By Daniel Barron for AllPop

It's no secret that the first episode in Season 3 of the OC was, more than anything, a setup for the rest of the season. As mentioned last week, with Trey gone, viewers can now move on and focus on other aspects of the story that they may not seem as juicy as they really are.

Rest assured though, there are plenty of juicy plotlines already developing that should have fans licking their chops.
In this week's episode, The Shape of Things to Come, we find Marissa - the ultimate social butterfly of Newport High - getting challenged by a new girl named Taylor Townsend to be head of the social committee. The Kickoff Carnival is coming soon and Taylor wants to be the one to organize this huge event. Summer shows just how fiercely loyal she is to her best friend Coop by giving Taylor a mouthful when Taylor brings up Marissa's past year (lesbian kisses, shooting Trey, etc) as a reason for her being too 'overwhelmed' to be social chair again that year.

Meanwhile, as Kirsten packs up to go home from the rehab centre, the ever-mysterious Charlotte tells her how tough it is to go straight home after living in a rehab centre for months. As she puts it, Kirsten already tried to be the perfect daughter - she shouldn't rush home and try to be the perfect wife and mother as well. Charlotte suggests the two of them stay at an out-of-the-way cottage Charlotte's father owns. Kirsten agrees.

Meanwhile, the once-lovable and (we thought) reformed Jimmy is back to his ways from Season 1. He has a meeting with a mysterious man he owes money to and Jimmy begs him for more time to pay him back. Once again, Marissa's dad has made some bad choices and finds himself digging a deep financial hole.

Back at Newport High, Marissa and Ryan have a meeting with Jack Hess, the crusty Dean, pleading Marissa's case after the Dean tells Sandy he's kicking Marissa out of the school. The reason the Dean doesn't like Marissa and won't let her back in is because he's heard all about her torrid past (drug overdoses, running away, shootings) by talking to people in Newport - where people love to talk. Furious, Marissa screams at the Dean and storms out of the office. The Dean, smirking, tells Ryan she will never set foot in the school again.

Back at the Cooper household, Julie tells Jimmy how desperate she is to get Marissa back into the school. She suggests they give the school a cheque with plenty of zeroes to bribe them into taking Marissa back. Julie - who thinks Jimmy still has plenty of money - suggests giving $100,000!

So instead of being honest and saying he doesn't have the money, what does Jimmy do? He goes back to his 'friend' he owes money to and ... ASKS TO BORROW MORE!!

He somehow manages to get the money and brings it to Julie, who promptly tells him that, though they won't need it anymore thanks to Marissa's outburst with the Dean, they could still use it to pay the new poolboy and gardener. As frustrating as this is for Jimmy, this doesn't stop him from taking Julie out for an extravagant dinner and proposing to her (again!). Julie accepts, and viewers now wait for Jimmy to get at all of her money she's likely about to get from Kaleb's will.

Next, we see Kirsten and Charlotte arrive at the cottage for some rest and relaxation. Charlotte almost immediately suggests that Kirsten invite Sandy over for dinner ... why she's so eager to have him over we don't know, but surely will find out. The real shock comes when Kirsten gets up in the middle of a sleepless night to find Charlotte outside, drinking from a flask. After consoling Charlotte, Kirsten takes the bottle and goes back inside. Charlotte promptly pulls out a mickey of alcohol. This can't be good news for Kirsten, who is putting so much faith into Charlotte to help her through her alcohol problems. The mysterious woman seems to be a mess and we can't see how any good can come of this.

In the meantime, Summer is taking things into her own hands, using her natural smarts and 'God-given rage' (as Seth puts it) to plan one of the best Kickoff Carnivals Newport High has seen in recent years. Instead of a big gas-guzzling SUV, they raffle off a Toyota Highlander hybrid (it looks to us like Toyota is the carmaker of choice for the OC this year). All the food they have is also in small portions because according to Summer, "mini is the new super-sized." You just can't argue with that.

And who shows up, much to the surprise of everyone? Marissa! Although she's technically not a part of the student body anymore, she comes as Ryan's guest. They take a trip down memory lane on the ferris wheel but the ride is cut short when the Dean shows up at the Carnival thanks to the insanely jealous Taylor alerting him. The Dean tells Marissa to leave right away. After she hesitates for a moment, he forcefully grabs her arm. You can almost see the flames rise up in Ryan's eyes. Ryan (somewhat) calmly tells the Dean to let go of Marissa's arm. After refusing to do so, the all-too-thinkable happens - Ryan gives the Dean a face full of fist.

Complete with a smirk and now a bloody nose, the Dean tells Ryan and Marissa to leave right away - Ryan can now join Marissa as he is kicked out of Newport High on the spot. We have no idea how either of them will ever get back into school for their senior year. Earlier in the episode, Sandy tells Ryan to 'just listen, it works better than you think.' It seems Ryan listened to the devil over his shoulder and now, as far as we know, he'll never see the inside of Newport High again.

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