The O.C. Summer Rewind: ‘The Girlfriend’

I’ve probably said this once before, but do you want to know what is absolutely amazing about Newport, California? Everyone there looks so young and healthy—everyone, even the senior citizens! Take Kirsten’s father Caleb, for instance. I don’t know about you, but when I was Seth’s age my grandparents were in their early 80s to mid 70s. But Caleb? Caleb appears as though he is not a day over 60. In fact, I’ve seen my share of 60-year-olds that don’t look even half as good as he does. So…what is this man’s secret? Does he run marathons? Has he committed to eating nothing but fruits and vegetables? Just…what? I would love to know, because if I could look that good when I hit 60, I’d be one hell of a happy camper.

Because Caleb looks so good for his age, I will confess that I did not immediately think “ew, gross” when we were first introduced to his blonde girlfriend Gabrielle. But as soon as she seductively tossed her head back and told Ryan and Seth “I’m 24”…well, that’s when it hit me. This woman, folks, is a gold digger if I ever saw one.

I’m sorry, though, what grossed me out even more was when she started coming onto Ryan. I don’t exactly know why that is (considering that she’s supposed to be much closer in age to Ryan than Caleb) but as soon as she started getting all flirty with him I shuddered. Don’t do it, Ryan. Dooon’t do it…but he does (not surprisingly) and in truth I expected Seth to be a little upset when he heard about it. But he wasn’t. In fact, he did nothing but cheer Ryan on. “You made out with my potential grandma? All right!” Haha. Oh, Seth…

Speaking of Seth, for once he gets a little action himself, and even more surprisingly…with Summer! That’s right, folks, you read that right. Seth and Summer actually kiss in this episode! While Summer is still most certainly not my favorite character, I will admit that this scene was rather adorable. In attempt to meet wealthy men, Summer asks Seth to be her date at his grandfather’s “awesome” upcoming party. Summer knows that very wealthy men will be at the party, and she also knows that Seth will be more than willing to introduce her to some of them. And so Seth agrees to be her date, although he knows full well that she is only looking for an excuse to go to the party. Towards the end of the night, however, Seth gets tired of being used, and he yells at Summer for pursuing men who don’t give a damn about her and never will. He then confesses that he cares about her. At first Summer is unaffected by this, but after Seth recites a poem that she wrote in the 6^th grade word for word she grabs him and kisses him. Daww. See? I knew she’d come to her senses if she discovered how much Seth admires her!

Meanwhile, Marissa is still struggling to choose between Luke and Ryan. She confides in Summer, who tells her that she has to make the decision for herself rather than expecting someone else to make it for her. Finally, on the night of Caleb’s party Marissa decides once and for all that she wants to be with Ryan. Unfortunately, this is also the moment in which Gabrielle has decided to try and seduce Ryan yet again, this time in the pool house. Gabrielle throws Ryan onto the bed, and it is at that moment when Marissa walks in and sees them. Heartbroken, she runs from the room and finds Luke. They leave the party together, and when they reach Luke’s empty house Marissa decides that she wants to commit herself to him, since Ryan betrayed her. She loses her virginity to Luke that night, and while this is going on Ryan is sitting in his room, quietly dying inside because he knows how severely he hurt Marissa’s feelings. Hours later Luke drives Marissa back to her house, and when she gets out of the truck Ryan is standing right there waiting for her, ready to apologize. But before he can get a word out Marissa tells him that he is too late, and then slams the door in his face. Well, not directly in his face, but she’d might as well have. In my personal opinion, he kind of deserved it, too. In fact, I can honestly say that at this point I am all for Luke/Marissa rather than Ryan/Marissa. Up until this point I have seen absolutely no reason to favor Ryan over Luke. Of course, that’s not taking the next episode into consideration…but I won’t say anymore about that.

Monday I will be reviewing/recapping episode seven ‘The Escape.’ This is a major turning point in the show (or so I have heard) and I’m excited to see what happens! I haven’t watched it yet, so…I’ve got to get on that.

Oh, and I am also going to be recapping Pretty Little Liars this weekend, so if you’re a fan of that show, keep your eyes open for that one, too.