The OC S03 E21 – Walls are for squares

Previously: Seth didn’t get into Brown and lied about it.
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The Dawn Patrol

Catherine: Hello, everyone! It’s me, you’re O.C. newbie back again to recap an episode of a show that I do not understand and that scares me a little. Just as a refresher, I have seen two episodes of this show ever including this one. So I’m a Snow here in the vast, uncharted wilderness of teen angst.

This episode did not start with any previouslies. It was just a very abrupt shot of their house. So abrupt that I had to pause it and calm down and get a glass of orange juice it was very taxing, you guys.

Marines: I guess we don’t realize how much we rely on previouslies until they are taken away.

Catherine: I have literally no idea what’s happening. Thanks, previouslies.

Anyway, so we open on the Cohen family kitchen. Seth walks in with some swordfish that he has grilled up and everyone loses their mind. I do, too because it’s not bagels. I remember this show being mostly bagels.

Doctor Eyebrows is all “There’s a new king of the BBQ” , and Seth is appropriately sarcastic saying that there’s no need to become a fisherman after all.

Ryan’s like “Yeah, that was a bad idea“, and I’m telling you all this ’cause I have no idea what’s relevant. Was there a plotline in the last episode where Ryan tried to give everything up and take to the sea, living the life of a salty fisherman with nothing but a loyal, if mangy dog to his name?

I don’t know gang, I just got here. I’m just trying to help.

Mari: You aren’t actually too far from the truth. I can’t even remember when it happened but Ryan totally tried to become a fisherman.

Catherine: Oh my God. I may need to actually go back and watch that now. 

Luckily, helpful exposition comes in the form of Ryan telling me that Seth lied to Summer and then broke up with her to cover it up.

Wow, Seth. Wow.

They trade barbs over it for a second and then get all evasive when Doctor Eyebrows asks what their talking about. A moment later, Mama Eyebrows (I can not remember half of these characters names and googling it would take literally seconds of work, so…) informs the boys that their graduation tickets came.

Ryan is all, “Haha, yeah, I have no one, throw my extra tickets into the sun.”

And everyone looks appropriately sad while we remember that Ryan has no one, you guys.

Kirsten (There, I Wikipedia’d it, you monsters) suggest that Ryan invite his mother to graduation. And Ryan broods like Ryans are wont to do.

After he leaves, Kirsten and Sandy argue a bit about Ryan’s mom. Sandy thinks it’s a bad idea to invite her Kirsten is all but she’s in AA now! Cured! Childhood salvaged! *dusts hands*

Sandy points out that Ryan is still just a kid and Kirsten says it’s not like grown ups make any better decisions and Sandy looks kinda slighted.

Cut to Ryan brooding by a window. Sad, soft music plays. A million teen hearts break. Kirsten comes in and apologizes for bringing up his mom. Ryan says it’s actually something he’s been thinking about for a while and he’s worried he won’t get to see her again. He asks how she was when Sandy saw her and Kirsten says: “Honestly, not good, but she’s trying. Maybe seeing you again will be just the thing”.

I wasn’t aware that Ryan had magic sobering powers but okay, cool. (M: They didn’t work on Kirsten but she’s only his substitute mother.)

Ryan decides to fly to see his mom to give her one last chance but he wants to do it alone because you can’t brood with friends like you can Words With Friends.

CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME.

MY GOD THAT WAS A LONG PRE-CREDITS SCENE.

Marissa Cooper is brushing her perfect hair in her bedroom when fucking JAMES FROM TWILIGHT shows up with a smug smile on his vampire face.

Holy shit. He almost killed Bella, you guys. I’m scared again.

Mari: So far the best part about having new recappers is that everyone gets to have this same reaction to James from Twilight.

Catherine: It’s very jarring to see him in other situations.

He is wearing a denim shirt with no sleeves and Marissa asks him wtf he’s doing in her room and he tells her he just got back from wearing a denim shirt with no sleeves in Mexico. He starts coming onto her and untying her robe and Marissa’s like Yeah, nah. And pushing him away.

James from Twilight is like “What are you talking about? I go away for a few days and you get over me?”

And I’m like no, playa, you need to go change that fucking shirt to something less Nascar and more Grand Prix and then hit me up. (M: The sleeveless shirt was Edward’s jam anyway.) But Marissa is more tactful and stutters a bit before DUN DUN DUN Julie Cooper shows up in the doorway all “Her mother might find out”.

I’m excited ’cause I love this bitch.

James from Twilight is all Nice to meet you. And Julie Cooper is like, “Keep that grimy paw away from me, unless you wanna see what 10 years of cardio barre can do to your face”.

Ha! Get ’em, Julie Cooper.

James from Twilight says he was just leaving and that Marissa must be over him anyway, but in a smug ass denim shirt with no sleeves way. Then he leaves and Marissa tells her mother to spare her the lecture. Julie tells her there’s no lecture and she get’s the whole bad boy thing and that James from Twilight has great abs (although she didn’t actually see them. ‘Cause denim shirt. No sleeves.)

But Julie does tell Marissa that the choices she makes now are gonna affect her future and she basically forbids Marissa from seeing him again. Last episode I watched Marissa was dating a Oliva Wilde but idk where she went. I liked her better. She always wore entire shirts.

Mari: I think your memory is fooling you. I’m pretty sure Olivia Wilde was fond of wife-beaters.

Catherine: Yeah, but she’s Olivia Wilde so she can pull off anything. 

Back over at Cohen Manor, Kirsten brings Ryan a packed lunch for his flight. It’s sweet until you remember that this is post 9/11. So that Juicey Juice is gonna get him tackled by the TSA. (M: A+)

Kirsten basically tells him that no matter what happens he will have at least one proud mother at his graduation.

Over in some type of young-people-gathering-place, Seth BROODS over Summer while she gets coffee. Then this other blond girl, who is not any of the blond girl’s we’ve already seen, gets a calculating look on her face. Again, I have no idea if this is relevant, I’m just trying to help. Please donate.

So this girl, who kinda reminds me of Marsha from ‘The Brady Bunch’, goes over to Summer and tells her that Seth looks hella miserable.

Summer says, and I quote: “The only thing that would make me feel better is seeing that assless, gutless wuss skinned, flayed and served as assless, gutless wuss tar-tar”. So I guess I figured out whose the real salty fisherman here.

Summer tells Marsha to fuck off (basically) and Marsha counters that she’s just offering Summer her friendship. This girl is already giving me the heebie-jeebies.

Summer talks a bit about her and Seth’s break-up but not in any explicitly helpful way. She just rants about him saying he loved her and they were destined to be together and then taking it back.

She points to a nearby coffee cart and says that Seth once declared his love for her on it and—wait……are these characters still in high school? Why is there a coffee cart? This looks like a college. Is it a college? What’s happening? Is this just how O.C. highschools are run? ‘Cause it’s a lot.

Mari: We can’t know the ways of rich people. Because we’re poor.

Catherine: Summer decides that she’s too hot for Seth to walk away from and that he must be hiding something. She announces that she’s gonna go full Nancy Drew and get to the bottom of his lies. Then she leaves with a ‘Thank you so much for the pep talk”, but in a way that tells us that Marsha Brady didn’t even have to be there for this conversation.

Over in the next scene, Sandy confronts Matt in a bar. I hope you all know who Matt is; this is counting against your final grade.

There’s a bunch of legalese about some guy named Griffin and how Matt has evidence on him and he wants Griffin to pay up blackmail!style or he’s telling EVERYONE THE THING. They never say what THE THING is so I’m gonna start speculating wildly.

Peanut allergy? Lizards? Halloween? I don’t know.

Mari: I love you so much because your wild speculation involve a food allergy, a reptile and a holiday.

Catherine: Those are the only three things that have ever been a problem for me. *shrug*  

At Casa!Crack house, James from Twilight (I patently refuse to learn his name) is smoking a cigarette like a trademark bad boy when there’s a knock on the door.

It’s Marissa.

“Did you forget your watch again?” he asks.

“No, I came to see you“, she replies.

She asks him if he wants to hang out and I wonder if Julie Cooper really does remember bad boys and whether or not she knows she basically FORCED Marissa to sex him up after forbidding her from seeing him.

A Diner. Albuquerque. Ryan is wearing a very tight green t-shirt.

He sees a cute blonde waitress and tells her he’s looking for Dawn Atwood. The waitress says her shift doesn’t start for a couple hours. The waitress, Chloe, quickly figures out that Ryan is Dawn’s son and she obvs thinks he’s cute and that she’s gonna hit that. I can’t find it in my heart to blame her.

Back in the O.C. Summer and Seth are in math class listening to a boring lecture. Summer starts trying to get Seth’s attention but he’s ignoring her. She finally fakes a loud laugh and tells the teacher Mr. Boring Pants PHD that Seth was doing a penguin-like impression of him behind his back. Mr. Boring Pants PHD gives them both detention.

Outside in the hall, Summer tells Seth that she lied so that they could get a chance to talk and then she tells him that the break-up is off. Apparently since she broke up with him, she has the right to revoke it and unless he can tell her what it is that made him straight up lose his mind and say all that shit, they are staying together.

Weird strategy, let’s see how it plays out.

Ryan goes back to the diner and sees his mother being happy and flirty with some biker guy and he BROODS so much he creates a black hole in the universe.

Ryan starts to leave but Chloe the waitress stops him. She asks him if he wants to go somewhere and talk and then gives him a downright lascivious look. I’m thinking this actress isn’t gonna win an Oscar in subtlety.

Back at the Crack House, Marissa and James from Twilight are going full 9 and a half-weeks when Julie Cooper shows up to turn everyone to stone. Marissa hides while James from Twilight opens the door.

Julie storms in talking about how the school called and Marissa didn’t show up today. James from Twilight, who can’t resist lighting up a smoke cause he’s SUCH a bad boy you guys, points out that Marissa already got into college.

“Listen up, Tommy Lee”, Julie vamps, “You’re just the latest in a series of experiments my daughter likes to make when acting out”. Snap. Flawless victory, Julie Cooper. Marissa listens at the door while her mother dismantles her boyfriend by actually saying very nice things about how Marissa is better than him.

Back over in hot waitress land, Ryan is drinking with a hot waitress (Isn’t he, like 17? How did he get a drink in a bar?) (M: His face.)

Chloe tells Ryan that his mom is doing well and that the biker guy she was making out with is Ron, her new boyfriend. (He likes dark-haired women and breakfast food). Chloe pulls Ryan over to the dance floor and they slow dance. He tells her this isn’t what he expected, and she says ‘Maybe it’s what you need”. LIKE SHE EVEN KNOWS HIM. UGH. They get all cuddly which leads to a smash cut of him bringing her back to his hotel room and them having teen-show-appropriate sex.

I. Am. Heartbroken. I thought Ryan loved ME.

Mari: I think he just reacted to his mom’s happiness with some casual sex. IDK what’s happening.

Catherine: Ew. Super weird, Ryan.  

Over in his office, Sandy is tenderly fondling a small architectural model of some building when a guy, I’m assuming the aforementioned Griffin, comes in and Sandy tells him all about the blackmail subplot.

Griffin says he will deal with Matt but Sandy counters that’s he’s gonna do it. I don’t even know what’s happening and even I can’t see this going well.

Mari: Honestly? I’ve been following Sandy’s whole subplot here and I still don’t really know what’s happening because I DON’T CARE.

Catherine: It’s pretty boring.

Post PG sex, Chloe (now fully dressed) tells Ryan that she’s not gonna say anything to his mom about the sex. Ryan (shirtless, of course) agrees that that’s a good plan. Chloe sees the graduation tickets and is all, “wow, your trashbag mom and her Sons Of Anarchy bf should blend right in at Uppington prep, dipstick.”

I mean, she basically says that. It came off that way.

Ryan calls Seth and tells him that he’s planning on coming back and Seth tells him that it would be stupid to go all the way to New Mexico and not even see anybody and I’m like, are you paying attention, Seth? He hooked up with a random waitress. That’s seeing somebody.

Ryan asks Seth if he’s still lying to everyone about everything. And Seth says yes but that Summer wants answers.

Ryan: “It sounds like we both have women to face.”

I’m weirded out, they had almost this exact same scene in the last episode I reviewed. Only then Ryan was talking about his ex who was 30 and adopted and went to Chicago or something. They also had that same talk twice in that episode. I feel like Ryan and Seth maybe have the same conversation a lot? No judgments, guys. Writing is hard.

Mari: What? This website is practically called we know writing is hard but we are going to judge you anyway dot com.

Catherine: But that URL was already taken? Makes sense.

Ryan goes back to the diner and sees his mom and she runs up and hugs him.

Seth goes over to Summer’s house to break up with her.

Seth says that since she un-broke up with him last time the ball is in his court now so he can re-break up with her.

But Summer only un-broke up with him so that she could figure out why he was breaking up with her in the first place.

I can feel my life slipping away.

Back at Diner Scene, Dawn tells Ryan that Chloe told her about the graduation and she’s totally in. Ryan seems put-off that Chloe told her. But he quickly forgets it when he has a nice mom moment over the invitation.

Then a broody, angst filled song plays as Seth throws himself down on his bed and puts his FEET ON HIS PILLOW. GROSS.

Back at the Crack House, Marissa wakes up to find that James From Twilight has invited a bunch of his bad boy friends over to drink beer and surf. They’re probably also going to egg someones house and loiter. ‘Cause that’s what bad boys do. You wouldn’t understand.

Bad boys also definitely have parties that start in the morning. Just, like, all the time.

Some super bitch named Heather is there to get all judgey with Marissa about ‘The Princess falling off her throne‘ and she’s able to do this very easily because James From Twilight doesn’t have walls around his bedroom. Walls would cramp his style, you dig? (M: Walls are for people with morals and values!) (C: Walls are for squares.) 

Ryan is back at the diner that morning and Chloe is being all vaguely Single-White-Femaley with Dawn, hovering around, talking about dresses. Dawn gets a call from her bf who is apparently a trucker and had to go out on the road and that’s why he’s not there. Suuuure. Dawn asks if she can bring ‘A friend’ to the graduation and Ryan reluctantly agrees. He’s obviously pretty sore about her dating this guy.

At the Summer house, Summer is talking to Marsha Brady about Seth breaking up with her. She’s pissed, but admits that she still loves him. Marsha points out that Seth never said he didn’t love Summer and then Dr. Phil’s a bit about Seth acting out of fear. This girl seems intense and creepy. This episode is FULL of creepy blonds (no offense, Marissa Cooper).

Mari: Please offend her. She’s intense creepy #1 but you just can’t tell all of the time because Mischa Barton can’t emote.

Catherine: Oh okay, you just answered a lot of my questions about her.

Summer and Marsha decide to come up with a scheme to….win Seth back, I guess. Or kill him. I’m not sure.

Over at the Cohen house: OMG Seth is playing with a toy horse that I can only assume is the horse that Summer used to be in love with! I was very confused about this in my last recap, “Episode 2×14: The One With The Horse”.

So, this is the horse. It’s all coming together like an episode of Lost. This is high-octane tv, kids.

He gets a call from Marsha (who is apparently named Taylor, go figure) who tells him that detention is going to be held in the student lounge. I can’t imagine the sheer cunning that went into this diabolical plan.

Kirsten, whom I haven’t seen in what feels like years, calls Sandy on his super awesome flip phone and comments that he left early and she hasn’t seen him in a while. She says she needs him home tonight and that they need to talk.

Every episode I watch with them they’re fighting, it’s like a curse. I’m gonna be the reason this marriage breaks up, guys.

Anyway, Sandy promises to be home and hangs up and Matt teleports in to be slimy again. He tells Sandy that Griffin said he would pay up. Sandy tells him that Griffin is more interested in beating Matt up than paying him. It’s all very macho, I fairly swoon.

“You can’t trust him, Matt,” says Sandy. “If anybody should know that, you should.” Matt tells Sandy that he holds all the cards here, and Sandy asks if he’s willing to bet on that.

I mean, duh. That’s what you do with cards.

Back at the teenage!crack house, reefer madness is in full swing. And by that I mean James From Twilight is having a huge party with BONGS and BEER and LOUD ROCK MUSIC. It’s making me clutch my pearls! The actress who plays Heather is in the corner doing a terrible approximation of drunk dancing. I honestly thought she was supposed to be playing a zombie for a second.

Some guys are leering at her to ‘Take it off, Heather‘ and I hope she bites them and the infection spreads.

James From Twilight is finally wearing an entire shirt, I assume he found it in a dumpster like his haircut.

Marissa, who is watching Heather sway (I can’t call that dancing, not in Magic Mike’s America) (M: what a time to be alive) goes over to get another beer and notices that a long-haired goon that was getting all handsy with Heather a second earlier is now drugging Heather’s beer with something.

Aw, HELL NAW.

He basically pours the beer down Heather’s throat and Marissa looks freaked out as well she should.

Back at the O.C. High School, Seth shows up for detention and finds that the hallway is filled with red and pink heart balloons and streamers.

A pathway of giant Hershey’s kisses leads to—WAIT SHUT UP ARE THOSE REAL CHOCOLATE?! WHY IS HE JUST WALKING BY THEM?!? SEETTHHHH!!!!

Ugh. Whatever. Summer emerges from behind some balloons and Seth asks her what’s going on.

“I know you’re afraid, Cohen”, she says as she climbs up on top of the coffee cart.

And he’s like, “Yeah, that you’re gonna fall”.

I like that Seth makes all my sarcastic jokes for me.

Summer tells Seth that his breakup was missing a key ingredient.

“Which is?”

“That you don’t love me anymore.”

Summer says that she wants to be with him and she loves him red and pink balloons in the cafeteria much. Which is a lot.

She asks “In the presence of this coffee cart and the sacred moment that it represents, if you can honestly tell me that you don’t love me anymore.”

Seth hesitates.

Summer says if he can say it that she will go to Brown and be cold and alone and miserable.

Seth says he doesn’t love her and Summer is shocked and hurt and yells at him to get out of there.

   

I wanna be all like, Um, you had to know this was a possibility, Summer. But she’s a teenager so she gets a free pass from my judgement.

FREE PASS.

Mari: Also, Seth is being a giant jerk baby right now so Summer gets all of the free passes and NONE FOR SETH.

Catherine: Summer goes to BROOD on the stairs and Creepy Marsha Brady shows up to lend her condolences. Summer brushes her off and runs away.

Next scene, Summer shows up for detention and Seth is there and I’m thinking that this declaration of love may have been a better idea after they were forced to be locked in a room together for hours without speaking. You live, you learn, Summer. Next time.

Over at the date rape party express, Marissa gets a call from her mom and ignores it. These kids today.

Across the room, she sees two scummy guys are ushering a mostly-unconscious Heather out of the room.

Marissa takes action, following them out. (FOUR FOR YOU, MARISSA.) She meets up with them outside a van and says that she needs into the van and that she left her jacket inside it. One of the scummy attempted rapists is all, it’s not that cold. And Marissa’s like, yeah but it’s my favorite jacket.

She tries to push past them and they start getting physical with her and it’s very nerve-wracking. I didn’t sign up for this type of scary shit, show! I thought you were about beaches and bagels!

Marissa manages to get into the van where a THIRD GUY is assaulting Heather’s unconscious body. Marissa’s starts yelling at them and making a scene and all the stuff you’re supposed to do, good job, Marissa. They scummy guys are like, “whoa, chill out, dude, you broke up our totally awesome, chill, rape party.” Marissa is rightfully disgusted.

Back in Albuquerque, Ryan is in his hotel room when mom and Chloe show up. Apparently they’ve been on a shopping spree. Dawn shows Ryan a dress.

“I know this isn’t like what Kirsten wears. It’s a little low-cut. A little sparkly.”

Don’t compare yourself to other girls, Dawn Atwood! We are all beautiful snowflakes!

She says she’s gonna try it on and Ryan stops her and says that he doesn’t really have the time and he got an earlier flight back to the O.C. Then he basically uninvites her to graduation.

It’s HARSH. Her face just falls. And Chloe is disappointed. Ryan offers to see her later in the summer instead. Dawn cuts him off and says that he doesn’t have to lie to her.

“I may not have been the best mother in the world but I have never been ashamed of my family.”

Ouch all around.

Mari: Mama Atwood, you were never ashamed because you were DRUNK and ignoring your family so. Argument invalid, try again.

Catherine: Not being aware is not that same as not being ashamed. 

After a NOT!Commercial break, Ryan is packing up and arguing with Chloe, a girl that he just met like, 5 minutes ago. He rants about how his mom is always the same. She get’s clean for a little while, promises she’s changed, then she meets some lowlife and bottoms out. So I guess we’ve solved the mystery of what Ryan has against his mom’s new bf.

Chloe points out that Dawn met Ron in rehab (…okay?) and that he hasn’t had a drink in 12 years. Ryan seems regretful and says that he didn’t know that but he’s still gotta get to the airport. Chloe offers to drive him and says there’s a stop she wants to make on the way.

I assume we’ll be able to find his kidneys listed on the dark web soon.

Back in the O.C., Sandy didn’t come home like he said he was going to. Kirsten also can’t reach him on his phone.

He’s in a parking garage, where all shady business deals go down.

Matt shows up and meets with some guys and tells him that THE!FILES are in the back of his car. The shady guys tells him that they aren’t there for THE!FILES. Out from the shadows comes Sandy, like Batman, patrolling the parking-garage-of-shady-business-deals.

Sandy says that it’s just as well, because Matt doesn’t have any FILES anyway. The shady guy doesn’t believe him and gets his flunky to go check Matt’s car. I’d like to remind the readers that I still have no idea what’s going on or what any of this is actually about.

Sandy tells Matt that he searched his harddrive and emails and etc. And that Matt never had any evidence on Griffin. All he had was gossip and hearsay.

Phew! Crisis over?

The shady guy is all, “You’re wasting my time, Ramsey.”

And Sandy’s sasses, “Yeah, think of all the sick people you could be healing.”

Sass runs in the Cohen family, apparently. (M: It’s still sass even if we don’t know WTF is going on, right?) (C: I like to think so.)

The shady guys leave and Sandy gives Matt a piece of paper. It’s his severance. He tells him it will get him on his feet in Chicago. Matt says he can’t take it but Sandy counters that he (Sandy) put him (Matt) on this path and to take it and go.

Matt says he’s sorry and Sandy says, ‘Me too’. Sandy gets back into his car and takes some papers out of the inside of his jacket and hides them away.

THE!FILES?

Back at the loveless marriage house, Kirsten is standing over a candle light dinner that she made for Sandy and that is obviously rapidly growing cold. LIKE THEIR MARRIAGE. METAPHOR HIGH FIVE!

She throws out the food and breaks out a bottle of wine. If I know the Snark Squad, they approve. But then she pours the wine down the sink. Which I guess you guys approve of slightly less. Wine foul.

Mari: Well, Kirsten is a recovering alcoholic so we approve of not having wine THIS TIME.

Catherine: Right. Good rules. I can respect that.

Seth comes home and Kirsten rushes to hide the empty wine bottle. Suspicious?

Seth asks if she’s seen Ryan and Kirsten says she hasn’t. Then he asks if she’s okay and she says yes but it’s obviously a lie. But Seth doesn’t notice and goes off to go to bed.

Back in Albuquerque, Chloe brings Ryan back to the diner scene to show him his mom’s locker. She has many pictures of him in various growth stages taped inside the door.

“You’re her whole life, Ryan,” Chloe says.

Oh man! Pictures? That makes up for all the alcoholism and terrible child rearing! You’re so right, random waitress.

Dawn comes in as they’re poking through her locker and says that her eyes are red from crying and not from drinking. Chloe leaves to give them some space and Ryan apologizes to his mom.

She says that when Sandy invited her to Ryan’s birthday party she really wanted to go but that she wasn’t ready. She admits that she’s been going to meetings and dating less dirtbaggy guys and that she’s doing a lot better now. She guesses that Ryan doesn’t really know what it feels like to have to hold it together every day. Ryan says that he kinda does because, “I live in Newport but I’m still your kid, after all.”

Dawn asks Ryan to promise to remember that she’s not all bad and Ryan promises and then he gives her the tickets to his graduation.

Outside, Chloe is waiting (for his kidneys). She apologizes to Ryan for the family intervention and he says it’s alright ’cause it worked. She’s all, “Oh, well then I’m not sorry…for anything”. (The sex, is what she means).

He says he’s leaving and Chloe hopes that she can see more of him someday and IDK, I think she saw A LOT of him already, but okay. She gives Ryan a kiss on the cheek as he leaves and he seems (to me) to be sorta trying to get away from her and her creepiness but that’s just me. I’m just trying to help.

A classic, angsty teen show song plays over Sandy putting the papers that he took from Matt into his safe.

And we cut to Julie drinking alone in the dark, lamenting about how lame everyone else is.

Marissa shows up, crying and they hug. The Bad!Girl life was too much for Marissa.

Over at Summer’s house, Summer is in her room talking to Marsha Brady. Marsha is trying to cheer up Summer who says, “He doesn’t love me,” in kind of a defeated tone and lays her head on Marsha’s shoulder.

Ryan gets back to the Cohen house and Seth is waiting for him.

I’m nervous because I’ve already used a lot of words on this post and, even though there’s only a minute left, these two boys seem to like cramming 80,000 words into that amount of time. (M: They have a lot of problems to discuss.)

Ryan tells Seth that his mom is coming to graduation. Seth tells Ryan that he’s made a terrible mistake and now he has to find a way to get Summer back and get into Brown. (UGGGHHHH). Ryan asks how he’s planning on doing that and Seth tells him that’s where he comes in.

Seth: “It’s gonna be a long night of planning.”

Ryan: “It’s good to be home.”

Fade to black. I feel fundamentally changed.

 

 

Next time on The OC: College orientation time and a familiar face in S03 E22 – The College Try.