About:
The O.C. S4.E04 “The Metamorphosis”
Drinks Taken: 15
Welcome back to The O.C. Rewatch Project! Last week, Meredith asked me how great Season 4 is so far, and I have to say it is leaps and bounds better than half of Season 3. I am so excited for The O.C.: The College Years and for everything it brings – especially Pancakes. I cannot wait for Pancakes.
Let’s drink to cute college fun times!
The O.C. Drinking Game
Drink once every time:
The ladies have a convo while primping in front of a mirror
Seth makes a nerdy reference
Ryan wears a white tank top
Anyone plays a video game
Summer says “ew”
Anyone eats a bagel
Anyone references The Valley
Drink twice every time:
Someone says “Newpsie”
Fisticuffs occur (three times for pool fights!)
Someone grabs a cup of coffee
Ryan and Seth read comic books
Kaitlin is a stone-cold badass
4.3 “The Cold Turkey”
It’s Thanksgiving time! And just like most of our family gatherings, this one is quite stressful and dramatic. I was hoping we’d be out of the Grieving Marissa Cooper woods by now, but we’re not. Ryan may have moved back into the pool house, but he’s still sneakily plotting Volchok’s murder with Julie. Everyone at Casa Cohen is acting super awkward – Seth is still feeling adrift without Summer, Ryan is seething while putting up a fairly stoic front, and neither Sandy nor Kirsten know how to handle it. So Kirsten puts her foot down and tells everyone to stop acting like weirdos, at least for Turkey Day, and sends the boys off to do the shopping. But first, Seth has to pick Summer up from the airport.
Things are predictably awkward, even though Seth brought Summer some roses, but the two eventually settle into something resembling their old groove. Summer can’t stay with Seth long because she has to deal with the nightmare situation at her house – Julie is avoiding Neil, who just wants to talk about Things and Stuff, but she’s so obsessed with her murder mission that she can’t be bothered. Kaitlin has taken in a prissy little stray dog she names Julie, and her new pup pal completely devours Neil’s $800 Roberto Cavalli loafers. To be fair, no one needs $800 loafers.
Meanwhile, Volchok is back in town and he’s asked for Sandy’s help – he wants to turn himself in and he’s naively hoping for a slap on the wrist, but Sandy assures him he’ll have to do the time. When Ryan finds out about Sandy’s secret client, he’s obviously feeling betrayed, but Sandy drives him straight over to the hotel where Volchok is staying and tells Ryan he trusts him to handle himself appropriately. Of course Ryan wails on Volchok for a minute, but the two have an odd heart-to-heart: Volchok is just as consumed with grief – he never meant for Marissa to get hurt, but he was so irrationally angry and jealous of Ryan, and he let that anger get the best of him. These two are never going to be pals, but at least they’ve both gotten a little closure.
Julie wasn’t invited to the Cohens’ Thanksgiving for obvious reasons, but she makes her way over eventually and gives a very rare Julie Cooper Apology before heading to the pool house with Ryan and asking him to tell her something – anything – about her daughter. Ryan knew Marissa in a way Julie never could as a parent, and their moment together in the pool house is simply the sweetest.
Ugh, I feel so awful for Julie – Neil has treated her so unfairly (UGH AND HE WAS MY FAVORITE) through her grieving process. Grief is irrational and wholly individual, and it’s so terrible for him to cheat on her and go back to the step-monster. Summer doesn’t really approve, either, but she has to be there for her dad, even though she’s still kind of dealing with her own grief. So Summer decides to take a later flight so they can still salvage their Thanksgiving time together, and it looks like we might be getting over this Marissa Hump.
How many times did I have to drink?
9
Cohen House Rules
Sandy lays down the law about Julie: “Well, when you send our kids on a murder mission, you don’t get invited to Thanksgiving.” Fair.
Dr. Roberts loves Chili’s
Dr. Roberts, no. This is seriously the last straw.
Kirsten Cohen, therapist
I didn’t mention above, but Taylor sneaks her way into the Cohens’ home because she’s terrified of telling her mother about her estranged husband Henri Michel. Kirsten offers her a real meal in exchange for Taylor’s help preparing Thanksgiving dinner, while Taylor sniffles in French until Kirsten agrees to grease the wheels with Taylor’s mom a bit – obviously that goes poorly and Taylor’s mom basically disowns her. Ugh. Taylor’s mom is the worst (and not even worthy of me remembering her name).
MON DIEU!
4.4 “The Metamorphosis”
Things are finally heading in the best direction with the fourth episode, which has just about everyone operating at 100% cuteness. Summer feels like her whole social activism thing is a crutch, so she decides to see a therapist and finally go through that grieving she’s been avoiding:
Seth comes up for visit just as Summer decides to revert back to her shopaholic, Valley-loving, gossip-obsessed ways, but something feels off – none of these things make her happy anymore; she’s grown out of all of her high school hobbies, except for Seth Cohen. So Seth Cohen meets her new hobby, Che:
Summer finds herself helplessly drawn to liberal social causes, and this really is the best version of Summer Roberts EVER. She looks adorable, she’s concerned about real people and real issues, and she’s more hilarious than ever before. But she’s so invested in her causes that Seth decides she needs a little space to keep doing what she’s doing. This is the most grown-up Seth has ever been, and I love these two so, so, so much.
Meanwhile, Taylor appeals to Ryan’s need to help women in distress, asking him to accompany her to a meeting with Henri Michel – only his lawyer shows up instead, and after some French back-and-forth, Taylor discovers that divorces in France must be mutual, unless someone was unfaithful. So of course Taylor pretends that Ryan is her new lover – Ryan resists at first, until he has a sweet heart-to-heart with Sandy, who reminds him that no one expects him to forget Marissa, and he needs to keep doing what he does best: helping others. Next thing you know…
UH OH. Obviously Taylor is taking this a bit more seriously than Ryan (for now), as evidenced by the lovely peach torte she bakes for him as a thank you. (Peaches are his favorite fruit – put that in his Teen Beat hunk profile.) Also, are we supposed to believe that Taylor failed all of her French cooking classes? She was running Kirsten’s Thanksgiving dinner like a boss. Ryan may not be ready to move on from Marissa, but he’s making good baby steps, and I am very pumped about the possibility of Ryan-Taylor love. Raylor? Tyan? Okay let’s not.
Julie decides she’s done with men entirely, but then she runs into another single Newpsie mom at the mall who has apparently gotten her Groove back – the trick? Younger men. Julie Cooper knows a little something about younger men (MISS U, LUKE), so she blows off her night in with Kiki and heads to The Club. Meanwhile, Kaitlin has picked up a fake ID with those rowdy, dorky little twins, and she decides to head to The Club as well. And that’s when Kaitlin discovers a horror almost as bad as walking in on your parents having sex – Julie grinding all up on some hot young dude who is closer to Kaitlin’s age range than Julie’s. Woof.
The episode ends with just about the sweetest of sweet montages: Ryan and Taylor sharing torte, Summer discovering Seth’s drawing of Lil Miss Vixen as an activist, Seth waiting for a plane to take him home so he can LOVINGLY give Summer the space to keep being amazing, Sandy and Kirsten playing strip-Scrabble, and Julie and Kaitlin sharing a pint of ice cream alone – free of dumb boys.
How many times did I have to drink?
6 (most of this was Kaitlin being a badass)
Most recognizable song
This terrible cover of R.E.M.’s “Orange Crush” that plays over Ryan’s beachy workout. Ugh.
Best pop culture reference
You and me both, sister
Truest thing anyone said all week
Once again, The Valley is the meta show-within-a-show, and all commentary is applicable to The O.C. itself:
CHE!
He plays guitar naked.
That’s it for this week! Next week, we’ll have a special guest in to cover The O.C. Rewatch Project – Miles! So, Miles, to help everyone get to know you a bit better, which O.C. character is currently your favorite? And how do you feel about the potential of a Taylor/Ryan coupling?
Be sure to check back in next week as our pal Miles covers “The Sleeping Beauty” and “The Summer Bummer”!
About the Contributor:
Britt Hayes is a writer and sensible sweater enthusiast living in Austin, Texas. She loves movies, watches too much television, and her diet consists mostly of fruit snacks and revenge.
