We want MAlex! (but we'll settle for SeSum)

Best show on TV is back -- totally gassed. The wife and I settled in the for the season premiere of "The O.C." the other night, certainly weren't disappointed. Random thoughts:

• Kelly Rowan looks pretty good, still the hottest broad in the cast. Seems to have put on a pound or two in the off-season. She could still use a few good home-cooked meals on that frame, but at least she's not the bag o' bones she was last year.
• Anybody gonna miss Trey? Me neither¹. What a lame character. Barely hesitated before agreeing to sell out his brother for a chunka change. And it's not like he's a bad guy because he's devious, he's a bad guy because he's a dumbass.
• Contrast him to Julie Cooper, whose every dastardly scheme is so deliciously wicked that she's not only one of the best characters on the show, but arguably one of the best villians on TV right now². What makes her so fabulous is that she's not purely malicious, just self-serving. When she threatened to smother a gunshot victim in his hospital bed, then offered to pay him to send his own brother to jail, she was really just looking out for her family. In fact just about everything she does is motivated by some woefully misguided good intention or another, which makes her simultaneously more real and more horrifying.
• Summer's been in danger for a while now of becoming little more than Seth's partner-in-comic-relief, and this season shows no sign of reversing that trend. Her stints as Marissa's sounding-board are all well and good, but she needs some stories of her own that don't just revolve around her on-again, off-again shenanigans with Seth and/or Zach. We know her parents are divorced and that she's mad tight with her pops; how 'bout a stepmother with whom she doesn't get along threatening to come between her and daddy dearest? Seeing as her boyfriend and best friend currently rank one and two respectively on the list of the most self-absorbed characters in prime time, to whom could she turn? Could be a chance to establish a friendship with Ryan that could seed future romantic turmoil. More importantly, would impart much-needed depth to her character, currently the least developed of the four teen principals.
• Speaking of Zach, anybody seen him? Is he off the show? Moved in with Luke and his gay dad in tropical Portland?
• Jess is still inspiring discussion at the Fox message boards, though nothing beyond hot-or-not fluff, but all the posts speak of her in the past tense. Is she gone too? Assuming Trey is gone for good she doesn't serve an immediate purpose any longer, but femme fatales like her are always useful to have around³.
• Tate Donovan, back on the set. Never a bad thing.
• Quick shout-out to Peter Gallagher's eyebrows; much love.

A few links worth checking out: ESPN's Bill Simmons "interviews" series creator Josh Schwartz, which reads less like an interview and more like the ravings of a gushing fan, and gambling parody site Oddjack sets the line for the season's events. Bring it.

1. Having said that, I would fully support bringing him back for a brief stint of havoc in a year or so if and only if the actor who currently plays him is already booked and they have to cast a Trey #3 for the role. And only because I believe this would be an all-time record for most actors playing a single recurring role on a TV show.
2. Granted, I don't really watch much else, but I can't imagine anyone being this good at being bad.
3. Prediction? If she stays, here's her next story: the gang all go to some parents-outta-town kegger and somebody's mansion. Jess is there, of course, 'cause it ain't a party without Jess bringin' the drugs. She gets Ryan alone in a bedroom, comes on strong, he turns her down and leaves. She cries rape, purely as an act of revenge for the slight, Ryan gets in trouble with the law again, no one believes him 'cause he's from the wrong side of the tracks, etc. Too easy. Also perfect opportunity for some romantic drama with Marissa, who wants to believe nothing happened, but, but...