As with previous seasons, there's potential for some sudsy fun. Look at this season's best story arcs: New regular Taylor Townsend (Autumn Reeser, who very well may outplace Bilson's Summer) returns from France married, unhappy, and as effervescent as ever. Reeser, a fast-talking (faster than those Gilmore women for sure) sultry vixen, is a welcome addition. Plus, the hint towards a possible Ryan-Taylor lovefest is good O.C. fun.

On the home front, Julie Cooper-Nichol (Melinda Clarke) has had another falling out with an entrepreneur, this time being Summer's father (Michael Nouri). Mourning, a side we haven't seen from Julie (her late husband Caleb wasn't deserving of much tears), is envoked from the layering Clarke brings to the character. Her rebound as a Desperate elder women looking for younger men is deliciously sordid, and a fine sampling of season one. Willa Holland as Marissa's trouble-prone little sister Kaitlin, and the Cohens (Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowen's Sandy and Kirsten) remain the sanest people in all of Newport, resting cozily on decent. Out of all the ludicrousness, The O.C. (slightly) maintains its promise from the pilot: no matter how ridiculous or implausible a situation may seem, its characters act in (semi)believable ways (though it's hard to see how anything would lead to cage fighting). Breaking away from Marissa seems to force the show into a corner, though the November 16th episode showed major progress, for which we can be thankful. Amongst all of this, The O.C. has managed to be as self-aware (it has its own mockusoap called The Valley, wherein the show admits its own faults), and surprisingly sharp-tongued as before. Nasty, overly-dramatic, and wry, The O.C. is almost back - sort of.