activities of daily living

1) The plot arcs weren't that bad, though I did swear up and down that if Sandy actually did cheat on Kirsten I was going to go lie down in the bathtub and cut my wrists.

2) They maintained the tension between Summer and Seth just long enough to be pitch-perfect, in my opinion. And though the ending was a shameless rip-off, it was also perfect for the comic geek demographic who watch the show, just like it was when Summer wore the Wonder Woman costume.

3) I'm kinda glad to see Lindsay go cause she just makes ass decisions, and her mom can eat a dick for deciding to move away right after Lindsay finds out who her dad is and has a steady boyfriend. You know that was a completely selfish decision because, really, who is Lindsay going to choose? The mother she's known all her life or them? Please. Weak.

4) I totally feel Zach's (sp?) pain. I've been that guy where all of the pieces are there but there's just no spark far too many times. It's a wretched existence.

1) I guess that individually, they might not have been contrived, but all of them at once was out of control: Rebecca, the Seth/Zac/Summer caffeine & alcohol enhanced tension loop, Marissa's very special coming out party, drippy Linsay vs. Caleb, in one episode. (The details were super-contrived, too: the kid playing with the horse, the rainstorm, all of the simultaneous old music, the car crash, the 911 call, Sandy never introducing Kirsten to Rebecca, the DNA test business, wishy-washy Caleb and his adoption or not subplot, taking it to another level of self-referentiality with the Laguna Beach analog). It was if the writers knew they were stuck and decided to get rid of all of the dead weight at once. Like I said, the contrivance was 100% worth it to get rid of those laggy subplots.

2) The last scene was fantastic, though I saw it coming as soon as Seth climbed up on the roof with that rope. It was brilliant how the mask was introduced earlier in the episode for the last scene payoff.

3) The Linsay story was probably the most contrived. Wasn't her mom on the city council or some sort of planning organization? I didn't believe that her she would've just skipped town or that Linsay would have even considered moving in to the Caleb and Julie house. Good riddance though.

4) Zac (just to mix up the spelling) is an out of control good guy.