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Fathers of teenage protagonists during the late-90s-and-early-00s teen-TV boom were a feckless bunch.
Rory Gilmore and Buffy Summers both had absent fathers.
Surfer, bagel connoisseur, righteous do-gooder … Sandy wasThe O.C.
sanchor and moral arbiter.
The O.C.is streaming on HBO Max.
Sandy brings Ryan home with him twice!
(Pilot, Season 1, Episode 1)
The O.C.has an exceptionally good pilot.
Seriously, go back and watch it; Ill wait.
Enter Sandy Cohen, helper of the helpless, assigned to Ryans case following his arrest.
The two-hander scenes between Gallagher and McKenzie in the juvenile detention center are intense and palpable.
Sandy brings Ryan home with him twice during the pilot episode.
Sandy believes in Ryan and cant stop himself from switching into protective parent mode from the get-go.
He sees himself in Ryan, and everythings going to be okay!
is the tying-of-Ryans-tie scene.
), and this episodes soiree comes in the form of a charity fashion show.
In a classic father-son-bonding moment, Sandy teaches him how its done without making Ryan feel inadequate.
Its incredibly sweet and we see Ryan realize that this man genuinely cares about him.
Best Dad line:I didnt know how to tie a tie until I was 25.
Sandy Cohen is always attuned to a young woman in pain!
Remember when I mentionedThe O.C.ssoap-opera-adjacent tendencies?
Sandy will always have your back, and its a beautiful thing.
Not more awkward than the talk between father and mortified son, however.
Best Dad line:We Cohens are very sexual beings.
Get used to it.
As Summer elegantly puts it, Seth runs away like a little bitch on a sailboat.
by the episodes coda.
Best Dad line:Nobody leaves this family twice.
Sandy is jovial while projecting the easy gravitas of an authority figure trying to do right by his son.
Im not the cops.
Much worse: Im Seths dad.
Enter Sandy Cohen and his inherent flair for this kind of crusade.
Best Dad line:A good cause, poor odds, a chance to ruffle some Newpsie feathers?
How could I say no.
We both screwed up.
Although admittedly a little underhanded, Sandy Cohen is rarely wrong.
Gallaghers natural gravitas makes the confrontation scene especially emotionally charged.
Best Dad line:Im from the Bronx, I used to hit guys all the time.
Key word,usedto.
Im sorry I lost my cool back there.
