(S04E07) This was an interesting episode. It's not that I didn't like it, but I just found it a little disappointing. I say that because this episode didn't really do anything to advance the plot of our season. A season, I should remind you, that will only have 16 episodes and may very well be The OC's last. With that in mind, I guess I just expected Josh Schwartz and Co. to give us 16 jam-packed episodes. Up until now they had. This one was fun, it was gimmicky. But it didn't do it for me.

Centering around Ryan and Taylor, the two of them had been fighting about Taylor's "girlfriend status" and whether or not Ryan would be inviting her to Chrismukkah dinner. They were decorating the Cohen's house and in the heat their argument, Taylor tumbled off the ladder and Ryan fell off the roof trying to stop her. Now they're both in comas and when they wake up, nothing is as it seems.

So it's quickly determined that the two of them were in some alternate reality. Hence the title of the episode, which I butchered when I spoke with Autumn Reeser recently. Anyone else find it weird that they were essentially sharing the same dream? However since it was all a dream, everything that happened didn't really happen. It should be noted, that before falling off the roof, Ryan received a letter in the mail from Marissa. It was old and must have been lost in the postal system. It was her final words to him about how she loved him but that he had to move on because she had plans to leave Newport. That sort of became the theme for the alternate reality: fix what was wrong so that Ryan could officially get over Marissa and make room to let Taylor into his life.

Now this is where the gimmicky part came in. In the alternate Newport, Ryan and Taylor never existed. Well... Taylor did, but she was a boy? Did that make sense to anyone? Regardless, everything was the exact opposite of what it should have been which made it predictable. Kirsten married Jimmy (Tate Donovan!), Sandy married Julie, Summer was a complete ditz and was engaged to Che who was no longer an activist, Johnny was still alive, and Seth was a huge geek who everyone ignored. The list goes on but the big one? Marissa was still dead only this time she had passed away three years ago in Tijuana when she OD'ed. But again, none of these alternate reality revelations made me jump out of my seat in shock. Everything elicited more of an "oh, that's cute" reaction.

So overall, just so-so. For a season that in my opinion has so far been the best since the first, this was probably the worst of the four Chrismukkah episodes which is too bad. I remember reading somewhere that Josh Schwartz felt like he had a lot more creative freedom with this season because they know they aren't going to beat Grey's Anatomy and they know that this may be the last hurrah. Well kudos to the writing team for being creative. They outdid themselves there, but unfortunately, it fell flat for me.

Best quote?

Taylor (trying to convince Ryan that his coming to Newport did make a difference): "You saved the Cohens! Without you, Seth is the next Unabomber, Sandy is married to Slutty McSlutterman, and Kirsten probably hasn't had an orgasm in like a year!"