In “Canon,” we learn how Ella (Katie Cassidy) meets Sydney (Laura Leighton) and begins her, as yet incomplete, evolutionary transformation into “beotch” of the complex. Sydney, seeing that Ella has the making of a true guttersnipe, takes the changeling under her wing and jump-starts her career at WPK. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished, and it’s only a matter of time before we fully learn how Ella betrays Sydney’s friendship. Ella’s new and somewhat tenuous success begins to crater, however, since as we saw in last week’s episode, new landlord Jane Mancini (Josie Bissette) has tipped off the fuzz that Ella’s alibi regarding Sydney’s murder is bogus.
The murder mystery angle continues to pay dividends for “Melrose Place,” providing a nice contrast to the day-to-day cat fights and other juvenile antics viewers expect from the show. But Lauren’s (Stephanie Jacobsen) apparently inevitable spiral into full-time prostitution offers a surprisingly mature and engaging look at the decision-making process countless call girls and boys must undertake when choosing that line of work. Tonight’s episode looks like it continues this storyline, with working girl Lauren taking a job that places her face to face with neighboring cat burglar David (Shaun Sipos).