Like Brenda in ‘90210,’ Shannen Doherty was complex and era-defining

In the pantheon of teen characters, there was no one better suited to bring an edge to the journey of girlhood, when we’re eager to fit in and grow up, than Shannen Doherty. The actor, who died Saturday at 53, was in her late teens when she took on the role of Brenda Walsh on “Beverly Hills, 90210,” and her experience echoed that of the character she’s best known for.

Brenda was a baby-faced good girl from Minnesota with an attractive twin brother who moved with her family to L.A.’s most famous and posh ZIP Code during her formative high school years. Doherty was a transplant from Memphis, Tenn., who as a child was discovered while performing in a church play.

Doherty, as Brenda, spent countless hours keeping us company on TV with an unforgettable and relatable portrayal of a teenage girl dealing with competing emotions — insecurity, angst and rebelliousness among them. Her character was ambitious, ready to find her place among L.A.’s elite. “I’m not going to miss Minneapolis. Nobody knows me out here, I can be anybody; I can be somebody,” says Brenda when we first meet her in the “90210” pilot.

Brenda began as a sheepish character, but she was determined to fit in the moment she set foot in West Beverly High. She quickly struck up a friendship with cool girls Kelly (Jennie Garth) and Donna (Tori Spelling), while also immediately developing the desire to replicate their confidence and style. At one point, being one of the few brunets in a sea of blonds vying for the attention of a boy, she attempts to lighten her hair, frying it in the process. But in time, the new girl became the it girl when she began dating the coolest boy in school, Dylan McKay (Luke Perry). She also excelled at ignoring her parents’ advice and wishes and brought us along as she developed an interest in performing.

As the series went on, she illustrated what it was like to be a complex figure not just onscreen — Brenda was a rarity among teenage female characters at the time — but off screen as well. The vitriol toward Doherty and her character even resulted in a newsletter called “I Hate Brenda,” which printed gossip and ire about the actor, becoming a flash point for how people perceived strong, misunderstood women.

You could hate her one moment — like the time she slapped Andrea (Gabrielle Carteris) in drama class because she was jealous of Andrea’s closeness to the teacher, whom she had a crush on. And then root for her in the next — like when she came to the defense of her friends at a slumber party after Kelly’s cool but mean friend Amanda tried to belittle them. Or cry with her in another — like when she broke up with Dylan after a pregnancy scare, forever altering what we feel when we hear R.E.M’s “Losing My Religion.”

Reevaluating her character now, you can see how we had her all wrong — she was just a young person figuring out life, making immature missteps and whining while sometimes being annoying or mean in the process. Why hadn’t we given her more grace when she was betrayed by her best friend, who had hooked up with her on-again, off-again boyfriend while she was in Paris? “I thought you guys were my friends. I loved you. I trusted you both,” Brenda screams at them. “I hate you both! Never talk to me again.” Though Brenda was hardly perfect and her actions sometimes merited criticism, she often deserved more understanding. The same could be said of Doherty as she navigated fame.

Created by Darren Star and backed by the prolific TV producer Aaron Spelling, “Beverly Hills, 90210” was appointment-viewing, laying the foundation for the teen drama genre. The show was revolutionary in its exploration of high school life, with its discussions of sex and social strata. It turned its mostly little-known cast into superstars who incited mall mobs. As they rocketed to fame, Doherty generated plenty of tabloid fodder — headlines buzzed about behind-the-scenes drama with her castmates, her reputation for hard partying and domestic disputes with partners.

The show was a compelling and early hit for an ascendant Fox Network, and it was ‘90s TV at its finest. And as Brenda, Doherty was a big reason why. It’s why it‘s impossible to imagine “Beverly Hills, 90210” without Brenda Walsh. But along the way, Doherty and the “bad girl” persona that Brenda exemplified became intertwined, propelling her exit from the show after a rocky tenure. And again, reevaluating it all with some distance, you wonder what we may have had wrong about Doherty.

Shannen Doherty in 2010. Love her or hate her, the actor and her character deserved more.

(Evan Agostini / Associated Press)

She was written out in 1994 after the show’s fourth season. The final stretch was a roller coaster that included her character returning home after a brief stint at the University of Minnesota and rumors of a casting couch situation after she landed the lead in a production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at the fictional California University, where the characters matriculated. When the show returned for its fifth season, Brenda’s absence was explained by saying she had moved to London to study acting. It was an unsatisfactory conclusion for Doherty and a character that had so indelibly defined what it was like to be a teenager for a generation — love her or hate her, she deserved more.

That Doherty and Perry both died in their early 50s, roughly the same age as many of their original “90210” fans, is a sobering reminder of the passage of time for a generation that feels too old to be young and too young to be old. But there’s a comfort in knowing that they live on forever as Brenda and Dylan, at least onscreen and in our minds, heading to Baja against her parents’ orders and dancing the night away. That was the power of their performances.

Not every actor is lucky enough to have even one character pierce the zeitgeist the way that Doherty did. She leaves a legacy that includes not only Brenda, but at least two other era-defining pop culture roles: Heather Duke in “Heathers” and Prue Halliwell in “Charmed.”

Bad girl or not, there’s no denying the goodness of that.