In the Zone

I am in the zone. The O.C. and I have melded together perfectly to become one. So much happened tonight that I will have to break the episode and season finale previews into different sections.

I. Sandy Cohen: Good Guy at Heart

The parallels between Sandy Cohen and the late and infamous Caleb Nichol crescendoed to a peak tonight when Sandy was named Riviera Magazine's Man of the Year. I could smell the corruption from 1500 miles away. But I kept the faith and Sandy Cohen did not disappoint. It took a jolt from Summer about Seth's former misdeeds, Seth's admission that he didn't get into Brown, and news that Kirsten had started drinking again to wake Sandy up, but wake up, he did. Sandy dropped a multimillion dollar project to do the right thing and ensure the conviction of his former, corrupt business partner. Then he REJECTED the great honor that Riviera Magazine had bestowed upon him. The Sandy Cohen we all know and love has returned!

II. Ryan Atwood, A Man Apart

The parallels between this episode and the very first miracle of an episode that became the O.C. were astounding. Ryan gets blackmailed into helping Volchok steal a car, since Volchok threatened to report his ass-beating as an assault and ruin Ryan's college years. So Ryan, who typically did not recognize the option to refuse, went along. Volchok breaks the window, the car alarm goes off, and the cop car comes screeching towards them. Volchok looks at Ryan and says "Get in, don't be a little bitch!" The EXACT words that Tre Atwood said to Ryan when he went for the fateful ride in a stolen vehicle that landed Ryan in juvenile jail and eventually in the O.C. Except this time, Ryan did not take the ride. He had a family and real life to lose, and the justaposition of the three years touched me to the point where I felt actual emotion. On a semi-related note, the lady who Ryan saw immediately before Volchok stole the car was Luke Ward's mom. Even though she hasn't been in an episode for over two years, it never fails to astound me how I identify old characters with a profound sense of community.

III. Marissa Cooper, Undercover Slut

Marissa gets a call from her sister...it could only be trouble. It seems that the guy Caitlin Cooper refused to sleep with stole a school heirloom and blamed it on Caitlin to get her kicked out of school. What does Marissa do to help? Dresses up as a schoolgirl, Britney Spears "Baby one more time" style, and puts on a striptease for the guy who stole the heirloom. She then ties him to a chair, steals his pants and keys, and recovers the heirloom for her sister. I think in the bigger scheme of things this relatively small 'novelty' storyline will become monumentally important, but I'll get to that in my "premonitions" section.

IV. Seth Cohen and Why you Shouldn't do Drugs

We all knew it was bad news when Cohen smoked his first J early this season. Now the stress of his mother's alcoholism and his father's potential indictment have driven him to toke some more chronic. He did so at the newport group, and it seems that his partially extinguished joint set the Newport Group ablaze. I was particularly astonished that within FIVE MINUTES, when the fire was far from out, the police showed up to arrest Cohen! I guess they are too rich for probable cause in the O.C. Despite this minor inconvenience, I think Cohen will come out of it okay. Still, this episode was such a stoic warning of why kids shouldn't do drugs, that every sixth grader should have to watch it.

V. Premonitions

In two weeks, we see the season finale. And the announcer flashed the main characters and said ONE OF THEM MAY NOT MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT! Here's how I see it going down.

They all go through graduation, have a great time and solve their problems, then the tragedy hits for an end of the season cliffhanger. This is no ordinary cliffhanger though, this is something special. There have been rumors that Mischa Barton was talking about leaving the O.C. for fear of being typecasst as Marissa Cooper. Through a series of astoundingly clever deductions, I've come to the conclusion that Marissa will be the one to go.

Notice how Marissa has been making peace with her world through the second half of this season. She dumped the abusive guy and proclaimed that Ryan was a good person. She drove to her little sister's school and performed a striptease just to help her out, even though her sister was such an unappreciative little brat. Marissa has finally made peace with her mother, Julie Cooper, and the previews show Julie in a rare display of emotion, making some universally loving statements to her daughter at graduation.

So here is what I expect to see. Marissa will suffer an accident of some sort, the cause is left open, but I expect since she's doing so well, it won't be another drug OD. Volchok wasn't apprehended on this episode, so he could attack, or a random tragedy would do as well. Then her fate is unknown. I doubt the producers would kill her outright and ruin a perfectly good cliffhanger, but it's a possibility. The summer gives Mischa Barton time to think things over to decide whether or not she wants to return. From there, are plenty of options. Marissa could move away due to the 'trauma' to return only periodically, or she could die in season four. The possibilities are endless. The tragedy would undoubtedly bring back old characters...probably Jimmy Cooper for sure, and Caitlin as well. In addition, a tragedy would keep the O.C. a close-knit community: nobody would be going far for college when they're needed at home. I can hardly wait to see what happens!