Season 3 of '90210' Brings Drama but is it Too Much Too Fast?

I'm not big on soap operas and don't care for shows with too much unbelievable drama, but I'm loyal to the new "90210" and the old "90210." Things going on in these teenagers' lives could actually happen at a high school. However, I'm growing a little skeptical of this new season judging from Monday night's episode. It doesn't seem like the TV writers left one character with any amount of sanity.

Shenae Grimes (Annie Wilson): After the hit-and-run accident, Annie finally admitted that she may have been responsible for a homeless man dying. She was on house arrest all summer and now she has to go back to school and deal with reality again. But she can't get her life back together because she's decided that she has to tell everybody, including an internship director, about her house arrest. That's just what an employer wants to hear, right? Of course she gets the internship anyway and now there's talk of Annie being "desperate" enough to do anything. As far as her and Liam, she's going to need a journal to keep track of all the boyfriends she steals from Naomi.

Tristan Wilds (Dixon Wilson): Dixon started off pretty normal even after the break-in at his school that left his father jobless. But now he has a new girlfriend in his life who wants to make his life as frustrating as it was with his last girlfriend, Silver. Is Ivy "just friends" with the guy from Australia or are they a little more than that? Will Dixon come off as the overprotective boyfriend or play it cool and end up being played?

AnnaLynne McCord (Naomi Clark): I was surprised to find out she was raped by her teacher. I knew he came on to her, but I didn't know he went this far and that's why she hid out all summer. While her story is the most dramatic, it may be the most important to teach young ladies not to lie about being raped. (See "How Do I Know When She Thinks It's Rape and I Think It's Sex?") Considering she really was raped by her teacher later on, she's got quite a problem on her hands trying to decide whether she'll speak up about it or try to bury it in the back of her mind. This one is the most personal to me because I've known girls who were in such deep denial about rape or molestation and then became extremely promiscuous thinking nobody cared about them anyway. From the look of the first episode, Naomi is going down that path.

Ryan Eggold (Professor Ryan Matthews): Why he's still trying to be a father to Naomi's sister's child is beyond me. I don't even believe it's his kid. He's a borderline alcoholic and has gone from perfectly normal to unstable, but at least he still finds time to introduce Annie to the crazy internship lady.

Jessica Stroup (Silver): I used to be able to count on Silver to be normal until she up and became bipolar. Now I don't know what to make of her. After the train track episode, she suddenly became okay again once she got on her meds and left Dixon alone. I think Teddy is going to make her go crazy once again, especially now that he hurt his leg and plans to mentally hurt her, too.

Michael Steger (Navid Shirazi): He is the coolest nerd I've ever seen in any high school, even cooler than Stefan (remember Steve Urkel?). The car Dixon borrowed from him is one to remember. I don't remember school newspaper editor Andrea Zuckerman (played by Gabrielle Carteris) being this entertaining. The problem is Navid seems to only be attracted to unstable women, and Adrianna has all kinds of issues from being a drug addict to a dropout to pregnant to greedy. And after the car accident, he's going to either ignore his journalism background and try to help her or wise up to the fact that Adrianna is determined to drive herself to an early grave. Did he have to tell her that her other songs were lukewarm though? Harsh!

Lori Loughlin (Debbie Wilson): Newly separated and trying to make it as a single mother with two children, Dixon and Annie are rooting for their mother to get through her relationship issues. Only problem is she spends most of her time trying not to cry. I'm just waiting for the guy who she kissed her to come back into the picture. I doubt it'll take long for him to come back and try to play Stepdad.

Jessica Lowndes (Adrianna Tate-Duncan): I don't know if this is really her singing, but whoever it is has a wonderful voice. This character has all kinds of issues--suicidal, drug addict, dropout, pregnant--and now she's stealing songs from her dead pop star ex-boyfriend, Javier (played by Diego Boneta). Too bad she doesn't have enough of a brain to realize that those songs have probably been registered with the Library of Congress or the original songwriter probably has a record of the writing somewhere else. I smell blackmail coming soon.

Matt Lanter (Liam Court): Liam is the man! Like Dillon (played by Luke Perry) from the original "90210," he could care less about anything and will let you know it, too. He's going to do what he wants, when he wants and wherever he wants. He's going to get the girl he wants regardless of whether her friends pout about it. He's vulnerable in an aggressive way. Even when he's dirty, he's sexy. I don't know why Jasper Herman (played by Zachary Ray Sherman) didn't think he was going to get away without a butt whooping--even on crutches--for burning down Liam's boat. Although I didn't get into the relationship with Liam and Naomi, I think the relationship with him and Annie will make for quite a treat.

Trevor Donovan (Teddy Montgomery): I couldn't get into his character at first. He's the athletic, popular, handsome guy who can get any woman he wants but only wants the woman who could live without him, Silver. Problem is that now that he's had a leg injury, he plans on taking it out on Silver. I don't know why he's digging that early grave though. The earthquake would hurt him less than Silver's wrath. As soon as he tried to help Naomi during her strip scene, we already knew Silver was going to walk in, right?

Gillian Zinser (Ivy): Why is this girl never all the way dressed? She should be in the Quilete tribe Wolf Pack with Taylor Lautner and Alez Meraz because she clearly doesn't like wearing anything but short-shorts and bikini tops. She's the surfer girl tomboy who I'm not quite sure I like with Dixon. They're a cute couple, but then when they're apart, I don't really care. The Australian guy that lived with her and her mother all summer appears out of nowhere. Sexual tension between platonic friends will make Dixon jealous. The problem is that sexual tension is leading Ivy on the wrong path, too. This situation is even more gross now that we find out her MILF record-producing mother is sleeping with the guy, too.

The only person who seems normal in this story is Silver's sister, Kelly Pitts (played by Peter Facinelli's wife, Jennie Garth) who seemed to be the most dramatic on the original "90210." I guess she's taking a vacation. I'm still waiting on Luke Perry to show up on this new season. Luke, where are you? And bring your cute actor friend Ian Ziering, who looked especially gorgeous at the 2010 Wizard World Chicago Convention and complimented my smile? Yes, I fell for it. But so what?