The OC S03 E15 – Pre-movie reunion

Previously: Johnny fell off a cliff!
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The Heavy Lifting

Ryan: Just a couple disclaimers for anyone who doesn’t read the comments: I have been looking forward approximately forever for Willa Holland, because Thea Queen, and was so excited to get to her episodes that I kinda sorta wanted her to destroy the core four’s world. THAT SHE DID MY FRIENDS. So I may be just a bit biased on rooting for Kaitlin’s terrible decisions. Second – because she is not /technically/ part of the main cast yet, I’m totally calling her Young Thea.

The previouslies lead us into the core four being depressed about Johnny’s condition. Summer and Seth try to reassure everyone with past experience (Trey being shot and Tijuana) while Sandy and Kirsten bring in our favorite reoccuring characters – bagels!

Marines: I root for bagels like you root for Willa Holland. <3

Ryan: Ryan answers a call from Johnny’s mom who tells him that Johnny died. (I tried to find a gif of Marissa *actually* crying and I came up empty :/)

Young Thea comes out of the pool house just to ask what happened.

Mari: Way to be napping while everyone else was busy being worried about Johnny!

Ryan: CALIFORNIAAAA!!

Harper home. Marissa knocks on the Harper’s door and Chili answers. They talk about what to do for Johnny’s funeral (shouldn’t that be his mom’s job?) (M: Hahaha, parents that aren’t the Cohens) and decide on having it during the day (which is what most people do) with no black clothes or shoes allowed.

Casa de Cohen. Ryan and Seth talk more about the funeral and stuff. For some reason, Seth thinks that this is a good time to be Mr. Sunshine and say that Ryan doesn’t have to worry about Johnny and Marissa anymore. He awkwardly trails off into Sudoku and Ryan just makes this face.

Gal Pal Beach. Julie and Kirsten discuss the kids’ problems and the upcoming Valentines Day party they’re throwing. Kirsten considers canceling the party, but Julie wants to keep it. Until she remembers that her own romantic troubles could benefit from canceling the party. Real classy.

In typical Julie fashion, she considers prying information about Valentines plans from Neal, but Kirsten reminds her how the last round of ispy ended with a dessert tray toppling.

Harper Home. Marissa is only now leaving, apparently, when she runs into Johnny’s cousin, Sadie. She looks really familiar, but IMDB tells me she was in Twilight, which I have never seen.

Mari: OH THAT’S NIKKI REED? Huh. 

Ryan: I didn’t bother think to look up what she looked like in Twilight, but that’s okay because she’s barely recognizable.

Anyway. Marissa brushes Sadie off, and Sadie walks inside. For some reason, I don’t trust her. No one just comes the OC (and surrounding area) just to visit family.

Mari: People only come to town to mess things up and leave again.

Ryan: Cooper Trailer (the Trooper). Young Thea answers the door to Justin, a guy who seems to mostly just talk out the side of his mouth. Hereby known as “side mouth kid (SMK).” IMDB tells me that he too was in Twilight, so that’s a thing.

Mari: AHAHAHA. THIS IS JASPER.

I’ve seen the movie once so I know the terrible characters but clearly not well enough to identify them on my own…? Anyway, I love everything that is happening.

Ryan: HE’S BLONDE IN TWILIGHT TOO??

Justin wants to talk about their relationship, which Young Thea says doesn’t exist.

Newport Office. Sandy gets off the phone as Matt walks in. Sandy wants him to talk to Maya about something with her father. Normally I like the parent parts of the show, but to be honest I haven’t been paying close attention to this particular story line. (M: I blame stupid Matt.)

Marissa walks in as Matt leaves. Except he doesn’t leave because he stands around while Marissa asks Sandy to help with paperwork re: Johnny. Again, why is she taking over the Harper family responsibilities?? Matt offers to take care of it, and I get the slight icky suspicion that they’re setting up a Matt/Marissa thing. PLEASE NO.

Seth’s Room. Summer walks in and grabs Seth’s computer to see what he’s doing. Since he isn’t looking at porn, she confronts him about the pot in his drawer. She’s furious; not about the pot, because “while Marissa and I were hotboxing Luke’s car, you were at home making a manger for Captain Oats out of Lincoln logs. You were a late bloomer.“; she’s mad because he lied to her. Again. Summer tells him he better think of a way to try and fix things.

The Trooper. Ryan enters the trailer so that Young Thea can leave. It’s like only two people at a time are allowed on camera. Marissa gets a call, so she leaves Ryan (who just got there) to see Sadie at the only diner in Newport.

Diner for meet-ups but no eating. Sadie thanks Marissa for coming and they make awkward small talk about Sadie graduating and trying to start up a jewelry business. Marissa mentioned Ryan, which confuses Sadie. She segues into the fact that Johnny insinuated that he and Marissa were dating because he wanted a necklace for Marissa. It’s a gold chain with his birthstone, Marissa’s birthstone, and an angel because that’s what he thought of her as. I would have chosen “pushy”, “inconsistent”, or “irritating”, but whatever.

Mari: I’m sticking with sharply shouldered. (R: +1)

Ryan: Funeral Beach. The funeral goes on while the core four (and Chili) walk around awkwardly and leave flowers at the memorial. As Sadie and Mrs. Harper walk up the aisle, it looks like Mrs. Harper glares at Marissa? Maybe I’m just reading things into it because MY NEIGHBORS WON’T STOP WITH THE FIREWORKS AND I HAVE TO KEEP TURNING UP THE VOLUME.

The music gets louder and drowns out Sadie, as she tells a story about Johnny and his Power Ranger pajamas to a bunch of people we’ve never seen. Johnny only ever talked to his (ex) girlfriend, Marissa, and Chili. Who are these people? (M: Probably poor people; don’t worry about it.)

A bunch of surfer people stand in a line as Chili and some guy carry a surfboard to let it go adrift in the ocean. I’m a little distracted by all these surfers who look more like the fauns from The Chronicles of Narnia than people…

Ryan sees Volchok (who ALSO is from Twilight?? It’s like a pre-movie reunion!) (M: WHAT IS GOING ON?) while Marissa sees Young Thea sitting by the water. Ryan goes to talk to her, she frustrates him (GO THEA!), and she walks away before he can. Good shot there, sport!

Casa de Cohen. Sandy and Matt go inside after playing basketball and Sandy inquires about Maya. Apparently Matt never called her back and now she won’t talk to him. Kirsten conveniently walks into the kitchen at that moment and offers to play Cupid, even when she finds out who she has to invite. Kirsten and Sandy talk about how Sandy doesn’t like Valentine’s Day.

Bait Shop. Seth + Ryan and Marissa + Summer go on about what to do for Valentine’s Day. Volchok finds Sadie to ask how she’s doing; apparently they used to go out. Ryan comes up and tough guys Volchok away. He and Sadie bond over the fact that no one close to him has died while she has lost a number of people. Cheery.

Marissa bounds up to take Ryan away from what I assume will be a budding romance. (M: You’re good at this.)

Robert’s Home. Julie’s excuse to see Neal is that she forgot a cake knife from Young Thea’s birthday party. How many times can she use that excuse to get into his house?? Julie needles her way into finding out Neal’s plans (reading the Da Vinci Code) and, not finding the imaginary cake knife, lets herself out.

The Trooper. Side Mouth Kid brings Young Thea a teddy to hug. He asks if anything is wrong and she word vomits about Johnny and how she feels guilty about his death. SMK tries to comfort her, but Young Thea will have none of it. SMK gets even more reassuring and credits his therapist parents when Young Thea is impressed.

Casa de Cohen. Marissa, Seth, Ryan, and Summer walk into the kitchen where Sandy is flipping through a Victoria’s Secret catalog for Kirsten. Again it is brought up that Sandy doesn’t care about Valentine’s Day much, and my interest level in this plot day-vice goes down even more.

Pool House. Ryan and Marissa lie down on the bed to discuss Valentine’s plans. Marissa doesn’t want to do anything – just relax – but Ryan wants to make sure. Marissa gets weirdly defensive; “Ryan you’ve never liked Valentine’s Day before. Okay, so don’t act like suddenly it’s your favorite holiday.” They get into a fight about… what exactly? Most of their fights are pretty petty, but this leans to the side of overkill.

The next morning, Seth comes in for his favorite morning chat. There’s more talk about Valentine’s Day and how Summer and Marissa “canceled” it. Seth says to ignore Marissa’s wishes, because that’s a /great/ thing to do.

The Trooper. Matt knocks on the door to give Marissa the paperwork from earlier. He asks if Marissa and Ryan are going to the Valentine’s party Julie and Kirsten are throwing. She tells him no because she got into a fight with Ryan. He offers his paperwork services and a listening ear. Again I say NO to this potential love interest. Marissa goes back inside to call Ryan, but only gets his voicemail.

Yacht Club. Kirsten is treating Maya to lunch. AND MAYA IS DR. INARA!!!! THIS IS NOW THREE SHOWS WITH MORENA BACCARIN ON SNARKSQUAD!!

Mari: EVERY SHOW SHOULD HAVE MORENA BACCARIN ON IT. I mean, she couldn’t save Gotham, but at least we got her while we were suffering through Gotham. 

Ryan: Kirsten tries to be sneaky about setting Dr. Inara and Matt up, but Dr. Inara is having none of it. She asks how badly Matt wants to go out with her. Dr. Inara confesses that she’s always wanted to go out with Matt; she’s in.

Casa de Cohen. Sandy sets down a Victoria’s Secret bag next to one that Seth got for Summer. I’m sure there could be no hilarious contrivance that this will cause.

Sandy goes on about women’s underwear to Seth who is rather uncomfortable.

They talk more about Valentine’s Day plans and Seth vaguely confesses that he lied to her again. Sandy tells him to show her how he has grown up. (But has he?) Even though Sandy just came in, he goes back out for more shopping. Make one trip people!

Harper Home. Ryan arrives just in time to help Sadie carry moving boxes into the house. Sadie goes on in a meta sort of way that rubs me the wrong way. (M: It’s ’cause Twilight is in her future.)

Casa de Cohen. Sandy delivers presents to Kirsten and she opens SURPRISE! It’s the underwear meant for Summer.

Summer’s Room. Summer opens the lingerie meant for Kirsten. She’s disappointed in Seth because gifts change nothing. Once again, Valentine’s Day is canceled.

The Trooper. Marissa’s watching TV when Young Thea comes out in all dressed up. She and Julie are going to the party, but Marissa wants to stay home. Just as Julie and Young Thea leave, Ryan shows up hoping that Marissa will go to the party with him. She looks anything but convinced. He gives her a necklace.

Marissa still doesn’t want to go, which Ryan says is fine, but he wants to know the last time they actually spent time together, alone. Marissa accuses him of being glad that Johnny is gone (uncalled for!) and Ryan refuses to answer such an insensitive question. He leaves. Marissa goes back to her room and hides Ryan’s gift under some clothes along with the necklace Sadie gave her.

VDay Party. The party appears to be in full swing as Sandy asks Seth if Summer gave him back the lingerie meant for Kirsten. Ryan laments the absence of Marissa, but Seth just leaves him to go do something.

SMK and Young Thea smile at each and SMK approaches her. Young Thea teases him for showing up, and they go to get illegal drinks.

Seth finds Summer and Neal. He gives Summer a cocktail napkin with a confession of all of his sins to be given to his parents if he ever lies again. She calls his idea smart and they’re all happy again. Summer tells him she’s wearing his gift.

The Scene of Johnny’s Death. Marissa finds Chili sitting by a fire and sits down to talk with him. He goes on about how they’re the only two who understand (um, what?) and that they should get “more physical.” He tells her he’s going back to his real name, Dennis, because Johnny liked it better.

Mari: I honestly can’t decide if I care about this or the Valentine’s Day party less. 

Ryan: VDay Party. Julie throws shade at some oysters as Young Thea comes up to tell her that she’s decided to go back to school with SMK right away. SMK schoomzes Julie as best he can, and the two Cooper ladies say their goodbyes. (M: This is weird and more questionable parenting.)

Julie turns around and sees Neal. He wants to talk, but Julie thinks he wants to leave things as it is. Neal says it’ll only make their relationship more work, leading to a happy Julie.

Kirsten goes to comfort Ryan who is alone. Ryan thinks that Marissa needs to realize what she actually felt for Johnny before they can move further. He leaves but says he’ll make a pit stop on the way home. Let’s get to what’s really important though, because as Sandy walks up we see Dr. Inara having a good time with Matt. Sandy and Kirsten joke about how they’re talking business, and the two best parents are cute.

The Trooper. Marissa walks in on Young Thea packing and tries to reassure her for everything that happened on her Winter Break. Young Thea tells her she needs to just figure out what she felt for Johnny, despite Marissa’s denials. Marissa apologizes again and the two hug.

Harper Home. Sadie opens the door to Ryan, who wants to help pack up Johnny’s room.

A Car. SMK teases Young Thea about feeling sad about leaving Newport. Don’t worry! You’ll be back, or so says the cover of my Season 4 DVDs. (M: Spoilers from the early aughts!)

VDay Party. The same music from the funeral plays as we watch the important couples. Marissa gets Johnny’s locket from her hidden jewelry stash and… tries to cry without tears? (M: She keeps trying to make crying without tears happen. IT’S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.)

Harper Home. Ryan and Sadie are packing up, or rather sitting down and talking. Ryan reflects regrets about the night Johnny died, and Sadie continues to do her odd meta commentary while reassuring him. There’s a knock at the door, and Sadie goes to answer it. It’s Volchok, wanting to see her. He tries to pressure her and Ryan walks in as she shuts the door in his face. Ryan goes to look out the window to see Volchok glaring at him as we fade to black. Nice timing there, guys!

 

Next time on The OC: Ryan and Sadie go on a finding-Johnny’s-dad road trip in S03 E16 – The Road Warrior.