Kaitlin Cooper

Infobox character | colour = #ffaa44
name = Kaitlin Cooper
other_names =


caption = Willa Holland as Kaitlin Cooper
portrayer = Shailene Woodley
(first season)
Willa Holland
(third and fourth seasons)
creator = Josh Schwartz
species =
gender = Female
first = Premiere
(episode 1.01)
last = The End's Not Near, It's Here (episode 4.16)
cause = Moved to college.
episode = 28
age = 21 (flashforward)
16 (last appearance)
occupation = Student
nickname = Mini Coop, Mini Cooper
romances = Justin (ex-boyfriend)
Johnny Harper (ex-lover)
Will Tutt (ex-boyfriend)
parents = Jimmy Cooper (father)
Julie Cooper (mother)
Caleb Nichol (step-father, deceased)
siblings = Marissa Cooper (sister, deceased)
Unnamed Atwood (half-brother)

Kaitlin Cooper is a fictional character on the FOX television series "The O.C.", played by Willa Holland. She was originally played by Shailene Woodley.

History

eason 1

Kaitlin is the younger sister of Marissa Cooper and the younger daughter of Jimmy and Julie Cooper. Occasionally seen during the first season, her greatest interest is in horseback riding on her pony, China. Kaitlin's life is eventually disrupted due to her father's embezzlement of clients' funds and the subsequent unraveling of her parents' marriage.

She appears in 6 episodes of the first season.

eason 3

Kaitlin continues life at boarding school until the mid-winter break, when she comes back to Newport. The house of her childhood, however, is no longer her home but that of a man of Persian descent. Mail for the Coopers has been redirected to the Cohens' house next door. Kaitlin, now 14, follows the lead in search of answers, meeting Ryan Atwood at the door. At first, Ryan does not recognize the visitor.

The circumstances of Kaitlin's arrival are questionable, as a former acquaintance of hers searches for Kaitlin and money she apparently stole. Though removed from the struggles of the rest of her family for some time (and mostly unaware, due to their lack of communication with Kaitlin), Kaitlin seems to be no stranger to cover-ups. She is shown to have some of the same personality tendencies as her famously scheming mother, but the extent of Kaitlin's plotting is less certain. At the same time, Kaitlin develops a relationship with Johnny Harper, a surfer who was recently in love with Kaitlin's sister, Marissa. The two of them were drinking one night at the beach resulted in Johnny's death from being drunk, climbing a cliff, and then falling to his death.

After resolving the above issues, she returns home again, this time claiming she wants to see her sister's graduationcite episode| episodelink=The Graduates (The O.C. episode)|title=The Graduates|series=The O.C.] . Before the graduation, she's shown to have other motives. Claiming that her sister's reign as the ruler of Harbor is over, she is staying home for good.

eason 4

Kaitlin becomes a main character in season 4. When the season premieres, Kaitlin is seen smoking marijuana, blackmailing Dr. Roberts, and acting apathetic to the death of her sister. She is usually in the company of the two brothers of Luke Ward; Brad and Eric. Other than those two, she does not seem to have any other friends in Newport Beach. Julie is called in to see the Dean of Discipline at Harbor School, and realizes that Kaitlin has been flirting with one of her teachers and showing bad behavior.Thus, Julie and Kaitlin are asked to help with a clothing drive for people in Darfur. Julie and Kaitlin grow even further apart, and Kaitlin starts lying. Eventually, it is discovered that Kaitlin, Brad, and Eric are stealing clothes from the clothing drive and selling them. This causes Julie and Kaitlin to fight, just after Julie thinks she and Kaitlin have rekindled their relationship.Kaitlin is attracted to band geek Will, (played by singer Chris Brown) but after being accused of making fun of Will's personality by a rival band member, she breaks it off.

Kaitlin grows attached to Gordon Bullit, a man who is trying to date her mother, Julie. She convinces Bullit that Julie likes him. While he is away, Kaitlin emails Bullit pretending to be her mother. When he comes back Kaitlin finds out that Bullit is going to propose to her mother. She tries to tell them about the emails but it is too late. Bullit proposes. Julie says no, but she will date him as she can see how attached Bullit and Kaitlin are. Later it becomes clear that Julie is seeing Ryan's father Frank Atwood. When Kaitlin finds out she tries to stop the relationship. In "The Case of the Franks", it becomes clear the Frank has strong feelings for Julie.

Ryan and Taylor become "Team Frank" and Kaitlin is "Team Bullit". Kaitlin tells Bullit to play the money card. Ryan tells Frank to play the romance card. Bullit buys Julie earrings, but Kaitlin tells him she wants "out of the box thinking". Kaitlin and Bullit come up with a plan to take Julie on Bullit's private jet, allowing Julie to choose anywhere in the world she wants to go.

Ryan ambushes Julie last minute. Kaitlin tells Julie not to listen to anything Ryan says, and Ryan tells Julie to cancel her plans and meet his dad, who is waiting for her. Julie says "Tell your dad that, in another life I'd be there. I'm sorry." Kaitlin tells her mom that Bullit has sent a limo. Taylor and Ryan send a decoy limo driven by Taylor. Kaitlin puts her mom in the limo, thinking it is from Bullit. The real limo comes and Kaitlin finds out what "Team Frank" have done. Kaitlin tells Ryan that "you're going down" and she is going to follow the decoy limo. Ryan then says that he will follow her.

Taylor delivers Julie to Frank, sitting by a hot dog stand, who proposes to Julie the proposal but is rejected. She only has one daughter left, and she loves Bullit. Even though Julie doesn't. Julie gets in the real limo with Kaitlin. In the limo Kaitlin says she can't hold the surprise any longer. Katlin tells her but it is clear that Julie doesn't want to go.

The limo pulls up by the jet. Kaitlin gets out. Bullit askes her where her mom is. Kaitlin says "I know I asked you to be my step-dad, but do you mind being my friend instead?" Kaitlin tells him they can still play ping-pong together. As they walk off together, Bullit says "Peanut, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

In "The Shake Up", Kaitlin does everything in her power to separate Frank and Julie, trying to frame him for liking clown porn by placing a large amount of it in his backpack when he is not looking. She also places posters of Frank's police mugshot around Newport with the words "This man loves clown porn" written on it. Julie finds one and finally confronts Kaitlin about what she is doing, Kaitlin explains that she has nothing against Frank, but she feels he will leave their life as quickly as everybody else did in the past year. After all they lost, Julie and Kaitlin agree that Frank won't be going away, but they will spend some time as a family for a while. Soon after an earthquake hits, Julie and Kaitlin run off the pier and into an ice cream shop for safety. Soon after, Kaitlin, realizes that the ice cream boy, Gary, who works at the ice cream shop, has a huge crush on her.

In "The End's Not Near, It's Here", Kaitlin and a pregnant Julie are finally on their own. She eventually gets a half brother, who is also the half brother of Trey and Ryan Atwood. At the end of this final episode, a reformed Kaitlin is shown five years down the line, excelling as a Williams College student.

Trivia

*Kaitin's age is a subject of dispute between fans, as in Season 1, Seth states she is in fifth grade, which, by the time of Season 3, would make her 13. However it is stated in Season 3 that she is 14 turning 15, and that she was 11 the last time we saw her in Season 1, Which means she was entering the 6th grade in the beginning of the first season and in season 3 is in the 9th. She has last stated in the fourth season that she is fifteen, although she should have been 16 as she celebrated her 15th birthday in January 2006, according to the episode "The Pot Stirrer".
*Kaitlin's older sister, Marissa Cooper (who also starred in the O.C.), died in a car accident.

References