An Open Love Letter to The O.C.

Californiaaaaaaaaa, we cooooooooooome! You know, where I’m going with this…this theme song rivals Friends for the best singalong experience.

I’ve recently embarked on the Great O.C. Rewatch 2k16 and I’ve forgotten how much I love this show. I forgot about Christmukkah. I forgot about Oliver. I forgot about the one-woman trainwreck that is Julie Cooper Nichol Cooper. Oh, the glitz. Oh, the glamour. And, of course, oh, the drama.

I distinctly remember receiving the first season DVDs as a Valentine’s Day gift from the madre and subsequently binge watching the entire thing. The first episode that I watched live was “The Rainy Day Women,” which is still my favorite episode of the entire series. That Seth-Summer spiderman kiss, come on.

I’m currently in the middle of season two and I’m still lovin’ it. Admittedly, the third season with the Newport Union crew was kind of meh and some of the magic was definitely gone by season four. However, I still maintain that the show didn’t end after Marissa died (she was never my favorite). Plus, I’m totally #TeamTaylor.

Big thanks to Josh Schwartz for giving us Seth Cohen. I’ve missed your sarcastic, comic book-loving self. I was never a Ryan-girl. And I think a part of me died when Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson broke up in real life.

The music, guys. THE MUSIC. I am still the proud owner of two of the show’s compilation albums and The O.C. was responsible for introducing me to artists like Death Cab, Oasis, and Modest Mouse. The O.C. helped make alt-rock and emo music cool. Thanks for that. My earbuds are forever in your debt. The Bait Shop is also a more believable venue than One Tree Hill’s TRIC, because big-name artists frequently visit small-town North Carolina. And who can forget “mmm whatcha say” and the subsequent memes?

And, lastly, without The O.C. we would have never had Laguna Beach and without Laguna Beach we would never had “Ugh, Ste-phen. We are so dunzo.” Which, let’s face it, should be history books.

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