About:
The O.C. S2.E17 “The Brothers Grim”
Drinks Taken: 25
Hey hey, welcome back to The O.C. Rewatch Project! Last week, Meredith asked how I feel about Lindsay leaving and Marissa and Ryan being all cute – I mean, it’s complicated. I liked Lindsay because what’s not to like? But Meredith is right. She never had the same chemistry with Ryan that Marissa does, and that was good in some ways and bad in some ways. Marissa’s thing with Ryan is always super melodramatic, and I like them better when they’re just being flirty friends. As for Marissa and Alex, I’m bummed that their relationship has to fall apart so quickly, and over typical living situation and jealousy BS. I don’t think Alex was being patient or fair, which sucks because I love her so much and I think it was the healthiest relationship Marissa has ever had.
Let’s drink to the memory of Marissa and Alex!
The O.C. Drinking Game
Drink once every time:
The ladies have a convo while primping in front of a mirror
Seth makes a nerdy reference
Ryan wears a white tank top
Anyone plays a video game
Summer says “ew”
Anyone eats a bagel
Anyone references The Valley
Drink twice every time:
Someone says “Newpsie”
Fisticuffs occur (three times for pool fights!)
Someone grabs a cup of coffee
Ryan and Seth read comic books
Someone reminds us that Kaitlin Cooper exists
2.16 “The Blaze of Glory”
We are in the midst of the best episodes ever – the writing is great, the chemistry is great, everything is going pretty well. But Seth is simply not content to let things be. Now that he’s back together with Summer, he’s intent on getting Ryan and Marissa back together, too, so everything can be perfect like it was the year before. Summer knows better, and warns him not to meddle with Ryan and Marissa. They’re great as friends, but when they get together, it’s all Drama with a capital D. That doesn’t dissuade Seth, of course.
Marissa is preoccupied trying to organize Harbor’s spring bonfire (she chose the font for the banner!), and at Seth’s manipulative urging, she asks Ryan for his help since he’s good with architecture, manual labor and burning things. She has a point (or Seth does, anyway). Alex isn’t happy with this development, and when she learns (FROM MEDDLING SETH) that Marissa and Ryan shared a tent last week, she absolutely loses her shit. Marissa and Alex’s relationship is great, not only because I love Olivia Wilde and I love these two together, but because it hits on some very real ideas about jealousy and the ways people try so hard to pull their significant others closer to them, when what they’re really doing is pushing them farther away. This is exactly what Alex is doing, physically attacking Ryan and throwing fits and acting possessive. But all that aggression comes from a place of hurting and just wanting to be with Marissa and be a part of her life. Also, I know it’s bad, but when Alex attacks Ryan and he quietly says “Walk away,” it’s kind of hot, no? Just me, then? OKAY.
This week is also very handsy, from Alex shoving Ryan around to Summer adorably punishing Seth for his meddlesome antics. Alex gets a couple of her tough rocker dude bro friends to confront Ryan at the bonfire, which results in a really great scene between her and Marissa. Alex just wants to be a part of Marissa’s world (cue Little Mermaid song), and Marissa gestures toward the bonfire and shouts, “This is my world. There it is. So, what do you think?!” Alex thinks she’ll never fit in with these cheerleaders and extracurricular activities, so she decides to break it off with Marissa, which is really for the best. And it saves Ryan from having to do Julie’s bidding by convincing Marissa to move back home and re-focus her efforts on school and her future. On a more positive note, Marissa has inspired Alex to go back to school, and it seems that Seth was right in meddling – which fills me with joy but also dread.
Meanwhile, Julie is still struggling with that pesky Lance Baldwin, who isn’t giving up until Julie forks over $500k to keep him from releasing her amazing porn tape.
I really wish the creative forces behind The O.C. had at least released (PG) clips from that tape as part of their marketing for season 2. I want to see more of Julie’s amnesia porn. Julie is really reaching out to the most unlikely people this week. Not only does she ask Ryan for help with Marissa, but she goes to Sandy for help with her amnesia porn. There’s not much they can do aside from going to the authorities, which Julie doesn’t want, but this is Sandy Cohen we’re talking about, so of course he saves the day. He has Lance sign over the film rights in exchange for the $500k, but the only bummer is that Julie will still have to tell Caleb if she hopes to raise those funds (and by raise those funds, I mean “have Caleb write a check.”).
Carter Buckley continues to be an annoying person, and I couldn’t agree with Meredith’s assessment more: Billy Campbell always plays characters we’re supposed to like, but I just cannot. I am trying to even, and I can’t. This week, he’s day-drinking and throwing a pity party because he’s compromising his ideals for Newport Living, or something, and Kirsten has to convince him to sober up and help her out. Fortunately (or unfortunately, whatever), Sandy has an old copy of Carter’s super liberal magazine, which Kirsten uses to guilt Carter into getting his crap together. This would all be acceptable, I guess, if not for every time Kirsten mentions Sandy, she has this guilty, solemn look about her, and she hesitates when both Sandy and Carter express an interest in meeting each other. Ugh, Kirsten. Knock it off. This stuff with Sandy and Rebecca was bad enough. NOT YOU TOO.
How many times did I have to drink?
12
Truest thing anyone said all week
Summer, telling Seth not to meddle with Marissa and Ryan – “They’re like, combustible.”
Best pop culture reference
Sandy meets Julie’s porn tape and makes the best possible reference.
Sandy: “Oh, it’s all right, Julie. You deal with Marissa and I’ll.. I’ll deal with the colonel. It’s a Boogie Nights reference; expect a lot of ’em.”
Most recognizable song
When Kirsten stops by to see a drunk Carter (UGH HE’S THE WORST), the Pixies’ “Debaser” is playing on his stereo. What a jam.
Best Seth Cohen line
Before he lets Ryan borrow Captain Oats:
Seth: “Sure, but he’s a poor substitute for a broken heart. Oats, if he touches you anywhere weird, and by weird I mean — ” [whispers to Oats] “– I want you to neigh as loud as you can.”
Because OF COURSE
Sandy pays dirtbag Lance Baldwin a visit, and he’s listening to “Rock You Like a Hurricane” by Scorpions and wearing a wife beater and has bad tattoos and a dumb necklace. Basically, this is Ryan’s alternate future. It is the darkest timeline.
Most bramantic moment
Summer braids Marissa’s hair. It’s so innocent and sweet!
2.17 “The Brothers Grim”
TREY IS BACK. And he’s been replaced by a better actor, too – Logan Marshall-Green, y’all. Just as the Cohens sit down for a Sandy Cohen-mandated family dinner, Trey calls to announce that he’s getting out of prison, which understandably gives Ryan all kinds of mixed feelings. Sandy takes Ryan to pick Trey up from jail in Chino, where he suggests that maybe Trey can stay with the Cohens for a bit, just until he gets on his feet. Ryan is hesitant, but when Trey’s new living situation isn’t looking so great, Ryan’s heart gives in and he agrees to let Trey come home to Casa Cohen.
And Trey is super stoked – but not for the right reasons. He gawks at the huge house, the infinity pool, the mini-mansion that is Ryan’s pool house. Trey and Ryan didn’t have the best upbringing or any of the nicer things in life, but where Ryan is simply grateful for this wonderful family giving him a chance to have a future and graciously opening their home to him, Trey is all about the material things. Trey has this entitled attitude that Ryan doesn’t have, and Seth notes their differences quickly and succinctly:
Seth: “You’re still an Atwood, only a slightly more edgy, darker version.”
Trey is such a frustrating character because you really want him to take this opportunity to improve his life and run with it the way Ryan did, but he’s got a few years on Ryan, which means he has a few more years of rowdy, hard living under his belt. The Cohens entered Ryan’s life at the right time, helping to ease some of that resentment and aggression built up from years of family strife, but Trey didn’t have that, and being in jail probably didn’t help either.
So when Ryan and Marissa take Trey shopping for new clothes (courtesy of Sandy Cohen, total mensch), all hell breaks loose. A store employee pegs Trey as a bad dude and accuses him of stealing a watch right after he pays for his new clothes. Instead of proving his honesty by letting the guy inspect his shopping bag, Trey flips out and destroys a bunch of stuff in the store. On the one hand, his aggravation is understandable – he’s trying to start over and be a better person, so it’s frustrating when people don’t even give him a chance. On the other hand, his reaction is totally unacceptable.
But Trey is still determined to clean up his act, so he lets Sandy help him find a job and has a chat with Ryan about needing to change his ways. Later, Ryan finds the watch from the store and accuses his brother of stealing it, but Trey whips out a receipt to prove that he went back and bought it as a gift from Ryan. The damage is done, though, so Trey skips out and heads back to Chino and his old dive bar haunt, where Ryan and Marissa track him down, only for some good ol’ fisticuffs to occur when some dude steps to Marissa. Trey comes to Ryan’s rescue and the Atwood brothers bond the only way Atwoods know how: punching people together. And with that, Trey goes home with Ryan again. I wish this was the last of Trey’s shenanigans, but (SPOILER) it’s not.
Summer is also struggling this week, as Zach returns from Italy (with a Vespa, what a goon) and appears to have gotten over Summer a little too quickly. Summer’s ego is bruised because, even though she’s back with Seth, she wanted to believe that she really broke Zach’s heart. Ugh, Summer, you have enough attention. Stop being a total Seth Cohen about this. Zach lies to Seth about some super hot supermodel girlfriend he met in Italy because he knows Seth is the worst with keeping secrets and he’ll immediately tell Summer – he does, of course, and Summer is annoyed, which annoys Seth. But when she goes to drop Zach’s stuff off at his house, his snobby mom tells Summer that Zach never left the hotel in Italy because he was so heartbroken, and no, there is no supermodel girlfriend. He just made it up so Summer wouldn’t know how devastated he was and she could move on with her life without worrying about it.
Meanwhile, Julie is still stressed over her porn tape (or as she calls it, “erotica”), so she goes to Kirsten for advice. Unfortunately, all roads lead to Julie telling Caleb, which she does off-handedly over lunch. But Caleb surprises Julie by calmly, quickly agreeing to pay Lance the $500k for the tape, and all of Julie’s problems are magically solved. She spends most of the rest of the episode flitting about joyfully and teasing Kirsten about her crush on Carter, blissfully unaware of Caleb’s dirty dealings.
And what is Caleb up to? WELL. He meets Lance in the motel room, hands over the cash, acquires what Lance promises is the only copy of the tape, and then unleashes a couple of meaty, thick-necked guys on Lance to teach him a lesson. Caleb walks out with the briefcase full of cash, but not before explaining to Lance that he has some very talented private investigators working for him, so he knows all about Julie Cooper’s past, and this porn tape was hardly surprising. I would say that’s pretty shocking and shady of Caleb, but it’s Caleb, so…
It’s super easy to sympathize with Julie this week, especially after learning that Caleb investigated her past thoroughly without her knowledge, which is super invasive. It’s also very easy to feel awful for Julie when Lance drops in on her Newport Living launch party and unveils her porn tape in front of all the Newpsies. Julie has become increasingly likable, from the way she approaches Marissa to her more optimistic attitude. The O.C. writers have clearly made her more likable on purpose so that we’d be able to sympathize with her when this porn thing went down.
As for Kirsten, she definitely does have feelings for Carter, which she deals with by acting a bit colder toward him. It doesn’t go unnoticed, and Carter confronts her about it at the party, where he offers to shoulder the blame for this weird situation – apparently it’s his fault because he’s been getting too chummy or something. God, I hate this guy.
How many times did I have to drink?
13
The social event of the week
The Newport Living launch party, which becomes even more eventful when everyone gets a load (sorry not sorry for that pun) of The Porn Identity, starring Julie Cooper-Nichol.
Truest thing anyone said all week
Trey: “Ryan said you talk a lot.”
Seth: “Yeah, it’s kind of a problem, but hopefully one you’ll… come to find it endearing.”
Most bromantic moment
Ryan and Trey beating dudes up together and bro-bonding with their fists. It’s also real cute the way they horse around right after.
Enough is enough
Ryan needs a damn hair cut. That mop is no good.
Baberaham Lincoln
Trey Atwood is a friggin’ fox with his tank top and his messy hair and his tough guy pout. It makes Ryan look like a poor imitation.
That’s it for this week’s episodes! I have a question for Meredith: how do you feel about Trey’s return? More importantly, how much of a babe is he?! The babeliest, I think.
Be sure to join Meredith back here next week when she covers “The Risky Business” and “The Rager”!
About the Contributor:
Britt Hayes is a writer and sensible sweater enthusiast living in Austin, Texas. She loves movies, watches too much television, and her diet consists mostly of fruit snacks and revenge.
