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Thursday, November 10, 2005

Episode 6 - The Swells


By Daniel Barron for AllPop

Episode 6 seemed to be all about relationships and how almost every one in the O.C. seems ready to crumble under the weight of too much drama.

We start the episode off with Marissa having a bad dream about Trey (how soon we all forgot about him, eh?). She wakes up in a sweat beside Summer (get your head out of the gutter guys!) and goes to the hallway to call Ryan for support. Ryan tells Marissa that it was just a dream and that Trey is gone forever and to go back to sleep. Summer comes out and asks if everything is okay. Marissa isn't completely happy about the answer Ryan just gave her. She wants him to be there for her. She doesn't want to be told to 'go back to sleep.'



Next morning, it's Ryan's return to Harbour for his first day of school after Dean Hess let him back in (well, after he was FORCED to let Ryan back in). Sandy and Kirsten are more nervous than Ryan himself but his return goes smoothly ... until Taylor comes up to him, Seth and Summer and tells the three that there is a lock-in on Saturday that they have to attend. Sleeping in a gym with fellow classmates including Taylor Townsend, and s'mores ... there goes their weekend.

Meanwhile, Marissa is spending more and more time with her Newport Union friends - especially Johnny. Johnny and Chili (I guess that's officially his name now) invite Marissa to a surfer party that night. It's party all night then catch some big waves when the sun starts to rise. Marissa isn't much of a surfer but says she may come by for a bit.

Another interesting relationship that is hard to define is Julie and Charlotte's. Julie is ready to settle into her new condo (courtesy of Charlotte) and the two women talk about how difficult it is getting their life back together after each of them experienced a disaster (Julie going broke, Charlotte going into rehab). The ladies at the cardio bar won't even look Julie into the eye anymore, and according to her, she used to own that place!

So, Charlotte suggest a party to benefit under privileged women. It'll help Julie move past what happened. All they need is the help of Kirsten, of course...

Meanwhile, it's the afternoon of the surfing party and Marissa and Johnny are talking even more. It turns out Johnny has a pretty dark secret. The reason he moved to Newport a few years back is because his dad was a drunk. One day he came home from one of his baseball games and saw his dad hitting Johnny's mom, so he 'lost it' and beat his dad with his bat. He had to leave and start over, so that's where Newport came in. Marissa feels bad just leaving Johnny, so instead of going over to the Cohen's for dinner that night (like she had planned) she stays with Johnny...

...And it's up to Summer to cover for Marissa. She doesn't do too good a job though and blurts out that Marissa is with Johnny at the beach when Ryan asks about his girlfriend. The much-calmer New Ryan is calm and relaxed about things but Summer of all people isn't. She wakes Marissa up early the next morning and asks where she was all night. No big surprise, she was with Johnny. Summer thinks he's falling for Marissa but Marissa assures her it's nothing. Summer is far from convinced.

Marissa is sure Ryan is mad about her blowing him off last night so she visits him at the gym on Saturday (where he's forced to help set up for the lock-in) to apologize. Ryan is totally cool and says everything is okay.

This wouldn't be an OC episode without Sandy. He meets with two men who are interested in buying the Newport Group and Sandy's only condition if they buy is that they keep a low-income housing complex in tact and not tear it down. He is assured that won't happen but doesn't believe it. The younger of the two men, Matt, meets later with Sandy and is completely honest, saying that his boss likely WILL go back on his word. He then suggests that he (Matt) and Sandy go into business together as owners of the Newport Group. After talking it over with Kirsten, Sandy agrees.

Charlotte and Julie are having dinner, talking about the party they're going to throw, when Charlotte goes to the washroom. The waiter comes up to the table asking about payment. Julie knows Charlotte is paying and hesitates before innocently grabbing Charlotte's purse to grab some cash or a credit card. What she sees is a pile of ID cards and credit cards with different names on each one. She confronts Charlotte after dinner and Charlotte owns up, but suggests the two of them go through with the party and make $100,000 or so each, no problem, from the unsuspecting guests who paid thousands for their meal. Julie says she's not a crook. Charlotte says that she isn't yet, but she'll have to be if she's going to survive and provide for her daughter.

Back to the teens of Newport: at this point, it's Saturday evening. Ryan and Seth are still at the gym, while Summer and Marissa are at Chili's parent's house on the beach, where a big party is going on. Summer sees Marissa and Ryan flirting and getting ever-closer, so he calls Seth and tells him to get Ryan over to the party. Ryan shows up and Summer sees him first. She says she overreacted and Ryan should leave before Marissa sees him but of course it's too late - she spots him and they're forced to go inside and have a drink.

A few minutes later, Johnny and Marissa walk into Chili's room to find Johnny's girlfriend Casey making out with another guy. Turns out Casey was worried about how close Johnny was getting to Marissa so she decided to hurt him before Johnny could hurt Casey. A 'classic' girl move, according to Summer.

Johnny goes to the beach where the surfer is hanging out with his buddies, ready to exact some revenge, despite being a toothpick. He's just about to get his butt kicked when SuperRyan shows up. He gives the surfer a nice punch right in the kisser and they walk away.

Back at the lock-in, Taylor is trying her best to start some lame activities, but the students are having none of it and are downright ridiculing her. Seth steps up and starts doing the talking, and in turn taking all the abuse from the students. Taylor tells him after how much she appreciated it. In fact, by the look in her eyes, she may very well be falling for old Noodle-Arms. Summer shows up later on to try and get into the gym but it's locked. She bangs on the door to be let in but Taylor denies her after looking back longingly at Seth. Uh-oh......

We end the episode with Summer telling Marissa that she has to be careful about Johnny, who is obviously falling in love with her. Marissa says she has nothing to worry about and things are under control. But they look into the Bait Shop and see Ryan - her boyfriend - and Johnny - the guy falling in love with her - talking together, obviously doing some bonding.

"No," says Summer "this shouldn't be a problem at all."

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