REACTION: Welcome to the OC, Bitches Episode 12

Tuesday’s “Welcome to the OC, Bitches” was all about “The Secret.”

In the 12th episode of “The O.C.,” Ryan (Ben McKenzie) and Luke (Chris Carmack) are paired up on a school project. While working on it, they accidentally see Luke’s dad Carson (Brian McNamara) kissing another man. The rest of the episode deals with the fallout, along with some focus on Jimmy’s (Tate Donovan) legal problems and the Summer (Rachel Bilson) - Seth (Adam Brody) - Anna (Samaire Armstrong) love triangle.

“The O.C.” creator Josh Schwartz and co-executive producer Allan Heinberg wrote the episode and James Marshall directed it, the first of two he did this season. Now to discuss it, Rachel and Melinda Clarke (Julie) welcomed Chris onto the podcast — the fourth series regular to join them.

Welcome to the OC, Bitches Episode 12, “The Secret with Chris Carmack”

• Melinda said she’s been having dreams about the show, which made me laugh. One of her dreams involved Chris, whom she then introduced. They then all gushed about one another. Rachel noted their “Nashville” connection and Melinda brought up his start in theater. 

  • I’ve had more dreams about “Beverly Hills, 90210” (and Luke Perry) than I can count. Sometimes other shows (and other actors and singers), but not nearly as often.

• Chris made an amusing comment about how he had to pretend to be a jock for the show and had never heard of water polo. They discussed his work with Abercrombie. Rachel: “Everyone wants a billboard of you to drive by.” And then they discussed how he went to Los Angeles to do a play, leaving NYU, which led to auditions. Melinda called him a “true thespian.” She brought up his music career and Chris revealed he would “jam” with Kyle Drevlo, one of the show’s grips, in Jimmy’s apartment — leading to the band name “Jimmy’s Apartment,” lol — and Peter even joined in once. He and Kyle continued to make music together later on.

• Melinda made the observation that this episode shows more of the “real” Chris and that led her to ask about “Nashville,” since it combined his passions — music and acting. Chris called it a “dream job.” Talking about how the “Nashville” cast went on tour, he quipped that “The O.C.” cast should do so too. Chris met his wife while living in Nashville and went on to discuss their band, Life on Eris, which I’ve mentioned in various TDW posts.

  • Related: Teen Drama Stars Who Also Singers

• After a break, Chris revealed he watched the “majority of the first season” of “The O.C.” a few years ago when his wife started binging it as she had never watched before. Chris: “It’s a trip. We was babies!” Rachel: “Just dripping with after-birth. Sorry. Disgusting.” The show was Chris’ first “big job.” He spent hours preparing for the audition, going deep into character analysis. But he “had to do the work twice” because he first auditioned for Ryan and was then brought back for Luke.

• Melinda noted Luke had the iconic “Welcome to the O.C., bitch” line and asked Chris if it’s followed him around. Chris: “I feel someone’s going to write on my epitaph, ‘Welcome to heaven, bitch!’” That was really funny. He then amusingly recalled a fan encounter involving the line years later and said that when he joined “Nashville,” everyone told him, “Welcome to Nashville, bitch.” And on “Grey’s Anatomy,” he was told, “Welcome to the OR, bitch.”

• Quite humbly, Chris said he can’t “take credit” for the line because he didn’t write it. Some other TD stars would do well to remember that with some of their iconic lines...

• At just over 30 minutes, Rachel introduced the specific episode and gave the synopsis, saying “there’s a whole lot going on.” She gave the writers and director and then amusingly second-guessed herself on the episode title.

• In advance, Melinda had Rachel ask Josh if The Dandy Warhols song was written in the script because Adam seemed to be dancing to it so well, but editor Norman Buckley actually added it.

  • No one mentioned “We Used to be Friends” being the “Veronica Mars” theme song.

• They liked that Ryan and Sandy were “the funny ones” early in the episode. They all wondered if “yogalates” is a real thing. Rachel amusingly said she meant to look up The Spanish Inquisition because she thought it was chosen on purpose as the history project topic, like there would be some kind of parallel to it, but none of them were sure. Melinda pointed out the reference to Stephanie Savage in the classroom scene, which Rachel and Chris had missed.

• Melinda said the school bathroom scene was always stuck in her head as a “famous scene” because of the flossing. She cracked that she thought the show made women floss more as a result. Chris had funny comments about it too, and when he asked “waxed or unwaxed,” Rachel responded, “That could take on a few meanings there!” He told her to “keep it clean,” ha. It led to quite the tangent.

• After another break, they discussed Summer and Anna’s unexpected bathroom bonding and Seth’s reaction to them becoming friendly. Rachel: “Seth is shitting his pants, which is also fun to watch.” They didn’t draw a parallel, but they then briefly discussed Kirsten and Julie’s friendship in this episode as well.

• Chris liked the way Luke’s home world was introduced with “alpha male” chaos. Melinda noted how Luke’s brothers play a role later on with Kaitlin, which Rachel clearly had no recollection of. I appreciated Melinda giving the name of the actors who played Luke’s parents — Brian McNamara and Kate Rodger — instead of not acknowledging their contributions. Melinda also praised Brian as a “lovely man.” And then I really enjoyed Chris admitting he tried to analyze his acting choices as he rewatched the episode and tried to get back into the mindset of what he might’ve been thinking at the time.

• Melinda observed the details in Luke’s bedroom, including a guitar, and wondered if Josh was already aware of Chris’ musical interests. Chris: “I think I had annoyed everybody on set with my guitar by that time.” He pointed out, as others have, how Josh wrote real aspects of the actors into their characters. Melinda: “You show this vulnerability and it’s surprising to see this other side of Luke.”

• Melinda called it a “very deep episode” with a lot of “emotion” that sets up Luke as an “outsider” but brings on funny things and other sides of him in the future. Luke: “I get to do more than just scowling and punching.” Rachel asked if Melinda if she wanted to move on to a Julie scene, but Melinda wanted to keep it focused on Luke: “We have plenty of Julie to talk about in the future.”

  • That moment said a lot about Melinda and how she shares the spotlight. It was really mature and serving the guest versus serving herself.

  • It was also in that moment that I realized we’re watching Melinda and Chris interact and their characters hooked up onscreen, making this only the second time the podcast has had both sides of a couple present (following Tate’s appearance back in May).

• Chris then quipped that he likes talking about Julie too and that “Welcome to the O.C., bitch” isn’t the “only thing” he hears about “all the time.” Melinda told Chris he’d have to come back when they get to their storyline.

• Rachel said the scene of Luke seeing his dad kissing another man made her think of how “challenging” it would be for a teen to witness that. She praised Chris’ acting and asked what it was like for him. He called it a “complex moment” and likened it to “going through a wormhole” because your thoughts of your family, your expectations, and your reality are completely “twisted and warped” by what you just saw. Chris: “My whole world’s gonna fall apart. That’s what that moment is.” He even said, rewatching it, he wished Luke didn’t set off the car alarm and then perhaps he could’ve “process[ed] it before it blew up.”

• Melinda observed how what followed showed the “damage” of gossip and that it’s not unique to Newport — it happens in “small town America” too. They debated whether Ryan should’ve told Marissa and if he should’ve done so as quickly as he did. I’m torn on that!

• Rachel started jumping around to different plots and mentioning them briefly, saying, “We know all the details in between.” And we do, or most of us do, but I don’t think that really makes for a great listening / watching experience.

• Melinda brought up Jimmy telling Sandy he tried to kiss Kirsten and Chris’ reaction was priceless. Melinda liked how Peter played his reaction and what followed with Kirsten: “When they have their scenes together, Kelly and Peter do so well.”

• Rachel then jumped to the baseball field scene and the guys who taunted Luke and Ryan. Rachel: “By the way, the dude looks like 35.” Chris: “You know what’s funny? He’s one of my best friends.” And he was serious! He and Rand Holdren were “best buddies” before the show, but Chris swore he had nothing to do with Rand getting the part and said Rand didn’t even want to talk so meanly to him.

• They expressed surprise over the f-word slur being used and Chris said he thought it was edited out of some airings. (I don’t remember if it was included in syndication, hm.) Chris: “I think it showed how much bigotry and hatred can come right up under the surface around certain things.” He acknowledged that Luke is “prone to anger” and doesn’t “deal with his feelings by talking.” Rachel liked that Luke and Ryan teamed up, which Chris called a “great moment of solidarity.” Melinda made a good point about the audience now being “invested” in Luke as a “comrade of Ryan.” Amusingly, Rachel pointed out how much worse Luke looked after the fight than Ryan did and Chris made some funny quips about it.

• Melinda quoted some of the “classic Sandy pep talk” Sandy gave Luke’s dad and liked the message the episode was sending. Chris said the show had “good messaging in a very palatable package” and that it felt “cutting edge” for the time. They agreed the storyline would’ve been done a bit differently today, but Chris said it was still “meaningful.”

• Melinda really liked the last scene, where Luke now has this “new path to go on” and is part of the “band of the outsider misfits,” which is followed by the “funny, goofy Luke.” Chris: “Luke really comes out of his shell after this… It’s also the beginning of Luke finding meaningful friendship… Luke’s finally found a gang that’s going to have his back for real. It’s a great turning point.” Chris did admit he laughed aloud — and did so again now — at the “Dawson’s Crack” joke, though.

• Melinda said she hoped in real life (not TV life), friends would support someone in Luke’s position and Chris said he thought his real-life friends would have. Melinda: “I think the message is life happens and it’s how we learn and move on and live in the moment, so yay for Luke. It brought so much new material and we have so much more to talk about in the future with Luke.” Chris: “It was a blast for me to play… It was a wild ride. There were a lot of different sides of Luke. We were unpacking Luke very quickly… We never got to fully explore Luke and see where he’d land, but he was trying out a lot of different personalities.” Melinda: “Like booty call.”

• Chris said the quiz questions would “go poorly” and asked for multiple choice or true / false. The first question: What channel does Luke put on the radio in the car? Chris guessed 106.1, which was close to the actual answer — 106.7. Second question: What kind of car are Ryan and Luke in at the dealership? Chris got it right, a red Mustang, and even gave the horsepower. Third question: What are Luke’s brothers names? Chris burst out laughing because he didn’t know. They were Brad and Eric.

• They talked about reuniting in person and Melinda announced that Peter is hosting, whether he knows it or not. Chris also wants to have a playdate with his daughter and Rachel’s. Chris: “And in case you want to use it at any point, here you go: ‘Welcome, to the O.C., bitch!’” Rachel: “You, my friend, are the shit.”

• Rachel and Melinda gushed about Chris after he left them. Then the first fan voicemail asked them what a day on set was like, from start to finish. Rachel said they had 90 minutes for hair and makeup and getting dressed before shooting. Melinda said that due to traffic, she would always have to figure out how extra-early she’d have to leave her home. And then the day would be “minimum 12 hours” or a “minimum 17-hour day, sometimes more,” but they would try to keep it around 13 hours. They’d get ready, rehearse, shoot, “relax” or work on dialogue when it wasn’t their scene, etc.

• The next voicemail, which might’ve been the same person, asked what was the “most obscure news article” they read about themselves while the show was on. Great question. Rachel: “Gosh, that was so long ago. I’m sure I was probably pregnant a couple times or something like that. That’s usually a go-to.”

  • Ugh, don’t I know it. Don’t get me started on the tabloids.

• Melinda didn’t have anything “obscure,” but said IMDb would “get things wrong.” She also asked fans to tell them of any weird articles they saw. Rachel thanked listeners for the questions and said they would continue to answer them and “hopefully know more stuff about ourselves [from] 18 years ago.”

I’ll be honest: I was never a fan of Chris’ acting on “The O.C.” or on “Nashville.” (I don’t watch “Grey’s Anatomy.”) But he was absolutely delightful to listen to and watch here. Charming, funny, humble, serious when called for — can’t ask for much more than that.

I really can’t say enough about how much depth Chris brought to the discussion. Rachel and especially Melinda are insightful every week, but this one was even more elevated and the main storyline warranted it. The mix of humor and smart analysis possibly made this one of the best installments yet and made Chris perhaps my favorite guest to date, even if they didn’t go nearly as deep with the episode’s other storylines as they did Luke’s.

Kudos to this trio and here’s hoping Chris comes back on the podcast later this season.

Reminder: TeenDramaWhore premium subscriptions include perks like exclusive content, fan interviews, trivia parties, and Zoom chats with the genre’s key players. Subscribe here!