season’s drug foray, so she could be expelled if she comes clean. I thought that was incredibly selfish of her, but she redeemed herself later.
At the formal, Navid gathers an impressive crew (including a very apologetic Naomi) for an Annie intervention. After Dixon (Tristan Wilds) lures her in, they let her have it. She totally doesn’t believe them until Ade makes an appearance and confirms that she has bought drugs from Jasper. Go ahead, Ade!
Later, when Annie confronts Jasper about the drug dealing, he admits to all of it. Here’s the twist: He then tells her that he knows she killed his uncle! How he knows, I’m not sure, but I can’t wait to find out. Could it be the fact that she broke out in tears every time he mentioned his uncle? Regardless, Jasper may be impetuous, but he’s not stupid.
Liam “shows his heart”...
(as Navid puts it this week). Even with Ivy (Gillian Zinser) doing some major defensive maneuvers, Liam (Matt Lanter) is able to get a moment with Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord). That ends, of course, with Naomi letting him have it for keeping the “Jen secret” to himself for so long. I think Naomi’s anger with Liam has less to do with Jen as it has to do with catching him kissing Ivy at the races last week. Later at the formal, though, the two can’t keep their eyes off each other. Ivy notices them and realizes she can’t win Liam away from Naomi. In the end, Ivy concocts a meeting between the two where they finally hash it out and make out, um, make up. And finally, we find out what’s under Liam’s tarp! It was a boat along with a lame excuse about funneling his anger into something constructive. Liam took “constructive” literally, I guess, and built a boat. Anticlimactic much, “90210”?
Teddy and Dixon move in on Silver. Teddy (Trevor Donovan) has decided that his “playa” days are over, but Silver obviously didn’t get the memo. Twice he asks Silver to the formal and she says no, citing his playboy ways for her reason. At the dance, he finally gets her to give him one dance as ‘friends.’ When he makes the move on her and plants one on her, she rejects him a third time! Well, her lips said no, but her teen hormones said yes. She admits to Naomi that she felt something when he kissed her. After Naomi persuades her to go with the feeling, she sees Teddy with a pretty blond in red and aborts mission. Turns out it’s Teddy’s sister, Savannah.
Meanwhile, Dixon has rediscovered his love for Silver. That has nothing to do with Teddy chasing her now, right? At the end of the night, Dixon finds Silver. She tells him about seeing Teddy with some girl. Dixon, knowing full well who Savannah is, doesn’t tell Silver that the girl is Teddy’s sister! He then plants one on Silver, too, which totally confuses her. Not sure whom she’ll pick – Dixon or Teddy – but I’m sure the two guys will put up a good fight.
Dixon wants his mommy. Now, Dixon is probably one of the most selfish characters in the show. I can already feel the hate mail from Dixon fans, but hear me out. He turned his back on Annie when she needed him most. He broke up with Silver and said some pretty nasty things to her over the Ethan kiss without letting her explain. He misled Sasha on who he really was and basically drove her to insanity. Then there’s the way he’s been treating his mother, Debbie (Lori Loughlin), after Sasha-gate. I’m glad to see they squashed that over a game of miniature golf in this episode, but then Dixon comes back with a whammy: He wants to see his birth mother. Dixon, you couldn’t have given Debbie some time to relish having made up with you? Well, what did I expect from Dixon?
NOTE: My rep from the CW says that “90210” won’t return with new episodes until March 2010. Cruel, right?
Oh, and, Matt Lanter finally has joined Twitter (Teen Drama verification here)! I’ve only been following him for a few days, but his tweets are really good, already.
– Jethro Nededog (follow me on Twitter @TheRealJethro)
Related:
‘90210’: Jen gets hers, Navid and Ade wake up and reconciliation runs rampant
Complete ‘90210’ coverage on Show Tracker
Photos, from top: Trevor Donovan as Teddy and Jessica Stroup as Silver on ‘90210.’ AnnaLynne McCord as Naomi and Michael Steger as Navid on the show. Credits: Patrick Wymore / The CW