REACTION: 9021OMG Episode 30

The 30th edition of the “9021OMG” podcast focused on “Play It Again, David.”

“Play It Again, David” is the fifth episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210” season 2. The title is a play on on the Casablanca line “Play it again, Sam,” a film that takes on more significance in the show during season 3. For now, the action revolves around Kelly (Jennie Garth) freaking out when her mom Jackie (Ann Gillespie) begins dating David’s (Brian Austin Green) dad. The episode serves as our introduction to Mel Silver (Matthew Laurance).

As for the Walshes, Brandon (Jason Priestley) serves as a “big brother” to a tween who tries to hide the abuse happening in his home and Brenda (Shannen Doherty) obsesses over Dylan (Luke Perry) while he’s in Hawaii. This episode was the only one of the series written by Sherri Ziff and was helmed by repeat director Charles Braverman.

Garth and Tori Spelling (Donna) had a lot to say about Kelly’s behavior in the episode. Just kidding. They barely discussed it at all.

9021OMG Episode 30, “Pop the Question”

• Of course Jennie didn’t want to get into the episode right away. So she and Tori spoke for a bit about going golfing together the day before.

• Jennie then said they wanted to “mix it up” and instead of going into the episode, they would answer questions first. Sisanie said she had “pages of questions” and feels like they often run out of time for them. So now they’d “knock a few out beforehand.”

  • They’ve pretty much never run out of time for the questions.

• The first fan question was about whether the original cast has a group text chat. Tori and Jennie said they do and they indicated Gabrielle uses it the most.

• The second fan question was whether any of the actors are like their characters. Jennie said she sees herself in Kelly and they discussed how Jason is different from Brandon.

• The third fan question was for Jennie to give her favorite Kelly / Dylan moment and Tori to give her favorite Donna / David moment.

• For her part, Jennie said when Kelly and Dylan ride jet skis and told the infamous story about Luke knocking her out. Somehow Superfan Sisanie had never heard this before.

• Tori pointed out that Jennie was more sharing about a moment between her and Luke versus a favorite moment between Kelly and Dylan. Jennie said she doesn’t know what her favorite moment is because they’re not up to that coupling in their rewatch. Well, Tori had her own answer: Kelly and Dylan’s season 3 pool scene.

  • Thank you, Tori, for being a fan and not needing a rewatch to know your favorite K/D moment. If only we could say the same for Jennie.

• As for her favorite Donna and David moment, Tori said when they got married and told the story she’s already told about her and Brian writing their own vows, feeling they knew the characters better than the writers.

  • It isn’t clear to me which version was broadcast, but I can’t imagine vows solely written by Tori and Brian versus what was written for them in the script is what made it to air.

• The fourth and final question was who is the best kisser. Jennie said she’s been asked this so much and thinks she gives a different answer every time, but now said Jason and talked about his TMJ, which she now suffers from as well. Tori said Brian.

• Tori then pleaded for “outside the box” questions and things they’ve never been asked before.

  • Beggars can’t be choosers, Tori. And it’s up to your producers to pick unique questions and not ones that have been asked 9371231786254 times before.

• More than 25 minutes went by before they discussed the episode, which they all seemed to like, though you wouldn’t know that from how briefly they talked about it.

• Once again, they wrongly credited Darren Star as being one of the episode’s writers.

• They gushed about Matthew and said they should call him and have him on the podcast.

  • Why didn’t they think of that before now and have him on for this episode, given that it’s his debut?

• They thought it was funny how Mel and Jackie met and commented on how fast their relationship seemed to movie. Jennie had an epiphany: Perhaps seeing relationships move fast on the show is why she’s like that in real life.

• Tori said Brandon’s plot was a “heavy, heavy” storyline. Jennie said Felix was “well cast.” Of course she didn’t use the character’s name, though. It was “the kid.”

• Jennie commented on how “intense” Brenda and Dylan’s kiss was in Brenda’s fantasy, likening it to a romance novel and Fifty Shades of Grey. She also copped to being a little jealous.

  • None of them seemed to get that it was an homage to From Here to Eternity.

• There was a short tangent on changing hairstyles and a longer tangent on their heights.

• When doing their usual fashion segment, Jennie said she had to go braless for her orange halter outfit in the episode and then was self-conscious about her boob sweat and thought Brian noticed it.

• Tori went on a tangent about her dynamic with Brian at the time and how he would supposedly “play games” with her rather than committing. This “bothered” Jennie all these years later.

• Tori then discussed her insecurities then and now and Jennie talked about hers.

• Among their favorite lines was Kelly saying “the avocado doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

• Jennie didn’t get why David adopted an old-timey accent and said, “Sweetheart, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.” Sisanie had to explain that it was from Casablanca and that the episode’s title was a reference to the movie too, but all of them were confused on why the film was being referenced at all.

  • It was obvious none of them knew that Casablanca — or that very line — play a role in season 3.

• Tori: “I wish we could ask Darren and the other writer.” Sisanie: “Why don’t you guys text Darren Star when we have these questions?”

  • Uh, what happens after season 2 when Darren isn’t involved anymore? You know, there’s someone else they could ask...

  • In case it wasn’t already clear, research and advance preparation are not their thing.

• Sisanie said they didn’t get to a lot of the fan questions. You did four of them, Sis. More than usual. Give it up.

  • And maybe if you were able to keep Jennie and Tori from giving long-winded answers and going on tangents, then you’d be able to fit in more questions. And more actual analysis and commentary on the episodes.

• Jennie: “That concludes another riveting episode of ‘9021OMG.”

• They didn’t name next week’s episode and tell people to watch like they usually do.

  • I saw an Instagram comment pointing out the next episode isn’t on Hulu, which is usually how Jennie and Tori watch. I wonder if that’s why they didn’t mention it. And now I wonder how they’re going to watch.

First off, hats off to Tori, Jennie, and Sisanie for reaching 30 episodes of their podcast. Regardless of the quality, it’s still an accomplishment to do this week in and week out. I honestly wasn’t sure if there was going to be a new one today because of Memorial Day, even though they seem to record a day or more in advance. (And an Instagram post suggests they did record this one a few days ago.) It just seemed like a holiday weekend and the unofficial start of summer could give them a reason to flake out this week. And frankly, everyone needs to take a break at some point. Lord knows I sure could use a break from this being a weekly event!

But here we are again. Selfishly, though, I made the decision to only listen to this installment. At the pool. With my headphones. Practicing some much-needed self-care. There was no note-taking… well… there was minimal note-taking, hence why my bulleted list above is short. I apologize that I don’t have a lot of specifics for you this week, but I might do this again tomorrow with “Welcome to the OC, Bitches.” I hope you’ll give me the grace I am trying to give myself.

Given how much this episode focused on the Kelly-David dynamic, I wish they had Brian on as a guest. Obviously there’s many episodes ahead for which it will make sense to have him on, but this would’ve made sense for a first appearance on the podcast. They still discussed Brian quite a bit… just not really in relation to the episode. In fact, they devoted maybe two to three sentences to each storyline and that was it.

Do they actually think this was “riveting”? Do they not see how it comes across like they’re barely interested in their own show and the purported purpose of their rewatch podcast? Do they not get how spending only a few minutes of a 60-minute rewatch podcast discussing the actual episode comes across as disrespectful? I guess they just don’t care. They see all the comments from fans who just love hearing them talk about anything and so they talk about anything.

But make no mistake: I’m not the only one dissatisfied (and that’s putting it mildly) with their approach. Just look at the negative comments on Apple Podcasts. Yes, there are far, far more positive comments. I am in the minority. But I’m not alone in feeling the way I do. And “Beverly Hills, 90210” and its legacy deserve better.

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