Beverly Hills, 90210 - Season 8, Episode 3

"Just think: if we go into business together, our bromance can continue, uninterrupted!"

"The Way We Weren't"
Original airdate: 9/24/1997

Episode summary: Kelly continues to not remember Brandon, and becomes smitten with Noah. Donna loses her boss's dog, but doesn't make much of an effort to find him. Steve and Brandon go into the newspaper business together.

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Recap: Kelly's in her hospital bed, writing down everything she can remember about herself - an exercise the doctor prescribed in order to help jog her memory. Brandon stops by to give her her engagement ring, and she remarks that it's beautiful and asks if they were engaged. He says, "Yes and no" then needlessly explains that she turned him down when he proposed in Season 5, so he took the ring back to the jeweler, but then she secretly bought the ring back. He tells her that the ring's been through a lot, just like the two of them, and that she's always loved it...and Kelly half-heartedly laments that she can't remember any of it. Noah enters the room, and Kelly visibly brightens and thanks him for donating blood (apparently he's the only one in the 90210 gang who shares her blood type) which helped save her life. Brandon ambles out to the hall to talk to Jackie and Daniel Dae Kim, who expresses concern that Kelly is not improving, brain-wise, as swiftly as he'd like. He says that everyone needs to focus on helping her regain her memory and suggests they surround her with familiar things that are likely to trigger memories.

The Walsh house. Brandon gathers the 90210 gang together and says they need to bombard Kelly with memories from her past: good and bad. A few minutes later, Brandon gets a call from The Seattle Times, offering him a job on the metro desk. He tells the person he can't make a decision 'cause his girlfriend just got shot and asks if the job can be held for a week.

Noah arrives at the hospital with flowers and music CDs, and his presence puts a big smile on Kelly's face. He tells her he can't stay long, so she asks him to bring Winston with him next time he comes, and that Jackie will know who/what that means.

Donna arrives at the home of her new boss, Jane Schultze, wearing a short sleeved sweater and teeny tiny skirt. Jane barks instructions on the type of clothes she wants her to buy...and while she's doing that, she gets a call from the vet. Apparently, she forgot to bring her ginormous dog, Goliath, in for his appointment. Donna offers to bring Goliath to the vet for her, and Jane happily fobs off her responsibility as a pet owner onto her nitwitted assistant.

Alumni Gymnasium. Steve enters the gym just as the women's basketball team is finishing up their practice. Charlotte sees him and runs over to say hey, and he schmoozes it up about what a great sports agent he'll be, blah blah. He hands her an envelop with tickets to the upcoming Chemical Brothers concert, and she effusively thanks him for hooking her up.

Donna arrives at the veterinarian's office. She fumbles around with the Goliath's seat belt as she gabbles on the phone with Kelly...and once the seatbelt is released, Goliath makes a break for it and gallops down the street.

Hospital. Kelly tells Brandon not to give up the Seattle job on her account, and he looks hurt and says, "It's on our account." He shows her the photos they took in Hawaii, but she shakes her head and says she can't remember anything about the trip. Detective Woods drops by to tell Brandon that he IDed the wrong guy as Kelly's shooter. Apparently, the evidence didn't add up 'cause there was no gun residue on his hands...and he urges Kelly to drop by the station whenever she's fully recovered. Brandon looks spacey and peeved as he contemplates his mistaken ID...and after he leaves, Kelly stares down at the Hawaii photos and looks particularly enamored of a photo of a shirtless Noah. Mmm...shirtless Noah.

The Peach Pit. Steve enters the diner and nearly collides with Hilary Swank as she balances food trays. Steve gabbles to Nat about his pretend career as a sports agent says he has a meeting with an important someone from a PR firm. He invites Hilary Swank to go out on a date with him to celebrate his success...but she declines and bitchily retorts, "Why don't you celebrate with Charlotte?" Oy. I'm beginning to see why this character was prematurely cut.

After Dark. Noah hangs with David as he glumly takes stock of his overdue bills. He complains that he can't seem to bring in the college crowd or find any new bands, and Noah's like, "Sucks to be you" and asks him what Val's story is. David describes her as "sex and money" and grudgingly admits that, unlike himself, she really knew what she was doing when she was running the After Dark. Noah offers to help him find some reasonable sounding bands, and David likes the sound of that. Donna suddenly runs in looking panicked and wails that she just lost her boss's dog and doesn't know what to doooo. David suggests she call Jane and tell her that the dog had to stay at the vet's overnight, and says that this will buy them time to go searching for the missing pooch.

Valerie stops by the hospital to drop off Kelly's high school and college yearbooks. Kelly, who's forgotten how much she hates Val, remarks that she feels as though she's meeting them all for the first time. Valerie asks her if she feels anything for Brandon, but she says she has no memory of the two of them being in love. Valerie tells her not to believe everything she hears and tells her she's had plenty of other romantic involvements besides Brandon, then adds, "Don't drive yourself crazy remembering something that might not have been there." Damn, that girl's diabolical. Kelly holds up the yearbooks and asks where Noah is, so Valerie tells her the 90210 gang first met him while they were in Hawaii. Kelly's like, "What's his story?" and Valerie cagily says she thinks he's involved with someone. Kelly asks her to find out for sure, and Valerie grimly replies, "I'll do my best."

Steve arrives at the Alumni Gym to meet with professional sports agent Drew Zaleski to talk about joining his firm. He tells Drew he has "a beat" on basketball player Charlotte Campbell, but Drew cuts him off and tells him the only reason he's meeting with him is because of his great respect for Rush. He hands him the envelop with the Chemical Brothers' concert tickets inside and says that gifting them to Charlotte could have ended her basketball career, and that he should deny ever giving them to her. He sassily adds, "Don't put on your cowboy hat unless you've got the cattle to prove it."

Donna's at a clothing boutique with Valerie, doing Jane's personal shopping. Shouldn't she be looking for Goliath??

Hospital. Noah brings Winston (a teddy bear) to Kelly and she flirtily thanks him for bringing her her stuffed friend. She asks Daniel Dae Kim if she can go home yet, but he says she's not ready to be discharged yet. He tells her she's welcome to wander around the hospital if she wants...but when she looks less than thrilled with that option, Noah asks him if it would be OK to take Kelly on a short outing. Daniel Dae Kim mulls this over and grants permission.

Rush meets up with Steve and tells him that he spoke to Zaleski and says he did him a giant favor by returning those concert tickets 'cause "life screw-ups can be brutal". Steve glumly admits he's a big screw-up, and Rush decides that maybe some of Steve's boneheadedness is the fault of his shitty parenting. He tells Steve that what he needs is a business of his own, something he can build...then tells him about a small newspaper he owns that's currently defunct and in need of a publisher.

Beach house. Donna tells David she wants to partner with Valerie and go into business together being personal shoppers. David's all, "Wuh?" so she points out that Valerie is well organized and has good taste...plus, Jane Schultze is throwing a lot of clients at her, and she could really use the help. She then puts her sad face on and says she's convinced that Goliath is gone, and that she's going to have to 'fess up to Jane. David, however, is confident that they'll somehow find the dog...even though it appears as though neither of them has done a damn thing to find the poor mutt.

Steve brings Brandon to the defunct headquarters of his newest venture, The Beverly Hills Shopper. He says that they can create any kind of paper they want, and that he'll be the publisher, Brandon will be editor-in-chief, and they'll split everything 50-50. Brandon glances around the room with disdain and tries to make a break for it, but Steve stops him and urges him to at least think about it. Brandon wails that there's nothing here, and that a newspaper needs employees, layout people, printers, computers, etc. - plus, they're broke and have nothing to live on. Steve says they could fob a lot of the work off on their 90210 friends, and that there's $60,000 in the paper's accounts receivable, which they can live on until the newspaper starts generating revenue. Brandon mulls that over for a few seconds, then shakes his head and says, "Sorry, I just can't do it" and Steve scrunches his face in disappointment.

Noah and Kelly are walking along the beach together. As they chat about Kierkegaard, she suddenly remembers doing a paper on the philosopher for a college class. She chirps, "I'm starting to remember!" and recalls that she lives in a beach house, and that Donna and Clare are her roommates. She then recalls that people have been telling her she lives at the Walsh house with Brandon, and decides that perhaps it's better if she doesn't remember everything, 'cause this way she gets a fresh new start in life.

Hospital. Brandon is sitting in Kelly's room holding Winston and angrily furrowing his brows when Kelly and Noah return from their jaunt at the beach. Brandon snaps, "Where the hell have you two been?" and snarks that he's been waiting for two hours. Noah urges Kelly to get some rest, and Brandon looks peeved as Kelly flirtily thanks Noah for the outing before he beats a hasty retreat. Brandon tells Kelly he's worried she's pushing herself too hard, but she says she's starting to remember things: the beach house, her room, Donna, Clare...but still nothing about him. Ouch.

Beach house. It's 11pm and Donna and David still haven't found Goliath. Donna wants to call Jane and confess losing him, but David urges her to wait it out until morning...and has faith that somehow the dog will magically reappear.

Marina. Brandon stops by the Martins' boat to give Noah the what for. He asks him why he took Kelly to the beach, so Noah tells him that Daniel Dae Kim said it would be good for her to get out, and that he totally gets that he's frustrated and looking for a fight. He then assures Brandon he also gets that he knows that he and Kelly are meant to be together.

Donna and David arrive at Jane's house. Donna gets out of the car and lumbers up the sidewalk, bracing herself to tell Jane the bad news about Goliath when suddenly, out of nowhere, Goliath appears! He runs up to the house and is standing beside Donna at the front door. Thanks, writers, for wrapping up that pointless storyline so quickly and neatly.

Brandon, Steve, and Noah are hanging at a bar as they check out the band that's playing. A skanky waitress sees Noah and is all, "Hey, dude! How about some quality time later?!" and the other guys ask Noah what that's all about, but he just keeps mum on the subject. Noah then asks Brandon how Kelly's doing, and Brandon says he feels like he can't move forward or backward. For example, he wants to take the Seattle job, but wants Kelly more. Noah babbles something about "losing each day" and tells him, "You're still Brandon, even without Kelly." He urges Brandon to use his passion, and points out that he can write anywhere, not just in Seattle, then nonsensically adds, "It's the passion, not the geography." OK, but it's the geography if you want the paychecks that go along with working for The Seattle Times. Brandon mulls over his sage advice...and a few minutes later he tells Steve he now thinks they could make the Beverly Hills newspaper work. Steve perks up and goes, "Really?!" and Brandon insists on having editorial authority and will leave it to Steve to handle the business end of things. Steve happily agrees, and the two shake on it.

Hospital. Brandon arrives after visiting hours and sneaks into Kelly's room. He wakes her and says, "I miss you more than you'll ever know." He tells her he's decided not to go to Seattle, and that he'll see her tomorrow. After he leaves, Kelly fingers the engagement ring that she's wearing around her neck on a necklace...but then takes it off and places it in a drawer, where she once again notices the shirtless photo of Noah. Mmm...shirtless Noah.

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