Customer Reviews

90210: The Complete Second Season

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If there is one thing the CW does succeed at, it's killing thier shows before they're off the ground. Gossip Girl was unable to sustain the spark of it's initial first season and even veteran shows like One Tree Hill, Smallville, and Supernatural peaked long before they even appeared on the CW network. And now 90210 can be added to that list of one-trick-pony shows.

In all fairness, 90210 began to go downhill towards the end of the first season. Annie and Naomi's love/hate relationship got far too tedious, the friendships and relationships changed at such a rapid pace it got confusing and Silver's bi-polar storyline was too extreme. So Rebecca Rand Kirshner was brought in to clean the show up for it's sophmore season and boy, what a job she did. If the show was dying last year, it was dead on arrival by this season's premier.

Season Two follows the aftermath of Season One's dramatic finale. Annie is secretly dealing with the guilt of killing a homeless man while the rest of her friends (and even her brother) have kept their distance from her for one reason or another. Most of the school hates her for ratting out the party (subsequently forcing them to take summer school), Naomi is furious at her for "sleeping with Liam" while Silver and Adrianna choose to believe the worst about her, taking Naomi's side over her's. The rest of the season plays out pretty much the same. Relationships (romantic and otherwise) change around contanstly while everyone deals with personal drama of their own such as drugs, death, stalkers, and villainous family members.

The storylines are tired and cliche and every single relationship has been tinkered with (most not for the better). At the same time, every character recieved a massive character change (once again, not for the better) at the hands of Kirshner. Annie is dark and self destructive; season one's fearless Liam is a pathetic coward, unable and unwilling to put an end to Annie's torment; Naomi is more evil and despicable then ever while Dixon becomes television's worst brother. The most dramatic changes however are done to season one fan favourites Silver and Adrianna. Reformed bad girl and arguably the most likable character of 90210's freshman season (atleast in the latter half) is turned into a superficial, self absorbed teeanger. Spunky, original Silver on the other hand loses all or her originality in her transformation as a Naomi clone, a transformation Kirshner found neccessary in moving forward their unexplicable friendship.

Just looking at the DVD cover art, it's obvious who the stars of 90210 are in her mind. Leading lady Annie is practically a guest star in her own show while Naomi and Liam's shallow love affair is the season's central story. This is the root of the season's problem as Naomi is a terrible main character. No effort is made to make Naomi likable, if anything she is worse then ever. It's hard to get behind and root for a character that is plotting revenge at every turn.

Watching Season Two of 90210 is like sunbathing on a California beach. Momentarily enjoyable but ultimately results in nothing gratifying in substance or pleasure.

...the german TV has cancled airing "90210" after 18 episodes of the first season. But I'm now happy to have this DVD who has included english subtitles which is very helpfull for me.

It seems the producers has changed anythings. Dustin Milligan has left the show (I'm missing him) and Shannen Doherty is no longer returning and also not Jessica Walter.

Following guests are in Season Two: John Schneider, Kelly Lynch, Rumer Willis (Bruce Wilis Daughter), Ryan O'Neal and my all time favorite: David Starzyk. And still we have Jennie Garth and Ann Gillespie from the original show.

THE DVD:

the picture quality is top also the soundtrack. The DVD Menu is animated.
Subtitles in english are available.
Sound: very good too.

Bonus Features:

Several audio-commentaries and documentaries like a Set-tour.

Fazit: great and I love it and can't wait for Season 3

Is this 90210 or just another teen soap using the title to claim to fame? Both, but for the series reputation that is not a good thing. As most shows do their second time around, the follow-up to the CW's "hit" series has been a victim of the dreaded "sophomore syndrome," a time in which a show hits the usual slump in their second season, or in 90210's case, the entire season. Now, for those not in the know, there were changes within the production team that very likely caused this. The original developers left the series after feeling they had strayed too far from the concept. In other words, they got off the train before it crashed. Kudos to them.

There is nothing worse than a missed opportunity and this season is plagued with many. With last season's finale, there was a golden ticket waiting to be found, a chance to amp up the drama. Instead of taking the road that should be traveled, the writers decided to be noble and take the road less traveled. It did not pay off. They got off at the wrong exit and were lost near the highway to hell. I've heard some say that they were trying to be unique, original in their storytelling. Oh, don't tell me about trying to be original. We're dissecting a modern teen soap. "Original" is not in their universe, let alone their vocabulary. Having teenagers run rampant, sleeping around, doing drugs, and experimenting with lesbianism isn't original. That's a Friday night for some.

One of the better things this show had going for itself was the character Erin, Silver to most. She was the most entertaining to watch, however, this year, she has turned into Naomi's handbag. How long had I been out of the room to not see these two bury the hatchet? Five minutes? And the lead became a secondary character for Naomi! I don't care how many fans love AnnaLynne McCord, that's just not done. That would be the equivalent to making Sarah Michelle Gellar a secondary on Buffy. The writers obliterated the only believable couple so that Dixon could sleep around with some woman for about three episodes, and Silver having bi-polar disorder, it might as well have been a bad dream.

There were good additions to this season...no, there wasn't. By season's end, I was more interested in the parental storylines.

The DVD cover art is gorgeous, however, that can't hide the fact that this was not their year. A human riddled with botox injections still has flaws underneath it all.

The second season of 90210 was ok at best. Many of the storylines seemed too drag on for so long that over time they began to lose their appeal. For instance, the storyline about Annie running over a man with her car dragged on until the season finale and even then it seemed as though it was not really fully resolved. Maybe the writers plan on discussing it more in the third season, but at this point I am so bored with this story that I wish they would just drop it already.

Another thing I had an issue with this season was with how rushed some of the storylines were. For example, it seemed the writers were pushing the relationship that has happened (or at least is going to happen) between Liam and Annie. Although Liam had flirted with Annie in season one, it seemed that their newfound romantic feelings for one another came out of nowhere especially since at the beginning of season two Annie was mad at Liam for not going to Naomi earlier and telling her that he had slept with Jen and not Annie. I'm sure the writers want to create a relationship for Annie and Liam so that they can have a dramatic love triange between Naomi, Liam, and Annie but they have already had a love triangle in season one with both girls and Ethan. I think if the writers do try to go with a Naomi-Liam-Annie love triangle it is kind of a step backwards for the show.

What I did like this season was watching the friendships between the characters. I really liked that Silver, Adrianna, and Naomi became friends. Even though I do believe that Silver has lost her originality that she had in season one, I feel like these girls make a good group of friends. As far as some of the relationships on the show for this season some were better than others. Personally, I liked when Naomi and Liam were together even though some viewers saw their relationship as shallow. However, I did not like any of the relationships involving the new character, Teddy. I hate that he was the reason why Adrianna and Navid, probably the best couple on the show, broke up in the beginning of the season. Also the realtionship between him and Silver seems a bit odd. I dont think the Silver in season one who was fun and unique would have ever gone for a guy like Teddy. I actually prefer Dixon and Silver together even though they did not always seems right gor each other at times.

I hope the writers get it better for season three. It would be a shame to ruin something that has the potential to be a really good show.

One of my favorite shows on tv right now. A great cast and lots of twists. I highly recommend this series to any fan of teen dramas.

Season 2 made a great come back with 90210, the first season tried to be to squeaky clean, learn your lessons, perfect little happy families (Annie & Dixon's family to be specific) like the original show...which just doesnt work in this day and age....
Season 2 took much more of an OC feel, the young, beautiful And rich lives the californian Teen especially with the cyco stalker Jasper/Annie storyline...totally had the Marissa/Oliver vibe... The only storyline i was dissapointed in was sabotaging the Liam/Naomi relationship... they were amazing together, but the constent stupid thoughtless mistakes they kept throwing into Naomi's storyline...AHHHHH! DO NOT like were it looks like it's going in the season final with Annie & Liam.... all in all SOOOOO worth the buy!
Great show!!

the seasons were for my 16 years old daughter, she and her friends watched them all with pop-corn a girls only sleep-over, along with pizza.

I've been a fan of this show since it began, and the DVD was awesome. It's great to not have to sit through commercials. And watching the commentaries allows you to get to know the cast on a different level (and it's actually interesting unlike some commentaries/cast interviews). It's a great gift for a fan of the show, and it's one of those dvd's that you can watch over and over again!

this was the best it could have been it came early and hq! nothing bad to say about it!

Ordered with the first season and had a marathon! This has lots of special features to keep you entertained too. A great season. I love how much more fun Namoi got, I love her humor in this season. Also I like how Annie has more a dark plot line. And I liked Silver's plot line in this too. Also LOVED that Adrianna was kept and moved to a main character!