BH90210 episode 2 was full of crazy Easter eggs reminding audiences of all the drama Kelly Taylor went through on Beverly Hills, 90210. In FOX’s unusual reboot of the hit 1990s teen drama, Jennie Garth is back with her fellow 90210 cast members but they’re all playing “heightened versions” of themselves as they attempt to reboot the show that made them all famous. For Jennie, the prospect of playing Kelly Taylor again is bringing back bad memories of the ordeals she endured as an actress – which also ties into the insane plotlines 90210‘s writers tortured Kelly with.
Kelly Taylor was introduced as a typically rich, bratty California blonde in Beverly Hills, 90210 but despite her wealth, she had issues with her parents and an unhappy home life. When Shannen Doherty left the series, Kelly, who was always very popular with fans, rose to become the female lead of 90210 and, at one point, she was romantically torn between Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) and Dylan McCay (Luke Perry). Garth was one of the original actors who starred in 90210 for all ten seasons but, as the years progressed, Kelly’s storylines became more and more outrageous. Indeed, it seemed every type of calamity imaginable that could befall a person happened to Kelly in her 20s.
BH90210 episode 2, “The Pitch”, began with an amusing dream sequence where Jennie Garth found herself dressed as teenage Kelly back in the hallowed halls of West Beverly High School. While it seemed like no time has passed (and Garth-as-Kelly looked as youthful as ever), the school is itself is dark and foreboding as a confused Kelly wanders through the halls. The first of her friends to approach Kelly in a panic is Donna Martin (Tori Spelling) who asks, “Kel! Are you okay? I heard Tara held you at gunpoint!” This is a reference to Beverly Hills, 90210 season 6 when Tara (Paige Moss) became obsessed with Kelly Single White Female-style and attempted a murder-suicide with Kelly before she ended up in a psych ward.
Next, Brandon appears to scold Kelly: “Are you on diet pills again? We talked about this!” The squeaky-clean and virtuous Walsh is referring to the 90210 season 3 episode “Perfectly Perfect” when Kelly, who was unhappy with her looks, starved herself and subsisted on appetite suppressant pills, which led her to pass out in the Peach Pit bathroom during her own surprise birthday party. Steve Sanders (Ian Ziering) then gets in Kelly’s face with a dire warning: “Hey, if you go to that frat party, you’re gonna get burned”, which is ironic because it was at the California University rave that Steve himself threw in 90210 season 5 that Kelly was burned in a fire. Kelly was flirting with a lesbian named Alison in a soundproofed screening room when the fire broke out; both suffered severe burns but survived. Miraculously, Kelly’s burns healed in short order but she was left emotionally vulnerable for her next ordeal.
Andrea Zuckerman (Gabrielle Carteris) jumps at Kelly and admonishes her: “You have to quit The New Evolution! They’re brainwashing you!” Soon after Kelly survived the fire in 90210 season 5, she fell under the sway of Patrick Finley (Alan Toy), a wheelchair-bound professor at California University who led a cult called The New Evolution. Eventually, Kelly learns that Finley was just using her to get to Dylan’s money. Next, David Silver (Brian Austin Green), who was West Beverly’s in-house DJ, announces over the intercom that he “just received word that Kelly Taylor was shot in the parking lot at LAX” – which happened at the start of 90210 season 8 when Kelly was returning from Hawaii. Kelly survived the gunshot but suffered partial amnesia where she couldn’t remember who Brandon is.
Finally, David plays the Roxette song “Listen To Your Heart” and dedicates it to Kelly, which is a sly reference to arguably the most famous Kelly moment of Beverly Hills 90210: “I choose me”. By the end of 90210 season 5, Kelly was torn between staying in Beverly Hills with Brandon or traveling around the world with Dylan. Instead, Kelly chose herself and dumped both of them. Since in the real world and in BH92010, Jennie Garth is an executive producer who controls Kelly’s storylines, fans wonder whether she will mercifully ease up on Kelly’s drama in the rebooted series.
BH90210 airs Wednesdays @9pm on FOX.
