The OC: The Dawn Patrol (episode 21)

Now this post is a bit different, since my DVR broke while it was trying to record this episode. So I didn't actually see much of this episode, probably about the last 10 minutes. So I had to look at a couple of recaps online and ask some friends what happened.

Seth and Ryan get tickets to graduation for parents to go. But Ryan doesn't have anyone to invite! Kirsten suggets he go to Albuquerque and invite his mom. So he flies down to see her. She's working in a shady diner, with an equally shady biker boyfriend. Ryan remembers his past, and doesn't want to repeat it. But turns out the guy is a keeper, and Dawn (his mom) is really trying to get her life back together. Ryan ends up giving her the two tix to graduation. Ryan also hooks up with some Albuquerque trash named Chloe.

Seth and Summer remain broken up. She tries to get him back with Taylor's help, but it's a no go. Summer even tries to proclaim her love to Seth on top of a latte cart (like he did to her back when the show was halfway decent). Summer pulls an ultimatum: if he can admit he doesn't love her anymore, she'll go to Brown alone, and be miserable. Apparently, jackass Seth says, "I don't love you anymore." Because Seth continues to not tell Summer he didn't get into Brown! What a freakin' idiot.

Sandy pays Matt a severance package to give up the incriminating evidence that the Doc Griffin is getting kickbacks from (oh who the hell cares?) somebody. Sandy continues to fight with Kirsten, who is having a hard time staying away from wine. She almost has a drink tonight, but she manages to pour it all down the sink. I'm honestly surprised that they even have wine in the house, what with a recovering alcoholic in the house and all the dramatic events that happen there. It's a sure cause for alarm.

Marissa continues with Volchok. Julie tries to intervene, but it doesn't make Marissa give him up. One night when Marissa is partying with Volchok, his creepy friends try to roofy and date rape an old enemy of hers from infamous Newport Union High. Marissa saves the day, and ends up back at her mom's, crying in her arms.

The OC: The Day After Tomorrow (episode 20)

I'll admit, I've been slacking with the recaps. This show was on a few weeks ago, but this is what I can remember.

Ryan and Sadie are still hot and heavy, but Ryan is having visions of college, and Sadie has been kind of avoiding the bigger questions: what are they gonna do next year?

Marissa continues in her downward spiral with doing of the coke and screwing of the Volchok. She's shirking her school responsibilities (not providing food to the college acceptance sweatshirt bonfire, waking up Julie and Doctor Neil when Volchok's hog drops her off at the mansion in the morning...y'know, standard stuff)

The acceptance letters all come at the same time...woo hoo! In a fun filled montage, Ryan gets accepted to Berkeley, Marissa does too, as does Seth (who applied just 'cause his dad made him) and Summer gets into Brown! Ryan--smiles (for once), Summer--squeals, Marissa--looks cheerful, then frowns, THEN tosses her letter in the trash. But the most shocking is Seth who DOES NOT GET INTO BROWN!!! NNNOOOOOO!!!! Everyone (except Marissa) convenes later. Summer gives Seth the good news and Seth, for reasons I cannot explain, lies to Summer and says he got into Brown too. This can't end well.

Seth immediately gets on the phone and tries to plead that he wants to get in because...wait for it, people...His girlfriend got in! After the admissions people stopped laughing at him, I'm sure they hung up.

Julie finds Marissa's letter in the trash, and they have a talk. She doesn't want Marissa to give up on herself, which means kicking Volchok to the curb. Marissa won't listen, and storms out. Again.

Sadie and Ryan try to work things out. Sadie and Ryan plan to get a place together at Berkeley, the plans don't go over well with The Cohens. Sadie thinks maybe it's a bad idea, but Ryan feels "like I'm myself" with Sadie. But after the plans become somewhat real (Sadie finds a place for them in Berkeley), Ryan thinks he should be exploring college by himself, and experiencing things without a townie girlfriend.

Seth finally comes clean that he didn't get into Brown...to RYAN. Ryan tells him to come clean with Summer about it, but he doesn't want her to give up going to such a great school because of his inability to get in. Maybe it's a good thing?

They all go to the sweatshirt bonfire. Even Marissa comes to her senses and goes. It's all very awkward, Marissa doesn't think she fits in anymore with this pro-college crowd, Seth didn't get into Brown, Summer and Seth are fighting, and Ryan broke up with Sadie.

At the end of the episode, Seth tells Summer that Brown suddenly "isn't the right school for him" but Summer should go without him. I think they just broke up, folks!

*As an aside, I think the writers are incredibly lazy if this whole "Seth not getting into Brown then lying about it" is very believeable. That's all Seth has talked about all season! It's a cheap way to create conflict. If the writers were smart, they would have had Seth get into Brown, and Summer getting denied. Then he would have had to realize he loved Summer and couldn't be without her, so he would go to Berkeley, or something. Because his childhood dreams and priorites have changed! He's growing up! At least it would have been more logical. But believeability isn't why I watch this show.

Oh yeah, Sandy is still dealing with the boring subplot with the hospital. Now Doctor Griffin is bribing Sandy with more development work if he keeps quiet about the supposed kickbacks. Kirsten becomes very concerned that Sandy is turning into her father. And rightly so. I think they've messed with his character so much I'm not sure what he's about anymore.

The OC: The Secrets And Lies (episode 19)

Previously: Stephen's been bored by the last 18 episodes and hopes this season only lasts another 4. He can always hope.

We're at the Bait Shop again, and the kids are listening to a rockin' DJ and...hey, I just spotted a black person?!?! Oh wait, he's gone. Now we get to Ryan and his new galpal, Sadie. They're hanging out with Seth and Summer. Marissa is nowhere to be found. Until Seth and Summer see her macking with Volchok! Ew!

Back at the trailer, the next day. Summer wants to confront Marissa about what happened last night. But the talk is interrupted when the girls get independent calls from each of their parents at the same time, saying they want to have dinner tonight. I'm betting someone's engaged! Summer tries to take her to school so they can talk, but Marissa tells her to leave. She walks into the other room where her awesome new boyfriend is taking a hit off a bong. He kisses her, and Marissa immediately starts coughing up second hand pot smoke. Nice.

More boring stuff ensues at the Newport Group. Matt is off the hospital project. But Matt confronts Sandy, saying Doctor Griffin has been taking kickbacks and Sandy has NO RIGHT to take Matt off the project because morally Matt is a bad person. Sandy's do-gooder radar goes up and wants to hear more. But Matt ends up getting beat up and his apartment trashed. Maybe Matt is telling the truth. It'll be a tough road for me. I refuse to believe hospital developers are shady.

Dr. Neil and Julie come back from the cruise. En-gaged! They celebrate by breaking out some champagne for all. First of all: The girls are minors (I know, nitpicky) but second: Marissa has a drinking problem! Or not such a problem when she downs a full glass of champagne. Julie is all shocked, even moreso when Marissa gets a call from Volchok and runs out the door.

Summer is really worried now that Marissa is become a "full-on" skank and orders Seth to have Ryan help. But he's all drunk off of Sadie's love, and says "Not my girlfriend, not my problem." So Summer confronts Marissa outside of school where she's laying across the hood of a car drinking from that famous flask. After some snappy dialogue that includes a "Veronica Mars" reference, Marissa storms away.

Julie moves into Dr. Neil's palatial mansion. Once she's installed, she does a victory dance. In walks one of the maids with a disapproving look on her face. Julie starts speaking to her in broken Spanish, but the maid keeps her stony face. "I'm from the Phillippines." Oops! Way to make friends with the help, Julie.

Sadie and Ryan are having another date at the Crab Shack. It's nice, until he overhears some of Volchok's friends dissing Marissa. He can't let that go. He storms over and demands a sit-down with Volchok. I think Ryan still has that broken bottle from the last fight with Volchok.

Volchok. The Beach. Ryan. He wants Volchok to take care of Marissa because "she deserves it." That means no letting her show up to school drunk. Volchok makes fun of Ryan, but he's still scared he's going to get his ass kicked. Ryan goes to the house that Sadie's fixing up to sell, but there's a guy named Bob there, who is moderately attractive...which means Sadie could be doin' it with this guy. Turns out Bob is buying the house and Sadie is moving on. She has the foresight to realize that she and Ryan have no future, plus he's still trying to fix Marissa's life.

Marissa continues to whine, but Volchok says he needs to take care of Marissa because she deserves it. Marissa doesn't get it, and neither does the audience. Marissa is dating this guy because she hates herself!

In yet another subplot, Kirsten and Seth are having a nice evening together. Kirsten takes Seth to AA to show them all the reason she got sober. Awwww!

Ryan returns to the house to beg Sadie to stay. But she's already left for Oregon, according to Bob. Let me tell you I watched this episode at a friend of mine's house and Bob is an old friend of hers. And she and I were very impressed by the nuances of his acting. Nobody can sell a line like "She's in Oregon, dude" like Bob. And in more plot contrivances, Ryan meets Marissa and tells her the whole sad story before returning to the pool house.

Sadie is at a bus station, ready to leave town for parts unknown. Somehow Marissa appears (mental telepathy must have alerted her of Sadie's exact departure time and place) to convince her to stay because "you make Ryan happy. You should stay." She races back to her place and she makes up with Ryan.

After Marissa doesn't show up for dinner with Dr. Neil and Summer, Dr. Neil tells Julie that their engagement is a "trial run" and if things don't work out between their families, he'll end the engagement. Julie looks worried, and oddly, so does Summer.

Later at the beach, Marissa finds Volchok. He offers her some coke which she snorts. And Marissa's slide continues.

The OC: The Undertow (episode 18)

Last week: The breakup between Marissa and Ryan is still on, with Ryan and Marissa with new people: Sadie (dead Johnny's cousin), and Volchok (dead Johnny's archnemesis in surfing). Johnny's death really brought people together!

Sadie is fitting right in with Ryan and friends, from bringing junk food when they hang out, to kicking Seth's ass in Playstation 2. Seth questions Ryan as in "why haven't they made things official?" Not marriage, but announcing coupledom. Summer is okay with it, too. Realizing Marissa is still pretty dramatic, a nice, regular girl is a good change for Ryan.

Of course there's the obligatory knock at the door, and wouldn't you know it? It's Jess! We all remember Jess. She's the Harbor student from season 2 that OD'd on ecstacy, got Trey arrested, ended up brokering a drug deal, pulling a gun on her drug partners, and setting up the circumstances of Marissa getting a hold of a loaded gun and shooting Trey. Right, THAT Jess. She does look slightly less ho-ey though. She's back in town trying to start over, and she brought Ryan a gift from his brother Trey. A small matchbox car camaro.

In other news, Seth does better on his makeup interview with Brown. Summer mentions to Taylor that they are going to have a quiet evening at home, which Taylor thinks (wink wink!) they're gonna have lots of s-e-x. But it turns out they'll eat t-h-a-i and watch a-n-i-m-e. Romantic!

Marissa is still being semi-stalked by Volchok, and for some contrived reason, goes to Matt's house to hang out because she's "lonely." In other Matt news, the hospital board rep (Maya's dad) wants Matt off the project because they think he's slimy. Sandy has two days to decide: the project or Matt?

Ryan tracks down Jess to ask more questions about what Trey is up to. Apparently, she lived in Las Vegas with Trey and he's dealing...blackjack. Whew! I thought he was dealing...with his problems. Jess tells Ryan to stop by later to hear more stories about Trey.

Bait shop. Summer becomes more worried about hers and Seth's lack of passion. Will it be the same when they get to Brown? What are they going to do? Marissa seems to only care about staring at Volchok from across the room.

Later that day, Ryan gets a call from Jess...she's in danger! Ryan needs a signal in the sky when it comes to trying to rescue a woman in distress. He comes a-runnin, no matter who it is. He hotfoots it over to her house and throws out Jess' current no-good boyfriend. On his way out, he notices Jess still has a picture of his brother in her purse. Awww. So he spends the night to protect her. Only in the A.M. she starts coming on to him. At least Ryan has the sense to rebuff her, with prejudice.

Unfortunately, Sadie drops by the pool house that morning, bringing bagels and Ryan is nowhere to be found. Kirsten is just as surprised as Sadie that Ryan isn't at home. Awkward silences abound. She is jealous of Jess, I guess. Luckily, Seth explains that Ryan is used to helping out/dating freakish, needy girls (way to sell it, Cohen) and she's just another stop on the Ryan white knight express. The only other girl he dated that had no drama ended up being Kirsten's half sister and then had to leave town. I can't say I blame Sadie when she says she doesn't think Ryan is the boy for her.

Summer lets it slip about the lack of romance in hers and Cohen's relationship. Horrified Taylor thinks they are on the rocks, and spends the rest of the episode trying to solve their issues so they'll get the spring back in their step. They eventually do, but only because they start arguing again and Summer tries to slap Seth, only to have him block the slap. Attempted violence is a turn on to some people.

Matt gets in predictable trouble when Sandy stops by Matt's apt. and Marissa opens the door in a oversized shirt, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Matt is away that weekend, but it does mean that Sandy may have to listen to the hospital board and kick Matt off the project.

Sadie and Ryan get together again, after the crisis with Jess passes. Until his phone rings and it's Jess' friends from Newport calling. Jess' whackjob boyfriend is on the warpath and she has locked herself in a bedroom and won't come out. She's begging for Ryan's help. Ryan snaps the phone shut and tells Sadie "I have to go." Sadie looks on with obvious disgust, but tells him to "do what he has to do." At the party, there's a predictable fight with the psycho boyfriend. But when the b'friend says "It's none of your business" he actually says "you're right!" and gets up to leave. Jess is grateful. So grateful she tries to come on to Ryan. But the "new" Ryan snaps, "you have to stop dating guys like him and Trey, and I have to stop dating girls like you and Marissa." You mean bad actresses? A-men!

At home, Ryan feels bad because he's definitely ruined things between him and Sadie. Kirsten stops by and says, "It's never too late." Ryan perks up and drives over to Sadie's house. He finally explains what the toy camaro Trey gave him means: a promise to get Ryan one when they grew up and they'd ride it out of Chino and someplace else. Then when they were old enough, Trey stole a camaro, which stuck Trey in jail and Ryan with the Cohens. Flash forward: better life! Sadie eats up this story with a spoon, and they go at it like crazed weasels. Never mind they don't address Ryan's issues with helping girls who are obviously distressed, or that he'll drop her if Marissa gets a hangnail and needs Ryan to cut it. That story is way better than that amnesia kiss Clark Kent gave Lois Lane to make her forget he's Superman in "Superman II."

By the way, Volchok and Marissa hook up.

The OC: The Road Warrior (episode 16)

The show opens with Summer in her room with a voice over going about her life. Marissa comes in and asks what she's doing. So the voice over isn't happening for the audience only! Summer says she wanted her life to sound more exciting, like on her favorite show "The Valley" so she went to the trouble of recording herself about things she was going to do and play a commentary when she actually did those things. Yeah, I would have done EXACTLY the same thing in high school because I had that much free time.

Summer and Marissa sit in a hot tub with Seth. They are waiting for Ryan to show up. But they decide to have a little fun with Seth by trying to instigate a threesome. When the girls start touching and rubbing Seth, he gets out of the tub to call Ryan. So much added estrogen can really get to a guy. Unless he and Ryan really DO have something goin' on the side. Ryan doesn't answer his phone, because he's helping Johnny's cousin Sadie fix up J's mom's house. The mom is in Oregon. The police come to the house, looking for Johnny's mom and Marissa. Apparently, Johnny's mom had an insurance policy on his life, and suddenly Johnny's death isn't looking so accidental.

Summer is worried that her dad is working way too much after divorcing his wife (she doesn't know Dr. Neil isn't around so much because he's doin' the Coop). After talking to Taylor, Summer goes to NewMatch partner Julie Cooper for help, she decides that she needs to pick out her dad's next girlfriend, lest he end up with a "money-grubbing slut bag in the back of his Maserati" like...well...Julie. So Summer gives Julie the dish on what Dr. Neil goes after in a woman, complete with a fantasy of Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct." It would have been much more in-jokey if he had a thing for Jennifer Beals in "Flashdance." I'm still hoping that Ms. Beals shows up to play Summer's mom.

Some stuff happens with Matt and Maya, the daughter of the hospital magnate. Sandy suddenly wants Matt to use his relationship with Maya to get dad on board to build a hospital. Matt is having second thoughts, since he's really starting to dig her.

Since the death benefits for Johnny are held up, Sadie decides to find Johnny's dad to get him to pay back child support. Which means--road trip! Wooo! Of course Ryan smells "girl in trouble" and volunteers to go along. They track dear old dad to Indio (which is very depressing, I've been there before). Because it's so late when they get there, Sadie and Ryan share a cheap motel room and bond over poker. He's having so much fun he conveniently ignores a cell phone call from Marissa.

Julie sets up the Sharon Stone fantasy for Dr. Neil at a highbrow restaurant in Newport, where Taylor Townsend happens to be picking up some takeout and sees the whole thing. She hotfoots it over to Seth and Summer, where Summer refuses to believe it without hard proof. Taylor is all over it. "They're going golfing next."

Marissa is being investigated by the police. Sandy drops everything to help out. They question her, and confront her with the letter she wrote Johnny that said she didn't love him. You know, the one Johnny threw in the fire and burned up. Well, it didn't burn more than it was "tastefully singed." Somehow the investigation is dropped, but it doesn't mean she can't feel sorry for herself! Marissa goes to the spot where Johnny dies, and Volchok magically appears with a flask and some lame story about he and Johnny being friends before becoming surfing enemies.

Indio. Sadie and Ryan find the wildly successful Jack Harper and his bail bond office. Of course, he is incredibly receptive to giving his ex-wife some money. By that I mean not at all. Sadie doesn't take this well and starts smashing up Jack's truck with a conveniently located metal bar. Jack tries to stop her, Ryan tries to stop him from stopping her, the bail bondsmen stop him from stopping him stopping her (yeah...) by beating the crap out of Ryan while Sadie wails "stop it!" Welcome to Indio, bitch!

The trio of Seth, Summer, and Taylor witness Julie and Dr. Neil getting down on the driving range (nudge nudge). Summer is horrified, vowing to come up with a plan to drive them apart.

Ryan is actually ok despite being beat up by four grown men, so much that after getting patched up he steals Sadie's car and goes back to the bail bonds place and has a heart to heart with Jack Harper. He plays the Chino broken home card, stating that leaving your family without money (like his dad did), they will have no chance in life. Though Johnny is dead, Jack should try to make things right with his ex-wife because its the right thing to do. Jack keeps his macho pride and throws Ryan out, but with an envelope full of cash. Softy. Sadie miraculously pulls up just then in a cab. I'm sure with the money it took to hire a cab in Indio and drive to some random-ass bail bonds place, that cash Jack gave them should about cover it.

Sandy continues to goad Matt into using Maya to slip the hospital proposal to her dad. At a fancy dinner with Kirsten and Sandy, Sandy makes a strong pitch to Maya, practically begging her to show her dad the proposal. She connects the dots and asks Matt if he thinks this is a good idea. He says yes, and Maya excuses herself from the table...but after she agrees to show her dad the proposal. Kirsten gives Sandy the stink eye. Later, Sandy finds out Maya's pop loved the proposal. Maya, however, has decided to move to New York and won't be seeing Matt anymore. Kirsten is pissed that Sandy forced Matt to sandbag his relationship with Maya and is now offically "worried" about him.

Marissa sits alone at the Bait Shop when Ryan calls. As a sad indie song plays in the background, they have a terse conversation. Ryan and Marissa decide they have been so disconnected lately, they just need to break up. Finally! Just then, Sadie walks into the room with a deck of cards. Ooo, I feel some sexy results coming on!

The OC: The Journey (episode 17)

Ryan's turning eighteen! Woo hoo! Now he can join the military or...uh...have sex legally! But I think the actor that plays Ryan has probably turned 27 this year, and it shows. Back to the story...Ryan doesn't want to do anything special for his birthday to his OC family's chagrin. But they plan a party anyway. Later, Kirsten suggests to Sandy that they track down Ryan's mom to attend a birthday party for Ryan. I guess with his dad in jail and his brother "somewhere," his mom will have to represent.

The latest drama with Johnny's death seems to be the death knell for Marissa and Ryan's relationship and they break up! Aaaa-gain! Hopefully it'll take this time. Summer tries to force Seth to care and get them to get back together, but he's planning Ryan's birthday party. Summer would do it herself but she's trying to break up Julie her dad. Add a further monkey wrench into the works is when Summer discovers her dad is taking Julie on a cruise. This wouldn't be so odd for people who have only dated a few weeks EXCEPT her dad proposed to his last girlfriend this way and we all know how that turned out (as an aside, it was odd that Stepmonster left Dr. Neil and never came back for her stuff or to say anything to her stepdaughter. I can't blame Summer for wanting her dad to stay single for a while).

Ryan continues to bond with Sadie, helping her fix up Johnny's mom's house to sell. I think they're circling each other, especially once Ry lets it slip that he's not seeing Marissa anymore. Move in for the kill, Sadie!

Ryan is thinking about inviting Marissa to his birthday party. But if he invites her, she may think they are getting back together. But if he doesn't, she'll think they're enemies. On the flip side, Marissa is wondering if she should give Ryan a birthday present: she does=back together, no present=enemies!

Later that day, Julie is over at manse de Doctor Neil for a booty call, but he doesn't show up. Unfortunately Summer does! Before Julie can come up with a lie, Summer tells her she knows about Jules dating her dad AND about the trip where he's planning to propose...which Julie knew nothing about until that moment. Julie, predictably, gets excited about all this. Husband #3 is coming soon!

More action at Sadie's aunt's fixer upper. In between spackling and sawing, Sadie gives Ryan a birthday present. So Ryan invites her to his birhtday party. She declines, because she's going to Oregon to see her ex-boyfriend and let him know it's over. What "it" is we can only guess, but Ryan seems very disappointed by this.

Sandy tracks down Ryan's mom. But he didn't think he'd have to go the Albuquerque city pen to find her! Passing bad checks or something. Of course Sandy waves his attorney wand and gets her out (apparently he's familiar with New Mexican law too) only to have her bail before they can drive back to Newport.

Ryan goes over to the trailer, still mulling over inviting Marissa to his party. The trailer is unlocked, so he walks in and sees the mix CD she's making for his birthday. We know this as "Ryan's Birthday Mix" is written on the front. The memories wash over him of happy times with Marissa. When those three seconds are up, he leaves an invitation to his party on her desk.

Julie comes clean to Marissa about dating Doctor Neil. Marissa is surprised, but doesn't stand in her mom's way. At least not yet. Also, Marissa's weird subplot with the police and Johnny's death/suicide note has come to an end. And Volchok keeps trying to talk to Marissa about what she's going through with J's death. She tracks him down to a construction site where a McMansion is going up. Just when she's getting overly dramatic, the Foreman tells the smoking Volchok to stop, saying the house "burned down once before." Right then Marissa realizes this is the same house in season 1 that she helped Ryan hide out in. The mix CD... the scented candles...Ryan forcing her to leave in tears... the curtains catching on fire and Ryan almost dying at Luke's hands...memories of when this show was actually good. Though Marissa falls down the stairs, making the show at least somewhat interesting. Volchok takes her back to the trailer and fawns all over her. She pushes him out the door, but we all know she's an attention whore and now that her " John"-ny is dead, and Ryan isn't around, it's only a matter of time before Volchok is around for good.

Ryan's birthday party. Sandy comes back and explains that his mom "couldn't make it" to his party but left a nice note. Ryan is sad, but relieved his mom didn't come to embarrass him again. But all is forgotten when Sadie shows up! She blew off her old boyfriend for Ryan.

Marissa finds the invitation to Ryan's b-day party. Before she can say anything, she sees Ryan with the Cohens, and his new low-maintenance girlfriend. Mariss wanders away without saying anything. Wait, isn't that Volchok under the pier? And doesn't he have a flask of booze? Well, Marissa can't jump-start her drinking problem on her own.