Editorial: The Rager
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I started to think I was a good luck charm. After all, the first episode I covered on this site was “The Rainy Day Women.” That episode was the proverbial needle because after weeks of digging through a haystack that made us all wheeze, itch, cough, and cry, we finally found what we were looking for. And really, it’s been uphill ever since.
Until “The Rager.”
It’s not that this was an actively bad episode. In many ways, it was very solid. Some of the episode was intense. Some of it was funny. Unfortunately, none of it worked together. It was sloppy writing, sloppy pacing, and sloppy storytelling. Nothing clicked and it seemed as if they were just throwing stuff at the wall and hoping something would stick. Some did, but not enough to warrant another thumbs up.
So, let’s recap and then we’ll break it down couple-by-couple as usual:
Ryan is pretty pissed at Trey for stealing the egg, but it’s his birthday so Marissa and Seth hound him to say happy birthday to his brother. Marissa buys Trey a lava lamp and Seth takes Ryan to see him. However, when they approach, the apartment, they see Trey jumping in a car, driving off, and going to an alley where it appears he’s buying drugs. Ryan is pissed but Trey says it’s nothing more than helping a homeless friend out. So, in response, Marissa throws a party at Caleb’s house and there’s a hug between Ryan and Trey to tell us things are okay. But how does Marissa get to use the house? Well, Julie’s returned home from Europe with bright eyes, but she’s hiding the fact that Caleb has shot her nothing but mean looks throughout their trip. So, she comes back to kill Lance. Or so we think. Turns out that there’s on bullet in the gun. Somehow, it ends up with Lance and Julie drunk in a bar together reminiscing about Poison and other hair bands. Meanwhile, Sandy and Carter go surfing where Sandy introduces him to a young lady named Erin who intrigues him. Sandy invites them both over for dinner where a jealous Kirsten attempts to halt the relationship before it begins. Finally, Carter’s former assistant Reed comes to meet with Zach and Seth about their graphic novel. Turns out Reed is pretty hot and Zach and Seth both fall for her immediately. Seth doesn’t admit to Summer that Reed is a girl, attempts to stop Zach from getting closer with Reed, and then finds himself screwed when Reed and Summer meet in the Nichol bathroom at the big party. By the end of the night, Jess, a girl who seduces Trey, is being carted off in an ambulance because of drugs. Trey says he gave them to her and he’s taken into jail.
Trust me, it sounds better than it was.
Ryan/Marissa: I love the irony of Marissa Cooper giving familial advice. Seriously, she’s pushing Ryan to make up with Trey and giving Trey gifts (a lava lamp…wow, it’s 1998!) to help put him at ease, yet she can’t make amends with her own mother. True, there were some tense-free moments between the two tonight, but really, there’s irony all over the place. Anyway, focusing on the actual stories at hand, I’m torn. There’s a mystery to Trey. He’s made mistakes in the past and it seems that he’s learned from them. He’s not perfect, but neither is Ryan. He hasn’t quite adjusted to Newport or society in general, but neither has Seth or Marissa. There’s an innocence to him, but at the same time, there’s a hidden agenda in his eyes. He looks conniving, like he’s going to explode at any second. It’s an interesting story because there’s no way to tell whether he’s honest or not. Did he steal that watch? If not, why did he steal the egg? Did he have the drugs? If not, who did? And then, there’s the tension with Marissa which is light, but obvious. But the less intriguing story is the Ryan and Trey story. What happened to Ryan? Here’s a kid who believed he needed a shot. Remember he told Dr. Kim in the first season that he can’t change where he’s from, but he can change where he’s going. So why not give Trey that shot? He’s been fearful and paranoid since the moment Trey got out of jail. Even when he tries to help him, he keeps his fingers crossed that something will happen to show he’s right. It’s one thing to be subtly suspicious but it’s another to be overt about it. Trey has a history, but Ryan has to remember that he does too. Maybe Trey led him astray, but he was impressionable enough to follow. There’s a guilty by association factor and if Ryan expects people to forgive, then he should too. Maybe Trey is screwing up and he’s been guilty of every crime, but is he going to get better when Ryan comes running and screaming every chance he gets? I doubt it. And finally, the Ryan and Marissa story that I’ve been raving about. I still like it. I still think it’s worlds better than last season. But there are only so many ways to keep them apart. It’s about time to pull the trigger for good.
Seth/Summer: Oh how the might have fallen. Let me tell you all something about me. I didn’t date much in high school for a million different reasons (most of them boiling down to something similar to the fact that I churn out five pages worth of review of a television show each week). But I know something about dating because I sat back and watched others. High school relationships can be stable. High school relationships can be dramatic without having the couple fight. What’s so damn hard about keeping Seth and Summer together? They were clearly the favorite couple last season and instead of building on that dynamic and sending the show even higher, the writers have jerked the audience around and created a couple that’s brutal to watch. Remember why this couple was fun? They were fun because they were opposites. They bickered and bantered and at the end of the day, they cared about each other. They didn’t seem to get along, but you knew that they secretly did and that they liked it that way. This season, they just don’t seem to get along. What exactly is the reason that Seth is jealous of Zach and Reed? Why did Summer leave Zach at the airport if she admits to Reed that she regrets it? There was no justification for any of it, especially the Seth part. He pines over Summer for months, gets her back, and then finds himself attracted to someone just because she’s beautiful and likes comic books. Gee, that’s a new one. Oh wait, no it’s not. Remember Anna Stern? Beautiful? Check. Comic book lover? Check. And that didn’t work out. Don’t serve me day-old hamburger and call it fresh sirloin. It doesn’t work. It’ll just make me sick in the end. Maybe there’s some kind of macho Zach versus Seth program going on here, but that would be even more senseless than the fact that Seth even cares about Reed in the first place. I’ve never seen two characters on any television show fall as fast as Seth and Summer have. This is really a shame as I heard legitimate entertainment writers calling for Adam Brody to get in the Emmy race. Won’t happen now and it’s not even his fault.
Sandy/Kirsten: No one seems to agree with me that this Carter storyline is good one. They have the same complaints that I had about the Sandy/Rebecca story. They say it’s just a rehash of Jimmy/Kirsten and that this is going nowhere. And I’m starting to agree. To an extent. I think the story opened itself explicitly too early when Carter acknowledged the vibe and then tried to play it subtle and that didn’t work. It should have been a slow-burn allowing it to naturally unfold. Plus, in this episode, Kirsten was a bitch. She looked breathtaking, but for her to be so outwardly hostile to Erin was extremely out-of-character and seemed like it was trying too hard to hit the audience over the head about her feelings for Carter. All this aside, I still like Carter. I don’t know if it’s just that Billy Campbell is a natural fit in the cast or if it’s that I love the character because of who he is. If the show won’t keep Tate Donovan around, I want Billy Campbell to stick. The writers are also stretching the time factor. I enjoyed this story at first because it made sense. Kirsten was depressed over what Sandy had done and she finds someone to comfort her. Now, we’re getting into a time period where it’s becoming more than that and more and more unlike Kirsten. Her family is too important to her to throw it away like this. She should have forgiven Sandy by this point. The storyline began emotional and well-done. It’s starting to disintegrate and it needs to redeem itself quickly. The preview looks like it’s going to continue straight to hell, but we’ll see.
Julie/Caleb: No Caleb in this episode but be honest, he played a critical role. I think. I’m not exactly sure what was going on. The gun stuff was interesting. The moment she actually pulled the trigger, my heart raced. It was an excellent scene. But suddenly after Lance returns the videos, she’s ready to dance with him? Doesn’t seem likely. Julie’s emotionally troubled, no one will deny that, but she’s also incredibly smart. To fall for something like this seems like a big mistake. But if Lance has truly changed, what brought that on? Surely someone in his position has been the victim of idle threats before. There’s still money to be made, so if he really forgave her, it’s commendable but a bad business move. But aside from a few good music choices and references, this entire story completely imploded. So much could have come from this and it didn’t. Just a complete waste and a real shame. Lance isn’t done according to the episode guide so maybe they’ll fix everything and it’ll add up. Let’s hope. Next week looks like it may be interesting with Julie and Caleb, though the previews are likely very deceiving. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned this season is that when FOX shows something exciting in the commercials (e.g., Ryan in the water, Caleb having a heart attack, the infamous “Don’t miss the last five minutes,” etc.) we’re usually let down.
So, why do I think the show was so shoddy and all over the place? One thing this show always has had going for it is great parallel. Somehow, the adults and the children were all intertwined. Having Sandy show up as Trey’s lawyer isn’t intertwining, it’s convenience. And even if the characters were never broadly drawn, they were always definable and rarely changed direction on the spot. There’s been a distinct distance between the characters, physically and from their original forms. I’m not arguing that the characters shouldn’t grow, but to do it with no real reason or build up is poor planning.
Other thoughts…
Ben McKenzie shouldn’t get a haircut when he’s gained facial weight. Maybe it was just his time of the month and he was retaining water.
Mischa Barton and Kelly Rowan deserve credit for being the hottest women on television. Rachel Bilson, who once owned that title, is slipping farther and farther down the ranks. She needs to do something. Not sure what, but something.
Marguerite Moreau also deserves attention for being smoking hot. Look familiar? She played Connie Moreau in the
Mighty Ducks trilogy and recently came off a stint on the brilliant ABC show
life as we know it as slutty teacher Ms. Young.
Seth kicking the water polo player when he was down was excellent. Whether it was ad-libbed or not, I don’t know, but definitely one of the best moments of the show. Seth’s character as a whole is dwindling but this is two weeks in a row where something small has left a big impression (last week’s being Seth’s line, “Ryan I caught it” in a deadpan but excited manner).
John Stephens wrote this episode and he’s reminding me a lot of John Stevens from
American Idol last season. He’s been around longer than he should have. Obviously he’s got talent or he wouldn’t get the job, but he can’t hang in there at big times. He’s written “The SnO.C.” which was a ridiculously bad episode famous only for Lindsay looking hotter than any other girl in the history of the show when she had her Freud slippers on; “The Power of Love” which was an episode that had all the potential in the world plus Peter Gallagher singing, but ultimately was horrible; and “The Test” which was an episode that signaled the lowest point in the show’s short history. He’s not on a good run. And if someone is reading this and wants to ask the inevitable question, I’ll go ahead and answer it: YES, I COULD DO BETTER. The stories and the script go through Josh, I know, but there’s only so much he can change to make it work.
It was a nice nod to the show’s better episodes when Trey saved Seth but here’s an idea: make new moments instead of rehashing old ones.
Carter should probably look into shaving. That beard has to be annoying. Didn’t you see how much he was scratching it?
Does anyone else flinch when Trey hugs Ryan? Poor Ben McKenzie is going to have to wear a neck brace for the rest of his life thanks to those things.
The scene between Trey and Jess will go down as probably the greatest thing this show has done since the first season. It was so cheesy, poorly acted, sleazy, and contrived that it worked beyond my wildest imagination. I absolutely loved it. Definitely could use some more of that kind of stuff.
Melrose Place wasn’t a hit because of strong writing, just remember that.
I watched a rerun of
Beverly Hills, 90210 while writing the first part and decided that this show would be godly if it did an episode where Seth and Ryan had Jason Priestly and Luke Perry wigs on and pretended like things were normal. That hair really needs to come back.
And, that does it for me tonight. A real disappointment that should have been a home run. Let’s hope next week is better.
- Drew
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