‘O.C.’ finale a fitting tribute

By Brittany Ireland
George Washington High School

After four years of drama, laughter and suspense, “The O.C.” is over. From the way the plot picked up from season one and was carried by the tides, you would never have expected the lives of these Orange County teenagers and adults to wash back onto the sandy shore.

Everyone knows that the show was more popular when it began back in 2003. Some of the major conflicts in the first season included Seth (Adam Brody) trying to get Summer (Rachel Bilson) to like him, Marissa (Mischa Barton) overdosing in Tijuana, Ryan (Benjamin McKenzie) unintentionally burning down Caleb’s model home and Jimmy Cooper’s scandal.

It’s also funny to look back and see all the men Julie was with over the seasons: Jimmy, Caleb, Dr. Roberts, The Bullit and Frank Atwood — along with some others in between.

As for the final season, the plot was not all that exciting or funny. The episodes seemed to drag on, going nowhere. On the other hand, it would have meant nothing to watch the other three seasons and not tune into the last episode.

The “right back where we started from” theme was present in the final episode and not just in the lyrics to the theme song. After an earthquake hit Orange County, the Cohen’s house was destroyed, leading them to find a new - or should I say old - place to call home: they actually bought the house in Berkeley that Sandy and Kirsten had lived in before moving to the O.C. This happened just in time for Kirsten’s new daughter to be born.

This was convenient for Ryan because he ended up studying architecture at UC-Berkeley. Meanwhile, Seth went to the Rhode Island School of Design, and Summer indulged her passion for saving the environment.

Everyone finally seemed to be living their dreams and practicing their talents. Sandy became what he always should have been — a professor.

Most surprisingly, Julie chose to be single after proposals from both The Bullit and Frank. She went to college and got the education she always wished she had.

The series ended with the two main things that viewers wanted to see. One, of course, was the marriage of Seth and Summer, who were the cutest couple that always made it through every tragedy in the O.C. together. They got married in Sandy and Kirsten’s new back yard.

The other was seeing what happened to Ryan in the future. From the very first episode, he was the juvie with no family and no future until he was brought into the Cohen household by Sandy. With their help and support, he was able to use his intelligence in a way that eventually led to him becoming an architect.

The best ending that fans could have asked for was for Ryan to evolve and complete the circle of karma by doing what Sandy had once done for him, and that’s exactly what happened. As Ryan walked out of his new office in Chino, there’s a boy who resembles him, sitting in the same place he had once sat, and he ends the series by saying, “Hey kid, need some help?”

Even though the fourth season wasn’t “The O.C.’s” best, the last episode made fans proud. It was a fitting end for the show.