Seth and Ryan take their girl-shopping to the streets… well, to the school quad anyway… when along comes Lindsay, who points out how classy and “not remotely demeaning” it is. After she takes off, Seth tells Ryan he thinks he’s finally found the ONE. Who, Lindsay? Ryan tries to dissuade him by explaining that she’s bossy, argumentative, and difficult. Perfect! Ryan reluctantly agrees to hook it up.

Meanwhile, Marissa is celebrating the new era by being “boy-drama-free”! Summer raises an eye-brow. No really, she and Ryan are just friends and DJ wants nothing to do with her. Summer also claims to be drama-free. “If Cohen is the virus, Zack is the cure.”

Meanwhile, Sandy has gotten the axe from his law firm for representing Caleb. He’s excited about being back on his own. It’s a new era, yea! Except his only client is Caleb Nichols, who appears to be more guilty by the day. Sandy meets Caleb at the club with the intention of talking about the case, specifically about the fact that Caleb’s been funneling money every month to a trust and the person who runs this trust just so happens to be an associate of a city councilman -- the same city councilman who issues building permits to people who build lots of buildings. “People like you.” Other than admitting that he likes to build buildings, Caleb’s not in the mood for talking shop. He’s in the mood for frittatas!

In class, Ryan awkwardly approaches Lindsay and asks if she’d like to go on a date. Yes, she would. Great! “So you’ll go out with Seth.” Huh? What? “Oh, you want me to go out with Seth and I said yes, so… yes.”

Julie, the new CEO of the Newport Group, barges into Kirsten’s office with a giant ficus nbsptree. She wants to get more involved in the company. Kirsten explains that the company is one failed deal away from ruin and they’ve got a big presentation tomorrow. Well, then, Julie thinks she better brush up on her reading. nbsp

Ryan finds Seth doing manual labor at The Bait Shop and lets him know the date with Lindsay is on for tomorrow night. Suddenly Seth’s not so sure of himself. He refuses to go unless Ryan doubles with them but Ryan isn’t dating anymore, remember? Seth convinces him it won’t be a date, just a “group hang” with Alex, his hot boss.

Back at the Newport Group, Kirsten’s mid-way into her big presentation when Julie barges in and introduces herself to the prospective investors. Then she proceeds to send Kirsten out of the room to copy… the lunch menu? nbsp

Post-presentation, Julie pays Jimmy a visit looking for a little confidence boost. She complains that being the CEO of a company is a bitch. “Hmm, you’d think you’d be a natural.” Good one, Jimmy! “Listen -- you may not have Kirsten’s experience, or let’s face it, any experience, but you’re savvy.” Jimmy explains that if there’s one thing Julie’s good at, it’s getting money from rich old men. She’s just got to do it the Julie Cooper way.

At The Bait Shop, it’s time for the “group hang” to begin but Seth can’t seem to face Lindsay at all. He sends Ryan down to act as the buffer. Lindsay wants to know what Ryan’s doing there. He awkwardly explains that he’s got a date too. Terrific. Hmm, maybe Ryan wasn’t the best buffer after all.

Back at home, Kirsten walks in on Sandy watching bad TV in his Cheeto-dust-covered pajamas. He’s depressed because Caleb’s been sending him on a wild goose chase. Suddenly, Julie shows up with the fabulous idea to throw a party for the prospective investors. Kirsten tells her they’ll talk about it tomorrow but… too late, the caterers are already here and she’s already invited the most important people in Newport!

Back at the group hang, both Seth and Ryan are dying a slow death. And if things aren’t bad enough, look who just showed up -- Marissa, Summer and Zach! Seth suddenly grabs Lindsay, and Summer suddenly grabs Zach. Lindsay takes a wild guess that she’s just met the ex. Zach thinks maybe Summer should take her focus off her Cohen-obsession and put it on the band. Seth, meanwhile, is giving Lindsay a healthy dose of his Summer-obsession.

Outside the club, Sandy does a little late-night espionage and sees Caleb handing off a package to a woman in a car. He confronts Caleb in the bar but Caleb claims the woman is an old friend. nbspSandy guesses that the woman is Renee Wheeler. Caleb starts to deny it until Sandy explains that when he says “guess,” what he really means is he called in the license plate number to a friend at the police department. Sandy wants to know if Caleb’s having an affair. Caleb says it goes much deeper than that and advises Sandy to leave it alone. Right, that sounds like something Sandy’s likely to do.

Back at The Bait Shop, the Killers are rocking the house and Seth is still talking off Lindsay’s ear about Summer. Seth wants Lindsay to know that he has nothing to say to Summer, except maybe that he’s doing fine without her. Lindsay suggests that if Seth hurries, he may be able to catch Summer heading out the door. Good idea. Then Alex tells Ryan that maybe he should go tell Lindsay he likes her. Alex isn’t really feeling the spark anyway, so… Wow, an honest conversation with a girl. Ryan’s not used to that.

Summer follows Zach out the door, protesting that she’s not still obsessed with Seth. Zach thinks Summer should go home and log onto some Cohen chat room or something while he throws himself off the pier. Just then, Seth comes barreling towards Summer with his big news but she tells him to get lost. Back inside, Ryan tries talking to Lindsay but she’s had enough talk for one night.

And back at the Cohen house, the party is in full swing. nbspJulie is doing such a good job charming the clientele that even Kirsten is impressed. nbspJulie heads inside to get Mr. Herbert’s contract. Thanks to Jimmy, she’s doing it the Julie Cooper way.

Seth and Ryan give each other permission to exchange dates. Seth debriefs with Alex, who’s not surprised he got “disco’d” by two girls in one night. He apologizes to her for the whole “group hang” thing and starts to head out. Alex follows him and lets him know that despite all his shortcomings, he can sometimes be a little charming… especially when he’s not talking about Summer. Seth invites Alex to get an ice-cream. She gives him a lingering kiss on the lips and offers to buy... but no more than two scoops.

Outside, Ryan catches up with Lindsay at the bus stop and offers her a ride. No thanks. He joins her on the bench and she tells him she knew it was going to be a disaster with Seth before it even started. Why? Because when Ryan asked her about a date she thought she was saying yes to him. Ryan’s confused. Didn’t Lindsay think he was an idiot? He tells her he wanted it to be him but he just didn’t think in a million years she’d say yes. “Then I’ve been right all along. You are an idiot.”

As Seth and Sandy embark on new adventures, they take the rest of the family along for the ride. Ryan and Seth go on an awkward double date to see The Killers perform in concert, with unexpected results. Meanwhile, Julie finds herself overwhelmed by her new role at the Newport Group and, as usual, is forced to turn to Kirsten for help.

Guest Cast: Michael Cassidy as Zach; Olivia Wilde as Alex; Shannon Lucio as Lindsay; Nicholas Gonzalez as D.J.; Gregory Itzin as Stephen Herbert

Lindsay (to Seth and Ryan): Classy and not remotely demeaning.

Marissa: It's a new era Summer. For the first time in years I have, like, no boy drama.

Seth (to Alex about Ryan): He enjoys sunset walks, punching people and not smiling.

Caleb (to Sandy): Let's break bread, let's discuss broads.

Summer (to Marissa): If Cohen is the virus then Zach is the cure. He is the anti-Cohen.

Seth (to Ryan about Lindsay): I said I wanted to marry her, not date her.

Jimmy (to Julie): You may not have Kirsten's experience or let's face it, any experience, but you're savvy.

Jimmy (to Julie): If there's one thing you know how to do, it's get money from rich old men.

Zach (to Summer): Maybe you should go home, log onto some kind of Cohen chat room.

Kirsten (to Sandy): You're in your pajamas. You've got orange Cheeto dust all over your chin. hat happened to my husband?

Sandy (to Kirsten): We can let the gruesome twosome wreck our careers, or we can site here, watch obscene amounts of Dr. Phil and wreck them ourselves. Whaddya say?

Seth (to Alex): I got disco'd by two girls in one night and unfortunately, not the first time that's happened.

Everyone in the cast except for Summer and Julie uses the phrase "new era" at least once in the episode.

Recap:
Apparently? In Orange County? It's a new era. And The O.C. wanted you to know about it. Seth decides it's time for him to end his obsession with Summer because, well, yeah right, and meets Lindsay Faux-han (thanks, Pamie) just in time for him to decide he should branch out. But Ryan, who wears his inner monologue on his sleeve, asks Lindsay on a date for Seth in a way that makes Lindsay think that Ryan's asking her out. Meanwhile, Seth sets up Ryan with his roller-headed friend from work, and they quad-date to The Bait Shop for a Killers concert, but Rollers and Ryan don't click either. You know who else isn't clicking? Zach and Summer, when she spends her whole night talking to Zach about how much she's over Seth. Marissa tells her short, foreign lawn boy friend that he should go to the concert as well, because damned if they didn't spend a penny or two on this new set and damned if they're not going to USE IT. Adults also show up a time or two this week, with Sandy trailing Caleb on a wild goose chase through his devious, poor-business-practices past. And Julie seems to be gumming up the works at work, until she performs the master stroke of bringing a client to the Cohen house for a party where she ends up signing the big client through a healthy mix of boozy social acumen and cleavage. Well done, female executives.

Spoilers:
Julie puts The Newport Group in jeopardy and Kirsten must come to the rescue. Ryan becomes Seth's sounding board as he starts a new adventure. Summer tries to deal with her feelings for Seth as her relationship with Zach gets more comfortable. The Killers play at The Bait Shot. (SpoilerFix.com)