Episode 2.02: The Way We Were
Airdate: November 11, 2004
Back home and back to school, Ryan’s and Seth’s hopes of reuniting with Coop and Summer are dashed by the discovery of the new men in their ladies’ lives. Meanwhile, Sandy scrambles to delay Caleb’s moment of reckoning with the DA’s office; and Haley’s great job offer is awful news for Jimmy.
It’s back to school for Seth and Ryan, who want to win back the attention they once had from Summer and Marissa. With opportunity beckoning, Hailey tells Jimmy about her plans to move in order to pursue her unfulfilled ambitions with fashion. Hoping to keep her near, Jimmy does something unimaginable. Meanwhile, Sandy explains to Julie that the district attorney is keeping a close watch on Caleb, and without representation, he might be in for a confrontation. Julie threatens Sandy to do something about Caleb’s mess, or else.
Warning! This gives details for the entire episode! The boys make it back to Orange County and all is well. Things are pretty much back to normal. The boys discuss going back to school and confronting the girls. Both decide that they will apologize. Cut to school the next day Marissa welcomes Ryan with open arms while Summer does the total opposite. Ryan goes to see the new and oh-so-supportive guidance counselor who encourages him to go to college and be all that he can be. It also turns out that he has a bit of the “Good Will Hunting” gene. Seth has a brief encounter with Summer, who is really taking the “hell hath no fury” quote to heart and hitting him with the hard left hook of “I have a boyfriend”. Seth makes a comic book club and at its first meeting he encounters his water polo playing doppelganger, Zach. Zach turns out to be Summe’s new Seth. Also, Marissa moved on from Ryan more than she originally let on and she is macking it with her lawn boy. Lawn boy sees her and Ryan kiss and gets mad. Ryan then sees her kissing the Lawn boy and gets pissed. The climax of Ryan-Marissa, Seth-Summer story line ends at a carnival. Marissa tells Ryan that her and Lawn Boy have broken up and Ryan puts his foot down and pretty much calls her a whore. Meanwhile, Seth tries to get Summer back by standing on a giant hotdog and re-proclaiming his love for her. This does not work and he tries it again, except this time a car almost hits him, and Summer still shoots him down. In other news, Hailey gets offered a job in Japan and decides to take, causing Jimmy to spontaneously propose then get rejected. Caleb knows he is going to be indited, for things he did not do, and decides to get drunk. Sandy brings him back to his house and runs into Julie who tells him that if Caleb goes down Kirsten goes down with him. The episode ends with Caleb getting arrested.
Cops take Caleb into custody. Ryan meets with his new academic advisor at Harbor School who hands him his new schedule and talks about what Ryan could study in college. Seth and Sandy also appear.
