Date of airing: September 2, 2003 (FOX)
Nielsen ratings information: 9.13 million viewers, 5.8/9 in Households, 4.0/11 with Adults 18-49
Except for Jimmy’s drama that is currently defining his life, this seemed like a perfect stand-alone episode to skip past during a rewatch, just in case you feel like not wanting to watch all 27 episodes of the season and instead just get to the more interesting and scandalous parts (cough, Oliver Trask, cough) of the show. The 7-episode summer season is only really interesting because of the three-part pilot, as well as its Tijuana-bound episode that comes up in two hours, but the show started doing its thing when the writers knew they had something on their hands with the teenage characters that were being loved and extended by FOX executives.
In a way, THE O.C. starts with the eighth episode, even if this one had a few great moments that strengthened Ryan and Marissa’s relationship. Besides that, one is allowed to be happy that it took the writers only five episodes to give Ryan and Marissa their first date, while also finishing off Ryan’s character flaw of being an outsider from a more violent and crime-infested part of sunny California (wow, I sounded like a Republican just now). Normally, Ryan and Marissa would be waiting for seasons to finally get together and have a little fun in the pool and Ryan would have to fight Luke to the death first. But hey, at least Luke gets thrown into a story or two, albeit forcefully, as the writers were trying to make him a regular character. It’s almost like Marissa is in love with the boy, just so Luke continues to have a purpose in this show. This means it will take a while for Ryan and Marissa to get together and have fun in the pool again, since Luke has not been fought to the death in this episode – the bullet only graced his arm, and that’s a shame.
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| It's a fist bump from another Californian universe. |
Welcome to the O.C., Donny. You just came freshly from wherever you came from, quickly got a job, quickly made friends with the other outsider in town, quickly decided to go to beach house parties, and quickly decided to be a rebel without a cause because you think you’re allowed to protest the fact that Newport Beach is filled with rich assheads only. That might be mostly true, but because it’s Donny who draws a gun and takes a shot at one of the main characters, it’s the kid who is going to turn into a vampire in six years who is the villain of the episode. But because THE O.C. is a teen drama, the writers couldn’t have just created a villain here just for conflict material (cough, Oliver Trask, cough), so here is Donny, the conflicted muscle boy with only one thought (getting hot girls on top of him) that goes nuts when his little brain isn’t being respected and admired. It is Ryan who has to flatten the dangerous waves of violence in Newport, as he is the only one who slightly understands where Donny comes from and what his thinking process is. Unfortunately for Ryan, he has to save Donny from the entire town while on a sort-of dinner date with Marissa. There’s always coming something between Ryan and Marissa.
Donny was a cliched character all the way through, and if it hadn’t been for Paul Wesley, the character would have been a complete waste. A sexist chauvinist that thinks he has all the privilege in the world to do what he wants, and then he is getting mad and pissed and swings a gun around when he gets pushed around by people he believes have too much privilege. There was not only misogyny going on inside Donny, but also a ton of hypocrisy as well, and I wouldn’t have minded if Luke stole the gun from Donny and returned the favor of being an asshat, just so Donny could be shut up right now and Luke could prove that he wasn’t a rich whiny teenager which he seemed to be when he was looking into the barrel of a gun. Having a big mouth, but being scared in the face of danger – it’s realism, but also makes Luke a terrible character at times.
By the way, what was Luke doing with Holly in her bedroom? Did he try to open her bra that was under her shirt from above her shirt? That was so funny to watch, yet so humiliating to see. I mean, does Luke even know where women wear their bras on the body? Has he never done this before in his life? It would certainly explain a lot about his character.
I don’t even understand what Seth saw in Donny and why he figured he could hang out with the guy in the first place. But here he was, Seth suddenly wanting to be a cool guy again, wanting to hang out with someone outside his Newport soap bubble. I would consider this an inconsistency, but then I remembered Seth and Ryan quickly connected in the pilot and they most likely did because Ryan was someone Seth has never met before (talking about personality here), and maybe that’s the kind of friend Seth wants to have. Maybe he thought he could replicate that same friendship he has with Ryan with Donny and have two friends at the same time, but then there was the fact that Donny pretty much behaved like a dick and even Seth should have noticed that Donny was everything but a potentially cool new friend. Or is Seth only interested in hanging out with someone who just sees sex when talking to girls? Can Seth only be friends with people who come from a rough neighborhood because they are so much different from the Newport Beach folks?
Ryan and Marissa’s date was cool. It was simple, it was short, there was no kissing, despite the two moments in which it could have happened, and it ended early because of relationship tropes and obstacle courses for the central romantic couple of the show. I liked that the date happened right outside Ryan’s pool house, and I liked that all they were eating was grilled cheese, giving you a contrast of the worlds Ryan and Marissa live in and how they would like to be when they forget they are part of the Newport Beach soap bubble. The Cohen house probably has all the ingredients to make an exquisite meal, but Ryan made grilled cheese and Marissa ate it up. The perfect first date on a budget. I must remember to replicate it myself, in case I will ever go on a date. First I have to get over my anxiety before I find enough courage to look for a love interest. If my aromanticism isn’t already in the way of that.
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| Gunplay in Newport Beach makes Luke pee his pants. |
And the rest of the episode? Well, Julie and her friend were annoying, but I feel like their talks about Julie’s potentially ruined marriage were true to what women in high-society bubbles would talk about all day long when sitting in a spa and wasting away their day as their husbands bring in the money day in, day out. I’m pretty sure Kirsten was rolling some serious eye under those fancy sunglasses, and she was probably thinking about slapping those women left and right, just to shut them up and have them think differently about Jimmy.
Meanwhile, Jimmy didn’t do a lot to help his case either. I found it hilarious that he was talking about his possible jail time on a golf course of all places, but I did realize that Jimmy took the plunge and made warm thoughts about his near future of a broken marriage. He is starting to realize the mistakes he did and the consequences that follow, which is a few steps up from where he was during the pilot episode. So I’m going to calmly applaud him here and await the drama that will unfold when the Coopers are splitting up and Marissa will go through the stereotypical teenage angst stuff.
