Stream It Or Skip It?

Last season, I admit that I started to worry that Netflix’s Selling the O.C. was getting a little dry. The Alex-Tyler romantic storyline started to feel played out, and there were only so many women named Alexandra that one can reasonably keep track of. Now that season 4 is here, the show feels fresh again thanks to three new agents who have quickly assimilated into the groove at The O Group, but there’s still plenty of drama with the old cast, too… including Alex and Tyler.

SELLING THE OC (SEASON 4): STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Agent Gio Helou shows off his latest listing, a $17.5 million waterfront home in Newport Beach, to his boss Jason Oppenheim, who appears genuinely impressed by the place. Soon, Alex Hall shows up to ogle it, too.

The Gist: Things have changed quite a bit since we last saw our friends at the Orange County branch of the Oppenheim Group. There are three new agents who have joined the show, Fiona Belle (the young, inexperienced one), Ashtyn Zerboni (the pregnant one), and Kaylee Ricciardi (the one with Coachella connections).

Gio has long been a villain on this show, with his pretty-boy superiority complex, and immediately he starts grilling young Fiona about her experience, and them immediately starts questioning Kaylee about her new client who happens to be porn star Riley Reid. Gio claims that the O.C. is too conservative for someone like that and winces when Kaylee suggests they team up to show Riley one of Gio’s listings.

Lest you think that the only interesting storylines have to do with the Gio hazing the new people this season, don’t worry, there’s still plenty of old, simmering drama from the past that’s bubbling up. Tyler Stanaland may not be a part of The O Group anymore, but he’s still a part of the show, and after a year and a half of being incommunicado with most of his old colleagues, he’s starting to reach out to them. When Polly Brindle tells Alex that she and Tyler had drinks to catch up (professionally), Polly shrugs it off as no big thang, but Alex is a little offended. Prior to Tyler leaving the office, she finally opened up her heart to him and it didn’t work out. Those feelings are still raw, and to see so many of her coworkers chatting it up with Tyler is leaving her feeling betrayed.

Wait till she hears about the rumor that new agent Ashtyn heard, that Tyler was cheating on Alex the whole time that they were together…

Our Take: It feels unfair comparing Selling The O.C. to Selling Sunset, but considering that both shows just dropped new seasons in the past few weeks, it’s hard not to. Where Selling Sunset, now in season 9, feels like it’s incapable of evolving at this stage, Selling the O.C., now in its fourth season, still feels watchable this season.

I have to give some credit to the cast of O.C.; it’s refreshing that there are a lot of messy men on this show; while Sunset feels like the Oppenheims are constantly wrangling a group of women hell-bent on looking foolish, the O.C.’s cast is not exactly balanced, but it’s nice to have some men in the mix. But the new cast, specifically Kaylee and Ashtyn, have also entered with gusto and seemed to immediately understand the assignment. When Kaylee first arrives and brings up her porn star client, Gio, showing off his own conservative values and discomfort, explains that that’s not really the vibe of the O.C. Kaylee challenges this and through their exchange, she shows us that she’s a singular new personality on this show, i.e. someone who doesn’t give off stuff, conservative O.C. vibes. Ashtyn… well, girlfriend does give off those vibes, but I’m here for her immediately revealing the gossip that she knows about Hall and Tyler, and she continues to be a limitless well of chaos all season long.

A year and a half lapsed between seasons, so the show is doing its best to backtrack and fill in the blanks as to where the cast has ended up, and it sometimes feels clunky — how can Alex truly still be mad at Tyler, they barely dated and it’s been 18 months?? — that’s probably why we’re being redirected to the new cast. And fortunately, they’ve helped give this show the injection of adrenaline it needed.

Sex and Skin: There cast can occasionally work blue and throw in some dirty references in conversation but there’s no sex to speak of.

Parting Shot: In the final scene of episode one, newbie Ashtyn reveals to the team (everyone except for Alex) that she has a trusted source who told her that when Tyler and Alex were figuring out if they were getting together, Tyler has a whole other girlfriend on the side. A moment later, we see a clip from later in the season where Gio tells her, “My best advice? Keep your head down and sell real estate.” “Thank you for the advice,” Ashtyn replies flatly.

Performance Worth Watching: I’m into Kaylee’s vibe. She declares that she’s not into gossip and she’s not here for drama, but she also seems to take no BS from anyone, especially not Gio. So while she may not be spreading rumors and gossip like, say, Ashtyn is, she also seems like she’s might go toe-to-toe with some of the colleagues this season.

Memorable Dialogue: “The players keep changing, their faces are beautiful, but that’s not gonna help you ring that bell,” original O.C. agent Brandi Marshall says in a confessional, as if crafting the perfect logline for season four of the show with all of its new agents and new listings.

Our Call: Selling the O.C. seems to have struck a solid balance between rehashing and building on old stories and introducing new players and new drama this season. STREAM IT.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.