Soap operas are by definition a few things. They are twisty and they are dramatic and they are constantly pulling on our emotions. Teen soaps are a few things as well: very twisty, very dramatic, and very draining. This teen/parent soap/screwball comedy about life for the families of the rich enclave Newport Beach manages to break the tradition of a teen soap and actually be very good, very very good. The pilot of the show is phenomenal, introducing us to Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie), a hood who is without a family and barely escaping juvie. He's taken in by the very gracious PD Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher) and is suddenly thrust into a world of riches and schemes. Every other person is either broke, drunk, or gay. Ryan quickly attaches himself to the Cohen's (of which their is a mother/wife, Kirsten played by Kelly Rowan) only son Seth (Adam Brody). Seth is an outcast, a person far too intelligent to fit into Newport and thus gets peed on by the water polo team ("they wax their chests" he once quips) every other day. Ryan becomes his best friend, big brother, and protector and their relationship becomes exactly 1/2 of the heart of the show. The other half being the eloquently played out marriage between PD Sandy and daughter-of-the-richest-man-in-Newport-yet-still-cool Kirsten. They fight, sure, but in the real world all couples fight, it's the fact that we know (and they know) that a marriage love is too strong to be destroyed by day-to-day arguments.
The O.C. so far may sound like most other suds-alot shows and it is.....in the wierdest way. It smartly stays away from melodrama (except with the 5-arc storyline of Oliver, in which the show was almost unwatchable) and instead involves itself in relationships, namely love triangles and adultery. To go perfectly with the smart plotting is the blithe, intelligent, and ever so witty writing. You'll laugh every episode, I guarantee it. The final piece of the puzzle is the acting, every cast member is quite good (with the possible exception of Mischa Barton as the naif Marissa) and the members of the Cohen family: Sandy, Kirsten, Ryan, and Seth give truly emmy-worthy performances (especially the fast and furious Adam Brody and the nuanced Ben McKenzie).
The season finale is conducted with a bitter pain and the fact that it ends with the final track from the pilot (a cover of the lyrical "Hallelujah" in case you were wondering) is only more reason to sob at the woe of the finale plot, the beauty of the characters and the writing, the beauty of the music, and the tragedy of the fact that you'll have to wait a whole summer to see how it resolves next season.
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