TV Review: The O.C. Episode 3.21

Thursday, April 13, 2006

From FOX: When Ryan decides to go and visit his mother he is delayed when a problem arises. Taylor and Summer work together to try and find out what Seth is hiding, but Summer ends up getting hurt. Julie talks to Volchok's friends in order to get Marissa out of a bad situation. Sandy is able to fix his work problems with Matt but while doing so he hurts Kirsten.

My Rating: 3 out of 4

On this week's episode of The O.C. titled 'The Dawn Patrol,' graduation plans are in full swing for the four college seniors. The Cohen's are planning their day, and the question comes up of what to do with Ryan's graduation tickets. Kirsten suggests he invite his mother. At first she thinks, that was a mistake. However, Ryan had been thinking of inviting his mother as well. He makes to go to Albaquerque to ask her to come. Meanwhile, Volchok returns, but Marissa is less than enthusastic when he shows up in her bedroom. He somehow got passed the maid. He starts to get a bet touchy feely, but Julie shows up on scene, and he makes a hasty retreat.

At Harbor, Summer and Seth are now dealing with the post break-up awkwardness. After a talk with Taylor, Summer isn't ready to give up on him so easily, and she finds a way to get them booted out of class and right into a weekend detention together. Seth still isn't willing to tell Summer he didn't get into Brown because he knows that she will end up not going. So he decides to break up with her again after Summer unbroke up with him.

While in New Mexico, Ryan ends up at the diner his mother works at. Here he meets Chloe, a young woman that works with his mother. She tells him his mother will be in a couple hours, and when he returns he finds her with a less than desirable boyfriend. He decides to leave before he sees her, but Chloe catches him, and the two go off to talk. The talk leads to a beer, a dance and a quick hop into bed back at Ryan's hotel.

After deciding whether or not he should actually see her, he returns to the diner, and it turns out that his mother already knows he was there to invite her to his graduation. Now she is coming, whether or not he really wants her too. Ryan soon decides to take back his invite o the graduation, but he lies to do it. Something his mother ends up catching onto quite quickly. Chloe ends up standing up to Ryan when it comes to his mother, and on her way to take him back to the airport, she takes him by the diner to show him his mother's locker. She has a collection of pictures of him growing up. After talking to his mother, he hands her the tickets for his graduation.

Back in The O.C., Julie goes to Volchok's to look for Marissa when she receives a call from the school telling her Marissa skipped. She makes a long speech to Volchok about how Marissa will drop him as soon as she is done acting out. She leaves without catching Marissa. She stays at Volchok's and a party is soon underway when his dealer arrives. The party continues on, and Marissa meets up with someone she knows from Newport. After a few words exchanged, Marissa sees the girl get quite wasted. She even sees a boy at the party slip drugs into the girl's beer. When the two boys the girl is with take her off to their van, Marissa rushes to her rescue.

Taylor once again jumps to the rescue when Summer comes to her after Seth breaks up with her again. The two scheme together to win Seth back. Their plan involves getting Seth to the student lounge. Once there, he sees balloon city, and Summer stands up and makes the big plea for him to tell her he doesn't love her anymore, which to her surprise he does say that to her. This leaves her heartbroken and having to go to detention with him anyway. Seth returns home after detention and a collection of Japanese movies he loves.

The Sandy hospital story line looks to come to a close this week. Matt threatens Griffin with files, bribing him. Sandy tells him not to, but Matt tells him to back off as well. Sandy goes to the meeting point, and just as Griffin's goon is set to have Matt dealt with again, Sandy comes out and says there are no files. He then gives Matt a check to help him out of town. However, we do see when Sandy returns to his car there were files, but he destroys them. This story line has had the most impact on Kirsten. The problems Sandy has been having have caused a drift in the marriage, and this almost leads her to break her sobriety. However, she stops herself before taking that drink.

Tonight's episode of The O.C. had some good moments, but it felt more like an episode that was setting up things to come. Next week, we have the return of both Theresa and Anna to The O.C as the seniors head off for their first taste of college life. Their seems to be some interesting things ahead in The O.C.