But even this hard-nosed journalist couldn’t solve the mystery of why Joe Jonas agreed to literally play himself.

Erin Silver (Jessica Stroup) might just be television’s 90210‘s most intrepid reporter. It’s even more impressive when you consider that she’s only a senior in high school, and still under 18. (Hands off, Mr. Cannon!) On the Nov. 8 episode, Silver channeled her inner-Katie Couric once again to help Navid (Michael Stegers) expose his dad for using underage girls in his pornos. She also delivered the best, totally earnest line of the night: “I’m super excited to get into porn.” Once the secret was out, Navid made the mistake of blabbing to the new guidance counselor (aka Jennie Garth‘s cross-eyed, not-hot replacement), who took the news straight to the principal.

And then there was the much-hyped guest appearance from Mistah Jonas: When Joe Jonas signed on to do an episode in which he, as himself, pretends to date an unstable actress/musician (Jessica Lowndes) to raise her profile and clear up rumors, it probably seemed like a good idea… at the time. But after all the recent events (you know the ones), it was a little bit too art-imitating-life for me. That’s deeper than I like my CW.

It also looks like we’ve seen the last of Jen (Sara Foster) for a while. After accidentally dropping her baby, and almost bringing home the wrong one from the club, she had a total meltdown and fled the Hills. I can’t say I’m sad to see Jen go. I always found her super annoying, and even more so now that she’s becoming more of a three-dimensional character, I’m still not sold. Sucks for now-single dad Ryan (Ryan Eggold), though.

Speaking of breakdowns, Annie Shenae Grimes) and Dixon’s (Tristan Wilds) mom Deb (Lori Loughlin) came pretty close to a breakdown of her own — especially now that we know ex-husband Harry Wilson (Rob Estes) is already seeing someone else. Annie and Dixon visited their dad’s new woman and it turns out she’s really creepy, which makes me think: Wouldn’t it be awesome if it turns out she has their dad in her basement, all Nanny Carrie-style? (Sorry, I think my CW shows are seeping together.)

— Andy Swift

You’d never know it from the silly promos, but 90210 deals with some pretty serious issues: coming out, poverty, rape, HIV — and best of all, no homework! This week, our characters dealt with those issues and more, plus the birth of Jen’s (Sara Foster) demon spawn.

Did anyone REALLY think they were going to give Dixon (Tristan Wilds) HIV? I mean, it did make for a dramatic hour: Dixon lied and told Ivy (Gillian Zinser) he stilled loved Sasha, so he wouldn’t have to tell her he might be positive. That gave Oscar (Blair Redford) a shot, which he took — and he finally slept with Ivy!

Jen is one of the most annoying characters, not just on the show, but on all of television. I hate the way she’s so needlessly theatrical, I hate the way she pronounces her “r”s, and tonight I hated her as a woman in labor. I wonder if she’ll develop any humanity now that she had Ryan’s (Ryan Eggold) behbeh.

I appreciate the very Charlie’s Angels-inspired trio of Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord), Silver (Jessica Stroup) and Adrianna (Jessica Lowndes.) And WOW, that Mr. Cannon rape plot took an insane twist tonight when he turned Silver’s trap around on her! I knew the girls’ plan was going to backfire…

When Debbie (Lori Loughlin) found Annie’s hormone needles and assumed she was a closet heroine addict, I got to thinking: I would love watching Shenae Grimes play a junkie. (Degrassi reference: Shenae’s character, Darcy, dated a guy named Peter (Jamie Johnston) who ended up becoming a junkie.

And, of course, kudos to Teddy (Trevor Donovan) and Ian (Kyle Riabko.) As Matt Lanter, Jessica Lowndes and Michael Steger have echoed, that’s a really crucial story to be telling right now — especially in light of what’s going on. And as Matt said, it makes the show “scarily relevant.”

— Andy Swift

Courtesy of The CW (2)

Everything’s changing for Ryan now that he’s becoming a dad, but does he have what it takes to tame villainous Jen?

When we last saw Ryan Matthews (Ryan Eggold) on 90210, he was downing booze and crashing into the sign outside West Beverly Hills High. But Ryan tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively that we’ll be seeing a whole new Ryan when the show returns for its third season TONIGHT (Sept. 13) on The CW. “He’s had the whole summer to put things into perspective with having a baby,” Ryan, 25, says. “He’s cleaned up and not thinking about himself.” And it’s a good thing he’s sobering up, because he’ll be fighting his wicked baby mama Jen (Sara Foster) to stay in his child’s life.

“She fights it every step of the way,” he says of his and Jen’s tumultuous relationship as parents. “But she realizes she can’t do it alone and she’s in over her heard. She kinds of needs Ryan, even though she’d never admit it.”

Ryan even suggests there’s a chance Jen has a human side to her!

“It only comes out in brief glimpses,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun because Ryan is more simple and grounded and she’s obviously much more insane. Totally crazy, fancy and pretentious. So they’re totally different, but they’re stuck together in a very intimate way. It makes for a lot of comedy this season. I hope it’s funny.”

Jen… funny? I’ll believe it when I see it. And we’ll all be getting our chance to see it when 90210 returns at 8 p.m. TONIGHT (Sept. 13) on The CW!

— Andy Swift