Melrose Place

We got a blast from the past on Melrose Place last night and possibly a snippet of the future as well.

The Fashion Shoot From Hell

Despite Riley being pumped for her photo shoot, she has the jitters, but mostly because she feels bad for lying to her class about being sick. Really, Riley? Jonah, on the other hand, has a meeting with a big shot producer on the Paramount Studios lot, which he is surprisingly calm for on the outside. The couple is as happy as two Walt Disney characters in love, and even has birds building a nest outside their house. Boy, how much a day can change!

Auggie notices the nest building birds in the courtyard and Violet notices Auggie noticing the birds, but Riley steps outside and kills any game that Violet had planned for Auggie… And the crazy eyes come out. Watch out, Riley! Auggie and Riley talk, but it’s really flirting and I am being nice about it, while Violet notices the intimacy between the two. She doesn’t like it one bit.

Anyway, Riley makes it to her photo shoot late, which Ella scorns her for, but relents when Riley tells her there was an accident that held up traffic. But it’s time to shine in front of the cameras and who is the photographer for today? None other than Jo Reynolds (special guest star Daphne Zuniga)!!!! Turns out that Jo has pretty much made for herself and is a hot commodity in the fashion world after her eye catching photos from her photojournalism days made waves. Welcome back, Jo! Your wit and sarcasm has been sorely missed!

Riley steps out of the dressing room and my mouth hits the floor. DAMN JESSICA LUCAS IS THE FINEST FEMALE ON THIS SHOW!!!!! Well, besides Katie Cassidy, but still!! Ok, I have calmed down. Moving on…

Riley starts the shoot, but Jo is not feeling Riley’s amatuerish inability to let go. So Jo decides to up the sexy factor and asks for Riley to go topless.

Uh oh…

Riley freaks and it takes Ella, surprisingly, to calm her down by being honestly nice and telling Riley that this isn’t just for her, but Jonah as well. Riley troops back out on the set and does the damn thing, but Jo is still not feeling the rawness of it all. Then Jo starts pushing Riley’s buttons, telling Riley to let loose, be free and to act like someone who isn’t about to tie themselves down to a guy who can’t make rent. OUCH!!!!

Riley has had enough and storms off the set even after Ella tells her that Jonah is so not going to be happy about this.

Jonah Miller, the Next ‘Chris Nolen’

But Jonah is like a child at Disney World when he enters the gates of Paramount Studios. He meets with super hot shot producer, ….., who tells Jonah that he likes everything in Jonah’s film, Living in Reverse, except for the whole reverse story-telling of the film, saying that no one wants to pay $10 dollars to see a movie in reverse. Hello??!! Memento, anyone?!?! So the producer is set to take Jonah’s movie and screw to all hell, and Jonah feels like his artistic integrity is at stake. Then Jonah meets Kendra Wilson, an executive producer, who says that she is the one with final say and she wants to keep Jonah’s film intact as is. Yippee! Someone in Hollywood with taste!!!

The two bond over Jonah’s film and both find out that they’re both from Philly. Later, Kendra invites Jonah out for a drink, but Jonah says he has prior engagements, but does NOT tell Kendra that he is engaged. Hmmm… Kendra says that if those prior engagements fall through that he is welcomed to join her.

Violet’s Crazy Moment of the Week!

Violet feels as if she’s lucked out by riding on the back of Auggie’s motorcycle, and is about to have Auggie come help her build her new furniture she just bought, but they run into Riley and Auggie forgets all about poor Violet and invites Riley to his apartment for tea and takes a rain check on building with Violet.

So what does Violet do?

She sits by the pool, gazing longingly into the water as Jonah enters. Jonah, seeing the crazy a mile away, bypasses Violet without making a peep, but is dumb enough to stop and look at the bird’s nest over his apartment. Then Violet appears behind him Psycho-style, but with a twinge of sweet and innocent thrown in. She then tells him that Riley is at Auggie’s having tea and innocently adds that the two are always secretive. This is all that Jonah needs to go and confront Auggie. I don’t care what anyone says, but Violet ALWAYS deliver on the crazy and dramatic!

Well I Didn’t Mean That…

Riley tells Auggie about Jo’s ‘attack’ on her character and asks Auggie if he thinks that she made the wrong choice of getting married so young. Auggie responds that he is the wrong guy to ask that question and I see that Auggie is not one to hide feelings.

But Jonah arrives and he is not happy, which the two ‘friends’ can’t pick up on. When Riley leaves to go chill some wine for her and Jonah at their place, Jonah lets Auggie have it and wants to know what’s going on between Auggie and Riley. Auggie declares that nothing is going on and when Jonah makes the assumption that he does know what’s going on, Auggie slips about the forbidden kiss between he and Riley. Jonah, stunned beyond belief, leaves Auggie’s apartment and then goes and interrogates Riley, who feigns ignorance to the point that she either forgot about the kiss or should take up acting instead of modeling. Jonah leaves saying that he needs some air.

Double Lives Are A Bitch Part II

While checking mail, David and Lauren flirt some more, but when Lauren drops a past due bill for her medical school tuition,David offers to loan her the cash, which is $20,000. Lauren doesn’t want to take it at first thinking that it would be a burden to David’s trust fund, but he insists and tells her to sleep on it. If he only knew…

After that, David meets up with a security guard for an affluent Beverly Hills neighborhood and pays the security guide off for keeping his mouth shut and for giving him some floor plans for a pricey mansion.

Later, Lauren stops by to accept the deal, but notices the floor plans and a leather glove on David’s table. She grows suspicious, but David plays it off so smoothly that you would think Lauren bought into it.

Wrong. Lauren trailed David to his heist and when he wouldn’t fess up, she snatches his bag and all of the stolen jewels hit the ground. Lauren is shocked, but David doesn’t give her time to react and demands that she gets in the car so they can leave. When they get back to his place, Lauren wants to know what everyone else has been dying to know: Why are you stealing when you have a trust fund? David says he steals from white collared criminals like his father and we have “A-ha!” moment. David’s got some serious Daddy-issues. Lauren doesn’t get why he hates Mancini so much and David berates her for her moralistic attitude and that she does not know what it’s like to live two lives. Boy, if he only knew!!!

But when Lauren has the chance to break down about being a call girl, she only says that she knows what it is like, but that he doesn’t have to steal from people. But Lauren gets a text from Wendi wanting her response about a date that night and Lauren leaves. Not fair, Lauren!

Jo, Don’t Leave!!!

Jo makes her way back to WPK and lets Ella know how disgusted she was with Riley’s photo shoot. Ella reminds Jo for the umpteenth time that Riley was a “real” model for Real Jeans and also takes up for Riley by saying that Jo went a little overboard. Jo doesn’t want to hear it and thinks that Riley stooped low herself by doing something she didn’t want to do for a ‘measley’ ten grand. Ella then schools yet another Melrose alum by telling Jo that she should talk since she gave up photographing indigenous cultures and animals for a 12 page spread in Vogue.

WOW, Jo, how you have fallen!!!!

Riley gets a text from Jonah saying that he went for a walk and she steps outside to find that the bird’s nest smashed on the ground, the eggs in shambles. My immediate thought went to Violet as the culprit, but before we can elaborate more, Jo shows up in awe of how her old apartment complex had changed. She tells Riley that she was shocked to see that Riley resided at her old address and says that she has a lot of memories from the place and most of them she would like to forget. But us Melrose Place fans don’t want to forget those memories, Jo. HEH!

Jo apologizes to Riley for the way she acted and tells Riley that she has potential to do anything she wants. Riley says in return that Jo’s prodding actually opened something inside of her and she appreciates that. Then Jo announces that she will be heading down to Latin America to return to what she actually wants to do and then leaves Riley with news that despite the debacle on the beach, Riley actually wins the new Real Jeans model contract.

Closing Scenes

Auggie returns to Violet’s apartment while Violet builds the furniture. Auggie apologizes for blowing her off and offers to help since his sponsor won’t pick up the phone. Violet happily accepts and it turns out that she is building a bed. Hmmm…. I still think she smashed the bird’s nest.

Jonah’s “walk” leads him to drinks with Kendra and a look of vengeance in his eyes. This will not end well…

Observations

Jo Reynolds.Tsk tsk tsk… What happened?! You sold out for Vogue? OMG! Plus, Ella is three to zero when it comes to putting old MP alums in their place. Amanda is going to stop that nonsense when she shows up.

Jonah and Riley are about to be on the outs. Should I feel bad for feeling like “YAY”?

Lauren and David need to go ahead and seal the deal. But David’s told his secret. When will Lauren fess up? And would David even care?

Auggie doesn’t know that he has a crazy woman as an admirer. His drinking days might start up again as fast as you could say “rehab”.

Speaking of Violet, I really, really, really, think she smashed the love nest on some many levels. What about you?

Hiatus next week so I will see you on Nov. 3^rd!