The O.C. Summer Rewind: ‘Pilot’

In years past I never cared to watch The O.C., mainly because for some reason I was fully convinced that it was nothing but a shallow teenage drama about a group of kids who pass their time surfing, getting drunk, and wasting their lives away. Mind you, I formed this opinion before I had even seen a single episode of the show, but now that I have finally taken the time to sit down and watch the pilot I must say that I’m somewhat angry that I never gave it a chance before.

The pilot begins not with a wild beach party, but with two teenage boys who are attempting to steal a car. The younger boy—Ryan—doesn’t seem to think that committing a felony is very wise, but the other boy—his older brother, Trey—tells him to shut up and get in the car. After hesitating a moment, Ryan does what his brother says and gets in. They are about to drive off, when suddenly a police car passes by. The officer sees what the boys are doing, turns his car around, and immediately begins chasing after them.  Long story short, the officer catches them and arrests them both. Trey goes to jail, but Ryan only goes to juvie because he is a minor. Already you begin to feel sorry for the kid, as it is clear that he’s the good one and his brother is the delinquent.

Fast forward to the next day. An attorney is appointed to Ryan—Sandy Cohen—and he offers to help Ryan in whatever way he can. The juvenile facility releases Ryan not long afterward, and Sandy gives him his card before departing—just in case. Hmm. I wonder if he’s ever going to take Sandy up on his offer…

After pocketing the card, Ryan returns home. When he gets there he is greeted by his lovely alcoholic mother and her thug boyfriend. His mother is extremely disappointed in her son’s actions, and claims that she simply can’t deal with him anymore. She tells Ryan to get out of the house, and when he refuses the thug decides to interfere by punching Ryan in the face. Finally having enough, Ryan gathers his stuff, puts it in a bag and leaves the house.

After using a payphone to call his buddies—or “buddies”, more like, since all of them tell him to buzz off—Ryan comes to the realization that he literally has nowhere to go, and so at last he pulls that card out of his pocket and gives Sandy Cohen a call. Sandy immediately comes to pick him up, and when they arrive at the Cohen household in Orange County, Ryan is in awe. The house is a freaking monstrosity, as are all the other houses nearby, and it is clear by the way they are so well-maintained that only a millionaire could ever afford to reside in such a neighborhood.

Sandy and Ryan get out of the car. Sandy leaves Ryan alone for a moment, and that’s when Ryan is approached by Marissa Cooper, a girl who lives right next door to the Cohens. She asks him how he knows the Cohens, and he tells her the truth. Marissa doesn’t believe him (Because who would believe a story like that?) and immediately assumes that he must be one of the Cohens relatives. She flashes him an extremely flirtatious smile, invites him to an upcoming party with all the local kids, and just when you think one of them is about to blurt “oh my God, you’re so hot,” Marissa’s boyfriend suddenly pulls up in his big, macho-looking truck. Marissa climbs in, gives her boyfriend a smooch, and then they drive off.

Ryan is invited into the Cohen household, and Sandy introduces him to his wife Kirsten and their teenage son Seth. Both are very welcoming, especially Seth; the kid is psyched at having someone his own age in the house, probably because he doesn’t have many friends. This presumption was confirmed not soon afterward. The next morning Seth takes Ryan out on his boat, and tells him that he named it after a local girl named Summer. “She must be pretty stoked,” Ryan remarks, but Seth reluctantly admits that he has never spoken to Summer in his life. Hmm, I thought with a grin. I think I’m going to like this kid. What can I say? I’ve kind of got a thing for nerds.

Later that night, Ryan and Seth both attend a fashion show put on by the local women in the Orange County community. Initially Seth doesn’t want to go, but Sandy insists that he and Ryan ought to, mainly because Marissa invited Ryan to the after party the night before. Ryan agrees, and points out that Summer will probably be there, since she is Marissa’s best friend. Only then does Seth agree to go.

The fashion show consists of nothing but the local rich girls strutting around in dresses that are worth thousands of dollars. The women claim that the money they make at the show all goes to charity, and that, to me, was extremely laughable. Couldn’t they have simply given money to charity, rather than spend thousands of dollars on dresses that they will only wear once or twice? Probably, but I guess in a world where everything is perfect, everyone has plenty of money to burn.

Or not. While all the girls are showing off their $40,000 dresses, Marissa’s father Jimmy Cooper suddenly excuses himself from his table and makes a break for the restroom, where he proceeds to lock himself in a stall and cry. Uh oh. Looks like we’ve got trouble here, folks. I’m presuming he’s having serious financial issues…which is bad, because his wife Julie seems like the type to leave him if that’s the case. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

After the fashion show, Seth and Ryan head to the after party with Marissa and Summer. (See? I wasn’t entirely wrong about the party thing.) Everyone is intrigued by Ryan, especially Summer. After having several drinks she starts hanging on him and following him around, and when Seth sees he is extremely upset and stomps off, feeling betrayed. Not long afterward, Ryan sees Luke (Marissa’s boyfriend) pushing Seth around and calling him a geek. Ryan jumps to Seth’s defense, and both boys end up getting punched in the face by Luke. Charming boy.

The boys quietly return to the Cohen house afterward. All is forgiven between Seth and Ryan, and while Ryan is trying to get to sleep he glances out the window and sees Summer and another girl delivering Marissa to her house next door. Marissa is asleep, and both Summer and the other girl are extremely drunk as they set Marissa down on her front door step and drive away. Not wanting to leave Marissa laying there, Ryan comes downstairs and carries her back to the Cohen house so that she at least has a decent bed to sleep in.

I wonder how long it’s going to take for these two to get together. I mean they could not have possibly made it anymore obvious that it’s going to happen…you think Luke hates Ryan now? Just wait. I guarantee this will get ugly eventually.

The next morning, Mrs. Cohen finds out what happened at the party the night before. Of course she blames Ryan, and she tells her husband that he can’t stay with them any longer—clearly it’s better for him to go back with his drunkard mother and her loser boyfriend. So Sandy takes Ryan back, much to Seth’s disappointment, but when they arrive at Ryan’s house they find that it is completely empty. Nothing has been left for Ryan but a note on the counter, and I think it’s fairly easy to guess what happens after that. Sandy says, “No prob, dude, come on back to the house!” They leave, and then we are left to wonder what happens next, though I think that is pretty obvious as well.

Sorry this one was so long, guys. I promise I’ll try to make the next one shorter. Stay tuned for episode two of season one, “The Model Home.”

Also, one more thing: thewb.com recently took down season one of The O.C. I don’t know why they would do this, but I just wanted to let everyone know that despite this fact, I will still be reviewing and recapping episodes of season one every week throughout the summer. Peace.