Archive for the ‘The O.C.’ Category

From “guilty pleasure” to righteous”I love this show and you will totally love it, I guarantee” to “Okay, maybe they’re getting too big for their britches, but it’s still fun as hell” to “Good grief, please stop sucking” to “Thank you for killing off the dead weight that was dragging the show to its ultimate death knell” to “Hurray, you’re back in fine form” to “Good-Bye.” Last night’ series ender of The O.C. embraced all things cliché in the world of television series finale and it felt true to its very beginnings. Two pregnancies, a birth, a marriage ceremony interrupted by a proclamation of love from an abandoned suitor, a couple reuniting, and a character riding off into the sunset to follow her dreams. Finding myself sniffling and barking out laughs from moment-to-moment, I can admit that Josh Schwartz deftly handled putting his television baby to rest.

*Whew*

The final episode of The O.C. moved at a breakneck pace for the first forty-five minutes as if rushing to get everything current storyline-wise out of the way before moving on to the epilogue of each of the cherished characters. Of course it was necessary and it only added to the depth of feeling behind seeing each person fill in the blanks for us loyal few followers. Yes, it was set to a poignant, moving soundtrack and no, there weren’t any anvillicious reminders of the dearly departed Marissa Cooper. It smartly moved forward six months into the future when Kirsten was ready to pop, the Cohens were finding out if they could move back into their McMansion, Summer and Seth were in a stagnant pattern of Lazy-Boy ballet and game show obsession and Julie (pregnant with the spawn of Frank Atwood—yes, Ryan’s father) was making the final plans for her wedding to Texas Caricature With a Pulse/Bullitt. I’ll run quickly over the crucial plot points/series finale cliché check-list:

• Return To Good Times Past: A building inspector gave the bad/expected news that the Cohens would have to find a new house to live in leading to a final *brilliant* plan cobbled together by Seth and Ryan for The Cohen’s to move back to their old house in Berkeley where they had the “greatest times of their lives.”

• Unexpected Yet Joyous Pregnancy (This Time In Pet Mode): Pancakes, Seth and Summer’s bunny, has given birth, and produced a litter of adorable fuzzy wabbits.

• Following Your Dreams Part A: Summer, after a heartbreaking but ultimately uplifting conversation with Julie about unrealized futures recognized that she was settling for a life with Seth in Providence and she needed to spread her wings and become a part of the protest organization to follow her true calling.

• Birth In a Weird Location: Seth and Ryan find the *Berkeley* house where a flamingly gay couple have settled their roots (Hee! Roots!) but are unable to convince them to sell the house to the Cohen’s. Sandy and Kirsten fly in to try and convince them, but it doesn’t work UNTIL: Kirsten’s water breaks. Coincidentally, one of the gay men happens to be a midwife and Sophie Rose is born safe and sound.

• Stop the Wedding: Frank finds out, via Kaitlin, that Julie did love him, so he runs to stop the wedding, but the party has moved to a new location, the *Berkeley* house, once Julie gets word of the Cohen’s whereabouts. The wedding will be there! Coincidentally, (oh, these finale contrivances are so delicious I can’t even attempt to roll my eyes about them because of the previously mentioned full embracing of all things soap opera-tastic!), the other gay man just so happens to be a wedding planner and the wedding starts to go off with a hitch, buuuuut Frank uses a speaker phone to interrupt the ceremony which makes Julie have to decide once and for all what she’ll do/who she’ll marry.

• Personal Sacrifice In Order to Do the Right Thing: After a quick gay men huddle, the mid-wife-wedding-planner couple decides that the Cohen’s DO belong there and that the house is their’s to buy, if they want to start the new chapter in their life in the happiest environment possible. Yay!

• “Opposites Attract” Couple Reunion: Ryan and Taylor make up and get it on in one of the bedrooms in the *Berkeley* house thus sealing the deal for their future together and grossing out the wedding planner in order for him to make a cheesy-but-awesome spectacle about their inability to keep it in their respective pants.

• Following Your Dreams Part B/Personal Sacrifice In Order to Do the Right Thing Part B: Seth tells Summer what she has already decided to do: she needs to follow her dreams and that she has his complete support and devotion. A teary and cute farewell at the bus stop leads to Summer giving Ryan one of Pancakes offspring, Flapjacks (Dibs on the name!), and Seth making a sacrifice to better his relationship. He’ll go off to school by himself, Ryan will go off to Berkeley, and Taylor will head back to Paris, with the faith that all of them have the support of one another and can use that to make a go of it on their own.

• I Choose Me: Julie decides that finally she will make a go of all of this on her own, instead of relying on a man to help her, thus ending her life pattern. She spots a college brochure and eyes it like a meaty steak which leads to…

The complete and totally necessary sweet good-bye scene at the Cohen’s former McMansion. It doesn’t linger or draw out any moving moment and its subtle melancholy got my tear ducts working overtime. We have one final meta-comment from Seth before the two hug. Tear Ducts: 2, Michelle: O. Ryan makes a final sweep through the house, remembering important times past in each room from the pilot episode.

Aw, Ryan’s bad Chino hair! Yes, Ryan’s choker! Booyah, Seth and Ryan’s first meeting via Playstation 2. Each instance is played out for just the right amount of time; enough to initiate the knee-jerk sentimental reaction, but not long enough to bang you about the head and shoulders with it. Schwartz isn’t yelling at us to “Cry, pansies, Cry!” Rather, it is a collective embrace and appreciation for the support of the fans. This was, after all, a show about a kid who got a second chance, and who slowly but surely realized how important he was to everyone around him. It was the perfect way to say Goodbye and the perfect metaphor for the show, overall.
For those who want to keep track here’s how each character ended up:

Ryan: Turns out to be an architect, and when he spots a kid who looks just like him in his Chino hey-day, carries on the Sandy Cohen tradition of helping out the hopeless.

Sandy: Returns to his Berkeley past by becoming a Law Professor complete with his trademark quips.

Julie: Goes back to college and graduates with her family cheering in the stands, including Frank, Bullit, Kaitlin (wearing a covetous ‘Team Julie!’ shirt), and her son.

Summer/Seth: After a beautiful wedding ceremony between the two, Summer moves on to protest her little heart out with the support of her husband, who makes a collage of her accomplishments much like her collage of their relationship a la Season 2.

Kirsten: Uh, is a Mom…