BH90210 Review: The Pitch (Season 1 Episode 2)

What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas for long if you’re a celebrity. So the whole cast is in court on BH90210 Season 1 Episode 2, “The Pitch,” to face the consequences for stealing Donna’s dress. 

The criminal charges are reduced to community service, but the owner of the dress is seeking $100,000 in damages. Who is said owner? A superfan who wants the dress back unwashed, of course. 

One thing no one can accuse BH90210 of is taking itself too seriously. But I do believe it’s biting off a little bit more than a six-episode “series event” can chew.

Camile cheating on fake Jason is one storyline that no one would miss if it disappeared. Fake Ian’s wife is already cheating on him, and he’s handling it quite efficiently, if I do say so myself. 

So, it’s not your baby, Jason. Move on. Your wife pays more attention to your career than to you; you can’t love her that much. 

Even more extraneous than fake Jason’s plotline is that the entire cast has a stalker. 

I’m rooting for this meta-revival, and I was aware of what I was getting into from the start.

But I’m still hoping for more scenes of the cast shooting the reboot — so, fake Tori as Donna, fake Brian as David, etc. Unfortunately, at the pace the show is going, there isn’t much time for that at all. 

So while the stalker plot might mirror Donna’s on the original Beverly Hills, 90210 (very vaguely), it’s not necessary on BH90210 at all. 

The cast facing the consequences of their crime is just on the edges of the episode. So, stalker Zach might just be another plot that ties the fake cast together on future episodes.

That’s fair, but I don’t even want it if it’s going to take away from scenes of the cast as their Beverly Hills, 90210 characters. 

The show is very clear about the fact that people may not understand what it is as they watch. They make direct meta-comments about that. On this episode, this happens in the scene where fake Brian doesn’t understand what the genre the movie he’s auditioning for is.

BH90210 definitely doesn’t need to be a horror spoof, too. 

But as much as the show veers in the wrong direction sometimes, there are also scenes that make me yearn for more than six episodes of this meta-revival, even this early on.

Brian and Shannen seem to have a great relationship. Their rapport is visible when they are on-screen as their fake characters and off-screen at events.

That authentic relationship is more interesting to watch than whatever is going on between fake Jason and Jennie. 

It’s nice to see Jason give Jennie advice on letting Kyler act. Plus, Jennie mentoring her daughter while she acts is a personal storyline that might really work on the show. 

But their hookup on BH90210 Season 1 Episode 1 is very hard to buy. Fake Jennie and Jason falling in love? I’d like to return that before it even happens, please. 

On the other hand, Fake Gabrielle’s personal storyline might work better than I thought it would after the premiere. 

If an actual reboot were ever going to happen, Andrea exploring her sexuality is a storyline many fans would support. 

Fake Gabrielle doing so doesn’t land as strongly as I think Andrea doing it would, but to be fair, she’s only at the point of telling her husband.

Perhaps it’s just about finding the right romantic interest for fake Gabrielle. But the fan at the reunion is so forgettable that the hookup isn’t a topic in our first review. 

No matter how believable fake Gabrielle’s sexual exploration becomes, it’s so important that the meta-revival is addressing the original Beverly Hills, 90210‘s lack of inclusivity. It’s glaring and unfortunate. 

The ‘90s was a drastically different time period in the entertainment industry.

Gabrielle makes an offhand comment that Andrea wasn’t allowed to touch her black boyfriend (assumedly romantically/sexually) in the early ‘90s.

It’s absurd, of course, and BH90210 is right to try and be more inclusive to fix that. (Even though the lack of people of color is glaring on the reboot, too.) 

If fake Gabrielle is talking about a real restriction (why would the show lie about that?) it changed over the course of Beverly Hills, 90210, and there are storylines that reflect that. But they are scarce. 

It’s amazing that the show is making a concerted effort to represent someone questioning their sexuality — especially an older woman. Gabrielle (fake and real) might be helping someone find themselves, and that’s awesome.

BH90210 has me thinking about the depth an actual Beverly Hills, 90210 reboot could have for the first time.

It’s a scary thought to have when the meta-revival has yet to deliver any Kelly, Brandon, Donna, David, Brenda, Steve, or Andrea yet.

What did you think of this episode of BH90210? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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BH90210 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on FOX.

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