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this show is secretly anne of green gables re-realized
Dudes, I have never really been a TV on DVD kind of person. I'm sure I own significantly more of it than your average non-fandomer, but my collection is mostly made up of gifts and "it was on sale at Target!" stuff. Furthermore, watching them is a pretty infrequent activity for me -- usually it's one episode at a time or a "HEY [FRIEND], YOU'D TOTALLY LOVE THIS SHOW" kind of situation. Until September 2009, I guess! I was sick earlier in the month and I developed a paralyzing addiction to background noise. Uh.
Anyway that lead to this week: the first time I have watched season 1 of the O.C. since our terrible horrible breakup during season 4 (which is a long and boring story and a couple of you had to live through it the first time, but suffice to say I am perhaps bitterer about the O.C.'s demise into suckitude than any other TV thing -- not because it was worse, but because we were in a loving monogamous relationship once upon a time, the O.C. and I, and it just hurt me and hurt me and I just took it until finally I couldn't take it anymore. I was also fifteen, so there's that). I thought about breaking strike and rewatching it this summer, but then I was distracted by... other things.
GOD, KIIIIIIIIRSTEN! Sometimes I think maybe she is my very favorite character of them all (but then there's Summer, and Ryan, and Saaaaandy and when I first saw season 1 Seth was actually definitely my favorite although I like him so much less after that he doesn't even really deserve to be on this list... IT IS SO VERY HARD TO DECIDE. All the same, Kirsten might still be my number one). I am in love with the way she's treated during season 1, where they hint at these things in her character and in her past -- her potential alcoholism, her abortion, her relationship with her parents, and, in this scene in the pilot, her rebellious college phase.
There's this episode in season 4 that is a frame for a bunch of flashbacks -- 4x13, The Case of the Franks*. I remember seeing the Sandy and Kirsten flashback with my sister when it aired (we watched season 4 in snatches, during commercial breaks of some other show that was on in that timeslot, because even once completely disillusioned we couldn't give it up cold turkey) and exclaiming that young Sandy was impossibly perfect and wtf were they thinking picking that girl for Kirsten. Anyway the memory of that made me download it yesterday, just to see:
Oh, man, the scene. Such mixed feelings! First of all it is well-lit and charming and oh my god the actors are so right for this (I take back those icky feelings Hannah and I had about the Kirsten actress, I don't know what changed but her face is perfect and I LOVE HER) that I just want to burn their sweet little grinning faces into my memory, but. But.
When the Rebecca Bloom plotline was airing, I was consumed with the idea that Rebecca was Sandy's type. So many girls he liked must've been like that, jewish and absurdly socially conscious, and completely and totaly different from the WASPy trust fund girl he loved enough to marry. But on that note I can't imagine that Sandy Cohen would have looked at this girl -- this pretty blonde who guesses she caught Republicanism from her parents, a month distant from her relationship with golden boy Jimmy Cooper -- and so immediately wanted to take her out to coffee. But more than that I hate the idea that the Kirsten Nichol who lived in a mail truck and stank of patchouli and hated her parents existed because during her first week of college, Sandy Cohen gave her a Mondale/Ferraro button and changed the path of her existence.
In the end it doesn't matter because I have gotten to the point where I reject most of the series' canon as my reality -- that's the nice thing about fictional characters, I guess, is that you can believe in as much of them as you want to. My Kirsten Cohen can end up in her mail truck because her super told her she couldn't live there anymore if he could smell her damn marijuana from the hallway, she can hate her parents even as their money pays her Berkeley tuition (she can't bring herself to apply for scholarships, she's in that socialist phase where she believes since she can pay all of it she should pay all of it), all while somehow maintaining that effortless and slightly snobby Kirsten Cohen grace. That can be the girl my Sandy Cohen falls for -- that inalienable layer of preppiness something he can't help but find charming rather than the first thing he sees of her. I also think my Sandy and Kirsten take their boys and leave Newport (maybe to go back to Berkeley, maybe not) long before they would on the show -- probably when the Newport Group ceases to be profitable, as implied at the end of season 1, because my Cohen family does not have to sustain a dramatic television show for another couple of seasons, and can go off and enjoy being happy.
IN CONCLUSION, WHY IS THERE NOT MOUNTAINS OF FIC ABOUT THIS AND THEM? Is Cohens + 1 not the reason the O.C. was great in the first place? Ugh fandom, you would stick to Ryan/Seth and Ryan/Summer.
*THIS IS UNRELATED TO MY SANDY/KIRSTEN THEME BUT FOR THE RECORD, I am still upset that in this episode they gave the "I wish I were a mermaid poem" to Taylor. Like, I get what the episode is trying to tell us -- that Seth built up this ideal Summer and she was not actual Summer, but um, DUH??? The real process of Seth Cohen getting over the fantasy and under the real girl begins in "The Escape", when he stops prattling in her presence and talks back, I don't need to be told that he came to love the real Summer rather than the conceptual girl three seasons later. But what it really does is ruin the moment when she is overcome that someone has paid attention to her enough, year after year after year, that they noticed her poem. It's still sweet that he knows it because he thought it was hers, whatever, but it isn't enough for her to initiate the kiss. I was pissed off when I read the spoilers and I AM PISSED OFF NOW.
In conclusion, I totally did not realize until today that Rufus Humphrey's band name is an O.C. homage.
Anyway that lead to this week: the first time I have watched season 1 of the O.C. since our terrible horrible breakup during season 4 (which is a long and boring story and a couple of you had to live through it the first time, but suffice to say I am perhaps bitterer about the O.C.'s demise into suckitude than any other TV thing -- not because it was worse, but because we were in a loving monogamous relationship once upon a time, the O.C. and I, and it just hurt me and hurt me and I just took it until finally I couldn't take it anymore. I was also fifteen, so there's that). I thought about breaking strike and rewatching it this summer, but then I was distracted by... other things.
Sandy: You remember when we were twenty-two, what'd you say, you'd said you'd never, you'd never be like your parents, you'd never have their life.
Kirsten: I was twenty-two, I stank of patchouli, and I lived in the back of a mail truck.
Sandy: And you were fun. And rebellious. And... and you married me.
GOD, KIIIIIIIIRSTEN! Sometimes I think maybe she is my very favorite character of them all (but then there's Summer, and Ryan, and Saaaaandy and when I first saw season 1 Seth was actually definitely my favorite although I like him so much less after that he doesn't even really deserve to be on this list... IT IS SO VERY HARD TO DECIDE. All the same, Kirsten might still be my number one). I am in love with the way she's treated during season 1, where they hint at these things in her character and in her past -- her potential alcoholism, her abortion, her relationship with her parents, and, in this scene in the pilot, her rebellious college phase.
There's this episode in season 4 that is a frame for a bunch of flashbacks -- 4x13, The Case of the Franks*. I remember seeing the Sandy and Kirsten flashback with my sister when it aired (we watched season 4 in snatches, during commercial breaks of some other show that was on in that timeslot, because even once completely disillusioned we couldn't give it up cold turkey) and exclaiming that young Sandy was impossibly perfect and wtf were they thinking picking that girl for Kirsten. Anyway the memory of that made me download it yesterday, just to see:
Oh, man, the scene. Such mixed feelings! First of all it is well-lit and charming and oh my god the actors are so right for this (I take back those icky feelings Hannah and I had about the Kirsten actress, I don't know what changed but her face is perfect and I LOVE HER) that I just want to burn their sweet little grinning faces into my memory, but. But.
When the Rebecca Bloom plotline was airing, I was consumed with the idea that Rebecca was Sandy's type. So many girls he liked must've been like that, jewish and absurdly socially conscious, and completely and totaly different from the WASPy trust fund girl he loved enough to marry. But on that note I can't imagine that Sandy Cohen would have looked at this girl -- this pretty blonde who guesses she caught Republicanism from her parents, a month distant from her relationship with golden boy Jimmy Cooper -- and so immediately wanted to take her out to coffee. But more than that I hate the idea that the Kirsten Nichol who lived in a mail truck and stank of patchouli and hated her parents existed because during her first week of college, Sandy Cohen gave her a Mondale/Ferraro button and changed the path of her existence.
In the end it doesn't matter because I have gotten to the point where I reject most of the series' canon as my reality -- that's the nice thing about fictional characters, I guess, is that you can believe in as much of them as you want to. My Kirsten Cohen can end up in her mail truck because her super told her she couldn't live there anymore if he could smell her damn marijuana from the hallway, she can hate her parents even as their money pays her Berkeley tuition (she can't bring herself to apply for scholarships, she's in that socialist phase where she believes since she can pay all of it she should pay all of it), all while somehow maintaining that effortless and slightly snobby Kirsten Cohen grace. That can be the girl my Sandy Cohen falls for -- that inalienable layer of preppiness something he can't help but find charming rather than the first thing he sees of her. I also think my Sandy and Kirsten take their boys and leave Newport (maybe to go back to Berkeley, maybe not) long before they would on the show -- probably when the Newport Group ceases to be profitable, as implied at the end of season 1, because my Cohen family does not have to sustain a dramatic television show for another couple of seasons, and can go off and enjoy being happy.
IN CONCLUSION, WHY IS THERE NOT MOUNTAINS OF FIC ABOUT THIS AND THEM? Is Cohens + 1 not the reason the O.C. was great in the first place? Ugh fandom, you would stick to Ryan/Seth and Ryan/Summer.
*THIS IS UNRELATED TO MY SANDY/KIRSTEN THEME BUT FOR THE RECORD, I am still upset that in this episode they gave the "I wish I were a mermaid poem" to Taylor. Like, I get what the episode is trying to tell us -- that Seth built up this ideal Summer and she was not actual Summer, but um, DUH??? The real process of Seth Cohen getting over the fantasy and under the real girl begins in "The Escape", when he stops prattling in her presence and talks back, I don't need to be told that he came to love the real Summer rather than the conceptual girl three seasons later. But what it really does is ruin the moment when she is overcome that someone has paid attention to her enough, year after year after year, that they noticed her poem. It's still sweet that he knows it because he thought it was hers, whatever, but it isn't enough for her to initiate the kiss. I was pissed off when I read the spoilers and I AM PISSED OFF NOW.
In conclusion, I totally did not realize until today that Rufus Humphrey's band name is an O.C. homage.
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Everyone always says this to me, that they liked Seth so much after S1, and I guess I just watched the show with Seth colored glasses, because I never saw any sort of decline. But that may have been because I didn't want to see that.
Wait I forget Rufus's band name, and what's the homage?
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His band name is Lincoln Hawk, which is the Sylvester Stallone character in "Over the Top", the movie the Cohens always watch at Chrismukkah.
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UM, WHAT? THAT IS HORRIBLE. (and i totally agree about "the escape.")
i've only seen most of season one (not even all of it; i really, really, really need to finish it sometime), and i was actually never planning to watch past it because i've heard so many things about how bad the show got after that. but season one is golden. COHENS! COHENS! AND RYAN IS A COHEN TOO, AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED.
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You dooooo need to finish it, I remember you starting-- how far did you get? But yeah, it was all downhill from there-- even though there were good episodes and moments later on (I love the season 2 Chrismukkah episode), it's not worth sitting through the rest of it. I almost wish I could go back and only have season one. AND SERIOUSLY, RYAN IS TOTALLY A COHEN. Their little family (http://i36.tinypic.com/nxl4x.jpg)!
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I actually discovered a season 1, Seth + Ryan + Kirsten deleted scene easter egg on the DVD that I have never seen before the other day, and it was an indescribably wonderful moment, because it was the Cohens in their golden age, AND IT WAS NEW TO ME. Magic!
apparently, i have pent up issues and fandom related rage
I had a huge love affair with the OC back when it first aired, but come season 3 I kind of gave up on it and got really, really frustrated. Because the entire Seth/Summer/college drama thing was just weird and annoying and poorly written. I didn't even watch S4 when it aired except for the finale. Plus, there was the college/work/real life thing. But this summer, I engaged in a massive EPIC rewatching project and ... yeah, Cohens+1 and Sandy/Kirsten? I fell in love ALL OVER AGAIN.
I agree with you as far as the flashback scenes from season 4. I wanted to see the fun, rebellious Kirsten Nichol who turns down USC and the Ivies to smoke pot and study art history and completely escape from Jimmy Cooper and Newport. I was really, really pissed about her work storylines after her alcoholism - NewMatch with Julie Cooper? Is this really the woman who is supposed to be Sandy's intellectual equal? And I was pissed that in the final episode flashforward, they didn't do anything about what Kirsten was actually doing. What about her art gallery in Sausalito?
I wish they had spent less time in season 3 dealing with the nonstop Marissa drama saga and spent more time on the characters that were far more interesting -- Cohens+1 and Summer.
Re: the mermaid poem -- YES, YES, YES. That pissed me off SO MUCH. I get what they were going for, but they could have done that without making the mermaid poem TAYLOR'S.
Also, I've been dabbling with writing some OC fic. I've only finished one (and I literally JUST finished it), but it IS Sandy/Kirsten if you want to read it. (http://community.livejournal.com/for_the_coast/2450.html#cutid1) Also, I don't know if you've ever scoured fanfic.net for reasonable fic, but this one (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3597585/1/for_this_is_the_beginning_of_forever) is one of my favorites because it actually makes some sense of the screwy timeline.
Re: apparently, i have pent up issues and fandom related rage
Anyway yikes, I had actually REPRESSED NewMatch. Damn that was a dark age for Kirsten-- they never really got her right post-alcoholism. I hated how instead of actually dealing with the emotional side of that we saw her... learn to cook. In the early years Kirsten was a workaholic in the best kind of way -- in that she loved her job and loved working but it rarely actively interfered with her family life, and it was such a baseline to her character-- not that she needed to be at the Newport Group to be happy (I loveddddd the gallery idea), but she was so much better than NewMatch or learning to cook or (as implied by the lack of Kirsten flashforwarding) just raise the baby. Honestly I am kind of against the idea of a new Cohen baby in the first place (even the idea that they were "trying" for another after Seth as presented in the flashback episode seems awkward to me), like Sandy and Kirsten need another kid to gross out with amourous for eighteen years. They have their boys. Idk, I am at the point where I just ignore everything that happened after a certain point, those are not my characters.
I wanted to see the fun, rebellious Kirsten Nichol who turns down USC and the Ivies to smoke pot and study art history and completely escape from Jimmy Cooper and Newport.
EXACTLY! And like, idk, the way they brought up the abortion like it was a revelation and didn't add anything to the implication from season 1 was weak-- certainly not worth having a flashback over. I don't know, I just hate that they want me to believe that she was rebellious because of Sandy. It cheapens them and it cheapens her (or it would if I acknowledged it as canon!).
Also oh my god I AM SO EXCITED TO READ THAT THANK YOU! And for the other link too-- I was totally thinking about how I used to be able to find plenty of good fic that I wanted to read during the hiatus of doom in 2004, but I've totally lost my ability to find anything good on ff.net in intervening years, there's a knack you kind of have to have and I've lost it. Apparently all I'm good for these days is searching delicious :|
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WHAT?!!!! I stopped watching after the beginning of season four when Taylor was hooking up with Ryan but ohmygod, I AM SO DISTRESED RIGHT NOW. I think I am the only one on my flist who does not like Taylor. At all.
I miss The O.C. so much right now, the dynamic of the ~Fab Four was my favourite.
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I am... okay with Taylor, but I hate the way she is now looked at as the O.C.'s second coming, because she was so far from the best thing to happen to that show. And idk, she just like-- one of the (numerous) reasons Seth/Ryan doesn't work for me is because as much as Ryan loves his brosef, he is actively annoyed by his antics, which is one thing in a familial bromance but quite another in a romantic relationship, and Taylor is three hundred thousand times what Seth is. Idk, I didn't like Ryan/Marissa either, but it made more sense.