(S04E15) It's starting to feel very final isn't it? I'm really impressed with the way the series is wrapping itself up. Some of the cheese factor still exists (Seth getting help from the homeless folks again), but for the most part the characters and their paths are falling into place.
I think this may have been the first episode of The OC that took place entirely at night. As a result, the whole episode was lit in shades of dark and light blues. It reminded me a lot of a season one episode of CSI: NY.
Overall though, what the episode really emphasized for me is how far Ryan has come. This is probably the biggest tragedy that could have possibly occurred in Newport Beach and despite that, the group remained intact with Ryan right in the middle of it. Not bad for someone who came into their lives as an outsider.
(S03E25) The trailers promised us that someone MAY not survive the season finale and they were right. Someone MAY not have survived. But the MAY and the plot history of The O.C. is what puts it all in question. There was most definitely a jilted ex-lover. And definitely a serious car wreck. Definitely an explosion. And most definitely it looked like a main character said their final, unrecognizable words before they stopped breathing. But the MAY is still there. Why?
(S03E24) Prom is over and enter the aftermath. But surprise, surprise...Volchok? Not dead. Thank God. Don't get me wrong, I don't particularly care if the guy lives or dies, but it would have just been bizarro times infinity if another one of Marissa's love interests ended up in the morgue. She does seem to like them on the brink of death.
(S03E22) This was one of those
weird episodes where suspension of disbelief is absolutely necessary. Somehow (only with the magic of television),
Berkeley and Brown are both having their incoming freshman weekends the same weekend. Weird. Especially
weird that they would have an incoming freshman weekend months and months and months before the school
semester even starts. But whatever. It's The O.C. and I forgive.
(S03E21) So much happened on last night's episode, I just don't know where to start. I'll just jump
to the part that shocked me most -- the attempted rape of that poor girl at Volchok's party. Marissa sees one of
Volchok's slimy friends slip a questionable liquid into the beer of an already wasted girl. Him and some of his buddies
then take the passed-out girl outside to a van to tag team her. For a few minutes, I actually didn't think that Marissa
was going to do anything other than remain her passive aggressive self. Luckily(!), Marissa follows them outside and
claims that she needed to get into the van because she left her sweatshirt in there (passive aggressive!). If I saw
some guys doing that to a girl at a party, it'd be hard to tell me apart from the Incredible Hulk because I'd rip the
doors off that van. In fact, it wouldn't even get that far because I would have ninja-kicked that beer out of the
dude's hand before he could even think about giving it to her. Marissa didn't do any of those things, but she did
(thankfully) stop the rape, so I won't criticize.
(S03E20) It's college acceptance (or rejection) day in Orange County. I just love how via the magic
of television everybody finds out on the exact same day if they got into college or not. I also love that none of the
characters oo the show applied to any safety schools. You would think that a guidance counselor would advise them to
apply to at least two schools, but whatever, everybody got into the school of their dreams...minus poor Seth. 
Ah, the old "to invite the ex or not invite
the ex?" quandary. It's a doozy. Ryan is turning 18 and he's got a big decision on his shoulders -- should he
invite Marissa to his lame-ass birthday party or not? And not to read too much into the emotional complexity
of The O.C., but I liked how they had Ryan and Marissa trying to figure out how to get over each other,
while Julie and Dr. Roberts were trying to figure out how to get on with each other. It doesn't matter how old you get,
relationships are still a sonuvabitch.
Sesame Street's 40th: Five funniest characters
Sesame Street's 40th: Five biggest controversies
Press Kits Unwrapped: The Prisoner
