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Melrose Place - Season 1, Episode 2

2/18/2019

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"We need to talk about your clingyness."
"Friends and Lovers"
Original airdate: 7/15/1992

Episode summary: Alison gets miffed when Billy starts up a romance with a clingy woman.

Recap: Alison complains to Billy that he made the morning coffee too strong, then bitches at him for rummaging through her newspaper before she got a chance to read it. He tells her he really just needs the classifieds now that whoever hired him at the Arthur Murray dance studio realized he has zero rhythm or even minimal dancing abilities. Alison moans about how worried she is that Hal Barber is going to get her fired, so Billy suggests she preemptively scare him by threatening legal action about his blatant sexual harassment.

Jake gets enraged when the hot water in his shower suddenly turns ice cold. He storms over to Michael's apartment with just a towel wrapped around his buff wet bod - mmm hmm - and gets all in Michael's face about how he's been complaining for a month about the shitty plumbing. Michael tells him to chillax, just as the other Melrose Place residents are gathering 'round to enjoy the spectacle of a half naked Jake getting himself all worked up. Jane appears in the doorway and promises Jake that they'll take care of it, and Michael agrees to finally get off his ass and call a plumber. As Jake storms back toward his apartment, Sandy appears on the stairwell wearing baby doll pajamas and cooingly asks Jake what's wrong. When he snarks that he's out of work and has to head over to the unemployment office, she seductively purrs, "Yule land on yo feeeet" and offers to buy him a beer at Shooters tonight.

Jane tells Michael she had a dream about the night they first met, then dreamily babbles about the exact moment she knew she was in love with him. She asks him to describe the moment he first fell in love with her, but he just stares blankly into space and says he can't think straight 'cause he had a long night at the hospital. LOL.

Alison arrives at D&D and finds Hal Barber standing beside her reception desk, staring at her expectantly. She summons her courage and tells him she's considered her options regarding his sexual harassment last night and has decided she's A-OK with losing her job if that's what it will take to bring a creep like him to justice. Hal shrugs and says they merely went on a date that didn't end in the sack, however hard he tried, then breezily says, "Do what you want to do" and saunters up to his office. A few seconds later, a female employee dishes to Alison that a woman in the Payroll Department just filed a complaint against Hal for sexual harassment...and Alison lets out a sigh of relief that this tedious subplot will get resolved by some nameless D&D employee off camera. Someone informs Alison that her cab is here, and she's all, "Wuh? Cab?" then goes outside to investigate. She finds an excited looking Billy standing next to a yellow cab, and he tells her he just landed a job as a cab driver. He says he'd like to celebrate his new career this weekend, and she suggests they paint the apartment together. Billy gamely says he's in, then asks her how things went with Hal, and she happily reports that the problem magically worked itself out.
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"I've decided to report you for sexual harassment. Please don't call my bluff."

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"I'm not surprised. I pretty much have it coming with a bunch of different women."

At Shooters, Sandy shows her boss a stack of head shots she had taken for her actress wannabe portfolio, but her boss frowns disapprovingly and says the photographs look nothing like her and show off too much cleavage. Plus, it's doubtful that if she doesn't happen to land a role as a mint-julep-tea-sipping southern belle she'd be able to demonstrate much range as an actress. Kelly appears at the bar, admires the head shots, and tells Sandy she dropped by to meet Jake for lunch and tell him that her mom just had a baby girl. Sandy purringly informs her that she can probably find Jake at the unemployment office.

After sitting in the unemployment office's waiting room for a couple of hours, Jake is finally called to the window...but is told he filled out his forms incorrectly and has to resubmit them and then wait around some more.  

Billy picks up a '90s perm sporting passenger named Marcy, then starts prattling about how no one who lives in L.A. is originally from L.A. Marcy seems intrigued by his inane chit-chat and moves to the front passenger seat of the cab so she can fawn over him at a closer range. She gushes about how much he looks like Bruce Springsteen (mmm...nope), and then the two realize they once attended the same Springsteen concert and sat two rows apart! Squeal! Billy asks her if she'd like to go out for Italian, and she eagerly accepts.

Jake is getting increasingly annoyed by the endless wait to submit his forms, and gets into a physical altercation with one of the unemployment office clerks - just as Kelly arrives. He's quickly subdued by security, then gets arrested for creating a public disturbance.

Kelly heads straight over to the police station and tries to use her credit card to bail Jake out, but is told it's maxed out. She looks shocked, but also a tad turned on, when the police officer informs her that Jake is a stereotypically misunderstood bad boy who has multiple arrests on his record.

Billy brings Marcy home with him, and the two roll around on the couch, kissing intensely. Alison arrives home with a bag of paint supplies and looks put out that Billy brought a woman home on Paint Night, and Billy and Marcy quickly remove themselves from her haughty glare by scampering to his bedroom.

Alison preps the walls to be painted, but gets so distracted by the giggling coming from Billy's room that she stands in front of the door so she can brazenly eavesdrop. When Billy emerges from his room to use the bathroom, Alison snarkishly tells him he's moving a little fast with a woman he just met, then stammers, "Are you going to...going to..?" and Billy assumes she's trying to ask him if he's planning on raw dogging it or wearing a condom. Alison denies she was thinking of anything sex-related and whines, "I though we were going to paint the apartment" and Billy tells her he's free to paint all day tomorrow. 

The next morning, Marcy basks in afterglow while Billy pretends to Alison that he and Marcy just spent the night talking. Marcy tells Billy he was fantaaaaastic last night, then asks him to guess what she does for a living. When Alison cheekily guesses astronaut (ha!) Marcy giddily reveals that she's a dental student, which seems like a pretty mundane career choice to invite people to guess at. 

Jake is being released on bail when Kelly arrives at the police station and explains that she had to wait until the bank opened before she could withdraw his bail money. Jake snaps, "You bailed me out?" then says he's no good for her, them being from different parts of L.A. - I means worlds and all. He says he'll pay her back as soon as he can, then storms off...leaving Kelly bleating, "Jaaaaake! Don't do this!"
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"Shit. You're the reason I'm out of jail?"

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"Yes, and I will only accept a romantic candlelit dinner as payback."

Marcy is lighting candles throughout the apartment when Alison arrives home and scrunches her face in a pained expression of disapproval. Marcy tells her that Billy went to the grocery store to pick up food for their dinner, then obliviously gushes on and on about how awesome their new romance is. She asks Alison to dish about everything she knows about Billy, and Alison says she can't dish much 'cause she's only been roommates with him for a week. Marcy says she's surprised by that 'cause of how protective she seems of him. Billy returns home with a bag of groceries, and Marcy smothers him with smooches and suggests they work up an appetite in his bedroom. Ew.

Jane continues to pout about Michael not remembering the precise millisecond he fell in love with her, and tells him she's worried it's symptomatic of a larger problem: that the romance in their dull-as-fuck marriage is deadsville. Alison barges in to complain about the speed at which Marcy's and Billy's romance has progressed, and Jane says maybe it's love at first sight, then asks her if she's jealous. Alison insists she's not jealous - but rather that she feels left out in her own apartment. She asks if she can stay at their place for the night...and when they're like, "Uh, sure..?" Alison tells them it's sooooo nice being around a married couple who "have it so together".

On Saturday, the Melrose gang decides to have a poolside barbecue. Marcy tells Matt she looooves that the apartment complex is like a family...and Steve Sanders shows up as Sandy's underage date so the two can continue chatting about her long shot dream of stardom. He invites her to attend a party at the Beverly Hills Beach Club with him and his dork friends, and Sandy contorts her face into an ew expression and disdainfully replies, "A haa school paaaty?" Before he can respond with, "Well, d'yuh", Marcy bounds over and introduces herself as Billy's new girlfriend, then corrects herself and says it's actually more accurate to overshare to complete strangers by referring to herself as his lover. Sandy ambles over to Jake and says she didn't get a chance to buy him that beer at Shooters, and he grunts, "I've been busy" and moodily stalks off. Marcy continues to overshare about the orgasmic doinkings she's been getting from Billy for the last two days, and Billy overhears and stares bewilderedly into space. He heads over to the barbecue to relieve Alison from grilling duty, and tells her that this thing is Marcy is going too fast. Alison concurs that she's very aggressive and has put his entire sex life on display, which has been pretty blechy for anyone within earshot. Billy then stares blankly into space and hallucinates that Dr. Ruth Westheimer is counselling an oversexed talk-a-holic Marcy, who gabbles endlessly about how awesome Billy is in bed and satisfies her like no other. 
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"Wanna go to the prom with me?"

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"No. Wanna ask your mother if she can get me into show business?"

That evening, Jake arrives home and finds Michael working on a pipe (or something)...but then he quickly throws his tool down and admits that since he's a doctor not a plumber, he has no idea what the hell he's doing. Jake apologizes for his outburst the other day and admits he often has trouble containing his bad boy anger issues. Michael reminds him he has lots of friends at Melrose and shouldn't be shy about asking for help...and a few seconds later, Jane appears in the doorway of their apartment, bitchily says good night to Michael, then goes back inside.

When Marcy shows no signs of wanting to leave Billy's apartment, Billy asks her if she shouldn't head home and study for her upcoming dental exam, and Marcy's like, "Noooo, it's still the weekend" (well...Sunday night) and that she'd much prefer to stay over at his place uninvited. Billy says he'd really like to work on his writing this evening, and she's like, "Go ahead!" and says she won't utter a peep while staring at him adoringly. She then declares, "I think I love you" and pretends to not hear the audible groan that involuntarily escapes Billy's mouth. 

The next morning, Alison tells Billy she's annoyed about Marcy staying over at their place all the time, and Billy's like, "Right?" and says that last night she declared her love for him. He says the only thing resembling emotion he feels for her is a mild case of lust, and Alison's like, "Gross! I don't want to hear that!" - just as Marcy calls out to Billy from the bathroom to tell him she needs a towel.

Donna, David, and Kelly are about to leave Kelly's house to visit Jackie and baby Erin in the hospital. Jake rides up on his motorcycle to pay back some of the bail money Kelly loaned him - but she angrily throws the money back at him, growls, "Keep it!", and says she was merely trying to be a friend when she posted his bail.

Jake is sitting at the bar in Shooters, glumly drinking a beer when Billy joins him to complain about the Marcy Situation. He says he's resorted to avoiding his clingy new girlfriend, but Jake doesn't recommend that approach and advises him to come up with a more long lasting solution. He then moans about being pigeon-holed on Melrose Place as a macho, leather jacket wearing bad boy who's always putting up a false front, and regrets that he hasn't been more straightforward with the people in his life. He urges Billy to just come right out and tell Marcy she's suffocating him, and Billy's like, "Will do" and heads out to end the short-lived relationship before the end credits start rolling. Jake asks Sandy if she's up for a meaningless romp, but she poutishly declines and says she has no desire to be sloppy seconds to a teenage bimbo he keeps giving mixed messages to.
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"There's a clingy broad I can't shake off my leg."

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"Tell her you died."

Marcy races across the Melrose Place courtyard and exuberantly hugs Billy, and he grimaces and says, "We have to talk." Marcy senses nothing amiss with those four ominous words and gabbles about how nothing like this has ever happened to her before - and he gets impatient and tells her to shut it 'cause she's been coming on waaaaay too strong, and can't possibly be in love with him after knowing him only two days. Marcy says she's just been honest about her feelings and insists that it is love. Billy tells her he doesn't feel the same way, and Marcy looks shame-faced and says this always happens to her, then moans, "Why do I dooooo this?" She apologizes to Billy for all of the clinging and oversharing and says she should probably get home and study and never again be seen on Melrose Place. Phew. I guess that's the end of that.

To placate Jane, Michael tells her he knows he's in love with her every moment of every day, but that he constantly fears losing her...and Jane looks impressed with the odd declaration of his love/insecurity and leaps into his lap and gives him a giant smooch.

Jake returns to Kelly's house and apologizes for treating her so shabbily during these first two spin-off episodes. He says that while he can't promise her anything in the romance department, he doesn't want to lose her friendship...then asks her if she'd like to ride down to the beach with him. She eagerly accepts, and the two ride off on his motorcycle together. 

As Billy and Alison paint their apartment, he tells her he broke things off with Marcy 'cause of how much in a hurry she was to be in a relationship. Alison pretends to be sorry to hear that and tells him he should always feel comfortable talking to her about stuff like this. He exclaims, "What a weekend!" and the two giggle together and look like they're about to bond hard over the shared chore of painting their apartment walls.  
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Melrose Place - Season 1, Episode 1

2/9/2019

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"This is the favored toilet seat down position."
"Pilot"
Original airdate: 7/8/1992

Episode summary: Alison agrees to let Billy move into her Melrose Place apartment so she can split the rent and avoid getting evicted. Kelly won't stop dropping by Jake's apartment to ask why he hasn't called her. Rhonda goes on a bad date with a vitamin salesman.

Recap: Melrose Place begins with a jazzy opening that gives viewers the impression that they're in for a hip, edgy night-time soap featuring a crop of well-toned twenty-somethings who've taken up residence in a shitty - I mean trendy - apartment complex. The dreamiest resident looks to be Jake Hanson, the human link between Beverly Hills, 90210 and this exciting new spin-off. Squeal!

In the middle of the night, a young woman who the camera is only filming from the knees down and is therefore identifiable only by her colorful cowboy boots, strides over to the Melrose Place mailboxes, removes her name from one of the boxes, then gets into a cab with her suitcases.

The next morning, Alison Parker wakes up and tells her roommate, Natalie, that it's her turn to make coffee. When she gets no response, she peeks into Natalie's room and is shocked to find the room completely stripped bare. She moans, "Oh God..", then rushes next door to inform Matt that Natalie is gone...and when it's clear that Matt couldn't give a rat's ass, she moves on to Jake's apartment to see if Natalie might have stopped in for a quickie. When that too proves fruitless, she heads over to Jane's and Michael's place to report that Natalie sneaked out in the middle of the night and stuck her with the rent. She implores Michael (who's the building manager) to stall the landlord until she can come up with the cash, but he tells her that he can't/won't stall, this being real life and all, then unhelpfully adds that if she wants to get a sense of what real human suffering is, she should swing by the ER, where he works long shifts as a doctor. Alison wrings her hands worriedly about having to find a new roommate asap. 

Rhonda, the peppiest of the Melrose Place occupants, tells Alison she's on her way to teach cardio-funk, but first wanted to tell her that she witnessed Natalie sneaking out of Melrose Place in the middle of the night...and that she did fuck all to try to stop her, and didn't think to inform her (Alison) what was happening while it was happening. Alison moans about how much trust she put in Natalie to share expenses, then says if she doesn't find a roommate in the next three days, she'll be living in her car. 

Alison drives to work while writing up a newspaper ad for a roommate, which looks like it's even more distracting than texting and driving. She arrives at her workplace, D&D Advertising, accidentally dings the BMW that pulls up next to her, and gets admonished by the car's owner: a homely middle-aged account executive named Hal Barber. Alison wanks him about what a brilliant PR man she heard he is...and by the time they arrive at her reception desk, he's so charmed by her earnest cuteness that he's no longer miffed about her dinging his car. 

To emphasize the fact that this new show is a spin-off of Beverly Hills, 90210, Kelly Taylor parks her BMW around the corner from Melrose Place and tells Donna and David to hang back while she drops by Jake's apartment to see whassup about him not returning her many phone calls. David whines about how sick he is of hearing about Jake, while Donna points out that if he wanted to see her he would have called her back by now. Kelly says she just wants to make sure that nothing bad happened to him, and insists he's not the kind of guy who would just blow her off without an explanation...even though he totally is and clearly did. 

Kelly knocks on Jake's door while another Melrose Place resident, Sandy Harling is suntanning by the pool. Sandy, an aspiring blonde actress from South Carolina who delivers all of her lines in a weird, oversexed sultry tone laced with an exaggerated southern drawl, informs Kelly that Jake isn't home at the moment...then nosily asks her who she is and what she does. Kelly sheepishly admits that she's still in high school and isn't doing much other than loafing around the beach this summer, and Sandy looks visibly amused when she tells Kelly she'll be sure to tell Jake she stopped by, then purrs, "Bahhh naaw."

Alison is getting groceries out of her car when she's startled by a '90s style dreamboat with a thick head of unruly hair. He introduces himself as Billy Campbell, tells Alison he's a friend of Natalie's and therefore knows she just skipped town, and is looking to rent her old room. Sounds like an easy solution to a problem the writers decide instead to drag out unnecessarily. Billy rambles on for a looooong time about how he doesn't want to move back in with his parents 'cause of how it would only exacerbate his current sexual repression on account of not being able to bring any one night stands home. Alison gets visibly annoyed by his oversharing, says she's definitely not interested in having him as her roommate, and snappishly tells him to leave. Billy leaves her with his phone number in case she changes her mind - but she somehow decides she's currently in a position to be picky about her roommate options and snaps, "Don't count on it." 
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"I want to move in with you and become part of the hip Melrose Place clique."

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"I'm pretty sure the building could do a lot better."

Over at the neighborhood bar, Shooters, Jake is flirtily playing pool with a sexy lady...and Sandy, who waitresses at the bar, advises him to stop flirting with every woman who has a pulse until after he resolves things with his high school girlfriend. Jake assures Sandy he's never doinked Kelly, but Sandy chides him for his generally shitty judgement when it comes to women, then poutishly reminds him he once callously dumped her after a meaningless roll in the hay. When he chuckles at the faint memory, she tells him that Kelly is clearly pining for him...and that if he doesn't resolve things with her, he's going to have to deal with the consequences. Jake rolls his eyes and tells her to save her southern belle sultry-talk for her acting classes. 

Alison gets a predictable parade of weirdos who stop by her apartment in response to her ad for a roommate...and in the next scene, Michael shows her the eviction notice the landlord is about to issue if she's unable to come up with the rent. He suggests she bounce a check to buy herself more time, which I thought was pretty boneheaded advice for a building manager to be giving a tenant.

Alison arrives at Shooters and runs into Sandy, who gives her some unsolicited tips on how to sexily troll for men at a singles bar. Alison tells her to shut it with her southern belle bullcack and asks her if knows a disheveled dork named Billy Campbell...then glances across the bar and notices him playing pool. She goes over, says hey, and tells him that since she's gone from desperate to a day closer to being homeless, she's now agreeing to let him move in. He tells her he already found another place, then chuckles and says he's kidding and that he can move in tomorrow. He asks if he should bring some champagne to toast what will soon become the show's most relentlessly tedious on again/off again romance, but Alison wearily tells him to just bring the check.
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"I've decided to lower my already low standards and grant you the privilege of moving into my shitty apartment."

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"Kewl!"

Jane slides into bed and starts kissing Michael's feet, which...ew. He complains about how tired he is from working the night shift at the hospital, but then summons the energy to start smooching her. Alison interrupts their foreplay to drop off the rent check in full, then introduces Michael to Billy, her new roommate. Michael welcomes him to the building and tells him there's three rules he needs to follow in order to stay on his good side: pay his rent on time, don't knock on his door before 8:00am, and refrain from peeing in the pool. 

Rhonda bugs Sandy - looks like these two dullards are roommates - to get out of bed so they can girlishly gabble about Alison's hot new roommate. Sandy tells her she already knows all about Billy Campbell from Shooters last night, and nonsensically purrs, "Anythin' worth knowin' happens aht naaht."

Alison walks in on Billy as he's stripping off his shirt...and she blushes at his naked pecs and tells him it's going to take some getting used to living with a strange guy. She lays down some boundaries, e.g. not entering each other's bedroom without knocking, and limiting sleepover doinks to one night a week. She also makes it clear she doesn't want him touching any of her food in the refrigerator, all of which is labelled with post-its...and Billy protests that rule 'cause he may get a hankering to snack on her peanut butter once in awhile - and for some reason isn't capable of going to the supermarket to buy his own jar. Alison steers him over to the bathroom and decrees that, by far, the most important rule of the house is that the toilet seat must always remain down.

Rhonda runs into Matt and tries to get him interested in hearing about Alison's hot new roommate. When Billy happens to walk by at that exact moment, she exuberantly welcomes him to the building, then introduces him to a disinterested Matt. 

Billy puts a tape in his ghetto blaster and attempts to salsa, and Alison giggles as she watches him awkwardly bust a move. He looks mortified when she makes her presence known by knocking on the door, and asks him what exactly he does for a living. He tells her he's a novelist - in the Normal Mailer vein - then asks her what she does. She tells him she's "a conduit of information" at D&D Advertising...and when he correctly guesses that she answers phones, she admits that, yep, even though she's a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, she spends her days working the phones at the D&D reception desk. 

Kelly returns to Jake's apartment...and when he finally answers the door, she asks him why he hasn't returned any of her calls. He grunts, "Been busy" and Kelly tells him he owes her an explanation, then reminds him that during his brief stint on Season 2 of Beverly Hills, 90210, he had told her he wanted to make things work. Jake tells her he didn't think that that entailed planning their future together, then bitchily asks, "What do you want me to do? Spend my summer hanging at the Beverly Hills Beach Club?" and Kelly's like, "I dunno" and says she just really hates that he's avoiding her. When she starts to stomp off, he rushes over and pretends to be all confused about how he should be dealing with their budding romance. Kelly snarls, "If you think I'm a stooopid, lovesick teenager making a fool of myself, just tell me and I'll leave!" and Jake looks fake tortured by what his obvious retort at that should be and says he just wants to do what's right...then nonsensically adds, "Sometimes you have to lie to yourself to keep life running smoothly." He moans, "I haaaaate moral dilemmas" and Kelly poutishly asks, "What's wrong? Don't you think I'm pretty?" He assures her she's beautiful, then throws caution and all good sense to the wind and asks her out to dinner at Shooters tomorrow night. Kelly breathlessly exclaims, "Oh Jake!" and the two share an intense smooch.
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"Did you really expect me to hang out with you and your underage dork friends at the Beverly Hills Beach Club all summer?"

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"Well...kind of."

Rhonda, who continues to be overly interested in Billy's status as Melrose Place's newest resident, razzes Alison about having a male roommate, and Alison complains about how much she hates living with a guy. 

Rhonda is teaching another of her cardio-funk classes when she notices a guy shamelessly checking out women's asses in their form-fitting, '90s workout leotards. After the class, the ogler ambles over to Rhonda, introduces himself as Daniel, and invites her out to dinner at Cafe Luna on Friday night. 

​Hal Barber stops by the reception desk to boast to Alison that he just scored an account with Canyon Country Cooling. He tells her he needs people in their twenties to fill out a questionnaire to provide feedback for the company...and Alison tells him she'd be happy to oblige.

Rhonda drops by the clothing store where Jane works and gushes about her date with Daniel on Friday night, and says she's going to need a skimpy new outfit to wow her potential new mate.  

Over in the 90210, Kelly tells Donna she needs her to provide cover with her mom so she can dine at Shooters with Jake - but Donna scrunches her big face and says she doesn't think he's right for her. Kelly dreamily says she can't stop thinking about him...specifically his voice, hands, and the lustful way he looks at her. She declares, "I want him" and is somehow under the impression that he really needs her in his life.

Alison arrives home to find Billy doing the tango with a mop...and, yep, there's a rose clenched between his teeth. She asks what in blazes he's doing, so he explains that since he can't fully support himself with his imaginary writing career, he got a job as a dance instructor at Arthur Murray after lying about having any ability to dance...or even the ability to perform dance moves non-stiffly. He asks Alison if she'd like to help him practice, and she gives him a hard no on that, and exits the room cackling to herself about the spectacle she just witnessed.

Jake and Kelly strut down the street, his arm around her shoulders, as they make their way to Shooters. Sandy takes their drink orders and teases Jake about his underage girlfriend by offering to bring a round of chocolate milk. A few seconds later, Steve, Donna, and David enter the bar...and when a visibly annoyed Jake asks what they're doing here, she tells him she told Donna where they'd be 'cause she needed her to cover with her mom. She then gets up, grabs Donna by the hand, and pulls her aside to ask whaddup with her interrupting her date and bringing along Steve and David...and Donna insists that Jake is too old for her, and says she doesn't approve of her lying to her mom. Steve and David, meanwhile, join Jake at his table and inform him that any guy Kelly dates has to also put up with her idiot friends, and David smugly adds, "And there's a lot more where we come from." A miffed Sandy flounces over and declares to Jake that she's just decided to start dating high school boys, then proceeds to get flirty with Steve...and looks genuinely intrigued when Steve tells her his mom is washed up actress Samantha Sanders. She coos, "I'd do anythin' to meet her!" and Steve perks up at that and hands her his phone number. Jake suggests to Kelly that they go elsewhere, so they quickly leave...but once they're outside, he changes his mind and tells her she should probably go home with her friends. He says he doesn't want to complicate her life with his real world problems, then hops on his motorcycle and rides home.
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"If you date Kelly, you're required to hang out with all of her dork friends."

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"Check please!"

Jane prepares a late supper by candlelight for Michael...but when he arrives home from the hospital, he tells her he's beat - but then looks more interested in burying his nose in a medical book than he is kissing her hello. When Jane complains about their total lack of quality time in this pilot, he tells her that whenever things get rough at work, he cheers himself up by thinking about her. Jane seems placated enough with that, so the two sit down to dinner...but a few seconds later, the landlord calls to angrily inform Michael that he just received a bounced check from one of the tenants.

Michael storms over to Alison's apartment to inform her that Billy's rent check bounced, and that he needs a cashier's check by tomorrow. After he stomps back to his place, Billy sheepishly explains to Alison that he had hoped to get a pay check from the Arthur Murray Dance Studio by now, then breezily says, "It's no big deal." Alison tells him it's a huge deal, and that if she gets evicted, she'll wind up on the street. She tells him if he can't pay up, she's going to have to replace him with someone from the earlier parade of weirdos. 

Alison runs into Hal Barber when she arrives at work the next morning. He invites her to a product launch tonight and offers to introduce her to various other executives. Alison senses no red flags with that offer and eagerly accepts his invitation.

Rhonda drops by Matt's apartment to show him the skimpy new dress she plans to wear on her date with Daniel. Matt manages to squeeze out a wow! and wishes her a fun time.

Alison and Hal arrive at the product launch party. As promised, he introduces her to various account executives. 

Rhonda and Daniel are at Cafe Luna, engaging in some getting-to-know-you chit-chat. She tells him she once had a dream of being a dancer...but when that didn't pan out, she settled for teaching cardio-funk to scantily clad gymrats. He tells her he has dreams of starting his own business...and then the date takes a strange turn when he tries to convince her to hustle his line of vitamin products to her cardio-funk customers, and promises a 30% commission on every sale. Rhonda stares at him incredulously and says she's not remotely interested in doing that...and Daniel calls that "a bummer" and says he figured she'd jump at the opportunity to help him sell his wares. Sounds like a pitch you should have made while chatting her up after the cardio-funk class, dumbfuck. He tries to abruptly end their non-date by mumbling, "You don't want dessert do you?" What a rude dickwad.
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"Let's talk vitamin products."

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"Let's talk about ending this non-date, asap."

After the product launch party, Alison thanks Hal for introducing her around...and he walks her to her door and coos about how sexy she is and that he'd love to come in for one last drink before calling it a night. She tells him she's tired and suggests they have lunch next week, but he barges inside and insists on getting a tour of her apartment, then leans in for a kiss. Alison pulls away and indignantly retorts, "I thought this was business!" then tells him he's making her uncomfortable and that she really really wants him to leave. He asks her if she's really blowing him off after he just spent the evening introducing her to all those executives, and she replies, "I thought you liked my ideas" to which he laughs and sneers, "Gimme a break." Suddenly, Billy storms into the living room in his underwear and demands to know what's going on...and when Hal asks him who he is, Billy points at Alison and says, "I'm her husband." Hal informs him that his "wife" has been leading him on, threatens to do whatever he can to get her canned from D&D, and storms out of the apartment. Alison moans about how stupid she was to not see that coming a mile away - no argument here - then laughs about her underwear clad roommate pretending to be her cuckolded husband.

Kelly returns to Melrose Place for the umpteenth time this episode to knock on Jake's door to ask him why he doesn't want to date her...and he declines to let her in, 'cause he's afraid he won't be able to restrain himself from taking her to bed. He tells her he needs space, has things on his mind (aka where his next pay check is going to come from), and would prefer to move forward in this spin-off without any further appearances from Beverly Hills, 90210 cast members. She says, "I understand", wishes him a good night, and sashays back to her ritzy zip code to move on with her next main squeeze: Dylan.

Michael makes Jane breakfast in bed, unplugs the phone, and climbs into bed with her. Jane shoves him away, whines about how lonely she's been lately, and says she had assumed that marriage would have precluded her from ever feeling lonely again. She tearfully tells him she just wants their old life back and that she feels in the way here...but when Michael leans in for a kiss, she immediately gets all into it and moans, "I love you."
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"I'm worried that our storylines will be even more boring than Rhonda's or Sandy's."

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"Don't worry. Things will get a whole lot spicier once your sister comes to town."

Rhonda and Matt are hanging by the pool as Billy and Alison wheel out a barbecue and get ready to grill hamburgers. Rhonda tells Matt that her date with Daniel turned out to be a pitch to sell his vitamins...then says she wishes that he (Matt) were straight and madly in love with her, or at least open to the idea of a non-romantic coupling with a straight woman. Jake and Sandy leap into the pool, then egg on Rhonda and Matt to also jump in so the four can play chicken fight. Alison, meanwhile, stresses to Billy about losing her job, so Billy points out that it'd be sexual harassment if Hal actually did anything to get her fired. Jane and Michael decide to join the fun and leap into the pool, along with Alison and Billy...and soon everyone is splashing each other and enjoying a carefree afternoon in the Melrose Place courtyard.
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    MELROSE PLACE HOMEPAGE


    Season 1


    Recapper: Isabel K. French
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