REACTION: Welcome to the OC, Bitches Episode 4

On “Welcome to the OC, Bitches” on Tuesday, the focus was on “The Debut.”

The fourth episode of the series revolves around cotillion. Over the course of the hour, the love triangle between Ryan (Ben McKenzie), Marissa (Mischa Barton), and Luke (Chris Carmack) heats up, Anna (Samaire Armstrong) is introduced, and Jimmy’s (Tate Donovan) money woes finally catch up to him. Notably, the installment was directed by Daniel Attias, who had previously helmed 20 episodes of “Beverly Hills, 90210.” (And, in pure coincidence, he was on the “Beverly Hills 90210 Show” podcast this week.)

I was particularly eager for this installment since there wasn’t a guest. How would Rachel Bilson (Summer) and Melinda Clarke (Julie) do just the two of them? Fortunately, not bad at all.

Welcome to the OC, Bitches Episode 4, “The Debut”

• They filmed this after Rachel’s first vaccination shot, so her arm was hurting. Melinda was in-between shots. Rachel: “Today’s fun because it’s just you and I.” Melinda: “We thought it’s time for us to kind of catch up. We’ve been talking about the show so much that you and I haven’t really had much time to catch up and tell everyone how this whole thing came about and what our lives were like after ‘The O.C.’ so I thought it’d be fun if we kind of interview each other.”

• Rachel noted how “it’s been a minute” since they spent regular time together and Melinda read aloud the email Rachel first sent her last year about co-hosting this podcast together. Melinda admitted she wasn’t sure if it was really Rachel emailing her. Rachel revealed she got Melinda’s email address from their makeup artist for the show. 

• Rachel said she used to have two numbers because she was given a free phone while on the show. Melinda: “We should explain something called swag... I always thought the acronym meant ‘shit which are given.’” She explained how you’re always “gifted things” when you’re on a big show. She said the cast was even offered car leases and Tate took it. Rachel recalled getting an Escalade for the weekend and getting pulled over because the police thought it was stolen. 

• Melinda said she remembers the end of the show really vividly. Her father had a stroke during the last week of shooting. She immediately wanted to start a new show and keep her career going. That led to a pilot with LL Cool J called “The Man” that wasn’t picked up. Melinda confirmed he was indeed “cool.” She next did a Lifetime movie that Kelly produced and then during the writer’s strike, she used the time to vacation and do whitewater rafting trips. Rachel said she’s always wanted to do a trip like that and wants to do it for her upcoming 40th birthday. Melinda gave her a recommendation. The time away from Hollywood helped Melinda realize “red carpets and InStyle magazine are not what’s important right now.”

• Rachel said the end of the show was “interesting” for her both personally and professionally because she was filming Jumper (though she didn’t name it at first) at the same time and starting a new relationship (with Hayden, though she didn’t name him). Rachel: “It’s like now I’m really reflecting on it all… It was just a cool time.” She thinks it would’ve been hard emotionally to move on from the show if she didn’t go right into other things. Rachel said the underwater scene for Jumper was “the most terrifying thing” she’s ever done. Melinda: “Yet you want to go whitewater rafting.”

• After a break, Rachel said she didn’t know until looking at Melinda’s IMDb “other iconic things” she did, like “Seinfeld.” Melinda said she and Jerry Seinfeld had a “major flirtation.” She recalled the filming experience, which prompted Rachel to amusingly declare Larry David as the “love of my life” and her “celebrity crush.” She further called him her “dream man.” Melinda astutely wondered if she sees similar qualities in him as in Adam. Rachel said it was the “same wheelhouse” with their sense of humor. She went on to say there’s a definite “theme” to her romantic partners, though sometime she’s “strayed.” Melinda: “I noticed that a little bit.”

• Melinda brought up Rachel’s “entrepreneurial passion” and wanted details on that. Rachel explained how she went on to work with Nicole Chavez, who was a costumer on “The O.C.,” on a shoe line. Rachel said she likes the “creative part” versus the business side of those kinds of enterprises. Melinda: “You could be your own Goop version.” They discussed how actors aren’t just actors these days, with this podcast itself being an example. With these kinds of projects, Rachel likes being able to wear sweats. Melinda likes not commuting.

• Melinda: “Let’s talk dogs on set.” Rachel called it a very “dog-friendly set.” They discussed Mischa’s dog and then Rachel explained how Adam rescued a dog named Penny for her birthday. A year later she adopted another named Thurman who was “the biggest asshole of all time.” Rachel said the dogs were always with them on set. Melinda recalled getting a pug named Molly and recounted Penny and Molly fighting once. Melinda: “They don’t call them ‘bitches’ for nothing!” Sadly, Melinda revealed she had to give her two dogs to another family when she had to move to Canada for “Nikita.” Now she has a dog named Lucy. Melinda went on to reveal Ben asked if there could be less dogs in the makeup trailer in the mornings so it could be quieter. That said, “it came from the top,” Melinda said, with the producers first bringing dogs to set. Melinda said they also had a lot of set visitors in the beginning, but by the end of the show, there were a lot of stricter rules about it.

• They switched gears to talk about the specific episode around 25 minutes in. Summer called it their “very own version of ‘Bridgerton’” with the debutantes being presented as “young, eligible ladies.” Melinda gave the episode synopsis and said that she just spoke with Norman Buckley, the episode’s editor, who said Stephanie wanted this hour to be like a “Douglas Sirk movie.” Sirk directed melodramas in the 1950s. Melinda saw the episode as a “demonstration” of how different Ryan’s life was before he came to Newport. She went on to highlight the three love triangles of the episode. Rachel said Anna “comes in hot” and Melinda called her “refreshing.”

• Rachel said the episode’s start is “sweet” with Ryan being welcomed into the Cohen family. Melinda said he’s going to learn that everyone in Newport has secrets and problems and “it’s the beginning of the end of this very, very sad story of Marissa.” Rachel: “Aw, that just made me sad.” Melinda called Ryan Marissa’s “white knight.” Rachel said to “bear with me” as she “jump[s] around” to different parts of the episode, but I felt she mostly stayed with the linear format. She also said you just “feel” the moments with Ryan and Marissa in the episode. Agreed!

• They went on to talk about the dancing and Rachel suggested Adam is rhythmic and may have a “secret dance life that’ll come to light.” They discussed how older generations learned how to dance while growing up. Rachel revealed Dirty Dancing was her “favorite movie of all time” as a kid and she liked to practice the lift with her brother. They laughed over Kirsten saying “underpants” and Seth telling her not to. They wondered if Josh himself had to go to cotillion. Melinda saw chemistry between Summer and Ryan at one point in the episode and asked Rachel if she “could ever imagine” their characters together. Rachel pointed out what I was going to point out: that Josh has said he could’ve gone down that route in hindsight.

• Rachel: “Summer was in a bra yet again. Why am I always topless?... Why do I not have clothing?” Melinda said Marissa “blocked” the Ryan-Summer pairing at cotillion by putting him with Anna. Rachel: “By the way, I hate Summer — hate her in this episode. That’s my note on my notepad. It just says, ‘I hate Summer.’” Rachel brought up one of my favorite moments: when Ryan puts his hand on Marissa’s back as they practice dancing. Melinda cracked that Ryan “looked like he was about to pop” from his attraction to her.

• Melinda liked Seth’s suit. Rachel called it “geek chic.” Melinda said it was “the beginning of the end for Jimmy.” Rachel noted that Shailene is in the episode. Melinda: “She’s sharp that little one. That Kaitlin, that little Julie.” Melinda liked one of Kirsten’s tops, saying both the character and Kelly herself are always “elegant.” They discussed Ryan helping Marissa with her dress, with Rachel calling it a “palpable moment” and Melinda noting how it’s an interaction seen in a lot of shows / movies. She further said it was “one of those firsts every boy has” to help a girl with her dress like that and feel that “carnal desire.” Rachel said she was “feeling” Ryan and Marissa and quipped that Marissa knew “what she was doing.”

• They both liked Julie’s “quickie” line and Rachel observed that Melinda was wearing the outfit that she wore in a lot of promo photos. Rewatching Julie talking about test-driving a car jogged a memory for Melinda about them all getting new cars during the show. Rachel joked she got a Volvo because she’s a “granny at heart” and that Adam got a “grandpa car.” Rachel recalled driving all of the young cast in her car to Halloween Horror Nights and thought there were pictures of it — sure enough, a photo popped up on screen of Rachel and Adam at the theme park event. What great producers they must have for this podcast.

• After another break, Melinda noted that Rachel’s real-life friend group blended with Adam’s real-life friend group and wanted the deets. Rachel explained that Bret Harrison (Danny) was Adam’s best friend and roommate and Bret became really close with Josh and there was this “crazy mish-mash” of friends “and a lot of those relationships are still really strong today.” Melinda joked that she would feel “part of the cool group” when they invited her out. Rachel: “You are the cool group, Mindy!”

• Rachel felt badly for Seth when he found out Holly had an annual party that he wasn’t invited to. But she liked Adam’s improvised line about a “barbecutionist” and said it was so liked that it became “used many times.” Rachel texted Josh during the podcast for confirmation and Melinda was impressed by how quickly Josh responded, but Rachel cracked that he gets “overloaded” when she asks him too many things. Rachel thought Marissa looked “so pretty” at the party and Melinda said it was her “favorite dress.” Melinda pointed out that Rachel was in a bathing suit again. Rachel hilariously read one of her other notes: “Brody dimple?” She realized or re-realized during the episode that Adam has a dimple. Both of them held up their handwritten notes for the camera. Nice to see such effort and dedication!

• Melinda brought up the process of getting ready for events like cotillion, specifically how Julie looked in the episode. She revealed that the cast usually had an hour and a half to get ready for shooting and that it “takes a village” to make them camera-ready. As a result, she doesn’t care to spend time on hair and makeup at home. Melinda: “I’m way too lazy to ever have looked like Julie Cooper because you have to get up at 5 a.m. to do it.” Rachel recalled Mischa once taking a shower midday and the hair / makeup team being horrified that they would have to redo everything. Melinda stressed the importance of working as a “team” and staying on schedule because the timing is all tracked in a production report that notes every time something happens late and why.

• Melinda recalled working on an Aaron Spelling show and being told they had 45 minutes to “make it work” in terms of getting ready and said they would never be able to do that on “The O.C.” She might’ve been referring to a short-lived series called “Heaven Help Us,” which, along with Aaron, was also executive-produced by fellow “Beverly Hills, 90210” executive producer E. Duke Vincent. She said Aaron also had a rule that you could only have one hairstyle “so the audience always recognized you.” She called it a “great lesson” and said on “Nikita” she started doing one hairstyle an episode to avoid having to change it. Rachel said she also likes going the “low maintenance” route and then cracked, “This episode was not low maintenance when it came to hair and makeup.”

• Rachel said she loved “the Seth-Anna dynamic” in the episode and said Anna was the “clear choice” for Seth here. Melinda called her “the female Seth” and Rachel agreed that was the intention. Rachel: “I’m rooting for Anna — because I hate Summer.” She did concede, though, that “Summer evolves.” But then she did amusingly go on to call Summer an “asshole.” They both liked Marissa and Jimmy’s “sweet” moment before “everything goes to hell” for Jimmy. Melinda liked the “melodrama” and felt it was an “old Hollywood moment.” She also made an insightful comment about Ryan finally being on solid ground with his domestic situation, but he falls for a girl who “has the weight of the world on her shoulders” and wants to “protect her.” Rachel: “And also Ryan’s jacket literally on her shoulders.” Melinda said she felt for Luke too, even though he’s “duplicitous.” Rachel: “There’s big feelings. There’s big feelings in this episode.”

• Rachel brought up Anna’s iconic “confidence, Cohen” line and said it “transcends” the episode, so much so that she herself still says it to Josh. They praised Samaire as “refreshing” and “original” and thought she brought her personal style to the character. Melinda then said the secret is “bringing yourself to the character.” Rachel cracked that Summer, at this point, is not her. There was then another funny moment with Rachel bringing up Melinda playing a dominatrix on “CSI,” prompting her to quip, “I had to do some research for that one.” Melinda said that while she’s not Julie, she sees her humor in it and noted how “looser and freer” they got with the characters as the writers started writing to their personalities more.

• At 60 minutes in, they moved on to their trivia segment, this time with them facing off and an unseen voice — presumably their producer Diana that they mentioned we’d hear from time to time in the premiere — asking the questions. The first was to Melinda about where Anna came to town from. She correctly answered Pittsburgh. I laughed when Rachel then exclaimed, “Ew! Sorry, that’s what Summer says. I do not find Pittsburgh ‘ew.’” Rachel was asked what movie featured “California” at the end of it. She wrongly answered Rushmore and then Melinda rightly answered Orange County. Rachel’s mind was blown. Melinda was then asked what was the joke when Seth compared someone vomiting to like that girl in The Sixth Sense. She rightly said that Mischa played the vomiting girl in that movie. Rachel: “Did you get these questions before?” That made me laugh too.

• Rachel was next asked what show Ben starred in from 2009 to 2013. She rightly answered “Southland.” Rachel: “Finally! Jeez!” (Sidenote: “Southland” also starred Michael Cudlitz of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” who was my very first interview for the original TDW.) Next Melinda was asked what Broadway show Peter said in last week’s podcast he starred in that was the closest thing to success he had experienced before “The O.C.” She exclaimed that he had starred in “like 2,000” and then named some of them. The actual answer, which Rachel didn’t know either, was The Real Thing. Funnily enough, the next question for Rachel was what was the profession of Melinda’s character on “CSI” and they had coincidentally already mentioned that earlier in the podcast. Melinda said a lot of people don’t realize she played both that character and Julie. She then quipped, “One is like me, one is not, or neither.”

• Melinda was asked what high school Rachel went to, which she said was “easy” and got right because it’s the same high school where her daughter went. Rachel was then asked what the name is of Summer’s character in Atomic County. She rightly answered Little Miss Vixen, though she wasn’t confident in saying that. She also didn’t remember that Seth and Zach developed it together or that George Lucas actually appeared on the show. Rachel: “There’s a lot of full circles here. We’ll get into it later.” Melinda seemed intrigued. So am I.

• Then Melinda was asked what number Julie ranked in the TV special “50 Most Wicked Women of Primetime.” Melinda hosted it and wondered if she was ranked number two because of that. She was wrong and Rachel’s “random guess” of seven was correct. Rachel: “That’s just what came into my mind. I’m also psychic.” Rachel was asked the name of the episode where Seth and Summer first kiss. Melinda gave her a clue, which helped Rachel rightly remember it’s “The Girlfriend.” That actually allowed Rachel to take the lead, 5-4. Melinda was then asked for the name of the episode where Marissa and Ryan have their first kiss. She knew it took place at the carnival but couldn’t remember the name. Rachel couldn’t either. It was “The Heights.” 

• Diana then read an episode description from the DVD set and Melinda had to say the name of the episode. Rachel: “Names of episodes are so hard!” Melinda got it right away, though — “The Secret.” Then Rachel sorta got it right away when she was asked the name of the high school — Harbor — but she and Melinda were both stumped when asked for the full name, which was The Harbor School. Melinda was next asked the name of Caleb’s development that would destroy the wetlands and correctly answered Balboa Heights, though she wasn’t sure. Rachel was then asked what drink Ryan and Dawn both ordered within the first three episodes. She answered correctly — 7 and 7. 

• This one made me laugh: Melinda was asked which name did Summer never call Marissa — Coop, Cooperscooper or Coop du jour? She went with Cooperscooper but it was Coop du jour. Rachel said that “triggered” a memory and she thought she came up with “Cooperscooper.” Rachel was asked who played “Kaitlin part two” and she rightly said Willa Holland, bringing her lead to 8-6. Melinda was asked what camp Seth went to. She and Rachel called it a “hard” one. Rachel joked that she was going to text Josh. The answer was Camp Tuckahoe. The last question went to Rachel, asking which character said, “Do not insult Journey, alright?” Ryan, duh. And Rachel got it. She was hilariously shocked to see she beat Melinda 9-6 and exclaimed “Oh my god! Some of these are just miracles. Miracles, I tell you! That is a very surprising upset considering I remember nothing.” She credited Melinda for helping her with one of the questions.

• The fan voicemails followed, with the first one asking whether Tate was really tackled in the episode or if a stunt double was used. Rachel suspected it was a stunt double, saying, “They don’t let you do anything as actors. They really like to protect you.” Melinda agreed, saying, “They can’t risk losing or sending an actor to the emergency room.” The second person wanted to know how Rachel and Melinda felt about the line in the episode where Luke says, “I’d be upset, but Chino is gay… he was born that way.” Rachel: “That’s a very, very interesting question and we could go a lot of places with it.” They both seemed to be contemplating it seriously. Melinda said she always found it “interesting” (and I think she meant in a bewildering way) that people use “gay” as an insult. She noted that we later see Luke’s heart and said he’s “struggling to become a young man and finding his way. It’s showing his insecurities and a weakness ultimately.” I’m not sure they realized the caller wanted to know (or at least I interpreted it this way) about the “born that way” part of it.

• The next person wanted to know if either of them ever ad-libbed and went completely off script. Rachel again said how she came up with Cooperscooper but added, “I could be proven wrong.” She said Adam being a “big improviser” gave her “room to do the same.” Melinda said she was taught to know the dialogue “verbatim” but would perhaps “button the scene” with something. She also liked doing “expressions or moves — you know, the acting part.”

• As they wrapped up, Melinda asked Rachel for the biggest lesson she’s learned about “life in general” from back then to now. Rachel said how it feels like “a lifetime ago” and she was “so young” and that she cared too much for too long about what other people thought. She then noted how it was her first job and she was taught to be very professional and how her dad, who is in the business, always told her, “Do your job and do it well.” She said that’s what she’s “stuck to,” from hanging up her clothes in her dressing room at the end of the day to always being on time for hair and makeup to never making the makeup artists stay late to take off her makeup after filming wraps. She added that’s also just being a “considerate person,” a characteristic she attributed to her mom.

• For her part, Melinda observed that the show was not only popular in the demo, but also in the industry itself, and she learned to “really enjoy the moment” and not always be thinking about what’s next. She also learned not to take yourself so seriously and to have gratitude. Melinda: “So I’m grateful to be doing this with you, right here, right now.”

I wasn’t able to dive into this until tonight, but one benefit of being (really, really) behind schedule was getting to enjoy the full video version of this week’s podcast instead of having to start with the audio version and then switch over. It’s really delightful just sitting back and watching Rachel and Melinda chat about one of my favorite shows, although, of course, it’s not really “just sitting back and watching” since I’m furious note-taker. I’m trying to work on taking a little less notes, to be honest, but I wasn’t as successful this time as I intended.

So you can argue Rachel and Melinda pulled a “9021OMG” by not getting to the episode discussion until after a significant amount of time. But whereas with Jennie and Tori those delays can feel like wasted time about bullshit, I think it made sense in this context. This was the first podcast with just Rachel and Melinda, so it felt logical for them to hit on various show-related topics and their careers a little — things they hadn’t really discussed prior — before the deep dive into the episode. They still went beat by beat through the ep and didn’t give it the short shrift.

It will be interesting to see going forward how they handle other installments when it’s just the two of them in terms of the opening format. But I thought it worked well with just them. I really liked just having two voices in the conversation versus three. And it was clear they had both done their research and had perceptive comments to share about the episode. Their dynamic just works and their respect for all facets of the show — from the casting to the wardrobes to the editing to the music — really comes through. Also, seeing them face-off in trivia was fun. (Don’t forget — Teen Drama Trivia for premium TDW subscribers is taking place tomorrow night! It’s not too late to join!)

Of course, the references to Mischa were particularly intriguing in light of this new E! Online interview with her. I don’t think it’s coincidence that Mischa decided now to do an interview about her time on “The O.C.” and leaving the show. Yet the writer wrote:

“So, on a whim, I reached out to Barton, not really knowing if she would want to talk about her time on The O.C. And I was admittedly surprised when she not only agreed, but opened up in such an honest and vulnerable way while on a lunch break.”

I have no reason to distrust this journalist, but I am deeply cynical by nature. I find it hard to believe that Mischa just happened to agree to talk about this only after someone first “reached out to her” coincidentally at the same time Rachel and Melinda are getting a ton of media coverage for their rewatch podcast. (Seriously — just check out all the articles I’ve been including in “Teen Drama Links” for the last few weeks.) Mischa, like many stars, waffles between wanting privacy and wanting attention. And not only did this interview coincide with the press tour for the podcast, but it also overlapped with her former “The Hills: New Beginnings” cast mates doing their own press for that show’s new season and discussing quite negatively her participation in the last season and her departure.

None of this is to say Mischa was wrong to share what she did or that she was dishonest with anything she said in the interview. There have been somewhat conflicting things for years regarding her exit from the show, with Josh saying one thing and her saying another and at times they themselves haven’t been consistent. None of us was there, of course, so none of us can truly comment on the veracity of her “bullying from some of the men on set” and “there were people on that set that were very mean to me” claims, but there have been past indications that things went down to some extent.

In a 2013 interview with Vulture, Tate claimed “the kids on the show had developed a really bad attitude” and called them “very tough to work with” and “very difficult.” Melinda, I believe it was, indicated in a recent interview that when Tate is on the podcast (which they’ve already recorded), he addresses his past remarks. More recently, Peter told Metro about his younger co-stars, “We had a few discussions about how one should behave.” Was any of this bullying? Is any of this what Mischa was referring to? I don’t know — I wasn’t there.

At the end of the day, Mischa was really young and several years younger than the rest of the “young” cast mates. While I’m sure some of her co-stars have different perspectives on what did and didn’t go down, and perhaps could even refute some of the things she said, the reality is everyone has their own point of view and their own perception of what reality was during the filming of the show and in hindsight.

But I think it’ll be really interesting if Mischa eventually comes on the podcast — Rachel and Melinda have said it’s their goal to every cast member on by the end of the series — and it’ll also be really telling if she doesn’t. For now, though, Rachel and Melinda don’t need her. She may have stolen the podcast’s thunder this week, intentionally or not, but the podcast will go on… just like “The O.C.” did.

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