Episodic Classics: The O.C., "The Last Waltz," "The Perfect Storm," "The Swells" | Season 3, Episodes 4, 5, & 6
Welcome to the Johnny, bitch!
Doing retrospective coverage like these O.C. reviews is difficult for a number of reasons, all mainly personal. It’s no secret that I’ve been wanting to do this coverage for a long time—since my A.V. Club days—and the stars only just recently aligned me to do so. With my coverage, I obviously bring in a large amount of knowledge, not just of The O.C. itself but of teen dramas in general, along with my knowledge of the television landscape at the time the show ran and my own personal experiences of all of this as a teenager (the same age as these O.C. characters, even). I have my long-held opinions about just about all of the characters (as well as the actors and storylines) on the show, and naturally those will (and have) all come out at one point or another in this coverage. At the same time, my role as a critic means I have to step outside myself at times and work to process the material as objectively as possible. In that regard, going back to The O.C. has allowed m…
