Editorial: The Return of the Nana
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So President Bush decides to give a speech Thursday night and instead of using their news channel, FOX decides to air the speech. Seriously, what’s the point of having MSNBC and FOX News if NBC and FOX are going to air stuff like this? Now, if this were a declaration of war or something to that extent, then fine, it should be on every channel. But it wasn’t. It was a poorly delivered speech that no one learned anything new from. Of course, maybe it was Bush’s payback at
The O.C. for its liberal views.
Nah, I doubt it.
Anyway, thanks to the wonders of technology (satellite dishes pick up amazing things, don’t they?) I have seen “The Return of the Nana” and am once again ready to share the next several pages with you.
First of all, I’d like to express concern over a few things that are related to my reviews and not necessarily the show.
TVTome.com is changing over to tv.com at the beginning of the summer. What this means for episode reviewers like me I don’t know and I may not know until the move actually happens. But I enjoy writing these and will open up a website where I will continue to post them in hopes that people will follow me from TVTome to either tv.com or to a new, unaffiliated site.
Next, I get a lot of comments about these reviews and while almost all of it is positive, there, of course, were the obligatory middle fingers at me last week for my
One Tree Hill comment. Hey, I don’t decide which show is better. If the gang from North Carolina has been better than the gang from Newport, then so I will report it. I’m happy to report that both shows had a strong showing this week but we’ll get to that in a bit.
The idea behind these criticisms is that
The O.C. should be accepted as is and that I shouldn’t voice my opinion. The idea is that every episode of this show should be treated with glowing praise and that it’s wrong for me to even consider that something is better. For you, I am going to take a few lines and give you what you’re looking for:
this show rulz this is da best show that ever done been made…this show kickz azz and ryan and marissa are lovers trey and oliver and luke and lindsay and dj and everyone elz is nuttin but wrekers…seth and summer are hot too they belong together cuz they rule and they date in reel life and tv is even betta than real life…and caleb sux and julie’s a bitch and kirsten betta get her act 2gether b4 sandy leaves her but sandy deserve it cuz he been messin with that chick from hiz past…this show rulz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Satisfied?
Now, on to the actual review.
I thought “The Return of the Nana” was clearly head and shoulders above the last few weeks (hence my complete shock when I saw that many people disagree). I’m not completely sold on all the stories or the character motivations, but I am sold on the intensity of the episode, the acting, and the writing.
As an aspiring writer, I’ve always had a little more interest in writers than the average television fan. Even when I was younger I began to look for writers’ names and began to identify them by their name, though I was never able to truly distinguish between style. But this episode, from just the opening scene, I knew it was a Josh Schwartz episode. There was something quick, something fresh, and something different about the writing. It felt right. Maybe it’s the incredible chemistry of the Cohen family (that includes Ryan) or maybe it’s the kitchen setting, but the scene felt
right and I credit the writing.
Ryan/Marissa: So they are together. For how long, no one knows, but they are together. It appears to make them both happy so huzzah. Plus, despite my eternal objections to these two getting together, I think this story has some potential and may not immediately go the way of the others thanks to Trey’s involvement. People seems fairly pissed about Trey’s attempted rape in this episode. They’re saying that it came out of left field and that it destroyed his character. To that end, I ask: what character? I’ve enjoyed Trey’s addition to the cast because he provides the edge that’s been missing since Ryan was castrated from living in Newport for too long. But through it all, we’ve learned relatively nothing about him. We know what he’s said, but we don’t know that he’s worth believing. We know he tells Ryan that he’s changed and offers proof of how he’s changed but we have no real reason to believe that it’s legitimate. We have his words and in some cases, that’s not enough. So Josh was faced with a dilemma: do they have Trey become an honest, stand-up guy and completely lose his edge or do we find out he’s been lying about changing and create some immediate drama for the show? Obviously, he went with the latter and I think that was the right decision. Not everyone can suddenly come in and change like Ryan did—he was the exception, not the norm. So really, think about it: did they ruin Trey’s character or did they finally give him one? Of course, I may end up being wrong about the direction they’re heading in, but I certainly believe there is potential for something strong as the season winds down. There’s drama in the Ryan and Marissa relationship but it’s not between those two. This isn’t Oliver where Marissa was as much of a whackjob as he was. This is something relatively fresh and something that I’m going to enjoy seeing expanded upon. Or maybe this is all just a big “Just Say No” public service announcement about the dangers of drugs.
Seth/Summer: If anyone can write Seth’s character, it’s Josh. But that should be expected given that Seth is the television incarnation of Josh. That being said, Seth was just wonderful in this episode. He was quick, sharp, funny, dorky, and he plays it off as if he’s normal. That’s what has been lacking from his character, this understanding that he’s not that cool after all. His interaction with the elderly guest stars was truly enjoyable to watch. Similarly, Summer finally seemed to settle back into character. Her with a punching bag is completely within the realm of her wonderful character last season (thank God that they re-introduced her rage blackouts) and the hook she delivered to Zach was a great moment. I’m not sure I bought into her complete dressing-down of the Music Video Nation crowd because she fits in with them very well, but it got the point across. I’m unsure about the way the story ended (not Seth covered in whipped cream, but the fact he ate it off of the girl) but not because I felt it was bad. I felt the entire story was extremely entertaining and very funny in parts (maybe because I know people who have attended Bob Jones and this is an accurate portrayal of what comes out of there—well, for some), but I don’t see how it can lead to anything good for Seth. After all, “time-out” is essentially another way of saying, “take a break” and we all remember the television couple that couldn’t let
that saying go. The story also allowed for a little explanation about Summer’s behavior recently where she’s seemed to regret her decision to date Seth. Zach is safe. He’s nice. That’s it. Summer has no real feelings for him and never has and this kiss proved it. He’s her fallback and the kiss in this episode was purely out of revenge, much like their original relationship was (Summer began dating Zach so she could have someone when Seth returned home). It also is an interesting bit of karma for Zach because after weeks of attempting to sabotage the Seth/Summer relationship, he feels like he’s won. But he hasn’t. So what happens now? Seth came to apologize to Summer and she’s the one who took the time-out. He likely believes that they are technically broken up when Seth licks the whipped cream off of the girl. Summer will probably see it differently and if she sees it differently, then did she really have any right to kiss Zach? I have a feeling the audience will be split on this, but I’m firmly on Seth’s side: Summer broke it off with him, no matter how long she intended to do it, and he responded accordingly.
Sandy/Kirsten: So Carter and Kirsten kissed. It had about as much romantic passion as the kisses Uncle Jesse used to give the girls on
Full House but still, it was a kiss. I’m actually little surprised it happened as I thought Kirsten would back off from it. But she didn’t and maybe that’s even more interesting. I’ve been worried about this storyline of Kirsten becoming an alcoholic for a long time because truthfully, it seemed too far-fetched. She’d always been a little bottle happy but that’s only because the Newport world basically demands it. Trying to remain sane in that society without some influence would be very difficult. Yet it never seemed like she should be an alcoholic. But enter Lindsay and the ultimate revelation. She has a sister. Her dad cheated on her mom. So she clings to her family but then Sandy forgets their anniversary. He remembers it, redeems himself, and everything is fine. Enter Rebecca and watch her marriage start to dwindle. Rebecca’s presence in Sandy’s life destroyed a lot of who Kirsten is. She was devastated and there’s no question about that. So she reached out to Carter to help her cope with the aftermath of the ordeal. What Carter provided was a friend and provided someone to drink with. Now Carter’s gone and all she’s left with is the bottle. After weeks of this budding romance it seems that Kirsten never cared for Carter in any significant way, she just cares about having something to hold onto. And at least this week Sandy showed that he recognizes his marriage is hurting. The story had been written to suggest that while Kirsten drowned, Sandy smiled like she would eventually learn to swim. And that may have only made things worse. By recognizing his own faults, he can save the marriage. On a happier note, though, it was great to see the Nana regardless of how contrived and boring the actual story was. I would have liked to have seen the guy turn out to be an okay guy just so she could be happy because she deserves it. But alas, if she got married and then disappeared off screen, that would mean that she’s happy and we cannot have continuously happy people on this show!
So overall it was a very, very strong episode. It wasn’t without faults but it was a huge step-up over the previous few weeks as character motivations are starting to be revealed and intriguing plot twists are brought on. I think things are back on track and I’m getting psyched about the race to the finish line.
Random Thoughts…
So now we have Orange County castaways in Portland, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and New York. Seriously, this little group has power, sending people to all corners of the country.
Does anyone think Ryan might be a little pissed when he finds out about Trey and Marissa?
Does anyone else think Marissa won’t tell the truth because she’s a moron and she’ll tell Ryan that she’s fine?
Once again, Marissa earns the title of “Hottest Girl in Newport” with her pig-tails. Wow. Never a Mischa fan, but that was just off the charts. She’s really coming around. Let’s not take anything away from Rachel as Summer, though. Or hell, let’s not take anything away from the Nana who was smoking as a blonde. Seriously.
Who didn’t see (hear?) the
Million Dollar Baby pun coming when Seth saw Summer punching the punching bag? Pop culture references rule.
Was that rape scene not incredibly intense? From the insane slam that Trey gave Marissa to the wooden log to the head, I’d say it was one of the best scenes the show has ever done.
How cool is the image of Seth, Ryan, and Sandy walking down the Miami strip like they are just plain bad-asses? Those three should get an entire episode devoted to them. They can do one two-hour episode of those three walking around for an hour and then Jimmy just sitting on his boat for the next hour.
How true to life was the caricature from Music Video Nation? He was obviously supposed to be making fun of the guys on MTV but those people are such idiots anyway that this was as true-to-life as it could be. Scary.
It’s interesting that the first six episodes of the season took place from September until December while the last fifteen have covered January to April. Time really slows down after Chrismukkah in Orange County.
How shocked was everyone that Constantine was sent home on
American Idol? Not that his elimination has any real bearing on this review, but come on, I think it’s pretty wild. Sure, he gave possibly the worst performance of anyone this season, but did everyone forget “Bohemian Rhapsody”? He owned that song. His problem was never his voice, it was his song choice. He needs a producer on his ass telling him what he can do and when. I’m still Bo Bice all the way, so I don’t mind to see the guy go, but I was psyched for a big three-way showdown for first place between Bo, Constantine, and Carrie. Now it looks like it’ll be Bo and Carrie battling it out with Vonzell taking a nice third place finish.
Thanks for reading this week, hope everyone enjoyed the show. Oh, and a definite thanks to the well-wishers last week. Things are looking up again so I’m doing better and hopefully this review reflected it.
See you in seven.
- Drew
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