Another somewhat flat episode of The O.C., albeit with some bright spots. The writers are really just going through the motions, I think. We've already done the thing where Seth inexplicably tags along with Ryan in order to stop him from doing something incredibly stupid more times than I can count. (I'm not sure what to say about the Marines who got Seth drunk and gave him a tattoo with a "gay vibe." How are we supposed to read that?)
There was a different problem with the Brown stuff: it was desperately unfunny. There's that feedback loop where desperation just makes jokes less funny, which makes writers and performers more desperate, which makes them less funny . . . It's a shame, because I think that most of the cast is really rising above the material and you get flashes where they're actually able to take the material with them. Chris Pratt, for instance, had some nice non-verbal business.
I'm beginning to be sorry that I was so enthusiastic about Autumn Reeser joining the cast. She's still really great, but so far this season, no one seems to know what to do with her. Especially unfortunate was the slutty roommate conversation. Not only was it offensive and weird, but it ran false to the character: Taylor was coming off terribly prudish for someone who banged the dean of discipline (oh God!) at her old school and -- am I remembering this correctly? -- engaged in a three-way on prom night with her date and a Korean pop star. The pay-off -- the off-hand exchange with Summer at the airport -- was good, but not worth the crappy set-up.
The clothing drive subplot was easily the best of the night. Melinda Clarke is one of the performers who manage to elevate the material and Willa Holland seems to deflate all the wacky! rich! people! business happening around her by refusing to engage. Half the time she appears to be half-asleep. Tia Carrere's presence was really jarring, though.
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