The Chrismukk-huh?

Infobox Television episode
Colour = #ffaa44
Series = The O.C.
Title = The Chrismukk-huh?


Season = 4
(2006)
Caption = Ryan and Taylor lying in a coma.
Episode = 7
Airdate = December 14, 2006 (FOX)
Writer = J. J. Philbin
John Stephens
Director = Ian Toynton
Production = 3T5257
Prev = The Summer Bummer
Next = The Earth Girls Are Easy

"The Chrismukk-huh?" is the 83rd episode and the seventh episode of the fourth season of the FOX television series, "The O.C.". The episode was written by J. J. Philbin and John Stephens and was directed by Ian Toynton. It originally aired on Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 9:00 p.m. on FOX. [cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/arts/television/1214tvcol.htm|title=What’s on Thursday|last=Shattuck|first=Kathryn|date=2006-12-14|work=The New York Times|publisher=The New York Times Company|accessdate=2008-09-15] Not all that glitters is gold: Ryan and Taylor have an accident hanging holiday lights.

Guest starring

Plot

The episode begins with Ryan Atwood receiving a lost letter from his late girlfriend, Marissa Cooper. Later, he and Taylor Townsend are fighting about where their relationship stands at this point. Taylor climbs a ladder to where Ryan is putting up Christmas decorations and tries to give him her Christmas present. When Ryan refuses, they both fall off the roof and slip into a coma. There, they stumble into an alternate universe.

In the alternate universe, Ryan never moved to Newport Beach, and the lives of most major characters are completely changed. Sandy Cohen and Kirsten Cohen, along with Julie Cooper and Jimmy Cooper, are divorced. In the aftermath, Sandy has married Julie in a sham marriage to jump-start a political career, which resulted in Sandy becoming mayor of Newport Beach. Jimmy has married Kirsten, who is his childhood sweetheart. Taylor, in this universe, is a teenage boy, bullied constantly by his domineering mother (as it is in real life). Summer Roberts, who underwent a transformation in the real universe, remained superficial, and is still best friends with Holly. She is also engaged to Che, known as Chester in this universe. It was he who took Ryan's place in Newport Beach, and he dates any women within his sight, including Julie (a reference to Luke Ward's short affair with Julie in Season 1).

While trying to find out what is happening with Julie and 'Chester', Taylor stumbles into Marissa's bedroom. She surprises Julie's maid, who believes that Taylor is there to see "Missy Cooper". The maid tells Taylor that her plane arrives at 3 o'clock from Berkeley. Taylor then sees a photograph of Marissa and Julie on her desk, which leads her to believe that Marissa is still alive in this alternate universe.

After Taylor tells Ryan the news, he immediately wants to go to the airport to see Marissa. Taylor doesn't want him to in fear that Ryan, who is still recovering from Marissa's death, would be willing to spend the rest of his life in a coma if he could be with Marissa. At the airport, Ryan catches a glimpse of a girl with a pink Berkeley sweatshirt tied around her waist. The sweatshirt resembles the one worn by Marissa in The Day After Tomorrow. Ryan grabs her shoulder and realizes that it was not Marissa, but her sister, Kaitlin. Kaitlin then explains to Ryan that her sister died three years ago in an overdose in Tijuana (just as it happened on the episode The Escape).

Ryan then returns to Newport Beach, realizing that he can never be with Marissa again, alternate universe or not. At first, Ryan and Taylor believe they need to restore the relationships that existed before Marissa's death in order to wake up. However, it becomes apparent that both Ryan and Taylor need to battle their internal demons instead. For Taylor, her demon is her mother (whom she confronts along with her alternate male self at the Christmas party), for Ryan, it is getting over Marissa, but that is not immediately apparent to the couple.

Taylor frees herself by standing up to her domineering mother for her atrocious treatment of her "son". She then exits the alternate universe and awakes in real life, leaving Ryan stranded in a rather ugly situation. Sandy, Kirsten, Julie, and Jimmy discover the web of lies that Ryan and Taylor have spun to try to restore their relationships. Desperate, Ryan directly tells everyone what went wrong with their lives, and berates them for the lives they are living. Julie, not tolerating the "nonsense", calls for police and Ryan is put in prison. Sandy then bails him out, and he tells Ryan that everyone has restored their relationships. It is now apparent to Ryan, who is still in the alternate universe, that restoring everyone's relationships is not the mission that will get him back to the Real Universe.

Back in the real world, Kirsten finds a letter from Marissa, but doesn't read it, and hands it over to Julie, who subsequently reads the letter. In the letter, Marissa wrote that she still loved Ryan, but would be leaving Newport because she knew that it was the best thing to do, so they could both move on. The letter is eventually placed right beside Ryan, which allows the letter to be "delivered" to Ryan in the alternate universe.

Ryan then goes to the beach, and upon discovering the letter, reads it. Once he is finished with the letter, he finally says goodbye to Marissa and exits the alternate universe. After waking up from their comas, both parties have no memory of what happened, but are finally at peace. Ryan makes amends for his earlier treatment of Taylor on the ladder, and tells her that he is really glad to have her there in the hospital with him.

Music

*"California" by Mates of State (original by Phantom Planet)
*"Paranoid Android" performed by Sia (original by Radiohead)
*"Into Dust" by Ashtar Command (original by Mazzy Star)

Trivia

*This is the only episode that doesn't start with an announcer saying "Previously on "The O.C.", besides the premiere, The Mallpisode and when Mischa Barton starts with "If you haven't been watching lately, here's what you missed." in "The Road Warrior."
*Mates of State replaces Phantom Planet's "California" theme for this episode. The cover is also featured in "".
*Among the differences that occur from Ryan's not arriving in Newport, is Johnny Harper's becoming a pro-surfer. While not explicitly mentioned, his name is seen on a PacWest poster.

*The blonde nurse Kirsten speaks to about Ryan's condition is the same that appears in the Season Three premiere, "The Aftermath", that talks to Julie about Trey's location.
*The song "Into Dust" that plays during Ryan's farewell to Marissa, is the same that played in the pilot when Ryan took the blacked out Marissa from her front door to his pool house. The song was also used in "The Escape" in Season 1 where Marissa OD's and Ryan finds her and carries out of the alley. Some say it brings their story full circle, at one instant he holds her and in another he lets her go.
*As Ryan is leaving Kirsten and Jimmy's house, a worker calls Kirsten the "Dragon Lady". This was a nickname Sandy used when referring to Julie Cooper at the start of Season 1.
*This episode marks the return of Holly Fischer who hasn't been seen since Season 1 in "The Heights". However, because her appearance was non-canonical in this episode as she only appeared in the alternative universe and not the real world, she wouldn't make her next real appearance until "The French Connection".
*Aside from Holly, other characters to make non-canonical appearances were Jimmy Cooper, Che, Brad Ward and Eric Ward despite the latter three being recurring characters throughout season 4.
*Luke Ward was not seen in the alternative universe.

*Jack Bauer is also mentioned in this episode of "The O.C.". Julie Cooper is trying to stop Taylor Townsend's mother from boarding a plane to Mexico. Taylor's mother insists to Julie that she is going to Mexico and turns her back on Julie. Julie threatens Veronica saying that if she doesn't go see her daughter in the hospital she will tell security that Veronica has a bomb in her bag, to which Kaitlin responds by saying "Wow! Very Jack Bauer of you!"

*Johnny Harper, Casey and Chilli may or may not have made a very brief cameo. In the scene where Taylor runs into the diner to tell Ryan about Marissa being "Alive", three people are walking out that have similar hair to Johnny, Casey and Chilli who's hair looks similar to there's, though only the back of them was seen, not their faces. Since Johnny has been confirmed to be alive in the alt. world, it may have very well been him.
*When Taylor Townsend goes into a room to speak with the maid, Mima, you see a photo of Marissa Cooper. You can see she is older then she was in season 1. However, she would have died in the midst of season 1

References

External links

* [http://imdb.com/title/tt0911998/ Full Cast & Crew] at the Internet Movie Database
* [http://www.fox.com/oc/recaps/407.htm Recap from the official website]
* [http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=2202007457400512314 Video Clip of The OC, Season 4, Episode 7]