Thursday, May 06, 2004
Matt Roush on the O.C. finale:
While the Friends finale got all the hype, the first-season climax for the year's most entertaining new prime-time soap, Fox's The O.C., actually intrigued me more. Was the show going to go out with a Melrose Place-like melodramatic shocker? (After all, we'd just seen a catfight in a pool the week before at Julie Cooper's bachelorette party, shades of Melrose tomcat-foolery.) Would they take a more ironic approach? Or simply aim for the heartstrings?
As the weepy, surprisingly solemn episode played out, it was clear the emphasis would be on emotion, with just enough wit to keep it from being a total downer. Still, I had expected to enjoy it more, especially the wedding of Caleb to Julie Cooper ("the most unholy of all unions," Sandy called it), which was actually kind of anticlimactic.
Too much of the final hour dealt with the pregnancy of spoilsport Theresa, Ryan's ex from Chino. Would she or wouldn't she have the baby? Would she ever leave? And (here's the rub) would she take Ryan with her?
A gloomy cold front set in over The O.C. as everyone dealt with losing Ryan, who had started the episode by announcing, "Gotta keep a sense of humor no matter what." I wish.
If it weren't for Seth Cohen's antics  chanting "pudding" as a mantra, trying to lift Ryan's spirits with "banter about boats and Hansen"  the episode might have been a snooze.
But in the final scenes, as Kirsten collapsed in tears while stripping Ryan's poolhouse bed and Marissa hit the bottle again after a final "I love you" embrace, what became clear is that the heart of The O.C. is the buddy-love story between Ryan and Seth. As Seth contemplates a future without the "first real friend I've ever known" and a potential return to the time when he was a social outcast living in a high-school hell, he decides to go it alone. Leaving letters behind as he sets off into the sunset on a boat named after his girlfriend, Summer, Seth's quiet departure brought an unexpected poignancy to a show better known for its snarky attitude.
Turns out we really do care after all. But come the new season this fall, once everyone's back in place if not back to normal and Theresa is just another bad memory like psycho Oliver, I can't wait for The O.C. to start cracking wise and funny again.
Well, Matt Roush has said it better than I would. And while I basically agree with him, I couldn't help but feel like the whole thing was a bit contrived. Obviously, the pregnancy was contrived, but all great plot points are. It was more Ryan's reaction, first the almost callous way he treated Theresa, and more importantly his decision to leave. It just doesn't seem to fit with Ryan's character and neither the script nor the acting was really able to sell it. Sure, logically I can speculate that he was confused and reluctant about the kid but ultimately he realized if there was even a tiny chance the baby was his he had to take care of it. But for some reason it simply did not emotionally resonate. For a story to work, the viewer has to feel why the characters are doing what they are doing. Sandy's, Seth's, Kirsten's and Even Marissa's reactions all made sense, but somehow everything Ryan did seemed arbitrary. He just seemed so calm and yet calmly illogical. Granted, Ryan was never neuroticic but he was able to express more emotion than he did to the baby. Just notice the great scene when he said goodbye to Seth. Of-course once Ryan actually decides to leave the rest of the episode is fantastically, honestly sad. It was like the sadness of Ryan leaving was more a senseless tragedy, say like an earthquake, than a human one.
While the Friends finale got all the hype, the first-season climax for the year's most entertaining new prime-time soap, Fox's The O.C., actually intrigued me more. Was the show going to go out with a Melrose Place-like melodramatic shocker? (After all, we'd just seen a catfight in a pool the week before at Julie Cooper's bachelorette party, shades of Melrose tomcat-foolery.) Would they take a more ironic approach? Or simply aim for the heartstrings?
As the weepy, surprisingly solemn episode played out, it was clear the emphasis would be on emotion, with just enough wit to keep it from being a total downer. Still, I had expected to enjoy it more, especially the wedding of Caleb to Julie Cooper ("the most unholy of all unions," Sandy called it), which was actually kind of anticlimactic.
Too much of the final hour dealt with the pregnancy of spoilsport Theresa, Ryan's ex from Chino. Would she or wouldn't she have the baby? Would she ever leave? And (here's the rub) would she take Ryan with her?
A gloomy cold front set in over The O.C. as everyone dealt with losing Ryan, who had started the episode by announcing, "Gotta keep a sense of humor no matter what." I wish.
If it weren't for Seth Cohen's antics  chanting "pudding" as a mantra, trying to lift Ryan's spirits with "banter about boats and Hansen"  the episode might have been a snooze.
But in the final scenes, as Kirsten collapsed in tears while stripping Ryan's poolhouse bed and Marissa hit the bottle again after a final "I love you" embrace, what became clear is that the heart of The O.C. is the buddy-love story between Ryan and Seth. As Seth contemplates a future without the "first real friend I've ever known" and a potential return to the time when he was a social outcast living in a high-school hell, he decides to go it alone. Leaving letters behind as he sets off into the sunset on a boat named after his girlfriend, Summer, Seth's quiet departure brought an unexpected poignancy to a show better known for its snarky attitude.
Turns out we really do care after all. But come the new season this fall, once everyone's back in place if not back to normal and Theresa is just another bad memory like psycho Oliver, I can't wait for The O.C. to start cracking wise and funny again.
Well, Matt Roush has said it better than I would. And while I basically agree with him, I couldn't help but feel like the whole thing was a bit contrived. Obviously, the pregnancy was contrived, but all great plot points are. It was more Ryan's reaction, first the almost callous way he treated Theresa, and more importantly his decision to leave. It just doesn't seem to fit with Ryan's character and neither the script nor the acting was really able to sell it. Sure, logically I can speculate that he was confused and reluctant about the kid but ultimately he realized if there was even a tiny chance the baby was his he had to take care of it. But for some reason it simply did not emotionally resonate. For a story to work, the viewer has to feel why the characters are doing what they are doing. Sandy's, Seth's, Kirsten's and Even Marissa's reactions all made sense, but somehow everything Ryan did seemed arbitrary. He just seemed so calm and yet calmly illogical. Granted, Ryan was never neuroticic but he was able to express more emotion than he did to the baby. Just notice the great scene when he said goodbye to Seth. Of-course once Ryan actually decides to leave the rest of the episode is fantastically, honestly sad. It was like the sadness of Ryan leaving was more a senseless tragedy, say like an earthquake, than a human one.
# posted by Julia @ 2:53 PM 
