The stars also learn how different it is to film the show in a post-#MeToo world.
The man who will be forever known as the guy who pushed Donna Martin down the stairs made his triumphant return to "BH90210" on Wednesday night ... and he brought his biggest hit with him.
In case you haven't been following the series so far, this very meta show follows the cast of the OG series as they play exaggerated versions of themselves planning a true revival. In tonight's episode, the gang turned into investigators, as they tried to uncover who has been stalking them and set fire to their sets.
That's... a lot of enemies, guys. #BH90210 pic.twitter.com/YnxvinkNEw
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After Christine Elise informed them production would be shut down unless they found the culprit, the cast met up to make a list of their biggest real-life enemies.
"I might have accidentally given Christina Aguilera side-eye when she played the Peach Pit After Dark," said Jennie Garth, while Ian Ziering said Ivanka Trump "had it out for me on 'The Apprentice.'" The two "Dancing with the Stars" alums then pointed the finger at other stars associated with their seasons -- with Garth calling Wayne Newton a "very sore loser" and Ian saying partner Cheryl Burke's last name should be spelled "Berserk."
Other names floated out there: Vanilla Ice (Brian Austin Green: "He knows" why), Jerry Seinfeld (because Shannen Doherty once stalked him) and, most random of all, Cole Hauser, who Jennie said "hates" her. After falling down a flight of stairs on her own, Tori Spelling then had an epiphany: maybe the disgruntled former employee was Jamie Walters, who played Donna's abusive, musician boyfriend Ray Pruit on Seasons 5-7.
"The fans started hating him because he pushed Donna down the stairs, it messed up his career," said Tori, before noting the warning scrawled outside their studio -- "Stop Acting Like I'm Not Even Here!" -- was what the character said before tossing her down a stairwell.
The group tracked Walters down to a bar outside Los Angeles, where he was performing his big hit, "How Do You Talk to An Angel," to a group of townies. He, however, denied being the stalker or torching the studio. "You guys know I quit acting and became a firefighter right?" he asked them, "I put out fires, I don't start them." He then noted the show "pretty much ruined my acting career," explaining he used to get a ton of hate mail.
All of this is true. IRL, Walters was written off the show after his character's villainous turn. In a 2009 interview, he said when he was on the show "it was a harder time for the public to differentiate between the two — the character and the actor," adding that women would hit him with their purses "telling me to start being nicer to that nice little blond girl on TV."
While his self-titled debut album -- which included the hit "Hold On" -- came out before his time on "90210," he released followups in 1997 and 2002. With no major acting gigs after leaving "Beverly Hills," he became an EMT, then a firefighter with the Los Angeles City Fire Department and briefly returned to the public eye in 2009 for the short-lived reality show, "Confessions of a Teen Idol."
Okay, now back to the show.
Eventually, cops arrested an "obsessive" superfan -- the same one Tori stole the red dress from in the premiere -- for the crimes and the gang made it up to Walters by joining him on stage for a song. With the stalker arrested, the show within a show was finally able to start filming, with Jason Priestley in the director's chair.
But in a post-#MeToo world, things were a little different for the cast once production started rolling. First, with all the bed-hopping going on -- Jennie's hooking up with her bodyguard, Ian made out with the head writer and Gabrielle Carteris and Christine Elise are getting hot and heavy -- consent forms were all the rage.
Christine asked Gabrielle to sign a form stating they are two consenting adults entering into a sexual relationship, since Elisa is technically Gabby's superior as producer on the show. Carteris hesitated signing it, however, since she wasn't ready to make her new sexuality so official. She eventually came around, finally coming out to the rest of her costars as "undeclared" for now and revealing to them all that she's dating women.
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View StorySpelling's storyline this week also entered #MeToo territory, as she opened up about feeling uncomfortable with her sex scene with Brian Austin Green. Garth revealed she was "self-conscious" about them when she was 20, while Doherty said they "were always a little awkward," especially when the guys "got a little excited." Deadpanned Jennie: "Their acting would get a little stiff."
When it came time to film with Green -- who Tori has started developing feelings for again -- she hired an intimacy coordinator to oversee the shoot. Intimacy coaches have become a real-life common practice at HBO, ensuring safety for shows like "The Deuce." On "BH90210," however, it became a bit of a punchline. Spelling, Green and everyone else on set ended up finding the coach's never-ending input annoying and unnecessary and, in the end, Spelling was more than happy when she felt how excited Green was to film.
Speaking of BAG, we learned his son Zach's mom was an extra on the original series. While Green was hesitant to tell anyone -- including his wife -- about his love child, he came clean to the rest of the cast. Zach, however, still seems to be hiding something, as a police detective was seen picking one of his water bottles out of the trash for a DNA sample.
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View StoryThe episode ended with Priestley responding to a frantic call from his pregnant (with another man's baby) wife Camille (Vanessa Lachey), who was in an ambulance.
Before we conclude this recap, we just wanted to thank the writers for this week's opening scene. The hour kicked off with another dream sequence, this time starring Green and his incredibly-fit physique as he performed "Keep It Together." Don't recognize the song? Well, David Silver sang it at the Peach Pit After Dark in the original series.
Check out that old musical moment below. "BH90210" airs Wednesdays on Fox.