How is The O.C. doing so far in its 2nd season? Ugh.
(Credit: http://www.impawards.com)
Starring:
Peter Gallagher”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦.Sandy Cohen
Kelly Rowan”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦.Kirsten Cohen
Benjamin McKenzie”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦.Ryan Atwood
Mischa Barton”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦..Marissa Cooper
Adam Brody”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦.Seth Cohen
Chris Carmack”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦. Luke Ward (2003-2004)
Melinda Clarke”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦.Julie Cooper-Nichol
Rachel Bilson”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦Summer Roberts
Tate Donovan”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦Jimmy Cooper
Alan Dale”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦..Caleb Nichol
Amanda Righetti”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦…Hailey Nichol
Navi Rawat”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦…Theresa
Season 2 only players:
Michael Cassidy”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦Zach
Nicholas Gonzalez”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦.D.J.
Shannon Lucio”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦…Lindsay Gardner
Olivia Wilde”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦”¦..Alex Kelly
**Note: Instead of greatly disrupting the flow of this column about The O.C. identifying each actor and the roles they play, I’m introducing this like a movie review where everything is listed up top, just in case you need reference points”¦
Also, it would also help to be familiar with the show while reading this review as I don’t spend a lot of time with “backstory.”**
It might be a tad premature to judge what The O.C. has done in its highly anticipated second season to this point since the viewing audience has only been privy to four of its episodes. But doesn’t it feel like the show’s been on since September? If there’s one thing you can say about the gang from Orange County, each episode is so action packed, it feels like three or four in the long run.
Is that necessarily a good thing though?
Listen, I love storyline development just as much as the next guy. When WWE storylines take a one, two, or even six months to play out, I want to pull my hair out (well, since I have none left, that’s just a metaphor representing “frustration”). I enjoy it when one episode ends leaving me satisfied, but still wanting more week after week. It’s hard to accomplish, but The O.C. always manages to deliver in that respect.
Now, these storylines just need to advance further and we can see what Season 2 is REALLY made of.
It could be argued that the writers have already done an excellent job with that in Episode 4, fittingly titled “The New Era.” The end of the episode was especially relevant as the four main under 18 characters all started to develop new relationships with four new characters on the show (Marissa with DJ, the lawn guy; Summer with her new perfect boyfriend, Zach; Ryan with new student Lindsay and Seth with rebel, somewhat metal chick, Alex). All four shared warm embraces, or at least warm smiles, with the new people in their lives, signaling that everyone is ready to move on and forget about the drama of Season 1.
But what do you see in the Episode 5 preview? Seth talking to Summer AGAIN (even though it appeared they were done talking altogether) and this time her new boyfriend, Zach deciding to punch Seth in the face with such brute force that he might have thought Seth was working with the Nazis (or George Steinbrenner). This leads to the first of four problems The O.C. has experienced to this point in its second season:
1. Conflict among the “kids”
Any faithful television viewer knows that in a show that relies on serial storytelling (of, forming, or arranged in a series), conflict is vital. People don’t read books, go to plays, head to the cinema multiplex or watch television shows to get into boring stories that mirror their own uneventful (or depressing) lives. Without conflict, shows like this would cease to exist, at least meaningfully anyway.
With that said, the reason I bring up this idea is because the “conflict” among the main teen-aged characters on the show (Marissa, Summer, Ryan and Seth) has morphed into this ultra-weird game of one person acting strange and awkward and trying to make the person they were romantically linked to in Season 1 feel bad or jealous. While Episode 4 ended in a remarkably neat and tidy way, the events leading up to that were nothing short of a clusterf**k that was more excruciating to watch than enjoyable. Seth talked Lindsay’s ear off about how he’s “not” in love with Summer and that he “is” over her while Lindsay was largely disinterested. Meanwhile, just in case you thought Ryan couldn’t be any more of a brooding, anti-social fool, he proved it while appearing about as uncomfortable as a human being could be while hanging out with Alex, the rebel check who works at the Bait Shop, the kids’ new hangout spot.
Then, there’s Summer who appears to have the ideal boyfriend, yet can’t seem to get Seth out of her head, despite him essentially abandoning her at the end of Season 1. And don’t forget Marissa who said that she’s always opening herself up to boy drama. Yet, there she is, despite obvious lingering feelings for Ryan, hooking up and possibly starting a relationship with DJ, the lawn guy.
The bottom line is this all of these lingering feelings the four of them have is the main, primary, and only storyline that exists for the under 18 characters. Because of that, these parts of the episodes of become borderline unwatchable.
After all, we know Ryan and Marissa aren’t getting back together (at least for now) and we know that Summer and Seth aren’t getting back together (at least for now) either. Supposedly, they all want to remain friends, but have no clue to go about doing so.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the writing of those situations with those characters having those feelings is dead-on accurate. The problem is that’s all we’ve seen to this point.
This where not having more main characters of the under 18 crowd carry over from Season 1 has proved detrimental. Back in the old days, Beverly Hills, 90210 was able to keep things going for so long, in part because with all the characters on the show, they could play with all sorts of romantic pairings (David/Donna, David/Valerie, Dylan/Valerie, Dylan/Donna, Dylan/Kelly, Brandon/Kelly, etc.). Also, with so many characters, it was easier to come up with assorted “problems” (or conflicts) those kids would run into.
On The O.C., it always comes back to the same four kids and since the aggressive storytelling has led to the quick payoff of the two couples you wanted to see hook up already hook up and “get together,” we’re left with 2/3 of each episode devoted to awkwardness. That’s not fun or interesting. It’s just”¦awkward.
Hopefully, at least one or two of the newbies that have invaded Orange County this season will stick around permanently and create some more intriguing storylines that don’t involve Marissa, Ryan, Summer and Seth making eyes at each other.
2. Seth has become grossly unlikable
At the beginning of The O.C.‘s first season, the writers and producers appeared to want Ryan and his budding romance with Marissa be the center of the show. That was a noble intention, but all Ryan did was bring the best out of Seth, previously a nerdy video game loving, comic book adoring kid who got beat up a hell of a lot more than he went out with girls, or friends for that matter.
So, when Ryan came into picture for the first time, Seth felt he had someone in his life his own age that was on his side and really understood him. The relationship is really similar to what two brothers would be like since the two don’t really have all that much in common to build a friendship on, but it’s a relationship that Seth truly cherishes and appreciates nonetheless.
Considering how pathetic Seth was before Ryan got there, it was encouraging to see him break out of his shell and get the girl he can been pining over his entire (short) life when he got together with Summer. It’s something a lot of us can relate to and wish happened to us. But was it too soon? Couldn’t they have teased the inevitable at least until Season 2? Was it too much storyline for Season 1 to allow them to get together at all? Possibly.
When Ryan decided to head back to Chino at the end of Season 1 to be with Theresa and raise “their” baby, it was easy to understand why Seth would be so upset. Despite Summer being there, he felt alone and like no one really understood him, so he took off and ended up living with Luke and his dad in Portland, Ore. Thank God for “cliffhanger” plot twists.
Unfortunately, while Seth was in Portland I think the air simply made him much more of a twit than he was before”¦(Too bad too, I hear it’s gorgeous there”¦)
Through the first four episodes of the new season, Seth has devolved into a ridiculously whiny, bitchy, self-involved prick that is taking his first major break up about as well as Ron Artest took being hit with that cup of ice a couple of weeks ago.
He spends entire episodes completely obsessing over himself, his looks, his relationship with Summer and even how he is striving to be less selfish and obsessed with himself, all to no avail because he won’t shut up.
While Ryan (despite his date with Alex) is starting to show signs that he is blossoming into more than just a cheesy television version of James Dean by going to classes, doing homework and expressing interests outside of pouting and”¦pouting about girls, Seth spends hours and hours just talking about high school drama that even the most caddy high school girls wouldn’t talk about.
Isn’t Seth a good student too? We wouldn’t know because he’s too busy talking about himself and it’s become grossly annoying, not endearing as the writers (and Adam Brody playing the character) are meaning it to be. It might be nice to see a new part of the Seth character and what his interests are outside of reading comic books and getting Summer back.
Maybe this new girlfriend will mellow him out a bit. Then again, it appears that she is an emancipated teenager who somehow got a job managing a hot Orange County nightclub. So, she may do more damage than good.
Nonetheless, I miss the old Seth. You know, the underdog worth rooting for and sticking up for if he ever got in a fight or if someone hurt his feelings. At this point, if he were to get the snot beat out of him, I’d probably say “Good. Maybe he’ll get a fat lip and shut the hell up for a little while.” If I’m starting to feel that way, then the writers (and Brody) should take a step back and consider why he became such a great character to begin with.
3. The “adults” are just as boring as the kids.
Part of the allure of The O.C. is its crossover storylines. It wasn’t just a show about “kids.” It involved several heavy adult themed plots with prominent adult characters. Julie and Jimmy got divorced; Julie slept with her daughte’s 17-year-old ex-boyfriend; Julie and Caleb got married; Caleb was being investigated by the local D.A; Jimmy got with Hailey, Caleb’s daughter; at one point Jimmy kissed Kirsten trying to rekindle old feelings and Jimmy and Sandy briefly opened a restaurant that Caleb ended up buying under shady pretenses. Again, a lot of action packed into one season’s worth of episodes.
But now what?
Hailey is gone (She took a starring role on Fox’s North Shore); Jimmy is on a boat living off the money he made from the restaurant becoming more and more of a worthless character; and everything is fine between Sandy and Kirsten, meaning there is no conflict at all in the home of two of the main characters.
What’s left? Well, now that Alan Dale has become a permanent part of the cast, all of the adult themed storylines now appear to revolve around Caleb, his pending prosecution, his idiotic move to put Julie in charge of his company (the one Kirsten makes her living working for) and the apparent love child he has with a strange woman that we’ll probably learn more about in coming weeks.
Is Caleb really this interesting or is it just the idea of a main character facing prosecution for a major crime that has the writers all jacked up? Either way, if this is the best they can come up with involving the adults of the cast, then they are merely generating material to sleep through until the kids come back on screen and act awkwardly again.
4. The time element
Two things first: 1) I understand this is nitpicking, but, the point has merit. 2) I can accept the suspension of reality on television to some degree because it is often necessary to get into the storylines. However, when that suspension of reality becomes distracting, it should be discussed.
In this case, I have to ask:
Didn’t the kids just start school on The O.C.? If so, why are they already preparing “winter” themed events and why is “Chrismukkah” becoming a main part of upcoming storylines as the previews suggest?
C’MON! Every high school in the nation either starts their school year in August or September. You’re going to tell me that life in The O.C. is so grand that they don’t have to start until NOVEMBER, after the World Series is played and eight weeks into football season?
I know Fox determines the airing schedule, but couldn’t have something been done about that? “¦sigh”¦
* * * * *
Those are the complaints anyway. And let’s be honest, the season is only about 25 percent complete, so many things could change. The secondary teen-aged characters could become more and more vital; Sandy and Kirsten might experience some major (interesting) relationship friction; Seth might actually calm down a bit. Who knows?
This is just a “progress report” to serve everyone associated with The O.C. notice that what they are doing to this point is doing more harm than good. If it continues to go in that direction, it will be easier for the critics to jump off the bandwagon and for viewers to change the channel, especially considering the tough timeslot it’s in on Thursday nights.
I hate to use the term “jumping the shark” because I think that term is “jumping the shark” itself, but The O.C. could come perilously close to that point and none of us want that.
After all, we’ve lost too many good shows in the last year as it is”¦
— Coogan
