The Rainy Day Women
Encyclopedia
"The Rainy Day Women" is the forty-first episode of the television series The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...

and is the fourteenth episode of the show's second season
The O.C. (season 2)
The second season of The O.C., an American television series, commenced airing in the United States on November 5, 2004, and concluded on May 19, 2005, with a total of 24 episodes. It aired Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET in the US on FOX, a terrestrial television network. In addition to the regular 24...

. It first aired on the Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 network on February 24, 2005. Written by series creator Josh Schwartz
Josh Schwartz
-Film school at USC:In 1995, Schwartz realized his boyhood dream of attending film school to study screen and television writing at the University of Southern California...

 and directed by Michael Fresco
Michael Fresco
Michael "Mike" Fresco is an American television director and producer.Most notably Fresco has directed a number of episodes from shows including The O.C., My Name is Earl and the pilots to 1-800-Missing and Providence...

, the episode continues the storyline of Lindsay's struggle to have a father.

The episode's title alludes to the Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

 song, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" on the 1966 album, Blonde on Blonde
Blonde on Blonde
Blonde on Blonde is American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's seventh studio album, released in May or June 1966 on Columbia Records and produced by Bob Johnston. Recording sessions commenced in New York in October 1965, with a plethora of backing musicians, including members of Dylan's live backing...

.

Plot

A huge thunderstorm system that lasts for more than 24 hours is lashing Newport Beach. Seth
Seth Cohen
Seth Ezekiel Cohen is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Adam Brody. Seth was one of the "core four" characters on The O.C. alongside Ryan Atwood, Marissa Cooper, and Summer Roberts.-Background:...

 doesn't want to lose Summer
Summer Roberts
Summer Roberts is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Rachel Bilson.-Background:Summer Roberts grew up in Newport Beach, California, with her wealthy father, Dr. Neil Roberts...

 to Zach and tries to find a romantic gesture to win her back before she travels to Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

 with Zach
Zach Stevens
Zach Stevens is a fictional character in the second season of The O.C., portrayed by Michael Cassidy.-Conception:Creator Josh Schwartz described Zach as someone "who's sort of the WASP Seth, a.k.a. the anti-Cohen, and a formidable potential opponent for Seth"-Season 2:Zach joined Seth's fledgling...

. He buys back his old boat, the "Summer Breeze" (named after Summer), as a romantic gesture to get her back. The "Summer Breeze" is now called "Gimme Sex", yet Seth still thinks it works as an objective correlative
Objective correlative
An objective correlative is a literary term referring to a symbolic article used to provide explicit, rather than implicit, access to such traditionally inexplicable concepts as emotion or colour.- Origin of terminology :Popularized by T. S...

. But when he calls Summer to give one last chance, she refuses to do so. Seth wants to watch TV, but the satellite is out due to the storm and he wants to repair it. He climbs up the roof, wearing his Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...

 mask and tied to a chimney, when he slips and hangs upside down from the roof. At the airport, waiting for the flight to Tuscany, Summer finally decides she wants to stay with Seth when she see's a young boy (who looks like a younger version of Seth) playing with a toy horse and comics; Zach seems to understand.

Lindsay
Lindsay Gardner
Lindsay Gardner is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Shannon Lucio. Featured only during the first half of season two, Lindsay is the illegitimate daughter of Caleb Nichol by his former secretary, Renee Wheeler...

 doesn't talk to Ryan
Ryan Atwood
Ryan Francis Atwood is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Benjamin McKenzie. A troubled teenager from Chino, California, he is considered the protagonist of the show, beginning as an outcast and is brought to a lifestyle of luxury by the Cohen family and is...

 after the postponed adoption. She thinks about moving to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 with her mom. The paternity test is positive after all, but she still decides to go to Chicago.

Marissa
Marissa Cooper
Marissa Cooper is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Mischa Barton. Marissa was among the original "core four" characters on The O.C. until her death in the season three finale, "The Graduates."...

 tells Julie
Julie Cooper
Julie Cooper is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Melinda Clarke.-Background:...

 about her new girlfriend Alex. She moves in with Alex, but is having problems with this independent life she's not used to.

Sandy
Sandy Cohen
Sanford "Sandy" Cohen is a fictional character on the FOX series The O.C., portrayed by Peter Gallagher.Sandy, a lawyer, raconteur, and son of Sophie Cohen, is married to Kirsten Cohen. Their eldest child, Seth, is something of a social misfit. Sandy's father left his mother when he was young and...

 wants to bring Rebecca back to Newport, but the road is closed and they have to stay in a motel. Sandy really wants to go home to Kirsten
Kirsten Cohen
Kirsten Cohen is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Kelly Rowan. Kirsten is the wife of Sandy Cohen, mother to Seth Cohen, and the adoptive mother of Ryan Atwood...

, telling her that he would walk home if he had to. On the drive home a careless moment causes a crash; Rebecca flees from the police, while Sandy takes the bus home. Once Sandy is off of the bus he immediately seeks Kirsten, and they reconcile.

Marissa walks Alex to work, and when Alex goes in, Marissa sees Ryan standing in the rain alone. Marissa walks up to him and asks, "Are you O.K.?" to which a hearbroken Ryan replies, "Yeah". Marissa sympathizes for Ryan and puts her arm around him.

After Summer leaves Zach, she and Seth share a kiss in the style of Spider-Man
Spider-Man (film)
Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film, the first in the Spider-Man film series based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi and written by David Koepp...

.

Production

Although the show is set in Newport Beach, financial penalties imposed for filming outside the "Thirty Mile Zone" forced production to the Manhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach is the wealthiest beachfront city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The city is on the Pacific coast, south of El Segundo, and north of Hermosa Beach. Manhattan Beach is the home of both beach and indoor volleyball, and surfing. During the winter, the...

, Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...

 region. After the pilot episode all filming of the Cohens' home was not done on location but at a recreated soundstage at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach. The Pink Motel, where Sandy and Rebecca stay overnight, was actually filmed at 9457 San Fernando Road
San Fernando Road
San Fernando Road is a major street in the city and county of Los Angeles. It starts off in Castaic as The Old Road, passing through Santa Clarita and the Newhall Pass, whereupon its intersection with Sierra Highway near the junction of the Golden State and the Antelope Valley Freeways, it...

 in Sun Valley
Sun Valley, Los Angeles, California
Sun Valley is a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California, about 15 miles away from Downtown Los Angeles....

. Scenes from the Cooper-Nichol mansion were actually shot at the home of former NFL footballer Brian Bosworth
Brian Bosworth
Brian Keith "The Boz" Bosworth, is a former American football linebacker. He played college football for the University of Oklahoma...

 at 6375 Meadows Court, Malibu near Point Dume
Point Dume
Point Dume is a promontory on the coast of Malibu, California that juts out into the Pacific Ocean.Point Dume, a long bluff, forms the northern end of the Santa Monica Bay, and Point Dume Headlands Park affords a vista of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Santa Catalina Island...

.

The episode was directed by Michael Fresco
Michael Fresco
Michael "Mike" Fresco is an American television director and producer.Most notably Fresco has directed a number of episodes from shows including The O.C., My Name is Earl and the pilots to 1-800-Missing and Providence...

, the script was written by show creator Josh Schwartz
Josh Schwartz
-Film school at USC:In 1995, Schwartz realized his boyhood dream of attending film school to study screen and television writing at the University of Southern California...

 and edited by J.J. Philbin. Michael Cassidy
Michael Cassidy (actor)
Michael Cassidy is an American film and television actor. He attended La Salle High School in Milwaukie, Oregon and graduated from the Two-Year Conservatory program at The New Actors Workshop in New York City in 2003....

 (as Zach Stevens
Zach Stevens
Zach Stevens is a fictional character in the second season of The O.C., portrayed by Michael Cassidy.-Conception:Creator Josh Schwartz described Zach as someone "who's sort of the WASP Seth, a.k.a. the anti-Cohen, and a formidable potential opponent for Seth"-Season 2:Zach joined Seth's fledgling...

), Shannon Lucio
Shannon Lucio
Shannon Lucio is an American actress who played Lindsay Gardner on The O.C..Lucio is a graduate of the University of Southern California and was cast in the lead female role of the CBS television drama Moonlight , but was replaced by Sophia Myles in April 2007...

 (as Lindsay Gardner
Lindsay Gardner
Lindsay Gardner is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Shannon Lucio. Featured only during the first half of season two, Lindsay is the illegitimate daughter of Caleb Nichol by his former secretary, Renee Wheeler...

) and Olivia Wilde
Olivia Wilde
Olivia Wilde is an American actress and fashion model. She began acting in the early 2000s, and has since appeared in a number of film and television parts, including roles in the serial-drama The O.C. and The Black Donnellys. She portrayed Dr...

 (as Alex Kelly) all guest-star, having taken up recurring roles at the beginning of the season. Kim Delaney
Kim Delaney
Kim Delaney is an American actress best known for her starring role as Detective Diane Russell on the ABC drama television series, NYPD Blue. Early in her career, she played the role of Jenny Gardner in the hugely popular ABC daytime television drama, All My Children...

 guest stars in a recurring role for the final time as her five-episode arc as Rebecca Bloom, the ex-fiancée of Sandy Cohen
Sandy Cohen
Sanford "Sandy" Cohen is a fictional character on the FOX series The O.C., portrayed by Peter Gallagher.Sandy, a lawyer, raconteur, and son of Sophie Cohen, is married to Kirsten Cohen. Their eldest child, Seth, is something of a social misfit. Sandy's father left his mother when he was young and...

, comes to an end. Lucio and Kathleen York
Kathleen York
Kathleen "Bird" York is an actress, screenwriter and Oscar nominated songwriter-recording artist.As a screenwriter, York has written projects for John Wells Warner Brothers, Sony, Paramount and has just completed a one hour pilot for Fox Television Studios...

 also make their final appearance, with York having guest-starred in a recurring role as Renee Wheeler, the mother of Lindsay for five episodes.

Reception

The episode was watched by 7.23 million viewers in the United States, and it was the sixty-ninth most viewed program that week. It received an overnight rating/share of 5.6/8 and a share of 3.2/8 in the audience demographic of 18–49-year-olds.

Annie Barrett of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

describe the episode as "the absolute best show in the history of television ... or at least on Fox in 2005", adding that it "could have even been the series finale". She commended the episode for ending the "infuriating and tired-out subplots" of Lindsay and Rebecca. Jesse Ataide of DVDVerdict.com described it as a "standout episode" of the season. Emma Ashelford of AfterEllen.com
AfterEllen.com
AfterEllen.com, founded in April 2002, is a website that focuses on the portrayal of lesbian and bisexual women in the media. AfterElton.com, its brother site for gay and bisexual men, was launched in January 2005. The websites were founded by Sarah Warn, who initially served as the editor in...

, which is a website that focuses on the portrayal of lesbians and bisexual women in the media, notes that "bisexual does not seem to be in [the show's] vocabulary", but comments that when Marissa comes out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....

 to her mother, Julie, she "seems genuinely happy to be with Alex". She also commends a later scene where Marissa "greets Alex with a full-on kiss, which is a welcome relief from their former pecks on the cheek". Ashelford remarked that the Spider-Man kiss was "slightly cringe-worthy, but it was also sweet". Daniel Blau of Television Without Pity graded the episode as a "B" and commented that Schwarz spends "the whole hour making obscure '90s pop culture references".

Popular culture

The O.C. was known for its reference to popular culture. In this episode there are two references to the film Spider-Man
Spider-Man (film)
Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film, the first in the Spider-Man film series based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi and written by David Koepp...

. During dialogue between characters, Alex tells Seth
Seth Cohen
Seth Ezekiel Cohen is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Adam Brody. Seth was one of the "core four" characters on The O.C. alongside Ryan Atwood, Marissa Cooper, and Summer Roberts.-Background:...

 that "with great power comes great responsibility", which is a line from the film. The other reference is a kiss between Seth Cohen
Seth Cohen
Seth Ezekiel Cohen is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Adam Brody. Seth was one of the "core four" characters on The O.C. alongside Ryan Atwood, Marissa Cooper, and Summer Roberts.-Background:...

 and Summer Roberts
Summer Roberts
Summer Roberts is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., portrayed by Rachel Bilson.-Background:Summer Roberts grew up in Newport Beach, California, with her wealthy father, Dr. Neil Roberts...

 that recreates the eponymous kiss between Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...

 and M.J.
Mary Jane Watson
Mary Jane Watson, often shortened to MJ, is a fictional supporting character appearing, originally, in Marvel comic books and, later, in multiple spin-offs and dramatizations of the Spider-Man titles as the best friend, love interest, and one-time wife of Peter Parker, the alter ego of Spider-Man...

. During that scene a cover of Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

' "Champagne Supernova
Champagne Supernova
"Champagne Supernova" is a song by English rock band Oasis, written by guitarist Noel Gallagher. The seven-minute anthem is the closing track on the record-breaking album Morning Glory?...

" is played by Matt Pond PA
Matt Pond PA
Matt Pond PA is a New York based band formed in Philadelphia by singer-songwriter Matt Pond. They have released eight LPs and eight EPs since 1998....

. After the show's conclusion, creator Josh Schwartz described the kiss as one of his favorite moments both musically and on-screen. Another film is directly referenced when Seth is in the thunderstorm and mentions that it looks like a scene from The Day After Tomorrow
The Day After Tomorrow
The Day After Tomorrow is a 2004 American science-fiction disaster film that depicts the catastrophic effects of global warming in a series of extreme weather events that usher in global cooling which leads to a new ice age. The film did well at the box office, grossing $542,771,772 internationally...

. The episode criticized show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County
Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, often referred to simply as Laguna Beach, is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from September 28, 2004 until November 16, 2006. It documents the lives of several teenagers living in Laguna Beach, an affluent seaside community located in...

through the analogous onscreen show Sherman Oaks: The Real Valley. Seth described it as "watch[ing] real people in contrived situations" instead of "watch[ing] the angst of fictional characters".

In an interview, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas
Alexandra Patsavas
Alexandra Patsavas is an American music supervisor who has worked on over sixty films and television series, most notably The O.C., Grey's Anatomy and Gossip Girl.-Early life:Patsavas was born in Chicago, Illinois...

 described the inclusion of the Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men is an American R&B vocal group best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are the most successful R&B group of all time, having sold more than albums worldwide. In the 1990s, Boyz II Men found fame on Motown Records as a quartet, but original member Michael McCary...

 song "End of the Road
End of the Road
"End of the Road" is a 1992 Grammy Award-winning, number-one song recorded in May 1992 by Boyz II Men for the Motown label. Written and produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Antonio "L.A." Reid and Daryl Simmons. It is Boyz II Men's most successful single and replaced Diana Ross and Lionel...

" as Schwartz "being inspired, and writing to the scene". Mid-90s band Blind Melon
Blind Melon
Blind Melon is an American rock band active from 1989 to 1999, and from 2006 onward.Best remembered for their 1993 single "No Rain", the group enjoyed critical and commercial success in the early 1990s with their neo-psychedelic take on alternative rock...

's "No Rain
No Rain
"No Rain" is a song by Blind Melon, released on the band's 1992 debut album Blind Melon. "No Rain" is well-known for its accompanying music video, which features the "Bee Girl" character. The music video, directed by Samuel Bayer, received heavy airplay on MTV at the time of its release."No Rain"...

" is used to open the episode and depict the unusual occurrence of rain in Orange County. Patsavas stated that they were receiving 400 or 500 CDs a week, and Bell X1, who feature in this episode with "In Every Sunflower", were a band that "none of us had heard of [previously] and just liked".

Trivia

  • The scene where Seth asks for his job back and Alex calls him a flaky employee was a tongue-in-cheek
    Tongue-in-cheek
    Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...

     reference by the writers at how Seth and Ryan have jobs, yet never seem to go to them. The commentary of the episode further poked at this, when one of the writers questioned, "Does Ryan work at the Crab Shack anymore?"
  • Josh Schwartz
    Josh Schwartz
    -Film school at USC:In 1995, Schwartz realized his boyhood dream of attending film school to study screen and television writing at the University of Southern California...

     said on the commentary of this episode that his dream ending for this episode would be for the camera to pan out while Seth and Summer are kissing in the rain and to see the boat under water in the pool. However, they did not have enough money to film this scene, therefore the scene ended differently.
  • When Sandy and Rebecca are in the hotel room overnight, Sandy says "ding-dongs or cheese sticks?"; this was also said in the episode where all the teens go to Tijuana ("The Escape", Season 1) and Ryan says to Marissa, "ding-dongs or cheese sticks?"
  • Of all the 92 episodes, this is the only one that doesn't feature any scenes shot in a sunny day.

External links

  • Official Recap from Fox
    Fox Broadcasting Company
    Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

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