Unpopular Opinions: The Cheese Stands Alone

[Jax7917]

1 hour ago, blondiec0332 said:

Make room for me.  I liked them better because it was less drama than Dylan/Brenda. At least in the beginning.  It's been awhile since I watched the third season (I just finished season two) but didn't Dylan say something like with Kelly he didn't have to deal with Jim Walsh?

Dylan and Brenda's drama was mostly about her dad not thinking he was good enough for her. Kelly didn't bring the family drama, but her and Dylan's fights were more about each other . Their personalities clashed and they fought about everything. Brenda was the caretaker in her relationship with Dylan and Dylan was the caretaker in the relationship with Kelly so really, neither were great together. Toni was Dylan's best match, though it was short-lived.

I felt like Dylan was in love with Brenda, but was more in love with being apart of her stable, loving family since he never had that. With Kelly, i just never felt like they were in love with each other. It was all lust.

Edited September 11, 2019 by Jaclyn88

[blondiec0332]

11 minutes ago, Jaclyn88 said:

Toni was Dylan's best match, though it was short-lived.

If he hadn't gotten involved with her to get revenge on her dad I would agree with that.

[Jax7917]

1 hour ago, blondiec0332 said:

If he hadn't gotten involved with her to get revenge on her dad I would agree with that.

Yeah but he fell for her pretty quickly after they met 

[KittenPokerCheater]

7 hours ago, Jaclyn88 said:

just curious what you liked about them.

I always thought that Dylan wasn't really in love with Brenda, but with the Walshes family dynamic and love for each other, something that Dylan did not grow up with.

What I liked about Kelly/Dylan is mostly about their senior year of high school- I felt she accepted him and Brenda kept trying to change him (go to college.  The same college as me).  They were the two kids who had to walk home from school when their parents didn't pick them up- they had a common background, and I thought, chemistry (Damn I wish I was your lover scenes were hot).  The writing got messy once they went to college/real world.

Also, I was influenced by Shannon's bad behavior off set.  They can gloss over it now, but she was definitely a problem.

Edited September 11, 2019 by KittenPokerCheater

[Hiyo]

Quote

If he hadn't gotten involved with her to get revenge on her dad I would agree with that.

I would have liked Dylan and Toni more if they hadn't been together for what felt like 5 minutes before deciding to get married.

[Jax7917]

8 hours ago, Hiyo said:

I would have liked Dylan and Toni more if they hadn't been together for what felt like 5 minutes before deciding to get married.

I did like that they were together for 5 minutes and Dylan wanted to marry her but never wanted to marry Kelly Even years later when he still claimed to love her . 

[Hiyo]

I'm not sure if that counts as an unpopular opinion lol

Toni never felt like a real person to me because we never got to know her. She was a prop of a plot device at best.

And Dylan marrying Toni after 5 minutes but not marrying Kelly or Brenda just makes Dylan look like an idiot.

[blondiec0332]

2 hours ago, Hiyo said:

Toni never felt like a real person to me because we never got to know her. She was a prop of a plot device at best.

I agree with this.  Dylan/Brenda and Dylan/Kelly were romances that happened naturally. You could argue Dylan/Kelly was motivated by plot but it was totally believable they would fall for one another.  Dylan/Toni I would have bought if not for the fact he only became aware of her because of his thirst for revenge.  They could have had her be a character not  Marchette's daughter and still had her killed by a hit meant for Dylan.

[Jax7917]

43 minutes ago, blondiec0332 said:

I agree with this.  Dylan/Brenda and Dylan/Kelly were romances that happened naturally. You could argue Dylan/Kelly was motivated by plot but it was totally believable they would fall for one another.  Dylan/Toni I would have bought if not for the fact he only became aware of her because of his thirst for revenge.  They could have had her be a character not  Marchette's daughter and still had her killed by a hit meant for Dylan.

well, we know she had no friends because no one was at the bachelorette party or her wedding besides the gang (eye roll). So maybe that should have told Dylan something.

I liked the story line of Marchette , I just thought it was very rushed.

[thesupremediva1]

On 9/11/2019 at 6:22 PM, KittenPokerCheater said:

I always thought that Dylan wasn't really in love with Brenda, but with the Walshes family dynamic and love for each other, something that Dylan did not grow up with.

What I liked about Kelly/Dylan is mostly about their senior year of high school- I felt she accepted him and Brenda kept trying to change him (go to college.  The same college as me).  They were the two kids who had to walk home from school when their parents didn't pick them up- they had a common background, and I thought, chemistry (Damn I wish I was your lover scenes were hot).  The writing got messy once they went to college/real world.

Also, I was influenced by Shannon's bad behavior off set.  They can gloss over it now, but she was definitely a problem.

Check , check and check. Shannen wasn't a bad person, and she was a darn good actress, but EVERYONE had an issue with her. You can see the bleed on screen in late season 3 when Dylan and Kelly confess to Brenda. Luke Perry was DONE with her, and Dylan was particularly cold and mean to Brenda. Luke Perry is also the one who created Kelly and Dylan as a couple, so I feel a lot of the hate directed towards Jennie should really have been sent his way. He did not want to work with Shannen anymore. That's why Kelly and Dylan became a couple. 

That said, the soulmate storyline for them persists from 3.18 (Senior Poll playground scene) through the very end of the series. He gets married, she dates Brandon, a million other things happen in between, but they always come back to each other. A lot of people label their relationship lust, but that's just because Luke and Jennie had such undeniable chemistry. They actually were apart more often than together, and yet the show explicitly explains how they always carried torches for each other. Total opposite of lust, IMO.

Also, I really grow tired of the "If Shannen hadn't left... / This only happened because Jason left the show" bitching I hear from the Brylan contingent. She DID leave, Jason DID leave, both chose to leave the show and those relationships on screen. Meanwhile, Luke Perry came back so he could act with Jennie again. I wish people would accept what happened in the plot and on screen. It's fine to disagree, but pretending Luke Perry was a Brylan shipper is just patently false. There's a reason he never wanted to revisit 90210 in any reboot - he was happy with the way the show ended. You have to be willfully ignorant to watch their scenes together and not see the absolute love Luke had for Jennie. 

 

On 9/12/2019 at 10:11 AM, blondiec0332 said:

I agree with this.  Dylan/Brenda and Dylan/Kelly were romances that happened naturally. You could argue Dylan/Kelly was motivated by plot but it was totally believable they would fall for one another.  Dylan/Toni I would have bought if not for the fact he only became aware of her because of his thirst for revenge.  They could have had her be a character not  Marchette's daughter and still had her killed by a hit meant for Dylan.

I always believed the show chose to kill off Toni in order to leave the door open for Perry to return and have Kel and Dylan reunite. The show's bread-and-butter triangles were populated by Kelly and Dylan. Switch out a Walsh twin from season to season, but that was the show's central conflict. 

If Toni was meant to be the great, undeniable love of Dylan's life, they would have ridden off together into the sunset.  Not like Rebecca Gayheart was some ungettable actress who would never return to the show again for a few eps, should Luke Perry want to return for a finale or something. Instead, they killed her off.

Dylan also tells Kelly outside the Peach Pit, following the announcement of his engagement, "I asked you first." That moment to me is one of the most pivotal in the series. It implies that the trip around the world offer from season 5 was on par with a proposal, and that Kelly was his first choice. It tells the audience that even though Dylan is getting married and Kelly is dating Colin, that the door to their relationship is not closed. 

[Jax7917]

I can’t find one scene of Kelly and Dylan when they’re together where they look happy and in love . They’re one of those tv couples who preach that they love each other all the time , especially when they’re not in a relationship .. but can barely stand to be in a room together . I thought Their words spoke louder than their actions and I just didn’t buy it 

[thesupremediva1]

On 9/27/2019 at 6:40 PM, Jaclyn88 said:

I can’t find one scene of Kelly and Dylan when they’re together where they look happy and in love . They’re one of those tv couples who preach that they love each other all the time , especially when they’re not in a relationship .. but can barely stand to be in a room together . I thought Their words spoke louder than their actions and I just didn’t buy it 

I mean, I could post a million gifs, clips, and screen caps, but a list is simpler: the entire Summer 1992 season, Back in the High Life Again until the final minutes of Dead End (Dylan especially glowed in those eps and was never happier - that cozy foursome of him and his dad with their blonde girlfriends breaks my heart knowing what's to come), senior prom, graduation, and OMG when he regresses to the old west and then shows up at her door in late season 5. The heat radiates off the screen. Luke sells the hell outta those scenes. His commitment and focus are intense.

FWIW, they rarely say I love you to each other throughout the series. You can just feel it in the way they look at each other and speak about each other.

https://images.app.goo.gl/uYHiFcrKwEazxtWD9

Edited September 30, 2019 by thesupremediva1

[GHScorpiosRule]

Eh. To each their own. I never saw the chemistry between them, whereas the chemistry between Luke and Shannen sizzled. And you saw them doing things outside of making out and even after they started having sex. They weren’t constantly fighting like Dylan and Kelly did. 

And as for Dylan not being in love with Brenda? That it was just her family? He dated Brenda first. Had feelings for her first. The family dynamic didn’t come until later. 

But. Chemistry is subjective. And as another poster in the revival’s media thread said when she went to one of the Pop up Peach Pit event or something like that-that Luke just wanted “something different”. And my reaction to that is 🙄😒😒😒😒😒because cheating on your girlfriend up until the minute she left for Europe-was so original. Not to mention that Dylan really loved Brenda—there were NO HINTS that he had feelings for Kelly or was attracted to her. The minute Brenda was gone, he’s like, Brenda who?

But I’ve already vented my spleen about this and none of us are going to change each other’s minds.

[Jax7917]

59 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Eh. To each their own. I never saw the chemistry between them, whereas the chemistry between Luke and Shannen sizzled. And you saw them doing things outside of making out and even after they started having sex. They weren’t constantly fighting like Dylan and Kelly did. 

And as for Dylan not being in love with Brenda? That it was just her family? He dated Brenda first. Had feelings for her first. The family dynamic didn’t come until later. 

But. Chemistry is subjective. And as another poster in the revival’s media thread said when she went to one of the Pop up Peach Pit event or something like that-that Luke just wanted “something different”. And my reaction to that is 🙄😒😒😒😒😒because cheating on your girlfriend up until the minute she left for Europe-was so original. Not to mention that Dylan really loved Brenda—there were NO HINTS that he had feelings for Kelly or was attracted to her. The minute Brenda was gone, he’s like, Brenda who?

But I’ve already vented my spleen about this and none of us are going to change each other’s minds.

Yes! I wasn’t even much of a Brenda fan , but THEY had a real relationship . They had their fights , but they also had many more happy times together and while they did a lot of making out , there were so many episodes where they did cute things together too. One that stands out is Valentine’s Day when he took her with him and they donated blood together . Can you picture Kelly and Dylan doing that together ? She would have somehow picked a fight with him .  K and D were either making out and feeding each other strawberries or fighting . And of course in the 1992 episodes they were happy together. That’s when they started their summer fling . But even then it was all drama because they went behind Brenda’s Back . 

[thesupremediva1]

On 9/27/2019 at 6:14 PM, Jaclyn88 said:

Yes! I wasn’t even much of a Brenda fan , but THEY had a real relationship . They had their fights , but they also had many more happy times together and while they did a lot of making out , there were so many episodes where they did cute things together too. One that stands out is Valentine’s Day when he took her with him and they donated blood together . Can you picture Kelly and Dylan doing that together ? She would have somehow picked a fight with him .  K and D were either making out and feeding each other strawberries or fighting . And of course in the 1992 episodes they were happy together. That’s when they started their summer fling . But even then it was all drama because they went behind Brenda’s Back . 

Kelly and Dylan had a lifelong friendship and relationship, richly detailed in the show if one pays attention to it. However, Bryan fans feel the need to reduce it to "lust" and "fights" in an effort to cling to the first two seasons of the show.

Dylan moved on. Luke moved on. The storylines moved on. Watch season 6 - Dylan asks Kelly to help him clean out his father's storage locker. Didn't see him crying on the phone to Brenda about it. Well past summer 1992, Kelly is the one he wants around his dad and Erica. What was the line? "I chose. I chose you. I want you. I've always wanted you." Whether you like it or not, this is something Dylan NEVER goes back on. He ALWAYS chose Kelly.

In season 9 he tells Kelly he's back because he missed her. He goes on to tell her a few eps later that he's only connected with two things in this life - one is dead and the other is in front of him. Brenda? Nowhere on the list. 

Dylan helps Kelly through her rape crisis in season 9. In season 10, Kelly helps Dylan find his dad and convinces him to reunite with him despite Dylan's justified anger. He chooses not to follow Jack into witness protection. Though not explicitly stated, one can infer it's because he isn't ready to give up the possibility of reuniting with Kelly.

Dylan and Brenda were puppy love; Kelly and Dylan have a real adult relationship spanning decades. It's not even helpful to compare the two, honestly. You have to watch the whole show to truly get it. But I list all these because most people just can't let go of the lust label and slut-shaming when trashing Dylan and Kelly, and it's just fake news that people cherry-pick to defend their old ship which stopped being canon a third of the way through the series.

[Hiyo]

I liked both couples...and the Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle is one of my favorite triangles ever, on any show.

[Jax7917]

6 hours ago, thesupremediva1 said:

Kelly and Dylan had a lifelong friendship and relationship, richly detailed in the show if one pays attention to it. However, Bryan fans feel the need to reduce it to "lust" and "fights" in an effort to cling to the first two seasons of the show.

Dylan moved on. Luke moved on. The storylines moved on. Watch season 6 - Dylan asks Kelly to help him clean out his father's storage locker. Didn't see him crying on the phone to Brenda about it. Well past summer 1992, Kelly is the one he wants around his dad and Erica. What was the line? "I chose. I chose you. I want you. I've always wanted you." Whether you like it or not, this is something Dylan NEVER goes back on. He ALWAYS chose Kelly.

In season 9 he tells Kelly he's back because he missed her. He goes on to tell her a few eps later that he's only connected with two things in this life - one is dead and the other is in front of him. Brenda? Nowhere on the list. 

Dylan helps Kelly through her rape crisis in season 9. In season 10, Kelly helps Dylan find his dad and convinces him to reunite with him despite Dylan's justified anger. He chooses not to follow Jack into witness protection. Though not explicitly stated, one can infer it's because he isn't ready to give up the possibility of reuniting with Kelly.

Dylan and Brenda were puppy love; Kelly and Dylan have a real adult relationship spanning decades. It's not even helpful to compare the two, honestly. You have to watch the whole show to truly get it. But I list all these because most people just can't let go of the lust label and slut-shaming when trashing Dylan and Kelly, and it's just fake news that people cherry-pick to defend their old ship which stopped being canon a third of the way through the series.

You do realize that Brenda wasn’t on the show from seasons 5 on , right ? How could Dylan have asked Brenda to search through his fathers stuff with him if she wasn’t a part of the show anymore ? 
And he chose Kelly over Brenda at his dads release party because she was the only one who showed up . She even said to him ,” I can’t help but think you chose me because Brenda wasn’t here tonight “ . And he said yeah maybe before he said but it’s you I chose . 
Being a Dylan and Brenda fan or a Kelly and Dylan fan doesn’t matter , as everyone has their own opinions .. but you’re comparing someone who was on the show for all 10 seasons to someone who was on the show for 4 seasons so it’s a moot point . Of course Dylan “came back “ to the show for Kelly . That’s where his paycheck was . It wasn’t off screen with Brenda. 
even Jason Priestley who was a producer on the show at that point said that if he hadn’t have left , Aaron spelling wanted a Brandon / Kelly ending . Being that Brandon and Brenda we’re off the show , kelly and Dylan were what was left . 

[GHScorpiosRule]

Not to mention that ”lifetime” friendship between Dylan and Kelly was a retcon. NO mention of that when Kelly pointed out who Dylan was when Dylan finally met Brenda, and Kelly ceased to exist.  The way Kelly asked Dylan if he liked blondes, indicated to me she barely knew him.

The whole we've known each other since kindergarten didn't come up until after Dylan chose Kelly to ”show” they had history.🙄🙄😒😒😒

[methodwriter85]

13 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

The whole we've known each other since kindergarten didn't come up until after Dylan chose Kelly to ”show” they had history.🙄🙄😒😒😒

Don't forget that they even apparently were lovers in a past life, according to Dylan's past life regression episode.

[blondiec0332]

I'm rewatching the show and just started Season three so Summer of Betrayal is on the horizon. Watching Brenda/Dylan from the beginning up to now (Brenda just left for Paris) I can see how Dylan wanted something easier. I do think he loved Brenda, but it became too hard. I liked Kelly and Dylan together. However I liked Kelly with Brandon more.  When I watched the show in the 90s I was in my twenties.  My feeling which I still have is Dylan is the guy you sleep with and Brandon is the guy you marry.

[TigerLynx]

I think Dylan loved Brenda, but got tired of dealing with Jim.  If Dylan wanted to be with Kelly, he had the perfect opportunity when Brenda returned from Paris, and told him about Rick.  Instead months later, AFTER Brenda broke up with him, and Kelly was the only one who showed up for Jack's party, Dylan chose Kelly.

However, I don't think either of these pairings were end game.  They were in high school, then the first couple of years of college, so not surprising they broke up and started dating other people.  Years later, however, they still couldn't make it work, and that's the cincher for me.  There's only so many times I can see a couple break up, or think about getting back together, and not doing it before I think they should just accept they don't work romantically, and call it quits.  TV shows thrive on love triangles, and on-again off-again couples, but that stuff bores me.

[Jax7917]

11 hours ago, TigerLynx said:

I think Dylan loved Brenda, but got tired of dealing with Jim.  If Dylan wanted to be with Kelly, he had the perfect opportunity when Brenda returned from Paris, and told him about Rick.  Instead months later, AFTER Brenda broke up with him, and Kelly was the only one who showed up for Jack's party, Dylan chose Kelly.

However, I don't think either of these pairings were end game.  They were in high school, then the first couple of years of college, so not surprising they broke up and started dating other people.  Years later, however, they still couldn't make it work, and that's the cincher for me.  There's only so many times I can see a couple break up, or think about getting back together, and not doing it before I think they should just accept they don't work romantically, and call it quits.  TV shows thrive on love triangles, and on-again off-again couples, but that stuff bores me.

I agree with your post. 

Brenda is the one that broke up with Dylan. If he was really in love with Kelly , he would have broken up with Brenda when she got back from Paris. He even admitted that he might have just chosen Kelly because she's the one who showed up to his party. The second they got together, it was fight after fight and he never went to Kelly for anything serious. He always just wanted to have sex with her. The only times he said nice things to her was when she was having one of her hissy fits or he was in the dog house for something. 

Brenda and Dylan ran their course, but they had so many good moments together. He seemed to genuinely confide in her and want more than just sex with her. I never got invested in Kelly and Dylan from the beginning because their romantic feelings for each other came out of nowhere. There was no cute build-up like Pacey and Joey had on Dawson's Creek. Brenda left for Paris, K & D played volleyball together, and they just clicked? After knowing each other for all those years? it just wasn't a romantic story.

[GHScorpiosRule]

10 minutes ago, Jaclyn88 said:

Brenda and Dylan ran their course, but they had so many good moments together. He seemed to genuinely confide in her and want more than just sex with her.

Maybe so. But it was to BRENDA that Dylan went after Toni was murdered. They lived together while both actors were off screen, and something that Donna felt had to be hidden from Kelly for...reasons. The only reason Dylan and Brenda broke up again, was because Luke returned to the show.

And not for nothing, but whenever Dylan and Kelly got together or "reunited" one or the other or BOTH were cheating on the person they were with. First time, Dylan cheating on Brenda; second time, Kelly cheating on Brandon, third time, both cheating on Gina and Matt respectively.

Yeah, that's some soulmate love there.

[TigerLynx]

15 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

And not for nothing, but whenever Dylan and Kelly got together or "reunited" one or the other or BOTH were cheating on the person they were with. First time, Dylan cheating on Brenda; second time, Kelly cheating on Brandon, third time, both cheating on Gina and Matt respectively.

Yeah, that's some soulmate love there.

Not only, were they constant cheaters, when they cheated, they didn't end up with each other.  They either returned to the person they had cheated on (although why they took them back, I don't know), or they moved onto someone new.

Another thing I didn't like about the SOD was when Brenda returned, Kelly got all pissy about how Dylan had Brenda, and she was okay with that, but she didn't want to watch them together (uh, okay), and Dylan was all like, "You made this happen."  So everything is either Brenda's fault, "You broke up with me," or Kelly's.  Dylan has no will of his own?  {face palm}

Edited October 8, 2019 by TigerLynx

[Hiyo]

Quote

The only reason Dylan and Brenda broke up again, was because Luke returned to the show.

Yeah but then you could make the same point that the only reason Dylan went off to London to be with Brenda was because both characters were off the show by then.

[TigerLynx]

20 hours ago, Hiyo said:

Yeah but then you could make the same point that the only reason Dylan went off to London to be with Brenda was because both characters were off the show by then.

Leaving out the actors leaving or returning to the show, and just going with characters' actions, Dylan and Kelly didn't get back together when Dylan returned.  They ended up with Matt and Gina, cheated on them, and then stayed dating Matt and Gina.

Dylan and Brenda dated in high school, broke up, moved on with other people, and then years later got back together and didn't work out.

Dylan and Kelly dated at the end of high school, through part of the first year of college, broke up, moved onto other people, and then years later thought about getting back together, but didn't.

Both couples might have been a very memorable or passionate first love, but they didn't last long term.

[Scarlett45]

 Another thing I didn't like about the SOD was when Brenda returned, Kelly got all pissy about how Dylan had Brenda, and she was okay with that, but she didn't want to watch them together (uh, okay), and Dylan was all like, "You made this happen."  So everything is either Brenda's fault, "You broke up with me," or Kelly's.  Dylan has no will of his own?  {face palm}

@TigerLynx that is something I too hate about the aftermath of the SOD, Dylan puts the entire blame of Kelly’s feelings on Kelly being unreasonable for not agreeing to be his side chick while he’s still with Brenda! Of course Kelly isn’t going to be as close to them as she was before because she has feelings for Dylan- KELLY made this happen? Like Dylan didn’t participate? The one thing the writers got right about this is that when someone is cheating it’s always everyone else’s fault when things blow up. 

[Jax7917]

Both Kelly and Dylan were in the wrong, but Dylan was very whatever about it and him not telling Brenda was the biggest mistake he made. At that point, Brenda had broken up with him several times so he was over it by then. Kelly kept saying she felt bad and that they can't do this and was saying all the right things.. but she kept doing it. I don't think she's the only one who should be blamed by any means.. Dylan was a complete asshole about the situation, especially when Brenda found out and he had 0 empathy for her. He was all, "oh calm down Bren and get over it." But I do think people blame Kelly more 1) because of girl code and 2) because she kept saying she felt bad about it only to still keep doing it.. and then kept going on about how she's sick of having this reputation... but then keeps doing things to give herself a bad reputation. 

[RedbirdNelly]

I've enjoyed this deep look at Dylan/Kelly vs. Dylan/Brenda.

Personally I'm a situationalist.

With Brenda on the show, I preferred Dylan/Brenda. At this point, they never wrote Dylan/Kelly as a happy real couple. More of a fling. [note I'm going off of having last watched this probably 5 years ago so I'm fuzzy on details]

With Brenda gone, I preferred Kelly/Brandon over Kelly/Dylan. Brandon relationship felt more real (subject to them rewriting Kelly's character a bit but let's chalk that up to maturing).

With Brandon gone, I at this point was 100% for Dylan/Kelly being end game. There are reasons why this is not realistic but in show world, I'm a romantic and want my long time people together.

but my ideas on all of the above would change if Brandon was still there or if Brenda was.

[GHScorpiosRule]

This was such an incestuous group.

At the end, and i just realized this, Show wanted just whatever remained of the original cast to "be together" and the only exception was Steve, who was married to Janet. So instead of Her Twaffleness being with Matt, they had him do a 180, and tell her she belonged with (GACK) Dylan, then there was Donna and David's wedding. Couldn't have anymore "outsiders" now, could we?  BLEAGH.

[Hiyo]

They were always an incestuous group. Claire even pointed it out to Brandon at one point.

[Surrealist]

I always felt that Brandon and Kelly were well matched, and smug. According to Priestley, had he stayed on the show, Brandon and Kelly were the end game. 

Although I did like Brandon and Susan together. They seemed to be an equal match. I would have been fine if they had kept her character.

Edited October 11, 2019 by Surrealist

[TigerLynx]

I thought the biggest loss on the show was Brenda and Kelly's friendship and here's why:

Not only, did Brenda and Kelly's dynamic change, the writers would never let Brenda move on from Dylan.  She had other guys interested in her, she would seem to be happy, and then they would send her straight back to boring still hung up on Dylan territory.

When Emily said you couldn't get more Beverly Hills than Kelly, Brandon commented, "She's changed a lot," and I thought, "and not for the better."  I don't know what the writers were going for, but Kelly became a raging self-righteous judgmental hypocrite, and a complete shrew.  She was constantly criticizing everyone and everything.

And yet the writers wanted to insist Brenda and Kelly worked everything out, and everything was exactly the same.  They wrote the SOD, but they didn't want to deal with the fallout unless it involved blaming Brenda for everything.

[Jax7917]

10 hours ago, TigerLynx said:

I thought the biggest loss on the show was Brenda and Kelly's friendship and here's why:

Not only, did Brenda and Kelly's dynamic change, the writers would never let Brenda move on from Dylan.  She had other guys interested in her, she would seem to be happy, and then they would send her straight back to boring still hung up on Dylan territory.

When Emily said you couldn't get more Beverly Hills than Kelly, Brandon commented, "She's changed a lot," and I thought, "and not for the better."  I don't know what the writers were going for, but Kelly became a raging self-righteous judgmental hypocrite, and a complete shrew.  She was constantly criticizing everyone and everything.

And yet the writers wanted to insist Brenda and Kelly worked everything out, and everything was exactly the same.  They wrote the SOD, but they didn't want to deal with the fallout unless it involved blaming Brenda for everything.

Agreed . I think it was clear that the cast hated Shannon , the writers hated her and anyone involved in the show hated her . They made all of her friends go against her time after time ( 2 examples are The Roy Randolph situation and the dog laboratory story line ).. they also made her look desperate with Dylan many times even though it was clear he was more into hanging out with her and her family over Kelly any day of the week . But yet not one of them ever had sympathy for her for her best friend dating her long time boyfriend . There was never a moment where any of them said , “ wow that’s messed up .” Everyone was just always against Brenda even though at one point she was the shows moral center along with Brandon . I think my dislike for Kelly besides her being a judgmental , resting bitch face shrew and my overall like for Val was that none of her friends or anyone for that matter besides Val EVER put her in her place and told her she was wrong for anything . Everyone gave her a pass at all times . 

[Judi Sunshine]

On 10/28/2015 at 7:01 AM, SoupThrower said:

Another UO - I think David and Brenda would have been really good friends or more if they gave them more time together in scenes.

Totally!!! I loved their dancing together at that pool party!

[Scarlett45]

On 10/13/2019 at 11:28 AM, Jax7917 said:

I think my dislike for Kelly besides her being a judgmental , resting bitch face shrew and my overall like for Val was that none of her friends or anyone for that matter besides Val EVER put her in her place and told her she was wrong for anything . Everyone gave her a pass at all times . 

I know. Kelly did a lot of wrong and no one ever called her out on any of it. Pretty privilege you think? 

Val did a lot of wrong, but she rarely pretended to be anything she wasn’t, and she wasn’t a hypocrite. And she actually acknowledged when good people were unjustly hurt (like she knew Donna was a good soul). 

[moonchild81]

On 9/27/2019 at 5:02 PM, thesupremediva1 said:

Check , check and check. Shannen wasn't a bad person, and she was a darn good actress, but EVERYONE had an issue with her. You can see the bleed on screen in late season 3 when Dylan and Kelly confess to Brenda. Luke Perry was DONE with her, and Dylan was particularly cold and mean to Brenda. Luke Perry is also the one who created Kelly and Dylan as a couple, so I feel a lot of the hate directed towards Jennie should really have been sent his way. He did not want to work with Shannen anymore. That's why Kelly and Dylan became a couple. 

That said, the soulmate storyline for them persists from 3.18 (Senior Poll playground scene) through the very end of the series. He gets married, she dates Brandon, a million other things happen in between, but they always come back to each other. A lot of people label their relationship lust, but that's just because Luke and Jennie had such undeniable chemistry. They actually were apart more often than together, and yet the show explicitly explains how they always carried torches for each other. Total opposite of lust, IMO.

Also, I really grow tired of the "If Shannen hadn't left... / This only happened because Jason left the show" bitching I hear from the Brylan contingent. She DID leave, Jason DID leave, both chose to leave the show and those relationships on screen. Meanwhile, Luke Perry came back so he could act with Jennie again. I wish people would accept what happened in the plot and on screen. It's fine to disagree, but pretending Luke Perry was a Brylan shipper is just patently false. There's a reason he never wanted to revisit 90210 in any reboot - he was happy with the way the show ended. You have to be willfully ignorant to watch their scenes together and not see the absolute love Luke had for Jennie. 

I always believed the show chose to kill off Toni in order to leave the door open for Perry to return and have Kel and Dylan reunite. The show's bread-and-butter triangles were populated by Kelly and Dylan. Switch out a Walsh twin from season to season, but that was the show's central conflict. 

If Toni was meant to be the great, undeniable love of Dylan's life, they would have ridden off together into the sunset.  Not like Rebecca Gayheart was some ungettable actress who would never return to the show again for a few eps, should Luke Perry want to return for a finale or something. Instead, they killed her off.

Dylan also tells Kelly outside the Peach Pit, following the announcement of his engagement, "I asked you first." That moment to me is one of the most pivotal in the series. It implies that the trip around the world offer from season 5 was on par with a proposal, and that Kelly was his first choice. It tells the audience that even though Dylan is getting married and Kelly is dating Colin, that the door to their relationship is not closed. 

at the last appeearance they did together with luke , he said his favorite pairing was brenda/dylan  / jennie and tori were no angels / they wanted shannnen off the show because they were jealous of shannen and luke being so close plus jennie treated the new girls who came on the show after shannen left like dirt because she was jealous of them too / it isn't right that jennie got to stay on the show the whole way with the way she treated people but she did because she was close with tori

Edited August 15, 2022 by moonchild81

[Hiyo]

Shannon’s issues at the time went beyond whatever was going on between her and just Luke and maybe Jennie. Ian and Gabrielle (among others) weren’t sad to see her go as well.

Also Tori and Shannon were still friends when Shannon left the show.

Anyway who cares, they all made up at this point anyway.

[JAYJAY1979]

Unpopular Opinions:

Dylan/Brenda were too toxic.  She was too good for him.

Kelly/Dylan oddly were an interesting match because both had troubled upbringings and had a mutual understanding.

Cindy Walsh was annoying.

I always sided with Val over Kelly

 

On 8/15/2022 at 6:46 AM, Hiyo said:

Shannon’s issues at the time went beyond whatever was going on between her and just Luke and maybe Jennie. Ian and Gabrielle (among others) weren’t sad to see her go as well.

Also Tori and Shannon were still friends when Shannon left the show.

Anyway who cares, they all made up at this point anyway.

 

I co-sign on Tori/Shannon being friends still when Shannon left the show.  Tori was the peace maker between Tori and Jennie many a time.