seth

Wear Chanel. Go to Harbor. Drive a Land Cruiser. Make an ass of yourself at a charity function. That's what they do in The O.C. and soon you can do it too, in a video game. Gameloft, the makers of Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest, is currently laboring over a game based on the FOX teen soap. It's a Sims-style game where you can wander around real O.C. locations and work on your tan or your muscles. Looks are apparently very important in the storyline of the game. You can choose to be any of the lead characters, Ryan, Marissa, Summer or Seth, or you can create your own character to shake things up in their McMansions.

What I want to know is: Can you punch somebody or get high? It just wouldn't be The O.C. without a fight or someone overdosing on drugs.

(S03E25) The trailers promised us that someone MAY not survive the season finale and they were right. Someone MAY not have survived. But the MAY and the plot history of The O.C. is what puts it all in question. There was most definitely a jilted ex-lover. And definitely a serious car wreck. Definitely an explosion. And most definitely it looked like a main character said their final, unrecognizable words before they stopped breathing. But the MAY is still there. Why?

Ah, the old "to invite the ex or not invite the ex?" quandary. It's a doozy. Ryan is turning 18 and he's got a big decision on his shoulders -- should he invite Marissa to his lame-ass birthday party or not? And not to read too much into the emotional complexity of The O.C., but I liked how they had Ryan and Marissa trying to figure out how to get over each other, while Julie and Dr. Roberts were trying to figure out how to get on with each other. It doesn't matter how old you get, relationships are still a sonuvabitch.

The O.C. is back after taking an Olympic hiatus and things are as crazy as ever in Newport Beach. Ryan embarks on a road trip with Johnny's new-to-town cousin, Sadie. He and Sadie are attempting to track down Johnny's deadbeat dad for unpaid child support. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this Sadie girl. Chili was a bizarro Seth, and it seems as if Sadie is a bizarro Theresa. She looks like Theresa and she acts like Theresa. She has that whole nice girl from the wrong side of town vibe. I'm just not buying it. How is she that overly polite, but still ready to kick some deadbeat dad ass at the drop of a hat?

If it wasn't for the last five minutes, this episode would have been a dud. I wouldn't even say the last five minutes, I'd say the last 30 seconds. So let's not waste any time, let's get right to it. (I'll save the big news for after the break.)

Tonight was the triumphant return of Kaitlan, Marissa's once invisible sister turned jailbait sister. Awww, the magic of TV speed-aging. When last we saw Kaitlan, she was wearing pink sweatsuits, and complaining about not getting to ride her hairless pony enough. All the while, her older sis was overdosing in Tijuana, and almost being raped by her boyfriend's brother. Yup, it's about time for Kaitlan's return.

In follow-up news to the report that George Lucas is creating not one but two Star Wars TV series comes this: Lucas will appear as himself on The O.C. a week before Revenge of the Sith opens up. I'm sure this is just a conincidence. Ahem. The so-called "plot" has Lucas being interested in Seth's graphic novel, and Seth has to decide whether to go to his prom or have dinner with George Lucas, one of the richest people on the planet and the guy who could make Seth's graphic novel a smash hit. Easy choice there, dude.