TV Review: The O.C. Episode 3.09

Thursday, December 08, 2005

From FOX: Ryan takes an internship working for Sandy and Matt at the Newport Group, but he ends up working harder to save Matt's reputation. Summer and Seth, determined to get accepted to Brown University, do whatever it takes to stand out at Harbor School. Johnny finally tells Marissa how he really feels. After Ryan and Marissa cross paths, they end up telling each other the truth on The Disconnect episode of The O.C. Thursday, Dec. 8 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (OC-309) (TV-PG V)

My Rating: 1 out of 4

Well the title for this episode certainly worked for me. This episode titled "The Disconnect" felt totally disconnected from the rest of the season for me. In my opinion, this episode wins the weakest episode of season three so far for me. Let's talk a bit about what happens in this episode.

Johnny is released from the hospital as the episode opens, and Ryan is driving him home with Marissa and Seth along for the ride. Marissa watches him struggle along for a bit before she has enough, and she offers to help him get settled. The majority of the rest of the episode has Marissa playing nurse to Johnny. When his mother finds a doctor to help Johnny in his recovery, but he is put on a waiting list, Marissa uses her contacts to get him an earlier appointment.  All the attention, Marissa is paying him is making Johnny fall more and more for Marissa. He even tells Summer about it.

One night, when he falls and takes some pain meds, the confession comes out to Marissa. That will certainly make things awkward for the two. Am I the only one that saw the confession coming as soon as pain meds were mentioned? Letting your feelings slip while you're totally out of it is one of the oldest tricks imaginable. It made this happening totally predictable. Johnny does come to her to apologize for letting it slip, but he admits its true.

Something tells me Johnny won't be around much longer. That is unless the writer's want Ryan and Marissa to split up. Here is there chance! The episode does end up on a positive note for Marissa and Ryan as they both come clean about the events of their weekends over the phone when their signals get crossed.

A good majority of this episode focuses on Summer and Seth. Apparently, Summer is a genius. She receives hr SAT scores, and she has scored even higher than Seth. This sends Seth into a bit of a worry mode. His intelligence was the only thing that he was better at when it came to him and Summer. Now he doesn't even have that.

The two both try to figure out how to get into Brown, now that Summer at least has a shot, but the Brown representative that comes to Harbor tells them that only one student is usually accepted from Harbor. This makes it a competition for Seth until Summer confronts him. They both end working towards Brown by sending in applications.

Ryan also has some hot happenings this week. He is hired on as an intern at the Newport Group after Matt suggests it. The two are assigned to work on a big project, but Matt ends up blowing it off. He ends up taking Ryan to a strip club, and even pays for Ryan to have a lap dance by one of the strippers.

Things end up getting sidetracked, and the next day Matt is totally unprepared for the big meeting. Sandy ends up firing Matt once he learns about the strip club from Ryan. However, what Sandy didn't know is that Matt just broke up with his girlfriend, so the strip was his way of dealing with it.  Well, this is another story line I never understood. Matt seems to be filler in a big way, and I hope things change on that front. We already wasted Jeri Ryan this season in the Charlotte storyline.

The last part of this episode focused on Julie and Kirsten working on their new business. They decide to try party planning, but Julie isn't too enthused. Out at lunch, the two are hired by a man for a dinner party. Kirsten spends two days slaving away preparing the food, and when the two arrive at the man's house, it turns out he was looking for more of private party with Julie. This angers Kirsten, but pleases Julie. They just got paid $5,000 for a dinner Julie ate! The scene at the man's house was probably the only highlight of the episode.

I'm not sure what is happening with The O.C. this season. I have been feeling a bit off about this series since the third season premiered. This episode was cliché and predictable to me. This whole season just feels a bit rushed. A problem is found and fixed all in one episode. This is something you see mostly in situation comedies. Next week we have the yearly Christmas episode. That always is a highlight each season. Hopefully, it can drag this show up after this week's weak performance.

Do you agree with my opinion on this episode or do you disagree?  Chime in about what you thought on this episode, head on over to my forum on Media Village.