In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
The college letters are in, and all on the same exact day, too! Ryan and Marissa both get into Berkeley. Summer gets into Brown, as does Seth -- at least, that's what he tells everyone. He actually doesn't get in, but lies because Summer won't go to Brown without her boyfriend, which pretty much tells you right there that she isn't smart enough to have gotten in in the first place. Because no one can be happy for long, Sadie and Ryan break up because Ryan will be leaving for college, and then decide that their two-week-old relationship is great enough that Sadie should move to Berkeley with Ryan, then finally decide to break up again when they realize that having a Townie girlfriend does not make for a fun college experience. Seth can't bring himself to tell Summer the truth about his rejection, and instead settles for a lie that will make her feel even worse -- he doesn't want to go to Brown anymore, but he does think it's the right school for her. Summer's heart is broken. Marissa continues to sleep with Volchok and not go to school and not care about her future, which is fine since no one else cares about her future, either. Or her present, really. Julie tries to convince Dr. Neil that he isn't going to get an out-of-control brat for a new stepdaughter, and fails. No one cares about the hospital storyline, and Kirsten even walks out on Sandy because she's so bored with it. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Many thanks to Djb for covering for me last week and to all you kindly readers who sent me supportive words about my apartment robbery.
We open on Seth wearing a set of long johns and looking not so great. Then again, I don't think anyone can pull off the long johns look. Summer pronounces it "not bad," though, and hands him a winter jacket that matches hers. They'll be the warmest and most matching couple at Brown, she says. I suspect they'll also have the fewest friends. Seth wonders if Summer might be "jumping the gun" here, since they haven't even gotten their acceptance letters yet, but Summer -- who knows about as much about the college admissions process as she does about Seth's Yakuza films -- says that they're both sure to get in with their stellar records. She also says that if Seth doesn't get in and she does, then she'll turn Brown down, because she just wants to go to the same college as her boyfriend and only applied to Brown to be with him in the first place. Way to be pathetic, Summer.
Over in the poolhouse, Ryan and Sadie are making out with all their clothes on. They stop so that Ryan can exposit that Sadie is still in town because the house has a ninety-day escrow process to go through before it can be sold, which doesn't make any sense, since Bob was freaking living there last week. But let's forget about that; the writers apparently already have. Sadie brings up college and kills the mood. Ryan would have rather pretended that he wasn't on the verge of going to school and presumably leaving Sadie behind, but she says that "ignoring the future never makes it go away," making her the only person on this show to have learned that lesson, whereas most of the characters are still hung up on the concept of being aware of the present.
Ryan gets some water from the Big House, where he finds Seth already standing in the open fridge in his long johns and parka. Seth hands Ryan a water of Future Worry, and they commiserate. "There's a cold front comin' through," Seth says. Expect it to bring heavy showers of cheesy dialogue.
The morning, Marissa and Summer share yet another tense breakfast, still angry at each other from last week. Julie strolls out and bids them a good morning before taking an interest in her daughter's life for three seconds, which is long enough to mention college acceptance letters, due any day. She also asks Marissa if her new friend could be a little quieter with his motorcycle in order not to wake up Dr. Neil time he drops Marissa off at some ungodly hour. And while I would agree that it is important for people to get their beauty sleep (not that it's ever done Dr. Neil much good), I would have thought it might be a more pressing issue that your daughter is cavorting around at all hours with some guy who rides a motorcycle. Marissa snots something about Julie wanting to hide, from Dr. Neil, the fact that she has a trailer-park family, and leaves. Julie does the right motherly thing and asks Summer if she should be concerned about Marissa instead of, you know, asking her directly.