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Thursday, May 4, 2006

Episode 24 - The Man of the Year


By Daniel Barron for AllPop

After Ryan beats the snot out of Volchok in the previous episode, we begin this episode with another slow-mo scene of Ryan looking at Volchok on the ground. Ryan realizes he can't just leave Volchok there to die, so he drives him to the hospital. Ryan arrives and yells to some hospital attendants that he needs help. As the scurry to get Volchok on a stretcher, they ask Ryan what happened. Ryan hesitates, deciding what to say, when Volchok speaks up, quietly telling the orderly that he got jumped by some guys, obviously protecting Ryan for something else later on.

The next day, Kaitlyn calls Marissa up and asks for a favour. She needs Marissa to intercept a letter from her school that's going to arrive at Julie's house at any time. She doesn't explain what it is but Marissa agrees to help Mini Cooper nonetheless. What are sisters for, right? We'll find out just how far Marissa will go to help later on in the episode.

Ryan gets woken up after his long night by Theresa, who tells him that her quasi-boyfriend is no longer interested in her. Turns out he wasn't a big fan of her going to prom with Ryan after all. She doesn't seem to mind one bit though; she asks Ryan if he'd like to have some takeout with her later on.

Back at the Roberts/Cooper household, Summer is waking up to one heck of a hangover. Marissa comes in to her room asking her how she is and it doesn't take long for Summer to remember that she left the confession letter of Seth's in Sandy's office before the prom.

Sandy has a lot to think about at the moment, so he hasn't noticed the letter on his desk. Turn's out he's being named Riviera Magazine's Man of the Year. Kirsten actually doesn't think it's all that great, though Seth and Ryan offer their congratulations. As always, this is an excuse for a party so Sandy plans one for the following night.

Later on, Ryan and Marissa meet up at the diner, where Ryan gives her the stolen money that Volchok took - and not much of an explanation. Marissa can't believe Volchok did it (duh!).

Once again showing his underhandedness, Volchok brings Ryan over to tell him he needs help with a epickup' of some sort. Ryan instantly says no, but Volchok tells him that if he doesn't help, he'll rat Ryan out to the cops about beating Volchok up. Volchok has nothing to lose, Ryan, everything.

Later on, Julie lets Kirsten in on the fact that Sandy is being investigated by the D.A. (as he never informed her).

Back at the Cohen's later that night, Ryan and Theresa are enjoying the takeout she promised him. They talk for a bit, then Theresa sees Ryan's hand, which is bruised and cut. Right away she realizes that he fought Volchok last night and is furious. Volchok actually phones Ryan then and Theresa kisses Ryan on the cheek and leaves, saying she can't be with a guy who still gets in fights.

Kirsten, meanwhile, talks to Sandy, finally confronting him about the investigation that she knows about and about Neil's meeting with the district attorney. Sandy assures her everything will be fine, but he what he doesn't realize is that Kirsten herself is far from fine. After they finish talking, Kirsten goes for a bottle of vodka.

Back at Kaitlyn's school, the Coopers are talking with one of Kaitlyn's friends about a not-very-nice lacrosse player who lied to the head of the school about a stolen school crest. Kaitlyn didn't steal it but everyone thinks she did. She thinks the crest is in the lacrosse player's room but needs Marissa's help getting it back. Marissa has just the answer...

Ryan visits Volchok's once again, this time to get all the info on the pickup. A shady friend of Volchok's is there (though, aren't they all shady?). They talk for a minute and Ryan finds out that the deal is going down in his neighbourhood. He's even more hesitant to do this than ever before.

Things aren't going much better for Ryan's counterpart Seth. He comes home and notices his mom passed out on the bed. He thinks she may just be tired or sick but smells the mug that's sitting beside her bed and instantly knows it was full of alcohol. Summer shows up for dinner but Seth quickly gets rid of her, saying he has to take care of his esick' mom. He goes back to his room and opens his desk drawer to some weed. He looks at it and closes it back up.

At Kaitlyn's school, Marissa is dressed up in a very skimpy schoolgirl outfit. She puts on a fake accent and does her best to trick Trevor the lacrosse player into going back to his room. He doesn't seem to be falling for anything, until she finally says edo you want to see me take my clothes off or not?' That does the trick and they go back to Trevor's room. They get there and she tells him to take his pants off. He lets her tie him up in a chair (thinking it's going to lead to something kinky) and as soon as he's securely fastened, she grabs the crest and runs out of the room. Mission accomplished!

Sandy meets with the district attorney, who also happens to be his friend. The D.A. gives Sandy an ultimatum n Sandy can keep his mouth shut regarding all of Griffin's wheelings and dealings and hope the D.A. loses his case, or spill the beans on Griffin, which would result in the hospital deal falling through. Basically, if Griffin goes down, the hospital goes down with him.

Later on at the Cohen's house, Sandy is in his office, when none other than Summer shows up. She's trying her best to get Seth's confession letter out of there before Sandy sees it. She tells Sandy she just wants to watch him work, which he understandably finds very odd, but allows it. Summer isn't too stealth, and after a few moments basically reaches for the letter which is right under Sandy's nose. Sandy grabs it and reads it.

Kirsten is at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and talks of her relapse. She doesn't blame her husband, but says she really needs him right now.

Seth comes home later on and Sandy confronts him about the confession letter, specifically about smoking the pot. Seth gets very angry and defensive and says that his dad doesn't pay attention to anything but ethat stupid hospital.' He tells her Kirsten has been drinking again and leaves.

Ryan and Volchok are ready to do their thing. They're sitting in the Land Rover talking (after a neighbourhood woman sees Ryan and asks how he's doing) and getting ready when a police cruiser drives by. They're both obviously nervous. They walk up to a house and Volchok opens the garage. Ryan asks where the pickup is and Volchok points at an expensive Mercedes. Ryan says no way, he isn't helping steal a car again. The always-subtle Volchok takes a tire iron and smashes the car's window and the alarm goes off. He yells at Ryan to get in but Ryan keeps his ground. The police see and hear what's going on and peel up the driveway. Volchok runs out of time and drives away, with the police cruiser turning around in pursuit. Ryan hightails it out of there.

A little later that night, Kirsten comes home from her AA meeting and sees Sandy sitting by the pool. Sandy asks her point blank if she's been drinking again. He isn't looking for an explanation and isn't looking to judge n he just wants to know. Kirsten admits she has and apologizes to her husband, telling him she really did want to talk to him about it. They go to Seth's room and tell him they know about the pot, about not getting into Brown, everything. They ask Seth to go to the Newport Group office to pick up a painting for Sandy.

Ryan, meanwhile, calls Marissa in a panic. He makes it to her trailer on foot and asks her if she can meet him there because he needs help. She agrees right away.

Sandy and Kirsten are at the man of the year party and Kirsten calls Seth asking him when he thinks he'll get to the party. What she doesn't know is that Seth is smoking a joint in Sandy's office n probably his way of showing his disdain toward his dad. He tells her he'll be there soon. He throws the still-lit joint in the garbage and grabs the painting. He doesn't notice the fire that has started in the waste basket where he threw the joint.

Seth gets to the party and Sandy gets up for a speech saying that he can't accept the honour. He made a wrong turn and got lost (figuratively, of course), and he's now going to focus once again on being a father and step aside from the Newport Group. Afterward, he gives the D.A. the papers that will help take down Griffin.

Marissa and Ryan show up right after that, but so do the police. Turns out the Newport Group offices were burned to the ground and the last person on tape was Seth. The episode ends with him getting cuffed and thrown in the back of a police cruiser.

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