The Anger Management

Infobox Television episode
Colour = #ffaa44
Series = The O.C.
Title = The Anger Management


Season = 3
(2005-2006)
Caption = Seth and Summer
Episode = 7
Airdate = November 17, 2005 (FOX)
Writer = John Stephens
Director = Michael Fresco
Production = 2T6257
Prev = The Swells
Next = The Game Plan

"The Anger Management" is the 58th episode of FOX television series, "The O.C.". The episode was written by John Stephens and was directed by Michael Fresco. It originally aired on Thursday November 17, 2005.

Guest starring

Plot

The gang's hanging out at the diner when Volchok and his posse come by looking for a rematch. Ryan's not interested. Volchok thinks maybe Ryan should've thought about that before jumping him the other night. Before heading out the door, Volchok reminds Ryan that they've got unfinished business.

The next day at school, Ryan assures Seth that he's not going to fight Volchok. Seth wants to believe him but he knows Ryan. Ryan assures Seth that "Kid Chino" (his Atomic County alter-ego) has retired. Suddenly Taylor appears and thanks Seth for making the Senior Lock-In such a big success! She wonders if he'd be interested in working with her on the Christmas Dance. Seth suggests she ask Summer instead, you know, his girlfriend? But Taylor's suddenly not so interested in recruiting help.

Kirsten, Julie, and Charlotte are at a restaurant planning their big black-tie benefit. When Kirsten excuses herself to speak with the manager, Charlotte informs Julie that they've received 130 RSVP's at $5000 a head. That's $600,000 or $300,000 each. Julie starts to waver but Charlotte reminds her that she has two children, no husband, and no money. Oh, yeah.

Taylor shows up at Ryan's locker and inquires about the stability of Seth and Summer's relationship. Ryan assures her they're stable. But how stable? On a scale of one to ten? Ten. Too bad, but you never know. After all, everybody thought Brad and Jen were stable too.

Sandy welcomes the staff of the new Newport Group, introduces himself as the new President and CEO and his partner Matt Ramsey, as the new VP and Director of Development. And the group's also got a new mission. They will continue to develop residential and commercial properties, but one quarter of all new housing projects will be low-income housing. They no longer just cater to the mansion set. After the staff gets back to work, Matt informs Sandy that he crunched the numbers and hey need to fire 9 employees. But Sandy has no intention of making firing half the staff his first order of business.

Despite Marissa's attempt to conceal the information, Johnny finds out that Volchok threatened Ryan. Johnny takes off after him. He tells Marissa he's not going to sit back and let her boyfriend take the heat for his problem. Marissa follows Johnny and when he sees how upset she is, he backs off.

Later, when Ryan and Seth arrive at their car in the school parking lot, they're greeted by a welcoming committee - Volchok and his two thug surfer friends using the hood of the Range Rover as their picnic table. Suddenly Volchok's soda accidentally-on-purpose spills all over the car. But Ryan refuses to take the bait. He tells Volchok he's not going to fight him. Volchok takes out his keys and drags it along the side of the car then proceeds to christen it by scratching in the name "Lil Bitch." Ryan and Seth turn and walk away.

Taylor stops by Seth's bedroom and before he can get a word in, declares her "like" for him. Seth reiterates that he's with Summer, but thanks anyway. And even if he weren't, he just doesn't think they'd be a good match. Suddenly Taylor looks up and sees a Japanese movie poster on his wall. It's like her favorite movie of all time! She thinks it's a sign that he and Summer should break up. Seth doesn't think so.

Back at the Newport Group, Sandy's come up with a way to keep the company afloat without firing half the staff. Restructuring loans, eliminating perks, cutting his own salary by 30% and letting only four people go.

The gang plus Johnny are listening to The Subways rock The Bait Shop. Marissa is trying to convince Johnny that this wasn't a pity invite. Oh, so, it's not because you guys think I'll be sitting home alone all weekend thinking about Casey? What? No, of course not. Then Marissa proceeds to book Johnny for the rest of the weekend. Not subtle, but Johnny appreciates it anyway. Taylor shows up at The Bait Shop and Seth is forced yet again to makes it clear that he's not interested. Summer appears and wants to know what's going on. Nothing, Taylor was just leaving. But before she does, she reaches into her purse and pulls out Captain Oats. Then she hands the horse to Seth and thanks him for letting her borrow him. Seth assures Summer that he didn't lend her Captain Oats. She must've taken the Captain when she was in his room. Wait a minute, what was Taylor Townsend doing in your room?! Summer takes off. A delighted Taylor looks on. Maybe they aren't a 10 on the stability scale after all.

Down on the dance floor, Ryan spots Volchok and he, Marissa and Johnny start to head out but they're too late. Volchok tries to provoke Ryan into fighting him but nothing works, until he makes a not-so-subtle reference to the shooting and asks Ryan if he's going to let his girlfriend do his fighting for him. Then Ryan grabs him, swings him around, but miraculously doesn't hit him.

The next day, Ryan approaches Sandy and fills him in on the Volchok situation. Sandy wants to know if this has anything to do with the fact that his car is now the "Lil Bitch." Ryan says he was going to fix that but Sandy tells him not to, it's enough evidence to go to the cops. Sandy advises Ryan to keep using his head, not his fists. Unfortunately, their heart-to-heart is interrupted by a call from Sandy's new VP. Sandy needs to head into the office right away.

Marissa and Chili are in the beach parking lot looking for Volchok. Chili tries to convince Marissa that it's a really bad idea, but Marissa's determined to go through with her plan. They find Volchok and Marissa offers him her Cartier watch worth $4,000 in exchange for leaving Ryan alone. Deal.

On Sunday, Sandy discovers that Matt called in the 4 employees targeted to be fired. He thought he'd do it on a Sunday to spare the employees the humiliation of packing their things in front of their co-workers, and also to spare Sandy the pain of having to do it himself. Sandy tells Matt he doesn't let other people do his dirty work. He sends Matt home and reluctantly heads into his office to do the deed.

It's the night of the big benefit and Kirsten wants everything to be perfect. Julie seems to be distracted by something. Charlotte not-so-subtly lets Julie know that if she doesn't go through with it, she'll call the police and tell them they created a fake charity to defraud Julie's friends. Could you do jail, Julie?

Volchok sends his girlfriend Heather (Marissa's nemesis at Newport Union) to return the watch to Marissa. He's changed his mind. He wants cash instead. Marissa doesn't understand. Why doesn't he just sell the watch? The girlfriend tells her to ask him herself and leads Marissa out to the van. Volchok tells her he needs cash. Now. And the pawn shops are closed. Marissa gets into the van and they head to the ATM.

Ryan and Johnny are hanging out at the benefit when Ryan's cell phone rings. It's Volchok, telling him he's got Marissa and that if he wants to get her back he better come down to the pier. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Julie's gotten hold of a microphone and is making an announcement that is making Charlotte very nervous. After thanking the guests for their generous contributions, Julie instructs them to make their checks payable directly to the National Foundation for Substance Abuse.

Ryan and Johnny head down to the pier. Ryan tells Johnny that no matter what happens, just go with it. And if that doesn't work, grab Marissa and run. When they get there, Ryan picks up a bottle, smashes it against a pylon and moves in on Volchok. Volchok suddenly doesn't look so confident. Then Ryan tells him that if he wants to fight him, he better be prepared to kill him. Volchok backs off.

Ryan and Marissa are then seen talking at the Cohen house and Marissa said she was proud of Ryan for not fighting, even though Ryan really wanted to. She also mentions that she likes the new Ryan as the old Ryan scared her. Ryan admits to the old Ryan scaring him too. The episode closes with Marissa leaving and Ryan going into the pool house where he begins to punch the punching bag he installed earlier furiously until his knuckles are bloody.

Music

*"Interruptions" by Rogue Wave
*"Rock & Roll Queen" by The Subways
*"Oh Yeah" by The Subways
*"Travel In Time" by Carmen Rizzo feat. Kate Havnevik
*"Opium Dreams" by Rithma
*"I Want To Hear What You Have Got To Say" by The Subways

Trivia

*Seth reminds Ryan of Marissa and Summer's "Bring It On" phase. However, "Bring It On" was released in 2000, and Ryan and Seth weren't friends with Marissa or Summer until 2003 and it is highly unlikely that the two were still going through a "Bring It On" phase three to five years after the movie was released. But Seth did also go to school with the girls, so would have witnessed this phase.

External links

* [http://www.fox.com/oc/recaps/307.htm Recap from the official website]