TV Review: The O.C. Episode 3.08

Thursday, December 01, 2005

From FOX: Seniors at Harbor School and Newport Union prepare their college applications, while Ryan, Seth, Summer and Marissa decide what to do. Will they go to college? Where will they go? Marissa, unable to make a decision, attends Johnny’s surf competition instead of completing her college application. Meanwhile, Julie is forced to return to her roots and Kirsten, eager to return to work, turns to a friend for help. Sandy, meanwhile, invites an old friend from UC Berkeley to dinner with Seth and Ryan on The Game Plan episode of The O.C. Thursday, Dec. 1.

My Rating: 4 out of 4

In our reality, it is the time of year where high school seniors across the country are busy filling out college applications and making the decisions that will influence the rest of their lives. This is no different for the teens in The O.C.'s reality. They just seem to be a bit behind time wise, but yes we are learning about colleges, and where our foursome will end up going once the fall hits us in 2006.

Sandy has his heart set on Seth attending his and Kirsten's alma mater of Berkeley. Seth has his heart set on getting out of Newport and as far away from it as he possibly can. After meeting with his guidance counselor, his mind is set on applying to Brown. Sandy still has his heart set on Berkeley. He even invites an old college friend that attended the university with him and now works for the school to dinner.

After meeting with her own counselor, Summer has her heart set on a west coast school in Arizona where sun and fun will definitely be in the cards. These two have different ideas, and this does cause conflict, especially when Taylor sticks her two cents into the equation. She finds out the two are going to be on opposites sides of the country and starts telling Summer how hard a long distance relationship will be, but she should definitely visit her and Seth at Brown.

Summer worries herself into a frenzy, and then approaches Seth. When she discovers he hadn't given any thought to them being on opposites end of the country this upsets her even more. She even approaches Taylor, basically given Seth to her at Brown. In a surprising twist, Taylor is the one that ends up coming to Summer's aid. She finds a school near Brown that is more in Summer's league then Brown, and Summer takes her advice. It looks like Summer will apply to Providence College, and Seth will go forward with applying to Brown.

Now what about Ryan and Marissa? The other half of our foursome isn't as focused as Summer and Seth when it comes to college. Marissa has no plans to attend college at all, and Ryan isn't sure where he wants to go at all. He just knows he doesn't want to leave Marissa when he does go. He is also feeling the pressures of being the first one in his family to attend college, much less graduate high school. Definitely a lot of weight on his shoulders.

As for Marissa, the events of the summer are still heavily involved in her life. Due to the expulsion on her record, she has to write an essay explaining the events that led up to the expulsion, which is something she has no desire to do. Writing about it means reliving it all over again, when she does try to write an essay, after some urging from both Johnny and Ryan, it doesn't go well.

As for Johnny, once he sees how upset Marissa still is about the situation with college, he offers another solution. He offers her to go on tour with him once he wins a huge surf tournament. The idea gives her some hope, and she ends up going with him to the tournament. Something that doesn't end up sitting well with Ryan. After finding out about Marissa's new possible plans, he goes to the beach to find her. They talk, but it doesn't go well. When Johnny runs after Ryan to stop him, a lady speeds around the corner of the parking lot, and runs into Johnny. He is taken to the hospital, and it looks like there is a good chance his surfing days are over with a serious knee injury. Johnny has no plans on giving up however. His injury will sideline him a bit with surgery and rehab, so Marissa's plan there is foiled.

After she leaves the hospital, she goes to the Cohen's and talks to Ryan. The Berkeley guy overhears the conversation between Ryan and Marissa, encouraging them both to apply to Berkeley, which it looks like they will do.

This does pose a problem though, at least as far as the series goes. One half of the foursome is going east coast, and the other half is staying west. What does this mean for the next season of The O.C? When past teen drama 90210 hit college years, the whole crowd attended fictional California University. That isn't going to happen here. Will we have a next season of this show? Last I heard the show was planning on six seasons, so we do have three more possible seasons. I'm just not sure how things will work out next year. Time will tell.

College talk isn't all that happened on this episode. We also had some happenings with Kirsten and Julie. Julie has to move out of the condo Charlotte had bought for her. Charlotte has now left the scene. Kirsten is going stir crazy, and she is itching to get back into the flow of things. Once she sees where Julie is now living after following her and her U-haul to a trailer park, Kirsten proposes a business between the two friends. However, before things get underway Kirsten asks Julie about Charlotte, and the truth comes out about her con artist ways. Kirsten also figures out Julie was involved in the charity scheme, and this hurts her. She leaves the restaurant where she and Julie are talking, and things look bad. However, after Kirsten gives it some thought, she goes to Julie and forgives her. All is well. Looks like these two are going into business together. We just don't know what exactly.

I really liked this episode. I had been wondering when the college days would arrive for our four seniors, and it looks like we finally have them. This should make things especially interesting for a bit. It certainly means an uncertain future for our favorite show. It will probably still be on air, but what will happen? Will the four go to opposite sides of the countries and still be on this show? Word also has it that Marissa's sister will return to the series. Will this show begin to follow a new generation? What will happen to this show? I'm not sure, but I am sure we will know as the episodes progress.