The O.C.: Season 4 [DVD]

With the death of Marissa Cooper bringing to an end the third season of The O.C., things certainly had to swing upward with the start of the fourth season. While the first few episodes of what turned out to be the final season of this addictive primetime soap opera were a little sluggish, the rest of the season was a return to the glory of season one, albeit a little too late to salvage the show. Coming into season four, it was likely that this would be the last season for the show, one of my favorites and midway through the season it was announced that the show would conclude after 16 episodes. The announcement did give creator Josh Schwartz enough time to pen a great ending, one that wrapped the series up in a nice bow and presented it to the fans who had been with the show since day one. But starting the season was tough, as it was six months after Marissa was killed in a traffic accident caused by bad boy Volchok. Ryan (Ben McKenzie) is still traumatized over the death of the girl who had changed his life, and as we open the season, he is working in a seedy bar and cage fighting. But, he has connections with Marissa's mom, Julie Cooper (Melinda Clarke), who reaches out to him when her private investigator finds out where Volchok is located. Ryan's distance is hard on Sandy (Peter Gallagher) and Kirsten Cohen (Kelly Rowan), as they struggle with watching their adopted "son" fall on hard times. In the first few episodes, Ryan is finally convinced to come home to Newport Beach and begin mending his life and his heart. The early part of the season takes viewers on a trip to Mexico as Ryan and Seth (Adam Brody) look for Volchok south of the border. Sandy and Kirsten follow and eventually, Volchok turns himself in, with Sandy's help, keeping Ryan from going off the deep end and killing him as he truly wanted to do. Sandy's act not only helps Volchok, but helps Ryan stay out of trouble and on the right side of the law. From there, the season picks up and returns to the soapy drama and humor that made it such a hit in the first season. This season truly found the groove again, thanks in part to a great casting move, one that anybody watching season three would've found hard to believe. The show runners brought in Taylor Townsend (the gorgeous Autumn Reeser) in season three, seemingly as a foil for the main characters. While she was only a guest star during that season, the new season finds her among the regular stars in the opening credits and her addition to the full time cast was a blessing. She truly brought a lot of the humor that the show needed. Taylor has been away in France in college for the six months since graduation and returns to California with a wedding ring and a need to escape her French husband, Henri-Michel. She finds her reason in Ryan, though their relationship takes some great twists and turns along the way. Ryan trying to express his feelings for Taylor is pretty funny and when Henri-Michel comes to Newport to woo Taylor back to France, it becomes obvious that he has feelings for her even if he can't completely express them. The relationship with Taylor is Ryan's main story throughout the season, as he is still having a hard time letting go of the memory of Marissa and can't commit to Taylor the way she wants. Watching him struggle to figure out what he is feeling provides a good dose of humor. Summer (the beautiful Rachel Bilson) has spent her first semester at Brown University where she has undergone major changes. Instead of the Newport girl that left Seth, she is now an environmental activist, wreaking havoc on the Rhode Island campus with her new friend Che (guest star Chris Pratt, who is hilarious in this role). When she gets kicked out of school for setting rabbits free from their cages, she returns to Newport and has to face the fact that her best friend is gone, something she had been putting on a back page during her activist stage. Seth is working in a comic book store, leaving long messages on Summer's answering machine, longing for the days when he had Ryan and Summer to keep him company in Newport. He soon gets both of them back and things seem to return to "normal" for Seth despite the fact that Summer has obviously changed. Julie and Kirsten continue as business partners in New Match, a high-end dating service that Julie turns into a male prostitution ring, temporarily ruining her friendship with Kirsten. It is through this business that Julie meets Gordon Bullitt (guest star Gary Grubbs) and Ryan's father, Frank Atwood (guest star Kevin Sorbo). Unable to decide, Julie dates both men, unable to make a choice in her life, despite the best efforts of her daughter Kaitlin (Willa Holland) to get her to choose the wealthy Bullitt. The return of Ryan's father also brings trouble, much like the return of his mother and brother in previous seasons. Frank has been in jail and initially, Ryan wants nothing to do with him, but Frank lies to get Ryan to see him and the two slowly begin to mend the fences that came down quickly in the past. Ryan even helps Frank on the Julie front, teaming with Taylor to form "Team Frank." Sandy and Kirsten get a major surprise on Kirsten's 40th birthday, as she reveals she is pregnant and instead of having an empty nest, the couple will be welcoming a new baby, though both parents cringe at the thought of raising another kid in Newport. Perhaps the highlight of the season was the Chrismukkah episode, where Ryan and Taylor fall off a ladder and end up in an alternate Newport, where Sandy is mayor and married to Julie, Kirsten is still working at the Newport Group and married to Jimmy Cooper (guest star Tate Donovan), Seth is still a geek and Summer is marrying Che (or Chester as he's known in the alternate world). This episode allowed the stars to play different characters for a while and was pretty funny to watch. The final few episodes wrap the series up very nicely. An earthquake rattles Orange County, putting everyone in danger and it is revealed that the Cohen house has been destroyed. This leads Ryan and Seth on a mission to Berkeley to try and purchase Sandy and Kirsten's first house even as a pregnant (with Frank's kid) Julie prepares to marry Bullitt (and yes, he knows). Sandy and Kirsten fly to Berkeley and end up having the baby in their old house, prompting Julie and Bullitt to move the wedding there as well, eventually convincing the new owners to sell the house to Sandy and Kirsten. The final few minutes glimpses into the future of the characters, looking at what Ryan, Summer, Seth, Sandy, Kirsten, Julie, Kaitlin and the whole group is up to. It is a great way to end, with everyone seemingly in a good place, just where you might hope they'd be. This set also has some good extras, which add to the release. Schwartz provides commentary on the series finale and it is well done and informative. There is a couple of good featurettes, one on the creation of Seth's holiday blend, Chrismukkah and another on the evolution of the Summer character, focusing on her transformation from Newport Barbie to well-rounded young woman. Her character did go through possibly the most changes throughout the four-year history of the show. All told, the season wrapped up well, surely leaving viewers pleased and as a big fan of the show, I think this DVD set did a great job presenting the final 16 episodes.

After the lackluster storyline in Season 3, the O.C. was redeemed again in Season 4, but by that time it was too late. The viewership dropped astronomically by the millions when Season 4 rolled around and never picked up momentum causing the Warner Bros., the studio behind the show to cancel the O.C. abruptly. This abruptness was noticed towards the end of Season 4 when the O.C. experiences an Earthquake in the show. The continuity is noticed at that point where the studio pulled the plug and suddenly the show is wrapped up quickly in a nice pretty bow. Season 4 was an exceptional season after Season 3 dragged downward through one ridiculousness after another. Season 4 starts off just as low as we're dragged through the aftermath of the Marissa Cooper death in Season 3 and then the revenge on the guy responsible, Volchak. Once that wraps itself up after a few episodes, then the show begins to build steam upward again becoming interesting and moving in the way it was in Seasons 1 and 2. Unfortunately many stopped watching the show by the time it hit Season 4. You can notice the downward trajectory in viewers with Season 1 having 10 million viewers, Season 2 dropping to 7 million, Season 3 dropping to 6 million, and then Season 4 only having 4 million viewers left. Not enough for the studio to keep shooting episodes. It's a shame as Season 4 was better than 3.

Great show and I’m glad I own all the seasons to watch anytime I want!

The final season of one of the ALL-TIME greatest T.V. shows.. The show started out as a summer mid season replacement and grew to a worldwide Phenomena. Its stars, reaching life from the unknown to global stardom... This season itself started out quite dark after the death of Marissa Cooper(Mischa Barton). Ryan Atwood(Ben Mackenzie) is living a life as a bartender by day and a underground fighter by night, losing fights on purpose so he can receive the punishment(and pain) that he thinks he deserves.. Cut to a few episodes in. Summer Roberts(Rachel bison) and Seth Cohen(Adam Brody)are living together,but apart with Summer attending Brown University and caring more about the environment then what shoes are in season(true O.C. fans will understand the irony here). The weird item for this season is the introduction of Taylor Townsend (Autumn Reeser)as Ryan's new love interest.. The season was created as a tie up for all the characters to show how all their lives moved on after Marissa's death and the death of the show. Personally i LOVED this show. it was a fun and sometimes poignant family drama, in which even myself a(35 year old at the time)found myself with a tear in my eye more then once.. Josh Schwartz is a credit to the industry with his witty and edge full writing, while still being able to create a "REAL" existence to a elitist community.. If your a fan of "Buffy the Vampire slayer(and its utmost awesome creator and scripe, Joss Whedon) and loved the way the show's witty humor pulled you in,then this show is for you..Welcome to the O.C.

The OC, season 4 - I think I have to agree with some of the sentiments on here that season 4 was the best since the first season, and I do think that's largely due to the departure of Marissa, but not necessarily Mischa Barton. I think Barton is a great actress and have liked her for years, however the character of Marissa seemed to be stuck in a rut and going nowhere, so getting rid of her helped the show a lot. It's such a huge shame the show was cancelled after season 4 because I thought it had found itself again with the introduction of Kaitlyn and Taylor - they should have a least given them a full season to explore the new characters and relationships properly, because I think it might have saved the show in the end and it could have carried on. Summer is still without a doubt my favourite character, and had been since season one, and I still found Seth to be as annoying as ever.... All in all though, this is a DVD set worth buying if you're an OC fan. :) Oh, and while I think about it - one pet peeve I always had about the OC was that they didn't explore Summer's "anger blackouts" in more detail, I think that would have made a good story arc for her character.

Eine der besten Serien,die ich gesehen habe. Sehr unterhaltsam und ich hoffe es gibt irgendwann eine Fortsetzung.

Mi è piaciuta talmente tanto questa serie che appena ho finito di vederla, ho ricominciato a guardarla dal primo episodio fino all'ultimo e la seconda volta che l'ho guardata, mi è piaciuta ancora di più. ha dei bei personaggi ben caratterizzati e ci sono momenti alla James Dean che aiutano a definire ancora meglio i personaggi ed i loro ruoli. Le storie sono coinvolgenti, da seguire sotto un sole che illumina ancora di più questo esclusivo ambiente californiano, fatto di spiagge e feste d'elite, che è questa la scenografia bellissima di tutta la serie. E tra elementi di stile e case favolose stereotipate si svolgono le vicende più che umane dei personaggi di "The O.C.", interpretati da attori formidabili che del loro carisma ci hanno messo parecchio, il risultato è stato fantastico. Un teen drama che è in grado di coinvolgere i giovani ma anche i più grandi visto che essi ne sono protagonisti insieme agli adolescenti. In queste 4 stagioni i personaggi subiscono una bella evoluzione. Le musiche sono strepitose! E nella prima stagione, nei contenuti speciali, ci sono anche le schede musicali di parecchi episodi, così potrete sapere i titoli e gli artisti delle canzoni. Io mi sono fatta un CD riuscendo a reperire le tracce con le canzoni che preferisco di O.C. Solo la prima stagione è ancora nel formato 4:3, mentre le altre 3 stagioni sono a schermo panoramico. I supporti ottici sono di ottima qualità con una bella definizione. Ad eccetto della seconda stagione che non ha contenuti speciali, le altre 3 stagioni hanno tutte gli extra. Io mi sono proprio divertita guardando O.C., buon divertimento anche a voi.

i lost my fourth season of the OC and decided to replace it through amazon!! It is the newer thin design for the case so it doesn’t match my other 3 seasons but for the price I couldn’t be happier.

La temporada que me faltaba para cerrar el círculo. Genial y todo bien cuidado