Date of airing: December 17, 2003 (FOX)
Nielsen ratings information: 7.99 million viewers, 5.2/8 in Households, 3.9/11 with Adults 18-49
There must be a reason for the final moments of this episode to be famous for THE O.C., television soundtracks, and 2000s television in general. A perfect song to a perfect montage, and a sense that the show ended the year 2003 with very well-deserved happy endings, including one of them being a sort-of-surprise twist. But really, this episode gave us “Dice,” which is a wonderful song even 20 years after it has been introduced to me, proving that the soundtrack of this show is still truly and utterly magnificent. Yes, I discovered Death Cab for Cutie thanks to THE O.C. and I even went to see them live twice (both times in Berlin in 2008), and “Dice” is very much one of my all-time favorite songs, ranking high up there in my statistics. And it fits with the scenes it accompanied.
The slow-motion scenes of Ryan and Marissa getting closer and sharing their moment under a rain of shiny confetti that almost looked like falling snow for a split second... The realization that both Sandy/Kirsten and Seth/Anna have found each other after a ton of tribulations, sharing their love for each other... Seeing that even Seth gets his moment of happiness after having gone through a war with the two girls he likes... Nothing can compare to when you roll the dice and see what kind of love gets to you at the end of the day – it must have been the happiest moment of the characters’ lifetimes to be at the point they were here. Ryan finally said “I love you.” Seth finally has a girlfriend, although the choice of the girl was made for him (how convenient). Sandy and Kirsten realized they were boring, but still had enough fire to go on an adventure (so, no marriage trouble storyline yet).
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| You get introduced to the audience in your underwear. |
The surprise twist certainly is the fact that Seth ended up with Anna. Here it was, the first episode with both Julie and Summer being main characters of the show after their actors have been upgraded to regulars (Melinda Clarke wasn’t even in this episode), and you would think that Summer becoming an official regular character would mean that she is going to end up with Seth. Well, the writers knew those were the expectations, so they screwed the audience like Vladimir Putin screwed Donald Trump in 2016 and the entire world since 2022, and they decided to give Anna the coveted spot of being Seth’s girlfriend, giving Summer a wholly different story at the same time she is turning into a regular. Also, I must say that I felt for Summer when she kissed the random guy and realized it wasn’t Seth. She is in love with the nerd, but she lost out because Anna happened to be a little quicker, and maybe even more in love with the nerd. Dammit, why is polygamy not accepted as a lifestyle?
Meanwhile, Oliver already caused trouble by making Ryan feel inadequate about being a boyfriend and insecure about Marissa hanging out with another guy. It’s even more obvious now that Oliver is a stepping stone in Ryan and Marissa’s relationship, considering she was talking to Oliver non-stop (including their inside joke which Ryan didn’t find funny at all), and Ryan was already wondering if he should be beating that Oliver guy to the pulp. It has also become obvious that Oliver is a weird character. This seemed to have been his party, but he didn’t find time to talk to anyone else other than Marissa, nor did any of the party guests talked to him (or he talked to them). It made me wonder if the penthouse suite was actually Oliver’s or if he just crashed the party and made it look to Marissa like this is his shindig, just so he can woo her into a smile and a kiss later. There was a quick moment when Anna explained why she was at the party and then asked who Oliver was that made me wonder about it. The way this guy is being built up to become the potential villain is kind of great, however, since he started his engagement in Newport Beach with possible lies and deceptions, just to get the girl – and those kinds of guys are usually dangerous. Buckle up, Ryan Atwood, because you have competition.
Hailey was an okay-ish character. Amanda Righetti is attractive and, of course, her first image had to be in a tank top and without pants in this show, but Hailey could have been more than just the estranged crazy younger sister who thinks she can be a successful freeloader and live the life of a wandering nomad and behave like a teenager, all of this at the same time. I did love the conflict between her and Kirsten though. Now that Caleb has stopped screwing up Kirsten’s marriage, it was about time for another plot device to cause trouble, and keeping it in the family was a kind of nice move. I also have to thank the writers for not suggesting that Hailey and Ryan should hook up, especially since he met her without her pants on. Hailey is no Gabriella (probably because Hailey is supposed to be younger – Righetti was 20 years old when this episode aired), we already went through that and don’t need it a second time.
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| No action on this swingers party, only wristwatches. |
And finally, there was a swingers party and Kirsten and Sandy almost went through with it. It was both a hilarious and an interesting story for the two, and the writers were even a little bit bent about it. Sandy and Kirsten would love to have some marriage troubles (it has been teased over multiple episodes already), but before that will ever enrich the narrative of THE O.C., the writers had them go through some soft tribulations first. Kirsten already went through her drama with Caleb that almost fractured her marriage and now Hailey has come between them to continue piling on. It’s an intriguing way of disrupting their marriage because it doesn’t necessarily happen through an affair from one of them, or someone forgetting the other’s birthday or the anniversary, or something in that area. Sometimes it’s simply just recognizing that the marriage has become routine, which looks like it’s the first step toward the end of a marriage in the world of Newport Beach. It’s a way to ship around the treasure box of television tropes when it comes to ruining a fictional marriage.
