Summary

  • The O.C.'s self-awareness and meta-humor added to its appeal, but some harsh realities become apparent re-watching the show 20 years later.
  • Marissa's death actually improved the show, as Ryan's relationship with Taylor felt more genuine and the comedy returned in season 4.
  • The O.C.'s first season had a weak plot with the Oliver Trask storyline, and Seth and Summer's love story started off poorly.

While The O.C. might be a classic teen dramedy, re-watching the series twenty years later exposes a lot of hitherto-unseen cracks in its sunny veneer. The O.C. debuted in 2003. The teen soap soon won over viewers with the story of Ben McKenzie’s Ryan Atwood, a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who was adopted by the well-meaning, affluent Cohen family. Ryan gradually bonded with the family’s nerdy son Seth as the pair pursued relationships with the troubled girl-next-door Marissa Cooper and spoiled rich kid Summer. If that premise sounds like a pile of coming-of-age clichés thrown together, that was part of The O.C.’s appeal.

The O.C. was a self-aware teen dramedy that wasn’t above making fun of its own melodramatic moments and over-the-top tropes. It might sound hard to believe that almost crossed over, but the teen drama’s characters displayed a surprising level of self-awareness and often mocked the trappings of teen shows while living in one. Where later shows like Gossip Girl played their dramatic storylines a little straighter, The O.C. always injected a healthy amount of meta-humor into proceedings. However, this can lead viewers to forget the elements of The O.C. that haven’t aged so well.

10 The O.C. Season 3 Is The Worst

Summer and Marissa standing next to their lockers in The O.C.

Upon a re-watch, Marissa’s last outing is actually worse than the show’s final season. The O.C. season 2 gets a lot of hate online solely because the show’s sophomore outing didn’t live up to its debut, and season 4 is often given grief for dropping Marissa. However, The O.C. season 3 is the weakest standalone outing for the series by far. The most irritating issue with season 3 was a deluge of unnecessary new characters from the creepy Dean Hess to Johnny Harper, to the blatantly villainous Charlotte Morgan. These characters were all introduced and given plentiful screen time, but their antics only made the season bleaker.

9 The O.C. Was Actually Better After Marissa's Death

Mischa Barton as Marissa Cooper and her death scene in The O.C.

When The O.C. killed off Marissa, many commentators understandably assumed that the show was dead in the water. Mischa Barton was part of the show's "core four" and her character was a fan favorite, so it was hard to see how the series would survive without her. However, Ryan and Taylor's season 4 relationship felt more earned and believable than his messy entanglement with Marissa, while the comedy focus of season 1 returned after the bleak melodrama of season 3. Ultimately, although tragic, Marissa’s death helped the series.

8 The O.C. Season 2 Finale Was Silly Before SNL

saturday night live dear sister

It is common for fans to say that the ending of The O.C.’s season 2 finale was impossible to take seriously after Saturday Night Live’s viral "Dear Sister" skit. However, in reality, the scene was always already absurd and this is why the sketch succeeded in the first place. The overblown melodrama of the ending, along with the needle drop of Imogen Heap’s "Hide and Seek," made this the moment that The O.C. finally jumped the shark for good.

7 The O.C. Season 1 Has One of its Worst Plots

Oliver in The O.C.

The O.C. season 1 is deservedly seen as a teen television drama classic. However, even this early outing featured one plot that the show never really justified. The Oliver Trask storyline, wherein a minor villain became dangerously obsessed with Marissa, took forever to get going and was painfully predictable. This made it hard to feel for Marissa right off the bat and hurt an otherwise strong outing.

6 Seth and Summer’s Love Story Started Terribly

Seth leaning his head on Summer's shoulder as they smile on The O.C.

Speaking of problems with The O.C.’s earliest episodes, the later chemistry between Summer and Seth didn’t really ameliorate their bad beginning. Originally, Seth tried to date both the sweet, endearingly nerdy Anna and the mean, superficial Summer at the same time. Summer grew beyond her original mean-girl incarnation to become one the best heroines in teen drama series but, looking back on The O.C. season 1, it is hard not to think that Seth picked the wrong girl.

5 The O.C’s Activist Character Is Insufferable

A young Chris Pratt in The O.C.

While Anna left The O.C. before Seth could change his mind, she wasn’t the only character to get between Seth and Summer. Chris Pratt made Summer’s college roommate Che a little too unlikeable, resulting in a comic relief character who doesn’t really fulfill this purpose upon a re-watch. His attempts at animal rights activism were played for easy laughs, he was the epitome of the clichéd self-centered activist stereotype, and his character never really served a purpose in the series.

4 The O.C. Wasted Kaitlin

Willa Holland smiling as Kaitlin Cooper on The O.C.

Kaitlin got a few plots of her own, but The O.C. never really explored her grief over Marissa’s death or her feelings of alienation from her family. Instead, Kaitlin was mostly just depicted partying, turning her into a carbon copy of her older, better-written sister. While Chris Pratt’s role in The O.C. led to all manner of later, bigger roles, it is hard to re-watch the series and not notice that Willa Holland’s dramatic potential is largely wasted.

3 Jimmy Cooper Was A Monster

Jimmy Cooper looking to the left in The O.C.

Marissa’s father Jimmy Cooper was a cavalier stockbroker who lost millions in the stock market and embezzled many more to cover this up. After the 2008 crash, the show’s kid-glove treatment of him is hard to watch. Jimmy Cooper is arguably the worst character in The O.C. given the consequences of his actions, but the show mostly treats him as a likable charmer.

2 Sandy Cohen Isn’t A Great Guy Either

Sandy Cohen in The O.C. in front of water.

When Summer caught the school’s Dean having an affair with a student, Sandy used this information to blackmail the Dean and get Ryan back into school. What Seth’s father didn’t do was alert the authorities, a decision that seems awfully close to ignoring child endangerment. If The O.C. ever receives a reboot, it is unlikely that actions like this would see Sandy still depicted as a family man and a heroic figure.

1 Taylor Was The O.C’s Real Heroine

Taylor and Ryan sitting and staring at each other in The O.C.

The O.C. first focused on Autumn Reeser’s Taylor Townsend back in season 3, but she was largely wasted in an outing that unfairly painted her as a villain. A blend of Gilmore Girls’ Paris Geller and Election’s Tracy Flick, this hilarious, ambitious, and whip-smart heroine truly got to shine after Marissa’s death. It might be hard for some viewers to hear, but Taylor was both a better match for Ryan than Marissa and a more interesting, complex main character for the series itself. The real heroine of The O.C. wasn’t its main focus until season 4, as surprising as that may seem.