By Daniel Barron for AllPop

It's the glorious return to the O.C. and things still seem pretty good from afar, right? School's out, the sun is ever-shining, Ryan and Marissa are back together, Summer and Marissa are once again sunbathing by the pool, Sandy has a sweet new Lexus convertible, and Kaleb is six feet underground.

Ah, but what would the O.C. be without drama, drama and more drama - especially during the season premiere? We also see Kirsten is in rehab for alcohol addiction, Trey in a coma after being shot when he nearly killed his brother Ryan and Julie Cooper is scheming away more than ever.

The opening scene is a dream sequence replaying the rush to the hospital after Trey was shot. Doctors are fighting to save his life, Marissa is being questioned by police, Sandy shows up trying to figure out what exactly happened and Ryan is standing looking dazed, confused and mysteriously sporting a new haircut - maybe he stopped off between the hotel fight and the hospital? Then everything comes crashing down and he passes out, marking the end of the dream.

Fast forward to the real world - Newport Beach, California where the Cohens, their friends and enemies still live. Already the drama is coming by the bucketful. Investigators think that Ryan - not Marissa - was the one who shot Trey. It makes sense: Ryan was angry at Trey for trying to rape Marissa, and he was the one who confronted Trey in the hotel room last season. Ryan has a history of violence and no one but Marissa, Ryan and Trey actually witnessed the shooting (and Trey is unable to talk because of his coma). The investigators believe Marissa is covering for Ryan because she doesn't want to lose him (assuming he would be thrown in the slammer).

Marissa and Ryan, though, are sticking to their original stories, which isn't making Marissa' mom, the venemous Julie Cooper, happy. She's worried that her - and Marissa's - life will be destroyed by this. Hey, if she could get through a porn video surfacing last season, we're sure Julie's daughter saving her ex's life isn't all that big a deal.

On the other side of the city, Kirsten is still spending her time at the alcohol rehab centre. This is where the plot gets even more interesting.

Kirsten is told that she's actually ready to leave the centre and head back home ... but the next time Sandy visits her, Kirsten makes no mention of what the doctor said about her being able to leave. It sounds very suspicious, though later on in the episode she does mention that she doesn't want to leave until she's "completely ready to care for her family again." Kirsten also meets a mysterious woman (Jeri Ryan from Star Trek) at the centre who befriends her somewhat, and who seems to eye Sandy quite a bit when he's visiting. Also worth noting is that Kirsten has no idea what happened between Ryan, Marissa and Trey months ago.

Later on in the episode, Trey wakes up and the razor-sharp, ever-scheming Julie decides to make a visit to his hospital room after visiting hours (she gains entry thanks to the fact that Trey's room sits within the 'Kaleb Nichol' wing of the hospital - how about that?). She does what she does best and pulls out her chequebook, offering Trey a cool $20,000 to say three words - "Ryan shot me." Trey takes the bait and a warrant is given out for Ryan, who promptly packs his travelling bag to leave. Marissa, Seth and Summer catch him before he leaves and they band together to go with him. They speed off to Jimmy's houseboat and are all ready to sail off to Catalina when the police pull up. If you missed seeing Ryan in that inmate jumpsuit, it makes its return. In another ode to the first season (there are quite a few in The Aftermath), Sandy walks into jail, sitting across the table from Ryan, figuring out a way to get him out, just like in the very first episode. Unfortunately for him, Ryan looks even more guilty after trying to run away.

While Ryan is sitting in jail, we return to the hospital to see Summer AND Marissa back in their candy striper outfits, ready to do more sleuthing. In possibly the funniest line of the night, Summer tells one of the nurses that she stopped helping out at the hospital because she was catching a lot of diseases but she started back working with gunshot victims "because you can't catch those."

Marissa gets into Trey's room and confronts him about his fake confession. She manages to guilt Trey into writing a written confession, admitting that it was in fact Marissa who shot him, not Ryan. She hands a copy to her mom, who reacts by saying "when there's a scandal, no one cares about the details."

The end of the show sees Trey sneaking out of the hospital and hopping on a Greyhound bus. Sandy and Ryan miraculously find out where he is and drive to the bus station. Just before the bus pulls away, the two brothers lock eyes and actually wave goodbye.

And with that, we're ready to move on to episode two. The biggest cliffhanger from last season is over and done with (for now at least). Some big questions still remain. When will Kirsten leave the rehab centre? What will Julie do next to keep Ryan and Marissa apart? How will the school year start out? Will Sandy sing again??

And the biggest question of all - could Trey be returning later on this season? I'd be willing to bet a year's supply of Fro-Yo he does.

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