Watching Hitch, you may notice in his fine toast to his then snarling girlfriend, that life is about the moments that take your breath away. This can be interpreted in many ways, but the literal approach is most suitable to me. You see, The O.C. takes up a scarily massive proportion of my life. If I were to divide it into percentages, I’d dedicate it a good 70%. I’m not exaggerating either.
So basically, it is hard to write these editorials. I’ve grown to love these episodes just about as much as I am to love my future children and so I have to remain critical and focused. No bias, no hesitation, just critical judgment on each episode. It is so hard to prevent myself from rambling, and it is often confused with my ecstatic praise. But unfortunately, you are to be spoiled again by my illiterate babbling screams of delight, as there are a few moments in The Gameplan that really did take my breath away.
The comedy. Oh I laughed and laughed in this one. On a rare occasion the O.C. will be consistent on both its comic relief, in proportion to its drama, which makes a fine balance of everything the show is about. But screw it, the plot could have revolved around Johnny buying himself a pair of zebra-patterned ugg boots and I’d still be laughing, if it still contained the humour I experienced today.
Open scene – Harbor school. Cut to Ryan somewhat-broody in his corner of the lounge, contemplating brands of wife beaters, how hot Mischa is, and other mysteries of life. Cut to Seth, bouncy as those balls you get from gaming centers, jumping over the couch and right back into the character aspect I labeled “Funny”. Or more specifically, “I-haven’t-chuckled-so-authentically-since-‘The-Strip’”. Or, more honestly, “Thanks-Josh-for-redeeming-the-asshole-of-a-downer-Cohen-was-in-the-first-four-episodes”. Need I go on?
Sure. The new character Gus just rocked my world, and just seemed so flat, so bad, that it just worked. It’s like having such a scrappily made horror movie hit the box office, make squillions and spawning ten more “Halloween” sequels. Okay not quite, but his chemistry with Julie was a definite highlight of the episode. Backtrack to “I have a gun Gus”, “I ain’t no bellman, lady” and “I don’t swing that way” and you’ll know what I’m talking about. It was refreshingly original, while also rooting Julie down to her past.
What I find a lot of movies are based around nowadays is the theme of stark contrasts. A prime example is “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” where total opposite characters have to redefine a marriage several years later because they find they don’t know each other at all. This theme has been consistently appealing over the decades: the ups and downs of romance, whether in the form of “Grease” or any other movie featuring Hugh Grant as a leading role.
It seemed to have fused the Ryan and Marissa relationship, and thereafter Summer and Seth. It’s why Seth and Anna couldn’t have worked out [on the show], as there similarities didn’t offer enough chemistry to keep us always entertained.
With “The Gameplan”, Seth and Summer represent this theme in another way. They totally don’t have a clue where each other were to go for university, and were only conscious to the situation through the stirring deems of Taylor Townsend. Ergh, I’ll make this quick. My like or dislike of this chick has gone up and down more times then the NASDAQ has in its existence, and I’m over deciding. With her, such a sharp change in character screws with my head, as there is no grey area to understand both sides. (But I think I like her now. Kill me).
Experiencing Summer being all humble - $50,000. Watching Taylor being annoying by using more hand gesticulation then words - $30,000. Listening to Summer telling Taylor to “Shut Up” in a quick verbal slap, quickly followed by Taylor becoming quiet as a mouse – Yes, it’s priceless. There are some things money can’t buy, but for everything else, use The Diner.
The quick end-of-episode resolve for Summer and Seth is just so typical of them, but I’m not complaining. It is margin’s better then the pissy little fights of Season Two (over comic books, whipped cream and Zach, respectively). The sacrifice Summer had to make for Seth just shows how strong they really are. We all know Seth at any moment would jump off a building for his all-time love, but Summer was yet to show such a big dedication to Seth. But here we are, new characters and certainly developing as people this season, Summer is not just whiney and cute, but now dedicated and certainly loyal.
Kirsten and Sandy are again too quiet to talk about, so they’ll be left out this time, except to say they are functioning in the background, where they should be. But Julie on the other hand. Boy. For a little while I thought Kirsten would turn alcoholic there, but thank god she stayed sober. It was a true telling of how much Julie hurt her, but it’s better out in the open. If Julie had kept it to herself, it would only cause more bitching and hurt all around, and sure it’s fun, but not between Julie and Kirsten. They did make up though, rather abruptly I thought, but it was done in a way that was emotional. In the sense that it humbled Julie and offered her a chance to show how quickly she could get back on her feet. I should have more to say about this come next week, when we see the practical side of the new business arising.
And now we come to the finale. Again, I’ve left Marissa and Ryan [and Johnny] until last, otherwise it clouds my otherwise excellent vision (haha sure). Last week I was angry and frustrated with Johnny’s arrival. This week I’m exasperated. Next week I’ll probably be bored. Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh. Does anyone… ANYONE… see anything original coming from Johnny?
Sorry, I didn’t hear you; you’ll have to repeat that.
I didn’t think so. This episode was nearly ruined for me, by the simple repetition and predictability of a crap storyline. Hey, I like Johnny as a person, but why not a friend? When he got hit by the car, I was secretly chanting to myself that he had died, but of course I can not hope for too much with this. He messed up his knee. Meh. See! This storyline is driving me to my increasing incoherence with my grammar, and it has the potential to stop me writing altogether.
I mentioned that the storyline nearly killed “The Gameplan”, but Marissa and Ryan in there own college situation saved it. It’ll be great to see them together at Berkeley (and I’m still wondering how next season will unfold with our favourite couples in different time zones). Hands up who thinks Marissa will befriend a young chiseled-jawed six-pack surfer guy? Wow, all three-million of you, no way.
Now I’m resorting to sarcasm. But the number one best thing of this episode did derive from Ryan and Marissa, I admit. Well, more Marissa. My favourite scene ever was when Marissa had to type out her college application. Poor girl. The music also synced extremely well with it, and this time the flashbacks weren’t so much sinister as emotional. While touching and extremely watchable, the back of my mind kept asking her to stop. Laptops do not grow on trees! Not to mention, it is extremely rude to trash things in someone else’s room, even if it is yours. Geez Marissa.
Finally, you may have noticed that the director for this episode was Tate Donovan (Jimmy Cooper). I have to say for a first time, he did an extremely good job. The camera angles were noticeably altered and to good effect. The two most promiscuous examples, was firstly when Julie was walking from the cab of the U-Haul, to the back of it. It had a jittery walking effect to it, which implied the actual roughness of the landscape. The second Tate Donovan moment was when Johnny got hit by the car. Unlike when Kirsten got hit, you could hear the loud thud and feel the actual speed and rush of it. Nice job!
So there you have it. Starting off fairly well but leading down to a deteriorating finish, this editorial reflects my sleeping patterns. For the past few nights I’ve been watching the third season on my new video iPod, and it has seriously affected my health. So much for the large 70%, huh?
Actually, it’s more like 100%.