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Valentine's Day comes two weeks early in Newport, much to everyone's chagrin. Because Valentine's Day always sucks. Summer and Seth run into a Random Psychic Lady, who proves her abilities and then predicts that Summer is meant to be with some guy named George instead of Seth. Even though there's nothing wrong with their relationship, she starts having doubts and wonders if Seth is her Jimmy Cooper or Sandy Cohen. Meanwhile, Kirsten has flashbacks of the end of her relationship with Jimmy, and finally tells Sandy the truth about her abortion. After all that, he doesn't seem to mind that much. Taylor butts into Ryan's life and discovers that Julie and Frank are in love. She recruits Ryan in the campaign to bring them back together, and after not as much hesitation as you'd think, he jumps on board. But they're squaring off against Kaitlin, who's on Team BULLIT and ready for war. So ready, in fact, that she calls Taylor a "bitch." Sadly for BULLIT, Kaitlin, and anyone in the viewing audience who has a problem with child- and woman-beaters living happily ever after, Julie chooses Frank over BULLIT. And Summer finds her George, but it's actually some eco group called G.E.O.R.G.E., and they want her to join them instead of go to college and be with Seth. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
We open on Taylor Townsend's shocked and upset face as Ryan tells her that he doesn't want to do anything for Valentine's Day, since Valentine's Day never ends well for him. "It's a recipe for disaster," he says. Not as much as the recipe for goat cheese and shrimp risotto I tried to make once. That wasn't good for anyone. Taylor thinks Ryan's been distracted lately, but barely gets through saying that before she is also distracted by a piece of paper on Ryan's nightstand with an address scribbled on it. A mystery musical flourish plays, and Taylor asks Ryan about the "suspicious address" she noticed when he was in the bathroom. Most people wouldn't admit that they were spying on their lovers when they weren't around, but Taylor Townsend has no such qualms. Ryan assures her that it's not some girl's address and says he has to go to work because he always has to go to work. Taylor claims to be reassured, but you know she's not. Ryan stupidly leaves her alone with the address, so, of course, she grabs it. Cut to Taylor walking down 35th Street and outside the door of Room 17. She knocks on the door and is surprised when Frank answers it. I'm surprised, too. Mostly sad, though.
Frank invites Taylor in and says this is the new room he's staying in. He told Ryan about it, and while Ryan wrote the address down, he hasn't made an effort to see him yet. Taylor should feel ashamed of herself for violating Ryan's privacy like this, but she doesn't. She just tells Frank that she has "emotional problems," but she's getting over them despite her lack of effort to do so. She thinks Ryan wants to reach out to Frank since he kept the address, and I'm sure he does. On his own time. Without any interference from his crazy girlfriend. He said as much the last time he saw Frank, and it's obvious that he hasn't shut his father out for good but doesn't feel ready to see him yet. Why can't anyone respect that? Taylor says she has an idea: "What if I were to get involved?" That's not an idea, Taylor -- that's your natural reaction to everything. She says Ryan's been sad lately and she thinks mending his relationship with his father will cheer him up. Well, I'd be sad if I were supposedly the backbone of this show and my last few episodes of it were spent getting jerked around by my girlfriend, too. Frank is more than happy to put his relationship with his son in Taylor's hands.