[Relationship Thread: Dysfunction Junction]

One thing that's always saddened me about this show is how little time is/was spent on the girls' BFF friendships. They've had cute scenes and umpteen scenes where they professed to love each other, blah blah, but never once have I truly bought that their friendship was a defining factor in their lives the way their love lives are. I know we shouldn't compare, but I just always go back to the Scoobies and how much more time was spent showing their bond than their individual bonds with their love interests. If she had to, I always saw Buffy choosing Willow's life over Angel's or Spike's. I would never buy in a thousand million seasons that Elena would pick Bonnie or Caroline over a Salvatore. I wouldn't even see it being close. And that kinda sucks. I'm not one of those people who says friendship is more important than the relationship you have with your significant other, but at the same time if you've got a lifelong friend, there should be something that ties you to them more than just wanting a sounding board for your love life's ups and downs. 

[Seasons 1-3: High School Years]

I just watched a speed-run of S1/2 eps last night, and it really is my favourite time of the show. I think it's because they all still seem like friends. S3 kinda starts the end of that, for obvious reasons, and it's never quite as fun to rewatch. I do love the drama and backstabbing later on, but sometimes you just want a fun ep where everyone's relatively nice to each other, and that always sends me to S1/2.

 

I think Camping Trip is one of my favourites. I just love how emo Dylan is, Brandon and Andrea at their dickhead best trying to teach the other how to build a fire, Donna and her feminine hygiene products, Kelly and Brenda still BFFs and enjoying a cute game of Go Fish, David still geeky with his video camera, and of course Steve at his foolhardy best trying to buy booze. It perfectly encapsulates who all their characters are and it does it by chucking them in a soggy room together and watching them talk out their arses. And of course, we've got the ongoing BD angst, and the ultimate testament to the enduring love of Brandon/Dylan and their HoYay! with the cliff climb/fall/hold my hand while I stare into your eyes and save you moment. I really think they should have snogged at least once.

 

One thing that is really hard to take though is the sexism running through all the early episodes. I have no idea if that continued in the later years because I've never seen anything past S5, but it is extremely hard to take on rewatch. I noticed it in another 90s show - Ally McBeal - which I tried to rewatch not that long ago. Was it a period thing? Because it is rampant in both shows. Makes me pine for Buffy even more than usual. 

[90210 Fashions: High Waist Heaven!]

Andrea was the worst. There was something about her, that even when she was wearing something that should be okay (say, plain old jeans and a not too embarrassing blouse, if that's possible) she still made it look awful. Her shape wasn't the worst in the world, but it was the worst for the clothes they put her in. You'd think given that she was approximately 40 when she got the part she'd have been secure enough to argue with the wardrobe department when they tried to dress her as a human sausage. There should be a 90210 drinking game: if Andrea has camel toe, drink!

 

Best was probably Jim. Hear me out. Yes, he wore boring suits and occasionally some truly awful khaki shorts and the like, but the likelihood of him sticking out in a crowd nowadays is minuscule compared to the way the rest of them dressed back then.

[Jump the Shark Moments: "Donna Martin Graduates!"]

Oh God, Brandon wanting a creamy girl. As sung by his sister. What the fuck were the writers smoking that week?

 

Probably the same thing they were smoking in S3 when the show JTS by blowing Jack up. I'm sorry, but that's the moment for me the show never came back from. 90210 had always been soapy, of course, but soapy in a love triangle, bitchy, my whore-bag friend stole my boyfriend kind of way. Jack all blowed up crossed the line into full-on cray-cray that the show never came back from. From here on out, it was a bit of a free-for-all. Wild-west flashbacks, 60s flashbacks, Brandon meeting the bloody President, sting operations in Mexico, car-jackings and gun obsessions - and it all kicked off because they had to blow up Jack. It was the first OTT moment. Sure, it had been shit before that (angels at Christmas anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) but it was still within the original mission statement of the show i.e. whiny teens and how the world revolves around them and whatever their genitals are pointing at that week. But Jack's exploding corpse just had to ruin it.

[90210 Fashions: High Waist Heaven!]

I remember early in S1, maybe even the pilot, Kelly wears this outfit that actually hurts my eyes. White cycling shorts with blue spots over orange tights, clunky black shoes and a little denim jacket I think. It is genuinely difficult to fathom what on earth made that a popular look.

 

And Steve with his dad's silk shirts. Brenda's body suit/denim short combo when Dylan appears from under the car in their first date ep. Donna's buttcheeks at Christmas. Cindy's flowery potato sack skirts. All the trainers (sneakers to you yanks ;P) and jeans combos. The clunky black boots with dresses. Ugh, my eyes - they burn!

 

The one cute outfit I remember is a dress Brenda wears at the beach, maybe in the first summer ep of S2. It's waist fitted, flowery and so cute I want it right now. 

[Small Talk: The Peach Pit]

Hey. I used to dip into the 90210 thread on TWoP from time to time. I was good spellar on there. So sad about TWoP, but I'm glad this site seems to be catching a lot of the refugees. I'd be sad if I couldn't read people throwing the phrase Beret of Drug Addiction around.

[Jump the Shark Moments: "Donna Martin Graduates!"]

I loved this show when it first aired (I was about 8 or 9 when it started). I stopped watching when Brenda left, and only caught a few eps here and there until Dylan skedaddled. But really, my heart isn't in it come S3. Sure, the SOD is fun and all from a bitchy standpoint, but as a Brenda fan the show gets increasingly hard to watch once S3 hits. Behind the scenes drama leaks into the script and it feels a little like a game of Kick the Brenda every week until she leaves. And that's a lot of kicking she takes.

 

I was the biggest BD fan, but time has ruined it for me when I go back to rewatch. S3 and on Dylan just makes me want to stab things. He is the biggest dillweed in the history of teen TV (with the possible exception of Lucas Scott). S1 and S2 I can still enjoy, and I feel like it's got some measure of continuity that makes sense, despite the few leaps around (Donna's a whore -- oh wait, we mean virgin!). In S1/2, Brandon hasn't yet turned into the flatheaded gimp I know and loathe, Kelly's fun and loyal, Donna's thankfully peripheral, Dylan is actually a great boyfriend to my girl Brenda, Andrea's not pregnant, Steve's hilarious and David looks and acts 12. I love the first two seasons. But everything after that's shit.

 

Personally, the most unbelievable thing the writers tried to push was that Brandon was at all popular. Guys like him went to my high school and they didn't win awards - they got jumped after school for being a suck-up. I mean holy fuck, if any pupil in my school had been pals with one of the teachers and called them by their first name, he would've had to have his underwear surgically removed from his arse every.damn.week.