Pool house. Ryan is sullenly reading when there's a knock at the door. It doesn't seem entirely possible that one could read sullenly, but Benjamin McKenzie can. The knocker is Sandy, narrating that Dr. Kim called to inform Sandy and Kirsten that Ryan has been indefinitely suspended until the disciplinary committee can figure out whether to expel him. Ryan can't look Sandy in the eye (because of both emotional and physical hindrances -- Ryan's pride and Sandy's giant eyebrows) as he mumbles that he knows Sandy wants him to say he's sorry, but that he's not, because Oliver admitted right to Ryan's face that he wanted Ryan gone so that he could get to Marissa. Sandy -- who doesn't seem so much incredulous as earnestly inquisitive -- asks why Oliver dropped the assault charges again him, then? Sandy swaggers into the room -- and Peter Gallagher sure can bring the swagger; he'd rock Chicago -- pointing out that if Oliver wanted him gone, wouldn't Ryan already be back in juvie? Sandy gets all up in Ryan's face as Ryan insists that Oliver is dangerous. In the background, the Chino Chimes of Challenged Children commence. Sandy isn't satisfied with Ryan's explanation, and flatly states what he knows: Ryan attacked Oliver when Ryan was already on probation and fully aware that the slighted infraction would result in being taken away, yet he did it anyway. Sandy can't understand, and urges Ryan to talk to him. Ryan mutters that Sandy won't believe him, and Sandy proclaims that it's not about what he believes, although he wishes it were; it's about what Ryan did. He curtly says that the time Ryan feels like punching, he'd better talk instead, because that's what Sandy's there for. I wonder if Peter Gallagher's eyebrows get their own stage direction. Or their own trailer, for that matter. They furrow as Sandy rubs them, blinks, and asks what he's supposed to do. He can't ground Ryan, and he's "not gonna chain [him] to the wall," which is a good thing, since that would just be another route toward the same end result of his being taken away. One would hope, anyway. As a frustrated Sandy leaves, he announces that if Ryan wants to go after Oliver, the door's open. But if Ryan wants to stay and be part of the family, he can't go anywhere unless Sandy or Kirsten agrees. Ryan looks confused and maybe just a little bit pleased that someone cares.
Tinkling!
We return from commercial to a montage of Ryan sitting in the pool house and standing in the pool house and lying in bed in the pool house and reading books and magazines in the pool house and doing sit-ups in the pool house. More sit-ups, please! But time, in the wifebeater! Meanwhile, the soundtrack singer grumbles about not having time and not giving a damn. Sounds like Chino Ryan has found an anthem!
A quick shot of Ryan's alarm clock shows us that it's 8 in the morning. Harbor School. Summer walks with Marissa, questioning why Ryan punched Oliver for no reason. Marissa responds that that's what Ryan does: "He punches people; he doesn't talk to them." When Marissa further laments that Ryan doesn't listen, Summer counters that he must have had a reason, because although he's violent, he's not dumb. Marissa waffles before revealing that Ryan has the crazy idea that Oliver is into her. (Who would have thought the words "Marissa" and "waffles" would ever make it into the same sentence?) When Summer asks if Oliver isn't into Marissa, Marissa yelps that she and Oliver are just friends. Marissa, incidentally, actually managed to get her belt around her waist today. She adds that Oliver is the only guy in her life who isn't jealous, scary, or a neck-breather, and that he tells her what he's thinking, "unlike some people." When Marissa finally admits that she and Ryan broke up, Summer "whoa"s, and then sees the positive: they're both single now! No more Ryan! No more Seth Cohen! She announces, "We're totally free! Liberated!" She offers to treat Marissa to a trip to the spa, but Marissa can't, because she promised to help Oliver study. Summer asks about the weekend, but Marissa has to spend it with Lady Heather, because Jimmy is taking Caitlyn to her grandmother's. That sounds oddly like a euphemistic to me, like "walking the dog" or "dropping the kids off at the pool." The time you have to do something you don't want to do, just tell people you're taking Caitlyn to her grandmother's. Let's see how fast it catches on. Marissa whines that Lady Heather has this "mother-daughter marathon thing" planned. Poor girl, to have a mother who cares about her and is trying to show it! Summer sadly asks when they're going to hang out, and Marissa bubbles, "Soon!" Marissa lopes (although "antelopes" might be more like it) across the quad, leaving Summer behind looking disappointed and confused.
Samaire Armstrong continues her cleanliness fetish, adding to the hand washing and teeth flossing the obsessive patting of the corner of her mouth with a napkin. As they hang out in the Student Disunion, she asks Seth whether, if Ryan gets expelled, he'll still get to live with the Cohens, or if they'll kick him out. Seth doesn't think they will. He's not looking his finest in this scene. In fact, he looks a little bit fugly (gasp!) in his ugly black jacket, black shirt, and greasy hair. And if this was a wardrobe decision to show that Seth's in a bad place right now, it works a little too well. Anna clings to Seth's arm as they leave; when she asks if Ryan is okay, Seth snits that he's not the one who got punched in the face. Anna clarifies that she means in the "larger sense," but Seth still doesn't know. A random girl randomly plows between them, which may or may not be intended as some sort of foreshadowing. Anna -- who is a Delia's catalogue with feet -- can't believe Seth hasn't talked to Ryan, and he grumpily asks what he could possibly say. She's all, "'Um, are you okay? Is there anything I can do?'" He insists that there's nothing he can do; he begged Ryan to stay away from Oliver, but Ryan didn't listen. He then low-blows that Anna doesn't know Ryan, so she shouldn't possibly understand. Anna quietly responds that she's trying. Aw. And not the good kind of "aw," either.