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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The OC is here to make us feel good about being poor

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Ex

15:16 / 28.09.04

I think the problem for Anna and Seth is that neither feels themself to be sexually attractive. They fancy each other - they have jokey wrestling with the pointing and the grabbing fingers and the tickling. But Seth isn't used to being attractive - he's used to being funny. His self-esteem is based in being good at talking, so shutting up and kissing (about which he has had less feedback) is hazardous.

Anna's confidence is still dented from being pitted against Summer. What does Anna do for Christmas? Something quirky and creative and sweet. What does Summer do? Gets her kit off (albeit in a relevant and themed manner). I mean, Summer knows she's a babe. That incident made Anna feel immature and unsexy.
With all that, and with Seth only recently realising that Anna is a sexual proposition, Anna could be excused for thinking that Seth is only with her because she is quirky, amusing, shares interests and IS HIS SISTER. Coff.

I think they're both waiting for the other person to make a move. Neither wants to say "You know you want it! Come and get it!" because they're not sure the other person does want it.

Poor tiny fools.

08:41 / 05.10.04

Arm's is right when he says he's seeing Summer as a more attractive character now; the show's now showing us a Summer that I thought only existed in Seth's head, based on disperate memories of her that not even she remembered/acknowledged.

Summer seemed to warm to Seth's idea of her (see: her reaction when he recited her mermaid poem to her). My biggest problem with their relationship (and I have very few: dancing in his room? I love these people!) is that it may mean an end to Anna (have not seen beyond Valentine's Day).

Can someone PM mre with a yea or nay on future Annainess? She's not on the credits, but then neither was Anya for about two, Xander-porking years... And is the DVD boxset gonna feature a disc of Adam Brody being hott? I may spend £70 of my own blood if I get that for it.

Regrettable Juvenilia

12:58 / 05.10.04

It's back to its best, yes? This episode even had a Newport social event: don't mess with a classic formula, OC!

20:30 / 11.10.04

Dude, that sex with your Mom totally did not suck!.

Oh man. The Luke/Julie storyline fills me with a ridiculous kind of glee. It seems they are going to prolong the agony for a little longer, and I'm sure it'll be resolved delightfully.

Anna is back. I wasn't quite sure why she was being so gosh-darn nice to Seth, until Vincennes pointed out to me that she's meant to be the counterpart of Summer (and, indeed, Marissa); she is successful at staying friends with Seth because they actually were friends before they went out.

Lovely, lovely Seth; managing to declare a love of emo music and say the phrase "red leather unitard" in the same episode. Rivers Cuomo hearts you, Seth.

Not quite as much Sandy-super-dad, but hey, that'll come later. I really do adore this program.

(And isn't Eric Balfour a bit tired of being typecast already?)

12:02 / 18.10.04

So we got the final answer. Nay to future Anna-ness. They bring her back only to tear her away. Oh, blah.

Similarly blah to the slightly futile Theresa/Eddie storyline, which was a slightly dull waste of two episodes. Anyhow, some kind of status quo is being returned to. I still love it, but am kind of annoyed that all the interesting storylines are red herrings to the "usual stuff" that fills out episodes. Oliver was the one that came close to upsetting the cart.

Still, I am filled with HUGE AMOUNTS OF JOY because Luke is going to get Charlie Busted next week and he deserves it sooooo much. "Much as I desire and need high-speed internet access, I do not want Caitlin getting suspicious, Luke". Ahehehe.

(Also, catching up on West Wing 4, I spotted Caleb masquerading as a Democrat senator, and cannot believe the Bartlet administration did not weed him out for the rat he is).

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

12:17 / 24.10.04

Haha.

Good jokes this week. Meta show!

Jack The Bodiless

11:47 / 25.10.04

I thought they over-egged it, myself. You know, just in case we didn't get the joke, Seth has to underline that the guy from The Valley is just like him, only a famous actor! And another kids expedition gets ruined, with a predictable outcome. Meanwhile, again, all the fun stuff is happening with the adults and supporting cast : Sandy and Jim finally getting their restaurant off the ground with (almost) no compromises ; Jim getting closer to what passes for redemption in the OC by helping Hayley without jumping her bones again (although you know he's gonna wreck it by sleeping with her eventually) ; Caleb's grudging acknowledgement that Sandy and Jim may know what they're doing with the Lighthouse, meatloaf and all ; poor old Luke having to give up kaleidoscopic monkeysex with his ex-girlfriend's MILF because he's trying not to be an asshole anymore, and you know that it's Ryan's influence that's done it ; Julie loses her toyboy, but has recovered her poise and beeyatch-face ready for round two with Caleb.

Meanwhile what happens with the main cast? Seth blethers on again and again about nothing while showing almost no chemistry with Summer whatsoever (which is chilling given that the actors are seeing each other in real life), Marissa and Ryan keep the friends/not friends boring cliched sexual tension thing going, despite them having even less chemistry than Zander and Cordelia I mean Seth and Summer. They get thrown out of another club/party, although this time no one gets punched and it's Jim who saves the day, not Sandy. Marissa runs crying from the room for the seventh time this season, giving Mischa Barton yet another opportunity to try out her 'constipated' expression.

Mind you, the script is still Whedon-sharp in places... "It didn't even last ten minutes..." great line, well delivered.

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

12:43 / 25.10.04

I think I just appreciated how over the top it had gotten, and how it was poking fun at itself, really. It was kind of like doppelganger land (Paris as uber-Summer) rather than any real drama... although all the other bits were just as good. I think it kind of amuses me that the same things keep happening, while the main stuff moves at the pace of an iceberg, purely because it seems to get funnier because of it...

And it sure beats Hollyoaks for Sunday hangover tv.

13:30 / 25.10.04

Having not seen beyond this episode, I don't know how much it was an indication of a general trend in the show, or how much of a celebration/purging burn of all the things about the show that had been happening up to now, as a treat for everyone who stayed with it during the Seth's-doing-what-now?, Oliver's-doing-that-now?! times.

And speakinhg of the meta-y lovliness, has anyone heard Adam Brody's band Big Japan? I'm thinking it sounds like self-undulgent actors with instruments...

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:58 / 25.10.04

He's the drummer? Awesome.

The best line in this episode was his line about hearing some really terrible music coming from the car.

No star here laces

08:46 / 26.10.04

Summer and Seth totally have chemistry. She understands him very well, I think. Y'all just WANT him to be with Anna cos she's more geekalicious.

Jack The Bodiless

11:46 / 26.10.04

In the episode where they had all the sex together and Summer pulled off her top, the lack of combustion was so non-intense that I didn't seriously believe after the cutaway that they actually were going to have sex.

Now Jimmy and Hayley - they have chemistry. In my head, they're doing it right now.

Last night's episode - wait, I'm on E4 time. Are you guys watching on Channel 4?

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Dear god. Jimmy and Hayley decide to have a clandestine affair at around the time that Julie and Luke have just been found out with less than salubrious consequences. Of course, J and H don't know about J and L, but this is even better dramatic irony than soaps ordinarily manage. I mean, usually we're sitting there counting the minutes till they get found out and disaster ensues - here we've been given a less important, less dramatic dry run in the same episode! Groovy.

Marissa sucks. She's, like, so lame.

Tryphena Absent

13:51 / 26.10.04

Meanwhile, again, all the fun stuff is happening with the adults and supporting cast

Well adults do have more fun, all that disposable income (when you're rich). I mean seriously are you telling me you're not having a better time now than when you were 16? No money unless you did some scummy job cleaning plates, the drama of your sex life. Jesus every kiss was a soap opera. All of this makes Luke my favourite character- he began a simple jock as irritating as Marissa, he's now hilarious and sleeping with her mom.

I also love Summer but then I never thought Seth should go out with Anna. She was a bit boring and had annoying hair and never understood the crazy need for pink bunnies and barbie dolls that you just know Summer had.

Ex

08:30 / 27.10.04

Luke reminds me so strongly of a golden retriever that when he's shown in bed at the motel with Marissa's mother, I think, "Don't let him up on the furniture!"

Jack The Bodiless

11:27 / 29.10.04

Yeah, but it's not about adults having more fun, it's about who's more fun to watch. In that regard, conventional wisdom says that it's the kids (The Kids!) who are supposed to be better for casual soap opera voyeurism, especially in what is ostensibly a high school melodrama.

ONLY NICE THINGS

12:54 / 29.10.04

Indeed, which is one of the things I really like about the OC - the adults aren't just there to provide situations for the kids to react off. If anything, they are more interesting than the kids, not least because there really haven't been many portrayals of the parents of teenagers not shot entirely around the teenagers themselves.

Jack The Bodiless

15:47 / 02.11.04

Watching season one alongside season two is making me realise how quickly this show ran out of interesting things to do with the kids, to be honest. If you're a year and a half in and you're already making faux-ironic jokes about how "this seems to be all we ever do" then you need an imagination jumpstart...

So, last nights ep has Luke crashing Caleb's party (a-fucking-gain - is there no other form of social catalyst in Orange County apart from the violent/drunk party crasher ruining the shindig?*), rolling his car while pissed - and then, much like Anna, leaving town. Fantastic (loved how Ryan glosses over Luke's "I had your back with Oliver, man!" - yeah, unlike any of the dweebs you're hanging with now, you fifth columnist). Now there are only FOUR KIDS in Orange County, and they're all together in one deeply boring social unit, which brings me to...

Watched an episode of season one on E4 - and tragically, recalled precisely how much chemistry Seth/Summer and Ryan/Marissa had when they weren't together and weren't gonna get together. Conflict=drama meme given credence shocker!

* Found another one - Marissa walks in on/overhears people making out/admitting wrongdoing, develops that weird constipated/puzzled expression and runs out in tears. Which she does nearly every week. My god, this show has no steam left...

No star here laces

05:07 / 03.11.04

d00d, that's the end of season 1 - season two starts on 4th November on USTV...

08:47 / 03.11.04

Yes. To clarify: Channel 4 in their infinite stupidity split the US Season 1 in two, stopping just before the Summer. We're now finishing off Season 1 - a few more episodes to go, three or four I think. So in some ways the steam-running-out-thing happens far sooner, and yet it's also a more intrinisic part of the series.

I mean, there was only so much they could do from the start. Admitting that early and trying to find ways around it is a shrewd move, I guess. And hey, the formula is the fun.

(My favourite Luke-feature is the way his haircut has progressed from that thing in the credits to the big floppy mop he shall depart with. He has gone from sucking to rocking to sucking in a huge pendulum swing...)

Jack The Bodiless

21:46 / 22.11.04

No, there's the show as enjoyable formula, and there's the show as drinking game. For me it's the latter... don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the season one finale tonight, but for a 27 show season, it had no plot whatsoever, no progression to speak of, character inconsistency all over the place...

I've got a couple of character-based niggles, acksherly -

Why does Ryan find Marissa so irresistable? Because she's wan, dopey and completely self-obsessed? Nothing horrible happens to her in season one, compared to the shit that happens to other people - her dad gets in trouble, her parents divorce, her boyfriend cheats on her. Jesus, if she gets an alcohol/prescription drugs/suicide problem out of that, what would happen if something nasty happened to her? My money's on her head exploding like in Scanners.

Why does anyone like Seth? He's wholly self-obsessed to an almost Marissa-like degree, fairly mean-spirited, and treats Ryan like a fucking tamagotchi, all of which works if you consider that originally he was supposed to be socially stunted... but why does anyone like him?

Still, I got all weepy-eyed like a babyman when they played Buckley's version of 'Hallelujah' at the end. But I really don't have high hopes for season two, largely because they appear to have lost what made the show so much fun to start with (and lost it really really quickly, too), and it wasn't like it has actual quality to fall back on, because it's rubbish trash TV... At least when ER lost that thing it used to have, it was still well written and acted quality drama, albeit drained of that spark and flair it had before.

No star here laces

08:57 / 23.11.04

Interesting thing about the OC: solidifies that it is now essential for all teen dramas to focus on the nerds/outcasts. It's never about the popular kids anymore, and probably hasn't been ever to be honest.

Well, I just watched the first three episodes of season 2 (available on a bittorrent near you).

SPOILERS

BIG FAT HUGE SPOILERS

SPOILERS VERY SOON

I was living in utter fear of season 2. Season 1 was so epic and comforting for me. For about two months I binged on it - it was better than sex, social interaction or alcohol. But it was full of dark potents: all the characters added later (Oliver, Theresa) were super-annoying. As they attempted to break formula and ramp up the drama, the writing lost all its bite. And it ended on such a melodramatic note that it seemed there was no going back...

...but fear not. Season 2 so far is a total return to form. Theresa is out of the picture, thank fuck. There's a nice focus on the key characters: Ryan, the Cohens, Caleb and Julie. I love the way the writers have chosen to keep the quartet of Ryan, Seth, Marissa and Summer at the centre, but without any of them dating. They all clearly remain into each other, but have strong barriers to getting together (all completely self-inflicted, of course).

And barriers are the key to great romance, so this is spot on.

Secondly, the new characters rock. Zach (who is Seth with all the negatives removed, much to Seth's chagrin) and the uptight scholarship girl whose name I forget are both great. DJ (the hunky yard boy that Marissa has a summer fling with) is a bit irritating, but is a great plot device for dealing with class issues, now that Ryan is fully assimilated.

Finally, the self-referentialism is cool again. Seth gets lambasted by all and sundry for being self-obsessed. Sandy refers to Luke as a labrador.

Jack The Bodiless

20:59 / 23.11.04

I think a DJ just saved my life. Thanks, 'laces!

Matthew Fluxington

18:50 / 25.11.04

It's amazing how much better The OC is when you fast forward through every scene featuring more than one adult.

No star here laces

06:52 / 26.11.04

Heresy! The best scenes are the Sandy-Kirstin-Caleb ones!

Maybe if you fast-forward through any scene involving Jimmy but not Marissa, I could buy that. Jimmy and Haley is cringeworthy. I want Jimmy poor, sexually frustrated and miserable again. And tagging around after Kirstin like an abused chihuahua.

Matthew Fluxington

16:22 / 26.11.04

I think that the show would be better if it was just Seth, Summer, Ryan, and the cute new redhead girl.

No star here laces

16:49 / 26.11.04

You're such a young pretty people fascist, matthew.

Matthew Fluxington

20:52 / 26.11.04

Nah, I just don't like lame-ass daytime soap stuff. I like my soap operas WB-style. The adult OC characters (and actors who play them) are so dull and low-rent. I can't get into that Melrose Place/Dallas stuff.

Regrettable Juvenilia

10:48 / 27.11.04

What?

Is this a Buffy Season 6 thing? Marissa wouldn't have been out of place in that season.

No star here laces

01:43 / 29.11.04

Anybody care to make predictions?

Mine:

The Cohens will lose all their money and Caleb will go to jail. This will happen quite soon in order to pitch all the characters into a deep dark hole from which they will then have to escape.

Summer will fall more and more for Zach, in order to make Seth a real underdog again. Because he's funnier when he's miserable.

Marissa will be drunk in public at a social function.

Ryan will have to undergo some sort of ordeal in order to finance going to university to study architecture.

Matthew Fluxington

11:01 / 29.11.04

I don't have a problem with Marissa, just the actress who plays her.

Still, Buffy 6 = X-Men, and I don't think Marissa would be a very good X-Men character.

13:58 / 08.12.04

I'm loving the new season. It's great that they're letting Ryan be funnier and funnier. The constant brooding last season had annoyed me a bit. I really like how they're doing new twisted versions of all the big events from last season.

17:31 / 09.01.05

I'd definitely agree that the show right now is pretty much as good as it's been, since at least the Summer/Anna/Seth triangle era. There's no bad plot, though the Caleb thing is dragging on a bit. However, the Lindsay revelation at the end of The SnO.C is going to make things even more incestuous. How any of them are going to be able to date each other soon, I don't even know.

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I mean, you know you're in strange territory when Ryan is dating his adopted grandfather's illegitimate daughter.

02:07 / 26.02.05

The show's getting more and more meta, I love Julie describing Kirsten and Sandy as "the moral center of our universe." Really top notch episode yesterday, particualrly Summer, who's by far the best character on the show. I'm a bit wary about pretty much returning everything to the status quo, but I think that's intentional, and is probably just a precursor to some new plots.

Anyone else still watching year 2?

21:17 / 27.02.05

Oh yes, still watching this. I think the SnOC was possibly my favourite episode ever. Everything is just so wonderful it makes me happy. Seth finally got clocked - something he's deserved for a while now. Then he hooked up with Alex again. I love Alex; she's great for Seth, she's genuinely fun, and I like her presence.

Meanwhile, Ryan and Marissa managed not to offend each other, to actually be friends (I was pinching myself, this was a bit uncharacteristic) and Ryan still eventually got together with Lindsey. Lindsey is great. Lindsey is great because she talks too much and has Freudian Slippers. She is, in short, too good for Ryan.

Plus: the whole who-Lindsey-really-is shenanigans! And Kirsten: "Why is that ninja smoking a cigarette?" And Jimmy/Julie being drrty, and the foursome-in-the-car-ride.

Just great. Vincennes did ask me why they didn't just let Zack hang out with Ryan and Seth, as they would clearly all get on really well, and I pointed out that whilst this is true, it wouldn't make much of a show.

In short: love it, love it, love it. So glad Theresa was swiftly dispatched...

Tryphena Absent

09:35 / 28.02.05

They're bound to hang out with Zach eventually. Especially now that he's hit Seth... aah and wasn't his shock cute. I love it when shows get better and not worse.

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