This Episode of ‘The O.C.’ is the Greatest Episode of Television, Ever

The O.C. has given us so many gifts, but there are none greater than season 2, episode 14, “The Rainy Day Women.” It is not only the greatest episode of The O.C., it is the greatest episode of television, ever.

The episode opens on a gray, rainy day to Blind Melon’s “No Rain,” just another signature, spectacular song choice that this show was so excellent at making. You see, the rain is a metaphor for exactly where every character was in their lives at this moment: a rare, dark and stormy time. This is Orange County, after all. It never rains, just like Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher) never cheats.

But first up: Seth (Adam Brody) and Ryan (Ben McKenzie) try to convince each other to brave the rain and make it from the house to the pool house, Seth bribing with bagels and a smile that would earn a gold star from any dentist, but it’s still not enough to get Ryan in the raindrops. So they do what any normal teens would do, and discuss their girl problems over the phone.

Sandy and Kirsten (Kelly Rowan) are still going through a hard time because freaking Rebecca Bloom (Kim Delaney) is still hanging around (she’s Sandy’s ex who is getting his help with her legal situation). At this point, it’s hard to watch Sandy and Kirsten be mad at each other and the geniuses behind this show know that, so we cut to Julie Cooper-Nichol (Melinda Clarke)…slicing bagels! Wait, where are all these Southern Californians even getting decent bagels?

Doesn’t matter, because we are faced with one of the best scenes in The O.C. history. Marissa (Misha Barton) introduces her mom to her girlfriend Alex (Olivia Wilde), and before she can clarify that it’s not just a girl who is a friend, the two steal smooches literally behind Julie’s back. It’s fun and it’s sexy and it’s mischievous!

Unlike Lindsay (Shannon Lucio), who is practicing her clarinet while avoiding her maybe-father Caleb Nichol (Alan Dale) and his plan to take her to get a DNA test. Luckily, it seems Ryan found the courage to go outside to see her. Unluckily for him, she breaks the news that she’s moving to Chicago. Which, obviously. Lindsay never fit in with this crew, even if there was a chance of a biological connection. Although, she was having a spectacular hair day with perfect loose curls, even with that weather.

Seth also found the ability to leave his home and not “melt” in the rain, with the help of his Spider-Man mask, a beautiful piece of foreshadowing. He tries one last time to tell Summer not to go to Italy with Zach (Michael Cassidy), but once he finds out she’s a bridesmaid in Zach’s sister’s wedding and grasps the magnitude of the situation, Seth chickens out and is unable to, as Summer says, “advance the plot.” Hey, his tidbit about bringing the right outlet is sorta helpful for this episode?

Because later when Summer starts to doubt being a part of the wedding, Zach shows up at just the right time. First he tells her they will be backpacking and staying in hostels, but then he produces just the right plug she will need for her hair dryer. Just when you think this dude doesn’t even know Summer Roberts it’s like, well, sigh, maybe.

While Ryan supports Lindsay at her DNA test and tries to talk her out of moving to Chicago, mostly for pizza reasons, Julie and Kirsten bond over cigars and scotch, trading family gossip stories, with Julie saying to Kirsten what we’re all thinking, “You have to work it out”. Sandy must’ve heard her from the motel he’s shacked up in with Rebecca due to flooded roads, because over wine and vending machine snacks he rejects Rebecca’s advances. And we all let out a collective “hooray!”

The younger Cohen has experienced his eu-freakin-reka moment, after wallowing to Boyz II Men “End of the Road” (for the first but not last time in this episode), and has decided to buy back his boat, the Summer Breeze, as “one last grand romantic gesture” to get Summer back – you know, typical Seth Cohen style. After getting the money from Alex and discovering Marissa there in a slinky silky robe, Seth also discovers Summer Breeze is not in the same condition as when he sold it.

It’s the first in a series of events that don’t go Seth’s way, the second being the fact that he calls Summer and asks her to come over but she tells him, from her very fancy phone, that he can’t do that to her and she’s going to Italy with Zach. Cue the Boyz II Men.

Thankfully, it turns out to really be the “End of The Road” for Rebecca who decides to just run away from the side of the road after Sandy’s car skids off in the rain. Bye, Bec! We also say goodbye to Lindsay, who finds out Caleb IS in fact her father, but decides to move to Chicago anyway. Marissa is worried about closet space and taking out the trash after moving in with Alex and Sandy takes a damn bus to get home to Kirsten. Now we’re back on track.

Which leaves us with Seth and Summer. After seeing an adorable, curly haired brunette boy playing with his toy horse on the airport floor, Summer has her very own eu-freakin-reka moment and tells a less-than-surprised Zach that she can’t do it. She rushes to Seth’s house, only to find him hanging upside down after falling off the roof while trying to get satellite reception to watch Sherman Oaks: The Real Valley (a meta nod to Laguna Beach). Summer gives us the moment we’ve all been waiting for, scored to a over of “Champagne Supernove, no less, and removes Seth’s Spider-Man mask just enough to plant the sexy-nerdy kiss heard round The O.C.. And everything is as it’s meant to be.

Which is the main purpose of this episode. As creator/writer/executive producer Josh Schwartz explained in an interview with Decider, “That was one early on, you just kind of have notes to yourself with episodes you’d like to do, and one was it rains in Southern California and everything melts down. That was our reset and the end of the first half of season two, that was the midseason finale. So it had to be big it, had to put a lot of things right that it had wronged and we had Seth hanging upside down in a Spider-Man hat in the rain. Adam was like, ‘This is not fun.’ He was literally hung upside down with the blood rushing to his head for an extremely long period of time.”

But this episode is really significant in a lot of ways, and not just because of all the wet kisses. It cleared out Rebecca and Lindsay, essential spices added to The O.C. recipe for the first half of the second season. But Lindsay’s not right for Ryan and Sandy/Kirsten drama is not right for anyone. They both got their proper sendoffs. We also needed to experience some uncertainly for Seth and Summer at the beginning of the season, sure. But it was just enough. It was time for them to be together.

And they weren’t the only relationship both the characters and viewers were rooting for. Marissa and Alex’s relationship is a huge key to this episode, and specifically the reaction to them being together. This was 2005: we weren’t witnessing same-sex relationships on the reg on major network shows. We’re still not! But the way the characters react to the news is really progressive, if not a little horny in the boys’ case. Seth and Ryan, as the ex-boyfriends of the women, react with surprise and intrigue, but not scrunched faces. There’s no judgement. Even Julie, who reveals she went through her own “experimentation phase” is shocked and semi-worried about what other people will think, but there’s no crying, no punishing and even no unnecessary passive-aggressiveness.

“The Rainy Day Women” is an episode of television that checks all the boxes: it’s sexy, it’s scandalous, it’s dramatic, it’s funny. It wraps up the guest stars’ storylines at just the right time and shows them the door respectfully. The episode moves both characters and mindsets forward for viewers, all to a brilliant 90’s soundtrack. It’s a classic episode of a show that proves it’s more than just a teen drama. “The Rainy Day Women” succeeded in putting a beautiful bow on the characters’ storylines while both pleasing the viewers and paving the way for the juiciest second half of a TV season you could ever imagine, all in under an hour. Eu-freakin-reka.

Watch “The Rainy Day Women” and all episodes of The O.C. on Hulu now.