The OC Season Finale

The OC, one of my favorite shows, had an incredibly disappointing season finale. We knew one of the main characters was going to die because of the incessant reminders on Fox to watch the show last Thursday, but did the writers have to make it so predictable and cheezy? I had figured out that Marissa was going to bite the bullet as soon as she received the letter from her father asking her to live and work on a yaht for a year. I mean they wouldn't have someone die AND have Marissa gone, so it had to be Marissa. Then it didn't take long for the predictable plot to be launched. That is the Ryan fights with boy trying to mess with Marissa, Marissa tries to help Ryan, Marissa gets hurt, Ryan feels horrible and can't live with himself unless he beats someone else up plot. Yet another boy, Volcheck, was obsessed with Marissa and tried to run Ryan and her off the road with his car -- I don't remember if it was the one he stole the previous episode -- and it worked. Ryan and Marissa in Ryan's brand new car that his deadbeat mom bought for him for graduation go tumbling down the side of a cliff. Now here is where the plot goes from predictable to utterly cheezy. Ryan survives. He realizes that Marissa is seriously hurt and barely coherent. He manages to drag her from the car right before it goes up in flames. They show a 7 second shot of Ryan carrying Marissa's body away from the burning car. Orange and yellow flames filled the background while Marissa's body draped over 30-something year old Ryan's high school arms were in the foreground. Ryan is far enough away from the burning car to get on his knees, Marissa utters his name and then dies in his arms. It was so cliche and did not live up to the brilliant talent that I know those writers have -- look at season one.

I was glad to hear some of our old friends mentioned in the last episode though. Ryan recalled Oliver, and Julie remembered two of the horrific things she had done -- sleeping with her daughter's high school boyfriend, Luke, and blaming Ryan for shooting Trey (see predictable plot sequence above).

Before the final episode began I thought they might have had different plots going in different places -- Rhode Island, Berkley, Orange County -- next season, but now it is clear to me that no one is going to be able to go on with the grief of losing Marissa Cooper. Seth, Summer and Ryan, especially Ryan, will stay in the OC and either go to the local OC college or not attend college, which would be preposterous since they are all now preppy private school graduates. And Marissa's loser sister will become the focus of a Harbor High plot.

I am an optimistic person and have faith that season four of The OC will be almost as good as season one.