"90210" - September 9, 2008 episode

Debbie is unhappy that her family is so busy all the time and never see each other, so she and Harry decide to resurrect a Wichita tradition - family night on Friday night, when the entire family gets together, and this time, they're going bowling. However, this puts a crimp in the kids' plans, since Annie had accepted a date with Ty to see a new band on the pier, and Dixon had been invited with a group of friends to see the new Bond film (product placement) before its public premiere. Debbie and Harry (OK, I just got it - are their first names supposed to be some kind of tribute to late 70s/early 80s rock band Blondie?) have tickets to the Hollywood Bowl (product placement) - but they're not going so they can spend time with their kids.

In an effort to deflect their parents and maybe be able to get out early, Annie asks Ty to come to the bowling alley, and Dixon invites his friends and Silver along. In what becomes an hour-long product placement episode for Lucky Strike bowling (most notably, the one at Hollywood and Highland), they all meet there and end up having a great time bowling for a while. Debbie and Harry realize that family night isn't really working and so let their kids do what they had really wanted to do that night.

Initially, Annie and Dixon are not having any fun at all, but Silver is having the best time. She appreciates the family time, and it becomes clear why when it's revealed that she's been sleeping at a shelter. She had earlier suggested a sleepover night to Kelly at her house, but Kelly had a date that night with Ryan, so she declined and proposed a different night. At the end of the evening, Silver leaves the Wilsons ostensibly to go home, but when Dixon is later outside taking out the trash, he finds her sleeping in her car. She tells him that her mother is an alcoholic who rages and blames her for everything, and Silver just can't deal with it. Dixon is sympathetic and tries to comfort her and then says they need to tell his father, which angers Silver, who is about to leave. Dixon says that he wasn't always with families as nice as the Wilsons and he knows what it's like to be around someone who's addicted. He convinces her to let him tell his parents. Later, Harry and Debbie say that Silver is going to spend the night at their house and as many nights as necessary to sort everything out. It was funny when Annie volunteered to share her room with Silver, and then Dixon volunteered to share *his* room with her, but I laughed mostly because don't they live in a mansion? Are there not enough spare rooms that Silver could actually have her own room? It was also funny that even with living in a mansion, they had to do chores like dishes and taking out the trash.

After bowling, Ethan had spent a little time talking to Annie, and he told her that his parents were divorced, and that the worst part was that they competed with each other to be the best parent, but usually with regard to material things.

Meanwhile, Naomi has been dismissive of Ethan when he's tried to talk to her, and she said that her father was taking her to Las Vegas for this fabulous time. She is severely disappointed though when he has to cancel at the last minute because he has to work, but in return, he brings her the new car that he's bought for her. That's pretty indicative of the attitude they seem to have - I'm not available so here's something really expensive instead. Naomi and Adrianna are on their way to Lucky Strike, but Naomi wants to stop at her father's office to drop off some food while he's working hard. (OK, even *I* saw coming what came next.) As she pulled up outside his office, she saw him come out with another woman and kiss her passionately. Naomi is crushed, and when she pulls into Lucky Strike, Adrianna jumps out to find Ethan to tell him what happened, and Ethan runs to Naomi. Annie is there too, and she leaves Ty (who had arrived late and "caught" her with Ethan) to go to her friend instead. Ethan gets to Naomi first, and Naomi is so distraught that she welcomes his comfort and embrace. He also offers to take her home. Annie arrives to see all this, and Silver says that Ethan and Naomi are addicted to each other. Meanwhile, Ty has texted Annie to say he had to leave so he wouldn't be late for the concert, so Annie and Silver go with Dixon and his friends to see the movie. It looks like the triangle-plus-one of Naomi/Ethan/Annie/Ty is well on its way.

The next morning, Naomi tearfully tells her mother what she saw the night before, but she is even more shocked when her mother says she knows about it, that she knows who the woman is, and that it's been going on for two years. Naomi is in disbelief that her mother puts up with it, but it's clear that her mother finds the lifestyle to be too comfortable to let something like an ongoing mistress disrupt that. No wonder she was hitting on Harry. Wonder what'll happen when Naomi finds out her mother has a son with Annie's dad.

There was a lot of stuff between Kelly and Ryan, but that story isn't doing much for me. They have a date, they kiss, they're going to be dating, ok, whatever. I laughed at Ryan's dialogue because it totally doesn't make sense because he's so flustered. I wonder what his dialogue looks like in the script. Harry calls Kelly the morning after Silver stays the night, and Kelly thanks him for taking her in. She says it's time for her to confront her mother. They apparently have a contentious relationship and haven't spoken for some time, after a particularly bad blowup. Kelly lays into her mother about Silver, and her mother says Silver is staying with friends somewhere, and Kelly angrily tells her Silver has been staying at a shelter. Her mother absolves herself of any blame because Silver didn't tell her, and Silver walks in on this, even though Kelly had told her to stay at the Wilson's. Their mother blames Silver for the trouble she's caused, and Silver says she can't take it any more. Kelly says she's leaving and taking Silver with her, and her mother says that she has a fatherless four-year-old, so how is she going to add a teenager to that, one who's hard to handle as it is. Silver is hurt by her words, moreso when their mother says she doesn't want anything to do with either of them anymore. Kelly and her son Sam and Silver are later shown munching on snacks in bed and having a good time. I was actually a bit disappointed because I thought the scene with Kelly's mother was going to be a bit more involved. Maybe she'll be back for more stuff.

Next episode - are they setting up a Kelly/Ryan/Brenda triangle?