The OC: Season 4: Oh see ya later

If after the first episode of season 4 I had been told "The OC" would be cancelled within a few months, I wouldn't have cared at all. OK, that's a lie. I still would've been devastated, but with the direction the show was going, it would've been for the best. After all, Josh Schwartz and company had the stupid idea of not sending anyone to college (except Summer, who was quickly expelled) and killing off Marissa Cooper. Besides, the season's set-up leaves something to be desired. It is just so convenient that the first episode begins five months after Coop's death so the writers don't have to actually deal with the devastation the death of a girlfriend/best friend/daughter/social chair would cause. Instead, we see Ryan taking off to fight in cage matches, while Seth sits at home and Summer is transformed into an overzealous, earth-loving activist. Eww.\nBut then something incredible happens: the show starts getting good again, although it could never achieve the sheer brilliance of the first season. Julie Cooper and Ryan team up to hunt down Volchock, but resident morality god Sandy Cohen steps in to prevent their revenge-driven murder spree. Taylor Townsend isn't the best Coop replacement, and her relationship with Ryan is always awkward, but she shines in the episodes when her French husband comes seeking his "Peaches." Summer has an amusing pregnancy scare, causing her to tone down her hippie lifestyle, and Kirsten's pregnancy scare turns out to be real (a storyline that started way too late. Oh, what I would've done to witness more of pregnant Kiki and Sandy spewing his wondrous fatherly morals to baby Sophie!).\nThe last episode has the difficult task of wrapping up the series' loose ends. Although the writers never reveal if Ryan really was Theresa's baby's daddy, everything else is immaculate. Julie Cooper goes to college (thank God someone did), Seth and Summer tie the knot (wisely, only a glimpse of the wedding is shown, rather than devoting the entire episode to it) and Ryan becomes an architect (It was so perfectly obvious ... How did I not see it coming?). Everything comes full circle near the end, when Ryan approaches a troubled looking youth to ask "Hey kid, you all right?" It is absolutely perfect.\nI miss my friends already