Date of airing: January 27, 2005 (FOX)
Nielsen ratings information: 8.11 million viewers, 5.2/8 in Households, 3.6/10 with Adults 18-49
written by: Allan Heinberg
directed by: Ian Toynton
After a couple of the recent episodes have been quite chaotic and twisty and dramatic, this hour seemed like the viewers were supposed to take a little breather, calm and settle down, and start focusing on some of the character arcs. There were not any highly emotional events in this episode, and in fact, the writers decided to focus on some plot developments and character relationships, as the major couplings among the teenagers are developing forward (or back), and even Sandy and Kirsten are steering right towards a troubled marriage, now that a woman from Sandy’s past has emerged to definitely twist and turn that heart of the public defender. I guess that at this point, THE O.C. wants to be a character drama more than a daily soap, and so I hope that the character arcs will be at least a little bit entertaining. And it is also a fact that I appreciate the little breather from the highly soap-opera-charged storylines from past episodes.
Sandy’s current story is a character arc, which I kind of liked in this episode, and only kind of because I did not like that Rebecca showed up at the end, living and breathing, her heart pumping and her blood flowing, and her appearance teasing toward predictable marriage issues between the Cohens. First of all, Max was asking for her, and he asked Sandy to find her because of the difficult relationship between Max and Rebecca. Second of all, it was pretty obvious that she would still be alive, considering even in her potential dead state, there was enough drama to ruin Sandy and Kirsten’s marriage (and that Rebecca was predictably still alive stems out of the fact that all of Sandy’s story was about her).
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| Do we want to go to breakfast with Emmanuelle Chriqui? Of course we do! |
But while the latter was an obvious story choice, the former did not make sense, and showed just one more point of inconsistency the show had since the beginning. Why would Max find Rebecca, or Rebecca go with Max to find Sandy, when the story started with the backstory of Rebecca and Max’s non-relationship? It seems like midway through the episode, the writers changed their idea about who Rebecca was and what kind of impact she should have on the story, not to mention who was supposed to be looking for her in the first place. In the beginning, she was a job for Sandy. In the middle, she was a backstory for Sandy. Right before the end, she was a problem for Sandy. And now she has become a stepping stone for Sandy. It is not really one of the best-written parts of the show, but it happens to be one of the more interesting stories for the adult characters in the show, especially since now the writers were able to focus on Sandy and Kirsten, and I get the feeling their marriage was about to rock the boat for quite a while now. Notice the shot of Kirsten moving the wine glass away from her, after she realized that the thought of Rebecca in Sandy’s life is going to bring chaos and terror into her marriage with him.
Meanwhile, relationships were constructed and deconstructed among the teens. I loved that Caleb and Ryan had a couple of scenes together, because I appreciate the hostile relationship between the two (this is so Caleb, making him the currently only consistency in the show), and I liked that the writers finally went into a depiction of what a Caleb/Lindsay relationship could be about if either of them would give a damn. Of course, some brain cells in Caleb’s head were not functioning right, and all he could think of was how he could pay off Ryan and Lindsay to finally be straight with him. No wonder the guy never had any proper relationships in his life – I am pretty sure everyone who gets to him wants something from him, whether it was money or a job (remember Jimmy, who was hoping to ask for a job in his company?). It sort of reminds me of what Donald Trump could have been during his time in the 1980s and 1990s – were kids coming up to him demanding a job, a car, or money? Would that make Trump an inspiration for a fictional character in this fictional version of Orange County? Could that mean Trump is pretty much like Caleb? Ugh, those thoughts I have now...
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| This is how Summer turns into a comic book nerd. |
Anyway, Ryan and Lindsay have trouble now, but because THE O.C. cannot just be all about bad and mad relationships, Marissa needed to get a really good friend and possible romance with another girl, while Seth and Summer somewhat secured a sweet post-romance situation for the two of them (I really tried it with the alliterations), including the teaser of the two probably getting together again, because Zach is not a main character (yet?), and of course it is all about Seth and Summer, especially after she found out that she was always on his mind, even after the heartbreak of a disappearance on his sailboat.
I do like the idea of Seth going into comic mode and creating one though. The guy has been a nerd all his life, it is finally time to make a career out of it. For heck’s sake, he painted an entire mural on Marissa’s wall, and even back then I was wondering why the kid was not making a career out of his artistic abilities.
