So maybe it was a bad idea to title this episode of The O.C. "The Cold Turkey": Do the producers really want to put the idea of quitting into viewers and -- more importantly -- Fox executives' heads? I'm just saying.
Overall, a slight improvement over the previous week's day's episode: slightly better deployment of Taylor (although it's still pretty clear that no one knows who she is, exactly), some resolution to the Volchok story, plenty of Sandy, good forward movement in the moribund Julie-Dr. Roberts non-romance. As always, the meta-stuff fell way flat. I actually physically cringed at the Grey's Anatomy reference.
Not much to say, otherwise. Um, the homeless stuff was both a little awful and kind of refreshing: no one seems to have learned or grown from sharing a meal with Those Less Fortunate. I think the gag about soup kitchens turning away Thanksgiving volunteers was funnier when Gilmore Girls did it. I liked the stuff with Kaitlin's dog a lot.
I guess the main event was the final showdown (we hope) between Ryan and Volchok. What to say about that except gayer than ever? Volchok's whole explanation of the crash really read like he was hurt about losing Ryan, not Marissa. I used to think that this was a show about an embattled upper class fighting off the encroachments of the working and criminal classes. That stuff is all still there, but now it seems to me that if there's a single thread running through all four seasons, it's that there are dire consequences to repressing your sexuality. -- Peter
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