By now, everyone has seen an episode of or at least heard of the best show ever created, “The OC.” I was absolutely obsessed with seasons 1, 2, and 4, and mildly interested in season 3 (seriously, they just went too far with that one, am I right?). But at the start of it’s 3rd season, Fox premiered a new show right after “The OC” that almost made me lose interest in Seth Cohen all together; The show was called “Reunion,” and it centered around 6 high school friends who reunite 20 years later to be interrogated for the murder of one of the friends. The cast was gorgeous and the love triangles were unending:
Will, played by Will Estes, is the gorgeous nice guy who is best friends with Craig, played by Sean Faris, the rich bad boy who’s dating Sam (Alexa Davalos), the pretty, hardworking nice girl, who’s pregnant with Will’s baby. On the night of their graduation, Craig and Will get in a car accident, killing the other driver. Since Craig is drunk and Will has only had a couple drinks, they lie and tell the police that Will was driving, thinking that everything will be ok because the accident was the other driver’s fault anyway. But unfortunately Will’s Blood-Alcohol Content was just high enough to land him in jail. Craig walks away scott free and heads off to college. Meanwhile, Sam hides her pregnancy from both Will and Craig and heads off to school in London, where she gives the baby up for adoption.
Then there’s Carla, the awkward artsy girl who’s in love with Aaron, the cute geeky guy who drops out of MIT to start what eventually becomes a multi-million dollar internet company. But Aaron is in love with Jenna, the bombshell who moves to Hollywood to make it as an actress.
Phew! that’s a lot of drama. And I haven’t even gotten to the plot yet:
Each episode shows another year in the life of these friends. Sam and Craig get married and Will stands on the sidelines pining for Sam. The only person Sam confides her pregnancy in is Carla, and together they search out Sam’s daughter Amy, who happens to live nearby in New York. Soon Carla enters into an abusive relationship with Amy’s adoptive father, after Aaron gets some french chick pregnant and marries her. Jenna desperately grasps at her 15 minutes of fame for several years before moving back to New York and starting a relationship with Aaron after his wife leaves him.
Flash forward to 2006: each episode also features an interview with each of the 5 living friends. They are all suspects in the murder of the 6th friend (who is it????), and each of them have a good reason for wanting him/her gone. Ok, ok, I’ll tell you, but only because you begged! It is Sam who has been killed. Happy now?
So why was this show so fascinating? Because it was told in such a unique way. We got to follow these lovable characters through their who lives and really feel their pain and care about their dilemmas. Every week I was praying that Will would just grab Sam and kiss her so they could run away, find their daughter, and start a family together. But like all good things, the show was not appreciated in its time. “Reunion” was canceled after only 9 episodes, and to this day I am still frustrated. I frequently wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, frantically wondering who Sam’s killer is and what their motive was. They only filmed 13 episodes out of the planned 22 episode season, and they have not released any of the episodes on DVD. If anyone knows where I can find them, I’ll love you forever. Or at least until I finish watching all the episodes again.
“Reunion” captivated a small following from “The OC” watching crowd, but it wasn’t enough. Although Fox released some statements on who the killer probably was (they don’t even know?), we’ll never know for sure who it was, and we have no clue why. It haunts me everyday. Does anyone else suffer from my disease? Maybe we can get together and write our own ending to this sad tale. I’m willing to start protesting as well: Reunite “Reunion”! Who’s with me?
