Expert: Mel - 10/29/2008

Question
QUESTION: hi
i'm not sure if this counts as trivia but i was wondering what brenda and dylans last official conversation was.

thank you:)

ANSWER: Hi DeAnna,

Well, there are several answers.  The last conversation we see on screen between them occurs at the very end of "Mr. Walsh Goes to Washington", the S4 finale.  It plays out like this:

Doorbell rings.

Dylan: (opening door) "Yeah?  ... Hey."
Brenda: "Hey, Dylan.  Can I come in?"
Dy: "Uh, sure.  What's up?"
B: "Well ... I was packing my bags for London and I realized there was something that I had to do before I left."
Dy: "But you don't leave for another week, Bren."
B: "I know, but what happens in this week could change the rest of my life."
Dy: (small laugh) "What's with all the melodrama?"
B: "Sorry.  I just need to talk to you.  I figured that you were the only person that would understand."
Dy: "What?"
B: "I was with my parents this morning, watching Brandon on TV."
Dy: "I saw it."
B: "And there was my brother shaking hands with the president of the United States.  You should have seen my parents, Dylan.  There was such pride in their eyes.  I've never seen them look at me like that, ever."
Dy: "Well, Bren - "
B: "The only time I've ever felt anything close to that was when I was on stage.  And then it wasn't just my parents, you know?  It was like a whole audience applauding me.  ... I want it, Dylan.  That's why I'm going to London."
Dy: "I understand."
B: "I knew you would.  You always understand me. ... You believe in me, don't you?"
Dy: "Yeah.  I do."
B: " ... Dylan, I love you.  I've never stopped loving you.  And I know now I never will."
Dy: (shrugs) "I'll applaud you from afar."
B: (walking towards him) "I want more than your applause.  I won't be gone forever, Dylan.  Give me something to come back to." (after a few beats, they kiss, then fall to the ground, off screen)

Then, at the end of S6, we learn that they were reunited off-screen, as neither Luke nor Shannen were on the show at the time.  So they certainly had conversations then.  When Dylan returns in S9, he claims to have broken up with her by early S7, leaving us with another cut-off point (despite implications in S8 that they were still together off-screen).  Also, if you take the spinoff into account, they just had their last conversation by cell phone in episode 1x06, as he calls her at West Beverly High in an attempt to track down Kelly.  Brenda deletes his number from her phone later in the episode, but it's revealed that they had been in touch for at least a few months beforehand.  

Thanks for the question!

All the best,

Mel


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you so much. but i have a followup question about the new 90210. if you are keeping track, i was wondering whats going on with brenda/dylan/kelly.


okay, so if dylan and brenda have been meeting[kelly asks when the last time they met was, and brenda doesnt seem to want to answer], and dylan has been talking to brenda on the phone, is that all he had wanted to know the whole time? where kelly was?
is kelly going to go find him?
i know about brenda crying and deleteing his cell information, and i was wondering what you thought the chances were of a brenda/dylan kelly/brandon reunion thing, where everyone ends up with who they were supposed to be with.

i guess it just seems to me that dylan likes brenda more than kelly, but kelly has his baby. and brenda is denying some things that happened between her and dylan for her friends sake. she said shed always love him, and i think theyre last on-screen conversation leaves some room for them to end up together. i heard brandon called kelly at 3 in the morning and told her she was beautiful.

do you think this cell-phone thing and the phone call could make room for a bigger storyline later on?
i really dont know, since i've always been for the brenda&dylan/ kelly&brandon couples.
i just wanted to know what you thought.

Answer
Hi again,

Well, I think the chances of those reunions are pretty slim.  Not impossible, but producers have set up a wild set of circumstances that would always surround them.  Namely, that Kelly, whether she can work things out with Dylan or not, is still in love with him, and he wants to be with her.  And they'll always be in each other's lives because they have a son together.  

At the end of 1x06 in the spinoff, yes, Kelly packs up and takes Sammy with her to go see Dylan in Wyoming.  When she returns in 1x10, maybe we'll find out how it went.  In their last scene together, she does ask Brenda when the last time she saw Dylan was, but Bren can't remember.  Given that Kelly's last time seeing him was about 3 years ago, she remembers, and Brenda tells her it would make more sense for this to be the case, the implication for me is that the last time Dylan and Brenda met was 3 or more years ago.  We also know that Bren's last time seeing Sammy before coming back to L.A. was when he was still a baby, which supports this notion somewhat.  It seems that all three of them were in touch with one another at this time.  I didn't get the impression that Brenda didn't want to answer Kelly's question because she does so immediately, albeit with a tone that acknowledges her friend is getting accusatory with her and it's frustrating.  What she goes on to explain is that Dylan got her email address from Brandon and sent her a message from Africa a few months ago.  He wanted to know if Kelly was in a relationship.  Brenda told him that he was "already messing up" and that "if he was serious about reconnecting" with Kel, then "he needed to come back to the States and do it the right way".  Brenda says that she only withheld this information because she wanted to protect her from getting hurt, given that he had hurt her before, but that she fully supports a Dylan/Kelly reunion and that her own relationship with Dylan will remain "ancient history".  Then we see her go out to her car and delete Dylan's number, looking glassy-eyed.  Brenda later tells Ryan, a lit teacher, that he dodged "an epic bullet" by not dating Kelly extensively, which could suggest that's how she feels about being in the middle of Dylan and Kelly's relationship herself.  

So, all arrows point towards Brenda staying away from Dylan, though we now have indication that she may still be carrying a torch for him.  Problem is, yes, it seems he's been contacting her solely to reach Kelly or get information on her.  It's reasonable to assume he caught up with Brenda and her life as old friends do, however.  It's also possible that she's hiding something that happened with her and Dylan in the recent past for her friend's sake, as you say, but right now all we know for sure is that she's denying her own feelings (likely romantic in nature, but one could certainly get emotional dropping a platonic friend too).  Just because Brenda said she'd always love Dylan (in the 'in love' sense) in S4, doesn't mean it has to remain true today.  I mean, she said the same thing to Stuart once.  But it makes for good drama, so probably.  

About Brandon's phone call, I think that was put in the pilot mainly because we didn't yet know who the father of Kelly's baby was and they wanted to tease the audience.  Him being in Belize matched nicely with the phone call scene of Kelly we did see, where she references Sammy (we now know it was Dylan on the other line).  It was, however, nice to hear that they keep in touch.  At that time, there was great hope that Luke or Jason would make an appearance on the show.  They've both adamantly declined, but if either changes their mind, you can guarantee that they'll have a scene with Kelly and/or Brenda if at all possible.  We know now that Brandon has a family of his own, which implies a wife and kids, though there's still the chance he's divorced.  However, Dylan and Kelly are dealing with their still-present feelings for each other.  That complicates things greatly.  This spinoff is basically pro-Dylan/Kelly.  They ended up together in the finale of the original, have good dramatic potential, and a large fanbase too, so I'm not surprised.  But this show could go on for 10 years as well, so you never know how things will end.  

All the best,

Mel