The OC Season Finale -- OMFG

I finaly got to watch the season finale of The OC last night. Before I discuss it, I'd like to say that if you haven't seen it yet and plan on watching it, stop reading so as not to spoil anything. I'd also like to extend a great big Fuck You and the Horse You Rode In On to Chris O'Brien for telling me what happened, and Dave DiCamillo for telling me how it happened, after I expressly asked him not to. But more on that later.

So, it was graduation! Everyone was really freaking happy. We all know I take my tv shows a little more seriously than most people do, but I was tearing up throughout the episode. We had some classic Seth one liners, the return of the Cohens as best ever parents, great heartwarmers with all aspects of the cast. Obviously, shit was gonna go down at some point, but it really was great to see everyone so happy and so together. Because I'm a huge nerd for this show, and think of them as real people.

Everyone was going different ways, including Marissa to go work as a hand on her dad's yacht. This meant she was leaving to explore the world for a year, and said her goodbyes to everyone. The fearless foursome spent their last evening together at The Model Home -- and you know how I loves me some first season references. They swam, they joked, they walked down memory lane. *Tear. Ryan and Marissa had a lovely talk in the room of the model home where they were the first time Ryan was going to leave town, and here they were, saying goodbye again. They talked about how maybe they'd be together again someday, and how they wouldn't do anythign differently -- except maybe Oliver. *Laugh. They get in car and take off for the airport, passing a sign that reads "Leaving Orange County." It may be trite, but it's a tried and true way to get my waterworks goin, a la "Now Leaving Sunnydale. Come back soon!"

The looming darkness throughout the episode was stupid Volchek, threatening Ryan, jonesing for some Cooper forgiveness, flask-swigging while stalking Marissa & Ryan all over. Volchek, of course, runs Ryan and Marissa (who are riding in the car Ryan's mom bought him as a graduation gift) off the road, down a hill, splat. You hear the sound of Volchek's car speeding off, and after a stressful pause, see Ryan stir. I'm gonna start drinking some of that Cohen household water, because it seems to give you super car crash fatalityimmunity.

Now, referencing relationship & series mythology may not be the most artistic approach to staging a scene, but it certainly worked for me. They more than tugged at my heartstrings, they ripped those buggers down. Ryan awakens and Marissa's passed out. He, after some work, gets out of the car, realizes that it's about to explode, and gets Marissa out. The music starts. What music? That would be Imogen Heap -- who sang Hide and Seek, which punctuated last year's heart stopping finale -- singing Halleluja, which was used in the first season finale. OK, killin me already. As Ryan carries here away from the car that's catching more and more on fire, they overlay scenes from the first season of him carrying her to the poolhouse after Holly's party, and of him carrying her out of the alley in Tijuana. She dies in his arms on the side of the road, the music swells, and as he looks at her, he flashes back to the first time he left town, watching her fade into the distance as he drove away. And then I melted into a pile of salty sobs. It was beautifully done, and effing killed me. In fact, I'm tearing up again as I write this. Dammit. Marissa's character was always so very tragic, a young death is really the only fitting end. And you may remember how pissed I was at the unceremonious end to Ryan and Marissa's relationship. I should have trusted the Schwartz and known that he had a big huge Ryan and Marissa conclusion up his sleeve. So, thank you. Oh, and Seth got accepted to start in the winter at RISD, so he and Sommer will be together in Rhode Island. Anyhow, if you want to watch that last scene and judge me for being nostalgic and wimpy and crying at the mere thought of it, you can watch it on YouTube here.

UPDATE: Stream the Imogen Heap track here. (Quicktime)