90210: Beverly Hills Blues

Ok, now this is what I’m talking about.  Let’s get real in Beverly Hills for a second.  Enough politically correct, progressive, fantasy world BS.  90210 got a little more credibility this week, at least in my eyes.  Even though this privileged group of Californians live a fairy tale existence, the happy endings can be hard to come by.

The train wreck known as Adriana continues her downward spiral, although things looked better for a brief moment.  The faculty intervention with Adriana and her mother proved fruitless, as she was in total denial about her daughter’s drug abuse – going so far as to threaten a defamation lawsuit if the principal and teachers mentioned it again.  At her father’s urging, Annie attempts to befriend Adriana at a local fashion show organized by her mother.  Annie is a genuinely kind person, and doesn’t have ulterior motives behind her actions.  Her sincerity strikes a chord with Adriana, and she is compelled to confess that she didn’t really sleep with Ty – she just made it look that way to get back at Annie for taking over her role in the school play.  Annie is shocked, angry, and hurt at the revelation, and the girls make a small scene at the fashion show.  Things come to a head and Adriana realizes that Annie’s’ dad wanted Annie to keep an eye on her, to make sure she stayed out of trouble and away from drugs.  Feeling betrayed and embarrassed by her own feelings of vulnerability, Adriana lashes out at Annie, calling her a narc and fleeing the event.

Meanwhile, Naomi’s effort to surreptitiously reunite her parents backfires horribly.  She and Ethan also face the fact that their relationship is running on fumes and decide to call it quits.  Since Annie and Ty are also in Splitsville, I fully expect Ethan and Annie to end up together in the coming episodes.

What else could go wrong?  Well, I’m not done yet – and here’s the good part.  Some sketchy dude masquerading as a talent scout starts to feed Silver some crap about how she’d be a great model and actress, and she starts to fall for the scam.  When he overtly makes a pass at her, Dixon intervenes.  The guy responds by calling him a thug and threatening to have him escorted out by security.  Never mind that Dixon is probably one of the most handsome, well-dressed young men in the building – the fact that he is Black means he automatically is out of place.  He even calls him a “Compton kid” and gets into it with Debbie when she tries to defend her son.  When Debbie says he’s no thug, he’s her son, his response is to ask who the “baby daddy” is and that’s when Dixon knocks his ass out.  I liked this scene not merely because a jerk got his comeuppance, but because I appreciate that the writers continue their attempt to deal with race in a real way and not to gloss over it by portraying the Wilsons as White saviors who live in a perfect world with their adopted Black son.  There will always be ignorant people in the world and I like the way they’ve dealt with Dixon’s character thus far.  A lot of people have a problem with this aspect of the storyline, but the original series never had a Black character that was an integral part of the show – so I appreciate the effort.  90210 may not be Emmy-caliber television, but I continue to be pleasantly surprised with each episode.

Season 1, Episode 6: Model Behavior (originally September 30, 2008)

Tuesdays, 8/7C, The CW

Photograph courtesy of The CW