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.