_4815162342_ - ABCs of The OC

A is for Atwood, the last name of our main protagonist, Ryan Atwood. He is the first character we meet, as the opening shot is of him and his older brother Trey who is supposedly teaching him to steal a car. They are caught by the police and Ryan is brought to juvie, while Trey, who is over 18, is brought to jail. Ryan meets his public defense attorney, Sandy Cohen. When he is kicked out of his house by his drunken mess of a mother, he is brought home by Sandy to his mansion in Newport Beach, which seems like a world away from his hometown of Chino. He meets Marissa Cooper, the next door neighbor of the Cohen's and introduces himself as "who ever you want me to be" and then later as the Cohen's nephew from Boston (Mom in Seattle, Dad in Boston). Later, everyone finds out the truth that he was a felon from Chino, brought home by his public defender, but Marissa and Seth still befriend him. When he is brought back home by Sandy, he arrives at his house only to find it empty with nothing but a note from his mom apologizing. Sandy takes him home and eventually the Cohen's adopt him. He is the son of Dawn and Frank Atwood and his legal guardians are Sandy and Kirsten Cohen. Seth is his adopted brother, while Trey is his blood-related brother who is constantly running into trouble with the law, much like their dad, who we learn about in the fourth season. Marissa is his on-and-off again girlfriend until her untimely death at the end of the third season. He feels responsible for her death and takes it out on himself in the fourth season as he returns to a darker version of himself. While he makes peace with it, he is never truly the same person ever again and many people were turned off from the show by this. He is practically forced into a relationship with Taylor Townsend and it is unclear whether or not they end up together. What is certain is that Ryan ends up as an architect, like he dreamed of, and comes across a kid much like his younger self and offers to help him; his life truly coming full-circle.
B is for The Baitshop, a local club that our core four hung out at ; bands like Death Cab For Cutie, The Killers and Rooney performed there.
C is for Chino, the hometown of Ryan Atwood. It is also for Cohen and Coop, Seth and Marissa's respective nicknames used by Summer. It also is the first letter in Cohen, the family that takes Ryan in.
D is for Danny, Summer's "big-kind-of-funny" boyfriend who she dated shortly in hopes of getting over Seth while he was dating Anna.
E is for "Eureka!", one of Seth's phrases that he sporadically uses to express himself. It is also for "Ew." Summer's trademark during most of the show
F is for Flapjacks, the rabbit that Summer gave to Ryan to keep as a pet in the fourth season.
G is for GEORGE, the organization that Summer is recruited to and leaves to work for at the end of the show.
H is for "Hey" the common greeting that is used frequently on the show (they even make fun of themselves in the first season about it.)
I is for "The Ironist", the Seth-like character in his comic book "Atomic County" which features characters loosely based on Seth's friends. The Ironist resembles Seth, who ultimately has no useful powers other than invisibility. Kid Chino, Ryan's character has "fists of fury", Little Miss Vixen, Summers character, has credit cards that she shoots at people and Cosmo Girl (Lass), Marissa's character has her "magic elixir" that she keeps in a flask.. He later has the Litigator, Sandy, and the Ice Queen, Kirsten. The demons are the demon-water-polo-players aka Zach's character. It is also for Indie music, which was commonly used as the soundtrack to the show, and soon became mainstream with the popularity of the show.
J is for "Jew Fro", the hairstyle that Seth had for the majority of the show. It is also for Julie and Jimmy Cooper, Marissa's troubled parents.
K is for Kirsten Cohen, the matriarch of the Cohen family and the daughter of real estate mogul Caleb Nichol. It is also for Kaitlin Cooper, the younger sister of Marissa who spends most of her time in boarding school, but becomes a regular on the show in it's fourth season. AKA- Mini-Coop.
L is for lifeguard stand, the place on the beach where Marissa (and sometimes Ryan) would often retreat to when life got to be too much. L is also for Luke Ward, Marissa's boyfriend since 5th grade. He cheats on her without her knowing until TJ when she finds him with her supposed friend Holly. We later learn that he has problems of his own when he gets chastised by his schoolmates after his dad is found out as being gay. Ryan and the "gang" sympathize with him and he soon becomes the friendly "golden retriever" of the group. He and Seth grow closer when he moves with his dad to Portland, Oregon. Seth lives with them over the summer when he runs away from home after Ryan's departure for Chino at the end of the first season.
M is for Marissa Cooper, one of the "core four", the first person Ryan meets in Newport. While she has her problems, she truly was a lovable character. She OD'd on tequila and painkillers in TJ after finding her cheating boyfriend Luke with her friend Holly. Ryan finds her and she is rushed to the hospital. Her mom Julie blames Ryan for this, while her dad, Jimmy, is appreciative for his rescue. She is sent to therapy in return for getting to live with her dad after her parents' divorce. She meets Oliver and Ryan becomes increasingly jealous of him. His emotions are driven to the brink as Oliver continues to make passes at Marissa right in front of him, and even admits that he will come between them to have her all to himself. Ryan rescues her once again when Oliver goes crazy, holding a gun to his head, threatening Marissa with his suicide if she leaves his hotel room. She endures many other obstacles throughout the show, the most detrimental,however is her relationship with Kevin Volchok, whom she meets while hanging out with Johnny. The two get involved when Ryan and Marissa break up in the middle of the third season. It is with his influence that she goes through, what Summer calls a "slut spiral", as she ignores school, her parents and her friends and moves in with Volchok. She returns to alcohol and is even persuaded to  experiment with drugs. She soon comes to her senses and breaks up with him after finding him with another girl at her senior prom. She finds comfort in Ryan and they renew their friendship. It seems like they might be on the road to getting back together (pun!) when Volchok goes on a rampage after she denies his attempts to talk to her and convince her to go to Mexico with him. She receives a  letter from her  dad in Greece, asking if she would accompany him on a sailing trip, working on a cruise liner over the summer; instead of going to University of Cal Berkeley like Ryan and her had planned. He agrees, however, that it's just what she needs and agrees to drive her to the airport. Volchok drives them off the road in a drunken rage, causing them to careen off a cliff and leading to Marissa's death in Ryan's arms. When she died at the end of the third season, the show lost much of it's core audience and many believe it may have contributed to the ultimate demise of the show. M is also for minty, Seth's expression for sentimental or corny that he uses quite frequently throughout the show.
N is for Nichol, as in Caleb Nichol, the "king" and richest man in Newport. Father of Kirsten and Haley, husband of Julie Cooper until his death at the end of the second season which left us with a twist as he was flat broke.
O is for Oliver Trask, the bipolar and mentally unstable boy whom Marissa meets in therapy. He comes between Ryan and Marissa and soon drives them apart when she takes Ryan's hesitance towards Oliver as hostility and jealousy. He takes Marissa hostage and is soon housed in a mental institute. It is also for "Oats", Seth's nickname for his plastic horse Captain Oats.
P is for the poolhouse, where Ryan moves into when he arrives at the Cohen house. Seth-Ryan time is frequent in the pool house and Seth jokes that Marissa is always in there as well. P is also for Phantom Planet, the band who sings the theme song to the show, "California"; as well as Princess Sparkle, Summer's plastic horse. Seth is surprised that they have this in common.
Q is for "queer", Luke and the other water-polo players' nickname for Seth. It is ironic that Luke used this nickname for  Seth, as he later find s out that his dad, Carson Ward, is gay.
R is for RISD, the Rhode Island School of Design, where Seth ends up going to college to pursue his passion for art and comic books (graphic novels!). It is also for Range Rover, the car that quickly became a trademark of the show.
S is for Summer Roberts, Marissa's best friend since kindergarten. We learn on the first day of school that Marissa and Summer showed up on the first day of school wearing the same outfit and Summer came home crying over it. She comes off as a bit shallow when we first meet her, but she soon develops a soft side and the "rage-blackouts" dissipate. She is the long time girlfriend of Seth Cohen and friend of Ryan. After Marissa's death she finds that she cannot deal with her emotions, much like Ryan, and buries herself in college life; she also becomes an extreme environmentalist. She ends up marrying Seth in the finale.
T is for TJ or Tijuana where Marissa OD's on tequila and painkillers. Ryan finds her on the ground in an alley and saves her life. In the Chrismukkah episode of the fourth season, "The Chrismukk-huh?" we learn that in Alt-World, Marissa died that night, which leaves the conclusion that with Ryan in her life, she lived three more years than she would have if he hadn't met her.
U is for Union, as in Newport Union, the public high school that Marissa attends when she is expelled from Harbor for shooting Ryan's brother Trey to prevent him from killing Ryan. Her stay there is short, as her friends fight to get her back into Harbor, starting a "Save Marissa" campaign; but while there she befriends Dennis "Chili" Childress and Johnny Harper.
V is for (Kevin) Volchok, commonly referred to as "The Surf Nazi". Marissa dates him for a period of time after Ryan and Marissa break up in season three. It is while dating Volchok that Marissa begins to slip into a "slut-spiral" in which she returns to alcohol and begins drug usage as well. Ryan sees him with another girl and warns him to stop before he ruins Marissa's prom for her. Unfortunately, Volchok cannot be swayed by Ryan and continues his lying ways, which include stealing the after-prom-party money from Taylor and making out with another girl during prom. Ryan tries to persuade Marissa that he can't be found, but Marissa presses him and eventually finds him with the other girl. She breaks up with him and renews her friendship with Ryan. Enraged, Ryan finds Volchok to get the money back and ends up beating him within an inch of his life. As payback for not turning him in to the cops, Volchok blackmails Ryan into accompanying him to a car jacking. As Volchok steals the car, Ryan flees to Marissa's aid. Later they try and pay him off with money gotten from Marissa's hocked graduation present, a pearl necklace. Unsatisfied, he demands to talk to Marissa and is enraged when Ryan tells him that she doesn't want to see him. He gets drunk and follows them until the two leave to take Marissa to the airport. His drunkenness impairs his judgement and causes him to repeatedly ram into Ryan's car in hopes of getting him to pull over. Unknowing of Volchok's want to talk, Ryan tries to avoid him, but one final smash from Volchok's car forces them off the road and careening off a cliff, landing upside down on the road below. Marissa dies that night in Ryan's arms and Ryan seeks revenge. The fourth season is when Ryan finally finds him and confronts him about that night. Volchok goes to jail and that is the last we hear from him (thank g-d).
W is for water-polo, the most popular sport at the elite Harbor High. The water-polo players constantly harass Seth, often peeing in his shoes and stuffing him into lockers.
X is for X-Ray, which Johnny Harper, a friend of Marissa's that she meets while attending Newport Union, receives after getting hit by a car. His chances of joining a prestigious surfing team, Pac West, are ruined until the "gang" decides to have a fund-raiser to get money for him to have an operation. Unfortunately, even with the operation, he isn't well enough to compete and is ultimately crushed. In a drunken stupor, after hearing the news, he confesses his love for Marissa, which is unfortunately for him unrequited. In a depressed rage, he grabs a bottle of tequila and goes to the beach with Marissa's younger sister Kaitlin. He climbs a cliff and drunkenly wobbles about. Worried, Kaitlin calls Marissa and interrupts a date with Ryan, but detecting the urgency of the situation they both rush over. Ryan tries to persuade him not go too close to the edge, but Johnny only sees it as an attempt to show off to Marissa. He ends up slipping anyways and falls out of Ryan's grasp and to his death onto a pile of boulders. Also in the Alt-World from season 4, we see a poster promoting Johnny Harper as the star of the Pac West Surf Team.
Y is for Yogalates! No need to explain here :D
Z is for Zach Stevens, Summer's water-polo-playing boyfriend, who strikes up a friendship with Seth once they develop a bond over comic books. They work on a comic book called "Atomic County" which Seth created, loosely based on his friends. Seth gives up the comic book, however, to be with Summer.

That's it! Thanks for reading.