‘The O.C.’ Should Have Ended With The Spider-Man Kiss

Today marks the 15th anniversary of one of the most influential television programs of the modern era: The O.C. Premiering on August 5, 2003, Josh Schwartz’s seminal series about a wealthy family from Orange County taking in a troubled teen from Chino was an aspirational game-changer, a small-screen wunderkind that forever altered the genre. An irreverent blend of angst, meta humor, indie music, sex appeal, face-punching, and familial charm, the series deployed a frenetic storytelling style that burned through plot at a feverish pace.

The show’s main antagonist, Luke, went from threatening water polo menace to dutiful friend by the end of Episode 12; love triangles that would normally last for seasons (Ryan-Marissa-Luke/Summer-Seth-Anna) were resolved after ten and twenty episodes, respectively; and characters fans had grown to love — Anna, Luke, Oliver (I know, I know, but I liked the Oliver episodes) — departed the series with plenty of stories left untold.

It was sheer madness and I absolutely loved it. The O.C is one of my favorite TV shows of all time. The first season, all 27 episodes of it, left an indelible mark on the pop culture landscape. The first half of Season 2 isn’t as historically revered as its predecessor, but I believe it’s on par with Season 1 (especially the first four episodes). The first half of the show’s sophomore season culminated in the mid-season finale, “The Rainy Day Women,” which ended with a memorable scene forever etched into the show’s iconography: Seth and Summer’s Spider-Man kiss.

The episode should have been The O.C.’s series finale.

Obviously Fox was never going to cancel their global smash-hit after 41 episodes, but the series was never the same after “Rainy Day Women.” The fact that Schwartz, who was only 27-years-old when The O.C. premiered, created 27 Season 1 episodes from August of 2003 to May of 2004 is remarkable. Fox pushing Schwartz to helm a new series (a show titled Athens) while simultaneously doing The O.C., and the network creatively meddling in Season 3 are two of the most cited reasons for the show’s decline in quality. But the series burned so brightly during its initial season that it was nearly impossible to maintain that level of quality or breakneck storytelling output.

The series made a number of creatively questionable decisions — evil Zach, the Reed comic book arc — and mishandled other stories — Trey Atwood, Kirsten’s alcoholism — before the infamously disastrous third season. Season 4, however, was an underrated return to form that gifted fans with the breath of fresh air known as a rejuvenated Taylor Townsend. The show’s late renaissance notwithstanding, The O.C. was never quite the same after “Rainy Day Women.” But you know what? That’s okay. Give me 41 episodes of perfection over 100 episodes of mediocrity.

The memorable episode told a simple story that concluded with the dramatic reconciliation of Seth and Summer. Here’s the CliffsNotes version:

Seth is upset because Summer is about to travel to Italy with Zach… and also because it’s raining in Orange County.

Devoid of any real rain gear, Seth puts on a Spider-Man mask and goes to visit Summer. It goes poorly.

Seth is sad, very sad.

Seth leaves Summer an apologetic voice message moments before she’s set to take off for Italy. Summer, in an admittedly astronomical coincidence, sees a kid playing with a horse. So, naturally, she breaks up with Zach, who is oddly very chill with being dumped at the airport in front of his family.

Not yet a cord-cutter, Seth almost falls off the roof while trying to fix the satellite dish during a rain storm. Summer shows up to confess that she still loves him.

Seth: What are you doing here?
Summer: What do you think, Cohen?

Matt Pond PA’s version of “Champagne Supernova” reaches its crescendo as the two share an upside down kiss.

“Rainy Day Women” is the perfect, ridiculously cheesy coda to a truly iconic series. It’s not a traditional finale, especially for poor Ryan who’s left mending a broken heart after Lindsay hightails it to Chicago, but it’s the spiritual conclusion to the true-blue beating heart essence of the series.

It wasn’t the official finale of The O.C., but it was the end of an era.

Where to stream The O.C.