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Parties abound tonight! Over at Harbor, Taylor Townsend is behind a mandatory senior class lock-in that absolutely no one wants to attend. The Public Skool Kidz party at the beach house Chili owns despite being supposedly poor. And the adults prepare for Newport Charity Function #3,657,039,436, where Julie and 7 'n 7, with Kirsten's reluctant help, raise money for underprivileged women who can't afford the SURIAK rehab palace. Which would be, like, 99.95% of all women. Not like anyone except 7 'n 7 was going to get any of that money anyway, until Julie discovers what she's up to and calls her out on it, leaving her with the choice either to beat 7 'n 7...or join her. Ryan and Summer run around trying to keep Johnny and Marissa from consummating their special boring bond. Marissa insists that there's nothing going on between her and Johnny, although her obscenely low-cut braless tank top outfit says different. Johnny's girlfriend agrees, and cheats on him with his surfer rival, the very hot Volchok. Can't blame her there. Johnny runs off to confront Volchok, but Ryan intercepts him and then punches Volchok himself, because Ryan Never Learns. So he and Summer miss the lock-in, leaving Seth alone with Taylor Townsend. Seth gets a glimpse at what a ridiculous beeyotch Taylor Townsend's mother is and feels sorry for her, so he helps her out when the entire school turns against her during the lock-in. In return, Taylor Townsend totally refuses to let Summer into the lock-in because she wants Seth all to herself. Can't blame her there. Also, Sandy did some stuff with the Newport Group. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
We open on Marissa, which is nice, because it immediately tips off any Marissa haters not to watch this episode, which will be all about her. Then again, that's been EVERY episode this season, so I'd think the Marissa haters would have moved on to something else to watch on their Thursday nights. Marissa's having a bad dream in which she sees recycled footage of Trey almost raping her and then her shooting him in the back. Only a difficult, high-maintenance bitch like Marissa would have a dream that forced me to go back through all of Season 2 to find the right links. Plus she dreams in fast-forward, so it doesn't even fill that much time. Ugh. Marissa wakes up from her nightmare, glistening with super-sexy sweat, and leaves the bed she's sharing with Summer. I guess the StepMonster took all the beds away when she removed all the mirrors from the mansion. Alternately, Marissa and Summer are totally doin' it.
Marissa goes out into the hallway, giving us all a better view of her decision to wear a transparent scrap of sateen she picked up from the JoAnn Fabrics sale bin as a pajama top. And so that she can call Ryan without waking Summer up. Nice of her to take Summer's need for body-replenishing sleep into consideration there, although I don't know why she couldn't have done the same for Ryan while she was at it. Over in the poolhouse, Ryan and his hot little wifebeater (yes, I approve of tiny pajama tops for men but make fun of them on women. I'm a hypocrite) wake up and answer the ringing phone. I'm surprised he doesn't have a special ring for Marissa, like maybe Death Cab for Cutie's "The Sound Of Settling." Marissa tells Ryan about how she had this dream, and Ryan was there, and Trey was there, and listening to other people's dreams is never fun. Especially not when you're abruptly woken up to do it. Marissa says that she's scared. Ryan tells her not to be, because Trey is gone (until he comes back to wreak havoc in Season 5) and everything is okay. He says that they'll talk more in the morning. Marissa hangs up, and there's Summer to her, wearing long-sleeve PJs because the temperature on the opposite sides of her bed apparently varies wildly. Marissa complains that Ryan hasn't been very supportive of her residual difficulties in dealing with the Trey thing, especially considering that he "went through it" with her. Except that Trey is Ryan's brother and didn't try to rape him, so I think his take on the situation might be a little different. Also, he's trying to sleep. Summer says that she's there for Marissa. Marissa wishes Ryan could tell her that, even though he does in the episodes when we're supposed to think they're the most perfect couple ever. So, every other week. Back in bed, Ryan reaches for his phone, opens it, and then changes his mind and goes back to bed. Good boy.