90210: Lucky Strike

Well, well, well, that didn’t take long at all.  Annie and Dixon are fitting in nicely at West Beverly.  Dixon has established his crew, which consists mainly of his lacrosse teammates and his sidekick, Navid.  Meanwhile, Annie is dating rich boy Ty and becoming good friends with Silver, younger sister of Kelly Taylor.  Silver and Kelly make frequent allusions to their mother, who has a history of alcoholism and drug abuse that was explored during the original series.  Apparently, Silver’s home life is so bad that she’d eschew the ostensible luxury of a Beverly Hills mansion in favor of spending the night at a women’s shelter. 

Silver’s not the only character with a less than desirable home life.  Naomi also has her fair share of parental woes.  She has the stereotypical emotionally unavailable, workaholic father who tries to compensate for his lack of physical presence with money and lavish gifts.  To make up for canceling weekend plans, he actually buys Naomi and her mother matching cars!  How absurd.  It’s moments like these that remind me I’m watching a fairy tale world so far from anything I’ve ever witnessed in real life. 

In all fairness to the writers and, to their credit, they try to balance the far-fetched with some moments of grounded normalcy, like the Wilsons’ heartfelt attempt to keep their family rooted in the midwestern, Kansas values upon which they’ve always relied.  As a matter of fact, this episode was called “Lucky Strike,” because Mama and Papa Wilson insisted on bowling at Lucky Strike as a fun, family night activity.  Annie and Dixon’s parents are as loving and supportive as Silver’s and Naomi’s are dysfunctional.  It’s actually kinda sweet. 

But enough of the sweet stuff.  I’m looking for a little dirt and, in that regard, this episode didn’t disappoint.  It turns out that Naomi’s father is cheating on her mother.  The stage is also being set for a showdown between Ethan and Ty over Annie’s affections.  There’s an awkward tension between Ethan and Annie that is bound to come to a head eventually.  Remember, Ethan and Naomi are freshly broken up, so there are some lingering feelings there and a ton of emotional baggage.  Although some scenes looked like outtakes from a Gap commercial, there’s something about this show that makes me want to keep tuning in.  There are so many loose ends dangling provocatively, and I can’t wait to see how everything gets tied up.

 

Tuesdays, 8/7C, The CW

Photograph courtesy of The CW.