REACTION: Welcome to the OC, Bitches Episode 8

Tuesday’s “Welcome to the OC, Bitches” covered “The Rescue.”

“The Rescue” is the eighth episode of “The O.C.” and it aired after the show went on hiatus for the MLB postseason. The prior installment ended with a pretty huge cliffhanger: Marissa’s (Mischa Barton) overdose. Now after a month and a half, viewers found out she survived… but mother Julie (Melinda Clarke) wants to take her away from Newport for treatment. That sets off the episode’s titular “rescue,” with Ryan (Ben McKenzie), Seth (Adam Brody), and Summer (Rachel Bilson) trying to sneak Marissa out of the hospital and away from her mom.

Meanwhile, Sandy (Peter Gallagher) begins his job at a private law firm alongside Rachel (Bonnie Sommerville) and Kirsten (Kelly Rowan) advocates for Ryan to be admitted to Harbor. The script was a collaboration between co-executive producers Allan Heinberg and Melissa Rosenberg and it was helmed by Michael Lange. Lange directed 13 episodes of the series (second to only Ian Toynton, who directed 23), which we discussed in our 2010 interview for the original TDW. Of directing this specific episode, he told me:

“There were a lot of eyes on that one. A lot of people on the set. It was a big episode for them, as you said, because it was effectively a premiere. And also there was [a] pretty big cliff-hanger with Marissa in Mexico. So in my episode, she was in the hospital for pretty much the entire episode. The big pressure in that one is that in a premiere, everyone wants it to be pretty splashy and yet I was sort of saddled with having Mischa Barton in the hospital in one room for most of the episode. It was a collaborative effort but you have to sort of figure out ways to keep it interesting visually so it doesn’t feel like she’s in the room the whole time. That was sort of the big pressure and challenge of that episode.”

So I was delighted to see that Lange, with whom I had the pleasure of appearing on the “Beverly Hills 90210 Show” podcast last July, was Rachel and Melinda’s guest today.

Welcome to the OC, Bitches Episode 8, “The Rescue with Michael Lange + Live Fan Calls”

• I’ll be honest: I didn’t like this episode much when it aired. Something about it felt anticlimactic after the last installment’s big cliffhanger and waiting so long to see what would happen. Maybe I was just disappointed that it didn’t focus on Ryan and Marissa’s blossoming romance. I haven’t seen it in years, though, and I wonder what my opinion would be today, especially if I rewatched it after listening to today’s podcast… which, as usual, didn’t disappoint.

• Each week I am just blown away by how they don’t just discuss what happened, but why it happened. They really delve into the characterization, especially here as it relates to how Julie handled the aftermath of Marissa’s overdose. I also love how they discuss their acting choices in certain scenes and, especially in this episode, some of the directing choices, since Michael was with them.

• Michael may be a director for a visual medium, but he’s also a great verbal storyteller. Since he’s mentioned “The O.C.” a few times on the “Beverly Hills 90210 Show” podcast, I wondered if he’d mention “Beverly Hills, 90210” on here. He didn’t, which was a bit disappointing, because “The O.C.” owes so much to “Beverly Hills, 90210” and Michael is one of the few people that can knowledgeably comment on both. As for the things he did say, I really appreciated him bringing up how much he noticed the lack of diversity in the episode / series when he rewatched this installment. That isn’t something they’ve really addressed on the podcast before, though they really didn’t get into it here besides Michael referencing it. Kudos to him for bringing it up.

• I was really impressed when Michael revealed he rewatched the episode twice in preparation for the podcast. That’s a good guest! I loved Rachel revealing she gave him the “Uncle Mike” nickname and how they still call him that. They amusingly discussed a season 4 scene between Ryan and Julie, one that actually happens to be one of my favorite scenes and is incredibly moving. After laughter about the challenge of crying on camera and in that scene specifically, Melinda had a really insightful comment about how perhaps the tears didn’t come in that moment because she was done grieving for what the show had lost with Marissa’s death.

• It didn’t occur to me before they said it that this was the episode in which Captain Oats was introduced. And it didn’t dawn on me until Pancakes was brought up that both “The O.C.” and “One Tree Hill” — which, remember, premiered within weeks of each other AND Lange directed for “OTH” too! — had bunny rabbits. (And I will never get over them naming one of Pancakes’ babies Flapjack. It still cracks me up.) Pancakes came up in response to a question on their favorite scene partner. It was a funny answer from Rachel.

• There were some cool things revealed, like that Michael plays the rabbi in the season 3 flashback to Seth’s bar mitzvah (I never knew that!) and that the incontinent hospital patient in this episode is named Tom Shales because the real-life TV critic by that name gave the show a bad review. If I had to give my own piece of criticism, it would be that this week and last week, they gave the short shrift to Sandy’s new job, with only passing references to it. Perhaps they’ll dive into it more as the Sandy-Rachel dynamic heats up.

• Something new this week was instead of having fan voicemails, they actually had two fans come on “live” to ask them questions. This was clearly an added-on segment as they were in different outfits. But it wasn’t just fans calling in on the phone to talk to them. No, they were actually on camera and we got to watch them just like we watch Rachel and Melinda. I thought it was really cool and the second fan was just so sweet. She runs an Instagram account dedicated to the show and it was obvious not just how much this opportunity meant to her, but how genuinely appreciative Melinda is of her account. I just loved that mutual affection and how sincere it came across.

• Among the great questions that fan asked was whether they’d be interested in doing a reunion like the “Friends” cast just did for HBO Max. That is a great idea and one I coincidentally suggested in yesterday’s premium essay on why I’m against spinoffs, reboots, and revivals. I appreciated Melinda saying that she’s starting to understand why some feel strongly about just leaving the show “as is” — and I’m one of them.

• The only other thing I wanted to note was that during one of the ads, which was for a Father’s Day gift, Rachel repeatedly referenced “Briar’s dad” and how he’s a good father and she’d get him a gift like this. It was really nice. Like, she didn’t have to go that way with the ad. And by not naming him, it didn’t seem exploitative. I hope their post-split relationship is as healthy as it seems.

This is the first time I told myself I wasn’t going to take notes and actually stuck to that (apart from jotting down some keywords so I would remember what I wanted to mention). I’m having one of my badder days health-wise, and I while I feel guilty not giving you all the detailed rundown that I normally do, if nothing else, this was a good practice run for how I plan to cover “Drama Queens” and the “Gossip Girl” spinoff.

Thanks for sticking with me and feel free to let me know what you think of this shorter format.

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