Attractively unhappy in the rich, sun-kissed OC

Mischa Barton

When the teens of The OC sulk and have tantrums they can be relied upon to do it expensively and in stylish swimwear.

This made the opening episode of the second season of the teen drama, an hour devoted to adolescent brooding and bad temper, less tedious than it might otherwise have been if the show were set in some more down-market, uglier district.

Yes, the gang are back for another dose of telly's hottest teen cash, flash and trash drama, although it took the whole of the first hour to get the scattered, angry ones back in Newport Beach again. That Ryan and Seth would return was utterly predictable. But as they say in the breezy, zen-lovin' coastal California, it's the journey that counts.

Talking of travel, princess Marissa's new set of wheels must have set mum's new financier, real estate developer husband Caleb, back a bit. This has not impressed his new step-daughter, however, who set an early benchmark for hissy fits with a marvellous bout of primal screaming and chucking the costly outdoor furniture in the pool.

Friend Summer kept her meltdown strictly verbal, to a tirade featuring innovative uses of The OC's favoured insult, "bitch".

Former boyfriend Seth, having run away from home to live in Portland with the school jock and his gay dad (seriously), continued to behave like a throwback to an earlier teen drama. Articulate, introspective and self-deprecating, there's a last-century aura about Seth; he must have strayed in somehow from Dawson's Creek.

Meanwhile, his adoptive brother Ryan was stuck in an equally improbable scenario, back in the white trash American nightmare, working on a construction site and trying to do the right thing by his pregnant former girlfriend.

That's the finest thing about The OC: it's unashamedly stereotypical, vulgar and exclusive. No middle-class African Americans appear to have penetrated its high-security perimeters. Ethnic people are kept strictly to poor, servile roles.

The OC is often compared to Beverly Hills 90210 but its true parents are the glam trash soaps of the 1980s. Despite her like, totally, now grasp of teenspeak, the show's best character, Marissa's mom Julie, is straight from Dynasty or Falcon Crest. Beneath the pancake makeup lies the true heart of a gold-digger.

The 80s deja vu is helped along by Peter Gallagher as Seth's dad, Sandy Cohen. He might get away with playing the family man for the show's fresh-faced target demographic, but those of us who remember him best as the sleazy cheating husband in sex, lies and videotape just aren't going to buy it.

Other OC highlights include the fabulous David Hockney swimming pools and the stunningly bad taste suburban palaces.

Marissa's new home, a faux Romanesque pile, is worth the Friday night commitment alone. And the show has some great lines, such as Julie's ex-husband coyly telling her his new trophy girlfriend is "fantastic, sweet ... limber".

By episode end, The OC was promising an entertaining second outing. Linchpin Ryan was never going to last back in low-rent home suburb, Cino. He's a true convert to The OC philosophy: it's much more attractive to be unhappy in a rich environment, than a poor one. His poor, pregnant Latina girl friend Teresa didn't stand a chance.

Ryan's safely back ensconced in the Cohen family pool house, all is reassuringly not right with the world.

On screen

*What: The OC

*When: TV2, 8.30pm Friday

*Reviewer: Frances Grant