REACTION: 9021OMG Episode 33

It was back to school on Monday’s “9021OMG.”

In “Wildfire,” the eighth episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210” season 2, the gang returns to West Beverly for the first day of school. Brenda (Shannen Doherty) is jealous when new student Emily (Christine Elise) catches Dylan’s (Luke Perry) eye… though she also catches Brandon’s (Jason Priestley) eye too. Meanwhile, after David (Brian Austin Green) spent the summer hanging out with Donna (Tori Spelling) and friends, he and Scott (Douglas Emerson) struggle to reconnect.

The episode was written by future executive producers Jessica Klein and Steve Wasserman, with direction from Dan Attias. Christine previously discussed this installment, and much of her character’s arc, on the “Beverly Hills 90210 Show” podcast last September. I also did an interview with Christine back in 2009.

So what did Jennie Garth (Kelly) and Tori think of Christine’s debut episode? Well, they had a lot of questions…

9021OMG Episode 33, “Valentine’s Day”

• Tori introduced them all with just their first names and said they’ll be “lazy” by the fifth season and just use their initials. Pretty sure they’re already lazy given the lack of effort they put into this podcast each week. And who really thinks they’re going to make it to season 5?

• They discussed Jennie’s second-oldest daughter graduating from high school, which led to a tangent about their school experiences. They also discussed Jennie’s Lifetime movie and Tori’s upcoming MTV show “Messyness.” Jennie admitted she didn’t let her kids watch MTV because she didn’t want them to see “suggestive” things. Sisanie pointed out the irony of this coming from Kelly Taylor of all people. Jennie tried to argue that “teen shows today” are “pushing the envelope,” but Sisanie made the counterpoint that that’s what “Beverly Hills, 90210” did back in its day too.

  • Gotta give Sis credit when it’s due — her take here was right on.

• Nearly 15 minutes in, they got to the episode at hand. Jennie called it a “good” one while Tori was sad the summer episodes were done. Tori read the synopsis taken from IMDb while Jennie once again wrongly credited Darren as one of the episode’s writers. The streak continues!

• Jennie said Emily came in like a “freakin’ wrecking ball,” but while she liked the character, Tori said she would’ve been “scared” and “intimidated” by Emily in real life. They discussed how the group was initially welcoming of Emily before slut-shaming her. This led to a tangent about bullying and shaming.

• Superfan Sisanie confessed that she didn’t like Emily when she watched growing up, in part because she doesn’t like change and didn’t want there to be a new person in the group. Jennie asked how many episodes she was in, admitting, “We should know this.” Sisanie gave the correct answer — 12, across three seasons.

• Sisanie said Brenda should be thanking Emily because her arrival led to Brenda and Dylan getting back together. Jennie, however, was confused by the ending and wasn’t sure if the couple had in fact reunited. But they all seemed to think it was “cheesy.”

• They mocked Brandon’s dream, but liked the back-to-school montage of everyone getting ready.

• Jennie wanted to know where the name “Emily Valentine” came from, since someone named Diana Valentine worked on the show. She did not realize the name was in fact an homage to Diana (or that this wasn’t the only crew member / character they did that with). Tori said they’d have to ask Christine and Jennie said they’d have to get her on the phone.

• Jennie said Dylan came on to Emily “strong” and it made her “uncomfortable.” As more things came up related to Emily, Tori said, “All great questions we need to ask her.” “Her” being Christine, of course.

• During the first ad break, there was a commercial for the “One Tree Hill” rewatch podcast, “Drama Queens,” which launched today. Pretty sure it was just the trailer that came out the other week, not new material.

  • I haven’t listened to the debut episode yet and it will be a few days before I am able to… but stay tuned for a reaction post.

• After the break, Jennie had another question for Christine — whether she knew Jason before she was cast on the show. None of them felt they had any chemistry onscreen together. Sisanie recalled not liking their relationship, but also suggested viewers weren’t supposed to like it.

• Tori wanted to know why Christine wasn’t made a series regular since other “bad girls” later on — namely, Tiffani and Vanessa — were. She also argued that Christine was among the most well-known actors from the show, apart from the main cast. They also wondered whether it was decided from the start that Emily would be a “bad girl” or if she was initially intended to fully be a pure love interest for Brandon.

  • Pretty sure Christine would object to the characterization of Emily as a “bad girl.” I object to it too. A person struggling with their mental health — or simply looking different — isn’t automatically “bad.”

• Superfan Sisanie wanted to know how long it takes to write an episode. Jennie and Tori didn’t have an answer for her. They also didn’t know until years later that Christine had written three episodes of the show, in part because she was credited as “Christine McCarthy” and they knew her as “Christine Elise.”

• Then Superfan Sisanie wanted to know how far in advance they would get each script, so there was a tangent on that. They didn’t know who choreographed the dance, but Tori said “supposedly me” based on what a fan had told her.

• Jennie watched the episode via Pluto since it’s not on Hulu and said all the commercials drove her “insane.” She also thought the girls singing “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” was some kind of replacement scene for Pluto. That changing songs was actually part of the episode went right over her head. Sisanie had to explain it to her and Tori was confused too. Sisanie even exclaimed to them at one point, “Did you guys not watch the episode?!”

• Jennie called Brenda “vicious” for how she treated Emily. They didn’t know if Christine actually sang during the group performance, but Tori said she still has the cassette tape they were given to practice lip-syncing the song.

• Jennie brought up the David-Scott stuff and said how you could tell something was “brewing.” She asked when the key episode happens and Superfan Sisanie said she “really hate[s] that episode.” Tori appreciated the foreshadowing in this episode.

• There was a tangent about friendships and people growing apart. Somehow this led Jennie to reveal that her oldest daughter has her first serious boyfriend and Jennie can tell she’s not fully present with them anymore and her mind is elsewhere.

  • I’m sure she would just love to know her mom discussed this on a podcast.

• After another break, Jennie said they “stepped it up” with the fashion in this episode and that the girls were “dressed to impress.” They liked Tori’s striped dress, with Jennie calling it an “inmate outfit but super cute.” Jennie also liked Kelly’s red blazer. They all liked Brenda’s menswear look and wondered if that started the trend. In trying to make a comparison, Jennie confused Annie Hall with Annie Oakley.

• Tori’s favorite line was David telling Scott, “Cool it with the guns, will ya?” They all felt bad for Scott. Jennie liked Donna saying, “I wish I was addicted to love.” Sisanie either didn’t give her pick or they cut it out.

• The first fan question was about Luke being on Arsenio Hall’s talk show years and years ago and claiming that Vivica Fox was intended to be a series regular and that her character was going to be paired romantically with Dylan. The fan wanted to know if they remembered any talk about this and how they thought it might’ve panned out.

• Jennie said they weren’t “privy to any of that,” but revealed she mistakenly started watching “Ashes to Ashes” (next week’s episode) and thought Vivica “so good” and wished she would’ve stayed on the show. Tori said she didn’t remember any such talk back then but thought it was supposed to be a recurring character who would have a romance with Brandon. Tori: “I don’t know what happened. Another text for you to write to Darren.”

• The second fan question was about Jason hosting “SNL” years and years ago and the show doing a “Beverly Hills, 90210” sketch. The fan wanted to know if they were able to laugh at it or if they were offended and whether it caused any drama or not. Jennie didn’t remember Jason hosting or there being a sketch about them. Tori said the show did a sketch about her one time. Jennie apologized to the fan, saying, “We’re no help on this question at all.”

• They also didn’t seem to remember that Shannen and Luke hosted “SNL” too. Sisanie asked if they ever wanted to host it. Tori said it’s on her bucket list but “not going to happen at this point.” Superfan Sisanie said they should’ve hosted for the 30th anniversary.

  • Yeah, I’m sure they’re exactly who Lorne Michaels is looking for.

  • Sisanie also said they’ll try to find a clip of the sketch for next week. Perhaps she forgot this is an audio-only podcast.

• They ended by saying how “Ashes to Ashes” is the next episode and Jennie said she knows it’s “exciting” because she got halfway into it that morning before realizing she was watching the wrong episode.

Though it’s obvious why they called this installment “Valentine’s Day,” they may regret doing so when they get to the actual Valentine’s Day episode later this season. As for the Valentine in this episode, I’m really surprised they didn’t have Christine on today. If I took a shot every time they said they had to ask her something, I’d be quite drunk right now.

An argument could be made for waiting to have Christine on for later key episodes, but she could’ve come on today’s installment and then future ones too. If you were going to have all these questions for her today, not having her on was just dumb. And let’s be real — every week we could drink each time they don’t know something and we’d pretty pretty wasted.

I’m not the only one noticing this either. I went back to the “9021OMG” Instagram posts about last week’s edition and found some spot-on comments, like the below exchange.

“I want to like the podcast but girls please put more actual content in the show. Way too much mindless chatter about nothing. With so many great podcasts out there I’m afraid this one just doesn’t make the cut.”

“agreed!! I wouldn’t mind it as much if it wasn’t taking time away from talking about the episode. Also, no point to having the host. She barely talks and when she does it’s obvious she’s not that informed on the episode.”

“exactly the host is terrible. Why not have someone who is an actual fan who has seen every episode and can correct Jennie and Tori with the actual facts.”

Here’s another exchange…

“I wish the guests would be on in a stand alone podcast. I was looking forward to the chat in the Camping Trip episode and it was barely discussed.”

“I agree. The camping trip was barely talked about. And if they are going to have a guest it should be someone who is relevant to the episode they are discussing.”

Unfortunately, Jennie, Tori, and Sisanie made it clear a while back that they don’t care about what they perceive as negative feedback. But there’s a reason Lincoln surrounded himself with rivals. You’re not going to grow with only “yes people” around you. Sometimes you need to listen to the criticism too.

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