Brenda Walsh, portrayed by Shannen Doherty, is a fictional character who was the female lead of Beverly Hills, 90210 for the first four seasons.
Conception Brenda and her twin brother, Brandon Walsh, were living in Minnesota until their father, Jim Walsh, was promoted and moved to a job in Beverly Hills in 1990. The series initially focuses on their stories and the cultural shock of living on the West coast, and their relationship with their new friends, Kelly Taylor, Dylan McKay, Donna Martin, Andrea Zuckerman, David Silver and Steve Sanders.
Season 1 The early development of Brenda Walsh was focused on her feelings about moving to a new town, making new friends, and trying to fit in to the new Beverly Hills lifestyle. In the pilot episode, Brenda fantasizes about making big changes in her life, alluding to the idea that she was not very popular at her old school. She meets Kelly Taylor and struggles internally with impressing her and the other kids at school. Her desperation to fit in and be counted among the popular is highlighted by her sudden rule breaking and sneaking around. She gets a fake ID and gets entry to a club, where she meets a man named Jason, a lawyer in his early 20s. Brenda lies to him and pretends to be a college student, embarking on a relationship that proves to be moving too fast for her.
An example of Brenda's naivete and idealistic attitude was when she disclosed her real age to Jason, thinking that he would continue dating her, in spite of the fact that she was a 16-year-old high school student. We see Brenda's youthful heartbreak and the realization that love does not conquer all as Jason angrily declines. It is in that moment that the audience is most drawn to Brenda, as the direction for the character led us to think that an honor roll student with the loving family and good looks had it all together and lived a perfect and grown up life, even while still in high school. Her vulnerability at this point brought a touch of reality to the character that fans appreciated and helped move the season into the second episode with a larger fan base. Brenda further displays her desire for popularity with her hot and cold relationship with Andrea Zuckerman, the nerdy editor of the West Beverly High newspaper. When in front of her friends, Brenda pretends to dislike Andrea, subtly mocking her. However, in episodes where Brenda and Andrea are alone together, Brenda treats her with a grudging respect, but they would become good friends later on. This behavior is repeated with other, less popular students as well, shining a light on the magnitude of a teenager's desire to fit in and be popular. Brenda is no exception to this common theme.
In season one, the primary character arc for Brenda Walsh came during a series of episodes involving a surprise romance with Brandon's solitary friend, Dylan McKay, who had long been misunderstood as an outsider and bad boy. Brenda and Dylan's relationship quickly became serious in season one, after an angry dispute with his father on one of their first dates. Brenda consoled Dylan, and the two shared a passionate kiss. This scene jump-started one of the most talked about pairings at West Beverly High. Brenda's father was initially against the relationship, due to the bad reputation of Dylan's father, however, Brenda continued to date Dylan in secret.
After two months of dating, Dylan wanted to have sex, but Brenda was not ready. During a trip to Palm Springs, Brenda went to meet Dylan in a hotel room but saw him with another girl and jumped to the conclusion that they had shared an intimate relationship. Showing her temper, Brenda stormed off but returned shortly thereafter, only to throw the girl out of the hotel room and confront Dylan. Brenda and Dylan quickly reconciled but not before an uncomfortable argument that ended with Brenda essentially demanding that Dylan sleep with her, since that was all he was apparently concerned about. As a result, Dylan agreed to wait until Brenda was ready, and the couple left the hotel and went to spend the rest of the holiday with their friends at David Silver's grandparent's house in Palm Springs.
Despite the show's focus on the relationship between Brenda and Dylan, her character was developed in other areas as well, forming an identity separate from simply being "Dylan's girlfriend". In multiple episodes, Brenda proves herself to be a funny, smart, and driven young woman who cares about her friends and family and puts them first, along with her own personal goals. The character definitely has a streak of pride that shows that she is not perfect and makes plenty of mistakes, but to keep the character relatable, the directors and writers included Brenda's vulnerable side. Episodes such as, "It's Only a Test" show an uncertain girl who is learning about life and the struggles that take place. However, episodes such as "The Perfect Mom" also reveal the important impact both friends and a supportive family play in Brenda's life. Brenda's other relationships aside, the significant one she has with Dylan are prioritized in every episode, and she verbalizes this in the episode "Sleepover", when she communicates to her friend, Kelly, that she does not want her relationship with a boy to jeopardize their friendship.
At the West Beverly High spring dance, Brenda and Dylan make the decision to have sex for the first time. As their relationship is taken to a new level, Brenda has to deal with the news that her family will be moving back to Minneapolis for her father's promotion in the season finale, "Home Again". It seems as though all the friends that she made will be left behind, and many tears are shed, as Brenda says her goodbye to her friends and ends her relationship with Dylan, fearing that long distance dating will cause Dylan to cheat while she is away. The culmination of the season comes when Brenda's father decides to stay in Beverly Hills for the sake of his family's happiness, and Brenda informs Dylan that she is "late".
Season 2 Season two begins with the pregnancy scare between Brenda and Dylan. Brenda has to tell her parents about the situation, when her mom finds the pregnancy test, and after struggling with the responsibilities that come with a sexual relationship, Brenda decides to end the relationship with Dylan. Brenda withdraws back to her close inner circle of friends to reclaim her identity as an individual and begins pursuing an acting class during the summer. She keeps her distance from Dylan, not trusting her ability to end their romance for good, but after he suffers a surfing injury and has to stay at the Walsh residence to recover, the two rekindle their relationship. The situation causes a struggle between Brenda and her father, as he continues to see Brenda as a little girl, even as she becomes a young woman. Rather than trying to find her place in her new social circle like she did in season one, in season two we see that Brenda is becoming her own person and claiming her space as an adult in the Walsh family circle.
Dylan decides to move to Hawaii to live with his mother, and Brenda continues finding herself at home in Beverly Hills. They talk infrequently, and Brenda still struggles with whether she wants to end the relationship for good, and when Dylan returns from Hawaii, they continue to see each other without the sexual aspect of the relationship.
The second season of the series introduces new characters and begins to focus more on Brenda's twin brother, Brandon, further developing his character in the storyline. Brenda's character seems to develop on the sidelines, while she and Dylan navigate their relationship, but she is not disregarded in the plot. In side stories throughout season two, Brenda continues to shed the naivety that defined her character in season one, and towards the end of the season, she makes decisions that do not align with what her parents want. During a fateful weekend, Brenda and Dylan abscond to Baja, Mexico, and afterward, Mr. Walsh decides to keep them from seeing each other at all. The season finale ends with a fight between Dylan and Mr. Walsh.
Season 3 Season three begins during the summer before Brenda's senior year of high school. After the fight between Dylan and Mr. Walsh, Brenda was forbidden from seeing Dylan, but she continues to do so in secret. When her parents find out that she has been lying to them, Brenda stands up to them and demands to have her feelings for Dylan taken seriously. She goes so far as to pack up her clothes after the fight and leave home to be with Dylan at his house. She is distraught, but is frustrated that she has been forced to hide the most important relationship in her life from her family. The cohabitation is more stressful than Brenda realized before moving in, and before long she and Dylan are fighting about everything.
In an effort to cool things off, Brenda decides to go to Paris for a French immersion program in lieu of Kelly, who has taken her responsibility as a big sister very seriously and decided to stay home. Mr. Walsh and Dylan both support Brenda's summer trip to France; Mr. Walsh, as a way to get Brenda away from Dylan, and Dylan as a way to get Brenda's father off his back. In Paris, Brenda focuses on exploring the sites and soaking up the French culture, deciding to hold off from calling Dylan so she does not get distracted. She wants to evolve as a person, and not be directed by the men in her life; her father or Dylan.
In Beverly Hills, Dylan and Kelly's friendship gets closer while Brenda is studying overseas. Brenda pretends to be a French native when she meets a young man named Rick, and their relationship becomes romantic. When Brenda returns home and leaves Rick behind in Paris, her relationship with Dylan gets back to normal, but even though she tells Dylan about Rick, he does not tell her about Kelly. When Rick suddenly shows up in Beverly Hills and runs into Brenda, Dylan discloses to Brenda that there was a girl over the summer, but does not tell her that it was her best friend. After a dramatic break up, Brenda starts to see Rick, and Dylan immediately goes to Kelly's. As the season three directors develop the other characters' storylines, the plot surrounding Brenda, Kelly, and Dylan seems to be a natural progression for the series. The love triangle that followed Brenda's return from France quickly became a milestone in the series that helped increase her popularity and gave rise to the rumors of an off-set rivalry announced between Shannen Doherty and Jennie Garth. The final confrontation between Brenda, Dylan and Kelly – in which he informs Brenda about the affair and that he has chosen her best friend – was listed by Entertainment Weekly at #61 as one of the greatest moments of television of the 1990s. As the tension between the three continues, Brenda considers leaving Beverly Hills behind and applies to a Minnesota college. She feels abandoned by her friends as they are all more consumed with their respective romantic relationships and she is single and pining for her lost love with Dylan.
After several months, Brenda moves past her disappointment that Dylan had moved on with Kelly, and as the group starts making plans for after graduation, Brenda makes her decision to attend college in Minnesota, leaving her friends in Beverly Hills behind.
Season 4