Dial M for Mother
Julie storms home to Jimmy, indignant about Sandy and Kirsten. Jimmy tells her about Kirsten's $100,000 loan. Now Julie is indignant and humiliated. Back at Casa Cohen, Kirsten and the boys meet Dawn. She tells Ryan she's turned her life around - got a new job, dumped her abusive boyfriend, stopped drinking, Ryan is skeptical. Why did she abandon him? Because he was always the smart one, the one she really loved. When he got arrested, she knew she'd failed - she couldn't handle it. Ryan grudgingly agrees to give her a chance.

Vegas, baby!
Kirsten invites Ryan and Dawn to accompany them to Vegas Night. At the party, Dawn starts off well, gambling (and cleaning up) but refusing alcohol. Ryan tries to talk to Marissa, but Luke is all glowery in the corner until Ryan tells him Marissa chose Luke (which is a lie). Seth gets distracted by Summer, who adopts him as a good luck charm. Julie bitchily tells Sandy about the $100,000. While everyone is distracted, Dawn starts drinking hard. Sandy confronts Kirsten, much to Julie's glee. Jimmy tries to make things right, but they're interrupted when a drunken Dawn smashes into a waiter and makes a scene. All of the O.C. stares, aghast - rich people don't get wasted, you know. Luke helps the Cohens and Ryan drag Dawn out, for Marissa's benefit. Maybe he's not a total schmuck.

Aftermath
The next morning, Dawn tries to take off while Ryan is sleeping, but Kirsten catches her. Dawn tells Kirsten she'll never be a good - hell, even acceptable - mother, like Kirsten is. Ryan wakes up in time to see his mom leave. Kirsten agrees to take Ryan in. Seth is thrilled, and Sandy is impressed. Ryan looks like he can't believe his luck - I guess nothing eases the sting of parental abandonment like a really nice crib in The O.C.

series regulars : Peter Gallagher as Sandy Cohen Benjamin McKenzie as Ryan Atwood Adam Brody as Seth Cohen Mischa Barton as Marissa Cooper Kelly Rowan as Kirsten Cohen Chris Carmack as Luke Ward Tate Donovan as Jimmy Cooper

guest stars : Rachel Bilson as Summer Roberts Mindy Clarke as Julie Cooper Daphne Ashbrook as Dawn Atwood Kim Oja as Taryn Francis Capra as Z

Josh Kloss as Saunders Adam Grimes as Nordlund Devin Mills as Karen Kimberly Stanphill as Betty Erica Toffel as Dealer Lisa K. Wyatt as Customer

production info :
Writer: Jane Espenson, Director: Ian Toynton, Producer: Loucas George.
Executive Producers: Bob DeLaurentis, Doug Liman, Josh Schwartz, Dave Bartis & McG.
Supervising Producer: Stephanie Savage
Co-Executive Producer: Melissa Rosenberg & Alan Heinberg.

music :

"The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake - Scene: Featured Artist this week
"Wanna Be Happy" by Brooke - Scene: When Marissa and Summer were talking about Ryan and Luke.
"Sing Sing Sing (with a Swing)" by James Horner (orig. Louis Prima) - Scene: During casino night, Ryan is trying to keep an eye on his mom.
"Rain City" by Turin Brakes - Scene: When Kristin and Dawn are talking about Ryan. Dawn decides to leave and waves goodbye to Ryan


quotes :

Ryan: I used to want to be a architect
Kirsten: And what do you want to be now?
Ryan: Seventeen
Kirsten: Yeah, me too!

Julie: Well nobody blames you for bringing him into the community. You're so trusting, Sandy

Sandy: Well I should be off. Gotta find the next kid to jeopardize the community. Maybe a black kid. Or an asian kid. Bye ladies!

Jimmy: "So how's your mother?"
Seth: "Ah, just... married"

Sandy (to Ryan): "We've got to stop meeting like this"

Kirsten: "I love your dress"
Julie: "You do? It's yours"

Summer (to Marissa about Luke): God he loves you. He got in a fight and burned a house down over you. That's hot.

Kid in juvy (to Kirsten): You got a nice swerve on you lady. You fine.

Julie (to Jimmy): You will not believe what Sandy Cohen said to me. He basically called me white trash. He said I was from Riverside.

Two kids discussing Ryan's mom
#1: Dude that lady is wasted!
#2: I bet you could bang her.

news, notes & interesting facts :

Julie is from Riverside and Sandy from the Bronx.
Dawn orders the same drink, "Seven and Seven" as her son Ryan did in the pilot episode.

ratings :

Air Date	Viewers1	Rating2	Share3	Rank
08.19.03	8.0	5.3/6.2	9/10	29
1In millions, 2% of all households (nat./over), 3% of households watching tv (nat./over).

recaps & reviews :
Previously on The O.C., Dawn Atwood wanted Ryan out of the House of Trash. She also wanted a beer, a cigarette, and a decent haircut. Kirsten asked what kind of mother just abandons her child, and Sandy dropped his head. Marissa thought Dawn had to come back, but Ryan thought she was a "train wreck." Seth hid Ryan in the model home, where Ryan did nothing with Luke's girlfriend, but it didn't look like nothing to Luke, and so he and his friends commenced the burning of the model home and the near burning of Ryan, for whom the police then had some questions. They had questions for Luke, too. Also, Jimmy needed $100,000, and Kirsten had it.

We open the show with buzzing gates. Juvie. Sandy -- who with each episode is in increasing need of a pair of hair clippers with which to tame his eyebrows-- signs in and makes eye contact through the bars with a sullen-looking Ryan. He enters, and asks Ryan if he wants the good news or the bad joke first. When Ryan doesn't answer, Sandy cracks, "We gotta stop meeting like this!" Okay, so Sandy didn't ask the good news/bad joke question, but that was a bad joke, and clearly not what Ryan needs to hear. In any case, there is good news: Kirsten's company has dropped all the charges, and Ryan is free to go after his probation hearing. In his signature move, Ryan casts his eyes downward as Sandy continues, "You'll be out no problem." Which, to me, is a whole lot different than the thirty-sixty days he admits when Ryan pushes for a time frame. Sandy says that Ryan would be out sooner if he could be released into the care of a parent or guardian. In a perfectly timed only-on-television-moment, just outside the gates Luke is released into the arms of his adoring blonde mother. Ryan watches and comments, "He gets to leave," obviously not having gotten the point about the parent/guardian issue. Sandy explains that his and Luke's stories meshed about the accidental burning of the Model Home, but that Luke is without priors and has no record, which is exactly what Sandy said about the difference between Ryan and Trey in the first episode. The obvious finally sinks in and Ryan angrily concludes, "And he has someone to take him home." A pissed-off-looking Luke shoots Ryan a dirty look before leaving.

Meanwhile, the eyebrows slow-talk, "Ryan. You know...If I could..." He doesn't finish the sentence, but an immediate mental picture of Ryan dressed up like Hank Azaria's character in The Birdcage popped into my head. That's a whole different kind of pool boy. Sandy tells Ryan that everything will be okay, but Ryan counters, "My mom ditched me. I burned your wife's house down. How is this gonna be okay?" Sandy insists that they'll find Ryan's mother, and Ryan asks what if they don't? Sandy assures him that they'll do whatever it takes, leading Ryan to clarify his question: what if he doesn't want his mother found? A flummoxed Sandy doesn't attempt to answer, instead asking why Ryan didn't come to him instead of running away. Ryan angrily asks why he should have gone to Sandy -- so he could have ended up in Child Services and foster care? Sandy points out that Ryan could have died in the fire, and Ryan's defense mechanisms are in full force as changes the subject to say that Sandy has done more than enough for him already, and he can take care of himself. He adds, "Won't be that different from how it's been." Through with the conversation, Ryan heads for the gate, where a guard waits to let him back in with the juvie population. Sandy assures him they'll talk again before the hearings. Ryan pauses and adds, "Tell your....wife...again....thanks." Sandy's all, "Already did." (The slow manner in which the characters speak on this show makes it the anti-Gilmore Girls.) In any case, Sandy watches as Ryan is led past all the other delinquents. All of whom happen to be black. All of them. Every one. How did no one casting, directing, acting, or working the food services cart fail to notice that there was something truly amiss in this scene? But as it turns out they're not all black. There's one Hispanic kid, and he's a badass. As Ryan passes by, the boy -- who looks like Eliza Dushku if she were bald, Hispanic, and a man -- intentionally slams into him. Ryan says he's sorry, but the now-christened "Faithless" is all up in his face: "You ain't now. But you will be." As Ryan is led further away, he turns back to give a plaintive look to the dismayed Sandy. (more... )
By: Joanna Hughes (TWoP)

free hit counter