Kirsten decides that a visit to Julie might be the order of the day. Kirsten is ogled by the twins as she enters the house, which isn't at all noteworthy, but I think that they are hysterical. Watching them take off on their bikes as they follow Kaitlin down the driveway is priceless. Minions rule!

When Kirsten knocks on Julie's door, she is in full-on crazy rich lady mode, hopped up on pills sleeping with a mask over her face. Genius. She gets a call from a mystery man, and tells him she'll call him back. This sparked Julie right up, and she answers her bedroom door with mock enthusiasm, disarming Kirsten with a hug and off-handedly complimenting her on her top. Julie, you sly dog you.

Summer has met up with her father for dinner where she spots Taylor grabbing a to-go order. Quelle domage! Taylor doesn't so much offer an explanation as she spouts a heaping pile of nuttiness and exits, stage left!

At this point it is completely unsurprising, but the phone calls that Ryan and Julie have been receiving have been from one another. This brings us up to date with the beginning of the episode. Julie hired a private dick to find Volchek who apparently was never brought to justice after being the cause of Marissa's death. And now Julie wants justice - CHINO style! Ryan says he doesn't want the file on Volchek or anything to do with this. Julie doesn't believe him, because although he didn't go to Marissa's funeral (gasp!) or visit her grave (double gasp!) she knows how much he loved her.

When Ryan returns to Chino Cheers, he pulls his Marissa Memory Box out from under his bed, and decides that he doesn't need any reminders of Marissa so he throws his pictures, etc. out in the dumpster out back. He better not have gotten rid of the seminal Model Home mix! It's the first glimpse we get of Marissa in the somewhat flesh. For a second I'm surprised to find myself missing her. What? She's just so pretty!

The next day Summer is at Chino Cheers, and I can tell I'm going to love this scene. I've always been a big fan of the unexpected match ups on this show. That's why I'm a sucker for a nice Kirsten/Ryan scene. IF Seth and Julie Cooper would go on a stakeout together it would all but send me to OC heaven (which is like regular heaven except, you know, skinnier). And the moment is just as sweet and tentative as I could have hoped for! One of my favorite lines of the night belongs to Summer (MVP of this episode) when she sees Ryan's bruised up face and says: "I like what you've done to your face." We finally see the old Summer a little bit more, as she tells Ryan to let her do what she does best, boss people around. It takes a little coaxing, but Summer is the one who gets Ryan out of Chino Cheers and to the comic book store for a family intervention.

Family Intervention!?!? I know, I was thinking the same thing, especially when I saw that it involved a slide show, but damn it, I'm about ready to move into the Cohen pool house MYSELF. It seems that Seth and his army of Justice League Nerds created a comic book for Ryan about how much he means to them. Hey, hey, hey, if you didn't get a little emotional when Seth said his "superpower" before Ryan arrived was one he didn't want (invisibility) or when Kristen, aka The Ice Queen, melted when Ryan entered her life then you officially have no soul. NO SOUL. Just like Tom Cruise! You are Tom Cruise! I'm sorry, that was mean.

Anyway the graphic novel grovel (I'm on a roll today!) is enough for Ryan. Sandy drives him home and Ryan admits that he'd like to move from the Chino Cheers storage closet to the Newport Pool House, a lateral transition if you ask me. Then Sandy imparts some sage wisdom on ol' Ryan that for the first time in years, doesn't make me wax my own nether regions. Honestly, I've hated Sandy Cohen (and his goddamn soapbox) for the last two years. Once Sandy has Ryan moving back in, he starts talking about more tentative things, such as Marissa's death. He tells Ryan that he'll never get over what happened, Marissa dieing in his arms, but he'll get used to it. Anyone who has suffered a tragedy of any kind, can certainly agree with that harsh, yet comforting reality. Way to go Sandy!

Sethala drops Summer off at her house, and they have a strained goodbye, that involves a hug and, my fav, a wave goodbye. Now while I get this whole estrangement thing (long distance relationship, death of a best friend, new found hippie-dom), what I don't get is what I'm considering Seth's either obliviousness to this, or his lack of concern.

Summer heads up to her own room, which we remember is only separated from Marissa's room by an open door. Summer looks into the empty room and sees Marissa's skeleton! Oh wait that was just her back, and Summer's imagining it. Whoops! My bad! This freaks Summer out, and she leaves Newport like at Atwood in the night, effectively ditching Seth for their "like old times" breakfast date at the diner the next morning. She leaves Seth a message with a lame excuse about a protest the next day she doesn't want to miss. I'm oddly comforted by the "I love you" that ends the call.

Posted by Umnata on November 6, 2006 11:00 AM