90210 recap: Not your average Manic Monday
It seems a lot of the West Bev folk were driven by their phobias, brain chemistry and baser emotions this week on 90210. You might be saying to yourself, "Well, isn't that what always happens?" To which we say yes, but this time a few of them are definitive medical and psychological issues as opposed to just "baggage."
Hey Annie, it's called FAFSA
So we can't even pretend that we watch 90210 for its original plotlines. But when a fully predictable story is lifted from "Family Guy," we've got problems.
Annie apparently can't afford to go to college -- something she's worrying about a little late in the game, frankly -- girlfriend should have been looking into student loans months ago. Anyway, on her hunt for a job she meets Marla, a crazy old hoarder who lives in Beverly Hills and needs someone to help her "get her affairs in order," or basically organize her junk. In her daily tasks Annie discovers that Marla was a movie star in the 60s and then gauchely refers to Peter Fonda as "that guy from 'Easy Rider.'"
Marla might have been a big star, but it's clear she feels her best days are behind her. Still, she takes Annie under her wing and tells her about old Hollywood and John Cassavetes, then buys her lunch at glamorous old hot spots. Unfortunately, Marla has memory issues (Alzheimers? Dementia?), as she can't remember Annie after she returns from taking a phone call. Marla eventually gets a grip, but is shaken by the incident. Back on the job, Annie finds assisted suicide pamphlets in Marla's desk. So this episode is definitely skewing toward the darker side.
Read on for the horrible wrath of Naomi! Again!
Trickery may not be the best intervention approach
Raj and Ivy are growing closer, until Raj signs her up for a surf invitational without her consent. The little surfette is miffed that Raj took such liberty, but seems over it when she sets up a picnic for them at the beach. Unfortunately, Raj executes a not-so-clever drowning act to lure Ivy into the water and subsequently finds himself deeper in the doghouse, quite rightly.
Despite Ivy's fireworks after Raj's performance, she shows up to the surf meet anyway and takes first place, not a speck of rust on the surfboard. We find out that Raj has been missing post-chemo checkups, but he's ready to get back on the examining table after being inspired by Ivy's courage. So we guess his evil little plan actually worked? Damn, we hate when the boys are right.
From blue skin to green eyes
Naomi and Max are still keeping their tryst on the down-low, something we thought they kind of got over last week when it was established that they really liked each other. Oh well, we won't pretend to understand kids these days.
With an academic invitational on the horizon, Max is having a hard time making space to hang out with Naomi, which she takes with good enough grace, until she sees his late-night study partner Alex is a really cute girl.
Naturally, Naomi spies on the little nerd, hears about the wild after-party the academia crowd throws every year at the invitational, and succumbs to irrationality. She tails Alex and Max to their hotel room before bursting in like an angry parent at a high school kegger, terrifying Alex to the point of tears. Alex bails on the invitational and, as the only West Bev girl in town, Naomi has to take her spot on the team. The competition comes down to one final question (predictably) and team captain Max has to choose between Naomi's suggestion and his nerd squad's. In the day's second act of irrationality, Max goes with Naomi, who is, obviously, wrong.
Despite her lack of knowledge on indigenous Caribbean languages, Max is still on team Naomi and decides to take the relationship public. And now we really want that "Geology Rocks" T-shirt.
Run, Silver, Run
We don't care what medication Silver is missing out on, she would NEVER dance around her place to "Walking on Sunshine." We just had to say that.
But let's move on the problem at hand. Unwittingly off her meds, Silver is bouncing around Beverly Hills like an unhinged and but much less debauched Charlie Sheen, dying her hair bright red and considering wearing leopard print to an NYU interview. We personally don't see anything wrong with the red hair (coughwehadthesamecolorinhighschoolcough), but her over-the-top-I-might-be-on-cocaine attitude should be sending off a lot of alarm bells for her friends, who already know she has bipolar disorder. Then again, that requires thinking.
Despite her manic behavior and showing up late to the interview after running there, Silver's cinematic brilliance shines through and she manages to impress the interviewer. Unfortunately, she leaves him oodles of voicemails throughout the night, calling his cell every time she's struck by an idea, which is veering back into her stalkerific behavior. Hopefully someone will intercept her placebos soon and initiate a lawsuit against Adrianna, because at this point she totally deserves to get sued.
What did you think, folks? Will people accept Naomi and Max? Will Annie be able to help Marla? Was Silver's hair THAT bad? Comments, ahoy!
Notes n' Quotes
Max: It's nice.
Naomi: It's not nice, it's Gucci.
Navid: She's brilliant. Like, a bona fide genius.
Naomi: Not when it comes to fashion...
Annie: This place is very interesting.
Marla: Interesting. Well, that's an interesting choice of words. It's a mess.
Silver: (Gestures to her hair) What do you think?
Naomi: She did it to herself on purpose...
Annie: She makes the "Grey Gardens" chicks look like Martha Stewart.
Naomi: Frankly, I don't even understand gravity. I pretend to, but I don't.
Annie: You ate with Bette Davis?
Marla: No. How old do you think I am? Don't answer that.
Chris: You ran?
Silver: Nearly a mile, I felt like I was in "Run, Lola, Run."
Chris: You certainly have the hair for it...
Final Thoughts
- Ivy would never wear heels to school, no matter how charmingly hippie-esque they are.
- Annie should probably not wear skirts that short to job interviews. It's not like she knew Marla was off her rocker before she showed up.
- Dipping back into the recycled plotline theme, Glee did the fish-out-of-water-trivia-teammate thing last week. Okay, okay, it was only last week and hence impossible to be copied for this week, but COME ON. Get some original ideas.
- Hey Silver? There are these new things all the kids are using when they get stranded and can't drive somewhere. It's called a taxi.
- What is Annie drinking that is non-alcoholic and still has an olive in it? Gross, dude.