Julie understands this as well. She knows that she needs to find somebody that will be able to communicate with Marissa. Somebody she trusts and somebody who understands she needs to be back home. In a perfect world, Julie would have simply called up her ex-husband Jimmy, who Marissa had lived with, but was now in Hawaii. But since this whole thing needs to end sometime before the bonfire ends, she is going to have to ask somebody else.

So, just as he has done all year, Ryan is back to do the work that the adults can't do. He doesn't necessarily believe that he should be with Marissa, but his self-righteous streak is too strong. He can't let Marissa throw her entire life away just because she hates her mom, and he definitely should be the one tell her all about it. If Ryan was a lawyer, you know that Sandy would be out of a job.

Fortunately, Sandy is the lawyer, and he has been doing his best to represent Julie. It turns out that Lance owns all of the rights to the Porn Identity, and he is free to do with it as he pleases. This is really hard for Julie to hear, but she says that it's not like she could guarantee that Lance wouldn't leak the tape anyway when he got the money. This gives Sandy an idea. He goes to Lances motel room, and makes it known that he is going to buy the video, all of the prints, and any stills that were from it. Lance will get his $500,000, but if anything is leaked, he will be sued for piracy and copyright infringement. One problem is taken care of, and he lets Julie know that his agreement prevents a leak. The agreement also states that he has two more weeks to come up with the money. That means that Julie is going to either become a drug dealer or tell Caleb about the whole thing. See, she can't dwell on the past.

While Sandy was taking care of Julie, Kirsten had been working on finding some inspiration for Carter Buckley to get back into publishing. Carter was bummed about his marriage falling apart, but he was also really disappointed about seeing his career stoop to the level of Newport Living Magazine. Sandy had an old copy of Carter's work from Berkley, it was a time when Carter was inspired to see the good in people, and maybe he could do it again. The trick work. Kirsten deposited it into his mailbox, he picked it up, and then sobered up enough to tell Kirsten just how sorry he was, and that he wants to get back to work. It just doesn't make sense to live in the past.

Marissa is setting up the bonfire, but she is kind of lost. The horse's head is going to end up being attached to the horse's ass, and too many people are asking questions. Ryan had rushed to her apartment to convince her to move out, and then pulled his ever so charming, and well known schtick. He basically breaks into Alex's apartment with the intent of forcing Marissa out. He realizes she isn't there, but when confronted with Alex and the possibility she will fight for Marissa, he tells her to bring it. Seriously, I would have my money on Alex, Ryan really is very short. Plus, you know she will fight dirty.

Instead, Ryan heads to the bonfire. He wants to talk to Marissa, but she has other plans. She throws him into the fire (figure of speech) and he starts coordinating everything that has to do with the bonfire. He stands up on a chair (otherwise nobody would see him, he's very short) and really takes charge of the whole thing. They then cut to Marissa with a very happy look on her face that says "Wow, if I try hard enough, maybe I can marry a civil engineer."

The pep rally starts, and it looks like everything is going to go well, except Alex has decided to make one last stand for Marissa's undying love, and she brought reinforcements. She knew she could take Ryan, but that would not leave her any time to seduce Marissa back into her heart. Alex brings to of her friends to keep a tab on Ryan. They are about to fight when Marissa comes, and they decide to have "the talk".

You are going to find it hard to convince anybody that the whole Alex and Marissa thing was not a ratings stunt, but the next scene was handled well, or at least as well as anything we have seen this season. Although we haven't actually seen Marissa attend school in months, the two have all of a sudden decided that maybe they don't fit into each other's lives. Alex is running a bar, and Marissa drinks from the bar. Marissa goes to high school (we think), and Alex is a dropout. Alex likes women, and apparently Marissa is done with her lipstick phase and is back with the guys. They hug and break up. In an odd sort of twist, Alex says that maybe she will move back home and go back to school. I hear she has relatives in Pittsburgh and Chicago that might take her in (and therefore the writers will never have to have the messy situation of her living in Newport to deal with).

Posted by J-Unit on March 20, 2005 10:49 PM