Realness

#realness is the 13th episode of Season 5 on CW teen soap 90210.

Synopsis
Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord) and Max (guest star Josh Zuckerman) co-host a charity football game which re-kindles old feelings, while Navid (Michael Steger) pushes Liam (Matt Lanter) to continue underground fighting. Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes) purposely sabotages a performance so Dixon (Tristan Wilds) will let her out of her contract, and Annie’s (Shenae Grimes) blog gets the attention of a publisher. Trevor Donovan and Jessica Stroup also star.

Plot
The episode begins and Navid tells Liam that the “Cronos guys” want another fight. Liam isn’t too keen about the idea but Navid begs Liam to not “leave him hanging”. Liam says he isn’t “some sideshow” for Navid’s new “fake friends”. Liam says the fight served its purpose and now he has to find a new way to channel his energy. Naomi and Max on the other hand are getting divorced. They both agree it’s the right thing to do, because their decision to marry was too impulsive. Dixon in the meantime tells Navid that Megan has dumped him and Adrianna hates him, but all he was trying to do was a “good deed”. Navid tells Dixon his problem with Liam and the club.

Dixon says Navid should show the guys at the club that he has other things to offer to them besides Liam. Liam meets a director who hands him a script for a film. Liam isn’t too keen to get back into acting, but is intrigued that he shall be playing the character of Joe Namath in the film. He says he shall mull over the proposition and get back to her. The girls are out shopping to get their minds off things that are bothering them. Adrianna is shown shoplifting, but the girls don’t notice. Naomi tells everyone about the charity event she and Max had organized together and how Max doesn’t want to come to it anymore because he wants a clean break. Naomi comments on how they are having a mutual separation, so she can’t understand as to why they can’t stay friends. Annie asks Naomi to give the whole thing some time and says Max might eventually come around.

The girls leave the shop and Adrianna says she will “catch up” a little later. She again shoplifts something and just as she is about to walk out the store alarm starts beeping. The store security immediately catches hold of her and escorts her back in. Dixon arrives and reprimands Adrianna for what she has done. Adrianna suggests he drop her contract if he is so angry with her. Dixon realizes Adrianna did what she did, only to get out of the contract and disappoints her by revealing that the store has decided to drop the charges. Dixon reasons with her and promises her that he will make it up to her, for their money he used up paying Megan’s tuition. He says he is working on something and “if it happens we will both be out of this with what we want” he says. Teddy asks Silver to meet Shane’s sister who he says is ready to be the surrogate.

Silver isn’t too crazy about the idea, because Shane’s sister lives and studies in DC. Teddy argues that she visits LA frequently and Silver will love her. Naomi in the meantime uses her charm and manages to convince Max to be a part of the school charity event, they had planned together. Liam sees a guy sitting in a car outside his house and finds it suspicious. He asks Annie about it. Annie asks Liam to relax and says they are in a nice neighborhood. Liam walks out of the house looking pretty agitated. Annie seeing Liam’s state of mind and follows him. Liam sees the guy staring at him and Annie. He walks up to the guy and assaults him. Annie intervenes and pulls Liam off the guy. Annie brings the guy home and offers him an icepack. She then tries talking some sense into Liam. Liam agrees with her and says maybe he simply needs something to occupy his mind.

Liam decides to read the movie script. The guy who was assaulted says his name is Kent and he is looking for a blogger who writes a blog called Undressed. Annie is surprised to hear this, because she is that blogger. Turns out, Kent’s boss is a famous publisher named Amanda Barber and she wants to meet Annie. Amanda feels Annie’s blog could be the “next Fifty Shades of Grey”. Annie says her thoughts are personal and she isn’t interested. Kent gives her his card and asks her to think about it. Dixon talks to a record label manager Rand Gunn and asks him to buy Adrianna’s contract. In return, he wants the guy to sell him a few of his artists who will come cheap. The guy says he and his partners will have to see Adrianna perform before he can make his decision. Dixon suggests Naomi’s charity event where Adrianna is going to perform.

Adrianna on the other hand is planning to blow her charity event gig, so Dixon fires her from her contract. Navid meets a new girl and the two get pretty close. Max and Naomi on the other hand begin making out while working on a science project for the charity. They spend the night together and have a great time. In the morning, Naomi tells Adrianna that it’s probably too soon to call off their marriage. Later at the event, Naomi tries to talk to Max about it but before she can say anything, he says the whole thing that happened was a “huge mistake”. Naomi is visibly shocked to hear this and hence says nothing. Later, while the two are showing some experiments to kids at the event, Naomi makes her feelings known. She basically tells Max she isn’t in the right frame of mind and walks off. Rand Gunn and his partners are at the event and are eagerly awaiting Adrianna’s performance.

Liam participates in a charity football game at the event and does really well in it. The director who is present at the event is really impressed with his performance and says Liam is selected for the role of Joe Namath. She asks him to get ready to be really famous after playing this role. Liam seems worried to hear this. Max has a chat with Naomi and explains to her that he needs to cut all ties with her for some time, because he cares too much for her to just be friends with her. Naomi sees logic in what he is saying, but maintains that their parting ways is still hurting her. Silver suggests to Teddy that they ask Adrianna to be the surrogate. Teddy finds the idea laughable, because he isn’t at all sure about Adrianna’s state of mind.

Silver defends the idea and says Adrianna has changed for the better. “Did you talk to Ade about this?” Teddy asks. “Yeah we discussed it” she replies. Adrianna comes onto the stage for her performance and deliberately sings horribly. Dixon is shocked to hear her sing absolutely off key and so is everyone else. She then takes things a tad further by stripping off her clothes onstage. The security at the venue is eventually forced to escort her off the stage. Later, Dixon tells Adrianna about his plan of finally letting her go, and how she screwed it all up. He tells Adrianna she is released from her contact and walks away disappointed. Teddy and Silver conclude that Adrianna is not really a smart choice, especially after what she pulled at the event. Silver says she wants to carry her own baby and doesn’t want a surrogate.

Teddy is adamant and says that he simply can’t allow Silver to carry her own child. In the end, Silver left with no other option agrees to meet Shane’s sister. Silver also a little relieved to know that Shane’s sister is open to moving to LA. Annie meets with Amanda Barber the famous publisher. She agrees to the book being published, but doesn’t want her name on it. Basically, Annie is afraid of hurting too many people in her life who don’t know about a lot of things she has revealed in her blog and hence wants to be anonymous. Silver meets Michaela, Shane’s sister. Turns out, she is the same girl Navid recently befriended. They are meeting at Teddy’s house. During the meeting Navid arrives to meet Teddy.

Navid and Michaela are surprised to see other, but they both pretend as if they have never met before. Liam on the other hand lands up at the Cronos fight club, instead of meeting the director and the studio executives for the film. The episode ends at this point.

Starring

 * Shenae Grimes as Annie Wilson
 * Tristan Wilds as Dixon Wilson
 * AnnaLynne McCord as Naomi Miller
 * Jessica Stroup as Erin Silver
 * Michael Steger as Navid Shirazi
 * Jessica Lowndes as Adrianna Tate-Duncan
 * Matt Lanter as Liam Court

Recurring

 * Trevor Donovan as Teddy Montgomery
 * Josh Zuckerman as Max Miller
 * Lyndon Smith as Michaela
 * Grant Gustin as Campbell Price

Guest Starring

 * Morgan Phillips as Simon
 * Ashley Jones as Amanda Barnard
 * Alexie Gilmore as Elizabeth McManus
 * Joey McIntyre as Rand Gunn
 * Terrell Owens as himself

Quotes

 * Adrianna: He gets to make money while I slave away for a year at country fairs and amusement parks on a janky bus that smells like cheesepuffs, weed, and funk.


 * Adrianna [about Dixon]: I hate being told what to do. Especially by his big round baby face!


 * Annie [to Liam]: I get it, I was there too. I got shot, remember?


 * Naomi: We're having a mutual friendly separation so I don't understand why we can't be friends.


 * Dixon: No good deed goes unpunished.


 * Naomi: Getting married like that was so Britney Spears.

Music

 * "Steam" by Deep Sea Arcade
 * "I Don't Want You Anymore" by Jessica Lowndes
 * "Get Juiced" by The High Decibels
 * "Major Minus" by Coldplay
 * "Last One Standing" by Purple Sneaker DJs
 * "Baby You're Better" by Spring Break
 * "Monarch" by Nervous Cloud
 * "Through The Deep, Dark Wood" by The Veils
 * "Second Look" by The Soft Pack
 * "Addict" by Adventure Galley