Some Random Thoughts on The OC

(Author's note: if this is too low-brow or the dreaded "cutesy", don't worry, some 10th anniversery Infinite Jest posts are coming down the pipe).

Is it as good as it was?
No

But...the "Bizarro Public School OC" thing hasn't fizzled like I thought it was. The potential Oliver of the season, Dean Hess, lasted only a few episodes. So we're doing pretty good...but continuity is crushing things.
1. As good as things were last season, folks got written out of the show (which is understandable) and then forgotten. Caleb dies, and no one even mentioned his bastard daughter? That's dropping the ball. Sure, some folks (i.e. me) would have liked seeing her sort of looks like Lindsay Lohan return to the show.
2. Wasn't Caitlin 10 or 11 (correction, the show just said, 11) when she left? There are two disturbing things going on here. A. Are we supposed to believe there are 13 year olds that look like the chick playing Caitlin now? or B. should we assume her boarding school was in outer space and somehow all those astrophysicists's theories on space travel at lightspeed keeping you from aging were bass-akwards and she aged a couple of extra years?

It is a bid odd, also, that the actress playing her has almost the same smokey voice and odd accent as Micha Barton.

What needs to happen to get the show on track?
1. A couple more meta-moments. Soap-y shows have meladramatic moments where you can predict what happens. The subtle acknowledgment of this can be cool. Do it.
2. Bring back some old favorites. This means folks like cute bisexual Alex and quirky, sorta sounds like Marylin Monroe Anna, not Oliver or Luke.

Ok, we now return you to your regularly scheduled pseudo-intellectual blather (er, banter.)