Sure it may have seemed like the worst series finale ever. What other show could take questions already answered episodes ago that we never cared about anyway (Will Julie marry Bullit? Will Summer join Greenpeace? Does Ryan love Taylor?) and then somehow flash forward 6 months where those same questions all had to be answered again? Yes, it was ridiculous, but how many finales have Kevin Sorbo, of Hercules fame, literally running around all over the place (besides maybe the Hercules finale)? I rest my case.
Besides, the final montage of past events managed to sum up the experience of growing up for all of us, whether we lived in the O.C. or not. I mean, things never turn out exactly the way you planned. Still, like Mr. Cohen says, “Traffic’s traffic, you go where life takes you” and growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you’re in diapers, the next you’re gone, but the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul. You remember a time a place, a particular Fourth of July, the things that happened in a decade of war and change. You remember a house like a lot of houses, a yard like a lot of yards, on a street like a lot of other streets. You remember how hard it was growing up among people and places you loved. Most of all, you remember how hard it was to leave. And the thing is, after all these years you still look back in wonder…
