Editorial: The Heavy Lifting
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I don’t know what I expected to happen in this week’s episode. I was pretty certain that they’d ruin the space lapse between Johnny plummeting off the cliff to where the show is now. But surprisingly they didn’’t. There were no weird flashbacks. No convenient jump in time. It pretty much picked up just after the main event. It left out the more gruesome details and got right to where we would want to be as a viewer. It reminded me of the transition between “The Escape” and “The Rescue”. It was effective and, in its own way, interesting.
The parallels between this episode and season one didn’t stop there. There was this quiet, progressive, and engaging shift in storyline. While certain elements deterred it from feeling exactly like a season one episode, there was enough for me to pleasantly hearken back to my memories of the past.
Johnny’’s cousin reminded me of Theresa in a lot of ways. Neither characters were loud or dynamic, but they allowed for some surprising transferals in storyline and kept the show interesting. It had me intensely watching as each little nuance of change unfolded on my television set. Much like Theresa, Johnny’s cousin is a quiet girl who seems to be filled with genuine heart and a good spirit. We don’’t know her secrets, but we sense there are certain circumstances weighing her down and slowly corroding her confidence. She speaks of dealing with a multitude of past deaths. She carries a pain and history that matches in impact to what Ryan had to deal with in Chino. All of Marissa’s trials and petty angst will never match up. Essentially this makes it easy for Ryan to embrace Johnny’’s cousin. I don’t sense a heavy chemistry or romantic vibe at this point. But I must say their connection and the build to whatever is forming between them feels more naturally paced and realistic them most of what I’ve seen with Ryan and Marissa. It’s how I felt about Ryan and Theresa in season one. The question of whether she should be a mainstay at this point is hard to answer. She feels more like Theresa or Anna in the sense that I feel she is a perfect character to weave in and out of the constantly varying storylines. She returns at the most unexpected times and offers up an interesting modification to the landscape of the show.
She’’d also be a great counter-character for Marissa. Marissa is the antitheists at this point. She expresses the same physical emotions as when she was dealing with Trey’s death. It’s a pat down look. There’s no layering or depth to how she feels. It came off as boring and one-dimensional throughout the episode, including her final goodbyes to Kaitlin. And while I can understand how she is feeling and the detachment that is building between her and Ryan, I can’t for one second fathom how she could so easily make this all about her and not consider how Ryan feels. What anger or discomfort Ryan expresses she twists it back to her pain and depression. Some how Ryan is the bad guy for having the feelings and emotions he has. Really, I see Ryan in a two-fold manor. I think he is being upfront and honest with Marissa. But I also feel that he is often complacent in thinking that things should just go back to a sense of normal. Perhaps that’’s not too logical. But I have to feel for the guy. If what Marissa and he had was so right and she honestly did love him there wouldn’t be this giant wall between them that he had to do most of the work to break down. There would be a greater ease in getting back to a semblance of being a functional couple. Worse yet, Marissa was more honest with Mr. Apprentice, a third rate character she’s likely no more than said hi to on a rare occasion.
The scene Marissa shared with Chili on the beach touched me. She’s expressed a little something more and it was further highlighted by what Chili brought to the scene. I can empathize with the fact that they feel lost and as though they are the only two people who can understand this pain. I believe, in part, that is true. In a weird way Johnny is to Marissa what Ryan is to Seth. He was the first to except her for who she was as she embraced a new life. Seeing we rarely saw Marissa inside the school halls or interacting in classes we have to assume that Johnny and Chili were her main friends at Newport Union, maybe even her only friends there. So it’s going to come off much like the way Seth was in the season one finale, but without the greater character depth.
Seeing Sandy and Kirsten play matchmaker for Mr. Apprentice [I’m almost close to calling him Matt as it’s starting to appear that he’s a mainstay this season. Almost.] reminded me of when they tried to play matchmaker for Jimmy in “The Homecoming”. It was sweet and underlined the wonderful qualities of Sandy and Kirsten’s relationship.
Apparently Julie hasn’t been acquainted with the “he’s just not that into you” phenomena. Because, with each little scamper and return Dr. Roberts does she becomes more enamored. Personally I would of put the brakes on the whole thing at this point. But Julie played into the game one more time. There is chemistry between them and I have to admit it’s a joy to watch those final moments play out with that great little glow Dr. Roberts has when he finally admits he wants to be with her. Hopefully this time is the charm and we can see this relationship actually progress.
I was a little nerved with the way Summer reacted to Seth’s potting ways. She treated it more as an annoyance to their relationship. She was more concerned that he lied then why he had started smoking pot and whether this was a more serious issue for him. So, in typical Summer fashion she turned this into a game that Seth had to win. In essence she makes it him who has to do all the work to fix the problem. Forgive me for stealing Dr. Phil-like sage wisdom, but that deters from it being a functional relationship. I suppose it was cute in a way, but I mainly found it demeaning and pointless. Their initial problems were with not directly dealing with issues in their relationship. Now it’s just more of the same. They’re taking steps back and I can only imagine that it’s a matter of time before things get worse.
The main thing to halt this from truly feeling like a season one episode was Kaitlin’’s storyline. In ways I can’t quite describe, it advanced The O.C. into another show entirely. I found it wonderfully sweet, and equally important, that we were seeing Kaitlin get to reveal in her age. It was a convenient way for her to exit the show, but it wasn’t too sickly sweet. Still, it deterred from The O.C.’s style and never really fit in with the rest of the show.
The moderate-shifting changes in our characters and storylines reminded me of the better qualities of season one. Can The O.C. keep up the positive change? Based on its track record anything can happen week-to-week. But I applaud the writers for actually getting something right this time. I applaud them for finally realizing it was never a show built around the fantastic four and the couplings within. But rather, it was about telling an always shifting and dynamic story that kept the viewers intrigued and invested in wanting to watch next week.
*** ¾ - **** out of ***** stars. I’m seriously torn and in-between.
