The Time Has Come Today

The Time Has Come Today is the 25th episode of Season 4 of Beverly Hills, 90210.

Synopsis
Brenda sees a lot of herself - and her family and friends - in a diary that tells the story of a complex young woman and her ROTC-member brother who lived in the Walshes' home in the late 1960s.

Plot
 At the Peach Pit, Steve tries to talk David into having a talk with Nat about updating the recordings on the juke box - to a selection a little more recent than the sixties. Across the room, Donna is talking enthusiastically about the planned ski trip to Mammoth for Spring Break. Dylan and Kelly are going, but Brenda says her parents want her to stay close to home for a while. Arriving home, Brenda finds that Donna has called to see if there's anything she can do that will persuade the Walshes to let Brenda go to Mammoth. Jim and Cindy are surprised that Brenda has told her friends she's "grounded" for the next few weeks. In her room, Brandon confronts his sister about her avoiding her friends. He says that he's getting tired of making excuses for her. Next morning, Cindy invites Brenda to go to a swap meet, but Brenda begs off saying she's going jogging and then catch up on some reading. Later Brenda finds a long neglected personal diary and begins to read it. It reflects the emotions and thoughts of 25 years ago and a girl named Wendy Edwards, who once lived in the Walsh house. Brenda flashes back to this different era. Brandon telephones Brenda to see if she's all right and her daydreams abruptly disappear. He tells her they are still on the road up to Mammoth, and if she has changed her mind, his car keys are in the kitchen. She says she'll stick with her reading. Brenda drops by the Peach Pit. She tells Nat she read about his being an actor a long time ago and playing a part in a Glenn Ford movie. She tells Andrea and Nat, this girl Wendy used to hang out at the "Pit" when it was just a lunch counter. She went to Cal University too, Brenda adds, as she studies the 1950s photos in frames on the wall.

She decides to check the yearbooks at the campus library to see if Wendy Edwards is pictured in the publication. Even with the librarian's help, she's unable to find the yearbooks. As she reads in the diary, Brenda flashes back to a college campus hippie rally, with Dylan, Kelly, Steve and Brandon there as 1960's "rebels." The library is closing and Brenda is brought back to the present day. As she crosses campus, Brenda begins to remember another chapter of Wendy's diary describing how a girlfriend took LSD and flipped out. Wendy's friends were into drugs of various kinds. Wendy tells about being in a guy's van and making out in back, or almost. Brenda reads the lines that reflect Wendy's confused emotional state and realizes it is a reflection of her own insecurities. Wendy visits her friends at the old Peach Pit and describes in her diary how she must stop trying to live up to everyone's expectations and stop being so hard on herself - Brenda can identify with this and is deeply moved. After a rock concert, Wendy tells about Donna's counterpart, "Maryanne," who returns to her boyfriend's room on campus and finds it's after curfew. Maryanne stays the night, loses her virginity and Seth (David) doesn't actually care about her, she adds. Brenda ponders these statements and feels she can relate to everything Wendy has written in her diary. Wendy describes a campus demonstration against the Vietnam War. She expresses the feeling that what the student say and do at this rally may forever change the politics of America and even the world. But, she also wonders if all the students are sincere, or just want to be filmed for the evening news. Mixed in with the peaceful demonstrators are the usual extremists who want to tear down and destroy without offering any constructive, concrete corrective measure. Brenda understands what Wendy is referring to and can see the parallel to her own confusion over animal rights.

Over breakfast, Brenda tells her parents how Wendy had received a letter from her brother in Vietnam and how demoralized he was over the fighting there. Jim tells his daughter the diary brings back a lot of forgotten feelings from the past for him, too. The college librarian is still trying to locate the yearbook of 1969 for Brenda, so she can see Wendy's photograph. At home, Wendy tells of how Peter (Dylan), came by to say goodbye and to say he was driving to Woodstock for the music festival with Michelle (Kelly). He invites Wendy to come along, but she declines saying three would be a crowd. Peter adds that he's going onto Canada to dodge the draft. Brenda finds Wendy living in a suburban residential area. They discuss the characters in the diary and Brenda meets her teenage children. Wendy shows Brenda the yearbook with photographs of her friends. The people don't resemble the way Brenda had pictured them. They are not at all like Brandon, Dylan, Kelly, Donna and David. Wendy tells her Michelle (Kelly) died of an overdose of heroin and her brother, Will (Brandon) never came back from Vietnam. The others she's lost track of, she adds. At the Walsh home, Brenda is joined by Brandon, Donna, Kelly, David and Dylan, who just returned from Spring break vacation. They found no snow at Mammoth for skiing so they're heading to Palm Springs instead. Brenda stares at her friends, now seeing them in a whole new light.

Starring

 * Jason Priestley as Brandon Walsh /"Will Edwards"
 * Shannen Doherty as Brenda Walsh /"Wendy Edwards"
 * Jennie Garth as Kelly Taylor /"Michelle Carlson"
 * Ian Ziering as Steve Sanders /"Ronnie Robertson"
 * Gabrielle Carteris as Andrea Zuckerman /Flower Child
 * Luke Perry as Dylan McKay /"Peter Brinkley"
 * Brian Austin Green as David Silver /"Seth Brown"
 * Tori Spelling as Donna Martin /"Maryann Bagley"
 * Carol Potter as Cindy Walsh /"Pippa Edwards"
 * James Eckhouse as Jim Walsh /"Dr. Edwards"

Special Guest Star
 * Joe E. Tata as Nat Bussichio /"Salvatorio Bussichio"

Recurring cast
 * Cress Williams as "Uncle Sam-dressed protestor"

Guest starring
 * Michele Scarabelli as Librarian
 * Cheryl Anderson as Wendy Edwards

Co-Starring
 * Martin Cassidy as Customer
 * Scott Blake as Hippie Chick's Date
 * Kristine Mejia as Hippie Chick

Trivia

 * Brenda realises she doesn't go on the ski trip because of Dylan
 * It's Spring Break
 * It ends up raining in Mammoth Mountains, so David's grandparents invite everyone to hang out in Palm Springs
 * People at the rally sing "give peace a chance" by plastic ono band

Music

 * woodstock | JONI MITCHELL
 * footage reels from woodstock, then playing at the peach pit


 * monday, monday | THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS
 * brenda, dylan, donna and kelly at the peach pit


 * these boots are made for walkin'  | NANCY SINATRA
 * playing at the '70s peach pit as salvatorio gripes about youths


 * for what it's worth | BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD
 * sal throws "the hippies" out/later brenda goes to the library


 * reach out of the darkness | FRIEND & LOVER
 * bobby kennedy footage


 * get together | THE YOUNGBLOODS
 * the be-in


 * time has come today | THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS
 * wendy brings a sick michelle to will


 * wear your love like heaven | DONOVAN
 * wendy meets up with michelle and maryanne at the peach pit


 * the times they are a-changin' (cover) | EDDIE VEDDER
 * brenda goes to meet wendy

Photos
promos