Life’s so unfair, and so complicated. Any review can easily judge anything with a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Now if I felt like being intelligent and analytical, I’d write this editorial with rhetorical questions, some hair-raising conspiracy theories and some short, but funny, anecdotes. And if I were to write in that style, I’d be saying this episode was confusing. The plots were read like a book, and I haven’t come along “twists” that were that predictable since Rebecca left the county for the two-hundredth time.
But screw that, I’m telling it how I want to, and to be honest, I loved it.
It may not have been the most intelligent or the best written or heck, the funniest, but it keep me glued throughout the whole thing, and the acting this time ‘round was so enjoyable. I’m still on a high, albeit five days later, but watching this episode makes me all crazy (hence this wacky review).
I find that I enjoy The O.C. most when I’m watching it alone. That way I can laugh at things that no-one else laughs at [without being stared at], and I can watch without punching the person next to me for sneezing during a dramatic moment. I also tend to distribute bodily harm to people who disagree with my opinions during an episode. With “The Swells”, however, I watched it with my best mate on my PC, and for once we agreed on a scene.
We replayed that stunning and chilling introductory scene so many times that Windows Media Player crashed, my computer froze and we were left swearing and stabbing at the reset button.
It was just fantastic! I have never enjoyed an opening scene so much since the first season, and for the first time, a “flashback” on The OC had been pulled off successfully. Did anyone else feel that the quick silence, followed by the fast high-pitched screech, was an extreme parallel to “Saw”? I mean, we had the lights off, I was freaked out, and silently biting my tongue.
But moving on (yes, I’m over it now), my second favourite scene was the revelation of Charlotte and how the two reacted with reach other. Julie has definite chemistry with Morgan for some excellent drama, whether she represents Mother Theresa or Cruella DeVil. Again, it was easier to see coming then a high speeding train, but I loved (in such Julie-style) how Julie just came straight out and confronted her, no nonsense, no screwing around. This, in a way, represents all that Julie about. By this stage, she has put up with so much in her life; she is the character with the biggest street-smarts.
Charlotte is in big trouble. She thinks Julie is vulnerable. I think Charlotte is stupid. While cunning, evil and somewhat fickle, she underestimates the willpower of people, and definitely underestimates the cunning of Julie Cooper. No doubt Julie will weave her own little plot to take over Charlotte’s black empire to finally steal her way to the top once again – but this time she will only rely on herself.
This major difference is what I think Josh has planned in the “Character Development” folder on his notebook. While Julie has earned a solid A+ in ripping-off horny senile men, she is yet to pull off a trick that will leave her at the top without depending on others. But this time Charlotte won’t be leaned on, and we’ll see where that leaves us. Things may go horribly wrong for Julie. Or she’ll gain the respect she once lost, but with a twist. Yes, a twist, watch out for it.
While I’m on a high, I’ll just skip over Taylor, before smoothly resuming my happy ramblings. If I was Seth, with my mobile phone confiscated, I’d just backhand her to be honest. No I’m not a woman beater, but she would drive Nelson Mandela to hysterics.
So basically, the stereotype is definitely retaining its status. Still prissy and annoying, the first signs of Taylor’s character beyond the stereotype are being shown. We now know that her mother resembles something out of “Matilda”, and that this annoying overpowering power play is just Taylor’s confusion and rejection, translated.
As for Summer, Seth and Taylor, perhaps it is just a distraction. Surely the scriptwriters can’t turn this into some crappy love triangle. I’m going to count them off my fingers. Anna, Paris, Danny, Zach, Alex, Reed, Jen, Grady, Mary-Sue and now Taylor. That is one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Ten is a lot. Even though a lot of the relationships are bigger or smaller then others, even The OC will need to change it up. I won’t say too much, because at this point I desperately want to eat my words, but no way will I tolerate Taylor seriously messing around between this couple.
Mind you, watching Summer slap Seth looks really fun.
Sandy buying the Newport Group was kind of boring. But I’m glad. I’m sure this story line will go deeper, and I’ll be grateful when it does. But even so, the adult drama gives relief to the constant drama of the teen lives, and this is what separates The OC from lots of other shows. The adults have as much depth, if not more, then the teenagers.
Speaking of which, there now seems to be a bridge between the young and the old, in terms of the new character, Matthew Ramsey. He’s sharp, ambitious and exactly where I’d like to be at twenty-six years old. And I like him. Maybe it’s just his powered career that’s attracting me, but I admire people with drive, and this is no exception.
But he’s a new character and The OC law states: no new character can in any way enter the show peacefully, or without inhibiting the lives of the already established cast members. If in any way it seems the new inductees are not stirring the pot enough, either a) they will destroy the lives of one or more cast members, or b) one or more script writers will be fired.
So I’ve deliberately left Marissa and Ryan and Johnny and Casey and Volchak/chuk/chek/chok (enlighten me, someone?) until last. For some reason a lot of people focus the show around the drama of Ryrissa, however I like to view all characters equally. Anyway, it was very frustrating. And it seemed somewhat unoriginal. The casting directors seem to have done a good enough job on Volchok though, he certainly fills the aggressive surfer-dude cast perfectly.
What wasn’t so perfect was how the crew screwed us around. They made Johnny’s motive so easy to read, that a new male character that talks to Marissa should immediately be associated as a love interest. It just sucks. Knowing it would happen, I hoped and wished and begged that Casey would slide out of the picture with credibility.
She didn’t.
She could’ve at least died in a surfing accident with only Marissa around. That way Marissa could dive in and save her, fail CPR and consequently be the only one in Johnny’s life to soothe his aching heart. Hey, that’s good!
However, Casey subsequently played the infidelity card, and I subsequently yawned.
As for the future of Ryan and Marissa I don’t know. I don’t really want to argue about who was stupider in this episode. Because then it would be time for Microsoft Word to crash. It doesn’t appreciate furious keyboard bashing in oversized angry fonts, much less cope with five-hundred pages of my rantings. My favourite couple is ironically my biggest frustration. How poetic.
So to finish off; here’s a summary of my favourite random moments. Summer’s “Cya… wouldn’t wanna be ya”. Summer’s “You’re a geek”. Summer’s “I’m already dating a dork”.
Yes, Summer is somehow providing more humour then Cohen (what happened there?) but I’m really enjoying it, so I’ll let it slide. As for Dennis, well, he’s doing great too. He does have good chemistry with Summer and it’s paying off in some much needed comic relief, amid a confusing, yet entertaining episode.
Next Week. Well seeing how this was typed so late, it’s more like tomorrow, but whatever. It looks fantastic. I anticipate Julie and Charlotte action just about as much as a kid favours a new toy, plus it is bundled with possibly my favourite hilarious scene of the entire series. You can view it on the official Fox website, but I’ll leave that praise until later.
Adios!