Recap: Papa Walsh is having an official meeting with Dylan, discussing the dismal state of his finances. He advises the flat broke teenager to make peace with his mother, Iris, so he can hit her up for some much needed cash. If he doesn't, he runs the risk of the courts stepping in...and this would create a messy situation, not to mention the start of a tedious storyline for viewers. Dylan is reluctant to ask Iris for any money, but Papa Walsh insists...mostly because he doesn't want this slouchy kid living at his house indefinitely. Beverly Hills Beach Club. Brandon is wheeling a big bin of laundry toward a service van when Steve leaps into it. He teases Brandon about whether or not he's ready to lose all of his money in an unauthorized poker game that's being planned at the beach club after hours. Brandon isn't keen on gambling away his hard-earned money, admits to not being that great of a poker player, and informs Steve that he's currently sitting on a heap of dirty, stinky towels that club members have probably used to wipe their anuses and genitals. The Walsh house. Dylan returns to his temporary home and presents Mama Walsh with a loaf of freshly baked bread. She's touched by his thoughtful gesture, but tells him he doesn't have to do things like that. In her gentle, mom-ish way she asks him if he needs any pocket money, but he just gets embarrassed and murmurs that he's fine. During this awkward exchange, the doorbell rings and it's Donna; she and Brenda have plans to go see a movie. At Donna's urging they invite Dylan to come along, but he doesn't want to go 'cause he's too broke to afford it...and too mopey and depressed to want to leave the house. Beverly Hills Beach Club. It's after hours, and Brandon is lurking in the dark so he can open up the game room for Steve and the rest of the poker players. They all file in...and for some unexplained reason, David Silver has also been invited. To move this dud of a storyline forward, we get a montage of the group playing various hands. At one point Steve is doing well, while Brandon isn't doing so well. David is doing very well, but then looks like a mental patient when he repeatedly contorts his mouth as a method of practicing his poker face. The night ends with Brandon winning big, but one of the players totally kills his buzz when he declares that their next poker game is going to have to be for higher stakes. No more of this lame penny ante shit. The Walsh house. Brandon arrives home after the late night poker game and tip-toes upstairs to his bedroom. Dylan is still awake and turns the light on. He's been lying in bed, unable to stop thinking about his money problems, and how he has to call his mother in Hawaii. Brandon tells him all about the poker game and gets his buzz killed for the second time when Dylan says there's no thrill in poker if it's not for real money. But then he backpedals and acknowledges that gambling can be just as dangerous an addiction as drugs and alcohol...and remarks that since he has a predisposition to addiction, he's determined to stay far away from any card playing. For a little while. Beverly Hills Beach Club. The following morning, Henry asks Brandon if he noticed anyone skulking around the club before he left last night. He's well aware that some of the members' bratty kids like to sneak in and play cards in the game room after hours. Brandon looks guilt-ridden and comments that it sounds harmless, but Henry points out that if someone gets hurt, it's his ass on the line. He then tells Brandon to let him know if he hears anything about any illegal card games...and adds that he hates rich kids who think they own the world. Pawn shop. Dylan is hocking his personal belongings so he can generate some pocket money. He lays out a guitar, camera, a watch, and a picture frame. Geez, he must really be desperate if he's hocking picture frames. The pawn shop lady isn't too impressed with his ratty stuff and offers him $275 for all of it. When he asks her what sorts of things generate the biggest bucks, she tells him she prefers electronics like VCRs, TVs, and stereos. Hmm... Beverly Hills Beach Club. Brandon chides Steve for being the mastermind behind the poker game last night, and tells him that Henry knows about it and is pissed. Steve, however, is barely listening because: a) he's one of the spoiled, self entitled brats Henry was grumbling about, b) he isn't burdened with a conscience, so he couldn't care less what the implications for Henry might be, and c) his mind is already on the next poker game. He excitedly tells Brandon that this time they're going to be more like high rollers playing for real money...and they'll also have babes there to serve as eye candy. Brandon perks up and doesn't look nearly as concerned about losing his job or his integrity as I thought he'd be. Instead, he seems rather intrigued by the prospect of playing a high stakes poker game in the company of some pretty ladies. Brenda and Donna are laying in the sun, trying to achieve the perfect tan. Ahh...to be a teenager again and not worry about melanoma. Donna wants Brenda to dish about what it's like having her former lover living in her house, but Brenda tells her that Dylan is so moody and reclusive that they're barely on speaking terms. But deep down she still loves him, and so it hurts her that she can't help him out of his perpetual slouch-funk. Donna leaves to go get a milkshake, and Brenda lays down and falls asleep in the hot sun...and ends up with a scorched back. Ouch. By the time she arrives home, she's as red as a lobster. Supermom immediately comes to her rescue and assures her crispy daughter that she'll whip up an old family remedy that will take the sting out of the burn. I think this during every episode, but Cindy is a waaaaay nicer mommy than Brenda deserves. Dylan, meanwhile, is loafing around the house and ambles into the living room where Papa Walsh is reading the paper. Papa Walsh asks him if he's gotten in touch with his mother yet, and Dylan tells him he hasn't. Jim offers him the use of the telephone and tells him he doesn't want to keep having the same conversation over and over again. I second that. It's getting wearisome watching this beggarly sad sack who suddenly has no home and no funds. Dylan goes upstairs and finds Brandon ironing a shirt to wear for poker game #2. Dylan gets all moody and pissy that he wasn't invited to the game...so Brandon invites him...but then he says he'd just rather just stay in and read. When Brandon leaves for the club, Dylan suddenly starts to look very wistful, as though he might like to go and play cards after all. Beverly Hills Beach Club. Brandon's dressed up in a suit, lurking in the dark so he can let the others in the game room again. The same kids from the other night show up, but this time they're all dressed in suits and hats...and Steve looks pretty comical in a phony mustache. Brenda and Donna join the game, I'm guessing to provide the female eye candy for the players, but that has to be weird and disappointing for Brandon. They play a few hands, chomp on cigars, and ham it up like they're mobsters. Dylan then crashes the party, looking very under-dressed for the affair. Dramatically he tells them to deal him in - which they do, and he gets all intense and serious. The game reaches a pivotal moment when the pot stands at $400, which I suppose is what teenagers would consider to be "high stakes". After a dramatic buildup, David wins the hand and beats Dylan. Naturally this makes Dylan even more sullen and irritable than he was before, and he tells Brandon that he's going upstairs to sit in the sauna for a long sulk steam. Dylan's dour vibe has put a damper on the game, so everyone agrees to cash out and go home. The moment of reckoning arrives the next day when Henry confronts Steve as he's chatting with Brandon at the beach club. Henry asks him, point blank, if he was playing cards after hours at the club last night. Not only does Steve lie through his teeth, but he uses Brandon to give him a fake alibi. When Steve and Brandon ask Henry what's wrong, he angrily walks them over to the game room, which has been burglarized. Duhn duhn duhn! The thieves made off with the TV, stereo and office equipment. Soon after, the police arrive to investigate...and they quickly determine that the burglary was an inside job. This news troubles Henry, and he remarks to Brandon that he almost wishes it had been a forced entry type of burglary. He confesses that he has a police record from years ago. He was hanging out with a group of hooligan friends who were up to no good, unwittingly fell asleep in a car that turned out to be a getaway car, and was charged right along with them for breaking and entering. The detective in charge of the investigation asks to speak to Henry in private. Uh oh. As he's led away, a pissed off Brandon tells Steve that he's now determined to straighten out this mess. Ignoring Steve's self-serving protests, Brandon marches over to where the detective is grilling a shame-faced Henry and admits that he knows more about last night than he let on. Police station. One by one, the poker players are questioned...but none of them seem to emerge as suspects for the robbery. Steve makes an ass of himself when he attempts to name-drop by asking the detective if she knows who his mother is. Nobody cares about your washed up mother's stale acting career, Steve. The detective then asks Brandon about Dylan, who didn't leave the club with the others. That's right, he was supposedly brooding in a sauna. Brandon starts singing like a canary, and needlessly spills the beans to the detective about how Dylan had lost a lot of money in the poker game, but then insists that Dylan wouldn't actually steal anything. Well...prolly not, anyway. The detective tells him she wants to question Dylan as soon as possible. The Walsh house. Dylan makes an appearance at the Walsh house the following evening. He tells Brandon that he slept in his car the night before, and then seems pretty nonchalant when he learns about the robbery at the beach club, and the fact that the police want to question him. Casually he strips off his shirt and goes into the bathroom to take a shower. Brenda then pops into the room to chat with Brandon, who immediately starts grumbling to her about what a messy roommate Dylan is. And then, no doubt completely by accident, he finds a plane ticket to Hawaii with Dylan's name on it, which was purchased that day. Brandon is curious about where Dylan got the money to pay for it and immediately assumes he robbed the beach club, which prompts Brenda to snap at him for thinking their friend could be a thief. At that very moment, the police detective arrives at the house, looking for Dylan. She noticed his Porsche in the driveway, and is suspicious by the VCR, amplifier, and fax machine hidden under a blanket in the passenger seat. Oh no! She wants him to come downtown for questioning right away. Police station. The Walshes are all sitting together in the waiting area. Mama Walsh feels bad that Dylan had to be hauled in for police questioning, while Brandon still remains skeptical about his innocence. Some random police officer passes the foursome and remarks how Dylan is a criminal just like his father. This raises the ire of Papa Walsh, who abruptly stands up and angrily defends Dylan, a move that goes over very well with Mama Walsh and Brenda. A minute later, Dylan saunters out of the interrogation room and looks happy to see all the Walshes waiting for him. Brenda hugs him, and he tells everyone that the police questioning went A-OK. Back at the Walsh house, Brandon gets all bitchy at Dylan again because of his long showers and excessive shampoo use. A mystified Dylan asks what he did to piss off Brandon, so Brandon flat out tells him that he suspects him of committing the robbery at the beach club. Dylan denies being a thief, and explains that he's been pawning his own stuff, and that the electronics hidden in his car are all items from his family's storage locker. As for the ticket to Hawaii, he finally got in touch with Iris and she bought the ticket for him, so he picked it up from the airport that day. Hmm...he seems to have an answer for everything, but that's actually a good thing because we're reaching the end of this blah episode and need to quickly wrap up any loose ends. Beverly Hills Beach Club. David tries to impress Donna with the stack of cash he won playing poker, but she just laughs at him until he feels stupid and leaves. Cheer up, David. You'll tap that eventually. Brandon goes to see Henry, who's watching The Young and the Restless on his balcony. He asks him if he still has a job, and Henry starts blathering about how he could either be ticked off at him for playing cards after hours, or happy that he came forward and told the detective the truth. Clearly he chooses happy, 'cause he tells Brandon he can keep his job, and says that somewhere down deep he's a decent kid. Anyway, turns out that the burglars were the guys who worked for the laundry service we saw at the beginning of the episode. They were caught red-handed robbing another nearby beach club. So there - boring mystery solved. The Walsh house. Dylan stops by Brenda's bedroom to say goodbye before leaving for Hawaii. He's grateful that she stuck by him through all the beach club robbery drama, and wishes her fun times while he's gone. He then goes to down the hall to see Brandon, who apologizes to him for not having more faith in his innocence...and also for being such a little bitch about the shampoo. As a gesture of forgiveness, Brandon presents Dylan with a parting gift: his own bottle of shampoo! With a smirk, Dylan reaches into his bag and pulls out a bottle of shampoo he purchased for Brandon as a replacement. Now that is - quite literally - some good, clean fun. Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
3 Comments
MTCIII65
3/15/2019 05:12:40 pm
Mother Walsh needs to bottle her magic Calamine lotion and get on Shark Tank - Brenda felt absolutely none of her hours old sunburn during Anaconda poker?
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sonya
11/2/2020 01:17:04 pm
"Cheer up, David. You'll tap that eventually."
Reply
Kelly
1/16/2022 05:02:07 pm
Anyone notice Kelly and Ahn-Drea are absent from this episode ?
Reply
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