Ryan Atwood

Ryan Atwood is The main protagonist on the television show "The O.C.". He was a teenager living in Chino. He was caught stealing a car with his brother Trey and later met attorney Sandy Cohen. Ryan was abandoned by his mother, Dawn Atwood, and Sandy eventually adopted Ryan, with some initial objections from Sandy's wife,Kirsten Cohen. It didn't take long for Kirsten to warm up to this new addition in her household, and since then, Ryan has been living inNewport Beach. He has become a brother to Sandy and Kirsten's misfit son Seth Cohen, and Sandy and Kirsten consider him as a second son. Ryan was involved in an on-again, off-again relationship with Marissa Cooper, the girl next door who went through traumatic changes over the entire season.

Character arcEdit

Season oneEdit

Ryan has the tendency to punch people in the face and constantly has to back up Seth - a good example of this is at Holly's beach party after Holly's party, where Ryan punches Luke, the captain of the water polo team and boyfriend to Marissa Cooper, because his friends and he are pushing Seth around. Ryan falls in love with Marissa much to the dismay of Luke. Marissa is secretly attracted to Ryan as well, but remains with Luke and becomes very jealous when she sees Ryan kissing the girlfriend of his adoptive granfather, Caleb Nichol. She then proceedes to lose her virginity to Luke as a way of getting back at Ryan. Later on in the season, Marissa's parents get divorced and she finds Luke cheating on her in Tijuana, causing her to take an overdose of painkillers, only to be saved by Ryan. When they return to Newport Beach, Ryan and Marissa become involved, although Luke desperately tries to get back with her. They date steadily, but the arrival of the manipulativeOliver Trask drives a wedge between them, as the mentally ill and obsessive Oliver falls in love with Marissa, although she insists that they are friends when Ryan begins to suspect him; when he turns to Seth for support, Seth sides with Marissa. However, Oliver is eventually exposed as a fraud when he confesses his love to Marissa and threatens to shoot himself if they don't get together. Marissa is desperately sorry and apologises to Ryan, imploring that they "start over" - Ryan is unable to do so, and so they break up for the first time in the series. Ryan then becomes involved with an old girlfriend from Chino, Theresa Diaz, whilst Luke begins to have a casual sexual relationship with Marissa's mother, Julie. Marissa finds out and flees to Chino to Theresa, who she had met when she was in town with Ryan. Ryan finds her and convinces her to return, but she states that she hates them both and that she never wants to return to Newport. However, Ryan convinces her and she returns home, but does not forgive the two for what they did. Ryan and Marissa get back together after a kiss that they share on the boardwalk. Julie becomes engaged to Caleb Nichol, much to the dismay of Luke, who gets drunk and their engagement party and drives away from Ryan, shouting "Don't make me" when the latter tries to stop him. Luke then "wraps his truck around a lamp post" and is taken to hospital after vowing to leave Newport forever in order to allow Marissa to continue to live her life. Ryan then leaves for Chino as he finds out that his ex-girlfriend Theresa might be pregnant with his child. Marissa is heartbroken and takes to drinking, whilst Seth leaves because Ryan was all that he had in Newport.

Season twoEdit

Not surprisingly, Ryan returned to Newport Beach, after Theresa made him believe she had a miscarriage. He also convinced Seth to return from Portland to The Cohen household with him after he ran away too. Ryan is portrayed as much more mature in the second season. After he broke up with Marissa Cooper, Ryan had a relationship with Lindsay Gardner, who is soon discovered to be Kirsten Cohen's sister and Caleb Nichol's love child since he cheated on her mother for some time. After Lindsay moved, Ryan reunited with Marissa. Ryan brother, Trey, is released from prison moves to Newport Beach to be with Ryan. At the end of the season, Trey and Marissa were alone and they got drunk. Trey was high and attacked Marissa sexually. As she was struggling, she hit him on the head with a log, giving her time to get away. Eventually Ryan found out about the attempted rape which lead to Ryan turning to the "old Ryan" and to a confrontation between him and Trey. The confrontation turned and had Ryan pinned to the floor where Trey was strangling him. Marissa ran in and pleaded with Trey to let Ryan go. In a fit of rage Trey refused and Marissa shot him in the back as a result. It was left unclear whether he survived or not until the third season.

Season threeEdit

After being in a coma for two months, Trey wakes up and was offered money by Julie Cooper to blame Ryan for the shooting, in an attempt to save Marissa's future. He then however cleared Ryan's name afterwards when confronted by Marissa and subsequently left Newport. Ryan and Marissa both faced a campaign to expell both of them from parents at the prestigious Harbour Valley School as a result of the shooting however, which resulted in the school board and the new Dean of Discipline Jack Hess expelling Marissa, and later Ryan after he assaulted the dean. Marissa then ended up going to Newport Union the public high school, with Ryan eventually being re-admitted to Harbour after Dean Hess was blackmailed over having an affair with a student,Taylor Townsend. While Marissa was at Newport Union, until she was readmitted again into Harbour, she made friends with another boy Johnny Harper and his friend Chilli, which later complicated Ryan's relationship with Marissa when Johnny fell in love with her & Ryan was suspicious about whether the feelings were reciprocated. Marissa confirmed her committment to her relationship with Ryan, and told Johnny although he was her friend and she cared for him she would never be in love with him. This rejection prompted Johnny to go on a drinking binge, which resulted in Johnny falling off a cliff despite both Ryan and Marissa trying to talk him down. This resulted in Ryan and Marissa becoming distant from each other, and both of them admitting their relationship was not working and breaking up. Ryan then started dating Sadie Campbell, Johnny's cousin who moved down to Newport temporarily to help her aunt. The relationship was short lived however when Ryan was accepted into the University of California, Berkeleyandthey admitted they had little conceivable future together with Ryan due to leave for college in the fall and Sadie then left Newport. He recently became reaquainted with his waitress mother and had a love relationship with his mother's waitress co-worker & his graduation from Harbour is coming up. On graduation night Marissa told Ryan, that she's intending to leave Newport to work on her father's yacht in Greece. He wants to drive her to the airport, but then Kevin Volchok appears and tries to talk to Marissa. They have a terrible accident, in which Marissa dies...

Season fourEdit

5 months after Marissa's death Ryan's life has changed completely. He didn't attend her funeral and left The Cohen's house. When Julie asks him to find Volchok and revenge Marissa, Sandy solves the problem. Ryan confronts Volchok one last time, before he's imprisoned... Ryan returns to The Cohen's house and has a new job. But he still can't think of anything else than Marissa... When he has problems sleeping Taylor offers him help. She falls in love with him, but he's not ready to let go of Marissa, but then he receives a letter from her in which she tells him, why she had to leave and that she loves him, he finally can start over and starts to date Taylor. Several problems arise with this new relationship. Taylor's ex-husband Henri-Michel from Franceappears with a biography about his love to Taylor alias Peaches. Ryan starts to compete with Henry-Michelle and in the end wins Taylor's heart with a sweet poem. The relationship continues a bit weird as Ryan still has the "I love you"-problem. When his father, Frank Atwood returns Ryan is reminded once again of his dark past. After a few difficulties he and his father get along pretty good and grow together with the help of Taylor. During the devastating earthquake Ryan is seriously injured and rescued by Seth, who delivered him safe to the hospital. In the series finale, following a 6 month flashforward, Ryan aids in finding the Cohen's a new home, mirroring the offer they had extended to him in Season 1. Ryan goes on to rekindle his relationship with Taylor, as they both face up to attending college in different countries. As the series reaches it's conclusion, Ryan reminisces on his time spent in Newport with The Cohen Family, thinking back to when he first stepped foot in the pool house, his first look at the famous Cohen-house view as well as his first encounter with Seth. As Ryan drives off, he pays homage to Marissa, as the iconic final scene from The Pilot is once again revisited. The final montage leaves Ryan's relationship with Taylor somewhat ambiguous, as the two share a smile at Seth and Summer's wedding. The last scene brings the show full circle, as Ryan, now a successful architect, comes across a down-trodden youth dressed in the familiar Ryan Atwood grey hoodie, on his bike next to a phone booth - mirroring the situation Ryan found himself in the pilot. Realising this, Ryan asks the kid if he needs any help as The Series comes to a close.

RelationshipsEdit

See: Ryan Atwood/Relationships

ReferencesEdit

Season 1Edit

• Pilot
• The Model Home
• The Gamble
• The Debut
• The Outsider
• The Girlfriend
• The Escape
• The Rescue
• The Heights
• The Perfect Couple
• The Homecoming
• The Secret
• The Best Chrismukkah Ever
• The Countdown
• The Third Wheel
• The Links
• The Rivals
• The Truth
• The Heartbreak
• The Telenovela
• The Goodbye Girl
• The L.A.
• The Nana
• The Proposal
• The Shower
• The Strip
• The Ties That Bind

Season 2Edit

• The Distance
• The Way We Were
• The New Kids on the Block
• The New Era
• The SnO.C.
• The Chrismukkah That Almost Wasn't
• The Family Ties
• The Power of Love
• The Ex-Factor
• The Accomplice
• The Second Chance
• The Lonely Hearts Club
• The Test
• The Rainy Day Women
• The Mallpisode
• The Blaze of Glory
• The Brothers Grim
• The Risky Business
• The Rager
• The O.C. Confidential
• The Return of the Nana
• The Showdown
• The O.Sea
• The Dearly Beloved

Season 3Edit

• The Aftermath
• The Shape of Things to Come
• The End of Innocence
• The Last Waltz
• The Perfect Storm
• The Swells
• The Anger Management
• The Game Plan
• The Disconnect
• The Chrismukkah Bar Mitz-vahkkah
• The Safe Harbor
• The Sister Act
• The Pot Stirrer
• The Cliffhanger
• The Heavy Lifting
• The Road Warrior
• The Journey
• The Undertow
• The Secrets and Lies
• The Day After Tomorrow
• The Dawn Patrol
• The College Try
• The Party Favor
• The Man of The Year
• The Graduates

Season 4Edit

• The Avengers
• The Gringos
• The Cold Turkey
• The Metamorphosis
• The Sleeping Beauty
• The Summer Bummer
• The Chrismukk-huh?
• The Earth Girls Are Easy
• The My Two Dads
• The French Connection
• The Dream Lover
• The Groundhog Day
• The Case Of The Franks
• The Shake Up
• The Night Moves
• The End's Not Near, It's Here