Necessity Is a Mother

**Necessity Is a Mother** is the 10th episode of Season 2 of *Beverly Hills, 90210*.

## Synopsis

Dylan's mother Iris makes a surprise visit to Beverly Hills, hoping to start fresh with her estranged son. Cindy hits it off with free-spirited Iris, but the strain of his mother's reappearance drives Dylan back to the bottle. Later Dylan and Iris reconcile and she tells him that she had left because his father drove her away and paid her a lot of money to stay out of his life. She took the money but never kept a penny of it, and now she's decided to give it to Dylan; she'll place it in a trust and ask Jim to look after it. Brandon decides to take Dylan to an A.A. meeting. Donna and Steve experiment with the stock market, and Donna turns out to have a surprising knack for picking successful stocks.

## Plot

Dylan is upset that his mom moved back in with him and doesn't know how to deal with her. Kelly, along with the rest of his friends, try and support him and she encourages him to just be honest about his feelings. After Dylan skips a bunch of school he finally shows up again and Kelly jokes with him about him honoring them with his presence. They realize that he is drunk and Kelly and him get into an argument where he tells her to shut up and she says he's a mean drunk. Brenda is upset and wants to try and fix Dylan, but Kelly says that she dealt with her mother's alcoholism and that there isn't anything she can do for Dylan besides love him.

## Starring

Jason Priestley as **Brandon Walsh**
Shannen Doherty as **Brenda Walsh**
Jennie Garth as **Kelly Taylor**
Ian Ziering as **Steve Sanders**
Gabrielle Carteris as **Andrea Zuckerman**
Luke Perry as **Dylan McKay**
Brian Austin Green as **David Silver**
Tori Spelling as **Donna Martin**
Carol Potter as **Cindy Walsh**
James Eckhouse as **Jim Walsh**
**Special Guest Star**

Stephanie Beacham as **Iris McKay**
**Recurring cast**

Joe E. Tata as **Nat Bussichio**
**Guest starring**

Craig Hurley as **Bobby Falcone**
Nick Toth as **Teacher**
Jay Arlen Jones **Bartender**
## Quotes

> “Dylan, honesty is the key. You just have to tell your mom how you feel. I mean, get it out on the table. [...] It’s not like we all come from what you’d call your normal, stable family background. I mean, look what I’ve been through with mine. Booze and – and drugs ...”
>
> Kelly tries to help Dylan deal with his mother moving in

> “Oh, you decided to come to school. To what do we owe the honor?”
>
> Kelly teases Dylan

> “Dylan is gonna do what he’s gonna do. [...] Bren, he’s an alcoholic. [...] Do you know what that means? [...] I know. It’s hard. Just trust me. You have to let him hit bottom. [...] Brenda, you just have to have some faith. It wasn’t easy watching my mom degrade herself night after night. When she was drunk, I wanted to kill her. She was sick. It tore my heart out. And I learned that I just had to let her go through it by herself, because the more I tried to help, the worse it got. You know why? Cause I was there. And as long as I was there, she knew she could keep on drinking and I would be there to pick up the pieces. Bren, you can love him but you can’t save him.”
>
> Kelly talking to Brenda about Dylan's alcoholism

## Photos

**screenshots**

1. ↑ First appearance of Iris McKay