Last Night's "90210": Crazy Teens and the Mothers Who Neglect—Er, Raise Them

After last Tuesday’s drama filled, near-flawless episode, 90210 returned last night with a somewhat disappointing hour called Off the Rails, about crazy teenagers and the even crazier mothers who raise them.

It picked up right where last week’s ended, in the aftermath of Silver going berserk at her teacher's apartment and then running away. When the bipolar teen goes missing, all of her friends and the adults—including Silver's older sister, Kelly (played by Jennie Garth!)—gather at the Wilson home and team up to find her. But Kelly needs a babysitter for her son, so Navid and a very pregnant Adrianna volunteer to watch him, while Annie and Ethan—who are fresh off their breakup, but apparently still pals—join Naomi in searching for Silver at school (Sidenote: Since when do kids escape to school? When I was in high school, I ran away from class, not to it!).

Anyway, the meatiest part of the episode has Kelly visiting her and Silver’s monster of a mother, Jackie, in the hopes of finding Silver there, but instead she finds Jackie spending erotic alone time with her new boy toy. In addition to getting caught in the throes of passion, Jackie was definitely high on something; when Kelly tells her that Silver’s gone missing, Jackie casually replies that she's probably getting it on with some boy somewhere. What kind of mother jokes about their daughter being promiscuous? A drugged-up crazy one, that's who! Seeing the extent of this single mom's relapse was really scary and disappointing, but at least it gives us some perspective on Silver's mental illness. Growing up with Jackie as a mother couldn’t have been easy.

But good ol' Jackie wasn’t the only one who showed bad parenting skills last night. After Silver disappears, her guardian/sister Kelly blames Ryan for her going missing, but Ryan quickly fires back: “She lives with you, not me.” (You go, boy!). Clearly, Kelly is not doing such a hot job as a parent if Silver’s recent antics (a sex tape, a tattoo of Dixon's name on her hip, etc.) have all managed to go unnoticed by her. And with a couple of psychology degrees under her belt, shouldn't she have recognized a few of the symptoms of bipolar disorder? I’m just saying...

Then there was bad mami #3, Debbie Wilson. After Silver goes berserk, Debbie and Harry (Dixon’s adoptive parents) question him about what’s been going on with Silver. That's when they finally find out about Silver’s tattoo, the sex tape she filmed of her and Dixon, and the fact that—heaven forbid—he isn't a virgin! "I don’t know him at all,” says a stunned Debbie, which is true because she has no idea what's going on with her son these days. Here’s a tip, Deb: Get to know him! Dixon and his parents are the ones who finally find Silver at a train station and save her life. Phew. The best actress on the show is safe once more!

This wasn't the best episode of 90210, but I'm already setting my TiVo up for next week's episode to find out what happens with Silver, and of course, to see Tori Spelling's return to the zip as Donna Martin!

What did you think of last night’s episode? Has the show gone off track once again, or was it good for you?