Spoilers for "The O.C." coming right up...First off, I need to get this off my chest: Hollywood needs to institute at least a 5-year moratorium, if not longer, on stealing the "Silence of the Lambs" fake-out about who's knocking on whose door. I think my three-year-old daughter could have figured out the Seth/Ryan switcheroo before it happened, and I spent a good chunk of the scene with Seth and Volchok groaning at it instead of paying attention to what was probably one of Adam Brody's better performances in a while.
The Mexico jaunt is the weakest of the season's first four episodes, the one where the tones mix most awkwardly -- and, not surprisingly, what works best is the funny stuff, whether it's Taylor's horrified reaction to Summer's crunchy new look ("When was the last time you shaved your legs? It's like a forest! You've got hobbit feet!") or the entire scene with Luke's brothers shaving their chests ("Gay dad always trumps slutty mom"). On the other hand, the insertion of Steve-O to add some levity to the Mexico scenes didn't work, aside from inspiring a lengthy philosophical debate between myself and Josh Schwartz over which would be more likely to keep Seth from being buried in Jewish cemetary: the shiksa mom or the tattoo?
I did like Seth betraying Ryan to save him, but rewatching this one made me glad I was immediately able to go to the next one (and to the one after that). In that way, it's a good thing episodes two and three are airing on back-to-back nights. Now if only Fox had bothered to promote this at all...
What did everybody else think?
John Kerry probably liked that portrayal of the Marines.
ReplyDeleteI actually liked this episode more than the premire, although i really liked the premiere as well. I thought this had some better humor. And I totally fell for the Silence of the Lambs, only since it seemed too complicated for the OC to pull off. I am really liking Kaitlin, Che and Taylor.
ReplyDeleteAlan -- so the OC got killed again in the ratings. What gives?
ReplyDeleteWhat gives? Try zero promotion for the Very Special Airing. Fox has devoted so little of their promotional resources to this show that I'm not even sure why they bothered to renew it.
ReplyDeleteSo it's not because Mischa is gone?
ReplyDeleteHow is tonight's episode?
You can ascribe some of the audience fall-off to bitter Mischa fans, but I don't know that that's a big factor. Much more central to the show's struggles are the lack of any promotion from the network, plus the overall badness of season three. You had to really want to see the show again to know when and where it was returning, and I think a good bulk of the fanbase -- Mischa lovers and haters both -- were too turned off by last year to make the effort.
ReplyDeletethe OC was actually more satisfying than LOST last night. It's a shame no one is watching considering how good the show is this year. Season 3 was bad, I agree Alan. On par with Season 3 Alias or Season 2 Housewives. But even still, those shows managed to hang on. This looks like the end of the Cohens. Which is too bad because both of these eps were Season 1 worthy.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving this season of The OC, and have emailed Fox several times complaining about their lack of promotion. What else can the fans do? I do NOT want The OC to get canceled.
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