We are back! After 6 long months, the fourth season of The O.C. is back and it looks better than ever. Yes, Marissa is dead. That happened at the end of last season. Some say the show will never be the same. I say it needed a change like this to shake things up. The show is on very shaky ground. This could be the last season. I hope not, but it could be. They need to find a strong audience again and that means going back to what made season one successful.
This episode was mainly about 3 people dealing with Marissa’s death. This happened to be the 3 people that were the closest to her. That would be her mom, Julie, her ex-boyfriend, Ryan, and her best friend, Summer. Lets see how each one dealt with Marissa’s death.
We’ll start with Ryan. He went back to want he did in season one all the time. He hit people! This time we see Ryan in a dark place and he takes out his anger for Volchok on other people in cage fights. But that’s Ryan. He just wants to forget what happened. He couldn’t save Marissa this time. For the first time in his life, he couldn’t save her. He has to learn that her death was not his fault. He thinks he brought bad people like Trey and Volchok into Marissa’s and the Cohen’s lives. Well, actually Marissa brought all of that upon herself. It was Marissa’s fault that she died. She made her choice and it eventually caught up with her. Ryan knows what he has to do now. To move on, he has to make things right in his mind.
That brings me to Julie. She lost her oldest daughter. She will do anything to not think about that. She has basically crawled up inside of herself and shut everyone else out of her life. It may cost her marriage with Dr. Roberts. But she doesn’t care. She just wants revenge. Which is why she wants Ryan to take care of Volchok for her. She wants to make things right and she thinks that Ryan killing Volchok will make everything better. Well, it won’t. Sure, it will be nice to see Ryan kill Volchok, but that just causes more issues. Still, that’s Julie.
And last we have Summer. She lost her best friend. She went off to college and started living a different lifestyle. She became a “hippie”. Not because she wants to be a “hippie”. She just wants to do everything in her life differently, so that it doesn’t remind her that Marissa is gone. That’s why she didn’t want to go home. That is why, I hope, she didn’t call Seth back so many times. She’s trying to forget as well. Anything “Newport” will just drive her crazy and make her realize that Marissa IS gone. She doesn’t want to deal with that now. So she lives a different life in college. I just hope it doesn’t cause any strain on her relationship with Seth. The moments they were together this episode were awkward and painful to watch. Although, I did love the line where she tells Seth to “round up his geek army, because she has a plan!”
Seth, Sandy, and Kristin didn’t have much to do in this episode. That’s a shame, but it’s understandable. Seth did have some good lines in the comic book store he was working at, but most of it was overshadowed by the three storylines I mentioned above.
I will say this. This season looks really good. Taylor and Kaitlin are now regulars. They will fill Marissa’s place on the show. And honestly, that’s the best thing that could happen. They don’t have as much history on the show, but they still fantastic characters. Lets hope this season is more than just 16 episodes!
