This week marked the return of primetime’s most immortal form of television entertainment–teen drama. Back in the network brigs this week is the rich and fancy O.C., whose premiere, which followed up the death of one of its major characters, left this viewer Befuddled.
It’s no surprise than that O.C. walked away with this week’s B-Rate on the F-Rated scale–a just under par mark for a usually just about par show. O.C. is as smart as most teen dramas ranging back to the age of 90210. They’ve got enough of an ooo-factor to make you ahh, and the glossy, clean edits interweaved with a multitude of pretty faces and indie anthems make it a haven for trend-happy teenagers. On the odd night out in primetime, it’s not half as bad as most other TV shows, and is the stuff that usually defines guilty pleasure.
But this week, this week was different. I don’t know what disappointed me more about this week’s episode, Marissa’s actual death, or the fact that it remained mostly understated. A part of this had to do with the fact that a certain amount of time has passed since last season’s finale; a few months to be exact.The characters have dealt with the immediate shock and aftermath of Marissa’s death offscreen, which is a timeline that is convenient in primetime storytelling, but grudgingly accepted by viewers.
One of my main quibbles with the episode this week, which ultimately tainted the entire hour, was the lack of direct emotion resulting from Marissa’s demise. It was a gutsy move for the writers to show us the longstanding aftermath, but on a show that prides itself on melodramatic climaxes, where histrionics are a headlining mantra, it seems a little odd to skim over the drama. What we do end up seeing are the rippling effects of her death, much depicted by her pill-popping mom, Ryan’s double brood, and Summer’s lack of spunk. Out of those three, only Summer’s demure was affecting, because it was the only one that was a stark contrast to how she was before. No funeral, no crying fests, not even a grave until the last few minutes made it seem as if Marissa wasn’t dead at all, but instead in some form of offscreen coma that’s often reserved for could-return characters.
A lot of viewers I’ve spoken to liked the absence of the usual catharsis that follows big character deaths because it was a different approach to TV tragedy. In some ways, it seems O.C. should then be praised for stepping out of overdone teenaged death and dealing with it in a different way. But Marissa was a central character, often times carrying the show’s main plots through the years. If television was to be direct mirror of real life drama, then the understated and unforeseen death of this character wouldn’t be so much of a problem. Death happens in weird and unexpected ways and we’re not supposed to understand it, or what people do in the aftermath of it. With that in mind, I shouldn’t be irked by any character reactions to Marissa’s death this week.
But the problem is that most television shows, though they attest to being reflective of real life, are not–which is a statement of the genre in itself. If TV was to be exactly like life than the notion of learning from storytelling would be moot. Writers create these universes, the characters and the happenings through calculation. Where in real life the workings of God or a greater power are hidden from us, in television they aren’t. Writers who play God to their characters can apply meaningful, accessible rhyme and reason to their plot developments for the very purpose that viewers can walk away with lessons, learn and grow with characters. The problem with Marissa’s death was that it was missing that jewel of reason.
Yes, we all know she left because of contractual conflicts in real life, but where’s the meaning behind this staple character’s death on the show? Where’s the tale that transforms this story from more than just a few flashy scenes on a screen to something that will resonate with me forever? Why did she die?
I know what you’re thinking–it’s just a TV show.
No. This week, it wasn’t.
————————————————————————
