Since I am entering my commentary late into the The OC game, I am going to spare everybody a painfully longwinded appraisal or show by show analysis. I will say that The OC was one of the most enjoyable series over the first half of its history, and average(and too often below average) fare throughout most of the second half.

There were a lot of good parts to the season. There were plenty of interesting characters and some very original story lines. The show arguably featured America's favorite couple (Ryan and Marissa), America's favorite arch-rivals(Ryan vs. Luke), and America's favorite love triangle (Seth, Summer, Anna). We were also handed some very nice buzzwords/catch phrases, namely "Chrismukkah" and "Welcome to the OC bitch!". There are also plenty of little quirks to love like OC caper music they like to play during their breakfast skits at the beginning of the show, Sandy's sideburns, Kirsten's drinking, and the most original usage of the word "Hey!" during any broadcast.

Somewhere towards the middle, the show lost something. I don't know if it was Anna's departure or Luke's 60-0 change from jock to geek, but something change. We could blame everything on that ridiculous Rooney episode, but that would be taking the easy route. Instead, I start to question haphazard way the story-lines started to come in and out of the episodes like nothing. It was as if the writers had watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and were worried the viewers would erase their memories every few weeks. Therefore, no story-line was able to stick around for more than a few weeks.

Another major complaint is that Ryan has become the most brooding, self-righteous person on the planet. We all loved Ryan's brooding when he had a few flaws and he was insecure and still trying to fit in. Then he becomes some sort of vessel that is always around to pass judgment on everybody else, whether they want to be fixed or not. (BTW, I am not that religious, but you would think somebody could have bitch-slapped some self righteousness back at Ryan after his failure to don the jimmy cap before his interlude with Ms. Chino.) Gag me with a spoon, as they used to say in 80s sitcoms.

The show also got a little too in love with itself during the season. "The Valley"? Come on. I bet the writers said to themselves "Let's try and come up with a new catch-phrase, and when people use it, we can stroke ourselves" and then came up with "The Vegas". And let's not forget the two most uninspired cliffhangers ever. Did any of you really believe Marissa wouldn't make it, or would be shipped off to an institute? Do any of you actually believe Ryan isn't going to live with the Cohens next year? (BTW, unless Teresa was really chaste, how do we know its Ryan's baby? How convenient for her that paternity tests are usually done after the first trimester.)