THE GOOD: The earthquake rocked! No really. What on paper came across as little more than yet another desperate attempt by scatterbrained showrunner Rebecca Sinclair to grab some headlines, was actually a fantastic way in which to kick off the season. Giving Naomi a gut-wrenching and highly-believable way in which to confront her attacker (Mr. Cannon), offer up our favorite will-the-or-won’t-they Annie and Liam an opportunity to reconnect, and provide the impetus for Teddy to quit tennis and begin his highly publicized journey out of the proverbial you-know-what. Also falling under the category of good was the little something something newly minted series regular Ivy brought back from Australia. Indeed, the only thing that shakes things up in Los Angeles more than an earthquake, is a bad boy with an accent! Which brings us to….
THE BAD: The fact that the earthquake didn’t do more damage! Seriously. Despite welcome additions of Teddy, Liam and now Oscar, stellar episodes like last night do little more than serve as a constant reminder of how utterly superfluous poorly conceived original characters Dixon and Navid are.
THE UGLY: You mean aside from Silver pulling an Emma Watson? How about the ludicrously unbelievable and quite frankly borderline insulting way in which the writers “solved” Annie’s anguish over last year’s season long hit-and-run story. No word of a lie, we had to rewind our DVR/PVR multiple times in order to make sure that we heard it correctly. After not only neglecting to report that she was involved in KILLING somebody, but FAILING TO REMAIN at the scene of the crime and COVERING it up for OVER A YEAR, Annie Wilson got off with a summer of House Arrest and Probation until 25! In the immortal words of SNL’s Seth & Amy, “Really?” And don’t even get us started on the all-too-convenient nature of Javier’s car accident. 
