It's a time we have all been waiting for. The return of The OC. If you watch it, then you don't really need to know any more. If you haven't watched it, I should say that it was instrumental in the creation of TVgasm. And although I won't say the TVgasm offices are a shrine to the television show, there is a picture of Mischa Barton on the coffee table, although purely for comedic effect. Thanks to the major league baseball playoffs (who won again? nobody has reminded in the last couple of weeks), we had to take an almost unimaginable time off from the show, eagerly awaiting the resolution of one of the best cliffhanger episodes in recent memory. With the playoffs over, and the election returns taking surprisingly less time than anybody could have expected, we are ready to dig in and enjoy the best over the top melodrama you are going to see all year.
For those of you who don't remember, we have a few little issues hanging around from last season. Ryan had knocked up Theresa, so he headed back to Chino in order to do the right thing and take care of his new family. Caleb and Julie Cooper were married, but the whole house of cards was about fall down as the feds starting poking around. Marissa started drinking again and, um, what else? Oh yes, Seth decided he couldn't take Newport anymore, so he did the mature thing and ran away, on Summer. No, not his girlfriend, but the boat. But at least he left a couple of notes behind to explain everything away.
Some time has passed, and the Cohens have decided that they needed to renovate their house. There are a bunch of sweaty, shirtless men working around the house and they are all ripped. After Julie's bachelor party, the male strippers needed jobs or something. Since they were familiar with the Cohen house already, Kirsten decided to keep them around. Well, that is sort of what it looked like, but that's not really the case. They just found the only contracting company in all of Southern California without any Mexicans or Armenians on the payroll. This is all a metaphor, because the Cohen house is torn apart, much like their family, and they can only hope either one will be fixed very soon. Sandy and Kirsten miss Seth, but disagree how they should go about bringing him home. As Kirsten said, Sandy likes the hippie parenting, not pushing too hard for Seth to come back, but she just wants him to bring him home. At this point in time, I am thinking how in the hell is he going to do that? Didn't Seth say he wanted to go to Tahiti? Did he have a GPS suppository or something?
The past few months haven't gone that well for a lot of our crew from last year. Summer, depressed at the loss of her boyfriend, and kind of wishing she had more to go on than a dumb letter, spent a month or so crying before going into rehab and finding a boyfriend. At least she didn't hit the painkillers like her stepmom. Marissa, meanwhile, has been giving her liver a workout, and starting to "look a little thin" according to Summer. Well, it's good to know the writers still enjoy being self aware about the lives of the cast members. Look for them to get Summer and Seth together very quickly, and then make jokes about them eating at The Griddle all of the time.
What about Ryan? He's not doing badly, got into construction. That whole high school diploma thing was overrated anyway. The writers again try to do their best to convince us that there are actual places in California where more than two caucasians can be seen laboring in the same place at the same time. Theresa loves dropping her man off at work, and loves going the extra mile for him as well, including important things like peeling his orange for him. A woman's only human, this you must understand. Ryan appreciates the gesture, but is afraid what the other guys might say if he doesn't peel his own orange. Come on Ryan, with that five o'clock shadow, who is going to try and mess with you?
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Comments (7)
Thank you for posting that video. Tremendous. So disturbing. Can't look away.
Speaking of disturbing, what happened to the actress who plays Kirsten? You can see all her bones. Gross.
1 of 7 | Posted by freakgirl | Posted on November 5, 2004 9:51 AM
Nice wrap up, but invest in spell check and please note that Julie was not Jimmy's "husband", she was his wife. Hello?
2 of 7 | Posted by quinn77 | Posted on November 5, 2004 10:23 AM
Is it just me, or is it completely obvious that the whole Theresa losing her baby thing is just going to come back later in the season or a few seasons later to bite Ryan in the ass only to find out the baby's not even his except the evil Stefano Dimera, I mean Theresa, uses it to keep Ryan in her life. Very 'Days of our Lives'.
3 of 7 | Posted by LemonadeParade | Posted on November 5, 2004 11:12 AM
I must admit I was a little dissapointed by the first episode. I suppose they had to get out all the expository crap out of the way to set up the rest of the season, but I was just a little bored. And what was up with Marrissa's drinking, that was sooo last season. It looks like Ben McKenzie is starting to loose the creepy out-of-the-corner-of-his-eye acting thing he was always doing last year.Whatever, I'm still excited for what's to come. The OC is better than watching monkeys frolic!
PS That's a pretty scary still of Kirsten
4 of 7 | Posted by smithie | Posted on November 5, 2004 11:40 AM
Down with spell check! Loosen up people!
That freak out by the pool scene was hillarious. She was crying out in rage and anger.....crying out for an acting coach.
5 of 7 | Posted by Leah3t | Posted on November 5, 2004 12:32 PM
Good re-cap. After this episode I am convinced the Seth character must be GAY. His seeming frustration for Orange County (aka The OC) is in truth a reflection of his own discomfort with his own sexual identity. Any man that moves 1000mi away after finally getting a hottie like Summer to acknowledge him in private and public, because his male "friend" moved a lousy 40mi up the 57 freeway has no other excuse.
Also I never bought the sailing to Tahiti thing. I’ve sailed in a real boat from San Diego to Catalina and I’ll tell you I wouldn’t want to do that in 20ft Hobi Cat (aka Summer Breeze) even on a warm August day, let alone in May and forget Tahiti. Even the story Seth told Ryan of going to Catalina and then to Santa Barbra is preposterous... I think the OC writers needed to walk out of their Rosecrans offices and dip a tow in the Pacific Ocean down the street.
So if Seth does not come out of the closet with his Chino love... at least make is inventible reunion with Summer long and painful... the plot line should be good for 20 episodes
6 of 7 | Posted by drchip | Posted on November 8, 2004 12:40 PM
I'm from the portland area, and I can tell you that there is in fact an extremely good water polo program. Why can't the producers get their facts straight.
7 of 7 | Posted by Squirrel | Posted on November 11, 2004 5:59 PM