OC OD

Oh great. We just finished our third run of the second season of The OC. That’s 24 episodes, add the 27 episodes of the first season, that’s 99 42-minute installments of the show. Almost 70 hours of bumming around watching a TV show over and over again. In the span of one week. Good lord.

Seems like everyone at home got hooked ever since I brought home the DVD set of the first season last May. Now, when I whipped up the DVDs of the second season from my bag, everybody just about rushed to the telly and begged me to turn it up. Some random reactions:

From my brother: “That Julie is such a bitch.”
From another brother: “His grandmother is getting married?!”
From my mom: “So his girlfriend is actually his illegitimate step-aunt. Ew.”
From my grandmother: “What, they’re lesbians?!”
From my cousin: “I really like Marissa’s clothes.”
From my aunt: “Is he dead? Is he dead?”

And there you go. A teenage drama series gluing everyone to the idiot box, no matter the age. Quite surprising, since my brothers dismissed my Cube Zero DVD and Star Trek novels as “sci-fi,” my mom shrugged off my Paul McCartney in Red Square disc with an “Oh, Paul McCartney” and my aunt taunting me for having songs by The Platters in my music library. And you’d think they’d be interested in that. Instead, we spent the last few days discussing the show with angry remarks at the season finale cliffhanger. My brother, Mr. Impatient, even asked me to download the first few eps of the third season, since it started airing in the US a month ago. I have actually found five episodes already available on some torrent sites I know, but I’d be crazy to try downloading 4.3 GB worth of video files on dial-up connection.

Me, I think that the second season is less coherent, since the previous one arrived at a full circle from pilot to season finale. Compared to this though, the first season will appear to be tame and almost boring. That is how things picked up. Rife with pop culture references (e.g., The Da Vinci Code, Netflix, TiVo, an upside down with a Spiderman mask kiss in the rain) and excellent soundtrack, the season seems to have been overdone. A Rooney concert in the first was great, but having The Killers, Death Cab, The Thrills, The Walkmen and Modest Mouse performing in a club on the show every other episode just seems well, contrived. Seems like the club was maximized to let indie bands get some exposure. Cameo appearances from Paris Hilton and George Lucas among others – now that blew me away. Imagine the creator of Star Wars having dinner with one of the characters and lamenting on how he missed his prom and ended up making a film about one out of regret. Priceless. Now I wonder how the third season will beat that.

I have mentioned the music, which is compiled in two mixes every season. Now I think this is the main reason why I’m hooked to the show. Since hearing Death Cab’s Photobooth some years ago, I immediately took a liking to the Seattle-based indie group. The music is great, not to mention unique, considering they come from the city that produced Nirvana and Alice in Chains. Hearing A Lack of Color played sometime in the first season made my jaw drop. Bright Eyes has yet to have any song played in the show, but the characters asked each other to go to a show at least once a season.

It’s not like a regular teen film where a song gets played because it’s on the soundtrack. Some of the music are commissioned just for the show. Most are from indie rock bands. And when you get to think of it, the songs are perfect for the situations they’re played in. I think the greatest moments of the show were when they played Dice by Finley Quaye (New Year’s Eve, Ryan running to the party to meet Marissa), Nada Surf’s cover of OMB’s If You Leave (Seth seeing Anna leave at the airport), Jem’s excellent remake of Paul McCartney’s Maybe I’m Amazed (Caleb and Julie’s wedding), Coldplay’s Fix You (a montage of the prom and Caleb’s second and fatal heart attack) and Ryan Adams’ calm and hurting arrangement of Oasis’ Wonderwall were played (Seth and Summer making up). The best however was Jeff Buckley’s version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah playing in a montage of Marissa watching Ryan drive by on the way back to Chino while Seth runs away from home and sails away in the Pacific Ocean while Sandy comforts a crying Kirsten over the departure of their two sons in the finale of the first season.

Even my brother, who usually scoffs at my musical preferences (“whiny music”, “oldies”, “angry nerd rock”, “emo”) was hooked. He’d pop in the DVD of a certain episode just to watch the part where a particular song is played and listen to it over and over again. And to think that his CD collection include bands like Disturbed, B2K, Mudvayne, Eminem and other horrible “musicians.” Rad.