Reviews

This is one of the most enjoyable television shows out there right now. Held up by a terrific script and good performances from its cast week after week, it sucks you in and just doesn't let go. Every character is different and the parents are at the center of their own story lines which makes this show already different from Beverly Hills 90210.



Set in the beach community of Newport Beach, California, the life of having it all is no longer something special. For Ryan Atwood, a newbie to the lifestyles of the extremely rich, it gets a little overwhelming. When Sandy Cohen takes him in for the weekend after his alcoholic mother throws him out after he spends a night in juvenile hall (for being an accomplice to his big brother's attempt to steal a car), things change for everybody. Although hesitant at first, Kirsten Cohen, Sandy's wife, relents.

In the Cooper household, things are decidedly fishy when feds keep knocking day after day on the door wanting to talk to Jimmy Cooper, a very successful financial planner. Marissa takes note of her father's troubles as he assures her there's nothing wrong when she has to cover for him and lie to the feds. Jimmy's obvious distress is also noticed by Kirsten, his ex-flame, at the fashion show fundraiser and he breaks down in the men's bathroom, not realising Ryan heard him. We also meet Jimmy's wife, the blissfully ignorant, Julie and her younger daughter, Kaitlin.

Quickly introduced to the life of a Newport resident after he gets an invitation to the fashion show fundraiser by Marissa, Ryan also as quickly gets into trouble with the local "trust-fund" kids who don't take kindly to outsiders who dare to question them when he saves a drunken Seth Cohen, Sandy and Kirsten's only child, from them. That same night, he also discovers Marissa abandoned by her two best friends, Holly Fischer and Summer Roberts, passed out on her driveway and without her house keys. As he does a second rescue by carrying Marissa to the Cohens' poolhouse to sleep off the alcohol in her system, Kirsten goes hysterical when she discovers her son half-drunk and bruised from his beatings the next day and tells Sandy that Ryan has to go. Ryan understands and Sandy drives him back to his hometown to Chino only to find his house barren and stripped of any belongings. Abandoned by his mother and left with only a note explaining, Sandy brings Ryan back to Newport Beach.

And so ends the pilot episode. Amassing a total of high-rated 27 episodes in its first season, The O.C.'s appeal is undeniable and is more than a guilty pleasure. The characters grow in every episode in every way possible and you'll really know what they mean when the producers claim that "nothing is as what it seems" in this show. Try watching an episode of the second season. I'm sure you'll know what I mean.