Edit: Josh Schwartz is a tool.
Ausiello: So, why did you kill her off?
Schwartz: This was always going to be a season of great upheaval and change, and at the end of the year, with graduation and people moving out into different directions, we always knew that the show was never going to be the same. And if you go back to the pilot episode of the show, tragedy is in the DNA of Marissa's character. When you first see her in the pilot, she's passed out drunk in the driveway of her house. Her dad's losing all of his money, and her boyfriend is cheating on her. This is a girl who attracted that kind of tragedy. And Ryan and Marissa, while they had some good times, were never really a happily ever-after couple. They were always the star-crossed lovers. So as we looked down the barrel at the end of the season, it just felt like that's where the show was pushing us. The show kind of paints you in a certain direction. And it was the kind of thing that will drive us into next season as the kind of cataclysmic event that will force some people to leave and some people will not be able to leave. It has a huge effect in terms of how it drives into next season.ANS: Lol, yeah, into cancellation.
Smart move dumbass. Yes, Marissa's character was the "tragic" character, but if you had sent her off with her dad like originally planned there would be a chance for her to come back. Yeah you may have told all the stories left to tell and as a writer I respect that. However, this is a television serial. All the stories left to tell were finished the first season, I imagine that anything after was filler and Marissa like it or not was part of the glue in the show. I imagine the same would happen if ANY of the core 4 were killed, that there'd be significant decreases in ratings. If there was a chance for her to come back, there'd be only MORE stories about reunion. Then the OC could transition into a show focusing on Marissa's return after maybe half a season...then could transition into being about the kids being adults and having their own children. Hell if they actually wanted to kill her they could've done it by disease means. Have her marry Ryan, then die of cancer. Ryrissa fans get their wedding, you get to make a series where Ryan copes with the loss of his wife...still tragic amirite? See how that works Josh?
The real culprit of the reason why they offed Marissa is because of low ratings. The writers imagined if they canned a main character people would be interested in seeing how everyone deals. However, being completely stupid they forgot that RM was a main pairing and that the OC is a streaming serial. Who'd want to see how Ryan deals if half he viewing audience was waiting for a wedding? Why not kill both Ryan and Marissa? Marissa certainly did not deserve death, but her life...being so messed up, I suppose it was an end to all the suffering. Being a streaming serial, it's not like Avatar, there is no set ending so they still need enough stamina to make a new season. Truth be told, the OC's writing sucked balls in season 2 near the end, and even worse during season 3. Come on, Johnny and Volchok? Were they pulling their ideas out of their asses and from the
Passions crackpot? Two horrible ideas, two way too extreme people. The girl's already been raped, and had two suicidal maniacs come after her...ridiculous.
The writing and ideas of the 3rd season were way too extreme and completely cheesy. They were stupid, inane and so stereotypical which is not what the OC is about. Come on, season 4, Taylor marries a French guy and demands Ryan to be her secret lover *cue Chong singing 'Secret Lovers and Tunnels'*? What kind of ridiculum is this? Not only did they have NO stories left to tell about Ryrissa, they didn't have many
good stories to tell anyway.
All in all, I'm divided as to whether or not I'd want the OC to come back if ever. I'm pleased at how it ended. Sethummer ended up getting married, Ryan and Taylor's relationship remains ambiguous and everything turns out NORMAL. However, if they could redo s3 and s4 I hope they would. There's too many things about those two seasons that SUCK...hard. They should have fired their writers ages ago and not killed Marissa. If they hadn't killed her and decided to maybe make Summer or Marissa pregnant, way more people would've tuned in to see what would happen. I know Josh said that making Marissa die made people like her better. That's not the point of a TV serial. There will always be people we hate in a series, sometimes people we love to hate. Taylor was one of them, but she did not have the staying power of Marissa. If they'd kept Marissa alive, the OC would've been canceled...eventually but they could've secured a solid season 4 then maybe a half way canceled 5. NO ONE likes to be canceled, they should've at least known how to bow out gracefully.
Okay, I have...officially lost it. So I was thinking...if the OC could pull off a Bizarro world, and has become exceedingly more cracked out and cancelled, if they restarted it again technically speaking they could make a Marissa look alike come back. You know, to test Ryan and Taylor's relationship if actually existent in the season finale. And I am positive it was AMBIGUOUS. If any Zutarian knows, it's always ambiguous. Anyway, if they were to put the OC back on TV which could potentially be awesome, Mischa could work back a deal with the writers, write a completely cracked out series that could hell be *set* in a Bizarro world...we got an OC spin off. Hows about THAT for your slice of friend gold?
...
I know, I've...I've gone insane.
This is what happens when a shipper goes into complete denial. But, after watching some of season four and confirming that Taryan is really cute (but I still don't like it), I think it's like my Kataang. Except Ryrissa is more like Kataang canon wise. 3 season set up to a relationship...always canon. Well till she died. HOWEVER, it's more like Zutara personality and dynamic wise. Canon wise, Zutara is like Taryan. It was IMPOSSIBLE. Honestly if you watched s3 you'd be like, "TARYAN HOW?" and a lot of fans went "WTFOMGTHISMAKESNOSENSE." A few months ago Ryrissa AND Sethummer fans would've said, "TARYAN IS A CRACK SHIP." Well, till it was uncracked. So there. However, I do NOT ship Taryan, and NEVER will but I think I've found some soft spot for it knowing it's sort of like Zutara...in a way.
So you know, having one ship sink with a lifeless corpse, is pretty crappy so...uhh yeah, hoping Zutara won't sink. However, cynicism has always been my forte so, I'm not so optimistic. I mean DON'T GET ME WRONG, I STILL think Zutara has a chance and still will till the time comes where I have to accept my fate...but yeah, I'll have to warn you that...I may end up becoming more deluded than this current Ryrissa thing...oh lawd this is what happens when you join fandom too late. But rest assured, even if Katara ends up with Aang circa Sethummer style, I'll be writing just as much adulterous fan fiction and horrifying smut to rectify it. And of course some nice doujin. Also, thinking of doing an OC Avatar doujin. Sounds crazy no?
Well, take a look...
Ryan is...
brooding, violent, stubborn, has a quick temper, is extremely caring, chivalrous, has a bad father and a mother who ran away
Marissa is...
sweet, emotional, gorgeous, friendly, defensive, self-righteous, has a father she loves dearly who is never there and a mother who she hates Aside from Marissa's mother being alive and a dragon, the qualities MATCH. So, I'm thinking about it when I get some free time. Guh, save me from my fandoms.
