Recap/Guest Star Goodness on 90210 “O Holly Night” 

The 90210 fall finale aired this week and it was a pretty good one. Annie managed to shed her escort and get the goods on Jeremy, which should pave the way for her getting that inheritance. She’s pretty fierce when she wants to be. How awesome was it when she put one over on Marla’s douchebag grandson? Sorry Matt Cohen, you know I love you. You’ll always be the Young Daddy Winchester to me. Favorite conversation of the episode: “You bitch.” “That’s rich bitch to you.” Go Annie! Actually, Annie was pretty busy in the finale considering she finally hooked up with Liam again. The two had recently been turning to each other in time of need so this was a natural evolution. Naomi made a friend and lost that same friend in the matter of an episode as Holly found out her mom gave Naomi the internship with her company. I was sad to see this happen because as enjoyable as the whole vicious enemies thing was, I kind of liked how they eventually showed they were mature enough to get past their issues and forge a tentative friendship. Unfortunately, Holly’s insecurities when it comes to her mother are too much to handle. And Naomi always has to handle things in the worst possible way. Why couldn’t she just be honest? I know Holly’s a controlling, vindictive you-know-what but Naomi should have just come clean with her when she realized she was working for Holly’s mom. You know what Holly’s best subject is , right? Revenge. And boy did she get it. She tried to steal her ex-boyfriend right back from Naomi. And guess what? Austin let it happen. At least it seems that way so far. I’m reserving judgment until Season 4 resumes in 2012.

Navid continued to try to incriminate his shady uncle. It backfired of course. And it landed him in the hospital of course. But he did find time to tell his detective friend (Kat) that while he cares for her, his heart belongs to Silver. Of course an eavesdropping Silver had already hightailed it out of there without hearing this pertinent piece of information. She ended up at Greg’s place and let him know she was ready for something serious. So frustrating. But I’m sort of OK with Silver dating someone not in the group. You know I’m right. There’s Dixon. And Teddy. And now Navid. Girl needs to broaden her social circle and dating Greg’s a step in the right direction. Sure he has a daughter and soon-to-be ex-wife but it’s still a good move on her part.

Temptation continues to make Dixon’s life a struggle as he tries to make it big in the music industry. He and Adrianna hit some turbulence when he mashes her song with a little of his flavor. Plus, his rocker friend is selfish and self-destructive and is liable to take Dixon down with him if he had his way. In the end, Dixon and Ade (Dade?) decide to collaborate in more ways than one. They’re going to create beautiful music together. Let’s hope these two can simply stay addicted to making great music and they can both stay clean, even though Dixon’s addiction story has been tackled in record time. From drug use to rehab to recovery, it seems like it’s all happened in about 20 minutes. Just saying.

As for Liam, he gets his act together and decides to track down Annie even after finding out about her dalliance as an escort. On his motorcycle, he goes after his ex-girlfreind to save her from whatever (Liam has a bit of a savior complex). He punches out Annie’s sleazy client dude and then races after her some more. Unfortunately, the instant billboard supermodel runs into some bad luck. A car hits him and he goes flying. He’s laying unconscious on the ground and the girl that hit him is right by his side. And that’s our cliff-hanger ending for “O Holly Night.” Two of our 90210 guys end up injured in the same episode. And now we’ll have to wait until Tuesday January 10, 2012 at 8/7c on the CW to find out Liam’s fate.

Random Thoughts

• OK, Naomi figured out how to work the copier in record time. Everybody does things in record time on this show.

• I’m sorry, now that I’m thinking about it, didn’t last season’s Melrose Place do an escort story line as well?

• Is Liam’s billboard everywhere in Los Angeles? Seems like it.

• That was Arielle Kebbel (Lexi!!!) at the end of the episode. More in just a bit.

Guest Star Goodness

I feel compelled to talk about some of the episode’s many recurring guest stars. Some are just starting, some are ending but all are making their mark.

Arielle Kebbel (Vanessa)

Fresh off returning to The Vampire Diaries as Lexi in “Ghost World,” Kebbel joins 90210 for a number of episodes. Her character’s name is Vanessa and obviously she’ll orbit around Liam’s planet when the show returns. Before TVD, Arielle had a recurring role on yet another CW show, Life Unexpected.

Megalyn Echikunwoke (Holly)

She has been playing Naomi’s sorority nemesis Holly all season long. And I have to say, she’s been doing a pretty good job. I really do hope Naomi and Holly become friends at some point. Megalyn’s constantly working. To me, she’s best known for her roles on That ’70s Show, The 4400 and she got to play Dean’s ex-girlfriend Cassie during Supernatural‘s first season.

Matt Cohen (Jeremy)

Speaking of Supernatural alums, Matt Cohen (the Young John Winchester) has been playing Jeremy, a guy who is a thorn in Annie’s side. He’s Marla’s grandson and while he was sort of a pain in the ass in previous episodes, in “O Holly Night” he turned into a major d-bag. Too bad because I love me some Matt Cohen. Would have loved to have seen him simply as a love interest of someone on this show. Hopefully, the good folks over at Supernatural will figure out a way to work him into another episode someday.

Niall Matter (Greg)

He’s Silver’s new boyfriend, Greg. When I first saw him on the show, I recognized him but I couldn’t remember where I had seen him before. And I’m really such an idiot because this guy is Zane on Syfy’s Eureka. I watch the show so I should have known. But he kinda looks different on 90210 than he does on Eureka. That’s the story I’m sticking to.

Tiffany Hines (Kat)

Let’s just say the CW is very, very good to their people. Because much like Arielle, Megalyn and Matt, Tiffany Hines was also in another CW series before booking a recurring role on 90210. She was in the very first season of Nikita. She was Alex’s Division rival. I was sorry to see her get killed off the show before they really got to do much with her character. At least they fleshed the character out a tiny bit before she, well, bit it.

Chris McKenna (Patrick)

I started freaking out when I found out who Chris McKenna was. He was Joey Buchanan on One Life to Live back in the early 90s! I kept thinking he looked familiar but couldn’t place the face. He was so young back then and now he’s all grow’d up and looking fine! Of course, his 90210 character was pretty smarmy — he played the womanizing rich guy Annie was using for money. He probably won’t be part of the show anymore but it was good to see him. Hope he’ll pop up on other shows too. Fun Fact: McKenna played Joey from 1990 to 1993. Who started playing Joey on One Life to Live in 1994? None other than Castle himself, Nathan Fillion!