90210: By Accident

Posted by: Mandi  •  January 21, 2009 @ 12:22am

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

Ryan Matthews has returned to West Beverly, and in light of what happened earlier this year, he has taken a new approach to teaching: Rather than being the cool, young teacher that everyone loves, he's going to be a hard-ass. And his first move is to transfer Silver to another English class, because he doesn't feel like he can treat her fairly as a student after what she said about him on her blog. Silver resists, but realizes that there's nothing she can do to change Ryan's mind. She walks out of the room as Mr. Matthews moves on, instructing the rest of the class to write a paper on Heart of Darkness.

Later that day, Silver is in the cafeteria with Dixon, having lunch and complaining about being banned from Ryan's class. Dixon tells her that even though Ryan acted tough and didn't seem hurt by the things that she said, he probably still was. It is obvious that he is trying to get an apology out of her for the whole "I love you" fiasco, but Silver is completely oblivious.

But Dixon's advice does help her to come up with a plan: Instead of just accepting the fact that she has been kicked out of Ryan's class, Silver is going to do the assignment that he gave the rest of the class. She stays up all night writing the paper and hands it in the next day. Ryan is looking at it pensively when Kelly storms into his classroom and yells at him about taking out a personal vendetta against a student. He explains that he thinks he was too soft as a teacher before, and that he plans on just phoning it in for the rest of the year and then leaving West Beverly for good. Kelly basically tells him that he's chickening out, and also that he's a crap teacher if he refuses to read a paper that a student wrote for a class that she's not even in. All of this inspires Ryan to read Silver's essay, and ultimately he invites her to come back to class.

Meanwhile, Dixon has been talking to Debbie about his problems with Silver. It is easily the most obviously scripted conversation that two people have ever had on television, with the exception of that one amazing line:

Dixon: We decided not to talk about it. We just thought we would just sweep it under the rug.
Debbie: And how's that going?
Dixon: It feels like there's something big under the rug! Someone's gonna break their neck!

Debbie advises her son to just tell his girlfriend that he feels hurt. He takes her advice and tries to talk to Silver later that night, but he can't get a word in because she's too busy talking about how much Mr. Matthews loved her paper. So Dixon breaks up with her, instead.

Naomi comes home after school to find a real estate broker inspecting the crown molding. Also, her mother is not there. But her dad is! He tells her that Tracy is not in Paris, as Naomi though, but in New York, trying to lay low after the fake-Sean debacle. Oh, and apparently her dad is selling the house, and Naomi is going to have to go live with her dad and Gail (remember his girlfriend?) at the beach house. It becomes obvious that this is a terrible idea when Naomi wakes up the next morning and Gail tries to act like a real mother, and fails miserably. Naomi is further convinced that she needs to find a new living situation when she goes back to the house to pick up a pair of jeans and finds her father is having an affair with the realtor. The next time she sees her dad, she confronts him about it and then tells him that she is going to stay in a hotel suite until Tracy comes back.

Adrianna seems to be in denial about her pregnancy: She is drinking copious amounts of coffee and coming up with ridiculous nicknames for playwrights. (Will Shakes? REALLY?) Naomi doesn't like the way her friend is handling the issue, so she recruits Kelly as backup, and they corner Adrianna and force her to talk about it. The only problem is that they have different ideas about how Adrianna should deal with the situation. Naomi is convinced that an abortion is the only answer right now, but Kelly thinks that they need to discuss adoption as well. The two end up fighting, and Adrianna yells at them and then storms out of the room. She winds up in her car, driving down the freeway with no apparent destination. At one point, she nearly collides with another vehicle, and she pulls over to the side of the road. She composes herself, and then pulls back out into traffic and heads back to Beverly Hills. She ends up outside a women's clinic, but we do not see her actually go inside.

The next time we see Adrianna, she is rushing into the auditorium at school, having missed her audition for the latest play (Antony and Cleopatra). The new drama teacher is unwilling to let her audition, but Adrianna ignores her, runs up onto the stage, and performs her scene flawlessly. Then she goes over to Naomi's house. It is here that we learn that she did go into the women's clinic, but was unable to have an abortion...because she's too far along.

The next day, after Adrianna finds out that she got the part of Cleopatra, she and Naomi meet with Kelly to discuss what needs to be done throughout the rest of her pregnancy. Kelly mentions that the doctor will want to know who the father is. This forces Adrianna to divulge that she got pregnant before she entered rehab, which means that that father could only be one person: Ty.

Annie is excited to audition for the part of Cleopatra, but of course she needs confirmation from her boyfriend that she's not a terrible actress. Ethan assures her that she's a shoo-in for the part. To me, it seems like Dustin Milligan is overacting. It's almost as though he's using the scene as a vehicle to make fun of Shenae Grimes' oh-so-terrible acting. Oh, how I hope this is the case.

Anyway. Annie is trying to convince Ethan to try out for the play as well. (Come on, Ethan! If you're a jock AND in the school play, we can start calling you Zac Efron!) The two of them are rehearsing their lines when Ty approaches them. He makes a crack about Ethan's bad acting, and Ethan retorts with, "I like how you wear your jeans just one size too small, Ty. Not many guys can pull that off." In addition to the skinny jeans, Ty is sporting a really gross eighties-style moustache. It's hard to focus on anything else.

It turns out that Annie and Ty are audition partners. After they try out that afternoon, they talk, and Annie suddenly blurts out that she has to make it clear that she's with Ethan now. Ty says he understands, but then he passive-aggressively rags on her acting skills before he walks away.

Annie doesn't end up getting the lead role, of course. But she and Ethan both get small parts in the play. They have plans to go to the cast and crew dinner, but when Ethan arrives to pick Annie up, she tells him that she's just not in the mood to celebrate. So he heads to the dinner alone, and she stays behind to wallow. Later, Debbie and Harry find their daughter sulking on her bed. They give her a pep talk, and she decides that she should go to the dinner after all. She calls Ethan and asks him to come back for her. He says he will, but as they are about to hang up, Annie hears a vehicle honk and then the sound of crunching metal. And then nothing.

Tags: Dustin Milligan, Ethan Ward, Kelly Taylor, Adrianna Duncan, Jessica Lowndes

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Original Comments Posted (3)

sarahm says...

Haha, oh Mandi I totally can't even watch this show anymore, but I still read your recaps!

I mean that as a compliment.

Jan 22, 2009 8:30pm

mandi says...

I appreciate the compliment. It's getting harder and harder to write a solid recap as the show gets worse, so it's nice to know they're still serving some purpose, at least.

Jan 23, 2009 1:50am

Ariana says...

It's getting harder and harder to keep watching the show. And then! CAR ACCIDENT! I'm sucked back in.

Jan 24, 2009 5:32pm

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