There are three shows that I declare to have the most perfect first seasons of any other show of my time — Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, and The O.C. The latter of those shows didn’t last as long as the others, and well, after the first season, it was really hard to watch (but I watched anyway). The O.C. is a part of me, and it was a full-fledged cultural phenomenon when it aired from 2003 to 2007. Netflix’s Girlboss takes place around 2006, and boy, was I excited to have one of The O.C.’s most important scene highlighted on Girlboss. Thank you, Kay Cannon. Thank you for bringing back this most important of events. It all starts in Episode 4 when Sophia and her gang are hanging out, watching the Season 3 finale of The O.C., which we can call “the one where Marissa Cooper finally dies.”
If you’re not a fan of The O.C., you should watch it on Hulu right now (I’ll wait here), but here is the gist of the scene. Fresh off graduating from high school, Ryan Atwood and Marissa Cooper are riding in the car when Volchok, Marissa’s grungy ex-boyfriend, accidentally runs them off the road when he’s trying to get her attention to go back out with him or whatever (he is gross.. hot, but gross). Ryan’s car flips and spectacularly explodes, and Ryan carries a dying Marissa from the wreckage. Imogen Heap’s version of “Hallelujah” plays in the background. Everyone is moved (including Sophia, who has just been interrupted by a call about a dress someone ordered from Nasty Gal Vintage).
I appreciated that this cultural zeitgeist was brought up in Girlboss, but what I loved was that it later is mimicked in the scene where Sophia is forced to run a wedding dress over the Golden Gate Bridge (Sophia “don’t do bridges,” as she says). Out of breath and sweaty, she gently carries the dress in her arms in order to deliver it to its waiting buyer. Though Marissa dies, that dress ultimately lives, dropped into the bride’s hands with literal seconds to spare. Sophia lives, too, allowing her business to not be the recipient of one ugly review by said bride. Everyone wins here! Minus Marissa Cooper.
