THE OC SUNDAYS – VOLUME FIFTEEN: S01: E15 – THE THIRD WHEEL

The O.C. Sundays – Volume Fifteen – Season One: Episode Fifteen – The Third Wheel

Recap by Holly Hill

Why Rewatch The O.C.?

The O.C. premiered on August 5, 2003 and ended on February 22, 2007. Or May 18, 2006 if you like to pretend that the fourth season never happened (a lot of people do, it’s okay). The O.C. not only introduced a lot of people to some fantastic music through its heavily bought mix tapes (this is before YouTube, Spotify, & Apple Music), it also created Chrismukkah, and inspired a decades worth of ‘THE REAL’ reality shows.

Not sure what I mean by that? Well The O.C. prompted the reality show Laguna Beach: The Real O.C., and a thousand other spinoffs to it. The catch phrase ‘The Real O.C.’ morphed into The Real Housewives of fill in the blank rich people cities.

Needless to say, despite its shortcomings, The O.C. had some great writing, a fantastic soundtrack, and truly inspired a generation worth of TV, for better or worse. The O.C. is the only TV show I own on box set. I haven’t watched it in awhile, so why don’t we watch it together? Whether you’re new to The O.C. (you can stream it on Hulu) or a long time fan, it’s a show anyone with a love for the dramatic can enjoy.

Recap:

Well now that Marissa and Ryan had their perfect New Year’s Eve kiss, everything should be fine from here on out right? WRONG. I mean the look on Ryan’s face in the picture above just shows how all of this shit with Oliver is going to continue to go down. Man I love it.

The episode opens with another great Cohen kitchen scene. Hailey is still around and she has disrupted everyone’s morning rituals. She eats the last of Sandy’s bagels, Ryan’s juice, Kirsten’s coffee, and is reading Seth’s favorite newspaper section.

They confer in another room about what to do with her because apparently she never leaves the house. Ryan fits in some Seth time before school. It’s been two weeks since New Years and Seth and Anna have been dating officially since then. They have decided to tell Summer about their relationship, but Seth is worried about hurting her feelings. Marissa comes in to interrupt and I’ll just leave the clip here because it’s pretty great.

Marissa and Ryan decide to take a night apart because they feel like they suddenly can’t do anything without each other. Seth and Anna are flirting at school, but suddenly stop when Summer comes in. Seth’s gotta figure this out.

Sandy and Jimmy are trying to figure out a job strategy for him when Hailey comes in. She is thrilled to see Jimmy again. Kirsten buys Sandy more bagels and for now everything is fixed. Jimmy and Hailey make plans to hang out the next night since they are in similar boats now. Sandy and Kirsten are thrilled to have the house to themselves for once.

After school Ryan runs into Luke whose tires have been slashed because he has a gay Dad. Man rich kids in The OC are SUPER homophobic. Ryan brings Luke home and he and Seth watch Luke play sports games on the playstation very intensely.

Marissa calls Ryan from Oliver’s place. Apparently they ran into each other at therapy and Oliver asked if she wanted to hang out. Ryan isn’t super happy about this but he puts on a good a good face and asks if Luke and Seth want to go to Oliver’s house/hotel. Oliver starts undermining Ryan at every turn and he immediately does not like him. Luke and Seth like him right away. Rooney is playing in the background and Seth mentions they’re coming into town but tickets are sold out. Oliver says he knows the manager and he will get them all in tomorrow night. Ryan hates music and he especially hates live music but he’s in because he doesn’t trust Oliver alone with his girlfriend because he is obviously insane and no one else seems to know it.

The next night Sandy listens to Rooney and rocks out in Seth’s room, approving them going. Kirsten was worried they were a devil worshiper band, but it’s all good now. Seth is embarrassed, and he tells Sandy that it’s his first date with Anna tonight. Sandy asks if he’s told Summer yet and he says no. Sandy tells him to get on it.

Ryan asks if Natalie, Oliver’s girlfriend, is going to be there tonight and Marissa says she should be. Uh-huh. They try to get in but Oliver’s name isn’t on the list and Marissa can’t find him. Then Summer shows up and Anna and Seth have to stop flirting and shit is getting awkward. Ryan immediately is giving looks of ‘Oliver lied to us’. They pass by the back door as the walk to their car and Oliver comes out and gets them all in for free. He and Natalie apparently had a fight so she won’t be there tonight. How convenient.

With Hailey and Jimmy out of the house, Sandy and Kirsten plan some alone time, but then are shocked to find the two of them on their couch watching Golden Girls, eating pizza, and playing board games. Sandy’s face is priceless. The man gets cockblocked, like, every episode.

Oliver goes outside makes an angry phone call that sounds like he’s wondering where the drugs are. Oliver takes Marissa’s hand while she is clearly hanging out with Ryan and leads her towards the front leaving Ryan to maneuver through the crowd by himself. Backstage, Anna asks Seth to tell Summer that they are dating now. Seth fails to tell Summer so Anna takes Summer to the bathroom to tell her. Summer starts singing the intro to the Golden Girls and Anna and her bond over it. This makes it harder for Anna to tell Summer so she doesn’t. Meanwhile, Seth and Luke are enjoying the band.

At the house, Sandy is looking like he wants to shoot himself as they go through another round of connect four. Hailey starts in on her father’s company, that Kirsten practically runs. Sandy loses it and tells Hailey that she’s living in their house, insulting his family, and his wife. He also tells her she’s driving their entire family crazy. He really lost it at the bagels. Hailey throws the board game on the ground like a child and storms off. Truth hurts. Hailey apologies to Jimmy as he’s leaving and they make out on the porch. Jimmy says that she’s lucky she has Kirsten and Sandy looking out for her, and suggests they don’t make out again. Okay, weirdo.

Ryan finally pulls Marissa away from Oliver who is not happy and looking like he needs of fix of something soon. He’s got those psycho eyes. Ryan goes and makes out with Marissa who is upset they’re missing the concert. Marissa says they can’t ditch Oliver and she tells Ryan that since he didn’t want to come here tonight he can leave. He goes outside to find Oliver in a fight with a guy. Ryan steps in, but the guy is an undercover cop who says that Oliver just tried to buy two grams of coke from him. Ryan goes back inside and takes Seth’s phone and keys. He goes to the police station and calls Sandy for help.

Seth asks Anna if he told Summer, who overhears and asks what she was supposed to tell her. Seth and Anna take Summer backstage and break the news that they are dating. Summer seems to take it pretty well and Seth and Anna ask if Summer still wants to hang out with them. She gets in cock block mode pretty hard core. It’s great. I’d say Summer is actually upset.

Ryan does Oliver a solid and Sandy gets him out of jail on no charges. Oliver asks why he helped him when the reason he freaked out was because the mysterious Natalie didn’t show and he saw Ryan and Marissa together and they looked so happy. Warning sign much? Ryan gives Oliver the benefit of the doubt after Oliver says he has no one.

Ryan: “Well there’s Marissa. Seth likes your taste in music and Luke pretty much likes everybody at this point.”

Olive: “And what about you? You must like me a little to get me out of jail.”

Ryan: “That was Sandy.”

Burn. Ryan’s phone rings and it’s Marissa. Oliver asks if he’s going to tell her and Ryan says ‘No, you are.’ and hands him the phone. Later that night Sandy is happily making himself a bagel. He goes to get the cream cheese and there is Hailey, touching his bagel. Sandy kind of freaks and Hailey asks if she can have half. Hailey says she hasn’t been the best guest and she says that what Sandy said tonight was right. They make up and Sandy gives her half his bagel.

Marissa stops by to thank Ryan. Ryan starts to say Oliver isn’t a bad guy and Marissa says she doesn’t want to talk about Oliver now. They make out and Anna, Summer, Seth, and Luke stop in and ask if they want to play video games. They all go into the living room and have a good time, then the camera pans out and Oliver is staring at them all through the window. FREAK.

Best Song of the Episode:

“I’m Shakin’” by Rooney

I remember watching this episode, becoming immediately obsessed with Rooney, and buying their album. Great song, great album. Thanks to The OC they managed to make it fairly big because they were relatively unknown until this episode aired.

Best Quote:

Kirsten: She’s got nowhere else to go. (referring to Hailey)

Ryan: That’s because all her friends want to kick her ass….sorry about the language.

Sandy: Why? I’d like to kick her ass.

Number of Non-White People with Actual Lines in This Episode:

This is like the fourth episode a in a row with zero ethnic people. It’s kind of bad.

Weird 2003 thing:

Sandy mentions TiVo. Something that only VERY rich people had back in 2003. Now it’s fairly common place but I think they mentioned they have it just to prove how rich they were.

Best Fashion Statement:

Marissa’s “I’m a punk rocker” outfit.

Obvious Reasons to NOT trust Oliver Trask:

1. He knows who you are even though you have no friend or places in common
2. He knows your medical history
3. He lives in a hotel
4. Anna says her parents know the parents of the guy who’s throwing the party, but she doesn’t know who Oliver is.
5. He says his girlfriend lives long-distance so you’ll probably never get to meet her. Super convenient.
6. He give you ‘come make out with me’ eyes on new years even though he knows you have a boyfriend.
7. His name isn’t on the list for backstage passes at the front door but he meets you in back to get you in
8. His girlfriend Natalie never shows up when he says she will (spoiler, she doesn’t exist)
9. He makes angry phone calls about cocaine then tries to buy some off an undercover cop
10. He watches you and your friends creepily from outside your house.