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.