Editorial: The Case of the Franks
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Julie had a ‘case of the Franks’, but it was I who had a case of the displeasures having to sit through this nonsensical episode. It’’s hard to write this review. And it’s almost unfathomable to think of how negative it is when last week was the best episode of the season.
Addressing the flashbacks is crucial to this review. This season has been full of cute and utterly hilarious gimmicks, most of which worked even if they came off a bit sensationalized. But there was an ere of the comical and casual. And while there may have been an important underlining message the moments themselves weren’t to be taken seriously. But here is the first time this season where the gimmick is the foundation to something more. We address Kirsten’s bitter remorse over her past abortion. We address the moment where Summer read her mermaid poem. But with each flashback we get short, excessively transitioned, visuals of the core characters in their younger years.
Seth doesn’t have his trademark curly fro like the young child Summer witnessed at the airport in season two. Summer has her ignorance and ill-treatment of others but she barely has any bite. And Taylor as an ill-dressed geek works till you remember her mother. There’s no way her mother would have allowed her to leave the house without looking and acting her best.
Despite a sharp moment where Taylor offers over her mermaid poem in exchange for Summer’’s birthday party invitation and eluded, but not promised, friendship, these flashbacks lack plausibility and any sense of who these characters really were when they were this young. Taylor doesn’t come into existence until season three and we are to believe even back then they shared classes and she was vying for Summer’s friendship?
Worst of all these flashbacks were a re-write of history. Seeing the real story of the season one elemental mermaid poem tarnishes Rachel Bilson’s beautiful and humanizing performance in “The Girlfriend”. And it tarnishes the central foundations of Seth and Summer’s whirlwind romance.
On Seth and Summer’s best days I’m usually left feeling lukewarm to their show defining romance. But this episode made them an easy target for my angst-ridden wrath. Re-writes aside I was left speechless when Summer gives Seth a collage of destined couples for Valentines Day. Sandy and Kirsten aside, what man would want to be compared to indistinct couples that hardly represent what Seth and Summer are suppose to be? Worse yet they were left out the collage because Summer believes that they are one of many future destinies, but G.E.O.R.G.E. is her other destiny for right now.
The flashback of Sandy and Kirsten wasn’t as damaging, but felt just as grating. Kirsten looked and acted little like the Kirsten we see now. Jimmy was barely recognizable. Sandy was closest to the mark being played by Veronica Mar’s Max Greenfield. But how jarring was it too see actors playing Sandy and Kirsten in college and then shift to Kirsten looking at a masterfully photoshopped picture of Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan with baby [Seth]. The flashbacks brought a smidge of context to Kirsten’s abortion. But sadly it never went deep enough and the end results were a diluted confession to Sandy. Her breakdown in the season one finale is not a mere memory that occasionally flashes in my mind. I remember it clearly. I remember how emotional and affecting it was not just in the context of Ryan leaving but how it tied into her anguishes and regrets from her abortion. So while I was pleased we were reaffirmed of Sandy and Kirsten’s love, I was ultimately left cold by the lack of emotional depth their closing scenes needed.
The greatest travesty of this episode was the devastatingly misused Frank Atwood and the glaringly out of character Ryan Atwood. The relaxed, but still meaningfully moving, connection between Julie and Frank was nice as a closing aside to what I presumed was Frank leaving town and exiting The O.C. canvas. But as a fully formed romance it reeks of implausibility. This is not because they formed a love connection but because they conveniently ignored that their respective children were once lovers. And it’s because everyone, except for a short moment from Ryan, ignored whom Frank Atwood used to be.
This is a man who shaped and unfortunately defined a large part of who Ryan Atwood was in season one and in a lot of ways still is. Frank was admittedly an abusive criminal who tore apart the Atwood family at its core. But rather than using this crucial character defining history for some necessary drama for a show that’s been drowning in the funnies, the writers create an ineffective love story and turn Ryan into a matchmaker for Julie and Frank. I’d like to believe that Taylor has altered Ryan’s perceptions of romance and made him a true believer in true love. And I do. But I didn’t for one second think that Taylor altered his intuitions and common sense. Far too often TV writers opt to self-adjust characters that would be better written plausibly and realistically. Neither Ryan nor Frank was written this way and this leaves me disappointed.
The greatest moments in this episode came from the darling duo of Bullet and Kaitlin. Far more powerful and moving than even the relationship she has with her mother, the Bullet relationship offered moments of genuine family charm. But sadly it looks like Julie has made her ultimate choice and Bullet was forced to claim defeat and likely leave The O.C. for good. I wouldn’t imagine myself saying this when Bullet first entered the canvas, but now I affirmably say he’ll be missed.
But as charming and genuine as they were they weren’t enough to save this poorly written and conceived episode of season four.
** out of ***** stars.
