S09.E03: Dealer's Choice

[Primetimer]

Vincent Young hasn't learned to portray sadness, and yet the writers have put him in a position to get mercilessly dragged for it, by us.

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[Primetimer]

We've collected the most important imagery from 'Dealer's Choice'!

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[gesundheit]

It's sobriety that Vincent Young struggled to play.

[SomeoneElsa]

Well that's the hardest I've laughed in a month, and I thank you.

[Kimmykun]

Don't really have anything to say about this episode. It feels like it was just a lot of setup for Brandon and Val's imminent departures. Also, Noah.

The last Brandon episode is in two weeks. Let us all rejoice.

[ZeroDiscipline]

How does Noah get from never ever talking to or about his family for so long to being responsible for his father's official obituary and retrieving his father's things? And it sucked that he ruined Dr. Martin's anniversary party, but I do like that he called Felice "Felicia". Didn't Dylan make a scene at one of the Martin's fancy parties back in college? Surely David embarrassed her in public at some point too. And then there was Ray messing up their snooty dinner by not liking aspic. Felice must get the vapors just thinking about the types of people Donna keeps company with.

[ZeroDiscipline]

"Carl is more of a gambler than he may yet understand."

She had unprotected sex with an HIV+ partner what, a month ago? And she's already on to a spitefuck of her mom's boyfriend? Valerie is not that terrible of a person, they really should not have gone here.

[RosieRose221]

"Carl is more of a gambler than he may yet understand."

She had unprotected sex with an HIV+ partner what, a month ago? And she's already on to a spitefuck of her mom's boyfriend? Valerie is not that terrible of a person, they really should not have gone here.

I AGREE THAT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE AS SOMETHING VAL WOULD DO TO HER MOM -MAYBE TO KELLY LOL. THE ONLY THING I CAN THINK OF IS SHE WAS TRYING TO GET BACK AT HER MOM FOR LETTING HER HUSBAND ABUSE HER ALL THOSE YEARS

[TeeVee329]

This Steve/Sophie/David story is such a lazy retread of the Steve/Val/Dylan story from season five, except that a) Val was, natch, was way better playing the innocent ("On a school night no less!") and b) Dylan at least had a drinking problem to explain the blatant betrayal of his good friend while David's reason is...

2 hours ago, ZeroDiscipline said:

Felice must get the vapors just thinking about the types of people Donna keeps company with.

My favorite was always drunk Dylan storming into her fancy charity dinner to berate Brandon and Kelly, so soapy!

[CurlyATX]

These friends have ALWAYS put romance before friendship.  Kelly/Dylan/Brenda/Brandon are the main examples.  Although if I were David, I'd ask for a meeting with all three so they could talk honestly.  He'd need to make sure Sophie was being honest with Steve, that Steve was ok, etc.  I don't quite get this whole "my friend likes him so he's off limits" kind of thing.  Sophie should be able to have the ability to decide who she bones.  BUT, she needs to be honest about it and not play around like she's possibly into Steve (even if it means he doesn't give her freebies). 

Now I wish we had a 90210 Golden Girls.  Felice/Samantha/Cindy/Jackie.  Cindy would be Rose, Felice would be Sophia (picture this, Beverly Hills 1992), Jackie is Blanche and I guess that makes Samantha Dorothy.

Edited August 13, 2018 by CurlyATX
spelling counts

[adam807]

What is that shirtless action figure on David's headboard????

Also wouldn't the cops make sure Noah had a license to have a gun before just handing him a gun? Sure it's America but it's California!

[MCMLXXVII]

1 hour ago, adam807 said:

What is that shirtless action figure on David's headboard????

Also wouldn't the cops make sure Noah had a license to have a gun before just handing him a gun? Sure it's America but it's California!

Didn’t he own the gun David shot Gwyneth with?, so I assume he is licensed, but who knows if there was an investigation into that where he would have been at fault?

A friend’s ex-cop father died (of natural causes/old age) here in NY and someone from the firearms licensing department or whatever contacted her about his gun. She has it stored at her local police department for safekeeping until she can sell it, since she has no license and is not interested in getting one. Granted, maybe things were different in the ‘90s.

Edited August 14, 2018 by MCMLXXVII

[Tooch]

Returning to my point about the horribleness of the Valerie retcon. When David's mom attempted suicide (and not even with a gun!) she had nightmares for a week and woke up screaming and crying in Brandon's arms and it was actually kind of moving (and pretty much the only time Brandon was even a half-decent friend to her, though I do remember him acting put-out by her tears). 

Now, another friend's dad blows his brains out and no one even says "Hey Val, remember you had a mini breakdown over David's mom....you okay?" It's the same suicide method, same parent. It's just fucking ridiculous. She's not having PTSD flashbacks again because...reasons?

The Sophie story is so dumb. When does Steve finally get together with Janet so we can end our nightmare of him being the "victim" of all these pretty ladies who would rather bang his insufferable friends? 

[TeeVee329]

I did wonder, when Noah was waving that gun around, why Donna wasn't like, "Hey, I'm not a huge fan of guns after I was held at gunpoint by my stalker in college."

[penguinnj]

1 hour ago, Tooch said:

The Sophie story is so dumb. When does Steve finally get together with Janet so we can end our nightmare of him being the "victim" of all these pretty ladies who would rather bang his insufferable friends? 

I had repressed this whole Sophie mess.  I think this is the beginning of the whole David dates a string of ridiculous/played for stupid laughs/inappropriate girls before eventually marrying St. Donna.  If I remember correctly- and I am so very sad that I remember this much- he dates or sleeps with an underage girl, a sex addict, a woman who needs a green card, Gina- for the sole purpose of having an idiotic triangle with Dylan- she blackmails his father!!, and the grown up girl from Charles in Charge who is way to good for him.  And I may be forgetting a few.  The "writers" really forget what to do when someone has a non-gang relationship- they are much better at this in college.  And as much as I love Janet, once she and Steve get married and have the baby they get completely shunted to the side and almost exclusively have storylines only with each other.  It feels really disconnected.

[Nanna]

35 minutes ago, TeeVee329 said:

I did wonder, when Noah was waving that gun around, why Donna wasn't like, "Hey, I'm not a huge fan of guns after I was held at gunpoint by my stalker in college."

And also: “hey, remember when my friend was shot and you saved her life by giving her blood? And please stop playing around with that gun, I once attended a terrible birthday “party” which ended with the birthday boy shooting himself by accident.” When you think about, it Donna’s history with gunrelated violence is quite long. She should turn around and run the moment she sees stupid Noah with a gun. 

[meggonzo]

3 hours ago, Tooch said:

The Sophie story is so dumb. When does Steve finally get together with Janet so we can end our nightmare of him being the "victim" of all these pretty ladies who would rather bang his insufferable friends? 

It should be in just a few episodes, but they are always on and off the rest of the season.

1 hour ago, penguinnj said:

I had repressed this whole Sophie mess.  I think this is the beginning of the whole David dates a string of ridiculous/played for stupid laughs/inappropriate girls before eventually marrying St. Donna.  If I remember correctly- and I am so very sad that I remember this much- he dates or sleeps with an underage girl, a sex addict, a woman who needs a green card, Gina- for the sole purpose of having an idiotic triangle with Dylan- she blackmails his father!!, and the grown up girl from Charles in Charge who is way to good for him.  And I may be forgetting a few.  The "writers" really forget what to do when someone has a non-gang relationship- they are much better at this in college.  And as much as I love Janet, once she and Steve get married and have the baby they get completely shunted to the side and almost exclusively have storylines only with each other.  It feels really disconnected.

And then he whines when Dylan hooks up with someone in Vegas.  Not because he thinks it's gross, but because Dylan gets all the women, even though David is the one that dates a bunch of women this season.  He was probably salty that Gina would rather date Dylan than him.  Sorry, spoiler!

[CurlyATX]

1 hour ago, meggonzo said:

not because he thinks it's gross, but because Dylan gets all the women, even though David is the one that dates a bunch of women this season. 

Don't the guys make a poem about all the girls David has slept with as part of his bachelor party?  Oh... can't wait to see Mrs. Teasley.  Will we finally get the Battleship Galactica in the Revlon aisle (paraphrasing that wonderful comment our hosts made when Steve gets expelled for the stupid legacy key and his mom bails out his keister one last time). 

[yousetmeupyoucrud]

4 hours ago, Tooch said:

The Sophie story is so dumb. When does Steve finally get together with Janet so we can end our nightmare of him being the "victim" of all these pretty ladies who would rather bang his insufferable friends? 

Oh my god, Steve is OG INCEL.

[penguinnj]

23 minutes ago, CurlyATX said:

Don't the guys make a poem about all the girls David has slept with as part of his bachelor party?

Yes- I remember that now!  But other than "crab"s girl Ariel, David sleeps with them all from now until the end of the series.  For almost the entirety of the series it was just Donna, Val, and Claire for 1 season.

[Jax7917]

Janet was okay , but I always felt like he settled for her because he couldn't have his choice of women . And It appeared that she knew that too . Maybe he fell in love with her later on , but he clearly wasn't too attracted to her in the beginning as per the episode where he ditched her at the high school reunion . 

That season long of David being jealous of Dylan because he gets all the girls including his future wife's sister fake cousin  is insufferable . And why do all these pretty girls want Dylan ? He's a stick figure drug addict who offers literally nothing besides millions .. oh wait . That's why they're primarily interested . 

[meggonzo]

I thought it was because he's mad, bad, and dangerous to know.

[Tooch]

Oh man, I'm so excited about the return of Dylan now, I can't wait to hear Tara and Sarah discuss how no one in the gang says a word about him casually drinking. As if the sight of Dylan with a beer wasn't enough to send everyone into a tailspin just a few years ago. Retcons, how I love you.

[penguinnj]

49 minutes ago, Tooch said:

 

Oh man, I'm so excited about the return of Dylan now, I can't wait to hear Tara and Sarah discuss how no one in the gang says a word about him casually drinking.

 

Or how very much he has aged :)  When Jack comes back- spoilers!- I always thought they looked more like brothers than father and son.

[RosieRose221]

Oh man, I'm so excited about the return of Dylan now, I can't wait to hear Tara and Sarah discuss how no one in the gang says a word about him casually drinking. As if the sight of Dylan with a beer wasn't enough to send everyone into a tailspin just a few years ago. Retcons, how I love you.

OMG! HE MUST HAVE GOTTEN A TOLERANCE -REMEMBER WHEN ONE LITTLE AIRPORT BOTTLE GOT HIM DRUNK ON THE CAMPING TRIP AND HE PUKED LOL

[MCMLXXVII]

43 minutes ago, RosieRose221 said:

OMG! HE MUST HAVE GOTTEN A TOLERANCE -REMEMBER WHEN ONE LITTLE AIRPORT BOTTLE GOT HIM DRUNK ON THE CAMPING TRIP AND HE PUKED LOL

I just started watching “Sharp Objects” on HBO, and the main character is an alcoholic with a bunch of airport bottles of booze. I immediately thought of this scene while reading the show’s discussion thread on here. Heh.

[Kerfuffler]

I thought the whole point of Val trying to seduce Carl was to prove to her mom that he's a sleazebag, so she goes through with it but doesn't tell her mom? I don't get it.

[GrahamV]

On 8/13/2018 at 3:14 PM, ZeroDiscipline said:

She had unprotected sex with an HIV+ partner what, a month ago? And she's already on to a spitefuck of her mom's boyfriend? Valerie is not that terrible of a person, they really should not have gone here.

Yeah, this pissed me off more than a lot of shit the writers have pulled over the past couple of seasons, which is saying something.

Val's initial setup on the show is fantastic. She just wants to mess with these nerds, and I can respect that. Even when they first start to dip into the why of it, it still holds up (she's damaged and insecure and has suffered her share of trauma). But once they got into the whole sexual abuse thing, it all starts to fall apart for me. They flip flop on her motivations constantly, and the show never seems sure of whether we're supposed to pity her, like her, hate her, sympathize with her...it's just a mess. TAT sells it, but she can only do so much. This whole seducing Mom's fiancé thing was just such an unnecessarily hard turn into unlikable territory for Val and she deserved better.