The O.C. Reviews

Three-in-One

2007-01-18T20:23:00.000-08:00

“The Earth Girls Are Easy,” “The My Two Dads,” and “The French Connection”

So it's been several weeks since I've written. I know, I'm sorry. I actually started a review for “The Earth Girls Are Easy,” but then the cancellation news came down, school started back, and it just didn't seem worth it. I'm not completely out of the game, but I'm so disheartened by the fact that February 22, in all likelihood, barring a last minute resurrection by Dawn Ostroff at The C.W., is the end for us. I mean, it's just come and gone so fast. And man, I'm just in shock.

Anyway, we'll dwell on the sad stuff when the time comes, but for now, let's take look at the three episodes and try to delve into the relatoinships. First of all, let me show just paste you the ¼ page review I had written for “The Earth Girls Are Easy” so you can see where I was going with that before I stopped:

“In this case, 'The Annoying, Whiny, Idiotic Fans of “The O.C.” vs. Josh Schwartz's Creation,' the defense calls Drew Timmons, show critic, to the stands.

Thanks, it's nice to be here. And yeah, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God. I'm cool with that. I'm just here to make it known that people out there who watch this show are sometimes so incredibly dense and ridiculous that they make me want to swear off television for good.

Sir, you say that 'The Earth Girls Are Easy' was a pretty good episode, but it seems that a large percentage of the fan base, the kind who uses complete sentences at least, disagrees and found it weak and unbelievable. How do you respond to this?

Look, I'm not here to tell anyone how to watch an episode or what to get from it. But it's not my prerogative to make everyone like every episode. I mean, you know, some people didn't like the first four episodes of the season, and that's pretty ridiculous. There are people who don't think that this season has honored Marissa, and that's absurd. But really, until now, I haven't called them out too harshly. So yeah, it's not my prerogative to make sure that people like every episode, but it's my job to make sure people see that they've found the stupidest possible reasons for disliking the show this season, and I think this episode is a good one to make that point with.

But didn't you realize that Seth and Summer had no chemistry in this episode? I mean, how can you say anything is a good episode when Seth and Summer act so awkward around each other? This episode cannot be good!”

So there ya go. It ends without an answer to that question. But we'll kind of get to it later. As you can see, much like Josh and his writers, I thought I'd play with traditional format, too. They, of course, have been more successful. But they get paid in six figures. Cormac has yet to offer me any money for my services. And fans haven't donated. Not that I'd take it. (Only, I would). But I digress, as usual.

The Earth Girls Are Easy: Not a great episode but a solid one that would have kicked January off correctly had Fox not reworked the schedule so that this aired before Christmas. It wasn't perfect, and I know it wasn't well liked, overall, but most of the criticisms were horrible, particularly the one that said Seth and Summer didn't have any chemistry in the episode and that they were too awkward. I don't even know where to begin addressing that. And there was, of course, the whole thing about how people thought we should have seen Ryan and Taylor having sex.

In fact, this has been a point of discussion for weeks now. People say that we should be seeing Ryan and Taylor making out/having sex/whatever and that Josh is a lesser showrunner because he hasn't given us those scenes. Jesus, people who think that, are you all really that moronic? I know, I know, I shouldn't lash out at people reading this, but there isn't a single logical point behind this thought. What is gained through a prolonged make-out session? What is gained through showing them having sex? Nothing. Don't give me the argument that they have too much chemistry to waste. I know that. I don't need you to spell that one out. They have GREAT chemistry. But that doesn't meant we need to see them doing ANYTHING other than what they've been doing. All it would do is slow the show down, slow the story down, and just generally suck the life out of the show. I like a passionate kiss or a great sex scene as much as the next guy, but give it a rest, people.

Some people thought Seth was a dick for being happy that Summer wasn't pregnant. Methinks that it's okay to celebrate when you're 18, basically unemployed with no high education, and you don't actually WANT a child. So, yeah, there's another terrible criticism.

But the episode did have some great stuff in it, most notably all things Bullit. When the Bullit joined the cast, I liked him, but I could see why others wouldn't – he was loud, obnoxious, obliviously racist, and just a huge stereotype. Somehow, though, the actor and the writing clicked, and he became something pretty special. He's an incredibly warm character, and as he's started to fall for Julie, you can't help but want her to fall back. That's why it was so heart breaking to see him standing alone, waiting for Julie to dance with him, oblivious to the fact that she's gone to somewhat innocently meet Frank.

Enter Kaitlin. Now Kaitlin has been the surprise of the season for many people, especially the idiots who took Josh's words out of context and decided that the whole fourth season would be about her. But it hasn't, and that's awesome. Instead, she's clearly her mother's daughter, and she's funny, and she's cool, and so you just knew she'd save the day for the Bullit and she did! Their dance together is one of the greatest moments ever on this show, and I fully and honestly mean that. In a sense, Bullit standing by himself and Kaitlin, in her own fit of loneliness (Jimmy! Why must you be such poor dad to this awesome girl? Why did you like Marissa the best? Why!), encapsulates everything about the series. It was about failure and betrayal and loss and pain, and then it was about hope and family and possibility. I hope that Julie comes around, finds that she loves the Bullit, and they live a perfect life together. Julie and Kaitlin deserve it, and the Bullit seems to want it, and I can't think of a better match. The Kaitlin/Bullit dance, I think, wins scene of the year so far for me, even outdoing a lot of the amazing grieving the characters did early on and the awesome, “Ryan...Ryan...I schmeared it for ya!” scene.

Let's also not forget how crucial this episode was in establishing the Taylor/Summer friendship. While Taylor was overdone in a later episode, she was used very well here, and I think that her complete unselfishness and willingness to support Summer shows why she's the best friend Summer has ever had. Okay, Taylor knowing Summer's period cycle is kind of weird, but it is Taylor, and so you just kind of accept it. From any other character, it's scary, but from Taylor, it's weird and quirky, and you just take it. But from that moment on, Taylor was determined to be there for Summer because Summer is her friend, and she was in need. The shot of their hand-hold in the back of the car was one of the best shots this season. Compare Taylor to this scene, quote taken from Joanna at TWoP's recap of “The Strip”:

She drops the bomb: the manicure she just got yesterday is already chipped! Oh, and Theresa is prugnunt. The camera circles around them ... And also that the baby might not be Eddie's. She orders Ryan to tell her what's going on, and the camera pans upward to black. How did this moment become more about Marissa than Ryan?

Taylor never made Summer's pregnancy about herself, and even though it was the catalyst for her plot with Ryan, she always separated Ryan and Summer so that she never really lost sight of her priorities. I love Taylor. She's so awesome.

The My Two Dads: This was a definite all-time classic, I feel. I think it hit the right character notes (though Seth/Summer's storyline has certainly sparked debate, but as usual, I'm here to settle it!) and did a very good job trying to establish exactly where Ryan fits in the family.

First, briefly, let's discuss Seth and Summer. The common criticism of their storyline seems to be, “If they're too immature to tell each other how they feel, if they have to play these games, then they're too immature to get married.” Duh. Of course they're too immature to get married. But the key is that they know it. They're both intelligent enough (during most episodes at least) to realize that they're 18 and mostly useless to society at the moment. Neither are in a position to get married. But they will be eventually. A more mature criticism of this storyline was, “Seth and Summer have come so far this year in terms of willingness to talk, so I can't buy this storyline because they regressed.” I can agree with that to an extent, although I would say that the fact that they're dealing with marriage probably knocks them down a few notches. But that's a point better taken the first one, and to that I say, “Well played, but they were funny, so who cares?” And yes, they were hilarious. Seth and Summer have always had great chemistry and have always been fun together, but this was a major step up. Kudos to Adam Brody for finally seeming motivated again. Maybe the news of cancellation made him want to act again. Or maybe the scripts were just finally good again. But he seems like he enjoys what he does now.

Anyway, the meat of this episode was the Frank/Sandy/Ryan storyline, and I have to say that it was one of the finest executed plots they've ever done. I still believe that maybe the story would have benefited from a multi-episode arc last season, but for the little time they had, they did wonders with it. I'm more than impressed. I felt that Kevin Sorbo actually fit the part of Ryan's father well, although I was initially hesitant. He was cool with just a hint of menacing, and Sorbo's acting past made him seem tougher than he probably actually is. No offense to him, of course. I'm sure he could kick my ass.

But it was great to see Frank enter the picture. We've seen everyone else, but we've barely even heard of Frank, and it was clear that it could provide something very intriguing. After all, the show is essentially built on Ryan's relationship with Sandy. Without those two, this show is nothing. But last season, we heard Sandy basically dismiss Ryan as his son. Not meanly, of course, but every time Sandy made mention of having one son, it stung the fans of their bond. By no means do I want Ryan to take the last name Cohen (EVER, Josh, although I do like referring to them as “the Cohens” -- I'm kind of difficult to deal with), but I do want him to feel part of the family. Remember when he said he wasn't an Atwood but he wasn't a Cohen, either? Well, Sandy did nothing to help that last season. I think it was just the writers being careless, but I won't blame the writers and credit the characters, so I'll blame the character.

But this episode fixed that. Sandy saw Ryan and suddenly became territorial. He wanted to protect Ryan, keep Ryan, love Ryan. It was a bit intense at times, but that's what you want. It's the passion and love that I expect from my dad and all my friends expect from theirs. I think that after all Ryan has been through, Sandy began to see himself as a father even more. And then that was threatened by a “terminally ill” Frank. In some sense, you have to feel for Frank. Here's someone who was more than a shitty father, he was a shitty human being. But he's served time, and he's turned his life around. It doesn't excuse what he's done, but this show is about second chances (and don't give me any e-mails about how Marissa deserved a second chance – maybe you can argue a 202 chance), and so maybe he deserved one. With proper supervision and such. Despite his changes, though, some people can't escape their old demons. I think Trey proved this, and like father, like son. Frank is different, he wants to be different, and even though his mistakes weren't as great as they were last time, they were still big enough. And it's not just the lying. Notice how quickly his temper flared when Sandy got defensive. It was a great job from Josh & Stephanie to show the remains of who he was. It'd be too easy, like with Trey, to write him as a pure villain or a pure reformed saint, and they avoided it.

I think special credit has to be paid to Peter Gallagher who delivered his best performance since season one. He was absolutely remarkable. At no point did you doubt exactly how Sandy felt, and when he punched Frank and then dared him to come for more, you couldn't help but cheer. I couldn't, at least.

You also can't help but love the two scenes that really cemented the new family dynamics. First is when Ryan told Sandy that he's his father. Just brilliant. Exactly what we all needed to hear. And then, at the end, as Seth returns home, and they all sit on the couch, just watching a movie. The writers tried to make us feel last year like the true fab four consisted of the four teens, but that's not true, it's never been true, and it never will be true. The Cohen family is our fab four. And were we hearing things or did Ryan outright call Sandy, “Dad” in that scene? I don't want him calling him that all the time, but it was a sweet, so sweet, moment.

Before we get onto “The French Connection” and diss Taylor for the first time ever I think, let me compliment her here. She played everything very low-key, stressing a bit about her relationship, but worrying mostly that Ryan was okay. When she told Ryan to go sit with his family, she won every heart that wasn't still freakishly attached to previous girlfriends. She didn't want to be a part of that moment. She didn't belong. It wasn't about her. It was about Ryan. And that, my friends, is beautiful.

Oh, oh, and Chris Brown was there, too, acting horribly in a well-written role. I still love Kaitlin, though, so I'll forgive all his craziness. But Kaitlin's report, and the Ward twins being complete, wonderful dorks are the things that made the Harbor storyline very, very fun. If you're not enjoying Kaitlin and her friends, then you're just wrong. Maybe you're even in the group that took Josh's words out of context when he said they'd show high school again this year. You know, the group that took that to mean that Kaitlin would be another Marissa. Shame on you, people!

The French Connection:
Seth and Dr. Roberts = awesome chemistry, a lot of fun, a few fun cracks at the enemy.
Will and Kaitlin = bad acting + good acting + solid writing, so it's all okay.
Julie and Kirsten = fine since it gave Kirsten something to do (which, as I've said before, isn't a huge deal like some people insist that it is) and even better since it may lead to an actual rift between the two.
Seth and Summer breaking off their engagement = tons of heartache in the best possible way since it was painfully real and a beautiful way to really look at Summer's character.
Newpsieweds = funnier in theory.
Che = still awesome and anyone who doesn't think so isn't too cool in my books

I go through that in bullets so that I can end this review before it gets too long. But first, I need to discuss Taylor and why this episode failed badly with regard to her storyline. I mean, the idea was good. Find a way to put a wedge in the seemingly perfect Taylor/Ryan relationship. Play to insecurities. That's great! I love conflict that isn't in love triangles. But this just wasn't the way to do it. First, you can't tell me that Taylor is really that smart. No way. Second, don't try to center an episode around how Ryan isn't as smart as Taylor when you've spent three seasons trying to tell me that Ryan really is smart. Maybe not in the same way that Taylor is, but I can't see why Ryan couldn't adjust the conversation to English and to architecture or something similar.

Second, people like Taylor because of how easily she slid into the group and how great she was at helping others. She very rarely existed on her own, and that kept the stories fresh and her character fun. We weren't overexposed. Until this episode. Simply put, this was just too much. Taylor has always been a larger-than-life character, but this episode just made her too big. French books, French talk shows, etc. Just too much. She works best when she's big on a small scale. Does that kind of make sense? Like, I love when she does crazy things, but I like it best when she's relegated to remembering Summer's period or taking random photos of Ryan or updating her no doubt sensuous blog. I think my main qualm is that although I completely accept Taylor as a main cast member, she's not as important as the rest, and I feel like the show should focus on the other characters more. Something for Sandy outside of his awesome Jerry Lewis impression. Maybe a date with Spitzy?

Now I do enjoy seeing conflict in Taylor and Ryan's relationship, unlike those who complain that The O.C. isn't boring enough so they want to see Ryan and Taylor happy all the time, but I want to see the conflict fed through Ryan, not through Taylor. The difference is astronomical.

I also enjoyed the final sequence where they almost did a callback to “The Countdown” and thousands of R/M fans everywhere pissed themselves in terror (and yes, I've read that pissing yourself isn't an actual response to terror, but it's in the world enough for me to use it). Nice, nice swerve for it not to be real, although it does seem like Ryan and Taylor may be a little too in sync. Their fantasies/dream sequences are shockingly similar, huh?

But overall, it was another solid effort. There have been a few missteps this season, but those missteps have been so minor and haven't hurt any episode overall. Every episode has been solid to great, and that's something you just can't say about last year.

So that'll do it. Not much else to say other than that according to spoilers, things are about to really heat up, so everybody watch and be excited. I can't imagine that you'll be disappointed.

Thanks for reading and for your patience. And continue to enjoy Editorial Newport, as it looks better than ever, even in the face of cancellation adversity. Watch for updates, including a couple of new podcasts – hopefully, at least.

-Drew
Questions, comments?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

The Chrismukk-huh?

2006-12-21T12:42:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while, hasn't it? A long time has passed – nearly six months, give or take a few weeks – since I sat down to write about the show. The podcasts have been fun, and I really enjoy doing those, but as you can tell, it's hard to formulate thoughts when you have only a few seconds to think. We'll definitely continue to do them, but for at least a little while, I'm back to writing, and I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing.

Okay, I can, but this is still fairly high on the list.

Just to clarify, the reason I haven't written isn't because I've disliked the episodes. No way. I think that this season has been nearly as good as season one, and it pains me to think that we're halfway through this season and then we'll see no more show. That's not 100% confirmed, and maybe if someone from the afterlife could visit and tell us exactly which God is up there, we can all pray to him, and the show will be renewed. Because truly, as good as this writing is now, it deserves extra time. Then again, maybe this season is so good because it has a focus, and that focus is the end of the series. Who knows? All I know is that any faith that I lost in Josh is completely restored, and after reading the articles about network meddling last year, I can't say I completely blame him for what happened.

But I digress.

At the beginning of the season, Josh claimed that this was going to be the best Chrismukkah ever. Now, I'd debate that and say that's wrong, but not because this episode was bad. It's just that the first two Chrismukkahs are so good. Season one was a wonderful, hilarious, sweet episode with just the right amount of soap and intrigue. Season two was soapy and intriguing with the right amount of hilarity and sweetness. Season three, well, let's put that behind us (and yes, I gave it a good review last year, and I still don't think it was horrible because a sizable chunk was pretty good, but overall, yikes).

This show has always been really straightforward in its storytelling. If I'm not mistaken, they didn't even do a dream sequence until the season three premiere. I think there might have been something somewhat unique at the end of season two when Marissa was having some kind of attempted-rape flashback, but other than that, everything was told straight to us, and while it worked, it always seemed unadventurous. So when I saw some narrative framing in the premiere, and the stages of grief sequence in episode four, I was blown away. Add in the awesome fantasies Ryan had about Taylor (and the awesome weird lens shot of Sandy handing a bagel that he “schmeared” to Ryan), and you've got a show that's far from unadventurous.

But an alternate universe episode? That's a little bit more difficult to do right. “One Tree Hill” proved that with an absolutely horrible episode a few weeks back. That's not to say that it can't be done as “That '70s Show” did a brilliant “It's A Wonderful Life” parody, and I'm sure I've seen others that I just can't remember.

So did this episode work? Yeah, it really did. It wasn't perfect, but it was still really good, and I think that it's an episode that people will look at fondly in the future because it managed to weave together humor and heart, and that's all we need at the holidays. No one doubted that Ryan and Taylor would recover from their comas, so there was little tension there, but the writers did manage to develop significant tension as we waited to find out how they were going to get out. So this episode was about how and not if, and that's cool for me.

The main criticism that I've heard about this episode is that nothing really happened. No plot progression. I don't know what to say about that other than: ha!

Aside from 'The Graduates,' which relaunched the entire series for the better, this was probably the most important episode of the series. It was the writers' way of writing the final chapter in the Ryan/Marissa story, and while there is certainly room to write an epilogue, I'm not sure one is needed. If anything, their relationship has been better portrayed in Marissa's death than in life where it was routinely a joke. It wasn't until this year that I saw that Ryan truly loved Marissa. Some argue that the series hasn't shown that this year, but those people, I firmly believe, are just looking to criticize. I've really yet to hear, read, or see a valid argument against this, although I totally welcome any e-mails that try to convince me otherwise. I firmly believe that I'll win that argument, though.

But the biggest reason this episode was important is not merely that it closed the book on their relationship, but it opened the book on the rest of Ryan's life. For the last few months, he's been trying to move forward, but he's been anchored down by the weight of Marissa's death and their relationship. In many ways, it's not unlike his initial venture to Newport where he was trying acclimate himself and failing because the weight of his previous life held him down.

He doesn't have to worry about that now. It's not that life is going to get much easier for him now, but he can take larger steps and strides toward a new life, and that's extremely important. Ryan, for all intents and purposes, is the “main” character of the show (though I'm not trying to diminish the others because frankly, I've never believed Ryan was the best, so no hate mail about that please), and we've followed his journey through a lot of highs and a lot lows. So I find it important, no matter how you feel about Ryan, that you recognize how important it is for him to move on. He needs it, and I think he's earned it.

In fact, I found this episode not only the beginning of a new life for Ryan but also a redemption for Marissa. It takes a pretty blind eye not to recognize Marissa's utter selfishness over the majority of three seasons. She was a self-centered, self-absorbed, and, well, self-everything really except -sufficient. She constantly brought Ryan down with her, and many of Ryan's problems since he arrived in Newport can be traced back to Marissa. Aside from turning herself in for shooting Trey, she didn't do much for Ryan. But this letter completely changed that, I think. You can effectively argue that it was simply the writers' way of bringing Taylor and Ryan together, but I do think it fits perfectly in the continuity of the series, and it actually shows us that Marissa really did mature in the final months of her life, something the show seemed to want to tell but didn't know how to show. Through this letter, Marissa smartly broke ties with Ryan. Their relationship was self-destructive, and they were never going to be completely happy together, and it's pretty amazing that people ever believed that it could. And I love that Marissa, who I used to think had the IQ of a special needs monkey, was the one who realized what needed to be done. She had to move on, and she knew Ryan did, too. Maybe Taylor wasn't the person she would have picked for him, but Taylor's good for him, and I think we can all see now that Marissa just wanted him to be happy.

And Taylor will make Ryan happy. And Ryan will make Taylor happy. And they both make me happy. And if I'm happy, the world is happy. Or at least, my world is happy, and my world is the most important world to me. So there. Anyway, you can't deny the smoking chemistry that these two have, even in alt-world, and I'm constantly amazed that after such a dismal year last year, the writers and actors are meeting on the same page. The writers are offering up the best romantic comedy has to offer, and these two actors are responding in kind. It's really lovely.

To use that as a transition to talking about Taylor, I have to say that this episode was just as important for Taylor as it was for Ryan. Now first, to shush the critics who say that Taylor has “taken over” the show. Fine, maybe she's been slightly overexposed. But honestly, she's better and more energetic than anyone else on this show (and this coming from someone who would go GAY for Adam Brody and Peter Gallagher and who thinks that Rachel Bilson hung the moon and who thinks that Ben McKenzie is the most improved actor on television and that he wows me week after week), and the show needs her at the moment. Further, there was nothing else needed for the other characters at this point. You have to remember that the show was structured in a particular way this season. This episode was supposed to air on the 21st, and it was going to end the first part of the season. So they put all the characters in situations where they could hold for a while, and they did so very well. I'm amazed at how well they did it, actually. At the end of episode six, I thought that everyone, minus Ryan and Taylor (who were still good), was in a perfect position, and they didn't need episode seven for their stories. So no, that criticism doesn't fly. Taylor hasn't eaten up any story that anyone else needed. The storylines have been fair and balanced this year, a far cry from last year. Everyone's involved (except for maybe Kirsten, but that's a whole other debate that I might get into later on; or maybe it'd make a good podcast topic), and they've done this even with adding two new main characters. That says a lot about how much screen time Marissa ate up last year.

Anyway, my point through all this is that Taylor needed this journey as well. She had to realize that the fact that her mother hates her has nothing to do with her but everything to do with her mother. Even if she were a boy, her mother would hate her. You can possibly read even deeper into the storyline and look at Taylor's masculinity versus her femininity, but I really don't know where to go with that. I just know that Taylor's dream and the decision she made in her dream heavily influences where she goes from here, and that heavily influences her relationship with Ryan. Now that she's at peace with the relationship that has scarred her the most, she can really help Ryan come along. Not that he's not getting there. He is. But he'll still need a little boost. Of course, whether they survive or not is up in the air, but if they fall apart now, it's not because of Marissa or Veronica. Then again, even if Taylor has made peace with her mom's bitchiness, she still has to work through the years of scarring it's caused. So, yeah, interesting potential there. Since Fox is run by morons, though, we probably won't get to see that potential played out since they're determined to kill what I'm not afraid to call their best show currently on the air (and yes, I'm including “House,” which is so laughably bad this season that I can't even try to compare it to “The O.C.” without laughing – and I really do love that show!). “24” will take that crown for some people in January, but for now, this show is it.

A couple of other notes . . .

Julie got some closure tonight, it seems, as she showed she cared about Ryan, and she didn't freak when she read the letter from Marissa. You can't ever get over death, but you can move on with it, and that's important for Julie. With Kaitlin by her side (they're the best mother-daughter combination on television), she'll survive, and I'm glad. I love to see her play the surrogate mother role to Taylor, someone who desperately needs that figure. I'm beginning to think that the series should end with Julie leaving Newport and returning to where she can survive on her own, but with her heart bigger than it's ever been, maybe she's proving that she's just as good as Sandy and Kirsten. Okay, not quite. But damn, she's trying.

One of the most ridiculous criticisms I've heard about this episode was that Kirsten was too concerned with her ham. Yeah, she was concerned with it (and probably could have shown more concern for Taylor and Ryan, even though there was no reason for more concern since the doctor assured them they'd be okay), but that's because it was cooking. If she hadn't worried about it the house would have burned down. I know people want “hospital Ryan” with the Cohens acting concerned, but it's ludicrous to think she should just forget about her house possibly burning down. On the same note, the people complaining about Kirsten telling Ryan he should put the decorations up are ridiculous, too. Yeah, if Seth wants something then Seth should do it, but Lord, to complain that Kirsten is treating Ryan wrong by telling him to do something have obviously never been in a family before. Or else my mom, who I thought was a great mom, isn't that great after all. She tells me to do things all the time. There are such warped views of Ryan's relationship with the Cohens out there that I can't even begin to go into detail here. Suffice to say, spare me the angry e-mails. I know what I'm talking about.

Jimmy should have been used better, I think. I didn't mind them using him only in the alt-world, but I would have preferred that they gave him more lines. I know that Tate Donovan's acting skills aren't appreciated by everyone, but I think he's great, and I think he knows Jimmy Cooper as well as any other actor on the show knows their character, and I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of him and his interaction with Kirsten. They always had a fun chemistry, so to see their scenes tossed aside was kind of depressing. But they weren't integral to the plot, so I won't waste too much time with it. I do feel bad, though, that Sandy and Julie will divorce and Jimmy will kind of be left in the dust when Kirsten and Sandy reunite. Unless it means that Jimmy and Julie will rightfully get back together. *sigh* All that speculation is ridiculous because it's an alt-world. Forgive me for overthinking it. Oh, and I'd also like to know how Sandy and Julie got together. I imagine that they did it to spite Jimmy and Kirsten, and spite is a great reason to do anything in life.

People who say that Seth and Summer were cartoonish are wrong, as well. Yes, both were cartoonish, but consider that Seth would have far less confidence without Ryan in his life and consider that Summer would have had no need to evolve without Seth, and you'll see why it's hardly a stretch. These characters weren't meant to mirror the characters in the pilot. They were meant to mirror what the characters would be like now. I can still see the criticisms, but again, I don't find them valid. Besides, without it, we'd wouldn't have gotten Seth's pouting, which was awesome.

And finally, on the criticism standpoint, let's just say that Luke shouldn't have been in this episode. Che worked far better. The explanation for why Che was there was clunky, yes, but Che fit the role far better than Luke. It's not just that Pratt is a better actor than Carmack, but it's that Che is better suited to this particular character. Che is wacky and silly while Luke really wasn't. Yeah, he was a bit wacky and silly at the Rooney concert, but other than that, he's fairly reserved and normal. There's no way I'd buy Luke telling Julie to spank him while I can completely buy Che doing it. You've also got to consider that Luke could never fill this particular role because his role in Marissa's death is just too great, and thus, he's not likely to have sex with her mom, nor is he likely to speak of “thong removeification,” which, by the way, is the greatest phrase that any team of writers ever invented, perhaps bypassing Chrismukkah. We'll see if catches on.

Before I go, I want to thank the writers for packing this episode with little things for the fans. Whether it was simply Seth actually getting into Brown or Johnny's surf poster or Brad and Eric riding on a bike and skateboard or Sandy working with Henry Griffin (which, by the way, is interesting because it suggests that whether Ryan was there or not, Sandy was destined to get caught up in that dirty game) or Darryl as the homeless guy or Julie symbolically telling alt-Ryan that she knows his pain, it was all really fun, and it was a great tribute to the people who stuck with the show through some less-than-perfect times.

And with that, I'll sign off. This has been an interesting review to try to write because it isn't necessarily plot heavy, and you can really only analyze two major characters, but still, I think I hate some of the high points. I hope you guys enjoyed it. It feels good to be back writing again, as it's been a long time.

I probably won't have anything else up before the New Year, so I hope that everyone reading this (assuming you're not reading this at Editorial Newport where it might be after New Year's before it's up) has a great, wonderful, terrific Christmas (or holiday equivalent) and a great, wonderful, terrific New Year.

Questions, comments, criticisms (but for the love of God no complaints about the things where I told you not to bother me)?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

-Drew

Season Four!

2006-10-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Want season four spoilers? Updates?

Well, I've seen the first four episodes, and Cormac and I talk at length about them in the new Editorial Newport Live!

Definitely check it out. And don't worry, I won't spoil too much, but I hope I'll get you excited.

First Podcast - The Debut

2006-09-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

First Podcast at Editorial Newport! Listen and enjoy! Comment! And eventually, when it's ready, subscribe on iTunes.

Season Three Review

2006-07-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

So, what’s the date?

Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m late. Real late. The season ended well over a month ago (update: the season ended well over two months ago as I finish this), and you haven’t heard anything from me since my “Thank God Marissa is Dead” review, a review that really wasn’t that anti-Marissa if you think about it.

Anyway, I do apologize. It’s not that I haven’t remembered. I think about writing daily. It’s not that I’ve been too busy, although summer school has required much more of me than last year did. It’s mostly that I’ve had time to gain perspective on season three, and to be honest, I haven’t wanted to revisit it. Overall, it was extremely disappointing, and the writers managed to mangle what should have been the best season of the series.

Last season’s review came in around 17 pages. A lot of it was lists and analysis from people who sent their thoughts, but still, I wrote a lot. A whole lot. But this year, I’m more jaded, more cynical, and more tired of trying to make sense of the season. Season two wasn’t perfect, but at that time, it was only one bad season. Now we’ve had two. So don’t expect anything too long this time. I’m just being honest. (Besides, there’s something special that might happen at Editorial Newport, and I have to save something for that, right?)

Look, I’m not saying that season three was terrible. It wasn’t. I enjoyed myself far more than many people did. I never once had the urge not to watch the show, even through the Johnny mess. I just grew increasingly frustrated because the show had no idea how to respond to the fans’ wants. It was satisfied with rehashing old storylines, storylines people were sick of after the first time through. And that’s horrible. The fans knew exactly where this season needed to go, what it needed to do, etc. The fans saw so much promise at the end of last season. And it was just squandered away by a clueless writing staff.

But like I said, it wasn’t terrible. Maybe not good, overall, but terrible is a, well, terrible word. In fact, there were genuinely good moments and storylines on the show. Unfortunately, when these good moments happened, they came at the wrong times. Too little, too late, and add those two together and you get too wrong. That’s over thinking it, I guess, but from what I can tell, it’s pretty true. So, to make this review easier and more fun to write, and more fun to read (I’m just thinking about you guys, you know), we’re going to play a little game called:

‘How Did They Blow It?’

I’ll list a storyline or moment during the season, tell you why it was a good decision, and then discuss how it failed. Some will, of course, be a bigger stretch than others (seriously, how bad did they actually screw up Taylor?), but I’m telling the truth on everything. It’s exactly how I feel.

Johnny Harper: So how was it a good decision to have this character? Well, the writers needed a wedge to go between Ryan and Marissa. They needed something to force them apart, something that would accentuate the problems that started with Trey. A guy is a clichéd choice, sure, but it’s an obvious one, and if it had been done right, then it could have been, well, good.

How didn’t they screw this one up? Not only did they cast the most uncharismatic performer this side of Mischa Barton, they managed to put him at the front of storylines for almost half of the season (well, maybe not half, but it felt like the whole). He received more airtime than all the regulars except for Marissa for these episodes, and he even managed to destroy Chrismukkah, a holiday with twice the resistance of a normal one. It’s pitiful.

How could they have made this better? Well, they could have, first, not thrown Marissa out of school since it led to nothing. Johnny could have been a transfer student, perhaps a junior for no reason other than to change it up. Marissa is hired, as social chair, to take him under her wing. Johnny and Marissa would have become friends while Marissa slowly pulled away from Ryan and went under Johnny’s wing. Johnny should not have developed feelings because Marissa’s vagina is not golden and not every needs to suddenly fall in love with her. She should have fallen for him as the problems between her and Ryan got worse. Yelling, shouting, etc. None of the, “Let’s deny that nothing’s wrong” nonsense. It should have been ugly. They’d just been through a shooting after all. Eventually, Ryan becomes disgusted with the relationship, torn with jealousy and anger. He breaks it off, sending Marissa to Johnny, where they both get drunk. Then Johnny dies in the same way he did. This sends Ryan and Marissa further apart while Marissa continues her downward spiral. Volchok could have still been a part of all this. Just because Johnny’s a transfer doesn’t mean he doesn’t have family in the area.

Look, I know that’s not perfect, but I really and fully believe it would have been more interesting than anything the writers rehashed for us.

Ryan Attacks Volchok and Flashes Back to Trey: Great decision. Ryan had a traumatic experience happen. He fought his brother, his brother almost killed him, and his girlfriend shot his brother. His brother ran away without a real goodbye. Just awful. And he didn’t properly deal with what happened. So when he fought Volchok, the flashback to Trey was terrific. It showed, in a short scene, that Ryan’s wounds weren’t healed. He was angry, pissed, terrified, filled with rage. It was beautiful to watch because it was a deeply psychological, emotional, and powerful moment.

But it took until the end of the season. There’s no reason it should have. Maybe, in real life, things take months to explode. This isn’t real life. Television needs to be fast paced, issues need to be addressed with in a reasonably believable, yet entertaining, time. Instead, Ryan was pushed to the backburner, ran through a series of boring storylines (hey, random sex is cool and hot, sure, but that doesn’t mean they were too incredibly exciting or anything). He became Marissa’s puppet. He put up with her shit time after time, and then he would disappear into the background.

Ryan’s anger should have come to fruition much earlier in the season, definitely. One way to do it? Volchok kidnaps Marissa, Ryan outwits him, and then he heads home, punches the punching bag, and we still get the incredible scene where we discover his rage problem. That should have lasted for a few episodes, and then Volchok, instead of disappearing into tertiary Limbo, would have come back, pissed. He gets in a fight with Ryan again, and then the fight should have happened. Perhaps this could have happened right after Johnny died. Maybe before. It doesn’t matter. Marissa could have found out what happened, and that way, there’s a great reason for Ryan and Marissa to break up: she’s scared.

Sandy Becomes Caleb: When Caleb died, the show lost a great villain. And really, even though his death was a terrific shock, the show lost its central villain, the most intriguing member of its adult cast (Sandy is more fun, I know, but Caleb had a lot going on). The adults revolved around what he did. Sandy was always the antithesis of everything Caleb was, so what’s a more interesting change than to shift Sandy, the new head of the family, to Caleb’s role, at least for a while? Perfect Sandy angst, perfect marital problems that didn’t involve old girlfriend contrivances, and just a perfect storyline. So easy to pull off.

Except they didn’t do it correctly. I was fascinated by it all along, but I was never quite as engrossed as I pretended to be or hoped I would be. They drug it out too long. They never accurately explained where Sandy’s transformation took place. They didn’t use Matt properly, they didn’t explain his role. They didn’t use Henry Griffin correctly, they didn’t really explain his role. They went back and forth with Sandy. One episode, he’s bad. The next he’s not. One half of an episode, he’s good. The other half, he’s bad. It was impossible to keep track of. And what exactly was the moral of the story? Was it Sandy’s character flaws that allowed him to succumb? Was it the Newport Group? Was it business, in general? No answers, only a plethora of questions.

And honestly, there’s no way I know how to fix it. I liked the idea that Sandy wanted to do something so good that he was willing to do something so bad. The hospital was the perfect way to do that. But I think that they should have shown Sandy succeed by taking the high road in a few business deals. Maybe run plots similar to the ones they ran in the first season with the Balboa Wetlands, Uncle Shawn, etc. Sandy would have reacted the exact opposite. All along, there are rumblings of this hospital. Sandy’s becoming more and more successful, and he’s enjoying the money. When this hospital deal happens, he won’t lose. And then he does anything necessary. He shouldn’t have helped Matt, he should have honestly used him. He should have thoughtlessly put him in harm’s way. Things that were out of Sandy’s character but that completely made sense given the circumstance and the character motivation built over the course of the entire season. Then, somehow, these dealings should have endangered his family. Now, he has to give the business up somehow, maybe to someone shady. This sets up conflict for next season, as Sandy uses his legal skills to uncover something about the people who stole the company from him, and he puts them out of power before putting the Newport Group to rest.

Charlotte: Seriously, I won’t even try to make sense of this. Just know that the fact that she and Kirsten never faced off in a one-on-one catfight makes this all incredibly useless. They should have gone with the simple, clichéd Single White Female Oliver redux storyline. It would have been, well, simple and clichéd, but at least it would have given us a reason to really feel creeped out, and it would have given us payoff, for, I don’t know, the STALKER SCENES in the premiere. Seriously, she’s looking over Kirsten’s shoulder, she steals a family picture, etc., and the best we get is clunky dialogue that says, “I will find a way to use her”? Give me a break. So poor.

Taylor Townsend: The best-written character of the second half of the season, Taylor wasn’t always so great. In fact, the writers managed to somehow take the charismatic and scorching hot Autumn Reeser and turn her into lifeless set decoration for the first part of the season. They stuck her in a lifeless storyline with Dean Asshole (who was a mistake on his own…I won’t waste space talking about him, but just know that they should have made him a ruthless dictator who had it out for every student and then learned to hate Ryan and Marissa for reasons unconnected to the shooting…oh, and not one-note would have been nice), and then they decided that Johnny would be the better recurring character to focus on despite the fact that in the one episode about the lock-in, they managed to add more layers to her character than they had ever done before. Unfortunately, because the writers are extremely short sighted, they completely dropped the ball with Reeser early in the season, only locking her in for a certain number of episodes. Thus, when she became the star of the often restless cast, they couldn’t use her. She popped in on occasion, and she became featured more prominently toward the end of the season, but she was never given the role she deserved. Autumn’s a series regular next season, so here’s to hoping she gets a chance to shine because she’s absolutely brilliant.

Seth on Pot: It was a great idea. Take Adam Brody, someone who clearly knows a thing or two about the pot (c’mon, watch his performance…this guy knows his marijuana), add in some anxiety, and it’s perfect.

But make 14-year-old Kaitlin his drug dealer (and no, I’m not going to rant about Kaitlin because I’m mostly content with her, and her main flaw stemmed from the fact that she was thrust in a situation with Johnny, no real character fault), make Seth a compulsive liar, throw in a meta comment about how it isn’t intended to be part of an After School Special, add an anti-climactic fire story, and a slap on the wrist from an increasingly unconcerned parent, and it’s really not that great.

Truthfully, the storyline played about as well as it could have. After all, marijuana isn’t exactly taboo, and harder drugs are done on television all the time, so if they wanted to use pot, then they did about as well as they could. It just could have been so much more had Seth really used it to distance himself, become extremely isolated, and used it to mask his anxieties. I always liked the “lying” storyline with Summer, but it ran out of steam pretty quickly, so they probably should have focused more on the drugs and less on the lying. Adam Brody was absolutely brilliant as a stoned guy, and he’s also a terrific actor, in general, when motivated, so he deserved the chance to shine for more than few episodes. Really, though, this storyline should have carried over to season four. I hope we see a little more pot in Seth’s future, but something tells me the writers are PSA’d out.

Marissa: I’m not just talking about her death here, people, even though that, in retrospect, was pretty bad. I’m talking about the character in general. This is what people mean when they say, “character assassination.” Hardcore Marissa fans will disagree with me, and that’s fine, really. But for the majority of fans, and yes I feel I’m speaking for the majority, I think this season turned general indifference (i.e., sometimes like, sometimes dislike, never strong opinions either way thanks to a lack of acting skills and an onscreen romance that was overshadowed by the best friends) into hate. This can definitely be seen in the ratings drop that occurred as she began to take up 25 minutes of screen time each week. No, she’s not the solely responsible, but I definitely believe that the overexposure contributed to the ratings decline. Mischa wasn’t a strong enough actress to carry a show, and Marissa wasn’t a strong enough or interesting enough character to be at the forefront. It’s the truth. I don’t mean to upset huge Marissa fans, but look at the numbers. It all works out.

I’ve already covered how the Johnny storyline could have been better handled, so I won’t rehash it, but I will say that I think that the writers did manage to handle Marissa’s downward spiral fairly well. Should have been a little more intense, should have been a little more “Volchok” than “Kevin,” and it shouldn’t have turned romantic at all, but still, it was all okay. So please don’t think I’m completely trashing Marissa. I’m not. There were bright points, but overall, the writers did such a horrible job with her this season that there was no way to redeem the character and fit her properly in the group.

That leads me to say that Marissa’s death was the right move. She was completely useless by the end of the season. You can say, “Oh, Josh copped out. It’s his fault there wasn’t anything left to do with her,” and maybe that’s true. But the point is: it happened. He overused her. He overexposed her. Too much Marissa led to huge creative problems. That’s it. There was nowhere left for her to go. I’ve yet to hear a viable hypothetical storyline for what she could have done in season four. She’s had sex with men and women, she’s shot someone, she’s done drugs, she’s drank, she’s befriended wounded souls, she’s befriended psychos, she’s broken up and gotten back together with Ryan too often, she’s dated around, she’s fought with her mom, she’s fought with her dad, etc. It’s just a lot. And like I said, you can argue that Josh screwed up by doing all that too soon, and I’ll completely agree. You cannot, however, argue that it’s untrue that Marissa had done more than enough. At least, I don’t believe you can argue it successfully.

Unfortunately, though, Marissa’s death, however perfect it might have been in terms of character, was incorrect in terms of execution because it was a result of her golden vagina, and frankly, it was barely silver by the end of the series. Volchok shouldn’t have fallen in love with her. The entire storyline could have been much better had the story stayed Volchok versus Ryan instead of dissolving into “Volchok loves Marissa.” That was the fatal (pun intended) flaw.

And that’s that. I don’t really know what else to say.

Actually, though, that’s a lie.

I know plenty more to say, but as much as I want to type it, I’m saving it. You know why? Because I need to leave something more for the brand new Editorial Newport podcast coming soon! There I’ll repeat some of what I said and provide brand new insight, particularly about the ratings decline, what a sixteen episode order means for season four, Marissa, Johnny, and whatever else comes to mind. Plus, I’ll have some more overall season three thoughts.

Okay, yes, I’m copping out by doing that, but I need to offer something that some of you might be interested in so that you’ll listen to the podcast! It’s going to be great, I promise.

Also, I do have a few e-mails that people sent, but instead of reprinting them here, I’m going to read them out in the podcast, so if you wrote in and want to know that I got what you wrote, listen to the podcast! More incentive!

Well, that concludes this season three rant, a few months late. And let’s see, this review was:

- Choppy
- Uninspired
- Shallow
- Erratic
- Unstructured

Hey, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Who’s to say I don’t know how to be symbolic?

Questions, comments, etc.?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

-Drew

The Graduates

2006-05-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

“I’m gonna live my life like every day’s the last.
Without a simple goodbye it all goes by so fast.
And now that you’re gone, I can’t cry hard enough.
I can’t cry hard enough for you to hear me now.
Gonna open my eyes and see for the first time,
I’ve let go of you like a child letting go of his kite.”

- “Can’t Cry Hard Enough,” The Williams Brothers”

Everyone who expected me to be even a little bit moved by Marissa’s death, raise your hand.

That’s what I thought.

I found Marissa to be the most incredibly selfish, whiney, egotistical, arrogant, spoiled, and generally unlikable character ever on television. My hatred for her knew no limits and often crept into reality. More times than not, she disgusted me to my very core and made me question why I like this show at all.

Let me digress for a moment, though, before I get sentimental.

Earlier this year, the webmaster at Editorial Newport forwarded me an e-mail where a webmaster from a Marissa (or Mischa) fan site said, “Tell Drew and all the other Marissa haters to suck shit. The girl always does the right thing.” I have to say that, at the time, it was an asinine comment. But finally, this statement holds some validity. Marissa did the right thing. She died. Ha!

Okay, back from my digression.

I knew she was dying. The spoiler trail led us to Sandy dying of a heart attack just like Caleb did last year. See, all the problems with the Newport Group were going to lead to Sandy dying just like Caleb did. The parallels had been there all season, so it made sense. Except for the fact that Caleb had documented health problems (including, but not limited to, being on blood-thinning meds and having a first heart attack) and had been working for years. Oh, and every year, Josh releases foilers. So despite Ausiello and Kristen’s assistant talking about Sandy dying, it wasn’t going to happen. At least, it wasn’t going to happen with any sense of real excitement. Once I left the Sandy trail, rumors jumped in about Mischa wanting to leave. She was apparently unprofessional and wanted out, though Josh denies it. Rumors circulated that she would leave and come back as a guest star. Then, Mischa went and told “Access Hollywood” that she was dying. Then that show proceeded to tell the world. And then every newspaper in the country picked up the story.

So yeah, I knew. I knew, and I hated Marissa. Seemed like it’d be the most anticlimactic finale in the history of television (except for “One Tree Hill” this season). But when it was over, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. My body ached. My legs were wobbly. My eyes had a few tears in them. I dreamt about the final few moments. I was seriously messed up. Last season, I watched and re-watched the final sequence of the finale over and over in one night. This one, I just couldn’t. It was just difficult.

After a night’s sleep, some discussion on message boards and with friends, and a little perspective, I realize that it was actually a very good episode, and it made perfect sense in the terms of a larger story. It was completely necessary and logical, and it wrapped up a tragic story, and pushed forward a new one. Some people will argue against that, but they’re just wrong. A ‘wrong opinion’ is a contradiction, I know, but trust me. This was what was needed, and this was the completely right way to go.

The episode, overall, was a solid one. It was much like the entire season. There were moments when it was absolutely perfect, when it all made sense. There were moments where it was slow and a bit plodding (thankfully, those moments were very few). There were moments when it was hilarious. And there were moments when it was dramatic.

I loved the scene between Seth and Sandy early in the episode. There’s good chemistry between a lot of people on this show. Peter and Kelly, Ben and Adam, Adam and Rachel, Ben and Rachel, Ben and Kelly, Ben and Peter, Adam and Kelly, Adam and the sink, Adam and plastic horses, Adam and the iMac. But I honestly think that the best is between Adam and Peter. When they are on, there isn’t a better, or more realistic, tandem. They have a similar sense of comedic timing, and they seem extremely comfortable in the most awkward father/son way. So watching them together is always a pleasure for me. I was particularly excited about the fact that Sandy chanted a celebratory chant for us. I love Sandy. More on that in the next paragraph, actually. Now, I know people are a little upset with Seth saying he can’t tell Sandy that he loves him. God, people piss me off. Seth wasn’t being serious. He was joking. He was undercutting the melodrama in the same way that both he and Sandy always do. Think back to ‘The Ties That Bind’ when Sandy undercut the moment between Ryan and Kirsten before he left. It was exactly like it. It’s what they do.
I’m also glad that the fire storyline didn’t play out any differently. People forget that since Sandy is running the Newport Group, he didn’t have to press charges (if that’s even a term used outside of television). He saw it as a good opportunity. It was resolved, not dropped, contrary to popular belief. And I think Seth has learned his lesson. Maybe he’ll smoke more in college, but he won’t put it near a trashcan. Baby steps, people.

And it was wonderful to see Dawn back, sobered up and completely together. Not exactly great to hear her say, “Kirsten” incorrectly, but I’ll let it slide because I have a MILF crush on this woman. No lie. She’s a looker. Not Kirsten or Julie level hot but hot enough. Ryan’s reaction is completely the right one, too. He’s excited to see her, thrilled that her life is together. But he’s not throwing himself at her and gushing over her. He knows she’s had problems and that they’re relationship is strained. It’s just not irrevocably strained like it seemed to be in the past.
I thought the car was such a nice gift. Ryan should have already had one, true, considering that the Cohens are filthy rich and could afford to buy both Ryan and Seth a car, but I’m not going to nitpick that because it’s been nitpicked to death. But it was such a tremendous gesture, a way to make amends. A car is the ultimate sign of maturity (well, maybe losing your virginity is, but this is close), and so it represents both Ryan’s graduation and progression into the real world and Dawn’s newfound maturity. While I’m somewhat sorry that we didn’t get many Ryan/Sandy/Kirsten moments, I’m okay with it because we got to see how successful the Atwood family can actually be, and we got to see how they can still work as a family. It shows that the Cohens generosity has extended far beyond just helping Ryan. I love it. I hope she’s back next season.

The graduation scene was handled very well. With these, you run a risk of being to maudlin, but this episode knew what it needed to do and did it. It felt important without feeling overwhelming. It was nice that no one in the immediate group was valedictorian, a common, and sometimes unbelievable, practice for teen shows. Taylor fit the mold perfectly, and I was glad to see her mom pop back in during a perfect moment. I can only hope that the show explores her relationship with her mom next year since I think it’s an extremely volatile and telling one. The minor looks we got it this year were among the most interesting and exciting scenes. Taylor failed for the fans first because she was just a rival for Summer, but she began to win acclaim when they fleshed her character out. It’s going to be exciting to see her join the cast. She’s already got more depth than some of the main characters.
I really enjoyed the parents’ reactions to the graduation. Sandy was true to himself as he completely embarrassed Seth only because he loves him and knows nothing else, and Julie was extremely proud of Marissa because all she’s ever wanted was to give her a good life, just like she admitted later on. She wasn’t always a perfect mom, and she didn’t always do everything in the perfect way, but she always thought she was doing something right. We’ve seen that as far back as ‘The Rescue.’
I wasn’t crazy about the snapshot sequences since they seemed out of place on this show, but I quickly grew to love them if only because it was funny to see how the pre-picture poses differed from the picture pose. Sandy, in particular, won me over with his complete smugness in his picture. He looked so incredibly dignified and awesome. And he knew it. Peter Gallagher, when he’s on, is simply God on this show.

It’s wonderful that Seth got into RISD, as if there were any doubt. Summer won’t end up at Brown if only because it would mean that the fans would demand Anna, and there’s been no indication that either Josh or Samaire want to Anna to return full time. If Summer does end up there, it’ll be for a short time, but more on that later. It was nice to see these two end the year together, sweetly. I read someone who said they were sick of these two being the cartoonish couple, playing hand slapping games or whatever, but that’s, more or less, a terrible sentiment. These two have always been designed as the goofier couple, the Monica and Chandler to Ryan and Marissa’s Ross and Rachel. They have their problems, sure, but ultimately, they work best together because they’re from similar worlds, they have similar demons, and they have similar dreams. It’s interesting to see Summer with the Brown admissions letter while that was initially Seth’s dream, but it’s rewarding to know that Seth is happy about RISD. It shows that your dreams can change and everything can be okay in the end.

That’s what a lot of this episode was about: dreams. It was about how these characters have put themselves through hell and still managed to reach a milestone in their lives relatively unscathed. Don’t discount the parents, either. It’s just as much of an accomplishment to raise a child to graduation as it is for a child to graduate. Because life doesn’t necessarily get easier out of school, not even for the richest of the rich like Sandy and Kirsten. Julie’s speech about wanting to do what’s best for Marissa showed that she’d achieved something. It reminded me of Caleb’s “I did what I did for this family” speech from season two but without the sinister undertones of adultery and illegitimate children. Okay, so maybe Kaitlin isn’t quite an achievement yet, but there are still a few more years left for her. And don’t Sandy. He’s overcome a place he mostly hates, a few jobs he’s hated, huge marital problems, etc. to find himself right back where he wants to be. Helping people is clearly what he’s born to do. He always had his dream at his fingertips, he just had to make sure it’s what he wanted. It is. And it’s going to open up a world of wonderful new storylines next season, storylines where Sandy can go back to fighting the system, where he can go back to helping people, and where he can back to loving life and not being so unbelievably stressed. It’ll help his sense of humor, definitely, and that’s what the group from Newport is going to need to deal with the biggest tragedy to hit the group since Caleb’s death.

That’s right, Marissa’s death, despite my disdain for her, is a tragedy. She was young, sometimes vibrant, and occasionally, she even managed to be endearing. Those moments in the last year have been few and far between, but still, here’s a girl that’s just graduated high school. There was a future out there. Maybe it’s college, maybe it’s peeling potatoes (and I won’t even get into the irony of Marissa being pissed at Ryan for wanting to leave on a boat while it’s okay for her to do it because if I talked about that, I’d be forced to reveal what a hypocritical bitch she could be), or maybe it’s staying in Newport. We’ll never know, though. Make no mistake, though, Marissa’s death was her fault. Volchok caused it, yes, but Marissa brought problems on herself constantly. She was always trying to rebel. She wanted to push herself a little further each time. She wanted to go against her mom for the sake of going against her mom. She didn’t want to be like anyone else. And, as Josh says, tragedy was in her DNA. First episode, she smokes and drinks and parties. She’s dropped off passed out in her driveway. She’s got a mother who loves her but doesn’t know how to express it correctly, and she’s got a father who loves her, can express it, but can’t deal with his own problems. She drinks more, steals, befriend a psycho, drinks, throws furniture, dates a girl, drinks with Trey, shoots Trey, throws a laptop, drinks more, does coke, etc. There’s more, I’m sure, but the point is that she was never putting herself in situations where she could succeed. She allowed herself to constantly be sucked into these situations where there could be no ending. She always needed to be rescued. That’s why the montage of clips where Ryan was carrying her off was so incredibly powerful. The recaplet at Television Without Pity (yes, I reference this site a lot since I’m a member) made a comment about how the show is in love with repetition instead of creativity, and that’s an asinine comment in this situation. There was a reason for the montage and for the way the shot was filmed. There was a reason the lyrics, at that point, said, “I’ve been here before.” They had. Marissa had. She was always in danger, always in trouble. She could never, ever quite get things to work out for her. She’d managed to escape every time, but eventually, luck runs out.

That’s why it was smart to use Volchok as the “murderer” instead of an OD or a plane crash or a regular car crash. Volchok perfectly represents every problem Marissa had in the past. She knew he was wrong for her. She knew he was imperfect. She met him around the time he kidnapped her. The alarm bells should have gone off. I realize she was in dire need of a friend after Johnny’s death, but she had a support system that she chose to ignore. She had several chances to get away, but she always came back to him. It was stupid, completely stupid. He also represented the alternative lifestyle that she’d tried so many times in rebellion. He represented everything she’d pushed herself to be at various points. When she was with him, she was trying to shed a certain image, and in doing so, she became so wrapped up in his world. This time, though, the person wasn’t going away. No breaking down and realizing he was wrong like Alex did. He just wanted to hurt Marissa.

Should Ryan have pulled the car over? Perhaps. He said there was nowhere to pull it, but that was wrong. There was room. But what happens if he does? Perhaps Volchok has a knife or gun. Ryan pulls over, Volchok jumps out, wields the weapon, and tries to kill one of the two. Let’s say Ryan slams the breaks. Volchok hits him, jumps out of the van, and fights. Let’s say Ryan whips a U-turn and Volchok isn’t savvy enough to turn his car around and he speeds past them. The fight’s not over. Ryan did what he had to do and that was continue to drive and hope they could get somewhere safe, somewhere where Volchok’s driving wouldn’t go unnoticed. It also didn’t help that Marissa didn’t appear to have her seatbelt on.

As for the final scene, it was excruciating, but in a good way. Imogen Heap’s “Hallelujah” wasn’t quite as powerful as I’d hoped, but it was still really good combining elements of both finales. But the best decision was to cut the music off as Ryan set her down. Maybe Ryan should have run for help, but she wanted him to stay. His cell phone was likely in the car, and he couldn’t go back to do it. A lot of people keep their cell in a cup holder so that it’s easier to get to if it rings on the road. It’s reasonable that he wouldn’t have one on him. I think, also, that Ryan knew it was over. Partially, he didn’t want her to panic, and that’s why he didn’t make a fuss. But mostly, I think he knew she was dying. It makes perfect sense with who Ryan is, actually. He’d just had a great moment at the Model Home, a perfect scene where the kids interacted like kids. He’d just had a terrific conversation with Marissa where they recognized their relationship problems. There was a sense of growth in both in the moment inside the Model Home. Things were nice. But just like Ryan established several episodes before, whenever something good happens to him, something bad happens as well. Nothing can ever be perfect in his life. Everything comes at the expense of something else. He gains the Cohens but loses his mother. He gets off after the shooting but loses his brother. He gets into college but loses Sadie. And as Ryan watched Marissa, he knew it was over. That’s why when she actually died, his reaction was less, “Oh my God she’s dead,” and more, “Oh God no, I hoped it wasn’t true.” Ryan wasn’t melodramatic. There were no last kisses or goofy declarations of love. It was Ryan and Marissa, two unemotional people, who never could say what they needed to say to each other, together, in mostly silence. It was a since of shock, of wonderment, and of understanding that there was no other way that their story could end. The fact that the scene was long was an interesting choice, but I firmly believe it sold the scene because it added a sense of realism that balanced with the soap operatic elements in Ryan carrying Marissa in slow-motion. Tragedy doesn’t always happen quickly, and people aren’t exposed and then pulled away from tragic situations. They sit through them. They watch events unfold. It’s cringe-inducing, it’s uncomfortable, and it’s scary. And that’s what happened to Ryan there. He had to watch this. There was no escape for him or for the viewer. The image of Ryan holding the body is something I’ll never forget as long as this show continues.

Odds and Ends about “The Graduates”

- Loved the scene with Dr. Roberts and Kaitlin. It was very reminiscent of some of the earlier scenes between Sandy and Summer. Very awkward, a clear clash in personalities and generation, but it ultimately worked because the actors know the characters.
- Loved Taylor’s summer vacation plans and her welcome into the group. She’s going to be a tremendous asset to the show.
- Loved the symbolism of Ryan and Marissa leaving Orange County. The sign was perhaps too symbolic, but it worked big time for me.
- Why exactly is Julie talking to Jimmy? She forgives very easily, I suppose. I never thought that she’d get over him standing her up.
- Why is Marissa jumping at the chance to go with Jimmy? She said she never wanted to see him again. And she can’t say, “He seems to be doing well.” That’s how it seemed last time, too.
- When Sandy mentioned the Nana, I was sure we’d get a cameo. Too bad he was talking about teaching her how to use a website.
- Who didn’t love Julie eventually drooling over the ab pictures Kaitlin put up?
- Speaking of Julie and Kaitlin, Julie didn’t seem too excited to see Kaitlin. Not too shocking, I guess, since she never cared much for her.
- And why does Kaitlin still have an iPod mini? I mean, I have one, and I’m fine with it, but this is Newport we’re talking about. These people get a new umbrella with every rain. I’ll consider it ‘Julie is Poor’ continuity.
- Not a single “China has alopecia!” reference and Kaitlin was there a lot.
- I would love to have a four-way with the Cooper women (while Marissa was living, of course).

So that’s “The Graduates.”

I’m always a sucker for graduation episodes, and this was no different. It was emotional, well-written, and shocking despite the twist being a foregone conclusion. It wasn’t the best episode, but I truly believe that there’s potential there. Real potential.

But in order to see the potential of next season, I think we need to take a look back at this past season, a season of real highs and extreme lows, and a lot of mediocrity. What did the writers do right, wrong, and otherwise? What did they fix and what did they break further? What do they need to fix? Is the show salvageable? Could it get more than a fourth season?

Those questions and more…

…now.

(Or so I thought. See, at the time I was writing this, I was prepared to take a break, come back to it, and finish it up with the complete season recaps. Then, I strained a muscle in my neck while working out, and I can barely sit in front of the computer for extended periods of time without screaming because it’s so painful. I’ve had this before, so it’ll go away. As will, I though, as I’m taking a vacation Wednesday. My laptop is coming with me, so I’m going to work on a lot of things that I need to do, this included. So, for those who were looking for my season three analysis, sorry.

I only got two responses to my request for people to send their comments in, compared to ten or more last year. Because I’m putting this off for a while, you guys can still send things in about this particular episode and the season in general. I really do hope to hear from you. It can be long or short. Doesn’t matter as long as it’s readable.

I’ll have the review coming before the first full week of June, so if you’re looking forward to it, it won’t be too long. Just hang in there with me. It’s been a hectic few months.

Thanks for understanding. Hope you enjoyed the six pages prior.

Questions, comments, concerns, etc.?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

-Drew)

Three!

2006-05-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

“The College Try,” “The Party Favor,” and “The Man of the Year”

It’s been a while, I know. C’mon, lay off of me, I have reasonable reason (that’s not even a really good phrase, and I think it’s grammatically incorrect, but I don’t particularly care). College life is tough. The last couple of weeks were really rough, but let me tell you this:

I have now written a short novel.
I have now written a scholarly article (once it’s past 10 pages, to me, it becomes more than just a paper).

So there we go. I did make the Dean’s List after three semesters of my dad pitching a fit when he saw my friends’ names in the paper and not mine. That’s cool, though. There’s a first time for everything.

So how about The O.C.? What do I think about it? Well, let’s run through a couple of quick thoughts on each individual episode and then a character analysis as we head into tomorrow night’s (or tonight’s, or even last night’s, depending on when I finish this and/or when you’re reading it) finale.

“The College Try” – A good episode. Aside from Anna’s ridiculous hair and fake tan, she was a pleasant addition to the cast. I didn’t like that we didn’t hear much about her, and that they relegated her to a plot device in the end, but Samaire and Adam have a great chemistry. They’re always fun. I became very disgruntled with Seth at times because he wouldn’t tell the truth, but I won’t hold that against him since there is method to his madness (we will discuss that in a bit). It was nice to see that Seth didn’t actually get into Brown because that would have been shockingly unrealistic, even for a primetime soap opera. Marissa was essentially a non-factor in the episode since her relationship with, um, the guy at Berkley, was unbelievably tame. There was a nice ending where she cuddled up to next to Volchok, but that’s about it, really. Oh, and she wants him to be a Nazi. He kind of turns out to be a dickhead, so Marissa = psychic! Ryan was probably the most interesting character in the episode, as we saw him settle in to a new world only to realize that he can’t escape his old one. That’s his life in Newport, and that’ll be his life at Berkley. The writers tossed aside the baby story in one fell swoop, but I hope that’s just a swerve before another swerve, and they’ll actually bring it back. The kid was cute, though. And it was actually more enjoyable, for me, to see Theresa than Anna because while I love Anna, her role was to be with Seth. I like Seth with Summer. Theresa’s role was to be with Ryan. I don’t like Ryan with Marissa. So anytime he gets a shot with someone else, I’m excited. Ben played the scene so well, too, as you could sense that there was a bit of disappointment that it wasn’t his seed that spawned the kid who looks exactly like him.

“The Party Favor” – Definitely enjoyed this episode, maybe even more than last year’s prom episode, one of my all time favorites. This one worked for the odd couplings, if nothing else. There was a perfect symmetry to Ryan and Theresa going to senior prom together. There was a nice symmetry with Anna and Seth together in formal attire since that’s how they met (well, how they got to know each other) and how Seth learned he didn’t have to be a total moron around girls. Marissa, the girl who is always looking for a way to get into trouble whether she realizes it or not, dug her grave with Volchok. Or Kevin as he is now called because the writers realized that when someone has just a last name, he’s too hardcore, but when he has a first name like Kevin, he’s much more primetime television acceptable. Summer was forced to go with Big Korea, and I don’t even know what to say about that. I love the guy. Not as much as I love Sung Ho (God only knows if I spelled that right) being the right man for Taylor. Taylor is essentially the greatest thing I’ve ever seen, and when Theresa indicated in the next episode that Taylor, Big Korea, and Sung Ho had a threesome, I voted it best moment ever. That doesn’t quite excuse Taylor leaving the money around at the Bait Shop, but she scored a major zinger when she said her prom was better than Marissa’s. So true. And Kevin laughed! Ha. Of course, in this episode, Sandy got into a little trouble, but that didn’t come to a head until the next episode. And then there was one of the best endings on the show ever. Maybe the best ever. Some are arguing that it’s repetitive, unoriginal, bland, etc. That’s wrong. Yes, it’s an opinion, but I’m willing to argue that it’s actually a wrong opinion. Reasons are coming up in the Ryan analysis, I promise.

“The Man of the Year” – Seth and Summer are back together (yes, I ignored that in the above recap but with reason), and someone named Continuity reared his head long enough to help Summer basically screw with Seth. And, of course, somewhere along the way, Seth decides it’s cool if he smokes. After all, everyone knows he lied, his mom’s drinking again (and Seth’s the only one who knows it leading a beautiful scene where he takes care of her and then cleans her mug), and he has to face his father and all of the family problems. The scene with Seth and Sandy was just brilliant. And as Seth said, it’s good that all of his lies were out. What’s not so good is that Seth lit the Newport Group on fire. But hey, we all make mistakes, right? Yeah, not like that, I know. Seth telling Sandy off leads to Sandy taking the high road and agreeing to compromise with the D.A. in the investigation of Griffin. He just doesn’t want to be Man of the Year. Who can blame him? Last time that happened, there was a fight. I think. Or Caleb lost some wetlands. Either way, it wasn’t pretty. Then there’s Ryan. Yikes. He’s in trouble. That’s all I can say. And, of course, Marissa and Kaitlin and mini-Summer, who only knows how to say, “Obvie” and has a Josh Schwartz replica for a dad, need to cause havoc. It proves nothing other than to remind us Kaitlin’s on board for next season, that Mischa’s accent isn’t that great, that her belly button is ginormous, and that she’s HOT as a school girl. If only Schwartz could have written the Coopers as a Catholic family.

Now on to our beloved characters who have been far more complex than ever before. Some are complaining, as usual, but few have valid complaints about where the characters have been. Most have already decided to hate the show, and that’s fine. But I can’t imagine a time when the characters (not the lines or the storylines) have been written with more consistency and with more complexity. Kudos, Josh. Let’s start with the one who’s been through the most hell lately, the one who has become so unbelievably dark that it’s scary: Ryan.

This poor kid just can’t catch a break can he? One of the reasons the second half of the season (or final third, I guess, since Johnny took up an abnormal amount of episodes) has been better than the other part is that Ryan is finally being forced to deal with his problems. The problem with that, though, is that his problems aren’t simple. Volchok has been an effective character because he essentially stems from Trey (Trey sends Marissa to Johnny who brings out Volchok), and they are, of course, very similar, and it’s not just that they call Ryan “little bitch” (even though I wasn’t bright enough to make that connection early on). It’s that they both want to take others down with them. Ryan is a good target because he’s impressionable. He’s strong-willed at times, but overall, he doesn’t know how to say no. He’s got a complex that tells him that he can’t be anything more than Chino. His trip to Berkley and the subsequent return were sad for that very reason. To tie this back around to Volchok, Volchok knows how to bring out the worst in Ryan, the Ryan that Ryan believes is the real Ryan (see if you can decipher that one). He knows how to egg Ryan on, to make him feel as if he belongs in the world of underhanded tricks, drugs, and violence. And Ryan feels this is true because he’s never deals with his issues. He accepts them as an unchanging part of who he is. That’s why the end of “The Party Favor” was so brilliant. The fight was an intentional parallel to the fight with Trey. Ryan suddenly had to come to terms with the fact that he was scary, angry, and unsure. It was a terrifying scene because it finally revealed just how deep Ryan’s problems ran. The follow up to it was interesting, as well, though less terrifying. Ryan’s rage, his problems had gotten him into trouble again, and there was no right way out. He ran, and some people say that’s out of character, but I find it perfectly in character. True, he’s always stood up for others, but now he’s trying to deal with the one person he can’t save: himself. That’s where Ryan stands now. He has to overcome himself, to realize that his problems aren’t going away unless he attempts to confront them, and to understand that he can rise above the Volchoks and Treys of the world. As I stated, Ryan is a darker character than most of us ever thought. But it makes perfect sense in the context of the show. He’s always been this way. It’s just now coming to a head as he attempts to deal with the ultimate change in his life. He deserves everything good that he has, but he often seems to forget that. I hope that will change soon.

Seth. There’s another character that’s taken a dark turn, but I don’t find it too out of character. Over the last two seasons, we’ve seen Seth become even more self-absorbed. It was slightly out of character in season two, but since the writers have held back on it a little, it’s become normal. He’s someone who takes everything to heart, someone who internalizes everything. So not getting into Brown was awful for him. It completely defeated his sense of self-worth. I’m not advocating his lying to Summer. He shouldn’t have done it. He should have told her from the beginning what happened. But I understand that he couldn’t. The minute he told her, he not only ruined her chance at a great school (and yes, it wasn’t her dream, so his head wasn’t in the right place, but his heart was—it’s easy to confuse our dreams with those of others), but it all became real to him. How hard that would be? He was not only struggling with his girlfriend, but he was struggling with himself. Drunk Summer at the prom was excellent, too, handled in a way that I remember high school alcohol actually being. I didn’t know many Marrissas, but I knew a lot of Summers, people who drank just to forget the night. Her perfectly choreographed flip, along with Taylor’s faux-melodramatic, “Man overboard!” was an episode highlight. Anna’s presence wasn’t necessarily needed, as I think that Taylor or Ryan or even Sung Ho could have given the same advice, but it was nice to see Anna tell him because we know just how wise Seth thinks she is. What’s the song lyric? “You were unexpected but not unwelcome”? That kind of works here. She wasn’t really needed, but there’s no reason for us to hate her. I suppose we could argue the ethics about Summer actually giving that list of things to Sandy, but I don’t think that argument would go anywhere. Not only should Seth have confessed to those things himself, he told Summer to do it. She really shouldn’t have even tried to get it back, though I understand why she wanted to. Summer’s problems, thankfully, have been minimal. They’ve been related to an inability to trust Seth, and since I think that Seth is learning from his mistakes, I think things will be okay. But Seth’s not completely clean, I guess. He’s still smoking pot. He’s still anxious. He’s still not sure what he’s doing with his life. Things are still okay in Newport, he’s fixed his parents, he has a best friend and a girlfriend, and he could easily not leave his comfort zone. Maybe things are too perfect. And that can just as easily push someone over the edge.

I’m not going to spend time discussing Marissa, though it’s not because I dislike her at this point. I’m enjoying her spiral, and I like that she’s not hogging the screen. I can just say, though, that her problems are the same as they always were: she lets herself get involved with things she shouldn’t. Volchok was clearly bad. There were no two ways around it. The Sound of Music thing fixed it slightly, but that came after Marissa was involved. Anytime someone kidnaps you, don’t get with them. But Marissa did it anyway because she, too, is unwilling to actively cope with her problems. And no, throwing a laptop doesn’t work because that just shows that you have no sense of the almighty dollar. If she expects to move on with her life, then she’s going to have to understand that many of her problems are self-inflicted. She’s not always looking for trouble, but she almost always finds herself in it.

Nothing good to report on Julie this time around. I’m definitely enjoying calm Julie. I want bitchy Julie to come back eventually, but for the time being, let’s let her have some peace, support her friends, and just have wild sex with Dr. Neil, the greatest soft-spoken man ever.

Nearly a year ago (or nine months, something like that), Sandy decided to take over the Newport Group himself. Easy enough, right? But then something happened. He decided that he could do a lot of good for a lot of people if he sold his soul. This story didn’t work for a lot of people, but it did for me since I always felt like he was struggling slightly. He was never outright a bad guy, but his actions were wrong. He was ignoring his family, and that should have been his first priority. And it finally pushed Kirsten too far. Calling Sandy out at the hospital dinner and comparing him outright to Caleb may have been a little too expositional, but I can forgive it because, at the very least, he needed some exposition to wake him up. And it was crushing when she finally went back to the bottle. It’s a hard to habit to break, to put it mildly. The scenes were very reminiscent of the Rebecca debacle with Sandy knowing his wife was there and choosing to ignore her, whether it was to save Matt or put papers in a safe or whatever. He chose himself over Kirsten, and that had to be difficult for her to deal with. I’m glad that the Cohen family—and I’m only including Seth, Sandy, and Kirsten here, so don’t e-mail me angry that I’m not including Ryan—caught each other, that they all saw their imperfections. Maybe it wasn’t quite the explosion that Josh promised, but it was a scary reminder that the Cohens had become what Seth feared: they had become “that family.” Sandy’s speech at the Man of the Year dinner was a little too maudlin for my tastes, but it was still a nice moment. In the end, we all want Sandy to do the right thing, and we hope that he will. If he didn’t, we’d lose such awesome lines like, “Sometimes I scare myself, Summer.” Is there anyone in this cast who could pull off a line like that other than Peter Gallagher?

So the finale’s tonight (yeah, it’s now Thursday as I finish this), and rumors abound. Apparently, a certain cast member has gone on record claiming to be the person who won’t make it through the night (no spoiler here). There have been spoilers and foilers and speculation aplenty, and I don’t know what to make of any of it. I know that the finale has tons of promise because every graduation episode of every show is good simply because it’s really hard to mess with the emotion of graduation. It writes itself. Still, according to the Fox preview guy, we’re going to lose Sandy, Ryan, Seth, Marissa, or Summer. I’m not sure which it’ll be. I have my thoughts, but I won’t say them here. Let’s just say that Orange County will never be the same.

Since next week is the finale, I’ll have a long review taking a look at the finale and the season as a whole. I hope to have it e-mailed in by that Tuesday since I’m leaving either Wednesday or Thursday for vacation. As last year, I’m looking for volunteers to write in with your season three comments and season four predictions. What did you like? What did you hate? What do you want to see more of? PLEASE! try to use proper capitalization, grammar, spelling, etc. I’m not asking for perfection because I’m not good at all that either, but I do ask that it’s readable. Last year, some of the responses I got were so bad that I had to spend an additional hour editing. So do your best to make it readable so that I can help share it with every visitor to Editorial Newport and The O.C. Community and my blog. Oh, and the deadline is SUNDAY MAY 21, 2006 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

I know this review wasn’t the mind shattering, brain swelling in-depth look you all might have hoped for, but it’s been a few weeks. I’m trying to get into the groove again.

Have a great time watching the finale. I look forward to hearing from some of you.

-Drew
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

Two Episodes in One!

2006-04-20T16:25:00.000-07:00

“The Day After Tomorrow”/“The Dawn Patrol”

Where do I even start?

How about by passing around the Kleenex? I think that’s in order, right? I mean, seriously, these last two episodes have put me through the emotional wringer. “The O.Sea” did it last year, but that was the first episode that really tugged at my heart strings (“The Ties That Bind” just kind of irked me at first), and no episodes had really done it this season. “The Aftermath” gave me chills in the final scene, but that’s been pretty much it as far as utter sadness goes.

But what the hell? I’m feeling like life is hopeless, that relationships are ridiculous, and that there is no such thing as morality anymore. This is the kind of stuff usually reserved for avant-garde plays, but nope, it’s The O.C..

Okay, I guess I’ll start with apologizing for not having a review last week. I thought I’d be fine, but I got home from spring break, and I just didn’t have time to put anything good together. I had to catch up on some of the homework I didn’t do while I was in Orlando and then at the beach. And by the time classes started again, life sped up. But it’s slowing down a bit. For the next few hours at least. So let’s try to talk a bit and see what we can come up with.

As I said last time, I’m going to start just covering a major point of each episode and then give brief thoughts on other things. Seeing as how this is a two-fold review, I’m going to cover two of the major stories: college and Seth and Summer. True, there’s an overlap, but we can do them differently also. No worries.

College is kind of a shaky time, to be sure, particularly when you only apply to one school. Now I only applied to one school, but I did it for early admissions to the school I wanted to go more than any. If I hadn’t gotten in, I’d have time. These kids don’t have the luxury of early admissions, but that’s okay because reality and this show aren’t always synonymous. Anyway, this period of a teenager’s life would be even worse when you consider extreme emotional angst and inner turmoil, and trust me, these characters are very conflicted. It’s important to look at what college means to each character, so let’s try that:

Ryan: The first person in his family to be any kind of, well, anything that isn’t a criminal or a deadbeat. I guess Dawn isn’t exactly a deadbeat now, but working odd-hour shifts at a diner isn’t exactly a wonderful job. I don’t mean to disrespect anyone who works at a diner now, but you have to admit, you hope to have more once you’re an adult. Anyway, college is an opportunity for Ryan to make something even more of himself, to break free from his past. I think that’s the most important thing for Ryan, to try to distance himself from who he was. He hasn’t been able to do that fully just yet, and I think he recognizes how important it would be for him to do it. At the same time, he faces the fact that he might have to leave the Cohens, the first family that’s really ever been a family for him. Even when they’ve judged him, they’ve done so because they care. Imagine that you had nothing for your entire life, but then one day, you had everything. And then it’s time to leave it. Look, I don’t care if you move to a nice school in nice Berkley: living away from home is not as nice as being at home. You gain a lot, I know, but you lose a lot also. But it’s genuinely amazing how far Ryan has come, how the Cohens have pushed him to be more than he should have been. I think this is most noticeable in the fact that he went to his mother and asked her to graduation. Okay, so he chickened out first, but that’s to be expected. He’s wrestling inside. But when he came around, we could all see that he’s a real man. He’s grown up into someone special, and the fact that he’s in such a good college really shows that.

Marissa: Marissa also continues to wrestle with inner demons, and hers also extend back to her family. A father who abandoned her twice, a sister she doesn’t know, and a mother who doesn’t exactly know how to parent. She’s lost her boyfriend, she’s lost her best guy friend (we’re all grateful), and she’s completely unsure of herself. She has her father’s cowardice, not her mother’s resolve, though she could certainly learn a lot from her. Moving away to college is a chance for Marissa to start over. Remember in season one when she mentioned that months after Tijuana she was still the girl who overdosed? Well, at Berkley she can be someone different. That’s a good thing about moving on, she can have a clean slate. And she definitely needs it. The problem is whether or not she can believably move forward. She’s dug herself in a huge, huge hole. And it’s something that’s difficult to overcome, at least quickly and in time for college. Maybe that’s the angle that Josh will run if he decides to keep everyone in Newport. He’ll start with the idea that Marissa just isn’t stable enough to move forward and slowly, they all come home. I don’t necessarily like that idea, but it is believable. There are plenty of people who just aren’t ready to move on. And is it right for Marissa to move on when things are so difficult at home? Her relationship with Julie is terribly strained. What’s better for Marissa? Should she move on and start over, or should she stay home and try to fix what’s broken?

I thought maybe I could talk about Seth and Summer and their college choices and then talk about them in a different way in terms of their relationship, but it’s just not possible. So let’s just try to tackle them and see what we come up with.

Let’s look at Seth first. A lot of people are complaining about how Seth is being an ass, some even saying that his reactions have been out-of-character. I find very little validity in that. In fact, I find him to be acting very much in character. Go back to season one and remember that Seth always felt that he was better than everyone he lived around. He was smarter, cooler, and funnier. He didn’t fit in, but it didn’t change the fact that he thought he was better. As a loner, he had no one to talk to other than himself, and he became self-involved. He knew no other way. At the same time, though, his loneliness probably manifested itself in a way that caused him to feel a horrible sense of inferiority. After he hooked up with Summer, he probably still thought of himself as below Summer. That, of course, was ironic, because she thought she wasn’t good enough for him. Anyway, Seth prided himself on being academically superior to everyone, and that was his ticket out. And then he discovered that it didn’t get him where he wanted to go. Now those feelings of inferiority come rushing back. He doesn’t know how to deal with it. He’s still internalizing everything, trying to relate everything back to him. Thinking it over and over and over to the point of killing him. At the same time, though, he loves Summer and wants what’s best for him. And in a way, these feelings are contradictory. He wants the best for himself, and he wants the best for her, and he feels that Brown is the answer they both are looking for, but Brown can’t be the answer for both of them. Now, Seth is self-deprecating and self-internalizing (if that’s a phrase that’s usable), but he’s hardly confrontational. It’s much easier for him to take this confusion, to take these problems, and essentially say, “You know what, screw all this. I’m leaving.” And that’s what he did.

Summer’s problems are very similar. We learned that she lived a certain lifestyle, but as we’ve gotten to know her more, it seems like she probably never truly felt like she fit in. Abandonment issues abound in her life, and her father doesn’t seem like he’s the most stable person either, their strange, incestuous relationship aside. Now she finally meets someone who’s different, someone who is smart and cool and funny. And she fell in love, maybe against her will. She never felt like she was good enough for Seth, and I’m guessing that she feels the same way now. She got into Brown, and now it seems like Seth wants something different, maybe even something better. Seth is her life. Seth is someone who saw her for a person not just for a beautiful girl. And now he’s willing to leave. Now, through all this, I’m not saying that Seth had a right to lie because he didn’t. But it makes complete sense. He wants to make himself feel better, he wants her to succeed. This is the ultimate opportunity for her. I’m not saying it’s what she wants because it never was anything she wanted. She wanted to stay west and go some place warm. At the same time, though, getting into Brown is no small accomplishment, and I think that Seth recognizes that.

A lot of people took offense to the end of “The Dawn Patrol” when Seth suddenly said, “I have to get Summer back.” I think some people think that that was a sudden change, but it wasn’t. I think it was always clear that he wanted Summer back. He never wanted her to leave. But as long as he stayed with her, he’d be reminded that he’d failed to reach his goal. And if he tried to act like it didn’t bother him, he’d be lying, too. Seth’s actions aren’t the best, but they are completely logical. He’s trying to deal with his own inadequacies, and they’re manifesting in the worst possible.

I would like to say, though, that in “The Day After Tomorrow,” when Seth broke up with Summer, it was one of the best scenes I’d ever seen on the show. Adam Brody played the scene with such a reserve and such fragility that I could see him crumbling under his own faults. Rachel Bilson played the scene with such fear and trepidation. She looked positively terrified. She looked like she was going to fall apart as well. She was shaking, she was crying, she was just perfect. I don’t know that I remember a scene so well executed ever. I agree with someone who said that it was blocked oddly, with Rachel having to squat while Adam sat, but I don’t mind. It was so brilliantly executed, just like this storyline.

And this storyline isn’t succeeding just because of the actors, but it’s succeeding because of the writers and because it’s a well-crafted storyline. It’s incredibly different than anything we’ve seen so far because it doesn’t rely on a third character (unless you count the wonderful Taylor who has been the best friend Summer has ever had on this show) to move the plot along. It relies on two people who are struggling internally. It relies on something that many college seniors can relate to. It’s honest and it’s real. It’s logical, too. I have not felt, for a moment, that this was anywhere near contrived. I am absolutely in awe at how this has played out.

So there you go, folks, I’m done now. It’s 1:13 A.M. on Thursday morning (yeah, I started last Friday and thought I’d be done), so I don’t really have time to write anything else. Let me just run this down real quick:

- Excited about Sandy
- Curious if Kirsten will drink gain
- Can’t wait for Anna and Theresa
- The baby has to be Ryan’s
- Want to see Ryan and Volchok fight
- Taylor is still the best thing to ever happen to this show
- Finale is going to rule

Kids, hopefully I’ll be back soon after the next episode. It should be a good one. Sorry for the lateness, sorry for the rambling (I noticed as I was writing that I wrote a few sentences several times), and sorry for lack of content. But hopefully I’ll have more soon. Or maybe I won’t be back for a while. I don’t know. I really want to comment on the Josh quote that Ausiello quoted in TV Guide, but no time. There are some general spoilers in the column, but I recommend people checking it out at TVGuide.com.

Have a good one.

-Drew
Questions, comments, anything.
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

The Secrets and Lies

2006-04-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

“The Secrets and Lies”

Well, I’m back.

Thanks to the miracle that is the Z-Pak, I’m back and almost better than ever. Seriously, Zithromax is great. I just read about people complaining about side effects, but I think those people just suck. People who suck don’t deserve to be cured anyway.

But I digress.

I want to apologize for not being here last week for what was, I think, one of the season’s best episodes, but I just couldn’t do it. I was dragging my ass around, couldn’t stop coughing, and was just generally miserable. Add the fact that I needed to rewrite a paper that I’d done terribly on, and you’ve got just a bad, bad week. But I’m here now, fresh off a vacation to Orlando, and I’m hoping that, over the next few hours, I can churn out something good so that this review can be posted before the next episode airs tomorrow night. I’d planned on being done with this while on vacation, but it didn’t work. Universal Studios is just too much fun.

But I digress again.

This show is on a roll right now. Despite an unnecessarily negative recap at Television without Pity (which, from what I’ve read, has actually turned people away from the episode), this is another candidate for best of the season. Granted, that’s like saying which type of cancer is the best (actually, it’s nothing like that…I’m tactless, but I’m still sensitive), but still, it’s a good thing. And it succeeded, again, because the emphasis was not on Marissa, and the scenes that were about her, showed her miserable. She’s better that way, not just because I hate her, but because Mischa can play that role much more effectively. Actually, she plays the role the exact same, but her monotony is better suited to drugged out Marissa. We’ll get to this in a little while, though.

We generally start with Ryan and his messes, but let’s not this week. Let’s start with the heart of the episode: Seth and Kirsten. Not only was this a beautifully written story, it addressed one of the biggest problems this season has had: Kirsten’s alcoholism. I admit, I wasn’t crazy about the story when it first reared its head last year. It was compelling, and it ended up being emotionally draining and absolutely terrific—plus, it gave us the “Fix You” scene as a defining moment of the show—but it seemed kind of out of nowhere. She’d been through hell, true, and she’d always turned to the bottle when she was going crazy, but it always seemed like comedic relief as opposed to anything serious. But Josh went ahead with it, and, as I said, he did it well. It felt monumental. And then season three starts, and it’s over. They tried something with the Charlotte storyline, and it was compelling for two episodes or so, but that failed because it was all about the soap opera and not about the larger picture: the emotion and the fallout of a visit to rehab. And look, I’m fine with the show being an over-the-top-oh-my-god-she-just-pulled-off-her-wig-on-melrose-place soap opera, but if they’re going to inject the show with a storyline like the alcoholism storyline, and write it so that it brings many of us to tears, then they need to address it head-on in an emotionally gripping way.

Yet it was ignored. Once Charlotte was unceremoniously bumped (after Kirsten was unceremoniously bumped for Julie in the story), Kirsten went to the back. And that just wasn’t fair, not to the fans who’d invested time and emotion and not to Kelly Rowan who owned the screen last year. But Josh brought the goodness in this episode. First of all, mother/son bonding always rings true to me because my mom and I are close. Senior year, especially, we hung out a lot together because my brother and sister didn’t like to go out, my dad was working out of state, and so my mom and I would go out to eat together nearly every night. Television always portrays parent/child relationships as such abnormal events, so it was nice to see Seth just volunteer to go out with his mother like it was natural, although it wasn’t exactly organic given the fact that Seth hasn’t cared much about his mother (and it works both ways) in two seasons. But Josh was prepared to handle that criticism before I even made it, and that’s why Kirsten snapped at Seth that she didn’t talk about the situation because he didn’t ask. Really, though, you can’t blame either for never wanting to talk. Kirsten, sitting at dinner, and mentioning her trip in rehab would be uncomfortable, and Seth has never really done well with being “that family.” I loved that Seth tried to leave the AA meeting because it reflected how he felt about the whole thing last season. He just didn’t want to deal with what was happening, or, in this case, had happened. It was also nice to hear Kirsten had been sober, a real sigh of relief for everyone who is so invested in this terrific character.

Now, I know one person who argued that Ryan should have attended the meeting with Sandy and Kirsten as well, but that’s not even remotely right for at least two reasons. One, Ryan doesn’t need to go to an AA meeting to know that Kirsten is doing better. He’s been around alcoholics his entire life. He knows the difference between drunk and sober. Two, Ryan is not Kirsten’s son. I know that we all love Sandy and Kirsten to refer to Ryan as a son, and I hope they legally adopt him soon because I love the family dynamic, but Ryan didn’t grow up with Sandy and Kirsten. This moment with Seth and Kirsten wasn’t just about them hanging out together, it was about them bonding, about familial growth, and about the fleeting moment before college. That’s why Kirsten references Fantasia: to remind us that Seth has grown up, and she’s sorry to see him go. It was a genuinely beautiful story, well-written and well-acted. Absolutely brilliant. I’m hoping that Seth will pack Kirsten and take her to college with him, so that we can have more of these moments.

Now, somewhat speaking of Ryan, there’s not too much to say about him this week. It was really cool to see him happy, if a little unsettling. Ben is a tremendous actor, and this proved it. He was actually convincing as mind numbingly happy—well, happy in a television sense, since no one actually acts like that when they’re happy in real life. Regardless, though, I’ve really enjoyed seeing Ryan happy, and even more, I’ve enjoyed seeing him attempt to complete rid himself of Marissa’s problems. Some complain that Ryan should try to help her, not ignore the flask in school, etc. Okay, maybe that’s the good thing to do, but he’s done a hell of a lot for her. He’s cleaned up a lot of her messes, and while I won’t deny that Marissa hasn’t done much for her (turning herself in as the shooter in the season premiere took a lot of guts), I have to say that Ryan has put himself out there far more times than Marissa has, and he’s gotten nothing in return except more problems. Sadly, though, it looks like he’ll be back to taking her problems on again. He was fairly nonchalant in dealing with Volchok and his goons, but the fact is, he was dealing with them, and when Marissa gets in serious trouble later, which is bound to happen now that she’s on coke(~!), he’ll run to her rescue. Right now, though, I’ll just enjoy his relationship with Sadie because while it’s a little forced and it’s ill-fated, it’s still pretty hot, and it’s incredibly refreshing.

With Marissa in mind, let’s talk briefly about her. Again, there’s not much to stay, as she didn’t actually do much different. She just did more to put herself in a worse position. I’m all for her cocaine use despite it being a Kelly Taylor rehash. I’d have preferred something a little more hardcore, maybe shooting heroine or something, but that’s just because I like to see Marissa really punish herself. As I said, Mischa doesn’t play happy Marissa any different than miserable Marissa, but since Mischa always seems miserable anyway, it seems fitting that she should stick with spiraling out of control. Besides, it’s much more interesting than watching the writers attempt to put her at the center of the show as if she’s some kind of moral figure. Now, I won’t deny that I liked that she went and brought Sadie back from the train station. Ryan deserved it because he deserves to be happy, and since Marissa has really taken happiness away from it (assuming he ever really had it), she was the one who should have given it back to him. It was a bold move, and I’m glad she did it. It was also nice because it took her another notch further on her downward spiral. I just have to wonder if she’s going to get herself in so much trouble that she’s going to have to skip college, Ryan stays, and then everyone stays in Newport. This is a well-written storyline so far, so I hope that the writers don’t come up with something lame.

Speaking of something lame, let’s talk about something that’s not, and that’s the Sandy and Matt story. Okay, a lot of people have hated on it, but I’m proud to say I’ve been mostly behind it. A lot of times, the adult storylines kind of go over my head because they’re all business related, and God knows the only thing I know about business is that I’m not cut out for that world, but I do know that here, business is merely a cover for Sandy’s problems. He basically puts Matt up to something and then makes him take the fall. Griffin essentially says that something bad might happen to Matt, and Sandy allows it. That’s horrible, actually, but it’s so incredibly compelling. This is just a terrific story that’s really playing with the complexities of Sandy’s character in a way that’s so much more real than the Rebecca affair. Somehow, I think this is going to end badly for Sandy and Kirsten’s marriage, and I’m actually kind of looking forward to it. I think it might be interesting if we find out that Sandy hired the goons to take out Matt and his television. Seriously, that was a nice television. I’m really not concerned with the overt liberal overtones of this storyline, and generally, political leanings, to the right or left, turn me off. I can handle the “corporation make evil man” overtones of this one, though, because again, it’s Sandy attempting to do something right in the wrong way, and really, the ends aren’t quite justifying the means.

Whoa, I totally skipped over Julie/Neil. Not much to add other than to say that I can’t believe people are really upset over their “trial” since I don’t think Neil’s acting controlling or domineering by saying it. He simply knows that the family is the most important thing, and if the families don’t mesh well, then the marriage can’t work. And here’s to hoping it leads to more Marissa and Summer fighting since this show desperately needs more in-group fighting. Yeah, that’s all I have to say there since I completely forgot about it until the very end, and my head’s spinning with previous ideas. My bad.

Random Thoughts…

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, two of the main masterminds behind the show, wrote this episode, and it was great. Coincidence? Doubt it. I love that the show has actual continuity now, that the characters are real, and that things are progressing in a logical way.

No Taylor this week. That makes me sad, but she is signed on as a series regular, confirmed by J.J. Philbin in an interview she did here: http://sillypipedreams.blogspot.com/2006/03/chillbin-with-philbin_29.html. I know, I know, it’d been confirmed before, but I never want to believe anything until a truly credible source (e.g., a writer) tells me it’s true. By the way, I asked a question about the overall season arcs, and something close to that made it to the interview. Methinks it’s my question! So yeah, I’m now officially an insider. Kind of.

Oh crap, I completely forgot to talk about Marissa and Summer and Julie and Neil. I’ll go back and write something short after I’m done with this.

And I’m done because really, I’m tired. I know, I’m on vacation, I should be up late and sleeping late, but I’m an old man. I’m like 65 trapped in a 20 year old body.

Okay, I know that things, especially with Ryan and Marissa were all over the place in this review, but that’s mainly because it wasn’t the most important thing to me. I’m thinking about changing the format to where I write a lot about what I felt was important and having short blurbs about other things. I think that’ll make it easier on me and quicker for you. Who knows? We’ll see.

Have a good week everyone, and I’ll see you soon.

-Drew
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

The Journey

2006-03-21T20:59:00.001-08:00

Welcome back, everybody.

After a strong episode last week, the expectations were high going into this one. More or less, this episode delivered. True, the pace was slower, and there were no big brawls, but it didn’t change the fact that this was an important episode and a good one to boot. As with last week, storylines moved forward, characters progressed, and it truly felt like a show worth watching. It’s not like anyone should be too surprised given that the show was, again, Ryan-centered, and that’s when the show is at its best.

Speaking of Ryan, he was featured in what I consider the most important scene of the season thus far (yeah, I’m actually saying something’s more important than Johnny dying…remember, I’m saying important, not exciting): the scene where he introduces Sadie to the Cohens. Oh but Drew, you’re just saying that because you don’t like Ryan and Marissa. Thanks for playing but no. Look, I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy seeing them apart because not only are they terrible together, but they’re somewhat endearing when they’re apart, but my reason for this is two fold:

1) Character progression
2) Ryan and the Cohens are officially a family

Looking at the first point first, you have to understand that this show is bad when nothing happens. And I’m not talking about the lack of a fistfight or gunshot. I’m talking about just the lack of any forward movement. Even if it’s just word to let us know the characters are thinking rationally, we need something. Look at some of the worst moments ever on the show: the first six episodes or so of 2005 and about eight episodes in this season. In the season two episodes, we had Ryan and Lindsay make no strides in their relationship, and we got bored of a nice relationship. In the season three episodes, we had Marissa and Johnny just sit and stare at each other as if the other was going to grow wings (I bet Johnny wished he actually had wings, huh? Not that they’d have done any good since they were probably as depressed and miserable as he was and wouldn’t flap correctly). And it’d be very easy for Ryan to fall back into this trap of staying still. He could have dropped the invitation off at Marissa’s, heard the CD, and then decided to wait around for her at the party, at the very least just entertaining Sadie instead of courting her. But he chose to accept her, to understand that Marissa isn’t what he needs at the moment. Ryan’s definitely not dense enough to believe Marissa doesn’t still care for him. She wouldn’t have made the mix CD if she didn’t. But he’s finally aware of what’s good for him and what’s not. His relationship with Marissa is unhealthy at this point.

Moving on to the second, it’s nice to see Ryan not just say, “These are the Cohens.” They are more than that. And even though the parenting has been noticeably lacking in the last two seasons, I think that watching Ryan, his chivalry and his decency, we understand that the Cohens have had a remarkable influence on him. Now I’m not saying that they should encourage him to tuck his shirt in every week because it makes him look like a complete ass, but we’ve seen where he came from, and he’s so much better now. And speaking of where he came from, it’s especially nice to know the Cohens are his family since we see what could have been. The decision to bring Dawn back was an interesting one, to be sure. I doubt that we’ve seen the last of her, so I like this idea that she’s coming back in his life. It’s a tie that was never fully severed, and though he’s fully embraced Sandy and Kirsten, he’ll never be able to deny Dawn. I think I would have rather seen Ryan’s father, actually, but I’ll take his mother now. Hopefully it’ll lead to familial complications. I’d love to see Sandy and Kirsten stand up to Dawn and the unnamed father. I doubt there’d be a custody battle—in fact, there couldn’t be—but legalities aside, it’s an interesting battle, one that could seriously tear Ryan apart and give him legitimate inner turmoil. And finally, Ryan’s brother, the brother who has supported him and caused him far fewer problems than Trey: Seth. What a great party he threw together. While I don’t buy that Seth didn’t remember Ryan’s birthday, I can buy that he put so much effort into it. Photoshopped pictures were the nicest touch, and I’m definitely sad we didn’t see Scientist Ryan. Brokeback Ryan was pretty funny, though, and clearly a nod to fans of the show who clamor for Ryan and Seth to hook up. And let’s not forget the Journey cover band who is actually a Foreigner cover band. What a perfect scene, amazingly executed. That Seth actually knew what he was doing was a terrific touch as the writers could have played it as Seth just being a moron. Totally not the case. Maybe Taylor, noticeably absent, helped book the party, as only she could bring such awesomeness.

Segueing from Seth to his girlfriend, who he really didn’t seem to deal with too much this week, I have to say that she completely owned her scene with Julie. Melinda Clarke and Rachel Bilson deserve at least three minutes of screen time together each week. It was brilliantly written and played with a perfect cinematic contrast: the fiery (used to be more) redhead versus the feisty brunette. “Awkward” was just a terrific way to describe the situation, especially considering these two have rarely, if ever, talked. Honestly, when else have they had actual scenes together? I’m drawing a blank, though I’m thinking I shouldn’t. Now, as for the engagement itself, I don’t know how I feel about it. I certainly don’t believe that Julie’s in it for the money this time. She’s put herself through too much just for money. She could easily attract someone else and steal his money. And even she’s not heartless enough to try to steal money from her daughter’s best friend’s father. It’s too touchy. So I think she’s in it for the long haul. It’s Neil that I worry about. They made a conscious effort to note just how quickly Neil proposes. His marriages are clearly failures, and I find it hard to believe that he just happened to marry two women who suck. So I fear we’re going to get the bastard version of Neil Roberts, the one who haphazardly proposes to Julie because the opportunity presents itself and not because he wants to. If that’s the case, we’re going to end up seeing Summer hurt, Julie hurt, and indirectly, others hurt. The fear Josh has of adding adult characters should not be a factor here. He has to overcome it and somehow let this storyline play out with everyone maintaining face. I actually believe that Julie hurting Neil, causing Summer to get pissed at Julie, causing Marissa to step in and defend Julie for some reason, leading to a Summer and Marissa catfight would be a brilliant move. We haven’t seen one since Hailey and Julie.

Looking at Marissa for a moment, I have to say that I’m impressed with the way the flashbacks were intricately woven into the episode in a believable manner. I didn’t feel as if they were forced. I felt they were legitimately triggered, and although Marissa falling down the steps was the height of melodramatic cheese, it somehow works given that Marissa has found herself in some pretty melodramatic situations. Some people dislike alcoholic Marissa, but I find her to be refreshing since I think Mischa plays unhappy much better than she plays anything else. And I’m not talking about “Johnny likes me” unhappy, I’m talking about “I am truly miserable” unhappy. It may be that playing unhappy requires a blank stare and Mischa excels at that, or it may be that she’s just really good. Whatever the case, I like her better this way. Now adding in Volchok, you’ve got an interesting dynamic. She’s pretty messed up now, and although she’s aware she’s better without him, he’s there. And sometimes, having someone else, no matter who, is much better than feeling alone. I suppose that it’s actually an improvement since Marissa’s been known to isolate herself when she drinks. I don’t know that Volchok will save her like Ryan does, but he seems to have somewhat of a vulnerable side, and I’ll be interested to see how that comes out.

Now, I’m hoping that if it doesn’t come out, he’ll pick a fight with Ryan and not with Matt. What writer sat down and decided to hint at a Matt and Marissa relationship? On what planet does it even remotely make sense? I know that many of us were basically statutory mind-rapists when Willa Holland appeared on screen, but no one actually acted on that. If Matt and Marissa becomes an actual storyline, they better handle it with extreme care and have some unbelievable twist (read: Marissa better not sleep with him and get pregnant) waiting for us.

And that takes us from Matt to Sandy and Kirsten, which essentially leads us to the end since they were minor characters this week. They functioned in the Ryan dynamic, and that’s where I like them at times, but I was a little disappointed to see the Sandy becomes Caleb storyline halted. Now, I’ve been clamoring for Sandy the lawyer to return, so I’m not exactly upset we saw it, but it seems like odd timing since the Caleb story was really picking up steam last week, especially with Kirsten’s reaction. I wanted more of that. Anyway, I don’t know if Sandy and Kirsten were thinking straight when they agreed Dawn should be at the party, especially since Ryan basically said his childhood parties sucked. But okay, whatever. At least the terrific letter Dawn sent had the childhood picture of Ryan and now the Cohens can add it to their photo album. That is if Ryan gives it up. And really, is Sandy the best lawyer ever or what? A woman in jail, in New Mexico, and Sandy manages to get her out. He knows everyone! Too bad he’s eeevvvilll now!

No real random thoughts from me tonight. This review came at an exceptionally bad time since it’s another terrible week. I swear to God, I’ll never have another semester like this again. I couldn’t handle it. So much reading, so much writing, so much more reading. I wouldn’t exactly trade it since I’m learning a lot and am being exposed to a lot, but still, c’mon, I’m starting to have chest pains from all the stress.

Knowing that, if anything came off particularly odd, particularly incorrect, particularly short, or particularly wrong then let me know. Next week should be better, but I can make no promises. We’ll see.

Hope everyone has a good week.

-Drew
Questions, comments, death threats, marriage proposals:
dukedeivls9192@gmail.com

The Road Warrior

2006-03-11T21:21:00.000-08:00

“The Road Warrior”

See Josh, that wasn’t so bad, was it?

All it took was a little bit of comedy, a little bit of character progression, a little bit of storyline progression, a little bit of Kelly Rowan acting, a lot of Ryan acting Chino, and a very little bit of Marissa. Hmm, I wonder who thought of that. Oh, right:

Everyone.

See, this show’s success has never been a particular secret to anyone outside of the writer’s room. Even the teenybopper fans were aware that Ryan and Marissa just weren’t working. They knew that Johnny was a complete disgrace. And when those fans, the loyal ones who will regurgitate the company line at the drop of a hat, start to turn on you, you know you’ve done something wrong. But the praise for this episode has been rightfully overwhelmingly positive. In fact, most of the negative press that it’s gotten has been from fans who have already sworn the show off. Some, I believe, simply dismiss the show because it’s the cool thing to do. But I don’t think it’s quite that cool yet. There’s still a lot of good left, and it really looks like we’re about to get it.

So welcome back kids for another fun week. It’s going to be a short one again, but I really think it’s better that way. Don’t you? Okay, you don’t. Well, I apologize.

As you could probably tell from the intro, I was a very big fan of this episode for a multitude of reasons. Most importantly was the progression of character and storylines. The show had been plagued by character indecisiveness in the last few weeks, namely in the form of Marissa, Sandy, and Neil. But Thursday’s episode shot that down completely. A terrific, refreshing change. We’re on the right path, people. And I’m excited.

Obviously, the first place we need to start with Ryan and Marissa because that’s the most important aspect of this episode. It was terrific to see Ryan happy for once. He was completely at ease when he was with Sadie, and after watching him sulk and barely talk (okay, not too weird for Ryan) for half a season, it was refreshing to see him open up. He looked like he was having fun, and that’s probably because he was allowed to be himself with Sadie. True, he still played the savior, helping fix the house and trying to save Sadie from Johnny’s dad and the goons, but he was never in a situation where it had to be done. Sadie wasn’t helpless like Marissa. She was taking charge, something that I loved. But Ryan stepped in because it comes natural. Maybe the best thing was that he got his ass kicked. Could it be that we’ll begin to understand the rage issues that were blatantly discussed earlier this season? There’s a lot of good material to work with there. Now, a lot of people are picking on Ryan for the fact that he just up and left Marissa, and that he played strip poker and hung out with Sadie before he broke up with Marissa. While I expect that waffling from such a fickle fan base, I really have to wonder what show you guys are watching. Ryan owes Marissa nothing. She’s miserable because of her own mistakes (and I do want to interject, but only in a parenthetical because I certainly owe Mischa Barton nothing, but I want to say that she did a phenomenal job this week acting sad and depressed). She ignored Ryan, she ignored her friends, and she completely isolated herself in favor of Johnny. This relationship, for Ryan, ended a long time ago. So while people can complain that Ryan did too much with Sadie too soon or that he didn’t get an appropriate enough grieving period, I urge you to look back at previous episodes. He’s been grieving since last season. He’s had plenty of time to move forward and he has. And he’s better for it. Will this relationship with Sadie get him in trouble? Likely so because that’s what Ryan does, but that’s fun. Ryan’s a terribly flawed person, and we’ve spent too much time not seeing that. I want to see him struggle again.

Of course, no one’s going to struggle quite like Marissa. I’m not sure what to make of the Volchok relationship since it’s, well, random, but I think I like it far better than the Matt/Marissa fling that was hinted in the last episode and even a bit in this one (c’mon, “I think you know Matt,” is clearly a sign for, “I think you should do Matt”). Volchok, at this point, doesn’t care about Marissa, he cares about hurting Ryan. And there’s a delicious irony in the fact that Marissa is used to taking in the vulnerable, and now she is the vulnerable. If her heart is broken by Volchok, it’s very much deserved. I’m particularly interested in seeing the final showdown between Volchok and Ryan. It has potential to be Ryan/Trey-esque, and I’m hoping that the writers see that and plan on taking it that way. The psyche out in “The Anger Management” was cool, but the final payoff should be huge. It should be real.

Back to Ryan for a moment, I hear that people aren’t crazy about his relationship with Sadie with most citing a lack of chemistry or a lack of looks for Nikki Reed. She’s not Mischa or Rachel or Melinda or Kelly, and she’s definitely not Autumn, but I think she’s very pretty, and she’s much more the type of person I see Ryan with at this point in his life. Ryan’s just never quite adjusted to this life of luxury and beauty. This works far better for him, and I’m happy with the way this is all going. I know that Reed won’t be around for much longer, but I do suspect that through her, Ryan’s going to learn a lot about himself. If nothing else, he may learn how to play poker.

As Ryan struggles with his demons, we’re seeing the same thing from Sandy. He’s put himself in a terrible position, and he just seems blinded. This story, which started nicely despite fans’ cries that it wasn’t working, did really start to come to a halt when Sandy waffled terribly, and Matt was characterized as a moron. But this week, Sandy showed where he stands. He showed that he cares more about the hospital being built than he does about anything else. And he showed that he’s willing to hurt anyone. Matt, for once, showed a great vulnerability at the dinner scene. He wants the hospital too, and it seemed like it took something out of him to actually tell Maya that. Maybe I misread him, but I sensed hurt in his voice. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he had to tell her the truth, and the truth just didn’t sound pretty. The thing with Sandy, though, is that he wants to do a good thing, but there is only one way to do the good thing. Do the ends justify the means? I highly doubt that Caleb ever cared that much about doing good things, but I think that was we study Sandy, we’re learning more about Caleb. And as we learn about him, we see Kirsten’s reactions. I truly think that’s why she’s so insistent that Sandy wake up and see what he’s doing. She’s seen this business and what it can do. It’s got to be difficult watching her husband morally deteriorate.

Speaking of storylines moving forward, it was very nice to see Neil grow some balls and admit that he liked Julie. He was making such good strides before pussing out in the last episode. And he and Julie seem to be having a great time. The best part of this story, though, wasn’t Julie and Neil’s interaction, but Seth, Summer, and Taylor working together to uncover what’s going on. Okay, don’t get me wrong, I loved Julie as Sharon Stone, and I kept waiting for a Sharon Stone shot, but alas, it didn’t come. Still, the fun part was watching Julie’s horrified reaction as Summer listed all the qualities her dad looks for and all the qualities that he doesn’t need. Julie doing crossword puzzles is simple but hilarious. And that’s truthfully all I have to say about that. This story is progressing along fine, even though Seth is still relegated to supporting role. Hopefully they’ll come back to the pot storyline soon because I think it wrapped up far too quickly. College anst does not end that quickly.

Random Thoughts…

How freaking weird was that opening scene? I couldn’t decide if it was a drug-induced scene. Seth is in the hot tub with the two girls. Why? Seth doesn’t want to be with the girls. Why? It was funny, sure, but completely unnecessary.

But before that came an awesome dig at One Tree Hill (other people are saying that it was a dig about Grey’s Anatomy or other shows, and while I don’t doubt that, I truly think that OTH was the intended target, especially since Mike Kelley, who wrote this episode, was a writer with Schwahny and company on the WB in season one) with the voiceover. I wondered what the hell was going on, and when Marissa came in and actually turned the voice off, I cheered. What a perfect moment.

I really enjoyed the use of “Forever Young” in this episode. I didn’t think it fit the scene last time it was used, but it really made sense now. The last time, Ryan and Marissa thought that everything was okay, and in this episode, they realized it wasn’t.

The breakup scene was incredibly effective, I have to say. There was no need to drag it out. They have big melodramatic scenes every week. A simple phone call without many words was exactly the way it should be done. Kudos writers, and kudos Ben and Mischa for playing it very well.

Taylor’s back! She just has to hook up with the Korean barbecue guy. Please?

And that’s it folks. I can’t believe I finished this in one sitting. Writing less makes it much easier.

I truly enjoyed this episode. It was grittier, darker, and just more fun. And that’s what the show should be. Here’s to parties, fights, and Marissa and Ryan apart.

I’ll see you in seven.

-Drew

Questions, comments, anything?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

The Heavy Lifting

2006-02-27T17:21:00.000-08:00

I bet you never thought you’d hear from me again, did you?

Well, the truth is, I’ve been incredibly busy. I can’t even begin to say just how busy I’ve been, but trust me, it’s pretty damn busy. Books, plays, writing, etc. And I had a birthday thrown in there and once again, thanks to everyone who wished me a happy one. It was. I’m now 20. And how weird is it watching this show where people who are older than me are playing people who are younger? Okay, not too weird, I guess. But yeah, I’ve been busy. So busy that I thought about quitting this all together and just reviewing every episode over the summer, but that would give me hindsight, and hindsight wouldn’t quite work with this type of review.

So I decided that while I had a few minutes – and really, I don’t because I should be watching a Russian film for my film class (and I promise, I’m not playing woe is me with all the school work I have; I’m just trying to justify my lateness) – I’d write this up. The film is silent and luckily, I can type without looking at the screen too often, so I can keep an eye on the movie, and my fingers on the keys, and though I don’t know what’s going on in this movie, Potemkin, I figure that’s okay. But the big catch is that this review is going to be very Cliff’s Notes in style. There just isn’t time to write my usual six page spiel about every little detail. Instead, I’m just going to run over the big issues in bulleted format. I expect that you’ll see this format often throughout the rest of the season, but rest assured, the finale review will be tons of in-depth analysis, so for those of you who like what I have to say, just wait and you’ll get more me than you’ll care to know what to do with.

- The writers were in a bit of a quandary, I know, since fans hated Johnny, the characters more-or-less liked him, and the writers obviously masturbated to him, but I felt that they should have appeased themselves and the characters here and not the fans. The characters, minus Marissa (mostly), ignored Johnny’s death. The adults were the worst, particularly Julie, as they showed absolutely no concern for their kids. Julie, generally an overprotective mother, was completely ignorant to her girls’ emotions, saying only to Kaitlin that she’s sure the trip didn’t go as well as she would have liked. Bad parenting and horrible characterization. Kirsten and Ryan had a nice time together, but that was completely undermined by Sandy’s eagerness to spy on Matt. Kirsten, of course, earns shitty parent points for saying Ryan has a lot on his mind “as usual.” Yes, that’s right, because I remember all the other times people fell off cliffs while Ryan watched. Very usual. I give Mischa Barton some credit for acting somewhat disturbed at the end of the episode, though.

- Marissa is still the most annoying character on television. Picking Johnny’s bracelet at the end was disgusting. She’s sad, I get it, but she made no effort to try to relate to Ryan. Everything that happens, she turns it back to herself so she can throw herself to the middle. It’s annoying. I’m glad that Sadie’s here to try to put a stop to all this, though we all know it’s going to be short-lived since all non-core four relationships are short-lived, but still, it’s a nice change of pace. Sadie’s not well defined at this point, but she obviously appealed to Ryan and I’ll withhold any judgment on her character right now. It was a very good idea to have Ryan come to her house at the end. Ryan is usually so quick to forgive Marissa, and she really doesn’t deserve it here. She’s been a terrible girlfriend for pretty much their entire relationship. She’s far better with Ryan when they’re friends trying to make it work. That’s when the romance actually shines through. But once they’re together, it’s stupid. As for Sadie’s relationship to Volchok, I don’t know what to think. It could be good considering that it’ll definitely lead to a little violence, but it could be horribly contrived. I’d love to see Ryan get his ass kicked by Volchok actually. The Volchok in “The Anger Management” was a one-off character, for sure. He was vulnerable. That’s not a good villain. If they want to reintroduce him and expect us to take him seriously, he needs to be a hard ass. Plain and simple. And seriously, if they want to put Volchok with Marissa, then fine, but for the love of God, don’t put her with Matt. What a creepy scene.

- I don’t even remember what happened with Seth and Summer this episode. I think Seth got hit. Yeah, probably so. Seriously, one day when Seth actually hits Summer, it’s going to become a “very special episode.” Actually, I’d kill to see one of those with this show because I think they could really do an awesome spoof. Man, that would be so much fun. As for the pot stuff, I hope it’s not over. It’s too fun. The underwear switch was fun, too, although it felt too sitcom-y for this episode. And it didn’t develop far enough to really reach all comedic potential. I liked the attempt to callback to season one’s Valentine’s Day episode with Seth and Sandy having a conversation at the table, but the horribly dark lighting and quick nature of the conversation kind of ruined it. What can you do, though?

- Sorry to see Kaitlin go. Not much else I can see. Willa Holland’s pretty good, so I hope she comes back. Yeah, that’s really all there is to say about that. Who else predicts that the little dopey, lovesick kid who looks like one of the young guys on American Idol (go Taylor and Chris!) will have gotten her pregnant by the finale? Just me. Bleh.

This was a very solid effort but a step down from previous efforts. It just tried to do too much and did so incorrectly. Kudos to the writers putting some funny things on Johnny’s surfboard (“sux 2 b u”) in a nod to fans. Too bad it took them so long to get the message: Johnny sucked.

Okay, so that’s really it. I know it’s not in-depth. It’s very shallow, but really, it’s all I can do. I’ll be around still, though. Just have patience. People who know what’s coming up say the rest of the season is really good, so here’s to hoping that’s true.

-Drew
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

The Cliffhanger

2006-02-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

“The Cliffhanger”

Johnny Harper, we hardly knew ye.

Actually, that’s not true. We knew ye, and we knew ye all too well. That’s actually a lie, too. We saw ye often but knew ye very little because Ryan Donowho is a pathetic actor, and the writers are complete imbeciles for subjecting us to a one-dimensional character for somewhere around 100 episodes.

Alas, though, let us pause and remember the good times of Johnny Harper. Like the time he died. Yes, that’s pretty much it.

Before we get into all the greatness surrounding the death of a fictional character that we all hated as if he were real, I’d like to take a moment and say that this was definitely the best episode of the season. Not only was it funny, but it was smart, it was well-balanced, it was well-acted, and it was progressive in the sense that it furthered the characters, and it furthered the plot. The show that was once horribly stagnant is making a tremendous recovery, and I absolutely love it. It’s not perfect again yet, but for me, it’s as good as the latter half of season two, and since I loved most everything after “The Rainy Day Women,” I consider that a pretty high standard.

Now, moving on to the episode, let’s start with the demise of Johnny. And yes, he’s dead. Or, at least, he’s supposed to be. Everyone next will believe that he’s dead, and I really can’t imagine Josh waking Johnny up at the end of the season to come surfing through Harbor’s graduation. I firmly believe that he is dead, so I will address him as such and say that I felt, for the first time, that the Johnny/Marissa/Ryan triangle played out correctly. I think it’s ridiculous that it took Kaitlin’s arrival to force Ryan to see what was going on. I do believe that he was aware of the shady dealings between Marissa and Johnny, but he was willing to ignore them for the sake of his own sanity. It’s been little less than a tumultuous year for Ryan. The writers have completely ignored the aftermath of Trey’s shooting, though I suppose that if we wanted to try to make logic out of illogic, we could say that Ryan’s distance from everything, particularly his acceptance of playing second fiddle to Johnny, is a way of showing just how wounded he is. He doesn’t even have the strength anymore to step in and try to change things because he’s comfortable playing in the shadows. Ryan’s insecurities have never been dealt with properly on this show, but I think that this episode was a step in the right direction of forcing Ryan to deal with things. He finally stepped up to the plate and said to Marissa what needed to be said. He told her he couldn’t see her anymore, and he didn’t bother to wait for the excuse. When Marissa started her sentence and Ryan just got up and walked away was an absolute perfect scene. I thought that it’d go on longer and allow for Marissa to make her excuses, but it didn’t. Ryan had every right to do that, too, and Marissa had no right to be upset or to even try to justify herself because she’s had plenty of opportunities to right the ridiculous wrongs, and she hasn’t. That’s why I was slightly upset when Ryan just went to making out with her, though I suppose I don’t blame him. He did still leave it as if it weren’t completely resolved, though, which I do like. I was also very pleased when Johnny came to talk to Ryan, and Ryan was a complete dick, calmly listening to Johnny and then telling him to go away. It’s what Ryan should have done several episodes ago. He had every right to be angry, and the fact that he allowed Johnny to string along this long is amazing. While I guess it’s commendable that Johnny was letting Ryan know that he was going after Marissa, it’s still frustrating that it took this long. That’s what’s been the most overwhelmingly annoying part of this entire Johnny debacle: it’s gone nowhere. It’s been the same thing week after week. Johnny looks at Marissa with his one look. She looks at him with her one look. And Ryan walks away. Words are spoken, but nothing is said. When I see how this episode was done, I cringe because I realize that this episode could have been done five episodes ago and achieved the exact same effect, all while ridding us of the storyline earlier. Why it had to be such a prolonged thing, I’ll never know.

From everything that I can gather, Josh wanted us to empathize (or is it sympathize?) with Johnny thus making his death more powerful. Unfortunately, they completely failed because he had not one endearing trait. He was capable of only one emotion—sadness—and even that emotion was displayed unconvincingly. The actor, who I’ve shockingly heard is a good actor outside of this show, looked constantly bored. I can buy Adam being bored in the scripts since he had nothing to do, but since entire episodes were built around Johnny, Donowho must have just been completely lazy. Further, we were supposed to believe that Johnny would fall for Marissa despite the fact that she has been written terribly this year. She put Ryan’s life in front of her own in the premiere, but other than that, she has done absolutely nothing right. She’s self-absorbed, she’s whiney, she’s illogical, she’s bitchy, and she’s a general downer. We all understand that she has issues to deal with given what happened with Trey and Jimmy’s untimely departure, but there was never any logical progression from one emotion to another. She just is these things. Because of all this, no one ever bought the Johnny/Marissa relationship. There was no reason to care, no reason to root for them. Neither character is at all likeable right now; neither character is at all worth watching. They were shoved down our throats in lieu of the characters that fans have clamored for constantly. I suppose that, in a sense, Josh’s big death worked. People were interested in Johnny’s death. But I doubt that Josh hoped that it would go this way. He wanted people to scream for him not to jump. Instead people were jumping up and down, slapping high fives, and talking about how great it was that this character is no longer. I do feel some sympathy for his mom and for Chili since they did absolutely nothing wrong. True, Chili was nothing more than a cheap imitation of Seth, but he never did anything that gave fans a reason to hate him. Johnny Lewis has a natural charisma, so he was easy to watch. Johnny’s mom had absolutely no personality, but she seemed nice enough, so I feel sorry for her. Teen deaths are always tragic, but I don’t see why anyone would care that Johnny’s dead now. Feel sorry for the people around him, but don’t feel sorry for him. And if you don’t want to feel sorry for him, blame Marissa since it was her inability to let go that led to his death. The previews show that people might try to blame Ryan, but the truth is, it was all Marissa. Maybe this time she’ll be charged with murder.

I continue to love Kaitlin as she’s an extremely nuanced character with a penchant for saying the right thing. As an outsider she sees what everyone else doesn’t. Her ice cream analogy (or is it a metaphor or both?) was right on. I almost like her as much as her nuanced mother, someone who continues to be absolutely terrific on the show. There isn’t much to say about the Julie/Neil romance that I haven’t said in the past. These two are absolutely perfect together with a terrific chemistry. The relationship feels real, and Julie’s plots to spy on Neil ring so true of an eighth grader lending this storyline a very innocent feel. It’s real. It’s not a tainted love. Neil, despite being too big to stand in Julie’s trailer, always appears happy when Julie is around, and Melinda always plays the scenes with a perfect shock, a shock that suggests she doesn’t feel good enough to have such a great guy. I felt that the scenes where Julie was spying on Neil were excellent, somewhat heartwarming but completely hilarious. Truthfully, is there anymore to say other than these actors are delivering spot-on performances and the writing is perfect? Here’s to Julie Cooper-Nichol-Roberts.

I’m also still a fan of Sandy’s storyline, though it needs to have an overly dramatic moment thrown in soon because it has potential to lag. I believe that exploring Sandy’s demons is a perfect way to take the story, but it can’t simply be that he changes his mind and fires Matt. This has to build to a climatic showdown before or during the finale. I’ve predicted that Matt would be a hotshot business person and nothing more since the beginning, and there is really something that can come from that. What I don’t want is a Full House moment between the two. Matt’s young and charismatic and that’s exactly all that’s needed to pull off smarmy businessman on television. I believe that if the writers can somehow find a way to have Sandy’s unwillingness to compromise his morals compromise his business or his family, then we have a terrific storyline. I don’t believe that there were any mentions of Caleb this week, and that’s probably a good thing since he was mentioned many times last week, but I do believe name-dropping can do nothing but help this storyline live up to its potential since the dramatic pull is the fact that Sandy worries that he’ll become Caleb. While this show isn’t known for playing with storyline ramifications, using Caleb’s death as a catalyst to Sandy’s problems now is a nice touch. I’m actually just pleased that Sandy has his own storyline now. I don’t like that Kirsten is still relegated to the backburner, but I think she’ll eventually take something of her own. I would hope so at least. I have to give kudos to the writing staff for the moment where Sandy asks Kirsten if it’s okay to drink. Despite the fact he didn’t care last week, it’s nice to see the writers trying to fix their gaffe. You can also look at it as Sandy being so out of it after compromising himself that he didn’t even realize he was drinking in front of Kirsten. With a clearer head, he realized just how uncomfortable the situation can be. I’m hoping that somehow the Newport Group finds its way back to Kirsten and Sandy finds his way back into the courtroom so we can finally get the lawyer scenes that would clearly be incredible.

Or maybe Sandy can drop out of business and law altogether and just give lectures on the dangers of pot. Okay, maybe not since that would put this show dangerously in the public service announcement territory, and since Seth denounced After School Specials on the pier, I would hope that this doesn’t go into this territory when Sandy finds out. Maybe he won’t find out at all. I believe that that’s the smart way to go, actually because any scene where Sandy, a noted pothead from back in the day, confronts Seth was a pamphlet for a rehab center will be entirely awkward especially after last season’s powerful intervention. Hey, though, maybe Seth will go back to rehab and he can meet Charlotte since he never did before! And maybe this time, we can get a payoff. It’s obvious that’s where they’re going. Layers, people, this show is about layers and continuity! Ahem. Anyway, I love how this storyline continues to feel incredibly realistic. I don’t believe that Seth is addicted to pot (can you be addicted to pot?), but he’s addicted to feeling terrible because with each day that passes he’s coming closer to realizing what he’s terrified up. Everything good in his life is slowly being taken away, and he’s being thrust into a world that he doesn’t quite know. It’s not say that things might not be good for him in college—Josh said that the Seth character was one that was supposed to be cool when he gets to college—but he doesn’t know yet. It’s a daunting task. Even switching semesters in high school requires a change, so imagine having to move across the country to switch classes, houses, and friends. Now, given that he’s blown his interview, there’s the possibility that he won’t get in at all, and he won’t have to worry about change, but he’ll have to worry about losing his dream. I think it’s a nice double-edged sword. Can he really win in this situation? As Ryan pointed out, the scary thing about Seth’s new drug play is that he does it alone. He’s isolated everyone. Maybe he’ll become so isolated that he’ll be ready to leave Newport again. Maybe not. I’m assuming that Summer will hit him and kill him since that’s what she does. A lot of people are saying that the hitting is too much, by the way, but I don’t know if it’s too much. I just don’t think it’s that cute. There has to be a better way to show angry affection. All that aside, Brody continues to be fantastic in his role. He’s not overblown, he’s not annoying, but he’s genuinely funny. He alternates between vulnerable and high with such ease that it makes me think Brody’s done it before. Hey, an actor must suffer for his craft. I wasn’t a huge fan of the way that Summer found the pot, but there really isn’t much of a better one. At least it gave us the amazing visual of Seth staring at a blue screen. And I’d praise the “take off our pants line” but my stupid Fox affiliate came in to let me know that Michael Smith was giving a weather report at 10. Yes, the same douche that you can find here: http://whns.images.worldnow.com/images/64843_G.jpg. I e-mailed the affiliate but didn’t get a response. That’s okay.

Random Thoughts…

J.J. Philbin, who I have never cared much for as a writer, did a fantastic job on the script. It was incredibly funny at the right moments, and the characters said the right things instead of the stereotypical things. She jus got married so maybe marriage agrees with her.

Johnny has a low tolerance for alcohol doesn’t he?

How horrible would it have been if they’d shown Johnny fall? I’m not talking about sadness, I’m talking about cheese factor. Does he fall and scream, “Marrisssaaaa…!” as he falls? Do they play Looney Toons music as he falls? Or him folding up like Wile E. Coyote? Actually, that sounds pretty funny. I don’t think it would lessen the impact since we all felt Johnny was a cartoon character anyway. Actually, if Charlie Brown were a real person, he’d be Johnny Harper.

For once, the Fox promo people didn’t lie. Kudos to them.

Okay, music in this episode included a band named ROCK KILLS KID and a song called “Fall at Your Feet.” Who is to say that Josh has lost his sense of humor? That’s just flat out unbelievable.

It’s come to my attention that I’m too harsh on Marissa. I don’t care. There isn’t a single redeeming quality about her at the moment. If someone has one to share then please let me know. And I’m talking about now. Not season one when he problems weren’t necessarily her own, when she was somewhat endearing. She’s far from that now. Or maybe I’ve just gotten bitter.

I’m sad to know that Willa Holland’s run is coming close to an end. She’s scheduled to come back eventually, I think, and the show could only benefit. I’d love to see her become a regular next season.

Speaking of someone who should be a regular, where the hell is Taylor? She can’t possibly be absent this many episodes in a row. This show needs her. With all the good that’s come from the last two weeks, she can only make it better.

On that note, I think I’ll call it a morning. I kind of skimmed over a few things, but I’m just absolutely swamped with school work. The show is taking a hiatus after next week, and while I’m disappointed in that, I’m pretty happy that it’ll give me time to catch up. I suppose I’ll ready everything on my syllabi in a month and then have nothing to do when the shows start up, and I can focus all my energy here. Okay maybe that won’t happen.

For the few of who you who read this but haven’t seen the episode, get out and find a copy! This was a tremendous episode from a story standpoint, a script standpoint, and a historical standpoint. Everything about it was just fantastic. An important, if horribly dull, storyline was wrapped up. It’s a new beginning, and this was the perfect way to usher it in. Here’s to hoping they don’t decide to call it a new era again.

Have a good one.

-Drew
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

The Pot Stirrer

2006-01-30T20:00:00.000-08:00

“The Pot Stirrer”

Leave it to this show.

After my spiel in the last review about how I wasn’t interested in the show anymore, how the characters were flat and very much uninteresting as people, and how I had no real interest in writing about the show at the moment, Josh and co. somehow manage to completely reinvigorate the show with “The Pot Stirrer.”

Yes, I thought this was a great episode. It started off as just good, but as the days have passed, I have realized that it was more than that. This was truly a wonderful episode. Maybe it doesn’t quite compare when next to some of season one’s best episodes, but it doesn’t matter because I thought this was a great episode. It’s not like this year’s Chrismukkah episode where I enjoyed it because I was in the holiday spirit. This was actually good in every sense of the word. And what did it take? Nothing difficult. It just took what fans of the show have known since the first season: well-balanced storylines that focus on more than one character, storylines that show actual growth. It didn’t take fans long to figure out that’s what we wanted, and it didn’t take us long to voice our opinion about it, but it seemed to confuse the hell out of the writers. I’m not saying that Josh and co. have everything figured out because next week – what looks as if it’ll be the best episode ever – could go right back to the doldrums of teen soap hell, but I’m so extremely happy with this episode that I won’t look that far ahead. I’ll just focus on the now.

This episode was mostly Seth-centered as opposed to self-centered (guess which “self” I mean) the last few weeks, and despite the fact that we haven’t seen much Seth since, well, last season, this entire storyline played out beautifully due to the fact that Seth’s feelings are completely real and relatable. The Seth we’ve always known has been the one who wanted to run away from Newport, who wanted to go to boarding school, who wanted to wear winter clothes, and who wanted to be someone other than who he is. This is completely logical to me because the majority of his life, he was a complete outsider. Why he was one, I don’t know. He’s a good looking guy, he’s funny, he’s got a rich and powerful family, and he’s smart, but I suppose that sometimes, people can be threatening with how much they have going for them. I think that most of the audience sees what I see: his life isn’t that bad. But consider the fact that Seth is 17. He has only had two-three good years in his life. That’s means that a huge chunk of his life was spent being miserable. And while most of us go through our teen angst period where life seems miserable, it generally isn’t as bad as we make it out to be. For Seth, I really think it was. The evidence was definitely in the Chrismukkah video. Even when Seth suddenly had friends and girls fighting over him, it was easy for him to believe that things still sucked because he didn’t face the prospect of change. Now with the ultimate change looming over head, he realizes that what he has pretty good. Before now, he hasn’t been forced to really look at his life. He just assumed that nothing has changed. It’s an easy mistake to make. But things have changed. He’s not necessarily accepted by everyone – something that made his shopping for a girlfriend in the yearbook so cringe inducing – but he’s got a small, devoted group of friends. Even Marissa, in her own way, supports him, kind of. And considering their parents were best friends and apparently, the two of them weren’t close, the fact that they hang out now is very evident of how far Seth has come. I think that having that small group of friends, in many ways, is far superior to having the Luke-type popularity. This small support system is far less likely to crumble.

As for Seth actually smoking pot, I don’t think it could have been handled any more perfectly. Not only was there a distinct lack of “after school” feel to it (although as I type this an abovetheinfluence.com commercial, the one with the guy who smoked pot putting his fist in his mouth, is on and that’s definitely preachy), but Adam Brody didn’t overdo the performance. He absolutely nailed it. He was completely quirky and funny but not annoying. He was exactly what you’d expect from Seth Cohen on drugs. It reminded me a lot of the way he acted when he was drunk in the pilot. He was just completely and wonderfully weird. The most refreshing aspect of the entire plot was the fact that it gave us a lot of Seth and Ryan interaction, something really lacking from the show in recent episodes. Even more refreshing than the fact that they interacted was the fact that they interacted the way that teenage guys do. Ryan didn’t come into the room and lecture Seth on the horrors of drugs (although Ryan cracking an egg in a sizzling pan and telling Seth, “This is your brain on drugs” would have been so funny that I can’t even think about how many sides would have split), but he simply asked, “Are you high?” and said that he was bothered that Seth would do it alone. He didn’t see the pot smoking as a big deal or a cry for help, but he saw the fact that Seth is alone as a cry for help. That’s the wonderful distinction the writers made here. Ben McKenzie also played a terrific straight man to Brody’s high character. The way he delivered his lines, the small looks on his face, and the pure exasperation that he exuded were completely believe. How difficult it must be to live with Seth. And I checked my bookshelf, and sadly, I don’t have the Encyclopedia Brown book that Seth mentioned. Was it a real one?

From a future druggie to a drug dealer, I have to say that I really like Kaitlin Cooper in spite of the misleading promos. There is still time, I suppose, for Kaitlin to turn into a Valerie Malone bitch, but I highly doubt she will in such a short time, and I think that’s for the best. The previews made her look completely one-dimensional, but she’s far from it. In fact, she’s a very complex character. Just like with Seth, you can easily relate to her. She’s been completely scorned by her family. Julie, someone who incorrectly claims to be such a terrific family woman, just forgets her birthday. I suppose that’s better than forgetting to invite Kaitlin to Chrismukkah the last several years, but still, it’s not good. So Kaitlin’s decision to play devil’s advocate, as opposed to the devil, is perfectly in character. She has every right to be angry. She has every right to be upset. She mentioned that it was difficult to be Marissa’s sister. I’d imagine it is too since Marissa gets everything given to her while Kaitlin can’t get any attention. And the fact that she’s back to get a bit of revenge on Marissa allows her to be the voice of reason in a group of characters that has otherwise lacked reason lately. I think it’s pretty obvious that Ryan knows there’s something up between Johnny and Marissa, but it’s even more obvious that he’s not willing to face it. And since no one was willing to bring it up, he could safely place it behind him. Now, he can’t. The previews show that he’s mad at Marissa, and hopefully this will signal the end of their relationship. I know I clamored for the relationships to stay steady, but when this is the storyline we get, I don’t want it. I won’t discuss Johnny any further this week because everyone knows how I feel about him, though I have to say that when he called Kaitlin instead of Marissa and Marissa looked like she was passing a kidney stone in response, I really laughed. It’s about time she realized people don’t all love her.

And while Marissa’s realization that people don’t always love her is funny and welcomed, it’s far less welcomed to see the same thing happen to Julie. Of course, it’s not bad in the storyline because it’s clear that neither she nor Neil would actually be capable of keeping a relationship right now. It doesn’t undermine what came before it, and I don’t believe that it’ll undermine what, if anything, comes later. It’s just a natural progression. It’s clear that Julie has never been able to get her feet under her after her first divorce. She’s always relied on others to help her, and she really hasn’t faced any of the problems that she needs to face. She’s not a complete person, honestly. Terrific, yes, but complete, no. That too is very reasonable. And Kaitlin’s return really puts that in perspective. Julie seemed fascinated with prospect of starting a new life and a new family with Neil, but she hasn’t even fixed the problems in her current family. You can’t move forward on a shaky foundation. It just doesn’t work at all. It’ll collapse. So again, Kaitlin plays the voice of reason, a perfect role for her character. I felt the key was a wonderful symbol in this episode. It stood for opportunity, for hope, and for a new beginning. When Neil told Julie to leave it in the house, she looked absolutely crushed, and I was too. It wasn’t an overt breakup, but it was obvious what he was saying. I believe that their relationship still has unbelievable potential and that the writers see this, so I’m hoping to God that they continue to pursue and continue to pursue it slowly with both characters attempting to figure themselves out before they figure each other out. If this works, then I’ll forgive everyone for Jimmy’s departure and the poor way it was handled twice. The show definitely needs another consistent adult figure, and I see no reason why it shouldn’t be Neil Roberts. He is absolutely terrific in this role.

Speaking of adults, wasn’t it just unbelievably wonderful to see Sandy have a storyline that was all his own? For once, he wasn’t sitting around and solving the kids’ problems, throwing around a few clichés disguised as fatherly advice. There was no ridiculous moral spiel like at Marissa’s hearing. This was Sandy acting as a human. Sandy flirting with moral corruption was the storyline that was screaming at the writers when they decided to put Sandy in charge of the Newport Group. Why it has taken so long for them to pull the trigger is beyond me, but I’m glad they finally did it. I believe that we all had some sort of idealized vision of Sandy coming out the first season. Truthfully, was there a more perfect dad on television or even in reality? I love my dad and all, and many of you love your dads, but Sandy seemed to even eclipse them at times. He knew what to say, he was never overbearing, he was goofy, and most importantly, he was fatherly. It all added up perfectly. His scene with Seth about sex still ranks as one of the most perfect scenes ever on the show, mixing love, awkwardness, and realism. But no one’s perfect. The writers attempted to show us this with the Rebecca storyline last season, but that failed ultimately because it made the mistake of messing with family and doing so irrationally by having Sandy completely disregard his wife’s feelings. It was just too much for fans to handle because we knew Sandy was such a loving and aware husband. And the storyline played for too long. It often made Sandy look like a bumbling idiot instead of a caring ex-boyfriend. That was certainly not the writers’ intention, but it’s what happened because the writers were careless. This storyline, about the business, is somewhat reminiscent in the fact that what we know about Sandy is being tested. He has always done the right thing, or, at least, most of the time. And now, in a way, he’s doing the right thing. He wants to build a hospital to help people. That’s pretty cool, huh? But he’s doing it the wrong way. His ethics are skewed, but his intentions are good. This raises a very interesting question: if the other bidder was going to build a hospital, should Sandy have just let it go? After all, the same thing would have happened, right? Now, it’s not quite that simple since the Newport Group needs the business to make money. But if that’s what Sandy’s intention is, then is he after creating a hospital or is he after money? And if he’s after money, does that mean that greed is getting the better of him? He’s obviously aware of the fact that he’s doing something wrong, and he’s obviously not okay with it, but he doesn’t necessarily have the strength, at the moment, to turn it down. I have no doubt that somehow Sandy’s chivalrous side will prevail because that’s what happens for Sandy, but for now, it’s extremely interesting. And the line that absolutely sold this story, the one that was such a huge slap in the face: “Caleb would be proud.” Ouch, Sanford. Ouch. It’s also nice to see business enter back into the story because it helps us remember that these adults are adults, and there problems extend far beyond Marissa Cooper’s latest trial and tribulation.

Random Thoughts…

If it’s true that Kelly Rowan is filming a movie, she needs to end quickly. I’m sick of seeing her relegated to little more than useless. Since when can she cook, by the way? I thought she was trying, but I didn’t know that she was so good that Julie would use her for that purpose.

Kaitlin in a swimsuit is seriously jailbait.

How cute was Summer’s angry face? She had a small role in the episode but a nice one. I like her spiel about ending up with the wrong life. Not that she couldn’t just transfer to her life, but it’s a nice moral lesson in an episode that was mostly about amoral actions.

People say that Mischa’s acting ability seems to have improved. I say that her, “NO!” in the kitchen was proof enough that it hasn’t.

Next week’s previews look absolutely unbelievable. If Johnny falls, and I do believe that he will since this storyline bombed from the beginning and the writers can’t be stupid enough not to realize it, then the world will be great. Remember that suicide is never good unless you’re a dipshit surfer with no emotional range and the brains to rob a gas station to pay for a surgery. How great will it be if he falls to his death? And how great will it be if Ryan pushes him? Oh man, that’d be fantastic. Not so fantastic was that I told a friend how much I wanted Johnny to kill himself before remembering she had a family member commit suicide not long ago. Watch what you say, people. Think before you speak.

John Stephens, someone who I don’t remember being that great of a writer, churned out a terrific script this week. I heard he was part of something huge on Gilmore Girls once, so at least he has credentials. He hasn’t impressed me until now. This was genuinely wonderful to listen to. And the actors were so much more inspired with a good script.

And so yeah, that’s going to do it. This actually was shorter in the past, but I believe that I said more than I have recently. Far less sarcasm and far more analysis, but really, you can think the writers for that, not me. Just a terrific effort from a team that looked as if they were burned out. Whether or not the show can keep this pace up is debatable, but as it stands, this was the best episode the season. They did everything write.

-Drew
Question, comments, but no spoilers?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

The Sister Act

2006-01-25T13:44:00.000-08:00

So yeah, it’s Tuesday afternoon, around 3:20, and I’m just now sitting down to write this review. I’ve had a lot going on trying to finish my course work for January term (I wrote a paper and presented a project on South Park’s “The Passion of the Jew” so it wasn’t too bad), but truthfully, I’ve really just been disinterested. I’ve been dreading writing this review because I knew that meant that I’d have to actually go back and think about it. And as much as I enjoy watching The O.C., I don’t enjoy rehashing it anymore because frankly, it’s bad right now.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked this past episode overall, but there’s just something inherently bad right now, and it’s going to remain that way until Johnny is gone and the show stops focusing so much on Marissa or one of the many guest stars that come and go. Ryan, Seth, Summer, Kirsten, and Sandy are tertiary characters now. They aren’t main characters, and anyone who thinks otherwise is just kidding themselves. They are playing second-fiddle to Marissa and the characters that infiltrate her lives. I’m going to excuse Julie here because she’s had a fairly large storyline lately, one that has developed her, and although she’s involved with Marissa and what could turn into a huge Kaitlin mess, she’s handled the role very well.

I started reading through my old reviews, the ones from last season namely, to see how I’d changed my writing style, to see what had worked, what hadn’t, etc. What I noticed was that in the primitive days of these rants/reviews/editorials, I looked at the characters as people, for the most part. Occasionally, I stepped out and commented on the actors, and I almost always mentioned the writers, but I felt that these characters were actual people, and I could actually get in their minds. Whether the storylines last season were any good – and I’m just speaking of the final episodes of the season because I didn’t write until “The Rainy Day Women” – was up for much debate, but I think that many were emotionally gripping and handled very well. Kirsten/Carter, for example, was a completely logical step from an otherwise atrocious Sandy/Rebecca fling, and the alcoholism that resulted was understandable after the year she’d had. But now, the show isn’t about the characters’ and their flaws, but it’s about the writers and their flaws. Clearly, character flaws are interesting; writer flaws are not. When a character has an imperfection, we want to learn more about them, we want to see how they overcome it or succumb to it. When a writer has an imperfection, the characters become incredibly imperfect, and there’s a tremendous difference between having imperfections and being incredibly imperfect. Ryan, a generally good guy, has genuinely troubling rage issues that he can’t overcome. That’s an imperfection. Marissa makes the same mistakes over and over, doesn’t care who she hurts, and completely isolates herself for the sake of vanity. You may be thinking, “Oh, but Drew, we’re all imperfect,” and you’re right. We are. But we strive to fix those things, and that, for me, is a perfect desire. Marissa doesn’t attempt to change, or better yet, the writers don’t attempt to change her. They rehash the same gimmick every year and hope that we won’t notice despite the fact the show prided itself on attracting smarter fans with smarter writing. It’s not a complete 180 yet, but it’s around 110.

I say all this not to say that I’m retiring from writing about this show because I’m not. The reviews will continue to come though they may not appear passionate as they once did, and they may not be as long as they once were because there just isn’t as much to write about. Now, this could all change soon. There was a point last year where we all felt the same way, though then it was more of a frustration than a sense of disgust (and at least each character was focused on while the side characters were mostly on the side; you could argue that Lindsay went against that grain, but I wouldn’t because I think it’s very weak), and that changed. Maybe this will too. We can only hope so.

So, as I stated, I thought this was a good episode. It, of course, was drug down by the ridiculousness that is Johnny Harper, but what can we do?

Let’s start with the obvious most important thing in this episode: the reintroduction of Kaitlin Cooper. Willa Holland, despite a strange speech problem that comes from trying to cover her almost native accent (she wasn’t born in London, nor has she lived there all her life, but she did live there as a child, and to be fair, she’s no worse than Mischa), was fairly convincing in the role. She’s gorgeous jailbait, and I’d be shocked if she doesn’t get stalked by at least twenty old men now that she’s in the public eye. Regardless, though, I don’t particularly like how this storyline played out for several reasons and not just because it ended with her and Johnny on the beach. But first, if she knew that her mom was broke, then why did she assume that she’d find her at Caleb’s place? This, of course, could be a swerve, whereas she stole the money for herself, discovered that her mom was broke, and then made up the lie. If that’s the case, and it’s the writers’ idea for a swerve, then I’m not sure I like that. See, if she’s lying, then they resolved this story too quickly. And I honestly believe that this episode’s storyline is resolved because I don’t have much faith in the writers anymore to have this become an episodic arc. I think the money was stolen, and that’s that. They should return to the idea of Kaitlin having a stalker, but I’m just not sure. I hope I can eat my words, though, because I think there is definite potential there. It would give us a reason to care about Kaitlin, and it would be a great insight into what she’s gone through in boarding school. If it turns out that she’s telling the truth, then this whole bad girl angle is killed already. It’s fine if several episodes down the road, we see Kaitlin unfold and show a glimpse of her humanity, but if they really want to take this bad girl angle anywhere, there was no need for her to show any glimpse of remorse. Apparently, the casting call requested that she be more of a Lolita character, just a sexy fourteen year old, but if that’s the case, then the writers shouldn’t have allowed Fox to act is if she’s the next Valerie Malone. There’s an easy way to promote sex, and anyone with any sensibilities on the production team could have made that call to Fox.

As for Johnny and Marissa, I don’t remember much of what they did, other than completely spitting on the great storyline they had last week where Johnny freaking leaves the show. You know, the writers send someone beloved like Anna off, and we don’t hear from her again (not yet at least), but they send someone like Johnny off, have it look definitive, and then bring him right back despite the fact the story is completely limping to its death. Actually, it’s more like limping after death, and not in the way that Jesus rose from the grave and walked around, but in the way that zombies in bad b-movies do. We’re all going to die if we can’t avoid it. Putting Johnny and Kaitlin together builds absolutely no tensions since no one actually cares about Johnny and Marissa together, and thus, no one cares if this causes problems between Kaitlin and Marissa especially since Kaitlin has to go back to school soon anyway (probably, assuming she wasn’t thrown out of school; it’s a nice idea to have Kaitlin a thief just like her father, but having her thrown out of school to create some bond between her and Marissa would be absolutely stupid). There was a moment, at the beginning of this storyline, where it was completely possible for us to care about Marissa and Johnny – it was definitely a bad plot device from the beginning, but it really took off down the drain when they tried to run the “Johnny gets me” angle instead of just having it seem that Marissa’s inner turmoil over shooting her boyfriend’s brother was getting to her, and she needed a change – but that moment, so very brief, is gone. I’m sure that we’ll get plenty of wonderful Johnny/Kaitlin/Marissa angsty moments tomorrow night (yes, it is now Wednesday), so everyone who’s excited please jump up and down.

Of course, as those moments unfold, I’m sure we’ll see Ryan sit around like a douche and do nothing because that’s what he does now. He does nothing. Sure, he fought Kaitlin’s battle for her, but that was because he had nothing better to do. Do he and Marissa have sex anymore? Plus, Ryan’s got this bizarre superhero complex that they’ve injected into his character rather than furthering his development from the great “The Anger Management” earlier this season. I’ve been learning a lot about Christ figures in film lately, and I’m starting to think that Ryan is one. In film, most Christ figures are somewhat awkward and don’t handle social situations well. Despite the fact that he was very outgoing last year, he’s regressed to this point again. Further, whenever someone is down, Ryan zooms in to redeem them, act mature, and then go back to brooding. Perhaps the writers have intentionally done this. They’re trying to make a religious statement. Wow, I suppose there is method in madness. Never mind the fact that Ryan really shouldn’t care about Kaitlin’s problems, nor should he put up with Marissa’s crap anymore, but he continues to because he’s useless now. It’s funny how when the show focused on Ryan, it was consistently good, and the farther it’s gotten away from him, the more it sucks. Wait, that’s not funny, that’s sad. It took bringing in Trey last year and shifting the focus back to Ryan in order to redeem season two after love triangles and lesbians ruined it. It’s not a coincidence. Ryan is a fabulous character when handled correctly. But having him solve the Cooper problems, while not dealing with his own, isn’t working. The beginning of the season had the best scene ever on the show, Ryan putting his head on Sandy’s shoulder in sadness. That should have been the beginning of emotional exploration and a stronger bond with Sandy and Kirsten through familial drama. But it hasn’t come anywhere near that. Kudos to Ryan for addressing Chili as “Bizarro Seth,” and a middle finger to Marissa for not realizing it was Ryan saying, “Get the hell away from that stupid school,” by the way.

But not all hope is lost on the show, though it’s certainly relegated to only a handful of screen minutes. Julie and Neil is the best written love story on this show so far. I don’t mean that they are as good of a couple as Seth and Summer, but the writing has been excellent because the writers took time to develop emotional complications for the two of them. Thus, everything made sense when they were together because it seemed like a case of neediness that led to chemistry. It was a completely logical, unforced storyline. Perhaps it was a bit contrived given that it is Summer’s dad and Marissa’s mom, but I’ll accept it because these two absolutely ooze chemistry. As someone recently said about Ted and Robin on the awesome How I Met Your Mother, these two have something so potent that you could bottle it and sell it. They’re just fun to watch on the screen. I am shocked that such a heavily medicated step-monster could have already left the house, though. Regardless, I thought the insertion of Veronica into the storyline was nice because she clearly has an agenda, and this was definitely a good way to get through it, plus it allows her to gold dig just a bit. Sports agent or not, you can always use the money of a plastic surgeon. It is a little creepy that she wants to date him after he’s change her boobs, but I guess it means that there’ll be no awkwardness. If he doesn’t like him, he could only blame himself. Anyway, a lot of people were angry that Julie compared Veronica dating Neil to the Gulf Coast. I’m not sure if people were angry at Julie or at the writers, but clearly, this is a problem with Julie. This line was perfectly in character, so the writing was not flawed at all. Julie, despite glimpses of humanity in the past and a huge chunk of humanity emerging this year, is very self-involved and always will be. It’s not something that she can overcome because it’s clearly deeply rooted in who she is. I’m sure it wasn’t intended to be disrespectful coming from Julie, but to her, she can reasonably equate the two things. And here’s to hoping that Julie and Veronica have a catfight or two or three or fifteen. There is a lot to explore with Veronica versus Julie. Trust me.

And it’s not just Veronica bringing the hot awesomeness to the show, but it’s her daughter, too. Taylor, who is just so incredibly excited to have friends, is part pathetic, part hilarious, and overall incredibly endearing. A lot of people are upset with the way that Seth and Summer are treating Taylor, especially since it’s clear the person they consider their real friend, Marissa, is a self-righteous bitch. And that’s true. She is a horrible, horrible person. But I don’t think that Seth and Summer are treating Taylor too badly. I think they tolerate her as best they can, but she’s so incredibly clingy, clearly starving for attention, that it’d be damned near impossible not to feel somewhat detached. They aren’t bad people, they’re just human. Granted, they’d probably be able to handle more if they would cut ties with Marissa, but that’s not going to happen. This story was a bit thin, though it was extremely funny. Seth’s obsession with genital warts is a bit disturbing, but it’s definitely a good plan. Go Google Image that and see what comes up. And I loved the idea that voting for Kerry would be enough of a turnoff; that’s a deliciously O.C. idea as it’s a complete satire on the community. I voted for Kerry, actually, so maybe that’s why I can’t get a date. Sadly, it looks like Neil/Veronica is off, and while that’s good for me as a Julie/Neil fan, it sucks for everyone who loved Taylor running around trying to choose a bedroom. Ah, teenagers are so full of life.

As for Sandy and Kirsten, well, they had one big scene together where they discussed Marissa. Then Sandy was funny when he agreed that Veronica was a “ho bag.” And then Kirsten told everyone to drink. Yeah, what a useless pair these two have become. From the moral core of Newport, the hilarious and loving couple, to the strained family who worked to come back together, they have always been enjoyable. They aren’t now.

And that’s going to do it this week, finally. It took a while, and now I’m tired. You’ll notice that the end of the review really slacked off, but that’s okay because if Schwartz can do it, then so can I.

I’ll be back next time and I’ll reintroduce the random thoughts section and hopefully I’ll something very good to say.

-Drew

Questions, comments?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

Quick Notes

2006-01-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

For this of you coming by Sunday or Monday to check this, sorry. The full review won't be up until Monday night at the latest. I'd bet more on early Wednesday afternoon, actually. Finishing up January term with a project this weekend and so I'm strapped for time.

Quick thoughts, though:

- Good episode with a solid script that I laughed at.
- Still a terrible lack of Kirsten/Sandy moments, and a complete lack of Kirsten/Sandy moments where they talk about themselves.
- Willa Holland looks like Mischa Barton, is about ten times the actress she is, but needs to work some on the voice as she struggles to hide her accent.
- The fact that Johnny's still going strong in the episodes is a terrible, terrible thing. He was in the last scene of the episode which shows exactly where this show's priorities lie.
- I loved all the Seth/Summer/Taylor moments, particularly the moments where Taylor was incredibly over the top. The moment she crashes, it'll be scary and great television.
- Julie/Neil is easily the best love story the writers have crafted. They aren't necessarily the best couple, but it's the best told story, slow to unfold and beautifully written. These two have excellent chemistry, so I'm hoping he sticks around.

The Safe Harbor

2006-01-14T20:23:00.000-08:00

Welcome back, folks. I hope that everyone had a lovely winter break and that you’ve already dropped a pound or two of the New Year’s Resolution fifteen that you’ve vowed to lose. It’s been a while since we’ve had an episode of The O.C., and despite what I thought was a solid Chrismukkah effort, many fans were left with a bitter taste in their mouths in the aftermath, so Josh and company needed to deliver something big coming out of winter break.

So after weeks of being bombarded by Kaitlin Cooper previews, the show came back on – without Kaitlin, a terrible promotional move – with what the producers called an homage to the classic “Donna Martin Graduates!” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210.

Would this episode succeed in wiping that bitter taste from fans’ mouths? Was this going to be the episode that we could liken to “The Rainy Day Women,” the episode where everything suddenly turns around?

Hardly.

That’s not to say that this was a bad episode by any stretch of the imagination. On the contrary, there was a lot of good in the script. Autumn Reeser returned as Taylor, a terrific move on the writers’ part as fans have absolutely fallen in love with her, Seth had some nice lines, Summer was perfectly fine, a welcomed relationship between Neil and Julie seems in the works, and Ryan finally told Johnny off.

Of course, Johnny leads to everything that was wrong with this episode. This episode was Johnny-centric. Many people are disagreeing, saying it was Marissa-centric, and that’s fine, but consider the fact that every decision Marissa made hinged on Johnny, and you’ve got an episode that completely ignores most of the cast in lieu of allowing Ryan Donowho to pout. The fact that the writers chose to ignore most of the cast, almost completely excising Kelly Rowan from the cast, shows that the writers have absolutely no grasp on what the fans want. I understand these episodes were planned and written long before we all decided we hated Johnny, but didn’t the writers hear any of the fans complaints last year? We hated the fact that so many guest characters came and gone, we hated the fact that the characters weren’t growing, and we hated the fact that everything was predictable. So instead of taking that into consideration, the writers just threw the same stuff back at us, wrapped the package a little differently, and hoped we’d play with it this year. Not quite.

It’s going to be a little difficult to break the characters down this week because the episode was primarily about Marissa, so I’m going to go in straight essay form, hitting the highs and lows of the week. I’ll begin discussing everything else, then we’ll get to the meat—the salmonella infested meat—of the episode.

Starting with the miniscule in this episode, I have to say that I enjoyed the small scenes between Kirsten and Sandy, even though “small” is an understatement. Then again, any time these two are on camera together is an improvement over what we’ve gotten in the last few episodes, even the last year. Rarely, if ever, do these two get a chance to shine, and it’s a crying shame because they have incredibly chemistry, and their banter feels effortless, as if they’re really talking. So when their conversation turned to mustard, it felt so much like a season one episode. The loving couple sitting and just having a moment of innocent time before something big came down.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t quite big, per se. At least, not big in the sense that all of Caleb’s trials were big in season one. This was more just convenient. It just so happens that the man who can make the decision about Marissa actually hates Sandy because he argued against him. Can a judge really try to have you disbarred and throw you in jail after only one appearance in front of him? I don’t know much about law, so this is a genuine question. It seems like a lot. And this of course led to a scene that I’m not quite sure about. On the one hand, it was wonderful to see Sandy keep his moral compass pointed due north. On the other hand, Sandy spoke such a contrived speech that these writers have proven they really aren’t good at writing. It tried to be social commentary about teenagers in society, but it ultimately failed. Sandy continued to be the good guy when he revealed he knew where the judge’s son was, but as great as it was to see that he was indeed the moral superior, it was a bit saccharine, and it clearly didn’t justify the bombshell that Matt—who seemed worthwhile in this episode—seemed to want to drop. I also think the writers failed by having this “case” so cut and dry. This was a perfect opportunity for Sandy to have the courtroom scene that he never had in seasons one or two. I understand the logic, kind of, behind Ryan informing the judge of how wrong he was, but I think it would have been far more interesting to see Sandy do it. He’s sly, he’s witty, and apparently, he’s pretty good. Huge drop there, for sure. Still, though, I mostly enjoyed everything Sandy did in this episode even if it wasn’t perfectly executed from a writing standpoint.

And it certainly was better than the nothing that Kirsten got. I recognize that she had a huge storyline last season, one of the biggest and probably the best written storylines ever on the show, but that doesn’t mean they should completely drop her. Heck, sweeps was written with Marissa in mind last year, and the writers are still planning everything around her. And I’m not talking about sticking Kirsten in with some strange con woman, and I’m definitely not talking about the dating service, an idea that the writers don’t seem to care much about. I believe it’s set to take off in the near future, but it’s being treated as something so insignificant now that it’ll be difficult to care about it when it really comes to the forefront. Kelly Rowan is such a magnificent actress in this role, so I would love to see her find something. How about bring Amanda Righetti back and play some angle with Caleb? There’s got to be something the writers can do.

But it looks like Julie Cooper-Nichol may soon add another hyphen to her name, and I’m all for it. She and Neil have terrific chemistry together, and it’s a refreshing change from the doldrums of wooden Johnny and wooden Marissa. Some people might wonder why it’s okay to bring in Neil, out of nowhere practically, and thrust him into the storyline while it’s not okay to bring in someone like Johnny, and the answer is very simple: Neil fits. I’m not just talking about his acting ability, but I’m talking about the fact that he has a connection to the group. He’s not just someone who was put in the storyline for the sake of drama. True, maybe that’s the only reason Josh put him there, but it doesn’t feel that way. It feels as if he’s there to advance Summer’s character and to give Julie someone she can honestly relate to. It’s pretty amazing seeing a slow-burn romance on the show since we rarely get that. I suppose that it’s not actually slow-burn, and I suppose that it’s not technically a romance, but it doesn’t feel as if they’ve been rushed together. And it’s wonderful to see Julie enter into this relationship, or this period of “crushing,” so to speak, without the obvious gold digging overtones. And yeah, if I don’t say it enough, I have to remind you just how awesome the chemistry between these two is. If nothing else, we’ll get Julie Cooper-Nichol-Roberts and that freaking rules! Oh yeah, who else loves the comments to an off-screen Gus? They’re cliché for sure, but they’re still funny. I guess it’s this show’s answer to its newest competitor: My Name is Earl, the funniest damn sitcom I’ve seen in years.

And what’s a mention of Neil without mention of Summer? Well, it’s nothing really because Summer wasn’t that interesting this week. That’s not to say I didn’t love her because I did. She was wonderful, and she was a terrific friend to the ever ungrateful Marissa. But who overshadowed her? Was it the terrific Seth? No, not quite, although he was actually fantastic tonight with classic lines about preppy genitals, a punch line straight from Seth vs. the water polo team in the first season. But even he was outshined by a guest star, a special kind of guest star that the writers seem to appreciate far less than they should. This guest star, of course, was Autumn Reeser as Taylor Townsend. So what makes her such a great character aside from the terrific chemistry she has with both Seth and Summer? Well, let’s run down some of the things that she did in this episode: she mentioned her Boxing Day party; she told Seth she’d have sex with him with tube socks, wax, and the new Fiona Apple CD; she protested ferociously; she curled up like a dog in the face of her mother; she responded strongly to her mother; she looked redeemed through standing up to her mother; and she showed immense vulnerability even in something as simple as asking for a ride home. Look at the range of emotion shown there. That’s a lot for one character to go through in one show, and if someone else had done it, we probably would have all cringed. But did anyone even bat an eye at the fact that this character did all this in one episode? Nope. Instead, the praise for Taylor has been nearly unanimous. We’ve watched her emotions unfold one episode at a time before they all came together here, and the introduction of her mother was a perfect way to offer an explanation of why she is the way she is. And she and her mom are just incredibly hot. So there’s a plus. Josh, here’s your new character. Here’s someone you can add to the cast without any kind of backlash. The fans want more of her. Listen to the pleas. And whatever you do, don’t suddenly make her an angel. Make her a regular. I hate that I just wrote all that without too much of a mention of Seth and Summer, but that’s just how incredible Taylor is. And c’mon, who wasn’t hoping for just a little bit of Seth and Taylor sex?

And from Taylor, the world’s greatest guest star, to Johnny, the bane of my existence, and the single most vile television character to ever grace a television screen. Yes, he’s that bad. He has absolutely destroyed this show’s momentum. Not only is Ryan Donowho a terrible actor who couldn’t portray himself accurately in a documentary, he’s paired with the weakest actor on the show, Mischa Barton. Together, they fail miserably, giving off no sparks, no tension, no chemistry, and no validity to any type of possible triangle. I could probably survive if this only took up maybe fifteen minutes of the entire show. It’d still be terrible, but at least it wouldn’t be pervasive. Unfortunately, this relationship took up the entire show. Notice how everything centered around Marissa—Sandy’s case, Taylor and her mom’s arguments, Seth and Summer’s protests, and Ryan’s everything. But it wasn’t just that Marissa was in the middle of everything, it was that every decision she made hinged on Johnny. So yeah, this was Johnny-centric. This episode’s plot depended on Johnny. The relationship between Johnny and Marissa continues to be a puzzling one. Marissa tells Johnny that she doesn’t like him, so he invites her to a party to celebrate how great he is at surfing (and isn’t amazing that he had major knee surgery and he’s walking fine?), and she stupidly says yes even though his intentions are crystal clear. Then, after Marissa’s friends rally around her and sacrifice their time and effort, she decides that maybe she doesn’t want to come back because Johnny might be lonely. Yes, because Johnny, who has gone to that school for four years, has no friends aside from Chili and Marissa, Marissa will stay in public school. What an ungrateful, selfish bitch this character is. Even when everything worked out for her, she didn’t seem that excited. When she told Ryan that she only left because Johnny was “going back on tour,” she said it sarcastically, and Ryan responded accordingly, but I don’t understand that line of thinking because it was clear that she was telling the truth. She came back to be with her boyfriend because her idiotic friend Johnny was going to surf. Remember how I pimped Taylor’s plethora of emotions? Well, I’ll do the exact opposite her. What a disgraceful acting and writing job. Johnny has one emotion: woeful. He mopes and whines and complains. And that’s all.

But you know, that’s not even the worst part of this storyline. The worst part of this storyline is the way it is absolutely decimating Ryan. There was a time when Ryan helped Marissa just as much as she helped him. Ryan was actually a complex character and, at times this season he has been one as we ll. But now he’s a lapdog. He does what Marissa wants. He fights a lame battle for her knowing that she doesn’t respect him. She continuously puts their relationship in jeopardy, but she doesn’t care. And the writers have Ryan just stand there and take it. There was an incredible scene in this episode, the scene where Ryan comes and verbally slaps the whiney Johnny who sits on his bed nearly crying. That’s what Ryan needed to do. But after Johnny lies—which wasn’t exactly a noble gesture since it’s what he should have done all along (nice try trying to get the fans to feel sympathy for the dick, but it’s not going to happen)—Ryan goes and has a nice makeup session with him. Aw. Or not. What a terrible scene. It reminds me of my least favorite scene ever in an episode, one that I’ve mentioned many times: Marissa gets Lindsay drunk, Ryan yells at her, and then apologizes even though he made very good points. There was no justifiable reason in either scenario for Ryan to be whipped like that. It’s a shame to because as this show continues to castrate Ryan, it continues to get farther and farther from its roots and continues to diminish in quality. Ryan has a big storyline coming up, or at least a bigger one, from what I gather, so maybe that’ll be something. But right now, it’s going to take him punching Marissa—yes, I just typed that—to redeem himself completely.

Oh, and can I say that no one signing the petition to let Marissa back in was absolutely hilarious? Ha, even the people on screen hate this moron. They probably see what a self-centered bitch she can be.

Now, as you all know, I’m a 90210 fan from way back. I started watching the show when I was around six years old, something that I’m equally proud of and embarrassed about. So when I heard this episode was an homage to a classic 90210 episode, I was thrilled. I rummaged through my tapes and found out that I had taped this particular 90210 episode from its first airing in 1993. Only half of the episode remained, but still, I was thrilled to know I had it. Then, I found the entire episode I had taped in syndication. After “The Safe Harbor,” I popped in my tape to get a feel for how The O.C. did in paying tribute to its early 90s counterpart.

I have to tell you that Josh and company failed in comparison. Why do I say that? Is it because I’m a television snob? Well, that could be some of it, but it’s because 90210 just did it better. For those of you unfamiliar with the episode, I believe it’s called “Something in the Air,” and it took place one week before the third season finale, high school graduation. The previous episode was the senior prom, and in it, the school board passed a zero tolerance policy on drinking. Anyone caught drunk at prom would be subject to expulsion. Tori Spelling’s Donna gets caught, of course, after having a lot of champagne, and is promptly disciplined. When Donna faces the school board in “Something in the Air,” she loses her case and is expelled and told she won’t graduate with the rest of the class of 1993. So Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestly), after some heckling from juniors on the school newspaper staff, decides to organize a protest so that the class will be remembered for something. He, along with the rest of the gang, plan a walk-out during finals. When the bell rings for finals to begin, the entire junior and senior classes get up, walk out, and chant, “Donna Martin graduates!” all the way to the school board where Donna and her family are appealing the ruling. Of course, she’s let back in and all is well.

So why is that a better episode, you ask? It sounds campy after all. Well, it was. This was television at its corniest. But look at what it did better, things that Josh could learn from. This 90210 episode took place at the end of the season, a tumultuous one to be sure. There was a distinct possibility that Donna could lose her appeal and not have enough time to fight it before graduation. With Marissa, you knew she was getting back in, and even if she didn’t, she had plenty of time to fight it. On 90210, the gang rallied around her friend who embraced the support. This episode was about Donna and about how much the gang cared about her. This wasn’t like Marissa acting too good for help, allowing someone else to call the shots. The gang of West Beverly didn’t rely on guest stars (aside from the juniors on staff who agreed to get the junior class to help if the seniors would help get the impending dress code dropped, a decision that was probably producer political opinion), they relied on themselves. Everything centered on this group of friends. The episode also wasn’t just about getting Donna to graduate, but it was also a statement about how students should exercise their abilities, how they should fight for what they believe in, and how people can join together and make a difference. It sounds preachy, and maybe it kind of was, but the episode has lingered in pop culture. Further, there was a reason that Donna should graduate. It had been well established that she had overcome a learning disability to become an academic success story, she’d overcome her parents’ problems, and she’d remained true to her morals. This was a girl who deserved to succeed. The idea that Marissa was some kind of model student before the shooting is laughable. What about the pills, the alcoholism, the psychos? Do those things actually constitute a model citizen? Not quite. Not even close. The Board of Trustees would be smart to dismiss her based on those things alone. But they didn’t. I admit that Marissa’s expulsion was unfair, but I don’t think that anyone should have actually felt sorry for her. She brings way too much on herself.

Don’t get me wrong, there were good things about this episode. I enjoyed the script when Johnny wasn’t there. I enjoyed the dialogue, the banter, and I loved a lot of the acting. I loved that this show had one major focus and wasn’t just filler until the next episode. I loved that Taylor and her mother were brought back, I loved that Seth and Summer had a few moments together, and I loved that Kirsten and Sandy were together. But a majority of the episode was dedicated to the wrong duo. I have yet to meet anyone who is even remotely interested in this storyline with Johnny and Marissa. There was a glimmer of hope at the end as it seemed like Johnny could be gone forever. But he’s back next week in all his glory. And I hear that in a few episodes, Marissa admits how she feels about Johnny. Whether she hates him or not I don’t know and I don’t want to know (I HATE SPOILERS), but I don’t expect to be hanging off of my seat in anticipation. What a waste.

Next week, Kaitlin returns. Can she do something good? Maybe so, but I think we’re getting another Cooper/Harper rehash. Fun, fun, fun. Oh well, maybe she brought some money home to help pay for Marissa’s tuition (Julie said she’s saving money for a house, but what exactly has she done to earn the money?). And what about her own tuition? Do boarding schools have scholarships?

That’ll do it for this week. Hope you didn’t mind the experimental form. I certainly enjoyed writing in it, so maybe it’ll pop back up sometime again.

Quick note to readers at OC Trailers, I really appreciate the comments you left. Very insightful, and I tried to respond, but apparently, I can’t respond because none of my comments posted. But know that I did read and appreciate it.

I’ll see you in seven.

-Drew

Questions, comments?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

Mid-Season Three Report

2006-01-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

http://www.newport.vinylinvasion.com/ed_drew_msr.php

Whether you're reading it before or after the second half of the season starts, um, well, read it! Let me know what you agree with, disagree with, etc.

The Chrismukkah Bar Mitz-vahkkah

2005-12-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I might have promised last week that I wouldn’t be late, and if that’s the case, I apologize. But I did get to watch the episode Thursday night thanks to a little something called the Chrismukkah Miracle.

See, I’m from South Carolina, and we were one of the unfortunate states hit by a rough ice storm last week. Tons of people without power, but luckily, from what I can gather, only a few deaths. Anyway, my house was without power starting Thursday morning. That had me worried, though I figured that things would be up and running by that night. By mid-afternoon, I was worried. Not so much about my religion final the next morning, though I probably should been, but about the fact that I might miss the episode. So I started to panic. My grandmother was without cable, too, so no luck there. I could have gone on campus and watched it, but things were messed up there, too.

Then, I realized someone I’d forgotten. My aunt had power. And cable. Yes, the perfect combination. So my brother, sister, and I packed up and headed across town to my aunt’s house to watch this episode of The O.C.. Granted, it wasn’t the same as watching it at home – would you believe that one reason I’m living at home in college is so that I can watch television the way that I’m accustomed to – but it was still fully working. No meteorology interruptions, no fuzzy reception, nothing. It was perfect.

That, my friends, is a Chrismukkah miracle.

Now that my power is up and running (and has been for a few days, actually, but I just haven’t felt like sitting down and writing), let’s discuss the episode.

Okay, so it wasn’t perfect. Johnny and Marissa are still brutal to watch, there wasn’t enough mention of Chrismukkah, and FOX ruined the ending as usual.

But you know what? I freaking loved it. I absolutely adored it in almost every conceivable way. I felt downright giddy after watching it. It was just a terrific holiday episode and even though it wasn’t the best episode of the season, it’s clearly my favorite.

FOX showed too much of the ending, but they spun the commercial well enough that I didn’t predict that Johnny was going to attempt to rob a store. We got real Summer angst as Josh developed her character. We saw a cool flashback ala many famous Friends episodes. We saw Julie’s thong. It’s just, I don’t know, I just absolutely loved it.

It’s difficult to break down the storylines this week in terms of characters because there was a lot of overlap, a few things ignored for a week, a few things brought up, so let’s see what we can make of it.

The love triangle which dare not speak its name…

I’m going to go ahead and try to knock this out early. I’ll try to do it quickly.

Look, this is a stupid storyline. The entire notion of Johnny coming into the storyline was ridiculous. The writers could have thought of a thousand different ways to create tension between Ryan and Marissa without actually bringing in this moronic character. The spin of having Johnny not want to be in love with Marissa was kind of nice, but overall, it was nonsensical since it all came out in the most clichéd of clichés: a drug-induced declaration.

And honestly, how many times can Ryan see something that he mistakes for something else? Haven’t they already done that storyline this season? Ryan walks up, sees Johnny acting wooden to the wooden skeleton, storms off, and then accepts an apology after moping for a little bit. C’mon, it’s stupid. The fact that Marissa continues to put herself in these situations – no one is stupid enough not to realize that they are doing it – shows that she doesn’t value this relationship at all. The fact that the writers continue to put this show at the forefront shows that they really value this relationship. So putting all their energy into characters that are written to not get along in some odd attempt to make fans want them together, it just doesn’t add up. This isn’t the will they/won’t they that made Ross and Rachel, Dawson/Pacey and Joey, or even Nathan and Haley such endearing couples. This is just like, “What the hell? How stupid are they?”

But again, I don’t blame Ryan for anything. Despite the fact that no rational human would act like him and accept Marissa’s consistent idiocy, she somehow has managed to convince him that he can’t do any better. He’s pretty insecure as it is, and I honestly see Marissa playing on that. I just don’t any kind of connection that would bring Ryan back so often.

It was nice to see that they didn’t play up the suicide angle with Johnny – don’t worry, I’m still president of the Johnny Should Kill Himself club (a club with at least four members), but it seemed so obvious by the previews – but man, what exactly did he expect to accomplish by robbing a store? I know that gas stations make good money, but did he really think there’d be enough in the register to pay for a surgery? What kind of surgery would that pay for? A kitchen knife and a shot of whiskey to numb the pain?

The biggest flaw about this storyline was the way it ended so quickly. Johnny’s about to rob the store and then we have this exchange:

Ryan: Don’t do it.
Johnny: I have to!
Ryan: Um, don’t.
Johnny: Oh, okay.

At least, though, Ryan has a promising career as a counselor if the architecture doesn’t work out. He’s talked Oliver out of suicide and Johnny out of robbery. What’s next? Seth out of comics? Perish the thought!

Summer…

Ah, Rachel Bilson, the goddess of this show. She’s the queen of Newport and tonight was her crowning ceremony. I absolutely adored her.

This was such a beautiful episode for her because the writers finally fleshed her out. As I’ve stated before, she’s always seemed one of the most complex characters on the show, but she’s always been stiffed in terms of character development. It’s almost as if we could feel that the writers wanted to do more but didn’t know how to. So I’m glad to see her get her own story, and I’m glad that we got to find out about her mother.

We’ve always heard about the “step-monster” so it was nice to hear a little bit more. It’s sad to know that she’s leaving, even sadder to know that Summer’s mom just up-and-left. The scene where she was speaking with her dad was extremely poignant, as they have an excellent little chemistry going. The way that he seemed to put his work in front of Summer showed that he used it as a mask for reality. He seems incredibly vulnerable. Maybe it’s the milkshakes he’s been drinking since his first appearance in the first season (c’mon, like I wasn’t going to make a cheap weight joke).

Anyway, I thought it was very cool to know that Summer had originally planned to go to Seth’s bar mitzvah, even if she would have rather been at Luke’s party. I had this image of this adorable pre-teen Summer reluctantly walking to up young Seth, begrudgingly saying hey, and then Seth passing out. You have to wonder, what if she had come? She wasn’t the only kid to RSVP, but no one else showed up, but apparently she would have. It’s these small moments that really deepen the connection between Seth and Summer, make me love them more, and make me hate Ryan and Marissa more for their shallow connection.

So Summer didn’t save Chrismukkah this year, big deal. The extreme vulnerability, the character depth, and the connection between her and her father are more than enough reasons for me to give her a huge thumbs up.

Julie…

If they aren’t going to give Julie something meaningful to do, then this was almost as good. Watching her slowly deteriorate into pure white trash is beautiful. The fact that she’s immersed herself in this lifestyle is pretty funny. I highly doubt that just because you live in a trailer you have to start dipping and watching NASCAR, but I suppose it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility.

Now, as for the possible relationship between her and Neil Roberts, I’m all for it. I don’t see it happening as rumblings have a long-term love interest for Julie coming on to the show, but everything is subject to change. There is a definite chemistry between the actors, and there is a definite connection between the two. They’re both incredibly lonely, both trying to rebuild their lives. There is a wonderful opportunity to make these two a serious item. Can the writers do it? I don’t know, but I’d sure love to see it happen. If they actually got married, that’s too much because I can’t handle any more connections between characters. Marissa and Summer as sisters is only cool in a metaphorical sense.

Alas, at least we had the shot of the thong. That’s great enough for me.

Bar Mitzvahs and all that fun stuff…

It’s a good thing that Josh anticipated the backlash that this storyline would get by writing in Sandy’s reaction to the idea of a Bar Mitz-vahkkah. That took care of the political side of it, and that’s probably a good idea because, in a lot of ways, it was a pretty offensive storyline. I know the idea of doing it for charity made it a little better, but still, this is a sacred tradition from what I can gather. I always hated that I wasn’t Jewish because I wanted to have one. It seemed like such a cool thing. But I guess saying that doesn’t make me any better.

I digress, though. This storyline had loads of potential but only achieved some of it. The worst part of the story was that it wasn’t Ryan-centered as it should have been. It was focused on Johnny. This should have been about Ryan becoming a part of the family –when I heard this story was coming up, I imagined some grand declaration between the family and Ryan – but it was about Johnny’s surgery. And that’s stupid. The fans prefer to see storylines focused on the main characters. If the stories are focused on recurring characters, Josh could at least put the focus on good characters. That’s why people loved Luke’s story about his dad. Sure Luke wasn’t one of the fab four, but he was someone that we had an interest in. I know very few people who care about Johnny. Maybe if the episodes weren’t filmed so far ahead of time, the writers could respond better. I’m still in awe that the writers felt he was a good idea. I can’t stop harping on that. Whatever, though.

It was terrific to see young Seth. Talk about a touching moment. How incredibly sad it was. Both Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan played the scene so well, and the child had such a terrific vulnerability. He seemed so sad. Most importantly, he seemed like a real kid. Well, a real kid Seth, at least. Still young but smart enough to be aware at what was going on. Kudos to the little kid and to the writers for being able to develop such a poignant scene. And how wonderful was it to see Adam Brody’s reactions? His gasps and the terrified look on his face made me feel as if he were actually watching himself. Home movies are embarrassing enough without being reminded what a loser you were. And, maybe, in Seth’s case, what a loser you still kind of are (yeah, he’s got a hot girlfriend, so he’s better than most people, but I don’t think anyone’s going to mistake him for Harbor’s elite).

The ending scene could have been too much, but the fact that Seth commented on how lame the group dancing was made it a perfect moment. It was self-referential, much like many of the great moments in the show are. It made the moment incredibly fun. Okay, Johnny shouldn’t have been included in the dance (or the episode for that matter), but I can forgive it because it was a pretty sweet moment. Julie telling Ryan she came in peace and Neil Roberts and Seth having a moment were the highlights for me. And the song, I just have to say that I love the song. Is it really a bar mitzvah song? I suppose it makes sense. I also think there was something cool in the fact that Seth wanted to dance in the circle and then realized it was lame. It was as if he finally realized that he’d done okay for himself. He’d struggled socially, but it’s not like he missed out on anything. Maybe mainstream isn’t always the way to go.

Random Thoughts…

So it’s time for Kaitlin to make her return? And she’s going to flirt with Johnny? Raise your hand if that makes you want to come back and watch the episode. Okay, I’m all for Kaitlin’s return – not only did her appearance give me a “oh, sweet statutory!” moment, but it also gave us the bad girl that the show has needed – but not if it’s just going to give us more Johnny. But you can read more about that in my next editorial, due next week only at www.editorialnewport.com.

So how about the “what the hell” moment when Caleb’s voice came on screen, and it clearly wasn’t Caleb? That just floored me. Nice try, though. Definitely got my attention. “Shalom!” I’ve been walking around saying it in that faux-Caleb voice all week. Wasn’t the Nana’s voice the real Nan? If not, they did a much better job with her than with Caleb. I guess there’s always the chance it actually was Alan Dale, but it sure didn’t sound like him.

Seriously, how much money did Johnny think he’d get from a cash register? I guess with gas prices where they are – does oil rise on television, too? – there could be a nice amount in there waiting to be taken.

Another episode without Taylor? How is it that the writers miss the mark so badly? Johnny gets entire episodes devoted to him and his boo-boo, but Taylor, the one that almost everyone loves, is written off for two episodes. She’s going to have a bigger part coming up, I know, but still, there’s no way that she should have been treated so badly. I have a feeling that some how they’ll bastardize her. We’ll discuss that more in the next editorial at www.editorialnewport.com.

Has anyone celebrated that this year’s Chrismukkah celebrates the two year anniversary of meeting Oliver? It really doesn’t seem that long since we had to sit through Marissa’s first episode of acting completely retarded. Yeah, actually, she was pretty decent until then.

In the middle of writing this review, it was announced that the show is moving to 9:00 on Thursdays. I’ll discuss that move later, but know that it has both positive and negative consequences.

So now FOX has pulled Reunion for good, probably to keep another station from picking it up. It’s sad when such an amazing show goes away without an ending. I swear, FOX does some awesome things sometimes, but I don’t exactly think this is one of them. The show was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. The writers polished their scripts, and the story got more complicated and exciting every week. Shocking twists constantly.

So yeah, that’s going to do it for me this week. This review ran longer than normal, so I guess it’s okay that I kept you waiting. It was actually nice that I had several people e-mail me asking where it was. God knows that I love attention.

And since I’ve plugged it enough, next week is a mid-season (well, kind of mid-season) review that we’ll be up exclusively at www.editorialnewport.com. I love all the sites that I post at, my own blog excluded, but Editorial Newport has really established itself as one of the strongest, most innovative sites out there, so I want anyone and everyone to visit, even if it’s just to read what I write. Hopefully you’ll run across some other things that you like. That said, people who read at OC Trailers and The O.C. Community should continue to support both of those excellent sites as well.

I hope everyone has a very merry Chrismukkah. Let me know if you have any great holiday experiences. And let me know what you thought of both the episode and the review.

Have a great one.

- Drew
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

The Disconnect

2005-12-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

Mediocrity here we come, right back where we started from (well, assuming “where we started from” was season two)…mediocrity…here we come!

Okay, so that rhythm doesn’t actually work, but the lyrics are apropos. Actually, those might be the finest lyrics in the history of music because of how true to life they are.

So ignoring the fact that I love my lyrics, let’s admit to ourselves that this week’s show was extremely mediocre, the storylines that seemed fresh are meandering, and that Chrismukkah better deliver the goods or else this show is doomed to spiral even further down in the ratings.

Yes, after two strong weeks for our beloved show, we’re back to the depths of melodramatic hell. It’s too bad, actually, because things were going great. The term I stole from TV Guide about last week’s episode was “credible angst,” and I found that to be such a refreshing change from what we generally have. It stretched the writers, the characters, and captured the viewers. It worked very well.

This week didn’t have “credible angst” and, as an episode, really couldn’t even be considered “credible.” Instead, it was a boring, uninspired episode with uninspired comedy, uninspired performances, and uninspired direction.

Okay, so not everything was that bad – I actually liked it on first viewing – but still, it wasn’t what The O.C. needs as the ratings begin to decline. As usual, the episode suffered mainly thanks to the misadventures of one of the whacky teenagers, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

I’d imagine that this review will actually be somewhat shorter this time, not because I’m pressed for time but because I’m pressed for things to say. So, we’ll see how that goes.

Sandy…

You know, I forgave the writers for taking Sandy away from law, and I forgave them rather quickly because the idea that Sandy would run the Newport Group was kind of cool. At least we could see him attempt to handle the monotony of every day life while trying to pry the gripping hands of the Newport Group off his neck. There was a lot they could have immediately done.

Instead, we get Matt. Okay, I can take that. It’s nice to give Sandy a sidekick. But instead of giving us a, you know, GOOD storyline, they give us this ridiculous storyline about going to the strip club. That’s actually not a bad idea in theory because everyone with a pulse or a brain (I suppose you have to have one to have the other, well, a working one to have a working other) knew that Matt had his demons. But the execution was excruciatingly bad.

This guy takes Ryan out to a strip club the night before a big presentation, completely blows it in the most unconvincing acting ever on the show, and Sandy forgives him because some stripper walks into the office and hands out the sob story about how he’s heartbroken and how they have heart-to-hearts in between lap dances. It’s touching, I know. In fact, didn’t The Cosby Show do this very same episode? I don’t know. Regardless, though, it was ridiculous. Absolutely no tension, no shocks, no twists, nothing.

That’s not to say that there isn’t some redemption lurking because there could be. The writers could dig up a huge skeleton in the guy’s closet. I’m sure that’ll happen because no one on this show becomes a regular.

Sandy seems to want something to do. Gallagher seems excited as always, but he just can’t find any good material. His character, even in the best episodes, has, at best, been mediocre thanks to writing that just doesn’t have any type of point. I find that pretty disheartening because I’d imagine that there are probably more people out there who like Sandy than there are who like Marissa. And that’s not just my bias speaking. This show could reach an entirely new demographic if they would start to redevelop the adult characters.

Kirsten and Julie…

That leads me to these two, another low point of the episode. Talk about wasted potential.

Julie, as a rule, is one of the most intriguing characters on the show. Well, that was the rule in the past. It doesn’t happen like that anymore. They are putting all this potential on her, but no one’s actually pulling the trigger on any type of real storyline. There are so many emotional problems that the writers could attempt to deal with now, but they decided to forge ahead with this business venture. I guess it’s an attempt to salvage what was left after Charlotte departed, but it’s not a successful attempt. Talk about characters and actors just going through the motions.

But there was some redemption to be found in the middle of the snoring, and redemption, thy name is Julie. I know I just spent a paragraph saying she’s boring, but she still had two shining moments. The first was her look when the man revealed that he was going to pay big money for her to date him. She seemed so proud of herself. That’s the trashy Julie coming out that I like. The woman more concerned with how much money she’s worth than her actual self-worth.

The second big moment was when she suggested that they should a hooker service. It was exactly the right line, and it was delivered with the right tone and the right facial expression. It was a show-stealing line. And really, why wouldn’t they run with the idea that Julie actually begins to run an escort service? Not a dating service but an escort service. Hell, why not go with the idea that Julie whores herself out? I’m not asking she become a full-fledged pimp, but the storyline is so preposterous that it would add some much need camp and trash to the show. It’s not an actively good idea but neither is anything else they’re really coming up with. I mean, I’m not going to crap on this storyline yet – I reserve immediate crapping for anytime Marissa brings in a new guy – but I am going to keep myself weary of what’s to come. Leah, from the wonderful O.C. Community boards, said that from a little bit she’s read of spoilers, she likes where the story’s going, so I’ll take her word for it. I’m not going to read the spoilers myself, but it’s nice to know that there’s something good lurking. Maybe, at least.

Ryan and Marissa…

Where to begin with these two?

First, let me say that I think Ryan is the most pitiful character on the show. That’s not a knock on Ben or anything because I actually really like Ryan. But he’s been saddled with Marissa and her ridiculous storylines so really, not much good can come from it. He’s been asked to play this sort of wandering, blithering fool and while he handles that role gracefully, it’s not something he should be playing.

Anyway, let’s just say that we should never speak of the strip club adventure again. The idea that Ryan had an internship was cool, but it went to hell as soon as he was paired up with Matt. Stupid. Let’s move on.

How damn stupid can Marissa possibly be? This is the exact same predicament she was in with Oliver, and she’s not even bright enough to realize it. Here’s an apparently misunderstood, depressed guy, and Marissa throws herself on him and then acts surprise when he reveals feelings.

Did she really need to spend every waking moment with Johnny? The guy is on crutches, he’s not a quadriplegic. I’m pretty sure that he can get around. If they wanted us to feel that Johnny was so helpless they should have done something better than have him hurt his knee. There’s a high school football player I read about in the paper a week or so ago. He had two-three torn ligaments in his knee, said he could barely stand because it was like standing on Jell-O, and the kid still played offensive line. I see people day in and day out who get around fine on crutches. Marissa reacting like Johnny had just had a heart attack when he fell over in the kitchen was just horrible. This storyline is more painful than any knee injury ever.

And how incredibly contrived was the falling asleep thing? Talk about poor writing. People get paid big money to come up with stuff like this. For six figures, I could come up with something better than the two morons falling asleep together.

Next week’s preview shows Johnny with a gun. It also shows Johnny dancing with the gang. Hopefully the latter comes before the former. Johnny killing himself would probably be the greatest single moment in the history of the show. No way the writers deliver such an awesome story, but I can’t think of a better way to spend Chrismukkah than celebrating the loss of Cliché Plot Device 45.
I have to say, though, that the end, with Ryan and Marissa talking on the phone, was kind of sweet. It’s nice to hear them converse like an actual couple. It’s nice that Marissa didn’t get pissed at Ryan for going to the strip club. I could easily see her going insane, much to my chagrin. It’s too bad these sweet moments have to be surrounded by such ridiculous contrivances. I just wish the writers understood how bad most of this stuff is.

Seth and Summer…

Here’s your winner of the night and even this wasn’t much of a winner.

Seth and Summer always have an interesting dynamic, regardless of the storyline, so it’s always nice to see them playing off of each other.

I was worried about the way Seth reacted to the news of Summer’s SAT score (I do hate, though, the idea that they conveniently took the SAT off screen, though I should give props to the writing staff for doing their research about the new SAT scoring system) because it seemed so dickish. I wasn’t going to be able to stand a night of Seth completely demeaning Summer because it’s just not fair. I know she’s not the brightest person, but people shouldn’t completely write her off. Zack Morris got a 1502 on his SAT. I’d say that anything can happen.

It was nice that this story led to a look at Seth, though. The fact that Summer’s score actually revealed his insecurities was a nice touch. It was kind of heartbreaking when Seth said that he was only better at one thing, and he didn’t even that anymore. It’s funny how we get these glimpses of Summer that Seth doesn’t – all of the conversations she’s had over the last few years about how Seth will eventually grow tired of her for not being good enough have been so honest – and how those glimpses could drastically change the relationship. It’s actually a nice look at both characters and their insecurities. The fact that both are so in love that they don’t feel that they deserve the other is oddly sweet. That’s what when the relationships feel most real.

If only the writers could remember that when they’re writing the abomination known as Ryan and Marissa.

As for the Brown stuff, I’m still not buying it. Neither of them will get in. Summer doesn’t have a shot in hell. A good SAT score won’t compensate for bad grades. I hate this idea on television that an SAT score is the ticket to a good school. Hell, I hate the emphasis on standardized testing in general, but this is neither the time nor the place. As for Seth getting in, okay, he might, but the emphasis has been so much on Brown that it just seems unlikely that he’ll get in. Maybe the twist is that it’ll be so obvious he doesn’t get in that he actually does get in. Clever, huh?

It would be nice if they’d apply to back-up schools. Remember that Kirsten said that graduating from Harbor is a ticket into any UC school. Why not just apply to one or two just to make sure they have somewhere to go when this doesn’t pan out? I’m not asking for them to apply to a bunch of schools like most hyperactive high school seniors, but I’m asking for a little bit of realism injected into the story. I’m still glad they’re addressing the issue of college, but I’m not glad that they aren’t attempting to do it realistically. At least neither of them have to worry about financial aid.

Random Thoughts…

Where in the hell was Taylor in this episode? Not only is she the best new character the show has introduced since Anna, she’s the most complex character on the show at the moment. There are so many opportunities for this character, and to have her dropped from an episode is inexcusable, especially since she played such a pivotal role in the previous episodes. I guess we have to make more room for Johnny.

Seth and Summer sure finished their college applications fast, huh? A quick check of the Brown website reveals that there are four forms that you have to fill out. I’d imagine that gathering up all the needed information, writing the required essays, and proofing all the information wouldn’t happen in a night. And do people actually really mail their applications out themselves? My guidance counselor did that for me so that he could attach all the important records.

Johnny sucks. Honestly, I had decent hopes of this public school thing working out, but it’s been no different than when they sent Marissa to rehab. I’d love to see him kill himself. If not now, maybe later. There’s a good twist. Have him not do it next week, but then actually do it the next time. I like that idea. I should get paid the six figures.

This was a horribly flat script. The characters didn’t come alive, the dialogue was uninspired, and the structure was piss-poor. Are they even rewriting scripts anymore? Something tells me that we’re getting first drafts of scripts put on the screen. Or that we did with this one at least. Josh is writing next week’s episode and even if the storyline sucks, he’s still got a way with dialogue that everyone else really lacks.

Summer played the tuba? That’s not even a cute idea to think about. I’ve got nothing against the tuba – I played the baritone in middle school – but they were going for some kind of cute nostalgic trip with this, and it really didn’t work. I doubt anyone sat at home going, “Aw, sweet” when she said that. But maybe I’m wrong.

Seth arguing for his rightful role as the mascot was funny, but the ensuing banter between Seth and Summer wasn’t.

The constant references to Chrismukkah showed us just how important this episode was. It wasn’t. They’re excited about next week. I guess I am, too.

So yeah, that’s about all I’ve got. This ended up running about the length of a normal review, maybe a little less, so I guess I did have more to say than I thought.

Regardless, though, this was still a terribly frustrating episode. I just feel like potential is everywhere, but the writers don’t want to tap into it. Instead of delving into all the changes that come with senior year, they’re just dealing with the same ole, same ole. The drama of senior year writes itself at parts. I suppose that we’ll get more into that as the season progresses, but I’m begging for just anything different.

Chrismukkah hasn’t let us down yet with two awesome, awesome, awesome episodes, so here’s to hoping that next week delivers.

I’ll see you then.

-Drew

Something to say? Want to join the Johnny Should Kill Himself club?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

The Game Plan

2005-12-05T17:51:00.000-08:00

I swear, one day it’s Thursday, the next day it’s Sunday. I’m not sure what happens to the days in between, but they always seem to disappear, and then I’m left with trying to write this review before Monday (which probably won’t happen, so if you’re reading this Wednesday, you’re not too late) because I like to be prompt.

I guess next week I’ll need a better game plan. (Zing! Two weeks in a row with these oh so clever puns. What’s that? Too much? Okay, I hear you. I’ll stop. Maybe.)

This episode is being touted pretty heavily as one of the best of the season; some are going as far as to say it’s one of the best of the entire series. I don’t think I’d ever mistake this for one of the top ten episodes of all time, but this was a strong episode powered by what tvguide.com called appropriately called “credible angst.”

If you haven’t made it to senior year yet, then you might not be able to appreciate this episode as well as others. That’s a broad generalization, sure, but I would imagine that going through the experience that these characters are helps the episode hit home harder – and yes, I will be telling you different stories about the college application process my friends and I faced in high school. I was afraid that the show wouldn’t handle the college thing well and that they’d just toss it out to us in the final few weeks of the season as an afterthought. But they’re attacking it early, so kudos to them for realizing just how life-altering the final year of high school is.

That’s not to say that there weren’t flaws with this episode because there were, and they were glaring. But they couldn’t overshadow a strong, hilarious script and inspired performances by actors who, week after week, seem to be settling into this season more and more. And trust me, when the actors are happy, even the worst of the worst can seem better.

I’m going to break things up a little bit differently this week, so for those that fear change, please have your medicine ready.

Sandy…

A nice little break from the Sandy runs the Newport Group storyline marked this episode. I like that storyline, but this was a very interesting one for the fact that we got to see Sandy act as a father. But it wasn’t the obnoxious father that tried to ground the guys last year; it was the hopeful father that comes out whenever it’s time for these life-altering events.

I was a little disappointed at first because I felt like they were going to run the angle with Sandy where he tried to force Seth into applying to Berkeley. Then, they’d have the two of them get angry with each other, they’d end up fighting, Seth wouldn’t get in to either school, and then there’d be reconciliation just in time to go to Orange County University. Thankfully, they allowed Sandy to remain levelheaded. His reasons for wanting Seth to go to Berkeley weren’t selfish. They were incredibly selfless. He just wants Seth to have the opportunity to grow and flourish. That’s a great role for Sandy to play, and if the writers follow through with this idea that college is a time for growth, watching Seth flourish in a collegiate environment could make for very interesting television.

And I have to say that Sandy’s Berkeley friend wins the award for best one-off character. I don’t know if he’ll actually be a one-off character, especially not with the idea that Ryan and Marissa might apply to the school, but let’s assume that he is for sake of this review. The racist pilot line was enough to steal the show (shockingly it wasn’t even the best quote of the episode). Sure, the guy didn’t have much depth, but that was such a funny line that he deserves some credit.

Next week it looks like that the guy Sandy works with might actually be a bad guy. Who would have guessed that?

Julie and Kirsten…

So Charlotte’s name didn’t just quietly disappear from the show—good. That would have been a horrible mistake since she played such a crucial role, if not necessarily a good one. The more I distance myself from that story, the more I dislike it. It just seems horribly contrived, even more so than your usual teen drama plot. A woman sneaks into rehab to find a rich woman to exploit. I guess it happens, but it just feels weird. I would have rather they gone with the Single White Female stalker thing and had it play out over the course of at least half a season so that it would legitimately lead Kirsten back to the bottle.

Speaking of the bottle, something a friend of mine brought up was the fact that he was glad that Kirsten didn’t go to drinking after finding out about Julie. I am too. That would have been such a copout and really stripped all credibility from this storyline. I just don’t think you can run such an emotionally driven storyline and throw it away so quickly. So I’m glad they didn’t.

I really hurt for Kirsten in this episode. She seemed so hurt when she realized that Julie had been in on the scam. I was also really pleased that Julie didn’t attempt to deny it. That would have been an obnoxious obstacle to Kirsten finding out the truth.

It was also nice for Kirsten to realize just how bad off Julie was. I don’t know how much mileage you could get out of Kirsten and Julie not talking since some episodes they don’t really talk anyway. It’s a fun relationship, but it’s never really been that deep. But this episode might have changed that. The fact that they realized just how much they need each other is extremely touching. I’m not completely buying that Julie’s going to be an excellent friend to Kirsten, and I’m not buying that Kirsten’s naïve to believe that she will be, but whatever the case, I’ll enjoy this for a while.

As for Julie-specific, I hurt for her as well because with each passing week, she loses more and more. And she’s stuck with Gus, the second best character on the show. Okay, so he’s even more one-dimensional than Sandy’s friend (did he even have a name? I know he did, but I’m not going to turn on TiVo to find it out at the moment), but still, it led to some pretty memorable moments. I’d actually like to see Julie living in this environment for a little while before she tries to branch out. It’s a nice change of scenery on the show. Now, if they decide to send her to Chino then maybe they should take a step back. For now, let’s get some mileage out of trying to deal with these problems.

And seriously, give Julie Cooper a job flipping burgers. Would there be anything hotter than Julie in one of those atrocious Burger King uniforms? Actually, no.

Seth and Summer…

So here’s where I’ll share my first personal experience. The friend I mentioned earlier was from up north, so when he moved to South Carolina, I think he always knew he wanted to get away. It’s not that he actively hated the place – he can correct me if I’m wrong – but I always got the sense that he felt he wasn’t completely at home. Or, if he was, he still needed to explore a little bit more. And that’s awesome. Some people are like that. But his girlfriend wasn’t. She didn’t even attempt to understand his situation or his desire to leave South Carolina to go to college. So they argued constantly about the college situation. He applied to Boston College (got in), and she applied to University of South Carolina (got in). They broke up and even though he’s now at the University of North Carolina, their breakup (much of which, in my opinion, stemmed from these college problems) has made it so that they don’t even talk anymore.

And if there’s one couple that I root for more than I rooted for them, it’s Seth and Summer.

Interestingly, the opinion on these two as a couple hasn’t been unanimously positive like I figured it would be. Some are clamoring for a Seth/Taylor pairing, citing that Summer is just too shrill and bossy to be considered a good girlfriend. I didn’t actually see that in the episodes, probably because I didn’t want to, but I’ve looked back, and I suppose I can see how she’d rub people the wrong way. I see her as being a little immature and cute; others would see her as brash and annoying.

Regardless, college is a real problem that high school relationships face. We watch these people go through hell and do anything and everything they can to get together without the consideration that they may be forced apart. High school is strange like that, you know? All these problems that seem so large in high school become nothing in such a short time. There’s your lesson for the day.

Summer has stayed irritated at Seth for the majority of the season, if not mad, so I had a feeling that Seth was going to just bow down to her and apologize for wanting to move away. As we’ve learned from this show, the woman is always the victim. But enter Taylor.

Not entirely sure about her motives, but she sure as hell seemed sincere, and she looked awesome while she was doing it. I’m loving the green sweater. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that FOX spun the commercials to show Taylor as a bitch when, in fact, she was acting kind. Nice twist from the usually dickheaded FOX (we’ll get to FOX and its dumb decisions later, though I’m sure you know what I’m angry at).

I did wonder why Seth was so adamant about leaving, though. I understand completely the desire to leave, but when, in the history of the world, has a long-distance relationship worked (yes, someone out there made it work, do you people not understand stereotypes?)? And I thought that the one thing that Seth wanted more than to leave Newport was to have Summer. It is nice, though, to see characters chasing dreams, and it’s nice to see the two of them attempt to be happy.

Of course, there’s a big twist coming that probably includes Taylor’s dad working for the Brown board, resulting in Seth not getting in to the school, but let’s not dwell on that. Let’s dwell on the fact that Seth and Summer are, well, adorable, their nose graze was perfect, and their future together seems bright. Let’s not ruin that with a bunch of hypothetical scenarios.

Oh, and “I just had a meeting with the college counselor, she said I have a very good shot at getting in because I’m awesome,” was simply brilliant. The follow-up lines about the gun was just beautiful, too. Seth is back!

Ryan and Marissa…

Glaring mistake, thy name is Ryan and Marissa. I’m serious. I can’t take hearing about how Johnny understands what Ryan doesn’t. So Ryan takes in his brother, the same brother who almost got him arrested, he watches him fall constantly, he finds out Trey raped Marissa, he goes to Trey, he gets in a fight, Trey almost kills him, Marissa shoots Trey, and then Trey leaves without a real goodbye.

Yet somehow Ryan doesn’t understand what Marissa’s going through. I’m not saying that he’d understand perfectly because no one reacts to the same situation the same way, but he would know better than Johnny. Sure, Johnny took a baseball bat to someone’s head, but don’t tell me that he understand a situation that has to do with Ryan better than Ryan does. That doesn’t make sense. At all.

So, what else happened? Johnny’s hit by a car and that secure dream of surfing is shot. Big deal. Um, that’s it. At least next week implies that Johnny doesn’t like his feelings about Marissa. They should run the suicide angle with him. He’s as good a candidate as anyone.

And honestly, this idea that the shooting would ruin Marissa’s chance of getting into college is inane. Was she ever even charged with anything? And really, it’s not like it was cold-blooded. She did it to protect Ryan. Any school that doesn’t see the very obvious shades of gray isn’t worth going to. But there’s not always drama in logic, and there’s rarely logic with Marissa Cooper, so what can you do?

Forgetting Marissa because I hate her, let’s move on to Ryan, a character that I can relate to very well at the moment. I didn’t have Ryan’s childhood or anything, don’t get me wrong, but I still understand his reluctance to go off to college. Why mess with a good thing? Sometimes there just doesn’t seem like there’s anything better out there, and you don’t want to move on until you’re sure you can find something. I’m still living with my parents in my second year of college, and I don’t regret it. When it’s time to leave, I will. Ryan leaving early could cause major problems considering the unresolved anger we saw at the end of the last episode.

I’m not sure what Ryan and Marissa said in the last scene to really appeal to the Berkeley guy, but it is nice to see that they have a future, no matter how much I hate Marissa and want her off of my television. That is until they break up four or five more times this season. It’s a long season ahead.

Random Thoughts…

Did I mention how ungodly hot Taylor was? Because she was.

Great script. I can’t say that enough. Just hilarious.

Isn’t it nice when these teenagers act like teenagers, deal with real teenager problems but still manage to keep enough tension to sustain an hour program?

Sucks for all those people at Brown who actually believed that the show was coming to film at the campus? That would be great. A rumor went around my campus last year that Mischa was coming to school there and that she was knocking out a wall in two dorms and she was going to live in both. Mischa Barton and her unattractive nipples in the dorms. How fun.

Okay, forget it, I have no more random thoughts other than to tell you people that I hate you. I mean come on, I sit here and pimp Reunion like she’s a surgically enhanced prostitute, reminding you that it has some of the best twists and turns I’ve ever seen on television and you people still go watch CSI instead. True, only Nielsen homes count, but c’mon, someone who reads this thing has to be a member of a Nielsen family! So now the show is done after thirteen episodes meaning that we’ll never know the solution to the mystery. This is just terrible. And Joey’s as good as gone, too!

So yeah, that’s all I’ve got.

It was a strong episode this week, not the best of the season, certainly not the best of the series, but a strong way to follow up what I feel was the best episode of the season. Hopefully things can continue this way for the rest of the season. There’s a lot coming up for the writers to deal with. Can they do it well?

We’ll see.

See you next week.

-Drew

Questions, comments, death threats?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

The Anger Management

2005-11-22T17:50:00.000-08:00

“The Anger Management”

So I’m a little late this week. Don’t be mad at me. Control your anger. Manage it, even. Ha! I slay myself.

Anyway, I do apologize for the delay. Sometimes life gets in the way, but now I’m on Thanksgiving break and can devote my attention to this review and to doing stomach exercises so that I’ll be able to hold the proper amount of food come Thursday.

But that’s okay because an episode like this can actually wait. And I don’t mean that because the episode was so bad that it needed to wait. I mean that the episode was good that it has staying power and could hold over a few days until I had a few extra hours to sit in front of the computer.

That’s right. I said it was a good episode. It was actually a very good episode by normal standards and a very great episode by the standards of last week’s Marissa lovefest, which I still maintain was the biggest waste of the show since the stupid trip to San Diego last year for the comic book meeting. And yes, I’ve seen the shot of Mischa’s nipple. It didn’t change the fact that I hated the episode. I’ve seen the sunbathing pictures of her and those weren’t that great, so why should this brief exposure mean anything to me?

Alas, let’s not dwell on past mistakes, but let’s focus on what was really good this week: logical character development, excellent writing, and good chemistry between the leads. I think that chemistry is actually the most important thing at the moment since it really seemed nonexistent for a while, even between Seth and Summer because of Brody’s well-documented laziness (coupled with bad writing) in the first few episodes. Add in a few guest stars who felt clichéd and who didn’t really click with the cast, you didn’t have much sizzle coming from the formerly hot cast.

But Jeri Ryan actually settled into her role quite nicely, and Autumn Reeser has taken Taylor into the stratosphere, so you know, all is well on that front. And even though I hate Marissa, her acting has improved. Adam seems energized. Ben feels a little more awkward, something that he excelled at in the first season. Peter, Kelly, and Melinda never really lost their ability, and Rachel has only become better with time. She’s just amazing.

The show still misses Caleb, let’s not lie, but the characters are starting to mix in logically illogical situations, the storylines are progressing nicely, the character development is as good as it’s ever been, and the quips are wittier. That’s key for this show.

Sandy and Kirsten…

So I’m still a little skeptical about Sandy working for the Newport Group, and I still don’t like this guy he’s working with, but it’s very nice to see him have his own storyline where he’s a working husband. I appreciated the storylines where he helped Caleb out, but in case the writers didn’t know, business and family can be kept separate even in Orange County.

I find it interesting that the first order of business for the writers was to reveal the fact that Sandy is still incredibly moralistic. I wonder if that’s a hint of things to come. Will working for the Newport Group change Sandy from moralistic to Caleb? I doubt the change will ever be that extreme, but if we can see Sandy change, it’d actually be an extremely interesting look at Caleb even without him on the show. We could see exactly what made the man who he was.

I don’t imagine that the writers have thought that far ahead, but it’d still be a nice twist. I like the idea of character progression like that. It would also really work next season if the kids actually move out because we could see Sandy try to cope with an empty nest while making business deals – tons of reasons for him to slowly start to change. See, that’s all I ask for: just some reasons for character changes.

As far as Kirsten goes, she’s been very limited in her stories since the Charlotte one shifted over to Julie. It was sad to see her being taken advantage of by two people she trusted. That’s an unfortunate part of life, though. I do wonder if there will be any fallout from the Charlotte story. I think it’d be unfair to have Charlotte leave town without Kirsten actually knowing what happened. And, if Julie explains it, will Kirsten be able to deal with the fact that even though Julie made the right decision, she initially planned on making the wrong one? I always felt that Kirsten was the most forgiving person on the show, maybe even too forgiving. It’d be nice to see a grudge form with her.

It’s great to see this marriage back as the moral center of the show, by the way. I really missed it last year and became afraid that we’d continue to see that trend with Kirsten coming back from rehab. But these two seem better than ever.

For now.

Julie Cooper-Nichol…

There’s not much to say about her other than to commend her for a job well done. She had the opportunity – or so she thought – to make money back at the expense of her friend, and she didn’t.

At the same time, though, you have to wonder exactly how Julie plans to get the money back if she sheds her bitch image. I know that you could say hard work and such, but does Julie have any talent or skill? I’m not going to find Julie a very commendable character if she’s not going to screw Kirsten over but is willing to mess with someone else. It’s a fine line they have to walk in terms of characterization.

Again, I’m fairly disappointed that the Charlotte story seemed to become a vehicle for Julie and not Kirsten, and I’m more than fairly disappointed in the way the storyline wrapped up so quickly. It just seemed so terribly anti-climatic and that’s pretty unfair to fans. I know we didn’t exactly jump on the story like the writers hoped, but the least they could do is show us that they care enough to give us a decent resolution.

Of course, all this is assuming that the Charlotte storyline actually is over. I’d be willing to bet it is because it felt like an O.C. ending. I just wish it felt more like a definitive conclusion. I don’t imagine that anyone would be disappointed with ending Charlotte’s story for good. In season eight, when the show is on its last legs, I can’t imagine the fan base jumping up and down and begging for the return of Charlotte who reveals herself to be Oliver’s mother.

Ah well.

Ryan and Marissa…

I have to say that I’m pleased with the direction this story went this week. I was horribly concerned, obviously, about the fact that last week’s show screamed, “Love triangle disguised as a non-love triangle!” But things seemed to have toned down this week. Johnny played the third wheel and did so convincingly. He didn’t seem to have any overt feelings toward Marissa, and she didn’t seem to have any either. That’s a good thing.

Aside from the fact that both Mischa Barton and Ryan Donowho are both poor actors with no chemistry, the show needs another direction other than Oliver redux. So watching Marissa actually return back to the unselfish person she showed in the season premiere. She put Ryan’s needs in front of her own and risked herself so that he wouldn’t get in trouble. It’s a nice role reversal from the usual stuff we get from these two.

Someone said that this Ryan was too much like season two Ryan, but that’s just wrong. This Ryan is far different than season two Ryan. Season two Ryan didn’t fight because the writers had no one for him to fight. They were completely spent on ideas and just had him stop without rhyme or reason (if someone can find justification, please let me know). But this season, we’re seeing a Ryan who is forced to consider his future and is making logical decisions because of that. He knows that he won’t be any better than anyone else in his family if he doesn’t try to focus himself. And I think it’s coming through beautifully. As I noted a few weeks ago, we’re seeing Ryan’s reactions to everything and it’s fairly troubling.

Ryan’s decision to outwit Volcheck (or whatever his name is) was very interesting to watch, especially since he’d never really done that before, but it led to the scene with the punching bag, and I have to say that was one of the most intense moments on the show ever. I honestly mean that. It bordered on scary because we see that Ryan’s simply masking himself. There’s your logical for Ryan and Marissa breaking up – Ryan’s insecurities and masks causing himself emotional trauma. When this mask comes off, it’s going to be tremendously entertaining. And scary. And wild. Let’s just hope that the mask comes off sometime. Wait, what? You mean, there could be drama without adding in another new character? You mean that characters can create their own drama with their personalities? No way!

Yes way.

Seth and Summer…

Again, this is your winner for the week. I don’t know if I can praise Adam and Rachel enough for breathing such life into their characters, so I won’t. Instead, I’ll focus on Autumn Reeser who is just phenomenal as Taylor. Talk about a guest star who fits in perfectly.

I loved Anna as much as anyone, but she didn’t have the chemistry with Seth that Taylor does. Really, aside from season one Summer, there’s no one that’s able to equal this chemistry that Taylor and Seth have. I’m not saying I want to see them enter into some kind of romantic relationship because I don’t. But I love the fact that they feel very natural together, that their banter is quick, and that their connection is a sensible one. They’ve had very similar experiences in terms of people belittling them, and they’ve both tried to compensate with disastrous results. I know, I know, this is almost like the Johnny/Marissa relationship where they have something in common, but that’s never been my complaint. My complaint is the way that the writers want to shove everything down our throats with lines like, “Johnny just gets me.” I don’t think you’ll see Seth saying the same thing about Taylor.

Taylor’s a very fascinating character, I must say. She’s obviously just a little bit over the edge, but it’s not in the Oliver vain. Oliver was plain psycho. Taylor is deluded. She has no sense of reality. True, Oliver created his own world, but he never really lived in it. Taylor lives in this world she’s built for herself. I suppose that her relationship with Dean Hess was about somehow channeling her dreams to something else. I don’t know. That was a mistake all around.

So is Taylor actually an anime freak or has she done her homework on Seth’s room? If she’s just a freak then it’s a nice little moment between the two, but if she’s been stalking Seth, it’s creepy. I thought the present she gave him, no matter how many times she wrapped it, was incredibly sweet, and I actually thought about cheering, “Seth, kiss her!” But I didn’t. I can be a little hypocritical, but not that much. It was a fantastic moment, though, as was the ensuing talk outside of the party.

And it’s nice to see Summer angry without acting melodramatic. The writers have listened to our complaints about these two, and I’m glad they did. I have to say, too, that no matter how touching the scene was where Taylor handed over the DVD, it wasn’t quite as good as the final Seth and Summer scene. “So bad that it may actually kill me,” was just pure Seth. Wonderful stuff.

Ugh, I’m actually pushing for a love triangle. Someone shoot me.

Other fun stuff…

Did you guys know anyone as hot as Taylor who had actual trouble making friends?

How freaking hot were Charlotte, Kirsten, and Julie sitting around that table? My God. Insane stuff.

What do you think Sandy said when he fired those guys?

There doesn’t seem to be a Mr. Townsend, but Taylor and her mom appear to be doing okay. Maybe Julie should turn to her and get some help on how to be a single woman with a hot daughter and still have money.

I just realized how awesome a cameo on this show from Ian Ziering would be. Maybe even Jason Priestly, too.

Something tells me that a large piece of wood could actually take a shattered bottle. I’ve never been in a fight like that, so I wouldn’t actually know, but I’m just thinking about size here. That wood is huge. The bottle isn’t.

It looks like they’re going to Luke Johnny. That is, they’ll have him hurt, and he won’t die. No, that’s not a spoiler. It’s just speculation after watching this show so many times. Besides, there’s Ryan’s big Chrismukkah Bar Mitzvakah that’s coming up in a few episodes, so a death would really be a downer heading into that. Man, I can’t wait for Chrismukkah.

No Thanksgiving episode this year? Bummer. Thanksgiving was one of the best episodes in season one. Man, I may think that Taylor has better chemistry with Seth than Anna does, but damn, Anna was so great in that episode. That was such a fun storyline. And Caleb was somewhere around god level.

So overall, a really good episode. Things really seem to be clicking with the stories, the writers, and the actors. Everyone seems on the same page, for the first time in a long time, and that includes the fans. Probably the best episode of the season, too, so that’s saying something, wouldn’t you say? Things have the potential to be great. Can they keep it up? Time will tell.

Well, that’s going to do it for me. I know that the long wait for finishing this would point to having some ten page analysis, but no, you’d be wrong. It’s okay, though, because we have a week off this week, so I’ll reenergize and then be back the following week.

If you’re in the States, then I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. If you’re elsewhere, I wish you a very happy Thursday while Americans eat turkey and watch bad football. That’s the American way.

-Drew

Questions, comments, death threats?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

The Swells

2005-11-12T07:03:00.000-08:00

FOX (households: 3.2/5, #4; adults 18-49: 2.2, #3) then took the bronze among adults 18-49 thanks to fresh installments of "The O.C." (households: 3.7/6, #10; adults 18-49: 2.6, #8)… - thefutoncritic.com

Do you people realize how bad that is? A 3.7 is, I believe, a .7 drop from last week. I don’t pretend to know exactly how ratings work, but I know enough to know that this means that fewer people watched this week’s show than ever before, and that, my friends, is not a good thing. And this is coming off of the best episode of the season last week, the first episode back after baseball. What does this mean exactly? It means a group of people waited in anticipation for the show to return and when it did, they were disappointed.

And I have a good feeling that I see a pattern that’s going to start developing unless the writers do something quick.

Welcome back, folks, for another week of random musings about our beloved Josh Schwartz created melodrama.

I’ve seen a lot of people say this was a good episode. One called it “damn great” and another said it was the best episode of the show since the second season premiere. To those people I ask: what episode were you watching? I certainly didn’t get a great episode on my television. I got mediocrity and a lot of frustration. But we’ll get to that in a bit.

Let’s just say that if the ratings dip next week, I only have two words for why: Marissa Cooper.

In fact, let’s get into America’s favorite uninspired couple first.

Ryan and Marissa…

Let me say that there is no worse character on television than Marissa Cooper. I honest to God mean it. There have been bad characters in television – many of them popping up on teen dramas just like The O.C. – but I defy anyone to even tell me that there is a worse character on television now. Any show (except for UPN or WB sitcoms because if you’ve seen them, you’ll know they just don’t count as actual shows). I promise you’re wrong.

So let’s first remember that Marissa whined and whined last week about Ryan leaving. She didn’t want him to leave. She wanted the relationship to work out. She wasn’t in the least bit bothered by anything that’s happened with Trey. As a matter of fact, with the exception of the drama it’s caused her by having to go to PUBLIC SCHOOL~!, has she even mentioned the Trey stuff outside of the premiere.

So when does she decide to suddenly start complaining about it? 4 A.M. She calls Ryan up in the early, early morning, probably scaring him to death because the only phone calls you should receive that early are ones about death and destruction, and expects him to suddenly have a heart-to-heart with her.

Now, exactly what is there to talk about? I mean, I’ve never taken anything other than intro to psych, and I’ve never been involved in a shooting, but what exactly did she expect Ryan to tell her? That he’d “be there”? He was there. He answered the phone. All he asked for was some sleep. But she decides to a bitch about it.

And we’re supposed to feel bad for Marissa and believe that it’s okay for her to go to Johnny for an ear to talk to? I commend the guy for beating his dad with the baseball bat, but really, those two situations aren’t really that similar.

But it gets worse because as Marissa flirts endlessly and blows Ryan off, she continues to complain that he’s just not there for her. It’s hard to be there for someone when they won’t come around. And don’t get me started on the ridiculous innocent scene where they were in Chili’s bedroom. No one with a significant other that they love actually flirts like that with someone they don’t know that well. It just doesn’t happen. And, if it does, it’s ridiculous. Don’t do it.

Still, Marissa’s the victim because Ryan just doesn’t listen.

And Marissa can’t see that Johnny likes her? Hmm, this sounds familiar. Oliver, anyone?

Now, I admit that there’s something intriguing in the fact that Ryan and Johnny have seemingly forged a friendship. There’s potential in the idea. At the same time, it has the risk of just being stupid. I’m not sure how either way but trust me. It’s likely going to blow since that’s how this whole storyline is.

Poor Ryan. He just sits back, does what he can do, and gets screwed because of it. He deserves better than this. The writers should have paid more attention to Ryan readjusting to life at Harbor. That’s far more compelling than watching him run around like a lapdog for his stupid whore.

Ridiculous.

Seth and Summer…

Again, we should all get on our knees and thank God for creating Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson because they are really the main reasons this show is working at the moment. Maybe even the only reason. They just have such a wonderful chemistry, playing off of each other perfectly. While I don’t enjoy the fact that they focus a lot of their attention on talking about Ryan and Marissa, the moments where they are by themselves and just chatting are always very fun.
And I’m still enjoying Taylor. I know I waver back and forth with her, but overall, she’s pretty good. Without the dean, she’s a much better character, though I have to question introducing the mother so quickly. I know she’s mean and bitter, but it seemed like the writers really tried too hard to push this woman down our throats as a bitch. I find it a bit disconcerting, but I think the writers have to start reaching out pretty quickly, so I don’t completely blame them. But I kind of wish they would just introduce a character like Taylor who is just a bitch for no real reason. I understand that it’s one-dimensional, but I’m so sick of trying to feel sympathetic for people. Just let us hate one or two.

The idea of Seth saving Taylor was actually a pretty good one. Who understands ridicule better? The fact that he stood up and took the abuse was extremely noble. At the same time, it’s very heartbreaking. I think that with the exception of last season, we all love Seth. We all relate to him somehow, and because of that, we root for him. So when we recognize that he still remembers being abused, that people still treat him terribly (“sit down, Seth!” was a great line), it’s hard not to get worked up. Remember when Seth told Summer he remembered her feeding the squirrel who kept getting its food taken? That’s who Seth is. He’s the squirrel. So sad.

Now, is it smart to try to pair up Seth and Taylor, if that’s what they what they’re going for? Depends on how they handle it. Do we get another, “You could have had me…” speech, or do we get, “Oh, it’s on, Cohen!” because the former sucks, but the latter would be fantastic. These guys have to remain the comic relief. Romantic moments work for them, comedy moments work for them, but dramatic fights don’t – at all. The writers have something good going, so I hope they don’t mess it up. I’m more interested in seeing Taylor with Ryan, actually, if only to piss Marissa off.

I think the most important thing is that this doesn’t build off of one instance. I don’t want to see Summer see Seth talking to Taylor and suddenly go bitchy. Of course, this being The O.C., that’s probably what’s going to happen. This show irritates me so much sometimes.

Sandy and Kirsten…

So, what is there really to say? Nothing. It’ll be very nice to see Sandy in a corporate world, even though he’s not a lawyer. Sure, the fans have only been clamoring to see Sandy take on actual case since season one, but working for the new Newport Group is okay, too. I’m sure he’s in over his head, though, and somehow, he’ll be screwed. My guess? The older guy was the good guy, and this young guy Sanford is working with is really the problem. After all, nothing is as it seems in Orange County.

The Charlotte stuff seems to have shifted over to Julie, so Kirsten is actually doing nothing. I’m not even sure I can examine her character because it’s thinner than Kelly Rowan at the moment (za-zing! Thank you, I’m here all week, try the veal!)

Julie Cooper-Nichol…

I was hoping it’d be Julie that uncovered the plan first. There’s far more intrigue in Julie dealing with Charlotte than Kirsten doing it. Kirsten is a very fragile person, and I just couldn’t imagine that watching her fight with Charlotte would be even remotely interesting.

I’m not saying that I want her completely gone from the picture because I do want her to grow some kind of spine and enter this fight. But for me, watching Julie handle the situation will be great.

I was thinking that maybe watching her revert back to her old ways would be an interesting storyline, but now I’m not so sure. I mean, I like the idea that Charlotte is able to play to her insecurities because there are so many – I never realized just how vulnerable Julie was until Charlotte started talking to her last night. It’s actually a terrific bit of psychology on Charlotte’s part.

Still, I think that it’d be great to see Julie fight Charlotte off to defend Kirsten and then use that fame to catapult herself to stardom. She can get news coverage for saving the life and money of Caleb Nichol’s daughter, she can get coverage for turning in a criminal, and she can begin to earn the respect of Kirsten, something that I think she’s always wanted. The important thing here, for me, is that Julie always makes sure that things come back to her. I like the fact that she’s self-centered and that her problems generally revolve around herself. It’s not that I’ve disliked the writers delving into this side of her character, but still, it’s more fun when she’s playing the bitch that divorced Jimmy based on reputation.

It’s very Julie-like to discover the ploy while rummaging through Charlotte’s purse, by the way. It’s such a breach of moral conduct that it fits Julie to a tee. I loved it.

Did I mention how hot Julie was last night? Good God, I thought Lindsay owned the record for hottest scene ever – in her glasses and Freud slippers – but Julie took it over last night. Insane.

Other Stuff…

When did Ryan and Summer develop enough of a bond for her to call him “Atwood” or for Marissa to believe Ryan came to offer Summer a ride? I have to say, though, that I’d really love to see a Ryan and Summer pairing, as I believe their different personalities would somehow mesh very well. And I think they look cute together. I don’t know, it’s wishful thinking, but there’s a lot of storyline potential there. I’ll never advocate Seth and Summer breaking up, but if they have to, it better be for Ryan. (Yeah, here comes the hate mail.)

Did I mention that Marissa sucks? Honestly, who decides these stories for her? Certainly it’s not Josh, my hero. It has to be some Nazi feminist who believes that all men are evil and thus Marissa should be worshipped for being a stupid ass. Marissa is in line to be the next Debra Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond, there’s no question.

“I’m already dating a dork,” was a fantastic line. I still can’t wait for Chili and Seth to meet. That could be really great. Eh, it probably won’t happen. Can’t mix the public school kids with the private school kids too much.

Who else misses Caleb a lot?

Who else misses Jimmy a lot?

How weird was it to see a pay phone?

What kind of administration approves a lock-in as a mandated event? That’s too much of a stretch.

So Taylor’s not popular? I thought she was. Didn’t everyone else? You know, shrill, whiney, overbearing girls are always popular in high school as long they’re hot. I don’t believe that Taylor wouldn’t be.

How about Reunion last night being completely AWESOME again? It’s a damn shame the ratings are so low because with the Arrested Development cancellation, I’m starting to believe FOX will get rid of anything. Damn, Reunion has honestly shocked the hell out of me more in two weeks than any other show in a long time.

So yeah, that’s pretty much it this week. I’m sorry if this came off as more of a rant than an actual review, but that’s pretty much what it was. I’m so horribly frustrated with this show after last night. Last week was such an improvement with strong writing, strong characters (even with the ridiculous fisherman premise, it was fun), and a strong direction, but this week completely crapped on all that and it’s thanks to Marissa Cooper. Honestly, it’s just plain bad that they’re allowing her ridiculous nature to overshadow what could be some of the best episodes of the series.

Someone had the nerve to say that Ryan and Marissa are the best couple on the show because they are fixing their mistakes. Must have been a spoiler because everything seems the same to me at this point. And it’s a shame. I want to love what’s going on and I almost do, but this Marissa stuff has to stop. We can only hope that the funeral that Josh said might happen is Marissa’s. It’s the only way to save this show. Because her idiocy is too much to handle.

“[Johnny] just gets me.”

Yeah, I get you too: you’re ruining the show.

Josh, listen to me, if this storyline hasn’t finished filming, then you have to stop it now. Make it a Dallas dream or a St. Elsewhere snow globe vision. I don’t care. Just end it. You’re ruining your baby.

Alas, that does it for me this week. Hopefully there aren’t too many Marissa apologists out there waiting to attack me, but if that’s the case, so be it. There’s nothing I can do to change it. I’m just telling you what I see: a show on the cusp of greatness that’s failing because the writers are determined to let the walking board Mischa Barton take center stage.

Questions, comments, suggestions, anything?
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

-Drew

The Perfect Storm

2005-11-09T12:31:00.000-08:00

I will break my vow of silence to let you know that it is "The O.C." (Thursday, FOX, 8 p.m.) I'm giving the silent treatment to. I have nothing new to say about the cliched characters (the evil dean, Summer's bratty rival, Kirsten's crazy friend)… - TV Gal, zap2it.com

A friend of mine looked at me in class Thursday morning and said, “The O.C. comes back tonight!” I looked back and said, “I know, I’m really excited. And I’m dreading it.”

And that’s the truth. I was dreading this episode far more than I was looking forward to it because let’s face it – the show hasn’t been that great so far. I know that when we last saw the show, everyone was drooling over it, and I was pretty pleased as well, but in all honesty, it wasn’t a great episode. And “Forever Young” really wasn’t that great of a song.

I appreciate the optimism of some members of the fan base, but we can’t just settle for anything. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s what we were doing.

So as I watched the return of One Tree Hill and saw that it was a show that has only improved with age, that gets better nearly every week, and whose characters I’m actually fascinated by in terms of depth and as I watched reruns of the waning seasons of 90210 and saw that even in its latter seasons it maintained a pretty wicked sense of drama and that its storylines, no matter how cheesy, were almost always somewhat entertaining, I began to wonder if Josh Schwartz’s baby was really the show for me.

And you know what? It still is.

Welcome back folks to another insightful week of, um, insight as we pick apart this show, see what’s working, what isn’t, what could be, and what should be.

I’ve missed you guys dearly, but the break was much needed, that’s for sure. It was nice to have weekends without the stress of the review – not that I don’t enjoy writing, but if I’m going to write, I want to put out the best review possible – and just concentrate on doing homework, watching football, and sleeping.

So I don’t think any of you would doubt after reading the introduction that I was pleased with last night’s episode. Okay, so it wasn’t a great episode, but it was really good, a step in the right direction.

Sandy and Kirsten…

I forgive Sandy for the Rebecca debacle after watching him last night. Sandy spent a large portion of last season as an overbearing father and a non-caring husband, and the show, not coincidentally, suffered during that time. But he’s back. And last night, he was simply amazing. I think first of all I need to address one of my favorite moments of the series so far and, if you’ve been following my reviews, you’ll know what it is:

“Unless you have a court-ordered injunction against my son…”

You don’t even have to finish the sentence. This emphasis on the Sandy/Ryan father/son relationship this season is a real bright spot, and the way that Sandy stuck his neck out for Ryan was great. Of course, Ryan didn’t listen, but it really doesn’t matter to me.

And I appreciate Sandy’s effort to try to get Ryan to stay. Part of me believes that Sandy would have let Ryan go anyway, even if he were going to drop out of school because Sandy understands it. I know he would never want Ryan to throw away his future, but I do think he’s raising his kids to be free thinkers and risk takers. And I think that’s why Sandy finally buckled at the end and didn’t try to stop him. You have to allow people to make mistakes before they make the right choices.

Sandy’s very random tofu comments at the dinner table were a definite highlight of the show. To-bagel with cream to-cheese truly was “a valiant effort.”

And the way he handled the Dean. Just great. I harp a lot on the Ryan/Sandy relationship and I don’t want to overlook the Seth/Sandy connection, one of the best chemistries on television. I feel like they actually give the impression that they are a father and son with enough sarcasm and similarity to handle the tension that comes from being a parent and child. So watching Sandy step up and handle the situation with the dean and to do so in a way that was so subtle and smart, that’s excellent parenting. And I think it’s a nice touch that Sandy didn’t reveal it was all a scheme. He just let Hess continue to think what he wants. Wonderful.

As for the marriage itself, it’s great to see the two back together, working together, bickering and bantering together, and just loving each other. They really work best when they’re a tag team and despite being the most ridiculously good looking parents, they carry such a sense of responsibility and love with them. Watching them work together to try to sort things out with Ryan was wonderful and I’m glad that there aren’t any Rebecca wrenches looming in the darkness. We’ve had enough of those twists, that’s for sure.

Julie Cooper-Nichol…

C’mon, she deserves to have her last names in there. It’s who she is.

The close shot of Julie’s face while she sunbathed led to what I expected it to, but it was still a hilarious, yet sad, twist. Watching cops haul someone off as Julie sat there trying to maintain some dignity was extremely cruel as you see that Julie just doesn’t want to let go of what she had, but she really has no choice. She’s thrust into a different world, and she’s handling it like only Julie Cooper-Nichol can and would.

As for throwing her in the Charlotte mix, I’m a little torn because it can go one of two ways, though I’m not sure what way I want it to go.

I think it’d be very awesome to see Julie return back to her bitchiest and completely immerse herself in Charlotte’s scheme. Lord knows that I’ve been praying for a consistent villain on the show since Caleb died, someone in the mold of Valerie Malone or Dan Scott. I think it’s what the show needs – someone who will turn with the snap of a finger. So watching Julie do whatever it takes to regain her power, in the disguise of doing whatever it takes for her family, would instantly add drama to the family especially since she’d be burning Kirsten in the process.

But there’s also the possibility that she’ll call Charlotte on her bluff and we’ll be able to see Julie using her powers for good. She’s definitely too smart to fall for Charlotte’s crap. This game that Charlotte is playing is something that Julie knows, and she’ll be able to recognize it, I believe. And when she lets Kirsten know what’s going on, we’ll see Julie show how she can remain powerful and good.

It’s interesting because they both provide Julie a chance to shine and they both provide excellent character possibilities, but we have to see what benefits the show more. Is it better to have Julie return to how she was, or is it better to have Julie move forward? I don’t know. We’ll see what the show has in store. Whatever that is, it better be something good. Melinda Clarke is gold, and she deserves the best.

Ryan and Marissa…

Is it any secret that I really don’t care much for these two together? Is it also a secret that I, against my will, have started to warm up to them? No, on both accounts.

That’s not to say that they’re great now, but this week’s fight really felt real. It didn’t feel like two people fighting about a relationship, but it felt like two people fighting about their relationship, and that’s such a welcome change of pace. There was a sense that these two care about each other, and that they just aren’t thrown together because there’s no one else around. The fight wasn’t about outside forces like DJ or Theresa, but it was about how these two relate to each other.

Sure, the idea that Ryan wanted to leave was ridiculously stupid, but at least a legitimate fight came from it. The nice twist with Marissa running to Ryan only to not apologize was pretty fun, as well. Again, not everything ends up happy.

Until next week, when it appears Marissa suddenly falls for Johnny. The previews have Marissa saying that Johnny just “gets her.” What the hell is there to get about Marissa Cooper? She’s the most wooden, least complex character in the history of television. We’re talking up there with Lisa Turtle.

Looking at the dean storyline, I have to applaud the writing of this story. I didn’t care much for Hess overall – I didn’t mind him at first, but time is good for perspective – but the writers handled everything very delicately.

See, this show is known for a short, choppy storytelling structure. Things happen, then more things happen, then some more things happen, and even though things connect, it’s not as if there’s any real emotional fallout or anything. They connect in story but not in anything greater.

But this one did.

We saw how Ryan felt about the suspension. It brought out his biggest insecurities, it drudged up his past, and elicited the feelings that he’d worked so hard to forget. As he said, it made him realize he’s not an Atwood, but he’s not a Cohen, either. He’s changed, but he’s still hanging on to that past, and despite his outward change, he still feels conflicted inside. I don’t see how Ryan would react so snappily to Sandy normally, but when he did, it felt normal because we could clearly see his emotional problems, where’d they’d come from, and why they were there.

Bravo to the writers for this one.

Seth and Summer…

Rachel Bilson is carrying the show at the moment. Peter Gallagher is a close second, but Bilson is the one on top; there is no doubt about that. She’s handling this role with such a wonderful middle school maturity that’s extremely reflective of actual high school experience. Okay, so there really aren’t people to the extreme of Taylor in regular high schools, but the drama that she brings isn’t too far exaggerated.

Her character’s wants and desires – to have power and to make others go through hell to get it – seem pretty reasonable, and most of the people who try to achieve success through these means end up acting like they’re only eighth graders. Hell, most kids in high school are horribly immature. So it’s nice to see someone act with the maturity of an actual high school kid instead of, I don’t know, going to join a commercial fishing boat.

I started to worry when Seth wouldn’t believe Summer’s claims because I remember the last time that Seth wouldn’t believe one of his friends – remember something called the Oliver storyline of ’04? Yeah, it could have gotten really ugly really quickly. But then things got a little better when Seth, rather suddenly actually, joined up forces and agreed to fight the evils of Taylor and Hess. I would have liked to have seen them dress up in superhero costumes, actually, but I guess that’s just wishful thinking.

And it was nice to see them actually win this battle, even though I believe the war is far from over. Hess is gone, but I think Taylor’s just as strong as ever. But watching her stand on her own and try to go one-on-one with Summer is likely to be a lot of fun. And if not, at least they’re both hot.

And, as I said, Adam seemed to finally want to be there. Maybe it was just that the material was better or maybe he was on the good weed, I don’t know, but whatever it was, he had far more life. His list of things that Ryan could be doing was great, as was his list of things that Ryan could do with his life.

Okay, so looking at this, the Taylor/Summer/Seth stuff is a little thin, but I’m enjoying it, so who cares? I’ll stick with thin if it means it’s enjoyable. And it’s got potential to be scathingly good fun. Just as long as Taylor doesn’t steal Seth. Ugh.

Odds and Ends…

Summer’s parrot impression was so great that I want to mail a parrot to Rachel Bilson just to thank her. But I have a feeling that’s either animal cruelty or stalking, so I better refrain.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Johnny was just trying to help Ryan and not push Ryan and Marissa apart?

Since when do schools allow strangers to have lunch?

Since when does going to public school equal not being able to get into college? I went to public school and I’m getting raped by a good college both academically and financially at this point.

How many clothes did Ryan bring on the boat?

Who else noticed that Ryan’s hair was wet out of the shower and that it was completely dry when he sat down on his bed?

Can you believe that the show actually referenced past events? Seth and Summer brought up both Theresa and the Luke/Julie storyline. How amazing! Could this be to foreshadow the return of our favorite 36 year old Chino girl and our favorite muscle-bound water polo player? All we needed was a mention of Anna to bring everything together. I guess you can’t have it all.

I can’t say that I’m upset about the World Series being over. It was nice to have FOX return with all of their shows.

Speaking of FOX shows, who else thought Reunion basically ruled the entire world last night? It was a very slow start, but the end was some of the best cliffhanging television I’ve seen in a long time. Excellent, excellent, excellent. People, if you haven’t watched this show, then do it! Get online, read some recaps, and catch up. It’s well worth it.

FOX sucks, though, don’t get me wrong. Again, they completely ruined a compelling moment by showing us Ryan’s “future” speech. Ah well. That’s life, I suppose.

So folks, thanks for reading. It’s good to be back. You can, as always, find me at Editorial Newport and OC Trailers and I hope that you’ll check both sites out as they continue to offer great content.

You can reach me at dukedevils9192@gmail.com with all your questions, comments, complaints, well wishes, generally merriment, but NO SPOILERS.

See you guys in seven.

-Drew

The Last Waltz

2005-10-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

“What’s a quagmire?”
- Summer to the random kid in the hall

A quagmire is a difficult situation, Summer. It’s a simple definition really. Need an example? A quagmire is what occurs when television writers seem to lose focus of their characters and start throwing everything against the wall in hopes that something will stick, preferably a rehash of something that’s been done in the past so that no real effort is involved.

Now before you start getting angry with me, let me say that I really enjoyed “The Last Waltz.” It wasn’t a great episode, but I thought it was very good.

So why the hostility of the first paragraph? Because I’m not sure I like where we’re headed. True, there’s a lot left hanging in the air and suspense is always good, but it all just feels kind of…bleh. It feels like I’ve seen this all before. And I feel like I know where we’ll end up. And that leaves me feeling a little empty.

Who knows, maybe I’m wrong? We’ll see.

Sandy and Kirsten…

I was worried all through the episode. I was worried that Kirsten would listen to Charlotte and she would keep the company and use it to invest in whatever lie Charlotte told. It would be completely un-Kirsten like. It’d be a completely idiotic move. And the show loves to make characters do idiotic things. I don’t think anyone needs to be reminded of the time the entire cast of characters, sans Ryan and Luke, went completely dumb while Oliver was around.

So when Kirsten admitted she wasn’t keeping the Group, I was thrilled. There’s far more drama that can be used now. You can deal with the fact that Kirsten has finally become strong enough to think for herself again and you can watch Charlotte try to break that. It’s been easy for her to twist and skew Kirsten to her view for the first few episodes because she was still dealing with what was, but now she can deal with what is and there’s a power that comes with that that I just can’t explain.

The payoff for the Charlotte story is a fairly interesting one, if only because it’s very different than what I expected. The first episode had the chilling scene where Charlotte lurked in the dark and that projected a very psychotic aura. The last few have put things up in the air a little bit more, though I didn’t expect that it was about money. Maybe I’m the only one who didn’t.

The most frustrating aspect about that whole story is that it’s essentially what Jimmy just did. He needs money, so he tries to use Caleb’s money and gets screwed when he finds out there isn’t any. I understand the fact that Caleb’s death created a ripple effect, but to do the same story twice in four episodes is kind of pushing it. Of course, this is going to extend even farther, so I’ll take it. I always appreciate a good twist, so I liked this.

As far as Sandy, there’s just not much to say. It’s pretty cool he’s been running the Group and there’s an interesting irony in it. The fact that he hates Newport and has spent the summer essentially owning it is pretty twisted. I would actually have enjoyed seeing him at the helm of the company, making business decisions and what-not, but I don’t think we’ll be having that any time soon. I do wish they’d start to focus a little more on Sandy as a lawyer. The fanbase is clamoring for Sandy Cohen in the courtroom. I want to see him defending someone’s life and winning. He doesn’t have to take the client in and the client doesn’t need to be related to the family. It just needs to be Sandy in the courtroom being awesome. Not so hard.

He’s dealing with the family in the best way he knows how and I’m not sure I like the clash that’s about to happen with him and Ryan. Though, if fighting somehow strengthens their relationship, I’ll give it a go.

Julie…

She’s not exactly Mary Tyler Moore trying to make it on her own, but she’s still starting over with nothing. Melinda Clarke is just unbelievable in this role as she’s playing an incredibly vulnerable character and she’s projecting these emotions that somehow manage to negate every bitchy thing Julie Cooper has ever done.

I think it’ll actually be very interesting to see where this is headed. Julie’s been down before – she’s not from Newport, remember – and she managed to bitch her way to the top. Now she’s got to make herself even bigger to prove to herself and to the community that she didn’t get her power by marrying rich men. That’s not to say she didn’t because that’s exactly how she did it, but she’s got to prove otherwise. And how’s she going to do that? By bitching her way to the top again.

I’d love to see her help Charlotte, actually. There’s a tendency to have Julie make a turn and become a better, hard-working person, but the character works best as an immoral person. And watching her help Charlotte screw over the only family that’s ever given her a chance, a family that continuously forgives her (exactly when did she and Sandy bury the hatchet over the Ryan/Marissa issue?), is the ultimate move. The show needs to have a character that consistently stirs trouble like this, not just a Taylor coming in for a few episodes and causing problems.

Seth and Summer…

Not that there’s anything wrong with Taylor. In fact, if the show has done one thing right in two years aside from bringing Trey on, it’s introduce the Taylor character. She’s absolutely injected this show with some much needed bite and she’s given Summer the opportunity to respond with a similar bite. And it just seems to get better.

Now I’m not saying that I really like the idea that Dean Hess and Taylor are together or that I even like the idea that Dean Hess is on the show, but I like the Taylor/Summer sparring so much. “The end of Summer” was an excellent line. She attacks Summer with such vigor that it’s just excellent to behold. The really interesting point to address here is that Summer and Taylor are essentially the same person. What separates them? We know Summer better. Aside from whatever the hell she was last year, we know that Summer can be a huge bitch. Yet the writers have somehow taken this one-line guest star from the pilot and weaved in a plethora of complex emotions and made us care for someone who, when pressed, can be just as Taylor as Taylor. And that’s awesome. Now that she knows about Hess and Taylor, I can imagine it’s going to get fun. Or at least I hope so.

Seth, much like his father, isn’t doing much. Brody had another off week this week as I really couldn’t tell what his motivation was. When he called Ryan, I couldn’t tell if he was trying reverse psychology or not. I assumed he was until he showed up at the dance. I honestly didn’t know what he was doing or what he was thinking. I still like the character, though I just can’t figure out why anymore. They need to do something with him and fast. Breathe some life into him. I remember hearing Emmy talk around Brody during the first season. He’s so insipid now that he could host the Emmys. (Ah, topical humor…loving it).

Ryan and Marissa…

Ah, the crux of our show. Just as I was starting to sympathize and enjoy these two, the inevitable monkey wrench is thrown in, this time in the form of distance and a kid named Johnny.

The lowest point, for me, of ten seasons of Friends came in the third season when the writers took a perfectly caring Ross and turned him into a jealous asshole for the sake of creating drama. It ended up becoming a completely nonsensical storyline and while it did eventually result in something great and classic, it was just piss poor writing.

And so while this plea will fall on deaf ears because the next few episodes have already been made, I have to make my opinion known: don’t do it.

This episode saved itself when Ryan didn’t talk to Marissa at the dance and when they were able to dance together at the end, but jealousy storylines almost always start like this. Someone gets jealous and does something irrational and cringe-inducing – like Ryan at Newport Union – and then they fix it before doing it again and doing it much worse.

I’d like to say that nothing will happen with Johnny and Marissa and that it is the writers attempt at a swerve, but I don’t know that they’re smart enough to do that. I’ve never minded the way that the writers introduce new love interests, but they always do it in such a way that you don’t doubt that they’re love interests. I mean, Ryan and Lindsay’s first encounter was taken straight from a stack of scripts that Hugh Grant never signed on to. It was that cliché. Not that I hate cliché, I really don’t. I don’t watch this show for stunning new developments in the romantic comedy drama. I’m just making a point. This introduction to Johnny destines him to become the next Luke/Oliver/Theresa/DJ/Lindsay/Alex.

I just don’t see how Marissa cheating on Ryan could possibly be a good thing for the show. I don’t understand why we suddenly have to believe that Ryan is lost without Marissa. In all honesty, some of the shots of Ryan watching Marissa with her new friends reminded me of Oliver. I keep waiting on Ryan just to go insane and I have to say that I’d hate that. But that’s what it feels like.

The previews show Ryan getting on a boat claiming that he has a new job, and that seems like a very odd choice. I hope there’s some rational explanation other than he and Marissa broke up and he needs to get away. I suppose that Ryan has always been dependant on Marissa in the sense that defending her and taking care of her makes him feel good, but to run away and to jeopardize his relationship with the Cohens seems too much. I’ll reserve that judgment for when the time comes, though.

The dancing moment at the end was pretty good, I have to say, though I have to agree with everyone who said that it didn’t quite live up to the standard set by Seth and Summer in the first season. That was just too great of a moment to even try to match. I’m not even sure I liked this dance as much as I liked their prom dance.

Other Stuff…

When did Ryan decide to be home schooled? I hate when I’m told stuff out of the blue like that.

How awesome was Summer’s house? It absolutely killed any other house we’ve seen on the show so far.

Am I the only one who actually liked Chili? It seems that way. I was actually a Quintuplets fan, so I’m glad to see him here. He’s playing the same character he played on that show, but it’s okay. He’s the Newport Union equivalent of Seth, I know, but at least he has some life in him. Brody should take note. And come on, who’s not waiting for the inevitable showdown between the groups? It’s straight out of Seinfeld, but it’ll be damn funny.

I actually enjoy the social commentary that’s being made with the comparisons of Newport Union to Harbor. The idea that despite money and fancy dances, there really is no difference between people, that everyone is the same everywhere, is something that the show touched on often in the first season and has done so less and less since then. It’s part of the heart of the show and I’m glad to see it come back. Of course, I went to public school and it wasn’t quite like that. I guess it shows how far Marissa has fallen, though.

The script this week was just terrible. With the exception of the Seth/Summer/Taylor scenes, most all of the dialogue was just brutal. Charlotte’s line, “I’ll find a way to use her” just made me sick. Who the hell talks like that? Do the writers really need to insult their audience by slapping them over the head with exposition? She’s bad. We get it. Show, don’t tell. It’s the first rule of creative writing. John Stephens got paid around $30,000 to come up with something like that, by the way.

Did anyone else think that after Taylor and Hess stopped making out, he looked horribly uncomfortable? Maybe there’s some kind of conscience there, after all. Or maybe I just saw it wrong.

What about Reunion? Was that not an awesome ending or what? That show’s got major potential. It’s just too bad it’s up against CSI, a show that pulled in a rating so huge this week that it made LOST look like The O.C..

Does baseball on FOX not suck? Everything’s headed to repeats and while I do appreciate the break (it reenergizes me), I hate the emptiness I feel when I tune over to House or The O.C..

So I wrote this review straight through, no breaks to collect my thoughts, no re-writing and looking back at the first part, I say that I was probably a little too harsh. I don’t actually hate where the show is going.

The Julie storyline has loads of potential, as does the Summer/Taylor one and I’m looking forward to both of them. It’s the fact that Ryan and Marissa seem to be doing the same old stuff again and the fact that it’s getting really, really old. It’s senior year, people. Senior year can have enough drama without sending someone to work on a steamboat or wherever the hell Ryan was going. There is a lot they can deal with without any monstrous changes in distance.

Maybe I’m being hypocritical. I’m asking for the show to remain over-the-top by keeping people at home. There’s a certain irony to it, I know, but with the exception of a few short trips in the first season, the drama in Orange County was enough. The writers have created this world where nothing is as it seems, where the people are cold and unforgiving and where trouble is everywhere. They just don’t seem to want to use it anymore. I’d love to see more of how the community works on the characters as opposed to just the characters work on the characters. It opens up a world of new stories.

So overall this wasn’t a bad episode. It certainly didn’t keep me at the edge of my seat but it provided me with enough. I miss the cliffhanger, though Josh said they intentionally did that. He said in an interview that after this episode, we’d have a sense that they’d closed one chapter and that we’d know they were starting something new. There’s definitely something new. As for whether or not it’ll be able to sustain us through a whole season, whether it’ll be good enough, I don’t know. The potential’s there, Josh. Please, don’t let us down. We love you. It’s why we criticize you. This show can be good, these actors can be great, and the writing can be nearly flawless. I just hope you remember how to make that all possible.
I’ll see you guys in four weeks. Don’t forget to keep checking out both pre-occupied.net/octrailers and newport.vinylinvasion.com as they both offer awesome content that’s completely different.

You know the drill: questions, comments, concerns, death threats, proposals, and two-years late graduation gifts can be sent to dukedevils9192@gmail.com.

-Drew

Just testing something

2005-09-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

Just testing something to see if it works. If it does, it’ll save me so much time in writing. It probably won’t, though. So, let’s see.

The End of Innocence

2005-09-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

That’s the great thing about this place…nothing ever happens.

I’ve stared at a blank computer screen for about the last ten minutes wondering how I should start this off. I like the above quote so much that it needs to be up there, though I’m not sure how to connect it with anything.

So I’ll just leave it there and move on. Just know that I like it.

Anyway, welcome back to another week of teen angst, parental melodrama, quick quips, and the most heartwarming family moments this side of Danny Tanner and the bunch.

And that’s all complimentary, I’m serious. It sounds pretty silly looking at that, you know? How can something successfully combine those elements into an hour of good television?

Well, The O.C. did it with “The End of Innocence.”

That’s not to say that the episode was perfect because it wasn’t. There are several flaws, including one glaring problem, that we’ll get to eventually. But overall, it was good.

Maybe it wasn’t good in the traditional sense. There were no big moments from Ryan where he knocks someone out, and there were no moments where Seth hit a real zinger of a one-liner. But there was gut-level writing, writing that hit on every emotion and that tugged on the heart strings. There were winning storylines, one that was bright and airy, another that was passionate. And it had an ending that we’ll likely all remember for a long time. I know that it’s already on my list of favorite scenes ever.

Sandy and Kirsten…

This story almost frustrated me. I had a feeling I was going to hate it. When Kirsten bought the bottle of vodka and Sandy was trying to find her, I had a sudden flashback to season two. I knew that they’d already had an episode where Kirsten gets drunk and Sandy has to find her and I figured they might do it again because let’s face it – this show is in love with itself. If any show is going to recycle a plotline and think it’s a good idea, it’s this one. Unfortunately, fans don’t always respond with a positive attitude.

And so the story took a turn. A simple one, to be sure, but a good one. Kirsten overcame her demons at least once and that’s an important character moment. She’s bogged down by emotion and there doesn’t seem to be a better time to drink. But she didn’t. And that was great to see. The writers could have easily had a relapse, forced her back into rehab, and forced her to become more dependent on Charlotte and more obsessed. The latter half of that idea sounds interesting – a twist where one of the main characters becomes the psycho as opposed to a recurring star – but the first half would have been painful.

It was also good that they brought some closure to the story between Kirsten and Caleb. It was always such a volatile relationship and to say that it ended badly is an understatement. I actually had my doubts about the letter – I figured it wasn’t too far out of character for Caleb to have been a dick even after Kirsten exposed him – but I’m glad it turned out to be the logical choice. A part of me wanted to hear Alan Dale narrate the letter because I just wanted his touch somewhere on the season. That probably would have turned out badly, though, so maybe it’s okay. Plus, I can’t imagine that these writers could have written a letter like that. It’s like the time the writers on 90210 wrote a prayer for the homeless guy who spent Thanksgiving with Walshes to say. It was brutally bad because the writers just didn’t know how to do that kind of thing. So yeah, wonderfully done.

That still leaves us with questions about Charlotte, though. What is her obsession with Kirsten? Is it simply an obsession or is there a deeper connection? She’s obviously had some type of contact with the outside world since she was able to rent that apartment. She’s an enigma and I’m kind of torn on the story. I want it resolved quickly just so I can know, but at the same time, if it’s resolved too soon, I’m going to feel screwed and I’m going to feel that the writers just got lazy and didn’t feel like elaborating more on who Charlotte actually is. I suppose, if they really wanted to shock us, we could find out that Oliver had a sex change and is now a 40-year old woman.

It could happen.

As for Sandy, I love him more now than I have in a long time. He’s got a lot to deal with. He’s running the Newport Group, he’s trying to be a parent, he’s trying to get his marriage to work. It’s a lot for someone, but he’s handled it well. He’s provided the moral center once again and that’s what has made him such an endearing character. His scenes with Ryan were excellent. He’s not terribly authoritative, but he attempts to assert himself. Still, though, he’s not irrational. He understands his kids and that’s more than most parents can say and it’s one reason this show is so successful – the parents and kids are on the same level.

Julie and Jimmy…

I figured the money was going to Sandy. That would have been an interesting twist. I didn’t expect that Caleb was actually broke, but it works well for Newport Beach, a place where no one is what they seem. It seems a little strange that no one would have known about Caleb’s money problems, but that’s okay.

It’s really interesting that the fact that Caleb was broke led to Jimmy’s exit considering he had to leave because he was broke. But the fact is that he never learned his lesson. He has no self control and he’s suffering. When Marissa told him not to come back, I cringed a little bit because the idea of never seeing Jimmy again is pretty disheartening, but it’s something that I have to agree with. No person should have to watch their father fail constantly when it’s something that could so easily be fixed. No one should have to lose a parent because the parent is too dumb to make adult choices.

This leads me to the glaring problem of the episode: why’d Jimmy leave so soon? This was the most abrupt exit on the show. Most other exits built for a while, even if it was subtle. There was ample time for preparation. Even Lindsay was already considering moving before she left. But Jimmy, in a matter of two minutes, decided he’d leave. The writers forsook the opportunity to deal with Jimmy as a character and I think that’s a horrible mistake. I think the story had at least one more episode in it. Julie could have dealt with Jimmy face-to-face. Have her be an ultimate bitch to him before breaking down. Jimmy would have had to deal with seeing Julie’s reaction and then, when he left, he would have seemed like a real heel. Unfortunately, they chose to send him packing quickly. It was never even really explained what he did wrong. There was just a lot of untapped potential. Josh said that people complain because stories are too short, so when they make them long, they complain. You know, there is a happy medium. Three episodes is too short, especially for a character’s exit. Had this drawn out for twenty episodes it would have been too long. Alas, Jimmy Cooper we hardly knew ye.

It’s really hard to feel sorry for Julie. She deserves every bad thing that happens to her because she’s always out to screw someone over. But you know what? I feel bad for her. She’s never gotten a real good break in life. Everything she’s ever had, she’s lost. In many respects, what she’s lost has been her own fault, so there’s an interesting connection to Jimmy. Still, she loves Jimmy and I don’t doubt that. The look on her face when Marissa arrived at the reception was heartbreaking. She wasn’t getting the storybook ending that she wanted. I believe she was ready to start over as a semi-new person with Jimmy. Now she’s going to have to start over as a new person without him. It’ll be interesting to see. Jimmy said, and I believe him, that he still loves Julie so I can only hope he sails back in some day, maybe in the final season, and they can finally make it work. Maybe if two people make enough mistakes, they can help each other attempt to be perfect. It’s possible.

Seth and Summer…

These two are so good right now that it’s scary. Fans are responding positively and there isn’t even a third person to create a triangle? Look, Josh, people don’t need triangles!

There isn’t a lot I can say about these two that you haven’t read everywhere else. Just watching them is fun. Their story is flat-out fun. It’s not heavy-handed, it’s not dramatic, it’s just exciting. I read a few complaints that Taylor is too much, that Autumn overacts when she does the character, but I just don’t think those people get the story.

She’s supposed to overact. As I noted last week, Taylor is a caricature. She’s an exaggerated version of elite society, just like Luke was when the show premiered. And she’s excelling at that because I love to hate her already. She’s a bitch, a cold, conniving bitch. She’s a terrible person. But I can’t get enough of her. Her comment to Seth about everyone still hating him was an absolutely perfect line that really sounded like something you would have heard in August 2003. It was incredibly scathing and personal, but true.

Adam Brody seems to be regaining a little more zest, so I’m thinking it was the scripts early on that were causing him to go through the motions. He’s slightly more involved and it was a great character moment when he took the fall for Summer. Our little Seth is growing up into quite the chivalrous man, wouldn’t you say? Chivalry may not be dead, after all.

Speaking of Adam’s acting, was that not a great moment when Kirsten walked in and Seth stood there and smiled? He looked as if he just needed a moment to soak everything in. His mom was back and it just seemed to thrill him. He played the scene remarkably well and it was just a terrific thing to see. Maybe now that Kirsten’s back, Seth will return to fine form, too. Just terrific stuff that paralleled how hurt Seth looked when he realized his mom needed to go away. Terrific symmetry.

Ryan and Marissa…

I don’t know when I decided to start having sympathy Marissa Cooper, but I’m scared. I’m scared because I’m actually starting to care about the character. I just don’t know how it happened.

Actually, I do. She seems to finally be growing. She seems more in touch with reality. She seems to understand the people around her better and that’s the only way a person can really grow. I don’t think you can better yourself unless you allow yourself to care about others and she’s doing that. Last time Jimmy left, she moped, but this time, she accepted it and accepted his failures and allowed him to leave but with an assertive stance. She recognized that she can’t allow herself to feel bad for someone who’s going to let her down and that she has to learn independence. She stepped up and broke the news to her mom and did so in a sympathetic way. She seemed far less concerned with herself, but rather, she was concerned with her mother’s well being and that’s not the Marissa we used to know. Growth is an amazing thing and Mischa has actually embraced the role in a way she never has before. She’s actually exuding emotion.

I’m not terribly keen on the sex scene because I felt the intercut with the other stuff – though it was supposed to provide a contrast – was distracting and it caused problems with lighting and tonal shifts. I understand what they were going for, but it just didn’t quite work for me. It was, however, a very fun moment when Marissa ran out and then peeked her head back in. I also like that the sex didn’t feel too overblown. No elaborate speeches, no corny morning-after moments, just a simple discussion and a nice shot of them holding each other in the morning.

That, of course, means the relationship is doomed, but I’m not going to predict anything yet. Let’s all just remember what a monumental moment it is that I finally enjoyed Ryan and Marissa and that I’m all for keeping them together.

Okay, I lied, I’m going to make the prediction that Ryan and Marissa will allow the school issue to come between them; Marissa will embrace her new role at her new school and will find that she doesn’t belong with Ryan until she gets in trouble, Ryan rescues her, she returns to Harbor, and they get together in time for graduation. That sounds about right, actually. I really should get a job on that show.

Other Stuff…

Stephanie Savage wrote this episode and I’m always thrilled to see her name attached. She wrote “The Best Chrismukkah Ever” and “The Mallpisode” – the first is one of my favorites ever and the second was a very strong episode after the turnaround last season. She needs to get her hands on more scripts because I feel that, next to Josh, she would know the characters best.

Julie Cooper-Nichol-Cooper would have been a fantastic name. I’m sorry we won’t get to see it used.

The make-up guys really freaked me out with the way they fixed up a battered Jimmy. Seriously, I cringed when I saw him.

I hope this isn’t the last time we hear “kiddo”.

Wasn’t it great to see a Cohen kitchen scene to end the episode? Those were the moments that defined the first season and moments that I think most people really love.

I love that Ryan ran to Kirsten when she came in. He’s really opened up with his emotions and I love how he’s embraced Sandy and Kirsten as parents this season. They’re far more than mentors.

Anyone watch the premiere of Joey the other night? It was basically the funniest thing I’ve seen on TV in a long time. Get TiVo and record it! It’s great.

What about Reunion? Any fans out there? The show’s second episode was far, far better than it’s first. The writing was so much better with far less exposition and more dialogue. I’m intrigued.

Please don’t send me any spoilers (yeah, I realize that’s an open invitation to get spoilers) but I’ve had people ask me how I feel about them and I hate them.

And that about does it for me this week.

Life’s been going on at a fast pace recently and so if these reviews start getting later and later, never fear – as long as this show remains even somewhat good, then I’ll be around. I enjoy writing about it way too much.

Thanks for reading and, as usual, feel free to head over to theocweekly.blogspot.com and leave a comment or e-mail me with any questions, comments, or death threats.

And hey, I had someone ask if I’d review the second season DVD set. Of course I will, but I have no money. So, you know, if someone wants to send me some money via Paypal, then my account is timmonsba@wofford.edu. Just saying. Worth a shot, you know?

I’ll see you all next week.

-Drew

The Shape of Things to Come

2005-09-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks FOX.

Thanks for all that you do.

Thanks for your commercials that always get me excited for the next week.

Thanks for the time you told me about Ryan and Marissa’s first kiss, for the time you showed Caleb’s first heart attack, and for the time Marissa and Alex kissed.

Thanks for telling me ahead of time that Ryan and Marissa might get expelled, thanks for telling me that Kirsten wasn’t coming home, thanks for showing me that Jimmy was going to propose, thanks for showing me clips of Ryan and Marissa on the Ferris wheel – just thanks.

I mean, if you didn’t tell me these things, there might be suspense in the episodes. I might actually feel my heart pounding in my chest as I wait to see what’s happening. I might actually be able to get emotionally involved.

Seriously, when an episode hinges on whether or not Marissa will come to the carnival and the network has already hammered home the Ferris wheel scene, then I don’t see how I can even remotely remained interested.

I’m just shocked they didn’t show Ryan punching the Dean.

Alas, though, we’re back for another week of ranting and raving about this lovely little show.

It wasn’t a good episode. Let’s get that out of the way early. It had a really strong last five minutes, but almost everything leading to that moment was meandering. I’m not saying that there weren’t good moments throughout, because there were. But I’ve started to worry about this show in one respect…

The episodes are too serialized.

Let’s take a moment and discuss television writing – a generalized discussion. In sitcoms, the writers sit in a room and they come up with episodes. They hammer out jokes and individual story ideas. In dramas, they come up with story arcs. The writers look at the characters and decide where they want that character to end up at the season’s end. Then they decide how to get there.

And that’s fine. But remember when the episodes themselves had storylines that, while furthering the characters, also wrapped up nicely within the hour? The best example is the episode where Luke’s dad comes out. That story is self-sufficient. Sure, you need to know why it’s important for Ryan to help Luke, but you don’t need to see that episode for something twenty episodes later to make sense. It helps, but the fact that Luke has a gay dad really doesn’t do much to make the season any better. The story makes the episode better.

And the series is going the opposite now. I feel like whatever story is in the episode is merely there to push the season along. I don’t want to wait nearly thirty episodes to be satisfied. I want immediate satisfaction for an episode and then a larger satisfaction in the end.

Maybe that’s just me, though.

Sandy and Kirsten…

I’ve seen a lot of criticism for this Kirsten/Charlotte story and I’m not sure if I can agree with it. I don’t really know what to think. I do know that when Oliver was around, fans were clued into what was going on and we all waited for the inevitable blow-out (don’t be fooled, though, by fans of the show who show utter disdain for all things Trask because a lot of fans were pretty into the show at that point – post-Oliver brought changed things). But no one’s clued in now. Everyone’s asking what’s going to happen. And I have to admit that I’m still intrigued. Jeri Ryan’s excellent performance really sealed it for me last night. The way she was able to take the crying face and turn it into such a sinister one is amazing. Still, the story is extremely heavy-handed. Is that really what the show wants? I don’t know. Want to know what I think will happen? Turn over to 90210 reruns on SOAPNet at 5:00. Kelly just left rehab and is living with someone she met.

As far as Sanford goes, there’s not much to say. He’s fighting for Ryan and he’s fighting for what’s best for Ryan. His role is limited at best, but Peter Gallagher just owns the screen every time he’s on it. Last year’s Sandy, a horrible mistake, is gone and the right Sandy is back. It’ll be interesting to watch him play Montague as the Ryan and Marissa story descends into Shakespeare territory.

Jimmy and Julie…

I’ll say until I die that I love Jimmy Cooper in the most homosexual way that heterosexuality allows (see if that hurts your head). But damn, he’s dumb.

I don’t think he even realizes what he’s doing. He’s the person who was handed everything, but when it was his turn to hand, he didn’t know how to do it. His intentions were probably always fairly good. We don’t know what’s happened this time (we only have fragments and I’ll assume that we’ll learn more), but we know that last time, he did it for his family. There’s something honorable in doing anything necessary for your family, even if the act itself isn’t honorable. I’d imagine that this time, he’s in trouble for having fun. He ran through the millions he got from Caleb as he tried to enjoy life.

So the question becomes: is Jimmy just trying to screw his family over?

It’s hard to say. As I mentioned, we only have a fragment of what’s going on. But remember that he did say he’d fallen back in love with Julie before he left. Unless his money problems had already begun and he somehow caused Caleb’s death, I say that he did once care for Julie and that he does now, too.

Tate Donovan’s playing the role very well. His facial expressions make him hard to read. What is he worried about? Himself? His family? What? It’s really intriguing stuff. I hate to see Jimmy turn “bad” but at least it’s got a precedent. I have a feeling this is going to really pick up over the next few weeks before we probably so goodbye to Tate once again.

As far as Julie, there’s not much to say. I’m not sure how bad I feel for her. If Jimmy is screwing her over, then that’s terrible. At the same time, she has it coming to her. She’s a bitch, albeit one that I love. She does horrible things to people and she does them for the most selfish reasons. There aren’t enough bad things in the world to happen to her, but still, she’s almost got a heart. And she does love Jimmy. I’ll give her that. So it should be interesting to see where this goes and how Julie reacts.

Seth and Summer…

In season one, I would have said, without any hesitancy, that Adam Brody was Emmy material. Even after the first episode, he showed charisma that hadn’t been seen on a teen soap, well, ever. Now, though, I figure he should get a Razzy, the award given to the worst performances. Could he be any more uninspired? He was slightly better this week, but still, he just went through the motions. He says the words and while they’re funny on their own, they lack the tone that Brody had in the first season. There’s no real timing. It’s sad.

But it could be the material. He’s getting nothing to work with. Adam and Rachel have good chemistry, but I want to see Seth and Summer have chemistry and that’s not going to work unless they’re given primo material to play off of.

Not to say that I didn’t like watching Seth play Summer’s lackey. That’s where I think he should be. It’s where I think he could shine because it puts him in that position of being socially awkward and removed. But the writers have to do something – I don’t know what – to liven up the character. Seize this opportunity.

And, really, this Summer/Taylor story is just already unbelievable. This is the kind of thing that hooked me on the show: over-the-top portrayals of elite members of society. She’s an exaggeration, of course, but she’s fun. And Summer’s finally getting her own story. She’s always kind of ridden the coattails of everyone else, but now she has her chance to shine. And I have a feeling Rachel Bilson’s going to take this role and run with it.

I think the most important thing is that Seth and Summer seem happy. For the first time since in a long time, they seem happy together. Sandy and Kirsten are the rock of the show, the moral foundation, but Seth and Summer are the heart of the show. Go back to the first season and skip through every scene about those two. I almost guarantee you’ll be turned off to the show.

Ryan and Marissa…

They’re growing on me. I don’t know if it’s something welcomed like the goatee that every teenage boy tries to grow or if it’s something that I need an ointment to get rid of, but they’re growing on me.

They’re really not good for each other. They cause each other to do stupid things. They cause each other to make mistakes. But like I said about Jimmy, there’s something noble in the things they do. Shooting someone is generally a horrible thing, but when you do it to save your boyfriend/girlfriend’s life, it’s pretty cool, no?

I think it’s important that they addressed the Trey issue early. Granted, it’s been three months in “real” time, but still, it’s better to do it now than wait another three months. The emotional ramifications cannot be erased, but they are out there. They know how each other feel and that’s important. Things would have gotten bad.

As for Ryan punching the Dean at the end, it’s a mixed bag. Certainly he knew that bringing Marissa would cause an uproar (kudos to uber-bitch Taylor for being an uber-bitch) but he did it anyway. It’s not on school grounds, I know, but if you’ve ever dealt with an aggressive, authoritative school figure, you’ll know that technicalities mean nothing to them. It’s true.

Still, he shouldn’t have put his hands on Marissa and Ryan did what he knows how to do: fight. And that’s pretty cool, in my book. Chivalry isn’t dead, I suppose. I wonder if any girls would think I was chivalrous if I went back to my high school and punched my principal. It’s possible.

I think the most telling scene in the entire show came when Ryan took Marissa and put his arm around her and walked off. There was a shadow that cast over them as if to separate them from the rest of the society. It’s an “us against the world” stance and really, I like that. That’s what the show was founded on – the idea that these four main characters were outcasts in their own way. Somehow it became that they were outcasts who happened to be popular despite the fact that everyone hated them for being outcasts. Yeah, try to think about that one after you think about my Jimmy comment.

It’ll be interesting to see how the school changes affect the two of them. I’m sure they’ll both be back and soon. I don’t see Ryan leaving. I see Sandy fighting his ass off so that Ryan can stay and that will be awesome. Marissa’s gone but she’ll be back in time for graduation, I’m sure. Maybe even before. It’s just the nature of the genre. Convenience plays a bigger role than you or I could imagine.

Other Thoughts…

I really like the stripped down version of “California” that played at the end, though I’m still wondering why they chose to use it. I’m hoping it’s a signal that the show is returning back to what it once was. I could be wrong.

Jeri Ryan is hot. Just plain hot.

Was anyone else really shocked at how dull Charlotte’s cottage looked despite Kirsten’s praises?

What does Sandy tell the boys about Kirsten?

And aren’t you glad that Ryan is referred to as a son now?

I really like the new title credits. The new font is a nice change.

The title of this episode is entirely too long and not catchy. Thumbs down, writers.

No one’s contacted me about writing for the show or doing DVD commentary for the season three set. I’m waiting.

It’s a good thing they uttered the word “college” though it’d be nice if they would go ahead and tell us what the name of the fictional college they’re going to create is.

Soup in a shot glass? That sounds pretty freaking stupid, actually. Not cute at all. Summer loses major social chair points for that brilliant idea.

What good is FOX News is FOX is going to pre-empt its network shows? Seriously, if you care enough about politics, you’ll have extended cable and you’ll pick up FOX News. I need my Reunion fix.

And that’s all I’ve this time around. It’s 1:37 A.M. on Saturday as I write this. It’s been a long week and I’ve got a big weekend ahead so I had to churn this out fairly quickly. I apologize if there are any mistakes, any stupid, incoherent points, or anything that might make you think I’m worth reading. I hate when I make excuses for sorry reviews, but I do it often. Maybe next week will be better. Actually, I know it will. I’ll have a little more time and time is every man’s friend.

I’ll be back next week with more fun comments on the show, but until then, hop over to theocweekly.blogspot.com and leave some comments for me or email me.

Enjoy the week ahead.

-Drew
dukedevils9192@gmail.com

"The Aftermath"

2005-09-10T15:07:00.000-07:00

I was a-trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then

says to myself:

"All right, then, I'll GO to hell"--and tore it up.

- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Well, what do you know? That was good.

Really good.

Even great at points.

Not perfect. No, there were things didn’t work. Half of it was horribly uneven. Lines fell flat. Performances were unconvincing at times. The twists were fun, but we probably should have seen them coming.

But it was really good all-in-all.

And that brings us here.

Welcome everyone to another season of in-depth reviews. It’ll be our first full season together and I’m looking forward to it. It’s a pilgrimage of sorts. Chaucer couldn’t write this any better.

So it’s season three. And as I stated in my season three preview, it’s a pivotal season. The real fans are here. Josh knows what works and what doesn’t. Next season is college. He has to be careful or he’ll break his fragile fans. We suffered through a lot last year to get to this point.

Sandy and Kirsten…

It felt nice to watch them. Simply nice. Things aren’t perfect and likely won’t be ever again because there’s a point where you can’t go back. But seeing them walk hand-in-hand at the rehab facility acting in love for the first time since season one was something special.

But that can’t last.

Kirsten’s not ready to come home and I can’t blame her. The house and the town are just memories of her father. And, as she said, he was the reason she began to drink. Certainly he wasn’t the only reason but he definitely influenced it. The house also brings her back to responsibility for others, something she probably feels she’s failed at. She watched her kids run away, she’s watched her family stage an intervention, and she can’t have that right now. I’m sure she wants it, don’t get me wrong, but in order to deal with the baggage that comes with being a parent, you have to be able to deal with yourself.

But Sandy’s keeping a secret. A fairly big one. I understand that you can’t tell someone in rehab that there’s trouble at home because that makes the process harder, but secret keeping is one thing that pushed Kirsten over the edge. Whether it was Caleb’s lies, Seth secretly sailing off, Rebecca living in Sandy’s office, or the fling with Carter, you can’t deny that lying influenced Kirsten’s fallout.

Even with the trouble at home, though, I think Sandy finally came around for good with this episode. For a majority of the second season, it wasn’t the Sandy that we knew. He was putting his family in jeopardy, something we wouldn’t have expected. By the end of the season, he’d come around and the way he was there for Kirsten was wonderful. Seriously, try watching “The O.Sea” and listen to “Fix You” in the background as Kirsten walks off after finding out that Caleb’s dead. It’s a haunting scene and it makes you realize that Sandy will be there for her. And he did take care of it.

Now the problem at home focused on the kids, but Sandy was still there. Remember when Sandy tried to punish Seth and Ryan for sneaking out with Alex and Lindsay? That wasn’t Sandy at all. The way he handled this shooting was. He was at the hospital, he was willing to fight for Ryan, and though he questioned Ryan, it was only out of concern. He never yelled (that we saw), he never shunned Ryan, and he never stopped fighting. The only moment where he lost his cool was when he was talking to Jimmy and that was because he wanted to protect his family.

I think the most telling moment for Sandy came when Ryan hugged him after Trey rode off. That is now my favorite scene of all time. These two are beyond surrogate father/surrogate son. They are father/son. They love each other. And that’s what we love so much about Sandy. He cares.

Jimmy and Julie…

Anyone who’s read my reviews for any length of time knows that I love Jimmy Cooper. I would watch a spin-off of Jimmy sitting in his boat while he sports a beard and drinks a beer. Much like Sandy, you never doubted that he cared about his family. He stayed with Julie just for his children. He stole from his clients because he had to support his family. It’s not an act I’ll condone, but at had a good intention. He was the hero who rescued Hailey. He did everything.

And that’s why I didn’t bat an eye when he came back to see Julie and Marissa following Caleb’s death. It was the typical Jimmy thing to do. He came back, he consoled his family, and he offered to help them rebuild. It seemed like the trip to Hawaii had cleared his mind.

So why didn’t it seem weird when Sandy mentioned how strange it was that Jimmy showed up after Caleb died? He couldn’t possibly be coming back to take Julie’s inheritance could he? He wouldn’t. He shouldn’t. But Sandy’s wise. He sees everything. And the previews back up that theory.

But if Jimmy’s changed, Julie sure hasn’t. She seemed to show real remorse after Caleb’s death last year. Watching her try to save him in the water and her morose look in the finale, you could feel that something was changing and really, it wouldn’t be for the better. With Caleb gone and Julie going soft, the edge would be gone.

She’s not soft.

She’s just as menacing as ever. Her speech to the lawyer, about how she’s a grieving widow, was a thing of beauty. She doesn’t regret lying, she doesn’t regret gold digging, she doesn’t regret being a bitch. And that’s great.

Her paying off Trey to take the fall was reminiscent of paying off DJ to stop seeing Marissa. But it worked so much better here because this wasn’t just asking two people not to see each other. This was asking someone to send his brother to jail and she just didn’t care. Here’s where we really see the difference between parenting. Remember how we talked about the fact that Sandy would do anything for his family? How he only questioned Ryan, but never antagonized him? And how he would stand behind Ryan no matter what? Julie wasn’t behind Marissa. She was behind herself. She knew that Marissa’s problems would cast a bad light on her and that the Cooper-Nichols would suddenly carry a horrible reputation. Julie can’t have that.

But self-fulfilling or not, she’s a wonderful character and as she struggles to make it on her own this year, I think we’re going to be in for a lot of great things.

Seth and Summer…

There’s just not much to say and I’m not going to pretend like there is. They seemed happy. They looked fairly cute. They supported their friends. That’s about it.

I need to note, though, that Adam Brody absolutely just phoned-in this performance. He had no enthusiasm, his delivery was incredibly flat, and he was absolutely expendable. I blame the script for most of it. There was no depth to the character in this episode. Okay, this show isn’t known for having extremely strong character development, I’ll give you that, but at least these characters always feel like they belong in the episode and they have a purpose. This was about jokes. Everything Seth said, with the exception of maybe two lines, was a joke and while they were worthy of a chuckle, they weren’t great. They were jokes for the sake of jokes. I suppose I’ll take jokes for the sake of jokes over whatever the hell Seth was last year, but we’re still waiting on Seth to return to normal. Josh, you hear me?

Summer taking charge was nice and it appears she’ll have a bigger role this season and I’m looking forward to it. And Rachel Bilson as a candy striper? Yes! Oh, and props to Ben for a fun (though not great), mockery of Summer. He tried and it was pretty damn funny.

Ryan and Marissa…

I bet you were wondering why I have that quote at the top, weren’t you? If you’ve never read the book, let me explain a bit…

Huck is on the run with an escaped slave named Jim. This being the pre-Civil War south, society has instilled in Huck the idea that Jim doesn’t deserve freedom, that he’s somehow less than human. There’s a scene where Huck decides to turn Jim in and he sits and he prays about it. He knows that a good Christian would never help a slave escape. But the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that he can’t turn Jim in and he decides to sacrifice his afterlife so that Jim can be free. It’s a beautiful moment in literature and one of the most important.

So how does that relate to this story?

I’ve never been a fan of this relationship. Search through my old reviews at Editorial Newport if you don’t believe me. It’s true. I’ve always felt it was horribly forced. But even worse than that, I’ve always felt that Ryan’s sacrificed too much. He always rushes to her defense, he protects her, he tries to save her, and she continually gets herself into situations where she has to be saved. She brings far more on herself than she needs to so that she can play the damsel in distress. I think the worst instance came last season when she got Lindsay drunk, Ryan got mad, and was then forced to apologize. Just terrible. Marissa deserved to be yelled at, but somehow, she became the victim.

That’s probably why I liked Ryan and Theresa so much. People say she was a terrible person, but why? Ryan’s old enough to make his own choices. She never forced Ryan to leave Newport; she asked. Ryan was the one who was determined to leave. And then she made a huge sacrifice so that Ryan would be happy. Marissa had never done anything like that.

Until this episode.

Yes, she was going to be okay. She likely wasn’t going to jail. But there was still a chance. As long as she let Ryan go to jail, something he would have done for her, she had her freedom. Going to see Trey was scary enough for her. It’s been shown he’s unstable and while there’s not much he would have done in a hospital bed, he wasn’t safe to be around. But Marissa took the chance. She put herself in front of Ryan for once. He didn’t have to ask. She did it because she cared.

And that led us to the moment on the lighthouse. There wasn’t that moment that we would have predicted where they break up. They shared the most tender moment the two of them have ever had. It was the first time their relationship ever felt real. It was quiet, soft, and excellent.

And speaking of quiet, soft, and excellent moments, the show has never “gotten” a moment like they did at the bus station. There’s just never been a single scene that was quite as powerful and as real as that one was. There were no words, just a few looks. And in that moment, Ben and Logan said a lot. They completely disregarded themselves and became these characters, they became brothers. And, of course, that led to the moment that is forever etched as the best: the Ryan and Sandy hug. It was thinly veiled symbolism as Ryan says goodbye to another member of his former family and once again embraces his new one.

Random Thoughts…

Where are we going with this Charlotte story? Is it going to be Oliver or Alex? Let’s hope it’s a little more Oliver, but without the obvious psychotic overtones that the rest of the characters remain oblivious too. I’m not sure I can take another lesbian story.

Speaking of Charlotte, has there ever been a better MILF combo than Jeri Ryan and Kelly Rowan?

Anyone else dig the darker colors? I felt it made things feel far more ominous. Really excellent.

Who knew that Ryan had a sense of humor and actually did voices?

A lot of people complained that the episode wrapped things up too quickly and that’s probably true, but FOX needed to premiere the very good Reunion and couldn’t allot two hours, I guess. It definitely didn’t need a second week, so I’m happy.

Logan Marshall-Green was possibly the best guest star the show ever had. He definitely brought the show back around to greatness and did so with ease. He identified with the Trey character in a way that we couldn’t have expected and I hope to see him return sometime. I think the most important thing was Trey’s vulnerability. He made a lot of mistakes, sure, but it was because he didn’t know any better. It was a horribly tragic story in that sense. He was scared he couldn’t change and that made it even more impossible to do so.

Wrap Up…

And thus we come to our first conclusion of the season. Definitely a strong way to start the season, far better than last year’s “The Distance.” Wasn’t perfect, but it had to do a lot in a short time and knowing that, we couldn’t ask for much more.

I’ve got a big weekend next week, but I’ll still try to get the review out Friday or Saturday.

Make sure to head over to theocweekly.blogspot.com and drop comments to me or email me with your questions, comments, or death threats at dukedevils9192@gmail.com. I’ll look forward to it.

Just like I look forward to the next 23 episodes.

Welcome back to the O.C.!

Season Three Preview

2005-08-31T18:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the reviews, bitch!

Hard to believe a whole summer has gone by, but it has. Almost, at least. The third season is still a week or so away (depending on when I finish this thing), but it’s amazing to think the wait is almost over. Last season, it was a six month wait that nearly killed every fan of the show, so this is a big improvement.

So for those new to my reviews, let me explain who I am. My name’s Drew and I’m a 19 year old college student. I take this show way too seriously, write excruciatingly long analyses about the show, and I do it week-in and week-out because I enjoy people thinking I’m an expert on the show and my ego’s big enough to believe that people should care about what I think. I’m also suffering from what I believe is the on-set of carpal tunnel syndrome, but a throbbing pain and a hand disfiguration won’t stop me as we approach this pivotal third season.

Why’s the third season pivotal, you ask? Because it’s the first season that the show has to be perfect. The first season has to be really good to attract an audience and get renewed for a second season. The second season is a time for experimentation (and The O.C. sure as hell experimented last year) and a time to find out what works and what doesn’t. With the third season, the guesswork is over. You’ve played with the fans, you’ve tested them, you’ve seen what they like and what they don’t, and you’ve had time to get it right. The fair-weather fans are gone and the real fans have stayed. You have to make it worth their while.

And that brings us here.

A few days ago, there was a message thread on TV.com asking why the second season failed. Talk about a loaded question. But let’s try to answer it.

Underdeveloped Supporting Characters…

I remember sitting and watching the season two previews and seeing a shot of DJ. Tan, muscular, good-looking guy with a hose in his hand because wet is sexy and the phallic symbolism hits you over the head. And I knew that he was a bad idea. I just didn’t know how bad. But it wasn’t so much that they cast a man only for his sex appeal. It was the fact that he had no character. Was he a good guy, bad guy, confused guy? Did he care about Marissa? Was he rich or poor? Did Marissa care about him? Just absolutely terrible.

Lindsay and Alex, the two most impressive new characters, shook things up and then died a slow, painful death. Lindsay was dedicated, something that other characters hadn’t been, but she kept enough of the anti-rich scorn to make us fall for her. And the Caleb story was brilliantly crafted. But after Caleb revealed his error in judgment, Lindsay completely deteriorated. Every episode was a break-up with Ryan (I’m not even sure then they would get together). She went from sensible to whining. When exactly did she decide that Caleb was worth caring about? When did she decide that she hated her mom enough to move in with Caleb? Unfortunately, by the time they made her reasonable again, it was just in time for her to leave. As far as Alex, we’ll get to her more in a few minutes.

Zach was the only character to stick around the entire season (minus the finale) and I’m still not sure what to think. I liked him initially considering he was written a nice guy. Nothing more, nothing less. He was just nice. And that’s fine. He didn’t bother me. But he took up the space that could belong to someone with, I don’t know, a personality. If you’re a writer and you’re going to invest twenty-plus episodes into a person, you better make sure the audience wants to do the same. But why should we have wanted to with Zach? One of the biggest problems with Zach was that he was painted as a bad guy, eventually, when, in reality, he wasn’t. Seth was conniving, willing to backstab and betray someone who really had done nothing wrong. Then Summer leaves Zach at the airport and he’s completely understanding about it. So in order to make sure the audience knows who to root for, they bastardize Zach for a few episodes before suddenly making him okay again. It just doesn’t add up. Zach won’t be back this year and that’s too bad—there was a lot of undiscovered potential.

Who are These People?

Sandy almost cheats? Sandy leaves his wife in such a depression that she becomes an alcoholic? Sandy almost throws away his entire marriage for a girl he claims to have no feelings for?

Ryan doesn’t fight? Ryan tries school, works hard, and then forgets about working hard?

Seth becomes too self-absorbed to even recognize anyone else exists? Seth becomes less funny and more obnoxious? Seth’s a jerk?

Summer’s indecisive to the point of being a bitch? Summer’s mean? Summer’s shrill?

Caleb has a heart and cares about Lindsay? Caleb suddenly makes fun of Ryan at every turn?

Marissa’s a lesbian?

Yeah, that pretty much covers it. If you don’t get it from that, then you shouldn’t even bother watching the show.

I Kissed a Girl…

If ever a storyline on this show was butchered, it was this one: Marissa and Alex. Josh claimed it wasn’t a publicity stunt despite the fact it aired at one of the most important television times of the year: February sweeps. He claimed it was about Marissa finding someone to care about. Why then did the story end with the realization that it was all just to make her mom mad? Why did Alex go from caring, understanding, and pretty cool to a bitch (though the fight with Ryan was badass)? It didn’t make sense. It was horribly done. And the kiss that we were all excited about turned out to be nothing. Once they finally just stopped trying to make us believe we should care and turned them into sexual deviants, the story was fine. By then, though, it was too late to salvage. Alex, we hardly knew ye.

But not all was lost on the second season. Bringing Trey into the mix proved to be a catalyst for a strong run of episodes down the stretch, but it was barely enough to salvage the season because they were forced to make Trey’s turn from lost brother to miscreant a very quick one.

I had no problems with making Trey a bad guy because it seemed perfectly in-line to me. It was extremely Shakespearean in the sense that it could be seen as based on familial jealousy (look no further than King Lear) and it was never actually shown that he was a good guy. Most of the first few episodes revolved around Ryan’s reaction to Trey, not Trey in general. But I don’t know if turning Trey so quickly was a good idea. They had to, I understand that (Trey’s shooting was a season-ending event and trying to drag him out throughout the third season would have been too much), but it was another case of the show doing too much too soon. After all, that’s what put the show in the situation it was in. The first season was jam-packed thanks to the fact that FOX ordered twenty-seven episodes, so the second season had nothing left.

Well, maybe a little.

Aside from Trey’s death, the season succeeded with its bookends revolving around Caleb. First it was Caleb’s legal troubles and finally Caleb’s death. It was a risky move to kill Caleb, though it provided a tremendous shock for the fans and also opened up many possibilities. Julie will definitely sort through Caleb’s money this season and Newport Beach will be forced to deal with finding a new owner (notice I said Newport Beach, not the Newport Group because remember, the Group owns the Beach more-or-less). Kirsten will struggle to fit back into a world she spends a lot of times hating and she’ll have to do it sorting through the issues she had with Caleb (whether those will be addressed explicitly I can’t say, but they’ll always be looming over her head).

And can I just say that Kelly Rowan was amazing last year? While I didn’t like her weight loss, she conveyed a troubled soul perfectly. Her problems went beyond alcoholism and into familial and societal as well. She looked the part and her anger felt real. That’s all you can ask for. Then again, after the Rebecca debacle (I don’t even want to cover that in detail), I think most of us diehard fans wanted to turn to the bottle for at least a night.

This year’s love had better last

Heaven knows it’s high time… - David Gray, “This Year’s Love”

I don’t know if any song lyrics accurately capture what the show needs to do this season better than that David Gray tune. After all, one of the biggest flaws with the show was their reliance on the love triangle. They were all fine in the first season but they all ended so definitely. Seth declared his love on a shopping cart, Marissa chose Ryan over Luke and Oliver, Julie chose Caleb over Jimmy (not so much a triangle but it was there), Kirsten chose Sandy over Jimmy, Sandy chose Kirsten over Rachel, etc. You can see where I’m going with this. And that was fine and fun.

But then suddenly DJ, Zach, Alex, Lindsay, Rebecca, and Carter made their way to Newport and the triangles were brought back up and the core relationships of the show—Seth/Summer, Ryan/Marissa, and Sandy/Kirsten—were torn apart but with no real intrigue. Josh says he didn’t want to “WB it” and have the core group just change partners, but he may want to rethink that philosophy. After all, the reason the Pacey and Joey love story revitalized Dawson’s Creek was because they had long-term potential. Neither of the characters were going to be written off so it wasn’t as if we were just waiting for the ball to drop. Same can be said for 90210 and the Brenda/Dylan/Kelly triangle. They were main characters and they weren’t around just for triangular purposes.

Now I know that keeping the couples together provides for a lot less romantic drama, so, to that end, I have to ask why we always need romantic drama. The introduction of the new Taylor character, set to go head-to-head with Summer, should allow for conflict without a romance (though I wouldn’t be surprised to see Seth fall for her or Summer think Seth is falling for her and thus they break up despite Josh saying they will be together for most of the season). I don’t see why we can’t see Summer and Marissa catfight like normal girls or even have tensions rise between Seth and Ryan. A lot can come from it if the writers would get their heads out of their 9^th grade geometry class.

But love triangles aren’t the only problems that might plague the show because after two years of being juniors, this is senior year and barring these four suddenly smartening up and realizing they can live off their parents’ money forever, they need to go to college.

And college is tricky. Very few shows can handle it. Sitcoms can because stretching believability is much easier on sitcoms. But dramas, no matter how melodramatic, need to take a semblance of reality. It’s fun to keep the core group together in college but it’s a huge logic leap and it doesn’t allow your characters to grow because they have to stay in such a familiar environment.

So how do they handle it? Address it early. Don’t make it an afterthought in episode twenty-four, but begin explaining viable college options early on. Tell what colleges are nearby, who can get in where, etc. And explain why the kids want to go there. Even if it’s just convenience for the writers, make sure it’s more than that for the characters.

The prospect of college does allow for something good in the fact that they can introduce a plethora of new characters to mingle with the foursome and when they disappear next season, it won’t be something ridiculous like shipping them off to random cities as they’ve done in the past. That luxury isn’t there for the adults, but it’s one problem out the door.

And so that’s all I’ve got for now. If I were a spoiler kind of guy, I might have more to add, but since I’m not I’d rather just wait it out. In summation, I say that we should focus on the couples as couples and build from that. That’s my wish for the season. Is it too hard to do? Maybe, but maybe Josh will give it a shot.

Oh, before I forget, I read a story the other day about a guy on a newsgroup getting a job on The X-Files after a producer read his critique of an episode. If Josh Schwartz is reading this, I WANT A JOB. Hey, it’s worth a shot.

These reviews will probably come out on Saturdays this year as opposed to Fridays last year. Every effort will be made to get them done as early as possible but I’m covering high school sports for the local paper this year and that’ll cause some timing problems and will often lead to a postponement. But they’ll come. Don’t worry. I’ll never let you down.

As usual, you can contact me at dukdevils9192@gmail.com or, this year, if you wish, you can head over to my blog at theocweekly.blogspot.com and post under the comments section. I ask that you always refrain from posting future spoilers but feel free to discuss the episode, the review, or both.

I’ll see you next week in the aftermath of premiere (pun very much intended).

-Drew

2005-06-25T14:32:00.000-07:00

So, I don't know if anyone's been looking at this blog like I suggested, but I haven't given anyone anything to look at it, so it's okay.

Anyway, big news is that we have a tentative title for the premiere: The Aftermath.

Should be great. Episode sides (which are scripts available to people wishing to audition) are available online if you want to know what's going to happen.