Too much crammed into this one. Clearly they tried to make up for being cancelled by condensing everything into this short space. It doesn't really work, but I won't complain too much.
Everybody's on about the boy at the end. Much ado about that. While the memory of Marissa wasn't properly presented in the Fourth Season. Come on, people, THE O.C. without Marissa Cooper would have been like cornflakes without the milk. I am glad there was that final tribute to her, the locket, and the drive-past scene (that one got me, I mean, tears!!)... But the most unsatisfactory thing about Season Four was that too little was shown about Ryan grieving the loss of Marissa.
Then again, it's dumb Ryan, shucks, episode after episode I began belittling him, good thing it ended, I developed zero tolerance for that cold bore, what with his every-day-at-the- barber short short hair and his obvious lack of affection for cute if crazy Taylor.
I have mixed emotions of the show.
Mischa Barton, the best. Willa Holland, very, very good. Autumn Reeser, unexpected, did her very best, had tough competition's memory to live up to, amazingly succeeded.
As for Sandy and Kirsten, they truly are worthy of being ranked as famous lovers. They made a most wonderful Mom and Dad. They were THE TV couple. No, they were THE film couple. They made marriage romantic. That one's coming from RavenGlamDVDCollector, it is some compliment.
Seth and Summer, Captain Oats and Princess Sparkle. There were moments.
A very, very special mention to Melinda Clarke. From the beginning, I said something like "I'm glad that they didn't make her a cardboard character." And then she landed up in a trailer park and in-between all the trailer trash jokes (that guy who cooked pigeons) she found her humanity and the producers saw how good M.C. was at comedy and the rest is history. Of course her early years on THE O.C. was a practice run for Amanda, her later incarnation in NIKITA, but that's another story. Suffice to say, her shares rose with me every episode.
The one I will really miss: super-cute Willa Holland. Oh, big sigh. What a find she was! Lived up to being Marissa Cooper's sister. Worthy, super-worthy.
The final word: Marissa should not have been written out of THE O.C. It should have been Marissa + Kaitlin + Taylor in the final season.
