Editorial: The Swells
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Last week was a wonderful reprise of reminding me why I loved the O.C. so much in the past. This is why it was such a disappointment to have a fair amount of story development but with little bang this week.
I knew this wasn’t going to be a repeat of last week’s structure or the flow of season one when the opening scene was Marissa having nightmares about Trey. I can only recall one episode from season one that used the opening scene for weightier causes. That one opening scene was to reveal to Seth and Ryan that Julie and Luke were having an affair.
In “The Swells” it was used to create needless distance between Ryan and Marissa. It’s not to say I don’t understand why Marissa is having these dreams or that I find them unfounded. What I don’t find founded is Ryan’s response. To act so casual and unassuming about Marissa‘s valid feelings and emotions seems unlike Ryan. If he had just talked with her one on one and found a way to work through her pain together this could of all been dealt with. And it would have been a responsible and adult like way to work through the issues. But Ryan and Marissa, as a couple, are rarely responsible or adult like, so I shouldn’t be surprised.
Ryan’s ‘everything is all cool’ and detached behavior lead to Marissa growing close to Newport Union nice guy Johnny. Of course a few convenient dialog lines help to push this forward. Johnny happens to mention how surfing helped him with his sleepless night. Then later in the show, after revealing his ‘daddy done me wrong so I whacked him with a bat’ secrets, he tells Marissa he’s actually never told anyone before. That’s right, not even Casey, his annoying girlfriend, or Chili, his best friend. But some how he is able to tell Marissa without us ever knowing if she confided to him about her dreams of Trey.
The writers must think they were clever by never actually having Johnny and Marissa shed some real sexual tension, or have a little body contact, but instead throw in a little twist where Johnny’s girlfriend reads too much of the situation and hooks up with the main bad boy of ‘the swells’. But here’s the rub. Apparently Casey doesn’t feel she misread the situation at all. She fears Johnny is falling in love with Marissa and it’s only a matter of time before she loses him to her. Love? There was no lip graze, no long, passionate, eye-lock and no hug. In other words, there was no sexual tension! Instead all we got was a lot of talk-time. A lot of boring talk-time thanks to life deprived acting from Mischa Barton and Ryan Donowho. I actually have nothing against Johnny and Marissa growing romantically close. But at least make it believable with a hint of spark via the writing. Then maybe the actors can step-up their game and fill in the rest.
There is some good I can say about the entanglements of Marissa, Johnny, Ryan and all the rest. I really do enjoy Ryan and Johnny connecting. They’re discovering the common grounds and it’s clear neither has any genuine angst against the other. They want to get along. Maybe they even want to be friends. To have a few more friendships in The O.C. would be a welcomed change.
No sign of ex-dean Hess. I was hoping we could of seen some heated resolves or a heated-make up between Hess and Taylor. Almost anything to keep Hess back in town and Taylor’s eye wondering to him. Instead Taylor received layers, even a bit of depth. We find out her mother is a bitch, she’s riddled with insecurities, and she just wants to be liked. So she forces all of the senior class, (I guess she’s looking for a lot of friends), to attend a lock-in.
Three or four scenes of Taylor bitchiness later she starts to put her hooks into Seth. Seth is non-the-wiser because he’s been given a glimpse into why she is so bitchy. He, however awkward it is for him, actually tries to casually befriend her and even help her brave the ’pod people’ of Harbor High.
Seth knows a lost soul when he sees one. And yes, I do believe Taylor is a lost soul. She’s been drained by Newport society and her Newpsie mother. Combine that with the fact she’s so eager to obtain friends and I begin to feel that she is genuinely a good person who’s sorely misguided. It was hard for me to hate her when she left Summer outside the gym doors. You could see she was clearly wrestling with allowing her to come in. Taylor had already fudged Summer and Ryan’s names on the sign-in sheet to thank Seth for his kindness. She obviously was turning a leaf. But when she looked back, and saw a boy who was likely the only one to ever show her kindness at Harbor, she knew what she had to do and that was shut Summer out. Interestingly enough, it took well over 6 episodes for us to find out why Summer was the way she was. For Taylor it only took 5.
Sandy taking over the Newport Group with a young hot shot, who seems better suited to be the first contestant voted off a season of The Apprentice, isn’t impressing me. There’s going to have to be a lot of improvement for this storyline to work.
Julie finally realizes she’d been had by Charlotte when she discovers the woman’s stash of credit cards all in different names. When she confronts her Charlotte plays dumb. She mutters some words about not knowing what she’s talking about, which was about as convincing as when Marissa uttered the words, “I would never cheat on Ryan” earlier in the show. I’m impressed with the impact Charlotte is having on Julie’s life. It’s seems Julie is addicted to scum bag losers both of the male and female varieties. Charlotte is taking full advantage of that. She’s even going so far as to suggest she and Julie scam away the money from a charity event they are putting on with Kirsten. I see where this one is headed. And it will be disastrous results for all three ladies. I’m actually looking forward to the fall out.
This is where I usually praise all things Kirsten and Sandy. While I found them to be lovely and refreshing in an episode that otherwise barely aimed to please, I’m seriously starting to miss that sexual energy they had in season one. I hope it returns pronto.
For an episode that offered up it’s fair share of tantalizing twists, the end results still ended up being predictable and lacking energy.
*** ¼ stars our of ***** stars
