- Amanda puts Ella in charge of a lavish party at her new Bel Air house to celebrate the arrival of her billionaire boyfriend Ben Brinkley, whom buys Amanda's affection with expensive gifts. However, after Amanda sees Ben hitting on Ella, she lashes out at Ella. Meanwhile, Riley asks Jonah if they can start over, but it leads to a guilt-ridden Jonah confessing that he seduced Ella the night before. While Amanda has her henchmen continuing to search the Melrose apartment complex for her smuggled painting, Violet sees that Augie has fallen off the wagon over being rejected by Riley at the party in which she persuades him to leave Melrose with her to start over. Elsewhere, Lauren struggles to recover from her near-fatal overdose and continues to zealously keep her secret profession under wraps, while David, under false pretenses, tracks down the john who drugged Lauren.—matt-282
- Amanda is expecting her billionaire boyfriend Ben to pop the big question and appoints Ella in charge of the lavish party welcoming her back to LA. Jonah obsesses over admitting to Riley that he slept with Ella, David tracks down Rick who drugged Lauren, and Violet lures Auggie off to calmer shores.—RavenGlamDVDCollector, ElectricLadyLand
- Lauren lies in the hospital bed after her drug overdose, with pacing David keeping an all-night vigil; at Melrose Place, Violet is having a restless night after the incident in the swimming pool, the death of Vanessa and the revelation of Sydney's killer (San Vicente (2009)); and Riley is another one who is having a fitful sleep, heartbroken over her failing relationship with Jonah, calling out his name feverishly. Auggie, having fallen off the wagon, is out like a light, and Jonah wakes up next to foxy Ella comes the dawn. They had made love twice, much to Ella's satisfaction, and Jonah still feels that it is unbelievable. Yet, when he spots the way he's been bombarded by missed calls from Riley, his intention is to hide the interlude with Ella from her. Ella feels Riley should know the truth, and reminds Jonah that she warned him she didn't want a one-night stand. He counters that the situation is complicated, but she tells him Riley is a flighty girl, but that he is now with somebody who knows what she wants.
Amanda is texting somebody with an intense instruction, that the missing painting has just got to be found. Ben Brinkley, her billionaire boyfriend, takes the phone from her hand. "You know, you're the only person who can pry a PDA from my grip and make me smile about it," she responds. He has a gift for her. Dalmatian-printed Cerutti shoes he flew in from Milan with him after his business trip. They're not even in the local stores yet, so Amanda loves them, sitting with her bare feet perched. A perfect fit. He lets on that her real gift will be presented tonight at her 'Welcome to LA' party. It's rare, and matches her blue eyes, and she is clearly expecting a diamond-encrusted engagement ring.
Lauren comes to in the hospital ward, and David is by her side, bringing her flowers. He found her unconscious on the hotel room floor, her lips had been turning blue, so he wants to know what happened. She spins a hasty yarn involving work colleagues and a martini and she must have had too much to drink and rented the room to sleep it off and that's all she remembers, but it is all a crock, he knows about the drug OD. She hastily concocts a version of the truth: She went to see a guy she used to date (David blanches) to tell him that it was over (David recovers somewhat) but he slipped something into her drink, and although nothing further happened, the guy freaked out and left when her reaction kicked in. They are interrupted by a nurse coming to fetch Lauren for an EKG scan, and David picks up Lauren's cell phone, checking up her phone record, and punches in Rick's phone number onto his own mobile. Clearly intending to track down the bastard...
"Oh, crap!" With her mascara smeared from crying, Ella does the walk of shame arriving back from her escapade with Jonah, and is dismayed to find Amanda's movers, presided over by Amanda herself, carrying furniture up the stairs. Amanda is relentlessly spurring them on to take better care of her priceless antiques. She spots barefoot Ella trying to sneak unseen into her apartment, fumbling with the keys, and challenges her bluntly, pointing out that her employee, once she has recovered from her obvious one-night stand (which the young girl denies, but is met icily by "Well, you keep telling yourself that!"), might find something more constructive to do organizing her big party tonight, just no slip-ups please, as everything must be spick and span. Not to be catered by the team that did Gwen Stefani's birthday party, they dared to put cotton candy on foie gras. Spoilsport! So find better! Big event, high expectations. Ella deduces that a ring is expected to be slipped onto a finger, but Amanda huffily rebuffs her, coldly stating that such things are none of her employees' business. Ella had just better see to it that all of the Melrose Place courtyard denizens are in attendance, for she mysteriously wants them there.
Jonah returns to the scuppered lovenest, where Riley is dazedly rearranging his comic book collection to keep herself steady. He fully intends to come forward with the whole bag of sordid details, but the look in Riley's eyes as she tells him that the past five years, their tenure of shacking up together, were the best of her life, makes it very difficult for him to actually drop the bomb. Riley wants everything to go back to as it were pre-engagement, but Jonah sees no future in that. She won't commit.
Ella knows just whom to approach for the catering replacement. Fired from Coal, Auggie really needs the job, and social butterfly Ella is at the same time making amends for having suspected him of being 'an AWOL ladykiller'. Spotting a more than half empty bottle of alcohol on the recovering addict's table, she challenges him, for he;d better be at the top of his game tonight. Auggie smoothly goes into a spiel about cooking ingredients, but she asks him if that cooked-up dish comes with a side order of BS. Besides, she can smell it on his breath. "Don't test me. Half my clients are in rehab."
David enters Rick's phone number into a tracking service, and writes down his address. Just about to leave to go punch the lowlife in the snoot, when Jonah appears, with a favor to ask. He will need a place to crash, could he borrow David's couch for the night? He reveals that the marriage is off, and that he slept with Ella, and is advised to keep that last bit a secret. But Jonah feels terrible about having to live that lie. That's the way it will have to be. After all, as it is pointed out, Ella was one fast fling, Riley's a keeper.
Ella is worried that Jonah won't even show at the party. Auggie, the top chef, is in his element. Hilariously, when Ella checks up on him, she spots a glass of clear liquid, and takes a sip. He tells her she could drink up, there is plenty more of that in the tap, and she gags on what turns out to be just plain old water. Anyway, Auggie is doing more than great. Ella apologizes for having been so suspicious, but explains that having seen firsthand how Caleb got fired left her jittery, fearful of Amanda's firing potential. She mentions casually that Amanda might be in the mood 'to taser the nether regions' of those that fail to live up to her standards. Then Ben appears, having overheard. Adds tauntingly, to further embarrass the dismayed Ella, that she bathes in the blood of virgins as well, and can kill a man with her pinky. He is carrying expensive wines he puts down, and Auggie notices. Amanda enters, and Ben exclaims that Ella was just talking about her. Then tells Amanda that Ella said she was her inspiration (which is actually true). With a wink at the relieved young girl.
In the mail, a brochure from Paradise Honeymoons. Ironic bit of torture. Riley sighs, thinking about what could have been. Violet tells Riley that she saw Auggie kiss her, but Riley is given the chance to explain. Riley also pays her sympathies for what Violet had to go through last night. They will go drown their sorrows at the party.
At the party, Amanda compliments Ella on a job well done. Says she reminds her of herself. Loyalty and devotion counts highly with Ms. Woodward. More such responsibilities will be coming her way. Bigger. Her idol leaves Ella behind with a bright, beaming smile. But her smile fades when she spots Riley and Violet arriving at the party. Violet excuses herself to go stock up on some party food. Ella dismisses her with a little passing remark, she is not keen on being alone with Riley. She fishes for information, wanting to know whether Jonah spilled the beans. Riley simply mentions that she and Jonah had a heart-to-heart talk, and that could mean anything. Jonah ambles up, and Ella just intones that it is best for everything to be out in the open, which puzzles Riley. She wants to know what was meant by that. Ella brushes it off by simply stating that she heard the two of them had quite a chat, and beckons Jonah aside for apparent business talk. She chastises him for having reneged on coming clean. Realizes that maybe he and Riley are a perfect match - both do not know what they want. So off she goes. Afterwards, Riley wants to know what they discussed, but Jonah manages to change the subject towards the opulent life of Ben Brinkley as is evident here at his lavish mansion on Oriole. They reminisce about their student days. Riley catches Auggie's eye. Violet sees this. Riley breaks off contact. More rejection. Inspiring him to go snatch one of those fine expensive wines Ben had brought. Succumbing to the delights of the vineyard. Chugging it back.
David has located Rick at his recording studio, and announces himself as a delivery guy. Asks the guy opening the door if he knows Lauren Yung, and when Rick replies that he might, confrontation ensues re the drugs used. Rick is quick to use the W word to point out that Lauren is a prostitute, but David understands it simply as a basic general misogynistic insult, and wallops Rick one, sending him sprawling backwards onto a shattering glass table. Then pummels him mercilessly in the face even as he is down. Anger management, David?
A toast made at the party by the rich boyfriend. Big moment arrives. But the big gift turns out to be a stately white Bentley convertible, not the ring Amanda had hoped for.
Lauren checks herself out of the hospital in scrubs. Rick, beaten and heavily bruised, calls her over from the casualty ward. Shows her the handiwork of her boyfriend. Not that he is worth sympathy. Tells her he intends pressing charges against David. She closes the curtain around the bed. Then hurts the louse some more. It's what he deserves
Violet comes looking for Auggie, and finds him bleeding after having injured himself, cutting his finger in a drunken haze. Violet suggests they leave. Weird for her to pass the swimming pool where her mother died, every day. This place is poisonous, and Auggie could be a chef anywhere in the country.
Ben puts a sparkly diamond necklace around Ella's slender throat. It is wotth umpteen dollars and could have kept Ella in rent money for a very long time. Not that she needs such bling, as he wisely opines, for her appeal needs no boost. Actually, Ben is just fathoming the impact of his gift, though he is clearly flirting with Ella. Of course, Amanda sees this, and walks off in a huff. With Ella in tow, apologizing profusely lest Amanda felt threatened. Which really riles Amanda. She is, after all, the powerful one, and points out that Ella is a little nobody who might have looks to catch men's attention for a while, but that's all. Poor Ella stammers her way through this ordeal, so afraid of getting fired. She does her level best to convince her boss of her innocence, but is scythed down by "Oh come on, no one wears a dress that short without an endgame." * The dragon lady shoos her off to go do some menial checking up. Ben comes up, assuring Amanda that he has eyes only for her, and hands her that fabulous necklace. She admits that she was kind of let on to expect something more personal, and he latches on to what she thought all the fanfare was building up to. She pooh-poohs it now, feigning a disinterest in marriage. Very, very fake. (*in the original Melrose Place (1992), Amanda Woodward was the living exponent of the shorter-than-short dress, so she should be speaking out of experience! Pot calling the kettle...)
Lauren shows up at David's, scouting for info. How much damage control will be needed? David lets on that he shut Rick up pretty fast, and assures Lauren that he will be there for her now.
At the party, Riley wants to make out with Jonah in the library, just like back in the good old days. Overcome with guilt, Jonah finally owns up. Shattering Riley. She rushes off. Auggie later spots her drinking tea alone, but apparently ignores her.
Amanda has hired some guy to do her dirty work. While the tenants of Melrose Place were partying, he gained entry to their apartments, photographing their interiors. Amanda's ulterior motive for inviting the poor everyday-Joes to that swanky do. No sign of that $19 million painting however. David, however, didn't attend, his place remains unscouted. Amanda sighs - back to the drawing board.
Violet carefully puts her mother's portrait in some travelling gear. She is leaving.
Riley intends to find solace with Auggie, but his apartment is empty, Violet has packed him off, there is just a farewell note. Auggie has left, he just wants her to be happy.
Ella tries hooking up with Jonah again, but he is so filled with remorse after having finally broken Riley's heart...
David and Lauren in bed together. Jonah comes looking for shelter and spends the night grieving at David's place. Lauren doesn't mind. Hugs and tears.
Early morning. Auggie has Violet on the back of his zooming motorcycle, they speed off towards the horizon. Away.
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