By Daniel Barron for AllPop

We start 'The Dawn Patrol' with the Cohen's finishing dinner soon after Ryan and Seth getting dumped by their respective ex-girlfriends. Seth, always the talented barbequetionist, is the one to treat the family to dinner but afterward mumbles meekly to Ryan about his lying to Summer. He knows what he did was awful but the subject quickly gets changed to graduation. Kirsten suggests that Ryan invite his mom with one of his tickets. This catches Ryan quite off guard and he manages to sneak out of the kitchen without giving a definitive answer. After he leaves, Sandy and Kirsten talk about Ryan asking his mom and whether or not it's a good idea.

Kirsten goes to the poolhouse and apologizes to Ryan for putting him on the spot. Ryan admits, though, that he was actually thinking about it; he ponders whether he'll ever even see her again if he doesn't invite her to graduation. He's also worried about how she is. Kirsten tells him there's only one way to find out. Kirsten offers to go with Ryan to New Mexico, where Mrs. Atwood is at the moment, but Ryan tells her this is something he has to do alone.

Things are going back downhill at Mr. Roberts' house. Volchok shows up to pick up Marissa. Julie walks in on them and turns the bitch meter up to 11 just for Volchok. When Julie turns on her daughter, Marissa says 'spare me the lecture' but Julie makes it clear that she won't allow her going out with the evil surfer. Marissa simply walks away, clearly pissed off.

The next day, Ryan is already all set to hop on a plane to New Mexico. Kirsten packs him an unnecessarily big sandwich for the flight and Ryan says he'll be fine. He knows that his mom is working at a diner, which she mentioned in the letter she wrote for Ryan when she bailed on going back to Newport with Sandy..

At The Harbor School, Seth watches Summer from afar, obviously missing her very much. Taylor sees the two of them and knows exactly what's happening. She sits down beside Summer, who looks miserable, and offers her her friendship. At first Summer is annoyed, but quickly starts pouring her heart out. She's angry because Cohen is hiding something from her, and no one hides stuff from Summer.

Matt and Sandy meet at a bar at Matt's request and talk about Dr. Griffin paying Matt, or else he'll spill the beans about Dr. Griffin. Matt is serious about his revenge.

Ryan makes it to the diner in Albuquerque and asks a cute blonde if she knows where Dawn Atwood is. She tells him that Dawn is starting a shift in a couple of hours, so Ryan tells her he'll come back then.

In class, Summer is trying desperately to get Seth's attention. When it's clear he won't play along while the teacher is talking, Summer disrupts the class and manages to get both herself and Seth detention - which is exactly what she wanted. Seth goes up to Summer after class and demands to know what exactly is going on. Summer informs him that she wanted to get them alone together. She tells him that since she broke up with him, she has the power to make them a couple again, so, according to her, they're once again going out!

Ryan returns to the diner and is ready to go in when he sees a dirty-looking guy grabbing his mom - she smiles and laughs and it's obvious this is someone she's involved with. Ryan hesitates and Chloe sees him and asks if he wants to go somewhere to, ahem, 'talk.' Ryan says yes. They do go to a bar to talk over a beer. Ryan tells Chloe about his rough past and Chloe tells Ryan that the guy Dawn was with was her new boyfriend, Ron. They continue talking when suddenly one of Chloe's favourite songs comes on and she gets Ryan dancing. That's two girls in a row that get Ryan onto the dance floor! This was probably a smart move on Ryan's part though, as they start to dance close. They get even closer later on when they end up having sex.

Marissa is busy having a good time of her own at Volchok's as the two make out. The door knocks and it's Julie looking for her eldest daughter. Marissa hides and Volchok answers the door. Julie lets herself in and tells him ('listen up Tommy Lee') that Marissa is way better than him and it's only a matter of time before she realizes it. She leaves after chewing out Volchok big-time and her verbal lashing obviously gets through his rock-hard demeanour as he seems pretty angry about what she said.

The next day, Ryan calls Seth to check up on him. He tells Seth he's thinking of leaving early, but Seth (of all people!) tells Ryan to 'be a man' and stay and talk to his mom. Ryan considers it and wishes Seth good luck with everything, as he's still lying to everyone about everything. Ryan goes to the diner and his mom is ecstatic to see him. She mentions the graduation (Chloe told her about without Ryan's approval) and says she wouldn't miss it for anything.

Seth does his best 'man' impression and goes to Summer and promptly breaks up with her, saying it's for the best and never really gives any type of explanation.

Taylor thinks she may have the answer to Summer's love problems after hearing about Seth breaking up with her again. Summer misses him and loves him but doesn't want to go grovelling back, yet is sure that them getting back together is hopeless. Taylor asks if he ever specifically said he didn't love her. Summer says no and this gets Taylor thinking. She tells Seth later on to be in the student lounge for detention and to not be late.

Seth goes to the lounge and finds all kinds of hearts, balloons, flowers and red and pink things of all shapes and sizes. Summer is there and Seth asks her what she's doing. Summer does her best Seth impression and gets on a table to profess her love for him. She asks Seth point blank if he can honestly say he doesn't love her. If so, she'll be 'cold and alone and go to Brown and never (him) again.' After a tense, silent moment, Seth says he doesn't love her anymore and leaves to go to the classroom for his real detention. Summer follows him in soon after and they share The Most Awkward Detention Ever.

Marissa meanwhile is at Volchok's place where a huge party is happening, with beer, drugs and all that stuff. It's obvious Marissa isn't having a great time. The music is loud and annoying, the guys are scumbags and Heather is there - the girl Marissa met on her first day at Newport Union who called her the Barbie doll. Later on in the party, Marissa notices two guys lacing a beer with some white substance and feeding it to Heather. Marissa watches them carefully is they take her away to the back of the house. Marissa goes up to a van where two of the guys are and pushes her way through and finds Heather passed out with a guy on top undressing her. The guys get scared and take off.

Back in New Mexico, Dawn and Chloe visit Ryan after a day of shopping for an outfit for Dawn to wear to Ryan's grad. Ryan drops a bomb by telling his mom he booked an earlier flight home and maybe the graduation thing isn't a great idea. Dawn becomes extremely upset and thinks Ryan is just afraid she'll humiliate him (like the last time she visited him and got stupid-drunk at a party). Chloe talks to Ryan later and tells him how important he is to his mom. Ryan does in fact think that his mom will embarrass herself and him but Chloe explains that Ron (who Dawn wants to bring with her) is in rehab and has a legit job. Dawn walks in tells Ryan she's trying hard, showing up for AA meetings and working hard. Ryan apologizes and ends up giving her the grad tickets.

Sandy is sitting in his car at a dark parking lot, waiting for a meeting that's about to happen between Matt and Dr. Griffin. Matt says he has documents that could blackmail Griffin and tells him he has to pay Matt cash or he'll ruin Griffin. Keep in mind that while Sandy is doing this, he's bailing on Kirsten, who is becoming more and more angry and upset that Sandy is never around to be with her. He's worried more about work than anything else right now. Griffin shows up and is ready to give Matt the money when Sandy appears and tells Griffin that Matt was bluffing - he has no proof that Griffin is doing anything shady. Griffin leaves and Sandy offers Matt an apology for how he's treated him since he started working for him and leading him on the path he ended up on. He gives Matt some money to go to Chicago and get back on his feet there.

In another positive scene, we see Marissa come home from the party crying. Julie sees her and they hug.

Ryan gets home from New Mexico and walks into the poolhouse to see Seth waiting for him. Seth says he just made the worst mistake of his life and he needs to get Summer back and get into Brown. Ryan asks if he has any ideas how to do this. Seth tells him he may try faking his own death and hack into the Brown mainframe and reverse their original decision. It's a long night of brainstorming ahead but if anyone is up for it - and used to it - it's Ryan and Seth.

Back to The O.C. Season 3 Homepage