90210 Episode 1.5 Review

The fifth episode of season one of 90210 aired on 9/29/08. The fifth episode is titled Wide Awake and Dreaming. The episode centers on the school play and the pressures of teenage sex and drug abuse. Warning: my episode review contains plot spoilers.

The episode opens with Annie and Ty making out on stage. The kissing session turns out to be a scene from the school play. Annie is standing in for the absentee Adrianna while Brenda and Silver look on. Silver has taken on the stressful job as stage manager. Her bossiness causes the lighting guy to quit so Dixon volunteers for the open position.

Ty and Annie's physical relationship is moving along with Harry concerned that is moving too quickly. Throughout the episode, both Harry and Debbie advise Annie to be careful in this relationship but as a typical teenager she ignores their advice and gives Harry a guilt trip about not trusting her. After more conflicting advice from Silver (advises to wait) and Naomi (advises to go for it), Annie is worried about taking the next step in their relationship. Ty invites Annie to his reserved hotel room at the celebration party after the school play. Annie is nervous and decides to go all the way and even embarrassingly borrows a condom from her brother. Annie is even more determined to lose her virginity after Ethan tries to meddle in the situation.

Meanwhile the teachers at West Beverly are expressing concern for Adrianna. Ryan, Brenda, and Kelly meet to discuss their suspicions about Adrianna's drug abuse. Brenda defends Adrianna and thinks she is just stressed from an overbearing mom. Ryan thinks she is abusing drugs and should be taken out of the school play. Brenda is reluctant to agree to that and promises to talk to Adrianna.

Charlie has moved in to the beach house with his mistress which has caused Tracy to hibernate in bed for a week. Naomi becomes concerned and calls her dad for assistance. Tracy slaps Charlie which just leads to make-up sex. Naomi is happy at first because she thinks her parents are getting back together but Tracy informs her that she is divorcing Charlie since he can't make up his mind who he wants. Tracy makes a very good speech about respecting herself which gives more depth to her character.

The night of the school play has arrived with Adrianna's overbearing stage mom Constance inviting casting agents to the school play. The constant pressure from her mom causes Adrianna to go on a drug binge. Brenda and Silver panic when they can't find Adrianna at but when they discover her in a drugged out state backstage, Brenda makes a decision and pulls Adrianna from the play. Annie is suddenly thrust in the lime light and performs wonderfully, much to Adrianna's disgust. Both Brenda and Kelly try to talk to Constance but she refuses to listen to them and drags her daughter away.

Finally Annie's much anticipated night has arrived and she makes her way to the hotel. Unfortunately, Adrianna has beaten her to Ty's room and invites herself in. He tries to get her to leave unsuccessfully but she lies to him and tells him she saw Annie making out with Ethan. When Annie knocks on the door awhile later, Adrianna opens the door wrapped in a towel drinking champagne. Adrianna implies she slept with Ty and that he is a shower and Annie runs away upset. Turns out the scene was just a setup and Ty was no where in the room. Ty probably left upset that Annie stood him up.

Annie is visibly upset and goes on a rant to Ethan and Naomi about how she doesn't like the pressures of their world and their views on casual sex. She shows a brave face to her parents but the episode ends with her crying in her room.

During the episode, Silver and Dixon constantly flirt with them finally kissing at the end of the episode. After a make out session, Dixon thinks they are about to have sex but Silver informs him that she wants to take it slow, very good naturedly. Silver and Dixon seem very comfortable in their relationship right off the bat.

Wide Awake and Dreaming is a very good episode but I found Annie very annoying throughout the episode. She was constantly wishy-washy about whether she even wants to have sex with Ty and seems to only want to do it since she can't have Ethan. I feel sorry for Ty since he is obviously just a substitute for Ethan. Hopefully she was just crying at the end because she realized what a stupid mistake she was about to make.

The writers are turning into a nice friend but thank goodness they found a villain in Adrianna. I think she is perfectly evil and can't wait to see what more chaos she causes. It will be interesting to see how she covers the lie she has created about Ty.