Episode
Beverly Hills, 90210: The Nature of Nurture
Overview
Kelly is upset when a gay couple receives custody of the baby. The teenage mother decides that she wants her son back, but only because she does not want him raised by gay men. Kyle and Gene give the child up without a fight, as they feel this is in his best interests. Kelly comes to believe that they would make better parents than she or Leann, and lobbies the girl to relinquish custody. She eventually agrees after realizing that she cannot care for the child properly. With the newspaper struggling to stay afloat, Steve accepts advertising from a cigarette manufacturer. Brandon becomes indignant and threatens to quit; Steve changes his mind by pointing out all the people he has helped through his writing. After a few dates, Steve finally tells Jill that he is not Ted (the man to whom she had been writing). She refuses to continue seeing him, and he vows to make her happy by finding Ted. David rediscovers his love of music by jamming with his neighbor, a washed-up guitar player who onc
Details
- Series
- Beverly Hills, 90210
- Season
- Season 8
- Episode
- Episode 23
- Air date
- 1998-03-18
- Runtime
- 42 min
Episode context
The Nature of Nurture is Episode 23 in Season 8 of Beverly Hills, 90210. It aired on 1998-03-18. The runtime is 42 min.
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Episode 22: Making Amends
The paramedics revive Donna; she returns home from the hospital quickly, but suffers from withdrawal. Donna is fired after confessing that she plagiarized her co-worker's designs. Noah helps her battle her addiction, and she forgives him for sleeping with Valerie. A teenager abandons her baby outside of the clinic. Kelly cares for the child and tries to convince his mother to take him back. When this fails, she turns the baby over to social services. Kelly decides to apply to become the boy's foster mother. Brandon discovers that the record company paid a radio station to put David's song into rotation. A girl is injured at a concert as fans rush the stage. David quits the band and backs out of his record contract. Josh is sentenced to a year in jail for illegal drug possession. Valerie struggles to overcome memories of the rape and move on with her life. She concludes that neither she nor Noah is to blame for the crime. Steve finds love letters that are intended for another man.
Episode 24: Aunt Bea's Pickles
During Valerie's surprise birthday party, Abby announces that she and Bill are engaged. Val and Kelly join forces in the hopes of getting their parents to call off the wedding. They eventually realize that Bill and Abby are happy and decide to support them. Bill disgusts Kelly by backing out of the wedding and leaving her to break the news to Abby. Valerie gives David further insight into her traumatic family history as she tells him that her father sexually abused her. Brandon receives a job offer from a major newspaper, but faces a dilemma when he learns that he is only being hired as a replacement for striking reporters. He returns to the Beat and suggests implementing a health plan for the overworked and underpaid Janet. Steve hesitates to introduce Jill to Ted; she decides that she really likes Steve and comes back to him. When Donna's dresses fail to sell, Noah tries to give her a confidence boost by buying the entire stock himself. She is angry when she uncovers the truth.
More episodes from this season
Episode 21: Law and Disorder
Noah's civil trial begins. His attorney portrays Valerie as a golddigging tramp, and uses the gang's testimony to place Noah in a favorable light. Josh's testimony reflects very badly on Noah, and Val wins the case. Everyone apologizes to Valerie and turns against Noah. While rummaging through Josh's belongings in search of more pills, Donna discovers a prescription for Rohypnol. Josh admits that he drugged Valerie, and Noah offers to help Val build a case against him. David's record company experiences a shake-up. The new reprensentative forces Jasper out of the band and turns over all creative control to David. Jasper accuses David of treachery. Unable to meet her deadline, the disoriented Donna steals designs from a co-worker. Noah finds Donna passed out on her living room floor.
Music: ""This Ain't Going Away,"" performed by Jasper's Law; ""Keep It Together"" by Brian Austin Green
Episode 25: All That Glitters
Brandon works on a story with a pompous Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter. Kelly gets a developmentally disabled young man a position at the clinic, where he freaks out after making a minor mistake. Kelly convinces Brandon to let Chris join the reporter and him on the ice at a Los Angeles Kings practice, but Raitt leaves town to work on another story. Brandon helps Chris get a dream job at a friend's ice skating rink. In order to pay his taxes, David takes a job as a jingle writer. A ballad he had written for Valerie ends up in a deodorant commercial. Steve realizes that he and Jill have nothing in common. She dumps him before he has the chance to break things off. Janet has a crush on Steve, but he doesn't seem to get it. Donna discovers that the diamond jewelry that Noah gave her is fake.
Episode 20: The Girl Who Cried Wolf
Valerie presses rape charges against Noah. Kelly and Steve, citing Val's fake pregnancy and abortion, assume that she is lying in an attempt to extort money from Noah. David fights with Steve over his constant sarcastic remarks, and decides to move Val to his house. Donna believes that Noah is innocent, but pushes him away after learning that he did sleep with Valerie. The district attorney declines to file charges due to insufficient evidence; Val files a $10 million civil suit in the hopes of vindication. Josh proposes a $200,000 settlement without consulting Noah, who angrily withdraws the offer. Donna has difficulty keeping up with her work assignments because of her back pain and the effects of the painkillers. Josh supplies her with amphetamines, and she later steals drugs from her father's clinic. Brandon and Steve go on a ride-along with Steve's friend Tammy and her partner. Brandon believes that Tammy's partner used excessive force on a suspect, but decides not to write about
Episode 26: Reunion
The gang prepares for its five-year high school reunion. Andrea returns for the event; after initially pretending that her life is perfect, she reveals that she is divorcing Jesse. Brandon tries to convince her to work things out; but she has already tried every possible solution, even dropping out of medical school to spend more time with her family. Andrea does not want to speak at the reunion, so Brandon takes her place and delivers a speech with the theme ""it's okay to be yourself."" Kelly becomes disgusted when Ross Webber, the guy who humiliated her after she lost her virginity to him, tries to exchange pleasantries. Valerie gives Ross a dressing-down and helps Kelly eradicate some old graffiti about her. Steve is upset that his classmates expect him to bring a bimbo to the reunion. Janet volunteers to be his date to help him change his image. He completely ignores her to chase after a beautiful classmate.
Episode 19: Cupid's Arrow
Valerie and Noah are not enthused when David's song receives radio airplay. They express their discontent at the amount of time David and Donna are spending together. David and Donna lie about their whereabouts before embarking on a shopping trip. They get into a car accident; Donna injures her back and begins popping painkillers. Val encourages Noah to reach out to his estranged half-brother, Josh. Valerie and Noah believe that their mates are cheating on them and become depressed. Noah gets very drunk, and Josh furtively slips something into Valerie's drink. After Josh is distracted by a phone call, Noah takes Valerie to the office and has sex with her. Val awakens in a daze and feels extremely ill, despite the fact that she had only one drink. David takes her to a doctor, where test results find Rohypnol (the date-rape drug) in her system. David and Valerie race over to the boat and accuse Noah of rape. Kelly spends a romantic Valentine's Day with Jeff. He expresses a willingness to
Episode 27: Skin Deep
A ""sex shop"" opens in Beverly Hills. Brandon, Steve and David patronize the store, under the guise of covering the controversy for the newspaper. Brandon infuriates Kelly by defending the store and its clientele, and attending a wild bachelor party for Muntz. A misunderstanding causes David and Val to fear that they are having problems with their sex life. Steve decides that he is interested in Janet after she expresses her philosophy on free love. Donna discovers that her assistant, who has very low self-esteem, calms herself by cutting her arms with a razor. She tries to convince her to seek help. Donna asks women of normal measurements to appear in her catalog because she believes that using models would send the wrong message. Kelly is revolted when Jackie opts to get a face lift and Erin frets about calories.
Episode 18: Crimes and Misdemeanors
David angers Valerie by moving out of her room and into Carly's old house. She apologizes for her behavior and arranges for a record company executive to watch Jasper's Law perform at the club. The group receives a new record deal, thanks in large part to David's song. Valerie believes that the song is about her, and is hurt to learn that David wrote it for Donna. Donna's grandmother must undergo surgery for an aneurysm. Donna introduces Noah to Mrs. Martin, but she still feels that David is Donna's soulmate. She requests a visit from David and asks him to look out for Donna. Mrs. Martin suffers heart problems after the surgery and soon dies. Val discourages David from attending the funeral, while Noah asks him to spend time with Donna because of their history. Donna and David share a kiss, but decide to remain friends. Kelly meets an ex-convict, who was sentenced to prison at age seventeen for murdering his mother's abusive boyfriend. She asks Brandon to write a story about the man to
Episode 28: Ricochet
Kelly finds it impossible to trust Brandon as he works late every night for several weeks. Brandon assures Kelly that he will never leave her and suddenly asks her to marry him. They experience doubts, but decide that they are ready for a lifetime commitment. Noah entertains Gwyneth, a longtime friend. She secretly has a crush on him, and kisses him on a ferris wheel. Noah insists that he is not interested in her. David becomes extremely jumpy after being robbed at an ATM. He gets drunk, steals a gun from the After Dark's cash register, and staggers into the alley behind the club. When Noah and Gwyneth try to stop him, he shoots at a dumpster; a bullet richochets and hits Gwyneth in the arm. Donna asks Gwyneth to stay at her apartment because she doesn't trust her around Noah. Valerie learns that she is a match for a leukemia patient in need of a bone marrow transplant.
Episode 17: Rebound
Valerie completes her community service, but not before arranging for Brandon to run into Kelly and Jeff during a date. A woman considers calling off her wedding to one of Steve's old frat brothers, and seeks refuge at the Walsh house. She bonds with Brandon over their fractured relationships, and decides to get married after all. Steve observes the couple's commitment to each other and realizes that he must get over Carly; he would have followed her to Montana if he had truly loved her. The keyboardist for Jasper's Law gets into a car accident while driving drunk. He claims that Noah is negligent for serving him too many drinks. David is aware that Mark had been smoking marijuana before the crash, but keeps quiet after Mark threatens to squash his songwriting deal. He finally shares the truth with the group leader, who fires Mark and replaces him with David. Donna loses her job when she stands up to a temperamental child model, but gets it back by dressing up like a clown. Brandon aga
Episode 29: The Fundamental Things Apply
David dumps Valerie and tells her that the break-up is her fault. Gwyneth admits that she is in love with Noah and seeks Valerie's help to get him away from Donna. Val suggests that she sabotage Donna's fashion show, so Gwyneth spills wine on most of the dresses. Noah orders Gwyneth to leave, but Donna lashes out at him for not ending the friendship. Val has a one-night stand with the fashion show photographer. She soon discovers that he is an intravenous drug user. Brandon and Kelly become overwhelmed by wedding preparations. They try to reunite a refugee with his wife, whom he lost when he was flown from Sarajevo for medical treatment. Sarah tells Steve that she is married, but separated from her husband. She decides to seek marriage counseling while continuing to date Steve. David throws a fit when a clothing store fails to pay him for a jingle.