TV Review: The O.C. Episode 3.14

Thursday, February 02, 2006

From FOX: Summer discovers the truth about Cohen, while Sandy and Matt encounter an obstacle with their hospital project. Meanwhile, Kirsten and Julie take their matchmaking business a little too far, causing Julie to go into hiding. Marissa finally tells Johnny how she truly feels and Kaitlin wonders which “Cooper” Johnny really likes. When Johnny and Kaitlin head to the beach, Kaitlin finds Johnny at the edge of reason.

My Rating: 4 out of 4

Tonight's episode titled The Cliffhanger is probably one of the most explosive episodes of The O.C. this season. I hadn't been too thrilled with the story lines put forth for season, but with Kaitlin's arrival back on scene, things definitely started to heat back up with this television series. Tonight was no exception to that.

Tonight's episode started with Sandy waking up Ryan because Seth isn't at home in the morning when his alarm goes off. Sandy wants to go out to check the school after Ryan gives him a story about a Calculus exam, but Ryan talks Sandy into letting him go look for the younger Cohen. He finds him at the pier, and it appears that Seth has gone there to buy more pot. Last week, he had smoked it twice, and even blew off his interview with Brown because he was still high.

This week, Seth has to tell Summer he blew off the interview, but Ryan does promise to not tell Summer about the pot, if he does tell her about not going to the interview. He doesn't get the chance to before his guidance counselor does. This angers Summer, and she does go to confront Seth. The two end up having a movie night, where once again Seth is high, and Summer is quite suspicious. She goes up to his room to investigate, and she finds his pot stash.

The main plot line in this episode follows the new love square formed between Marissa, Ryan, Johnny and Kaitlin. Kaitlin confronts Marissa about her feelings for Johnny. She knows Marissa is upset, even if Marissa says she isn't. Kaitlin asks her sister if she does in fact have feelings for him, but Johnny picks that exact moment to arrive to take Kaitlin on a surfing lesson. After Kaitlin comes back, she goes to Ryan tell him about Marissa's feelings for Johnny. This sets Ryan on a low boil, and he then goes to Marissa himself. He tells her to not see him until she knows how she feels about Johnny, and who she wants to be with.

Marissa goes to her sister and tells her she had no right to talk to Ryan. She then goes to Johnny, who confesses his love for her. He asks her to not say anything at that moment. She doesn't, but after a heart to heart with her sister, she finally makes a decision. She goes to Johnny's but doesn't talk to him. Instead, she leaves him a note. he has also gone to Ryan's to apologize to him, which didn't go well. No idea the actual content of the note, but it is clear she has chosen Ryan. She goes to him, and they begin to work things out between them.

As for Johnny, he goes to Kaitlin and takes her out to the beach with a bottle of tequila for a bonfire. Once he begins drinking, he starts to act erratic. He then decides rock climbing while drinking would be a good idea. Kaitlin tries to talk him down, but when it doesn't work she calls her sister's cell. Ryan and Marissa make the quick trip to the beach, but Johnny doesn't want to have Ryan anywhere near him. Marissa and Kaitlin stand below on the beach as Johnny gets closer and closer to the edge. He eventually does fall to the beach below.

As for the minor sub plots in tonight's episode, there were two surrounding the adults on the show. First, let's talk about Julie. Last week, Summer's dad told her he didn't think it would work out between them. This left Julie heartbroken. This week, she is trying to deal with it, and Kirsten suggests she try to hook him up with one of the women listed in their new dating service as a way to see him. She does, and he actually picks one. Kirsten said he probably wouldn't. He ends up going out on a date, and Julie spies on him. She is caught though. Soon enough, Dr. Roberts is on her doorstep, and he admits he wants her. He shows up when she is tearful and about to drown her sorrows. Things look like they might work out after all.

The other sub plot involves Sandy and his work at the Newport Group. The hospital deal he had worked to get last week, needs another hoop to go through. Matt once again suggests using a not so kosher approach to get the deal finalized. Turns out he knows the daughter of one of the men involved. Sandy tells him not to, but then catches him out at dinner with her anyway. This leads Sandy to call Matt in on that Saturday tell him to figure out another game plan. This leads to some heavy thinking by Sandy. Something tells me Matt won't be around for long. I'm not really sure what his point on the show really is. He hasn't done much of anything this season. Taylor has also been absent a bit the last couple of weeks as well. I'd actually begun to like her.

Tonight's episode was perhaps one of the best episodes of the season. I really enjoyed the action of tonight's episode. everyone really had something to do. There were some tense moments, and a few really great scenes. Seth being high and crying over Save the last dance immediately comes to mind. We'll have to see what happens next week. Kaitlin sure does have a long mid-winter break from her school! To download a preview of next week's episode, courtesy of OCFans.org, click here.