The O.C. Season 4

The O.C. Season 4 is currently streaming on and , and it rewards the patience it asks of you. A single, tightly-focused season means there is plenty to get through without ever feeling padded. 943 people have weighed in on TMDB, and the verdict leans heavily positive. Peter Gallagher anchors it with a performance that rewards close attention. There is no real reason to keep putting it off.

The O.C. Season 4 is not trying to be everything to everyone, and that focus is exactly what makes it work. The writing in The O.C. Season 4 treats its characters as people first, plot devices second. High school seems like a distant memory to the young graduates, who have been thrust into adulthood after the death of their beloved friend. The Cohens struggle to keep Ryan focused on the future, fighting the forces that threaten to pull him back into his old life. Summer has left Orange County and is attending Brown University in Rhode Island, where she has reinvented herself as a left-leaning, tree-hugging activist. Peter Gallagher and Kelly Rowan lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was aired in 2006. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping everything up in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It rarely drops the ball, and when it does, it recovers fast.

Viewers drawn to character-driven storytelling will find plenty to sit with in The O.C. Season 4. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. The complete run is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Peter Gallagher carries the material with a performance that rewards close attention. Worth starting sooner rather than later.