Where were you when Marissa Cooper died in Ryan Atwood’s arms? For diehard fans of The OC, it’s a memory more visceral than Princess Diana’s funeral. Ryan’s car being bumped off the road by bad boy Volchok, Ryan dragging Marissa out of the burning wreckage, Marissa saying “Don’t leave”, as she realises she’s dying, Imogen Heap’s breathy version of Hallelujah kicking in … Hang on, just need a moment.
It hit so hard because, three seasons earlier, the start of the on/off relationship between Ryan (Ben McKenzie) and Marissa (Mischa Barton) had ignited the best teen drama of all time. When they first meet in the pilot episode, wrong-side-of-the-tracks Ryan cockily tells poor-little-rich-girl Marissa that he’ll be “whoever you want me to be” when she bums a cigarette off him. Later, after a wild beach party, Ryan proves he’s a good egg, really, when he picks up an unconcious Marissa and carries her home to safety. The tale of these star-crossed lovers, which included Marissa shooting Ryan’s brother and an overdose in Tijuana, would go on to capture millennial hearts everywhere.
