Alright, so again I thought that The O.C. was a repeat this week, leaving me extra time to get this recap up, but again, I was wrong. Sorry, I've got Santa and finals on the brain. But as a special treat, you get an extra special recap. What makes it extra special? Chrismukkah of course! Because you know what I hated about this VERY SPECIAL CHRISMUKKAH EPISODE? Absolutely. Nothing.
The episode starts off ominously for our favorite new couple, Ryan and Taylor, as Ryan is taking a break from setting up Chrismukkah decorations and chatting with Kirsten about the invite list to the special Chrismukkah dinner tonight. By the way, what exactly are Chrismukkah Decorations? Circumcised Reindeer? Santa in a yarmulke? Anyway, Kristen tells Ryan that he should invite Taylor over for dinner, but Ryan, as he mumbled in last week's Best. Episode. Ever., he isn't ready for a girlfriend. And if Chrismukkah Eve dinner doesn't send the girlfriend message, he doesn't know what does. Kirsten tells Ryan to get the sand out of his vagina and just invite Taylor over, which Ryan says he's going to. Unfortunately, Kirsten is stolen away by her "ham guy", and Ryan peruses the mail to find a letter from beyond the grave. Return Address:
Marissa Cooper
Cloud 293283
Heaven
Over at Julie's, Kaitlin is complaining about having to go to Julie's white trash family's Christmas festivities in Riverside. Julie correctly notes that they don't have many family choices, so watching Aunt Cindy do whip-its under the mistletoe is as good as it's going to get. Enter Taylor, complete with her gift for non-boyfriend Ryan: A George Foreman grill, because Ryan "obviously" likes his meat lean. I love Taylor. Julie wonders if Taylor is going to be spending the holiday with her mother, but Taylor explains that she was informed via mass e-mail that Veronica Townsend would be in Mexico for Christmas with her new boyfriend. No matter, Taylor has every intention of going to the Cohens' for Christmas, just as soon as Ryan invites her.
Taylor heads over to see Ryan as he is setting up the dreidel on top the outdoor Christmas tree. Oy! Ryan is still in shock over the letter he found from Marissa (which is still unopened), but Taylor just thinks that Ryan is playing the I'm not ready for a girlfriend card. Kudos to Taylor for noting that the only muscles Ryan has yet to develop are those in his mouth. Taylor starts to invite herself over but Ryan squashes it. This enrages Taylor, reminding me that enraged Taylor is my favorite kind of Taylor. She climbs the ladder to meet Ryan on the roof, and they start to fight over the gift that Taylor is trying to give to Ryan. Ryan doesn't want the Foreman, but Taylor insists on him having it since she accepted his gift of rejection. This leads to a pushing match that ends with both Ryan and Taylor on the ground; hand in hand, momentarily unconscious. They wake up, and Taylor storms out. But something funny happened. Everything's changed! You're not in Chino anymore!
Here's where things get pretty tricky for the dutiful recapper, as it's kind of hard to explain an alternate reality within a show, like The O.C. Basically, I'm going to get my geek on, and just say that while in the Newport we know and love, Ryan and Taylor are in a coma, in Bizarro Newport no one has any idea who Taylor or Ryan are.
It starts with Ryan walking around the house, and getting yelled at by Ice Queen Kirsten, who doesn't know who he is. He finally says something about Seth, and Kristen sends Ryan to the comic book shop where Seth currently is.
At the mall, Ryan runs into Julie, who is doing some kind of weird public service announcement, trying to help the homeless. Julie, sweet? Something must be amiss. She also doesn't recognize Ryan, and calls him a street urchin. I love it!
Ryan heads upstairs to the comic shop, where Seth is being terrorized by Luke's twin brothers, who are no longer Kaitlin's minions, but are still highly entertaining. They are stealing Seth's wallet, and generally terrorizing him, but in a world without Ryan Atwood, Seth never "toughened up." Ryan gets the wallet back, and the non-minions continue to terrorize Seth, telling him that his "girlfriend" is across the mall. And of course, we see Seth staring at Summer who is... TRYING ON A WEDDING DRESS! Ryan assumes that at least Seth and Summer are still together in this bizarre world, but 'tis not true. Anyone else really digging, pre-Ryan Seth? Just saying...
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Comments (17)
I'd like to take a moment and thank Autumn Reeser for saving "The O.C."
1 of 17 | Posted by nate
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Posted on December 20, 2006 1:29 PM
Were Chee and Summer not the most irritating fake alt-world OC couple EVER? I had forgotten Summer's transformation from S1 Marissa's drunken "I'M POPULAAAR" friend to the more mature character she is now.
2 of 17 | Posted by captainobvious
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Posted on December 20, 2006 1:47 PM
That episode was so good, I completely forgot to turn on wrestling during the commercial breaks. Samoa Joe may be my favorite wrestler right now, but even he cannot withstand the awesome force of the Autumn Reeser tractor beam.
The only part I didn't enjoy was Ryan catching Mischa 2.0 at the airport--not because of the acting or writing, but because of the music that was playing. Anyone with a minor in snobbery knows that the music that was playing was a cover of Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" (or at least, the part of the song AFTER the killer guitar solo and static breakdown). Took me out of the moment there, since I was too busy going, "WTF?"
Other than that, great episode.
3 of 17 | Posted by JohnEDowney
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Posted on December 20, 2006 2:54 PM
nate, i totally agree with you. Autumn Reeser is exactly what The OC was needing. hopefully they keep the show going after this season!
4 of 17 | Posted by David
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Posted on December 20, 2006 4:26 PM
There were so many things about this episode that I loved, including but not limited to the return of Jimmy Cooper, Che being the asswipe he really is, and the realization that pre-Ryan, Seth Cohen was the whiniest, wussiest man to walk this earth. I spent the entire hour completely geeking out and thanking the television gods for Autumn Reeser bringing new life back to my favorite show.
5 of 17 | Posted by UglyAllie
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Posted on December 20, 2006 7:19 PM
I loved this episode! The alt-universe Ryan reads Marissa's letter (since Julie slipped it under his pillow in the real universe...) and that's when he comes out of the coma, by the way.
6 of 17 | Posted by SunnyHours
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Posted on December 20, 2006 10:27 PM
i thought that alt-world summer was hilarious!
7 of 17 | Posted by thatswhack
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Posted on December 20, 2006 10:34 PM
One screen cap? Seriously? I skipped over the whole recap - when there are no pictures - there will be no reading. Otherwise, it was a fun episode.
8 of 17 | Posted by jairocon
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Posted on December 20, 2006 11:32 PM
Dude, you missed the awesome Johnny Harper poster. Johnny's alive in alt-world.
This was a really funny episode. I liked it a lot.
9 of 17 | Posted by mizta
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Posted on December 21, 2006 2:32 AM
Yeah the return of the bitchy Holly!! Did she just drop out of school after she slept with Luke because we never saw her again...
Two hilarious things- Kaitlyn talking about their "very Britney Christmas" and the Johnny Harper surfing god poster. Guess Marissa dying early kept him alive!
10 of 17 | Posted by dent
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Posted on December 21, 2006 5:24 AM
wow, I didn't even notice the johnny poster, that's awesome... lets get a screen cap of that, yeah?
Having Jimmy back makes any episode extra amazing... Autumn Reeser and Tate Donovan should get together, and the awesome would just emanate from them.
Loved Che. Summer was hilarious.
Only problem I had with it: If Marissa still died from overdosing in TJ, then she still overdosed (partially) because she got super upset when she saw Holly making out with Luke, yeah? So would Summer still be so chummy with Holly, the friend killer? Hmmmmm. And WHERE WAS LUKE? Disregarding the obvious issue of "Chris Carmack didn't wanna", I miss Luke! I wanted him to show up so bad...
11 of 17 | Posted by MalloryS
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Posted on December 21, 2006 7:30 AM
The next OC soudntrack CD they are putting out is all cover songs. Good tunes re-done by bands that are not so famous. That would explain why there was a cover of Radiohead's - Paranoid Android.
Also the theme song at the beginning was a cover as well.
12 of 17 | Posted by coleejohns
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Posted on December 21, 2006 8:45 AM
I noticed the different theme song and didn't clue in that it was alt-world O.C. opening credit music. Good job, though I didn't like that version so much.
Reminds me of when Friends did a sort of "alt-world" scenario where Monica was fat, Ross was still married to Carol, Rachel had married Barry etc. and they changed the opening credits to reflect their "alt" characters.
13 of 17 | Posted by Ms. Tumnus
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Posted on December 21, 2006 10:28 AM
I love this new season of the oc! I've been watching this show since episode one and even last year when it was like torture to watch, but the last five episodes of last season w/johhny dying and then finally marissa proved why the oc was just oh so good, and now with taylor and no more annoying marissa the show is aweomse!!! i just hope more ppl start watching it again so they can see how good it is!
14 of 17 | Posted by Svettylana
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Posted on December 21, 2006 11:25 AM
Again, this episode was really good! I loved that Julie still kicked ass in reality and in alt-world, and at the end when Ryan put his arm around Taylor's waist once he got out of his "coma lite". It was so adorable. It's gonna be sad when the show is cancelled because this season has been just awesome so far. They should have killed Marissa at the end of season 2!
15 of 17 | Posted by stacyrocks
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Posted on December 21, 2006 11:57 AM
Yes thank you once again Autumn Reeser for saving what will likely be The OC's last season.
When I saw the Its a Wonderful Life premiss for the show I was dubious BUT, the writers reached into thier inner geek and crossed it with clasic Star Trek's MIrrior Mirror and you have gold.
I also love Kaitlyn "so its coma light" when she describes Ryan and Taylor's condition.
As good as the show has become now that the albatros know as Marissa is gone I honestly don't see how it stays on the air. It is in a time slot that shows go do die. Even if it were given a repreive how do you keep the cast together. How do you explain how they all suddenly end up together at USC or UCLA. Those seem to be the only schools that are close enough to the OC and still make sense for Ivy leage students to be at if they are not in fact in an Ivy league school. I just dont see four very smart people suddenly transfering to Orange Coast College just to keep the show running.
16 of 17 | Posted by weaponx4701
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Posted on December 21, 2006 12:40 PM
this had to have been the worst recap EVER!!!! who is writing these things now?? I have not logged in in a while and normally i am laughing histerically. no offense but this was terrible. At least when the show sucks I can usually look forward to a funny recap.. not anymore!!!
17 of 17 | Posted by ginaballerina21
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Posted on December 22, 2006 7:58 PM