[Ruby_Slippers]

In honor of the season 3 dvde release, let's discuss the first episode of season 3!

Season 3, Episode 1: Misery Loves Company
Original Air Date: 22 July 1992

Brandon returns to work for the summer at the Beverly Hills Beach Club to find that his parents are new members and Andrea now working there as the child-care supervisor. Meanwhile, the ever increasing devious Brenda defies her parents and continues to secretly see Dylan behind everyone's back with help from Kelly and Donna. When Brenda's caught in the act when Jim and Cindy run into Brenda with Dylan at the beach club, she runs away and into Dylan's house. Also, Steve takes Brandon's job at the Peach Pit on bet that he can't hold down the job for a single week.


Anyone have any caps?

[KellAndSteve4Ever]

This epsode was THE best! Brenda Walsh did something that I think teenagers around the world should be envious of! She stood up to her father, THAT shows judgement and charavter! That's all I can really say about this episode. Jim really jumped to conclusion about Dylan and I was so happy that Brenda finally stood up tohim.

[Ruby_Slippers]

Oh Snap!

So, I really love this episode, it is so dramatic and over the top.

Brandon/Steve- I love their cute bet about Steve working at the Peach Pit. And how Steve was horrible at it. It provided some humor to the more dramatic episode.

Mr.Walsh- Along with some episodes from season 2, this is where I began to not like him. He was so controlling and overbearing. He would never butt into Brandon's love life like that.

Dylan/Mr.Walsh- I really hate the scene between them. You can tell that Dylan is really hurt by Mr. Walsh's actions and words.

Dylan/Brenda- Drama! I suppose this marked the begining of the end. Mr. Walsh really put a crank in their relationship.

Brenda/Mr.Walsh- Their scenes are some of my favorites. When Mr. Walsh realizes that Dylan and Brenda have been lying to him and he Brenda get into a huge argument at the beach club. It is classic. I especially love when he is like "if you walk away things will never be the same" and she looks back and then keeps walking. Also the use of the cheezy air guitar adds to the drama of the scene.

What does everyone else think?

[KellAndSteve4Ever]

It is classic. I especially love when he is like "if you walk away things will never be the same" and she looks back and then keeps walking.

Yeah she really showed strength in her character, which made her so loveable!

I suppose this marked the begining of the end. Mr. Walsh really put a crank in their relationship.

Well "Wedding Bell Blues" (Season 2 finale) was actually when things began to go donhill but yeah Jim really turned things around.

Dylan is really hurt by Mr. Walsh's actions and words.

I can't quite recall their scene but I can aggree with you without knowing it! Jim really hurt Dylan.

Mr.Walsh- Along with some episodes from season 2, this is where I began to not like him. He was so controlling and overbearing. He would never butt into Brandon's love life like that.

Yeah Jim Wal\sh was terrible! He jumped to conclusion from Season one, but never got REALLY bad untill end season 2, begining season 3!

Brandon/Steve- I love their cute bet about Steve working at the Peach Pit. And how Steve was horrible at it. It provided some humor to the more dramatic episode.

That was so funny! I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life!

[playgroundDiaries]

Eh, awkwardly different-sized caps. Oh well.


























So, I actually find myself feeling very sorry for Cindy Walsh throughout this episode. Here she is with a husband that won't really listen to her and a daughter who's lying to her, and she always liked Dylan to begin with, just wanting some peace. She acts as a sounding board for Jim and, as much as I disagree with Brenda here, I like that her mom tried to support her daughter by deciding to keep mum about what she saw off the balcony (until it was evident to all). I swear, no one pays attention to/appreciates the feelings of this woman.

Anyway, the lines, "If you walk away things will never be the same" and "No, I don't understand! I don't understand any of this!" are still reverberating in my head. Heh. Yeah, super 90210-style drama here.

I really hate the scene between them. You can tell that Dylan is really hurt by Mr. Walsh's actions and words.

Well, there are two. One where he comes to Dy's house (not a big fan of this scene either, cause it forces Dy to be all 'badass') and one in Jim's office where J asks him how his day was. "... Fine. But don't you ever ask me how it went in school today." I love the second one. I'm right there with Dylan. We know what he means.

But really, this episode is just classic to me for the Brandon/Steve plot. First two scenes are the absolute best (and the S4 premiere starts out similarly - same song too). "Steve, when they say 'Die Yuppie scum', you know who they're talking about, right?" Donna: "Wait -- what about our orders?" (!) And that classic turn of the head thing Brandon and Steve do at the Pit after being introduced to Andrea's new love interest, Jay Thurman. Eeks. When she says they're off to see "Batman Returns", it hits me just how old this show is.

[Ruby_Slippers]

Thanks for the caps!




It was sweet of Donna to agree to help Brenda meet Dylan. I was a little confused as to why Kelly said she wanted to go to Paris to get away from "Brenda, Dylan, the baby" was this supposed to forshadow something?


Yeah, this scene is a bit depressing. They both feel bad about the situation.


Great "angry" Dylan cap.


Brandon is so loyal to his family. I wish he had Brenda's back more. Couldn't he see she was being treated unfairly in the sense that the dad was too involved in her personal life?


This scene is so sweet. Except when Jim Walsh sees them!


Forshadowing Europe...


Aww....


I this pic. Hahahah. Steve working in the peach pit? Classic.


Is this before the storm or after it? Either way it's cute.


I feel really bad for Brenda when she ends up at Dylan's house.


Dylan looks so worried in this pic.


Aww, this is sweet.


This promo is dramatic! But so true.

Mel- why do you disagree with Brenda? Or what do you disagree about?

[worldsnakreem]

Originally Posted by Ruby_Slippers (View Post) ...Mr.Walsh...this is where I began to not like him...Dylan is really hurt by Mr. Walsh's actions and words... Brenda/Mr.Walsh...he is like "if you walk away things will never be the same...this marked the begining of the end. Mr. Walsh really put a crank in their relationship...

SoapNet ran this episode not too long ago, and I was reminded of just how mad Jim made me!

Ironically, it was shortly after I had praised him to the skies here in the parents thread, and was obliged to backtrack and qualify those remarks (in more than one thread, I think) with a tsunamical rant, which said what you have managed to convey so succinctly.

It was the beginning of the end, model parent though he may have been, on this occasion Jim totally lost it, and he lost it big, and his meltdown cost him his daughter.

I don't think there is a single episode that does not have a moral, an object lesson, but this one had the potential to be a real hammer-over-the head wakeup call to fathers - and mothers, for that matter - it might be hard to see your kids grow up, it might be painful to realize that your long-held and cherished place as Number One in their hearts is now and forever will be held by somebody or other else.

Cindy got it, and said so to Jim in so many words, that if it were not Dylan, it would be somebody. It is just a shame that she did not say it to him the night Brenda came home late from Dylan's house.

If she could have managed to get that simple message through to his accounting-addled brain, and one of them had simply picked up the phone and called over to Dylan's, rejoicing, wallowing, even, and with abandon in the luxury of knowing exactly where she was and with whom, perhaps she could have, as Barney Fife would say, "nipped it in the bud."

But of course then we would not have had all that delicious drama to rehash again and again, even now, over a decade later!

[playgroundDiaries]

I was a little confused as to why Kelly said she wanted to go to Paris to get away from "Brenda, Dylan, the baby" was this supposed to forshadow something?

Remember when Kelly was frustrated with her love life in "Halloween" and suddenly became repulsed by displays of affection between B/Dy? I took it as a similar case here, where instead of the upset being a lack of romance, it was the ambiguous state of her relationship with Jake. She just couldn't stand being around other couples then because she was trying not to be reminded of how she felt lead on by Jake (the "Melrose Place" crossover was happening that same week). She has the same reaction to Dd/D at the beach club, when they're sitting just before the Walshes come over. As for the baby, I'm sure it was keeping her up at night and occupying all her mom's attention. It's not until the next episode where she's up at 4:00am, bonding with her little sister.

Brandon is so loyal to his family. I wish he had Brenda's back more. Couldn't he see she was being treated unfairly in the sense that the dad was too involved in her personal life?

He was already protecting her by keeping her secret about seeing Dylan. And in the next episode (maybe this one?), he tells his parents that "a lot of [their] problems about Dylan don't really have that much to do with Dylan." What else was he supposed to do?

Forshadowing Europe...

Yep. Let's make sure the audience knows that Brenda does, in fact, want to see Europe. (I really appreciated the background info on Dy that this scene provided)

Is this before the storm or after it?

Before the storm. This is the same scene where Brandon first finds them. "I thought you went bikini shopping ..." /"Ooh, change of plans."

Dylan looks so worried in this pic.

Yeah. I do like the 'What are we doing?'/'I don't know, babe.' moment. And when she tells him he better not just be saying 'I love you' to quell that early morning 'bear' moment. It's the way that she says it that's cute. But most of my sympathies went to Dylan, cause he was caught in the middle also. I didn't like the position Brenda was putting him in when she left the room (at least, initially) upon Jim's arrival at Dy's house. It was her discussion to have with her father. But on the upside, I thought the 'bean burrito/load of laundry' fight was pretty funny.

why do you disagree with Brenda? Or what do you disagree about?

The "misery routine" she was feeding her family to get her way. I don't mind character sulking (in fact, I think I've shipped some of the best sulkers in TV history, LOL), but it has to be sincere. This was manipulative. I don't disagree that she should have stood up to her father cause relationship banishment (when the guy is not actually a danger) is unfair, but if Brenda was willing to move out of her house to make her point then maybe she should have just been straight about things from the get-go and owned her ultimatum. I think Jim would appreciate defiant strength over long-term deceit. The trust was broken a second time. At the very least, by talking honestly with her mother and letting Cindy talk to Jim, I believe father and daughter could have reached a calm place of understanding. After all, they had had no problem with Dylan for most of S2.

[worldsnakreem]

Originally Posted by Ruby_Slippers (View Post) ...Brandon is so loyal to his family. I wish he had Brenda's back more. Couldn't he see she was being treated unfairly in the sense that the dad was too involved in her personal life?...

My take on this was completely different. I saw it as one of those Golden Un-Iconized, Non-Paragon RealBrandon Moments - and I admit I am also fast forwarding and fusing this with his reaction in a later episode where Jim & Cindy tell the twins there is only money enough to send one of them to an "expensive out-of-state school."

On that occasion, as well as the Trip To Paris Deal, Brandon lets forth what I perceived as a Mighty Roar of Normalcy - plain old predictable sibling rivalry!

And if we listen to what he says, and try to see it through his teentwin eyes - it's not too hard to see how it would appear to him that Brenda is the favored one. It is, as he points out in the College Money episode, he who has worked steadily, and thus been able to pay for his own stuff, and given the history - again from his perspective, of Brenda doing something very "naughty" - lying to Jim and Cindy, and being "rewarded" with a trip to Paris, while he spends his summer wrestling with the luggage and balky beach umbrellas of little old ladies and hauling around racks of soiled stemware.

Whether we look at either or both incidents from Jim and Cindy's point of view or not, or agree or disagree with their decision, Brandon's reaction on both occasions seemed refreshingly normal to me, exactly what one would expect to hear!

Originally Posted by Ruby_Slippers (View Post) ...I was a little confused as to why Kelly said she wanted to go to Paris to get away from "Brenda, Dylan, the baby"...

I don't remember that, but it would confuse me, too, since she had that completely wacko and beyond the planet of unbelievable and out of character Epiphany or something, and decided that she wanted to stay home and be part of a family and positively cooed about how getting up for the 4 AM feeding gave her so much wonderful private time with the baby.

I mean, the basic sentiment, of feeling, for the first time, a sense of family, and belonging, and love for her new little sister is one thing. But it just seemed to me that she took it waay out into some strange over-the-top land of Bizarro Kelly. And I guess that foreshadowed something, but I'm not sure what, unless it was that Bizarro Kelly kindasorta split personality thing that swept over her after college (expounded upon at predicatbly great and unecessary length in the "anti-Kelly" thread).

Originally Posted by playgroundDiaries (View Post) most of my sympathies went to Dylan, cause he was caught in the middle also. I didn't like the position Brenda was putting him in...

Well, you and I have discussed that whole mess extensively elsewhere, I'm just agreeing with you again here for posterity. And of course I think she was putting him in an inexpressibly awful position with the whole thing, Meltdown Jim as trustee of Dylan's money was even worse than having her making all that vacuum cleaner racket and prating about dinner.

Another one of those Object Lessons for teens everywhere and of every decade, I guess, that there is a vast difference between "going steady" and "living together," and even if A is the funnest.thing.ever, it is almost a certainty that B will, after about 24 hours, net what we used to call a "zero fun quotient."

Originally Posted by playgroundDiaries (View Post) the 'bean burrito/load of laundry' fight was pretty funny.

I loved that! I wanted more - Brenda getting ahold of Dylan's shirts - actually I think there may have been one small ironing scene - maybe an indignant inventory of empty pantry and fridge, at least a rantlet or two about unacceptable thread count while gliding, Brenda the Chatelaine, keys at her belt, from pantry to linen closet (although I guess she would have already discovered any Thread Count Shame, just from visiting).

I remember the first time I saw the episode, I was sooo eager for them to show Brenda trying to cook something, just to give Shannen the opportunity to take her turn at paying a little homage to Lucille Ball, if for no other reason...

Edit to add what I forgot:

Originally Posted by playgroundDiaries (View Post) if Brenda was willing to move out of her house to make her point then maybe she should have just been straight about things from the get-go and owned her ultimatum. I think Jim would appreciate defiant strength over long-term deceit....by talking honestly with her mother and letting Cindy talk to Jim, I believe father and daughter could have reached a calm place of understanding...they had had no problem with Dylan for most of S2...

I can't claim to be a big Brenda fan, but in this case, I guess I am making myself vulnerable to charges of being a BrendaDefenda, because I think Jim pretty much obliged her to deceive him.

I don't see him as being in any condition for calm talks and coming to understandings. As you point out, he had not had this problem with Dylan before, because Dylan wasn't the problem!

It was Brenda growing up that was the problem.

And while I know that all over the world, there are young people - many well past their teens - who sacrifice and renounce everything from a Saturday night pizza and movie with their latest crush, to eternal happiness with the love of their lives to the career of their choosing, out of filial piety, generally speaking, forbidding a teen in love, infatuation, lust, all along the scale, to see the object of whatever sentiment is currently holding sway, is the time-tested most effective way to ensure that the teen-turned-victim is going to see/touch/dance with/kiss/engage in intimate behavior with said object by any means necessary. And any means necessary typically includes deceit in some form.

Although the sheer drama coming from both sides can easily distract and cloud, Brenda was engaging in classic adolescent behavior, which is to be expected since she was an adolescent. But Jim was the grownup, and so I have to put the burden of rectification and calming troubled waters and working together to achieve a lasting peace and a workable compromise acceptable to both sides on him.

And I do think Cindy could have done a lot more eariler in the game, as previously touched on.

[playgroundDiaries]

it's not too hard to see how it would appear to him that Brenda is the favored one.

He's admitted he thinks that.

I don't remember that, but it would confuse me, too, since she had that completely wacko and beyond the planet of unbelievable and out of character Epiphany or something, and decided that she wanted to stay home and be part of a family

The earlier statement might have been placed there, also, to emphasize how dramatic an effect Erin would have on her later, and it was completely in character to me, given the course of her development (which is beyond the scope of this episode).

I was sooo eager for them to show Brenda trying to cook something, just to give Shannen the opportunity to take her turn at paying a little homage to Lucille Ball, if for no other reason...

Why did you want Brenda to pay homage to Lucille Ball? I don't get the thread count thing either. She wasn't that critical. And had totally been fine with his sheets before, if you know what I'm saying.

[KellAndSteve4Ever]

I wish he had Brenda's back more. Couldn't he see she was being treated unfairly in the sense that the dad was too involved in her personal life?

Ruby I couldn't aggree with you more! Brandon should have been there for her during that whole thing a lot more then he was, let alone the Burmuta triangle sanerio as well.

Mel- Jim had al;ways had a problem with Dylan, because of his father and he thought Dylan was the splitting image of Jack and he didn';t want his daughter to be involved with someone like that. Brenda moving into Dylan's house wasn't just about making her point it was because she loved him so much and she was afraid to loose him.

I didn't like the position Brenda was putting him in...

Brenda wasn't, or didn't, put him in that position, Jim did. There's another good reason why Bren moved into Dylan's house, she didn't want Jim to hurt Dylan anynmore then he already had.

Before the storm. This is the same scene where Brandon first finds them. "I thought you went bikini shopping ..." /"Ooh, change of plans."

Yeah I think it was pretty close to the begining of the episode.

[worldsnakreem]

Originally Posted by playgroundDiaries (View Post) ...The earlier statement might have been placed there, also, to emphasize how dramatic an effect Erin would have on her later, and it was completely in character to me, given the course of her development (which is beyond the scope of this episode).

Oh duh. She said that before the Blessed Event, and subsequent wackaration (which I still do consider to be out of character. For anybody).

Originally Posted by playgroundDiaries (View Post) ...Why did you want Brenda to pay homage to Lucille Ball?

Because it is a thing that actors get to do, if they're lucky. And this was the ideal setting for her to do it, since she didn't ever get an after-school job in a chocolate factory.

Originally Posted by playgroundDiaries (View Post) ...I don't get the thread count thing either. She wasn't that critical. And had totally been fine with his sheets before, if you know what I'm saying...

Her "critical" level appeared to do some dramatic soaring with that sudden mantle of domesticity that descended upon her like a swarm of locusts on Day 2 of her short-lived role as Dylan's roomate, so determined was she to make Dylan's bachelor pad into a Real Home! (I bet Cindy would have been delighted had her daughter been as eager to vacuum Casa Walsh!)

But you are absolutely right about the thread count issue, and I caught and corrected myself as soon as the words were off my fingers.

[playgroundDiaries]

*sigh* My next (much-delayed) response to the Parent Thread and your subsequent conclusion has manifested itself here. Figures. I suppose I'll just provide a link.

Basically, yeah, I get it. I just don't like seeing that "typical adolescent behavior".

And this was the ideal setting for her to do it, since she didn't ever get an after-school job in a chocolate factory.

Yes, but ... should there really be chocolate factories on 90210? That is the question.

Alright, we need another moment from this episode before we go way off.

[worldsnakreem]

Originally Posted by playgroundDiaries (View Post) ...I just don't like seeing that "typical adolescent behavior"...

That's fair enough, since of course there is no such thing as a "typical" adolescent.

There are any number of adjectives that I could have, and should have, used to describe behavior patterns that are more likely than not to be exhibited given the intersection of certain conditions, both hormonal and situational.

And I say this as an individual who was once an adolescent, and while I would have been extremely indignant at any suggestion that I might have been typical, I did indeed do and say and think quite a lot of things that would have a familiar ring to many parents of adolescents - including, but not limited to - hm, come to think of it, I am already on record here as suggesting that a certain list of things in the "anti-Brenda" thread might be applied at some point to most teenaged girls, and the place that statement came from was not grumpy old biddy broad-brush generalization, but all-too-clear memory.

For all I liked then, and continue to like now, to think of myself as having been, a most extraordinarily exceptional teen, the fact is that just as I suffered from complexion "blemishes," so did I also suffer, at one time or another, from every single item on that list!

Those years are just not like any others. It's a time as unique as every one of us who goes through it - exciting and tiresome, terrible and glorious, a time of trying on everything from colors and clothing styles that are all wrong for us and always will be, to personalities to intellectual pursuits, and if we didn't, we wouldn't come out the other side of it with all that useful information about just who we are - and who we are not - not to mention all those hard-earned life lessons like what a really bad idea it is to go off on any road trip to any destination at any age without packing some form of ID.

"Typical" is, I guess, just a lexicographically lazy way of saying that some things are more likely than not to occur - all things being equal - equal, in this case, referring back to those intersections of bio-chemical and socio-cultural factors, not intended to imply negation or trivialization of the uniqueness that each of us possesses, whether toddler, teen, or totally ancient!

[Ruby_Slippers]

Originally Posted by worldsnakreem (View Post) My take on this was completely different. I saw it as one of those Golden Un-Iconized, Non-Paragon RealBrandon Moments - and I admit I am also fast forwarding and fusing this with his reaction in a later episode where Jim & Cindy tell the twins there is only money enough to send one of them to an "expensive out-of-state school.".

Although, it may be difficult. Let's try to keep the discussion to this episode. There will be plenty of time to discuss that down the line.

On that occasion, as well as the Trip To Paris Deal, Brandon lets forth what I perceived as a Mighty Roar of Normalcy - plain old predictable sibling rivalry! And if we listen to what he says, and try to see it through his teentwin eyes - it's not too hard to see how it would appear to him that Brenda is the favored one. It is, as he points out in the College Money episode, he who has worked steadily, and thus been able to pay for his own stuff, and given the history - again from his perspective, of Brenda doing something very "naughty" - lying to Jim and Cindy, and being "rewarded" with a trip to Paris, while he spends his summer wrestling with the luggage and balky beach umbrellas of little old ladies and hauling around racks of soiled stemware.

I do agree about the sibling rivalry concept. He didn't agree that Brenda should have lied and gone to Mexico at all and he made that clear. However, his unwillingness to have Brenda's back at all was really annoying to me because Brenda would have had his. When Brandon was "in love" in high school he had the tendancy to get sweeped up in the girl completly and become irrational. Remember when he cursed out his dad's client because he liked Carla and suddenly became aware of life in East L.A.? I would think that he would be more sympathetic towards his best friend and bestfriend/sister. He admitted later that his personal life was always his personal life, so I suppose he did get it. But I was a bit disapointed in him.

Well, you and I have discussed that whole mess extensively elsewhere, I'm just agreeing with you again here for posterity. And of course I think she was putting him in an inexpressibly awful position with the whole thing, Meltdown Jim as trustee of Dylan's money was even worse than having her making all that vacuum cleaner racket and prating about dinner.

I think Brenda was afriad of loosing him. She knew how rejected he felt and her moving in was as much to hold onto him as to have Jim let go of her.

I can't claim to be a big Brenda fan, but in this case, I guess I am making myself vulnerable to charges of being a BrendaDefenda, because I think Jim pretty much obliged her to deceive him. I don't see him as being in any condition for calm talks and coming to understandings. As you point out, he had not had this problem with Dylan before, because Dylan wasn't the problem! It was Brenda growing up that was the problem. And while I know that all over the world, there are young people - many well past their teens - who sacrifice and renounce everything from a Saturday night pizza and movie with their latest crush, to eternal happiness with the love of their lives to the career of their choosing, out of filial piety, generally speaking, forbidding a teen in love, infatuation, lust, all along the scale, to see the object of whatever sentiment is currently holding sway, is the time-tested most effective way to ensure that the teen-turned-victim is going to see/touch/dance with/kiss/engage in intimate behavior with said object by any means necessary. And any means necessary typically includes deceit in some form. Although the sheer drama coming from both sides can easily distract and cloud, Brenda was engaging in classic adolescent behavior, which is to be expected since she was an adolescent. But Jim was the grownup, and so I have to put the burden of rectification and calming troubled waters and working together to achieve a lasting peace and a workable compromise acceptable to both sides on him. And I do think Cindy could have done a lot more eariler in the game, as previously touched on

Exactly, Brenda was lying and deceitful. But before she lied none of her friends/brother said anything really to talk her out of it. They were all like okay, whatever. Even Dylan. But when they got caught all of a sudden everyone was pissed at her. Jim had major control issues and I agree Cindy needed to speak up. Everything hit the fan when Jim banned them from seeing each other. Cindy needed to be able to tell her husband to calm down.

When he catches them at the beach club, I have never seen him as mad. I agree with everyone that it was about Brenda growing up but yikes what a way to experience growing pains!