THE OC SUNDAYS – VOLUME NINETEEN: S01: E19: THE HEARTBREAK
The O.C. Sundays – Volume Nineteen – Season One: Episode Nineteen: The Heartbreak
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:
Now that Oliver is gone (so sad), as is Anna (who cares), we have to address the Ryan/Marissa and the Seth/Summer relationship. The episode opens with another Cohen kitchen scene. It’s the day before Valentine’s day and Kirsten is excited. Ryan comes in looking glum and Kirsten tries to cheer him up with the idea of the Newport Group’s SINGLES GALA DANCE! Some stupid fucking charity that helps support Newport Memorial’s Heart Department. Why Ryan would be excited about this I have no idea.
At school, Marissa goes to hug/kiss Ryan and he sort of dodges the blow. YOU BROKE UP WITH HIM MARISSA. Marissa tells Ryan she wants everything to go back to the way it was and Ryan tells her he’s going to the single’s dance for V-day and Marissa says she’ll go too, but not together…because they aren’t together. Seth finds Summer to tell her that Anna is in Pittsburgh for the weekend and also they broke up. Summer is reasonably annoyed that Seth has only just asked her NOW what she’s doing for Valentine’s day as if she’s a strange backup option. Seth says he’ll be at the dance and she says she will too but basically don’t hold your breath, although they are super obviously flirting during all of this.
Sandy and Kirsten meet up for lunch and Sandy tells her he’s too busy to show up on time or help at all for the V-day dance.
Kirsten: “I forbid it. With whatever wifely authority I have vested in me on this most holy and romantic of days, no.”
Sandy and her fight some more until he asks her what they are even fighting about. She says she doesn’t know but it’s serious. Oooookay.
Back at Jimmy’s apartment he gets cookies and a note from a secret admirer and probably hopes it’s secretly Kirsten. He and Marissa talk about Ryan, and Jimmy suggests a big romantic gesture on her end because it’s Valentine’s day and that ALWAYS works. Jimmy, have you met Ryan? He would not like that.
Seth stops by Summer’s after school and finds her adorable little My Little Pony she calls Princess Sparkle. I think Captain Oats is about to have a girlfriend, and maybe Seth Cohen too. Seth tells Summer that he’s always chosen her and the only reason he and Anna broke up is because of her. Summer kisses Seth and one thing leads to another and…..awkward.
Luke shows up at Julie’s house because now that Oliver is gone and so is Caleb, these two need a plot. He makes an excuse to come over and asks if Julie is going to the Valentine’s Day dance. Julie sends him off but is secretly pleased in a weird not okay way because he’s underage.
Marissa stops by Ryan’s with a rose and tells him she loves him and starts super hardcore making out with him and taking off his clothes. Ryan stops her and when she asks if he wants to he says no, with everything that’s happened it seems soon. Marissa says she wishes it all hadn’t happened and that they could go back to normal. Ryan says this is wrong and holy shit even more awkward than Seth/Summer. Marissa leaves in a panic. YOU ARE BROKEN UP MARISSA. YOU DID THIS.
Seth tells Ryan that he had sex with Summer.
Ryan: How was it?
Seth: I had sex.
Seth says it was his first time, and Summer is more experienced (hold that thought) and he wishes he could take some faces and whining noises he made back. Seth said it was really bad, he was nemo and he just wanted to go home. Ryan tells Seth to try it again. Marissa and Summer are at the beach talking about the weird non sex that Marissa had and the weird sex that Summer had.
Sandy and Kirsten are still fighting when Seth comes in and tells Sandy he needs to talk to him about girl stuff. Sandy says he’s come to the master and it’s all Kirsten can do to hold back a choking laugh. Kirsten leaves the room and Sandy and Seth talk about how awkward sex can be the first time, much to Seth’s relief. Sandy says Seth needs to do foreplay.
Jimmy comes over to Kirsten’s with the cookies he got from his secret admirer and she says that Hailey used to make these cookies all the time. Jimmy has got a feeling it’s all from Hailey and he might get lucky. Kirsten says she’s not sure where Hailey is now but one time they thought she was in London but it turned out she was on a friend’s boat in the harbor in town. Jimmy’s got all the ideas now. He goes down to the dock to find her and does. He asks if Hailey wants to be the first customer at his restaurant and asks if she will accompany him there to try some of the dishes. She agrees and they are super weird together.
Ryan is help setting up for the event when he runs into Theresa, his old girlfriend from Chino, who is helping cater the event. Some sparks fly and looks like Marissa’s night is about to get a whole lot worse. Ryan fills Theresa in on his Marissa/Oliver nightmare and she agrees that he should be pissed off. Marissa shows up and see’s Ryan and Theresa talking and they weirdly talk about nothing until Marissa can escape the awkward. Seth takes his foreplay advice from his Dad and goes back to Summer’s house to try it again. It goes badly at first, and ends badly too. Seth is pretty sure that it’s over now.
At the dance, Sandy tells Seth and Ryan to never get married (so things are going really well). Theresa offers Ryan and Seth some rich fancy stuff on a platter and Seth is thrilled to meet her. Marissa and Summer watch from above and Marissa laments about how Ryan and Theresa have been friends forever and how cute and nice and funny she is. She just knows her and Ryan are over at this point.
Julie and Kirsten are upset at how the night is going too. Caleb didn’t show up so Julie could try to win him back, and Kirsten and Sandy are still fighting over…not 100% sure actually.
Seth talks to Summer and tells her that it’s his fault the sex isn’t working. She’s more experienced and he’s not ready for her right now. Marissa tries to start over with Ryan and he tells her he can’t do it. He’s understandably still pissed and can’t forgive that she didn’t trust him. Ryan meets Theresa outside and they chat and they go back to Ryan’s to talk for a bit as Marissa watches them leave.
Sandy sees Marissa crying at a table and gives her some advice. He says that Ryan expects people to give up on him, and she should show him that she won’t. Kirsten overhears and thinks it’s romantic AF and is ready to bone. Fight over. Marissa goes over to Ryan’s and says she’s going to fight for him.
She asks if Ryan can just forgive her and he says, “How?”. He doesn’t know if they should be together, he says it was too easy for someone to come into their lives and screw their relationship up. Marissa says he has to trust her and he counters with, “Like you trusted me?” God damn he’s got a point. It’s over AF, finally.
Luke shows up at Julie’s and tells her that Caleb is too old to see how lucky he is to have had her. Luke tells her she’s the coolest Mom, and that when he and his friends played the game ‘who’s mom would you like to fuck’ she always won. So romantic. Julie kisses Luke on the front porch with the door open (um….probably not the best idea) and invites him in.
Kirsten and Sandy come home and Kirsten finds that Sandy has prearranged the bedroom into a fuckfest. Kirsten is thrilled.
Summer shows up at Seth’s and tells him that he was her first. Summer says it should have been special for both of them….and they rushed it. But now that the pressure is off of Seth not feeling like he had to be amazing, he puts on his sex record that he already had locked and ready to go. Summer and Seth dance and presumably do the deed.
Best Song of the Episode:
“Wonderwall” By Ryan Adams but “Hello Sunshine” by Super Furry Animals comes in at a close second every time Seth sees Summer’s boobs.
Best Quote:
“I’m not going to be your sloppy seconds, ass face.” – Summer
Number of Non-White People with Actual Lines in This Episode:
Theresa is back and she’s (supposed to be) Mexican so there’s one!
Weird 2004 thing:
Summer’s sunglasses are so 2000s. This was before it was cool to have sunglasses cover 70% of your face. So tiny!
Best Fashion Statement:
The pillow Seth uses to ‘cover up’
CinemAbysmal 
I’ve actually never watched this before, but I’ve heard lots of good things!