Fox Series the OC

The Fox Series the OC

Created by Josh Schwartz (Gossip Girl, Chuck) the OC focused on Ryan Atwood as played by Benjamin McKenzie. Ryan is a troubled teenager who is taken in by Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher) after his mom throws him out of his home. Ryan’s relationships included dating Sadie, Taylor and Marissa. His on-again, off-again relationship with Marissa ended when she was killed. At the end of the OC’s tenure, Ryan wants to reunite with Taylor and looks to help a troubled boy as Sandy helped him. His words were the last ones to air for the show and it ended with “Hey kid, need any help?”

Season 1

Ryan Atwood is a troubled teen who meets Sandy Cohen when Sandy has to defend him against charges. Sandy offers to take Ryan in, but a series of events lands Ryan back into juvenile hall. When Ryan’s mother can’t stay on the wagon, the Cohens offer Ryan a place in their home. He likes it there, but discovers that the rich and ritzy crowds are just as tough as the streets he used to run. His encounters with Marissa, the girl next door, often leads him into conflicts with Luke, her boyfriend. The first season copes with overdose, sex, cheating and bad choices.

Season 2

Season 2 finds the Cohens at home alone with both boys having taken off. Ryan is in Chino while his ‘foster’ brother Seth is somewhere in Portland, Oregon. The Cohens are eventually able to convince both boys to return home. The season sees Ryan trying to mend fences with Marissa and Seth trying to repair his relationship with Summer. A lot of mixed up dating goes on with Seth dating Alex, Ryan with a girl named Lindsay and their girlfriends dating a polo jock and a pool guy. Marissa engaged in a same-sex relationship with girlfriend Alex for a while and Ryan’s ex-con brother coming to town that made headlines with the fans. Marissa was expelled from school after she shot Ryan’s brother to save Ryan’s life.

Season 3

Season 3 opens with Kirsten Cohen (Sandy’s wife) in rehab and trying to get sober and Ryan’s brother Trey is in a coma after the shooting. Ryan gets expelled by the school’s new dean when he punches him out. Marissa transitions into a public high school and falls into a surfer crowd and enchants new boy Johnny. Marissa eventually must choose between Ryan and Johnny. Ryan and Marissa are both readmitted to Harbor High after it’s revealed that the Dean was sleeping with a student and a campaign is launched to get Marissa readmitted by her fellow students (reminiscent of the “Let Donna Graduate” campaign from the mid-90s series Beverly Hills, 90210). Marissa and Ryan break up again when their relationship isn’t working out. Marissa gets involved with a bad boy named Volchok. When she and Ryan eventually reunite, a drunken Volchok runs their car off the road. Marissa dies in Ryan’s arms.

Season 4

The fourth and final season begins with everyone mourning the death of Marissa. Ryan becomes a cage fighter to cope with his anger issues and Seth’s girlfriend Summer heads to Brown University where she avoids calls from Seth who stayed in Newport Beach. Marissa’s mother Julie hires a private eye to find Volchok and plots to hook him up with Ryan so that Ryan will take revenge for them both losing Marissa.

Seth and Sandy intervene and help Ryan turn Volchok over to the authorities. Ryan moves back to the Cohens and tries to pick up the pieces of his life. He helps out friend Taylor when her husband won’t give her a divorce by posing as her lover. Their acting soon becomes reality as they begin a romantic relationship. An unread letter from Marissa lets Ryan close the door on his grief and move on with his life.

The Cohens house is damaged beyond repair by an earthquake. Kirsten becomes pregnant with a baby girl and she and Sandy discuss leaving Newport Beach rather than raising another child there. Marissa’s mother Julie has a baby boy and at the end of the season, the show flashes forward to show Seth and Summer getting married while Taylor and Ryan share meaningful looks at the wedding. Ryan has become an architect and taking a page from Sandy’s book, the last episode ends with him asking a troubled kid if he needs help.

Novelizations of the Fox Series the OC

The characters and storylines of the OC lived on in a series of eight books released by Scholastic Books with the permission of Warner Brothers.

• The Outsider
• The Misfit
• The Way Back
• Spring Break
• Summer of Summer
• Bait & Switch
• 'twas the Night Before Chrismukkah
• Cohen!