S02.E08: Wildfire

[Primetimer]

New girl Emily Valentine seduces every guy at West Beverly High, seemingly just by being new. No wonder former new girl Brenda is pissed.

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[Primetimer]

Everyone's a little less than euphoric in the Visual Aids to accompany 'Wildfire.'

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[Chicken Diablo]

I like Brenda's Diane Keaton look, and the little top when she's stink-eyeing EV with her gang. But I lived through 90's jeans and somehow managed it without CT or tesseract pleats.

[Keeks]

I IMDB'd Christine Elise. She did indeed sing the song.

[Halo]

C. Potter is so young in that shot of her looking impotently disapproving! Also, she's way too pretty to be styled so terribly. Contrast her with Emily Valentine, who looks as old as Aaaahhhhnndrea. I have nothing against the actress, but her face always bothered me and I never understood why she was the supposed hot girl all the Bev-niners wanted. Talk about the whistle only dogs can hear.

I LOLed at David "Byrne" Silver's jacket, but cringed in shame at the high-leg bathing suits that resemble the COCA-COLA BRANDED ONE I totally, unironically wore to actual Lutheran church camp the year this episode aired. How that was allowed is beyond me.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Halo

[Picture It. Sicily]

Robert Palmer died in 2003.

[Picture It. Sicily]

I always wanked it that the guys were flocking to Emily because of the new girl factor.

[kfree9]

The high legged bathing suits, the high rise jeans, it was all about choking the crap out of your crotch in the 90's. Or to basically form an arrow pointing "HERE IT IS, RIGHT HERE!"

[swanjun]

Maybe this is common knowledge, but is that courtyard with the fountain and the stairs the same one where some Buffy scenes were filmed?

[Lisin]

Maybe this is common knowledge, but is that courtyard with the fountain and the stairs the same one where some Buffy scenes were filmed?

 

It is.  Also several other movies and TV shows. Apparently that high school is a fame whore! 

[goldengirl]

When Linda Holmes talked about this podcast on PCHH, and how it is for a very specific audience...I was all over it. I am loving going back and rewatching Beverly Hills as an adult and now laughing with you at the ridiculousness.

Question (if anyone knows) - why is this episode not available on YouTube or Hulu?? This used to be one of my favorite episodes. My sister and I would watch it over and over again on our taped-from-tv VHS copy. I want to see it again!

[Stephsco]

^ I also found this podcast from Pop Culture Happy Hour. I am cringing and laughing with every episode.

[Kristen]

Emily Valentine! I've been waiting for her!

[Kristen]

I'm gonna need a warning if Sarah does that Michael McDonald thing again because coffee plus sinuses equals laughing in pain.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Kristen

[John Ramos]

To add another reason to why Emily was the MVP of the episode, she told Brenda to get over her "reasons" for the breakup and get back with Dylan, and she did! Why didn't anyone else try that?

[Hollysdower]

I didn't watch this back when it originally aired, though I would have been in the key demographic. But I've been hearing people anticipating the arrival of Emily Valentine, so I was stoked to watch this episode last night. I hope she goes on to do better things, because this episode was really underwhelming for me. Emily Valentine reminds me more of Poochie than anything else. People (well, Brenda, Donna, and Kelly) don't like her and wish she'd go away; she is Rastafied 10% more than everyone else; and whenever Emily Valentine is not onscreen, all the other characters are talking about Emily Valentine. Also, DeadScott had clearly visited the Fireworks Factory.

[radishcake]

Emily Valentine reminds me more of Poochie than anything else. People (well, Brenda, Donna, and Kelly) don't like her and wish she'd go away; she is Rastafied 10% more than everyone else; and whenever Emily Valentine is not onscreen, all the other characters are talking about Emily Valentine. Also, DeadScott had clearly visited the Fireworks Factory.

Hollyhox I bow to you. That made me snort soda up my nose. <3

[sinnerforhire]

For some reason, at the very end of the podcast when Tara says that Brenda asked Dylan if he boned Emily, I thought she said "did he phone Emily" and I was like, why would she care if Dylan called Emily...oh, wait, that's not what she said. Facepalming ensued.

[sinnerforhire]

Question (if anyone knows) - why is this episode not available on YouTube or Hulu?? This used to be one of my favorite episodes. My sister and I would watch it over and over again on our taped-from-tv VHS copy. I want to see it again!

I would assume it's a music rights problem, probably with the girls' performance. There's no way to cut it and still have the episode make any sense.

[smrou]

I definitely watched this entire episode online last year, I think on youtube though I could be remembering that wrong, with all of the original music. I remember because I watched it after I brought up the song "The Leader of the Pack" in one of my classes and none of my students knew what I was talking about except one girl who was like, "Oh, that song was in 90210!", so when I got home that day of course I had to rewatch it.

[John Ramos]

That leather cap looked like something Emily pinched from the Tom of Finland collection.

[dianajoy]

Emily Valentine! Apparently my oblivious teenage crush on her was just dormant, not dead. Huh.

Also, is Randy Spelling the boom operator? That really could be the only answer at this point.

[AndySmith]

Emily is...ok. I think part of her mystique is the whole E4EA (sp?) episode + her final episode + her arrival brings out the bitch in almost all the girls. In between that, she's interesting but not all that noteworthy, to be honest. And yes, they are trying way too hard to remind how different she is from the other Bevelry Hills princesses on this show. But, the highs (no pun intended) of the character do outweigh the lows.

[AndySmith]

Emily gives so few fucks she'll even flirt with Steve. WITH STEVE!

 

Maybe Emily Valentine is Valerie Malone's spirit animal?

 

Look, it's West Beverly High's Welcoming Committee!

 

Why is Tori looking off in a different direction than the other girls? Between this and

 

Someone tell Tori this isn't the rehearsal and the camera is actually on and she should maybe...try?

 

You have to wonder if Tori just didn't give a fuck that week.

 

Could you guys make a poll pitting all of Emily's hats against one another?

Edited September 27, 2015 by AndySmith

[KittenPokerCheater]

Christine Elise was on 21 JumpStreet back in the day.  She played a thrill seeking baddie.  I wonder if Jason had been dating the actress or if he met her on the show.

 

The whole replacement music, icky, made in David Silver's basement is truly terrible.  I don't understand it.  I've seen/heard it done on other shows too and I sincerely don't get it.  I think they used the original music when it aired on soapnet but it's different here.  What happens when the peach pit starts having pop stars play there?  Maybe I need to go to law school.

 

It seems like the writers' wanted Emily to be the female version of Dylan; cool and misunderstood. The Walsh twins go for the "edgy" kids; I guess it's romantic? 

 

It was funny to see Donna/Brinda/Kelly let loose their cattiness like teenagers can.  The clothing was...about as bad as the replacement music.

 

Poor Dead Scott.  I know the actor wanted to leave, but they made Scott such a dorky loser and I feel so sorry for him.

[Kerfuffler]

Looking down on Scott's Western wear is rich coming from David Silver, king of the bolo tie.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

I am already practicing a Michael McD rendition of "you are so precious to meeeeeee." 

[AndySmith]

And I'll be practicing my Jim Walsh Headbobbing of Appreciation.

[SoylentGreen]

I would love to gather all the Casio noodle-tastic musical stings in this show and then start randomly inserting them into my conversations. The best bit would be even if I picked the wrong tone for the occasion, it wouldn't matter as most of them seemed to be used more or less at random in this show any way.

[Rebecca]

"Dylda relationship"...I died.

 

I can't wait to do some "U4EA" with you all!

Edited September 28, 2015 by Rebecca

[Pogojoco]

U4EA is really the best episode. And I also never knew how heavy handed the foreshadowing with Dead Scott and the damn guns. Holy crap.

Also, Robert Palmer is totally not alive anymore. Yeah. Makes the lawn mowing comment hilarious. And almost suspended, Sarah D. Bunting?!?!?!?

The fashion in this is really intense. And ew, Dylan putting the moves on Emily. And Bitch Brenda was pretty hysterical. "Have a good time at the gynecologist."

I came to the realization that it might've been braver/more interesting dramatically if Brandon and Andrea had slept together in the season finale and it all just went crazy.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

...I'd already gotten into college and lost the ability to GAF. (see also: sending a stripper to the headmistress's office)

[TriggyLA]

Confession: after this episode aired i raided my dad's closet and wore a shirt and tie to school for dress down day. I wore an uniform all year long and the one day we can dress anyway we want i do that so it was completely noticeable. I got a couple "hey Brenda...." which i realize was not a compliment. Oh the 90s

[TriggyLA]

The original music when Brenda and dylan got back together was the chris Isaac song wicked game. Sux all the music changed

[CeeBeeGee]

On 9/25/2015 at 11:19 AM, Keeks said:

I IMDB'd Christine Elise. She did indeed sing the song.

You can tell she sang it because she's a little pitchy. She's sharp in places, whereas the backup singers sound suspiciously perfect (which is how we know the girls are dubbed).

On 9/28/2015 at 11:54 PM, Pogojoco said:

The fashion in this is really intense. And ew, Dylan putting the moves on Emily. And Bitch Brenda was pretty hysterical. "Have a good time at the gynecologist."

Bitch Brenda is the best! I'm rereading Jason Priestley's memoir rn and he says that part of ShanDo's "quirky charm" was that she "really and truly did not give a shit." This is why she's able to fully commit to the Bitch in Brenda. "Have a good time at the gynecologist"--perfect 🙂 

[Egg McMuffin]

Is this the one where Brenda verbally attacks “Imily” in the kitchen while the gang is over? Accusing Imily of trying to have a “hootenanny” because she brought over her guitar? And Jim and Cindy sit there impotently through the whole thing?

If so, then this is the best episode ever.