Teen drama The O.C. is known for its holiday episodes, but not every episode is great. We're ranking all 14 of them from worst to best.
During the four seasons The O.C. was on the air for, the teen drama made a habit of spotlighting different holidays. The first season alone featured Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, and Passover with big parties, family gatherings, and plenty of drama. (Surprisingly, never a Halloween episode!)
With fourteen episodes built around holidays, there was a lot of opportunity for the drama of heartbreak, comedic hijinks, and some signature Ryan Atwood slow motion sequences. Not every holiday episode could be a standout hour, so they’ve been ranked from the worst to the best.
Whether or not you consider Groundhog Day a real holiday is up to you. Traditionally, the U.S. watches a groundhog emerge into sunlight and decides whether its shadow means there’s more winter coming. The O.C. saw Taylor Townsend dress up as the groundhog, and Seth decide to help Summer’s new boyfriend Che save a groundhog.
It’s definitely the least entertaining of the holiday episodes. The hour very much feels like filler as the series crept closer to its end.
This Valentine’s Day episode is hands down the worst of the show’s romantic holidays. Not only does it lead off with the death of a character the audience didn’t really like (Johnny), but it also spent the entire hour obsessing about him.
Other episodes that focused on the death of a character allowed characters to confront their own mortality, or at least had some interesting character connections. This one did not.
Chrismukkah was a fusion of Christmas and Hanukkah Seth Cohen created to celebrate both sides of his family (and, of course, get more gifts out of everyone). Here, he further fused the two with the Jewish right of passage, a Bar Mitzvah, so Ryan could become a man.
Except that most of the characters used the excuse of Ryan’s party to raise money for an injured Johnny. The best part of the episode is the bonding between Ryan and Sandy about Ryan truly being a member of the family.
This Valentine’s Day episode ranks so low on the list because really, everyone’s Valentine’s Day is the worst. None of the characters you want to see interact spend time together... unless you include Julie and Marissa trying each other’s patience.
Seth, Zack, and Summer took an awkward trip to promote their comic book at a convention while Ryan hung out with Caleb, trying to get in his good graces. The absolute worst? Sandy kissed someone who wasn’t Kirsten, destroying the audience's perception of him.
In season four the series started playing with narrative structure a bit. This New Year’s Eve episode started at the end, then took the audience back seven hours earlier to show just how everything went down.
It's definitely one of the more fun holiday episodes, but not the best the series had to offer. Seeing Summer and Taylor finally bond (over a pregnancy test that then went missing during the middle of an alien-themed party) was one of the best aspects of the hour.
There were a lot of sweet relationship moments in the episode between Seth and Summer and Sandy and Kirsten, but the more fun moments were actually in the family bonding.
Taylor and Ryan attempted to set Julie up with Ryan’s father. Surprisingly, both Julie and Ryan, who couldn’t stand one another when the series began, just wanted to protect one another from the older Atwood letting them down. This episode showed a lot of growth on the part of the characters - and a lot of flashbacks.
The first of the Valentine’s Day episodes was also the best. Before things more angsty, Kirsten revealed it was her favorite. She quite literally tried to play cupid, shooting her family with cupid’s arrows in the kitchen. Everyone else was less enthused.
This episode is known by fans as the one where Seth and Summer took their relationship to the next level - and the curveball that Summer had actually never gone that far with anyone. While they figured out their relationship, Ryan also pulled away from Marissa.
Though every season had a Valentine’s Day and Chrismukkah episode, season one featured the only Passover episode. In it, Sandy Cohen’s mother came for a visit - and was a little too nice.
As it turned out, she was dying, something Seth didn’t take very well, but a topic that provided for a lot of heart-to-hearts in the episode. We also got some comedy gold in the way of Summer trying to impress Nana with her knowledge of Passover.
The audience’s introduction to Chrismukkah was so full of drama that you almost didn’t notice it was chock full of holiday moments.
While Summer and Anna each dated Seth, they each gave him a memorable gift: Anna, a homemade comic book, and Summer, herself dressed as Wonder Woman. It highlighted how well they knew him, but also made for entertaining love triangle dramatics. Marissa’s downward spiral and Ryan’s anger also began, kicking off one of the best story arcs of the season - Marissa’s recovery and Oliver's spiral.
Season four is hit or miss. While some fans love the fresh start the show had with Taylor becoming more involved in the group, others missed the classic dynamic involving Marissa. An episode that focused on Ryan and Taylor was pretty divisive.
In the episode, Ryan and Taylor argued while decorating for the holidays before they both fell off a ladder. Comatose in the hospital, the two shared a dream of what Newport would have been like if Ryan had never moved in. The episode really solidified Taylor’s place in the series as well.
Julie Cooper is the MVP of this episode. Yes, it has a lot of fun in Kaitlin and Taylor meeting (and Taylor cooking the Cohens Thanksgiving dinner), but it also balances that with some heavy emotional hits from Julie.
Julie, Summer, and Ryan hadn’t dealt with Marissa’s death that ended season three, and this is the episode where they really start. Julie even offered up an apology and wanted Ryan to tell her about the Marissa she never let herself get to know.
The first Thanksgiving episode of the series gave fans hints at what was to come. There was Ryan trying to do right by his family, Marissa wanting an adventure, Kirsten not being allowed to cook, and Seth getting himself into trouble with the ladies.
Seth Cohen being a cad and not telling Anna and Summer about one another both approaching him provides a lot of the comedy of the episode. Kirsten’s inevitable drinking problem also reared its head for the first time as she whipped up margaritas to get through family drama.
Also known as the time Summer Roberts saved Chrismukkah, this episode has some of the best Cohen family holiday moments wrapped in the outlandish drama only The O.C. could give.
The episode saw everyone discover that Lindsay - Ryan’s new flame - was actually Caleb’s daughter. Kirsten finally exploding at her father when she spent most of her marriage defending him to Sandy was definitely a highlight. Of course, the entire family and friends came together in the end, complete with Lindsay getting her own yamaclaus.
This has everything a fan could want: bonding between Summer and Anna, love triangles galore, and a slow motion sequence of Ryan finding his way to Marissa.
Seth and Ryan initially sat at home because they were on the outs from their respective ladies. Marissa, Summer, and Anna attended Oliver’s New Year’s Eve bash. In the end, Anna decided to seek out Seth, and Ryan made his way to Oliver’s so he could begin the year with Marissa. It was classic The O.C., focusing on the romantic drama while still embracing the holiday itself.
