it all comes together at the charity event, where marissa embarrassingly outs julie and caleb, seth makes out with summer while no one’s looking. sandy leaves work to be with his wife at the event and they win the romantic cruise raffle.

episode 11: “the homecoming”

it’s like every episode is more dramatic than the last. it’s thanksgiving and kirsten’s gonna cook dinner even though she’s apparently a terrible cook. ryan gets a call from trey in jail and asks him to drive some stolen? car from one friends house to a chopshop, which he does but almost gets beat up in the process had he not been saved by marissa. Marissa also meets Theressa, ryan’s old girl-next-door.

Back at the cohens, it’s the most awkward setting yet. Everyone ends up together, so it’s Sandy and Kirsten, Caleb and Julie as a couple (awkward!), Jimmy, and Rachel as a setup (awkward!), Ryan, Marissa, and Seth + Anna AND Summer (awkward, awkward!) It all ends up blowing up, with kirsten drunk, the dinner on fire, Anna and Summer leaving and everyone that’s left eating Chinese food. Man I wish my thanksgivings were half as exciting.

episode 12: “the secret”

strange things are going on in newport. summer and anna are hanging out and becoming buddies. luke and ryan are working together on a school project. and the “secret” is that luke’s dad is gay. jimmy tells sandy that he kissed kirsten and it causes a rift between sandy and kirsten and sandy and jimmy. seth makes a heart-felt apology to the girls and they pretty quickly switch from being friends to competing enemies again. caleb buys julie’s house, so jimmy has the money to pay off his debts, and julie and caitlin can continue living the newport lifestyle.

quotes:
ryan: “maybe you have the summer flu, maybe you need some anna biotics”

episode 13: “the best chrismukkah ever”

it’s the holidays in newport beach. seth is still trying to balance summer and anna and doing a poor job. in the end he tells both girls that he just wants to be just friends and they both tell him they don’t want to be a friend. ryan has bad memories of christmas in chino, but comes around in the end. marissa and her dad are broke and marissa gets caught trying to shoplift a watch for him.

kirsten finds a geological survey that her father’s company commissioned that makes the property they’re fighting over worthless. sandy confronts caleb with this new information and ends up buying the heights for the landtrust from caleb for a buck.

marissa, angry about the holidays, getting caught steeling, and her mother’s relationship with caleb starts drinking heavily. she crashes into another car in the parking lot when she tries to leave and ryan ends up driving her home. marissa decides to go to therapy and in the waiting room meets oliver.

quotes:
Marissa: “You’re going to South Coast Plaza alone?!”

notes:
when ryan is talking about the shoplifting with marissa later she says “this is because i stole a lipstick”, but at the mall, she stole a watch? another inconsistency was when anna shows up and kisses seth on the cheek leaving a lipstick print, but then in the next shot it’s gone.

Marissa tells ryan that she loves him and he just says “thank you”. Kirsten’s sister Haley is back in town. haley convinces sandy and kirsten to go out to a nye party (which turns out to be a swingers party) and as soon as they leave she throws a huge house party and they start to trash the place. sandy and kirsten keep pushing each other’s buttons at the swingers party, pretending that they’re actually going to go through with it. of course they don’t. Oliver, Marissa’s friend from therapy invites marissa to a new year eve’s party at his penthouse at the four seasons hotel. Turns out his parents own the four seasons. summer and anna, now both off of seth are being friendly again. at the last minute, ryan makes it to the party to kiss marissa at the stroke of midnight. anna shows up at the cohen house to kiss seth, summer makes out with some guy at oliver’s party, but tells him he’s not seth cohen. ryan finally tells marissa that he loves her.

Quotes:
Marissa: “i don’t know? russel crowe, he doesn’t do anything for me”
Marissa: “I love you” / Ryan: Thank you? / Marissa: You’re welcome?

this is when the show starts to jump some sharks in my opinion. haley seems to be overstaying her welcome with the cohens. haley starts hanging out and making out with jimmy.

now that everyone knows luke’s dad is gay, ryan and seth seem to be his only friends, and he’s turned into a goofy sap that tags along with them everywhere. what happened to the hard surfer dude? marissa is spending a lot of time with oliver and apparently completely retarded, not realizing that oliver’s trying to get with her. for some reason ryan doesn’t just punch her, and he keeps letting them hang out together. at a rooney concert that oliver hooks them up with, ryan sees oliver get busted for trying to buy coke and calls sandy to get him out of jail. anna and seth tell summer that they’re now officially a couple.

episode 16: “the links”

oliver is *still* in the picture, and marissa is still buying this idea that he has a girlfriend named natalie and that she just keeps backing out at the last minute. stupid and naive, she and the gang go to oliver’s place in palm springs. of course natalie doesn’t make it, and the whole weekend is oliver trying to make ryan look bad and summer trying to butt into seth and anna’s relationship. after ryan tells oliver to back off, oliver has a fake breakdown, tells ryan and marissa that he’s back in newport and has just ingested a bunch of pills (which we see him just put into another container) and the gang heads to newport to save oliver. he’s fine, saying he threw up the pills, and ryan’s skeptic, which makes marissa mad and she decides to stay at oliver’s place. ryan goes home.

sandy convinces kirsten to convince caleb to cut haley off. he does and haley leaves. sandy and jimmy decide to go into the restaurant business together.

notes:
when sandy and some law firm guy are talking about getting jimmy a job, they’re walking in the raleigh studio parking lot that runs along N Redondo Ave. just south of Rosecrans Ave.

ok, only two more episodes with this douchebag oliver. oliver just happens to transfer to the heights, and marissa thinks that it’s just fantastic. anna and seth are bothered by how similar they are (intensified by summer’s comment in the last episode where she said they are like brother/sister.) Sandy and Jimmy work on setting up their new restaurant. Julie gets a job as a designer at the Newport group, and while she does a good job, Caleb ends up dumping her via Kirsten, and she quits. Summer’s dating this tool named Danny that everyone except seth thinks is so funny (this kid seriously seems retarded, i don’t get why they think anyone thinks he’s funny?). Seth ends up ruining his relationship with Summer though, when he tells Danny to be even bigger and louder in his comedy which drives her nuts.

ryan who is more suspicious of oliver than ever after stealing a love letter from marissa’s locker, sneaks into school and looks at oliver’s transfer file. he gets caught by security, but not before he finds out that he was obsessed with another girl at his previous school who filed a restraining order against him. ryan faces suspension and is grounded in the pool house. dean kim warns marissa that ryan might be the dangerous one, and when she later finds out that he stole the letter (which she claims was given to her by oliver to proof read before he sends it to natalie) she breaks up with him, thinking he’s crazy and jealous.

finally back at school, oliver admits that he’s after marissa to ryan’s face and he punches oliver. a bloody-faced oliver smiles back at ryan as marissa comforts him.

ok, last show with oliver. ryan is suspended from school and it looks like he’s going to be expelled. at school, oliver is hanging out with marissa and is making plans to go skiing for the weekend. marissa still thinks oliver is just a friend. she’s as dumb as a sack of potatoes. Ryan calls marissa and leaves a voicemail on her cell phone asking to meet her in the library after school. Oliver intercepts the message and deletes it, and Oliver ends up meeting Ryan in the library and tells him that Marissa wants nothing to do with him. Ryan tells Julie that Oliver is no good for Marissa, but she’s a bad mom and doesn’t pay Ryan much attention.

Meanwhile Seth is spending a lot of time with Anna AND Summer and obviously making Anna jealous. Sandy pulls Seth aside and tells him he’s being a jerk. Seth apologizes to Anna, but she breaks up with him anyway, saying that Summer is the one he obviously loves. Luke investigates this “natalie” chick that’s supposed to be Oliver’s ex-girlfreind and it turns out she doesn’t exist. Ryan and Luke tell the sack of potatoes but she doesn’t believe them. Later at Oliver’s hotel, she walks down to the concierge and realizes that the lady at the front desk is Natalie Bishop, the woman that is supposedly this ex-girlfriend (but she’s in her 40’s).

It all comes together when Marissa realizes she’s been stupid, Ryan and Sandy come to the hotel with armed guards. Oliver threatens to kill himself, but in the end puts the gun down, Marissa and Ryan hug and hopefully that’s the last we’ll see of Oliver.

this show likes to use the holiday the episode is released on or near as fodder for the episode’s setting. this time it’s valentine’s day in the o.c. now that oliver is gone, marissa tries to snuggle up with ryan who doesn’t seem that interested in her anymore. seth tells summer that he’s broken up with anna, but summer doesn’t seem all that into seth anymore, although they end up having awkward sex anyway… turns out they were both virgins.

at a valentine’s party later that evening, ryan runs into his old girlfriend, theresa, who’s catering the event. he starts hanging out with her, and marissa is visibly jealous of them. luke goes to julie’s house after she left the party upset and he ends up spending the night with julie (marissa’s mom!) Jimmy finds Haley staying with a friend on a boat in the harbor. The episode ends when Marissa goes to the poolhouse expecting to find Ryan and Theresa together, but only Ryan is there. Ryan tells her he can’t pretend the whole oliver thing didn’t happen, and Marissa leaves in tears.

notes: in one scene luke calls ryan “ben” (his real name).

first off, what’s with the title not starting with “the”? so far, other than “pilot” it’s the first. theresa is back in town and wants to hang out with ryan. caleb asks sandy to help defend one of his employees from some shady business dealings, and sandy ends up doing some illegal dealings to get him off the hook. luke and julie are still getting it on at the mermaid inn (which is actually the beach plaza hotel at 2010 E Ocean Blvd in long beach), in a room right next door to where theresa is staying and both ryan and marissa visit. seth is tired of summer not acknowledging their relationship at school, so at a kissing booth, where summer is working, seth stands up and declares his love for her and summer finally acknowledges him and makes out with him in front of the whole school. in the last scene, ryan is at marissa’s motel and they start making out.

lots of awkwardness now that theresa is hanging out with ryan. caleb is riviera magazine man of the year. anna is moving back to pittsburgh. now that she’s leaving, seth realizes he still has feelings for her. luke and and julie are still banging. eddie comes down to the highschool and confronts ryan about theresa, ryan tells eddie he’s not sleeping with her (even though he is). Eddie later sees them together at the motel. at the man of the year awards dinner for caleb anna comes to say goodbye to seth and when she can’t find him gives ryan a letter to give to him. like all newport beach parties, punches start flying when eddie comes down and knocks ryan into the pool.

later ryan gives seth the wet letter which is illegible other than the words i love you. seth freaks out and runs down to the airport where anna tells seth the “i love you” part was followed by “as friends.” after some tears anna boards her plane and is off to pittsburgh.

notes:
the lunch where caleb tells kirsten about some of these shady business dealings that have been going on at the newport group is in shoreline village in long beach, ca. it’s actually just a few tables set up against the rail, that area is just a walkway.

i didn’t really remember this about the series until shali pointed it out and then as i’ve rewatched it, how they like to make fun of themselves for calling the o.c., “the o.c.”. to tell the truth though, almost all of my friends now called orange county, the o.c. so on to the l.a:

ryan and seth finally catch luke and julie cooper at the mermaid inn. ryan tells luke that he has to end the relationship and luke promises that he will. summer and marissa run into their favorite star from the show “the valley”, and he invites them to a party in l.a. marissa starts having second thoughts about going to l.a., but ryan convinces her to go so that luke will have a chance to talk with julie.

in l.a. seth flirts with paris hilton and summer flirts with “the valley” star. the party is at a strip club and the kids realize that haley is a dancer there. ryan narcs on everyone, including himself and calls sandy to help out. in the end both sandy and jimmy come to their rescue and take everyone home.

luke, who instead of telling julie it’s over, has sex with her. ryan calls luke to make sure he’s ended the relationship, and luke ends up sneaking into a dinner party at the cohens to tell julie it’s done. luke eventually ends the relationship and walks into the poolhouse to tell ryan he’s “finished sleeping with julie cooper.” marissa who was in earshot walks out of the bathroom stunned. stupid luke.

marissa has run away and everyone’s looking for her. turns out she’s staying with theresa in chino. ryan shows up at the house, which happens to be the same day that eddie and theresa are having their wedding party. after eddie realizes ryan’s not there for theresa, he cools down. eventually luke shows up to apologize and marissa smacks him.

seth’s grandmother sophie (nana) is staying at the house and is acting much more friendly than anyone remembers her. turns out she’s dying of lung cancer and doesn’t want to have any medical treatment. in the end sandy convinces her to do it for him, and seth and she agrees.

…one of the more boring episodes this season.

sandy and jimmy still aren’t able to get their liquor license, even though caleb has tried to persuade people he knows to let them have it. caleb proposes to julie cooper in front of pretty much everyone we’ve met so far at the lighthouse restaurant, including luke, who drives off, drinking and ends up crashing his truck. like all oc accidents so far, luke is banged up, but just fine. luke and his dad are moving up to seattle to start a new life. i think it’d've been funnier if they were moving to san francisco.

theresa, calls up sandy asking him if they can meet. turns out eddie’s been beating her, but she doesn’t want to press charges and doesn’t want to break up with him. she asks sandy to keep it a secret from ryan. ryan ends up finding out on his own when he runs into her and her black eye at the coffee shop. later at the wedding shower that kirsten has thrown for julie, eddie calls theresa and ryan freaks out and heads to chino to kick his ass. sandy pleads with him not to go, but he speads off anyway. in the end, ryan only made it to the mermaid inn and picked up theresa and brought her back to the cohens.

the other two big things in this episode were that caleb bought the lighthouse restraunt from jimmy and sandy for $2.5 million (more than twice what they paid for it), and everyone finds out that jimmy and hailey are a couple when they catch them making out on the porch.

sandy overhears caleb say that he has to go to vegas for the weekend to meet with some friends. they assume that means bachelor party and all the boys head to vegas. ryan hopes to win some money for theresa, but they end up hanging out and inadvertently hiring strippers, so ryan plays poker to win the $5000 to pay them off, but has nothing left for Theresa. Sandy figures out that the reason caleb wanted to go to vegas in the first place was to meet with a developer who he was going to sell the lighthouse property for way more than he paid to jimmy and sandy. sandy goes to the restaurant, sabotages the meeting and before he can punch caleb for trying to cheat him, jimmy punches caleb for blackmailing marissa to live with him.

meanwhile, back at home, hailey hires a bunch of strippers for a bachelorette party at the cohen’s. at the end of the evening, one of the strippers propositions julie who accepts, but julie realizes the stripper is a friend of hailey and she’s being set up. the two girls have an awesome catfight and end up in the water.

*and theresa is pregnant and the kid might be ryan’s!!!*

i loved rewatching this episode since caleb and julie get married at the wayferers chapel in palos verdes where my buddy eric got married a couple of years ago (a couple years after this episode). i was a groomsman, and i was talking with the minister about them filming the show there, he was cool.

but on to the epi and all the drama. caleb tells sandy that the reason he was trying to make that big sale of the lighthouse restaurant property was becuase the newport group was in financial and legal trouble and that would’ve bailed them out. looks like caleb is going to be broke, and julie is going to be with a broke husband again, ironically just as jimmy is cashing that huge check. ryan’s freaked out that he might be a dad. theresa goes back and forth on whether or not she’s going to have the baby and ends up deciding she will have it. seth tries to sell his boat to give ryan some cash to help out with the baby. he’s pretty freaked out about losing his friend who in the course of a summer and a semester turned his life around.

the wedding is surprisingly uneventful, but afterwards, marissa moves into the new mansion caleb bought for julie and starts drinking vodka. ryan and theresa head back to chino to start their new life as soon-to-be parents. seth, heartbroken about losing his friend, leaves goodbye notes for his parents and summer and sails out into the ocean (maybe going to tahiti?)