The Avengers (The O.C.)

"The Avengers (The O.C.)"

"The Avengers" is the 77th episode and the first episode of the fourth season of the FOX television series, The O.C..

Guest starring

Actor / actress	Character
Michael Nouri	Dr. Neil Roberts
Paula Trickey	Veronica Townsend
Chris Pratt	Che
Wayne Dalglish	Brad Ward
Corey Price	Eric Ward
Drew Fuller	Norland
Todd Bosley	Leon
Ben Diskin	Philip

Reception

"The Avengers" was the first ever US network drama to be streamed in Canada. It was also the first time ever US series to be premiered on broadband in advance of its television premiere. In less than 10 days, more than 120,000 streams of the episodes were ordered up by Canadians from coast to coast.

Plot

The premiere picks up five months after Marissa's death. Ryan is washing his hands in a small dirty room with his face cut and bruised. He gets a mysterious phone call just as Sandy arrives at a downtown pub to visit him. Ryan hears Sandy arrive but jumps out the window to visit the caller.

Julie Cooper is also headed somewhere. After taking some pills, she leaves despite Kaitlin reminding her that she's no longer allowed to drive at night. Ryan arrives at hotel room and the door is answered by none other than Julie herself.

36 hours earlier, and Seth is filling Summer in on what's been happening lately, but Summer's not answering her phone. Instead, she's rallying against cruelty to chickens at Brown.

Kirsten visits Seth at his comic book store with a care package and dinner invitation for Ryan. Seth doubts that Ryan will show up but will ask anyway.

Meanwhile, Dr. Roberts confronts Julie about why she's blocking him out and Summer's protesting is interrupted by a call from Taylor, who claims to be in Paris.

Kaitlin busts Dr. Roberts with another woman and that night, Ryan opts for a cage wrestling match instead of dinner at the Cohens'. After some calls from Seth, Summer shows up in Newport with a plan to bring Ryan back from the dark side.

Kirsten visits Julie who blows her off after receiving a mysterious phone call of her own. She then rings up Ryan asking her to meet him at the hotel room. Turns out she has information - Volchok's whereabouts. Ryan declines, claiming he doesn't care. Afterwards he goes back to his room and pulls out a box from under his bed containing photographs and memoirs of Marissa. Then he takes the box outside to the dumpster and throws its contents away.

After discovering that Taylor is still in Orange County, Summer invites Ryan to the comic book store where Seth presents him with a comic book showing how much better their lives are after he showed up.

In a moment of weakness, Summer 'sees' a phantom Marissa but blinks it away before shutting the door to the room she 'saw' her in. Summer decides she's not really over the death of her best friend and can't stay in Newport, while Ryan decides he still cares and moves back home with the Cohens. Ryan also decides to take information on Volchok, and realizes he wants revenge.

Music

• "Running Up that Hill" by Placebo
• "A Bad Dream" by Keane
• "Save Me" by Jude
• "Song For Sunshine" by Belle & Sebastian
• "Mr. Blue" by Catherine Feeny
• "Bootleg Saint" by Sam Roberts

Trivia

• The Model Home CD that Marissa made for Ryan in "The Model Home" was lost in the fire. Marissa made another one for Ryan in "The Journey" for his birthday, but didn't give it to him on screen. But in this episode, Ryan throws out the CD.
• Marissa's name is only said once in the whole episode, by Seth, when he mentions that Ryan did not go to her funeral.
• Luke Ward appears only in a cartoon drawing of Seth's when Ryan, Seth, Summer, Sandy and Kirsten are at the comic book shop watching the slide show.
• This was the first episode to feature Autumn Reeser and Willa Holland as part of the main cast.

External links

• Full Cast & Crew at the Internet Movie Database
• Recap from the official website
• Recap from Television Without Pity
• Video Clip Of The OC, Season 04, Episode 01