FINALLY something Interesting to post! The CW has released a new promo announcing the return of Melrose Place on Tuesday March 9th. Only a couple of weeks to go, but after so long away from the show it seems like forever.
Rob Estes who formerly played Kyle McBride on the original Melrose Place and who now plays Harry Wilson on the new 90210 has announced that he will be leaving 90210 show at the end of this season. This could potentially leave him open to picking up his former role as Kyle McBride on the new Melrose Place.
Well, we are at mid season folks and we have already had 12 episodes of Melrose Place. We have had a murder, and a revenge murder (in the pool none the less). We have old characters back, and new characters leaving. Engagements were made and weddings were called off. There is all kinds of stuff going on, but what are your thoughts? What would you like to see happen in the rest of the first season of Melrose Place? Let us know in the forum!
Well, we have had out poll open since the first episode and the question that has been tugging at out minds for several months has been answered in last weeks episode. Who Killed Sydney?
SPOILER ALERT
If you have not caught up on your Tivo watching, then you may want to stop reading now, but otherwise, read on!
Two quick thoughts: 1) I'm glad this series is taking a break for a few weeks. I've barely had time for any other blogging! 2) A dozen episodes in, the series has found a pretty good groove. It's brought back some humor (after an understandably dark opener), and this episode creates a few intriguing plot threads. Driftwood like Auggie will soon be gone (his character never developed as anything other than a red herring in Sydney's murder and a foil in Jonah & Riley's relationship). Unfortunately, Riley is sticking around; Jessica Lucas is gorgeous, but Ella and Lauren are running rings around Riley, as far as intrigue goes, and it's not a good sign when your character is fighting to avoid being overshadowed by Violet.
Hmmm, not-so-quick thoughts, after all! On to the bullet points:
Conveniently, all six of our young stars are paired up. Hat Boy Jonah and Riley canoodle in bed, Dizzy David and Lauren share a morning kiss, and Auggie Doggie and Increasingly Vapid Violet get vertical and sweaty. (Boy, you couldn't have done THAT shot 15 years ago! Although if Andrew Shue and Courtney Thorne-Smith were involved, would we really have wanted to see it? Moving on....)
Jonah is antsy about big crowds at their impending nuptials in Boston, so he suggests that he and Riley drive to Vegas and elope! Because, you know, trips to Vegas always work out well for troubled couples. By the way... broken camera? What broken camera?
Lauren gets a phone call: "Hey, it's Rick! Remember me from several episodes back? Yeah, the writers called me and said, 'Dude, we need Lauren to inexplicably start freelancing as a hooker again, so that when she gets in trouble later, she can't call the spray-tan madam she's supposed to be working for. Are you free?' And I said, 'Count me in! I love scenes that assume the audience has amnesia!'"
The ratings continue to disappoint, but at least this episode gave us a signature moment: the reunion of Michael and Amanda, and it didn't disappoint. It felt like 10 years ago... well, except for the disturbing chemical factory at work on Heather's face. Alas. On to the bullet points!
Amanda contacts a former paramour in order to hack her way into confidential police records: "Damn it, Cheney, do as I say! Your Mistress commands! Or we'll never play 'Black Ops Ilsa' again!" She's looking for the mysterious item that Sydney posthumously hid last week, but she finds ... Michael Mancini!
Ohhhh, Jonah is bare-chested! And hairy! Noooo. Anyway, in the course of a couple of days, he's gotten a job as an IT guy (!) for WPK (!!). Improbable? Of course! We'll soon see that it was a thinly disguised way to expose Ella's cowardly betrayal of Jonah with the dumb BoomKatszzzz video a while back.
Anyway, Jonah comes to work and is shocked that none of the extras will speak to him! Well, duh, Jonah -- those extras would have to get paid more if they had ANY dialogue. And apparently, Human Resources is part of Ella's job portfolio. (This is known in TV Speak as a Necessary Shortcut. Why create a new role for a new actor when an existing one can provide all the necessary exposition?) Amanda quickly appraises him. "Make sure he signs a confidentiality agreement," she orders Ella. "And from now on, all male employees' pants must be leather!"
There's a scene with Riley and Increasingly Vapid Violet. Do you need to know more? Really? Let's move on....
Somehow, in all the streets of LA, Michael's car cuts off David's car. Accusations about Sydney fly, since Michael knows that David stole the necklace out of Michael's car. (The way Michael talks, though, makes me think that he's protecting someone else.) He implies that if David doesn't back off, Lauren's medical career could experience some hiccups. David finds it hard to believe that Michael would ruin the career of an innocent woman over this. Michael's reply: "Oh, I've done a LOT worse." Ha! That's for sure!
FINALLY, we get the long-awaited reunion of Amanda and Michael. After a hug (and probably a frisk for weaponry), Michael asks her why she came back to LA, since she seemed settled in the tropics. She says, "I got bored... sun, sand, Peter." Yay! Name-checking the Bizarre Dr. Peter Burns! I love it. Michael is incredulous, though, when he learns that Amanda had been keeping in touch with Sydney. "Let me guess, the two of you met each other at a support group for Women Who Fake Their Own Deaths." That, by a large margin, is my favorite line of the season.
