Marissa Cooper
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Marissa Cooper is a fictional character on the FOX television network series The O.C., shown nationally in the United States. She is played by British-born American actress Mischa Barton.
Season 1
In the show, Marissa is a rich socialite in Newport Beach, California, whose family is about to go through some dramatic changes. First, Marissa's father, Jimmy Cooper, is caught committing fraud and eventually goes bankrupt. Later, Marissa discovers that her boyfriend, Luke Ward, is cheating on her with one of her best friends, Holly Fischer. During this time, she begins to abuse drugs and alcohol and overdoses after discovering Luke was cheating on her while she, Summer Roberts, Ryan Atwood and Seth Cohen are on a trip to Tijuana.Throughout the first season, Marissa was involved in an on-again, off-again relationship with Ryan, with the relationship being interrupted by Luke and Oliver Trask, respectively. Oliver eventually was discovered to be mentally unstable and hiding an unhealthy obsession for Marissa.
During this time, her mother, Julie Cooper, was romantically involved with Kirsten Cohen's father, Caleb Nichol. During a brief breakup with Caleb, Marissa's mother had a fling with Marissa's ex-boyfriend, Luke, which caused Marissa to run away — strangely enough — to Chino and, more specifically, to Ryan's ex-girlfriend Theresa's house. This led to Ryan and Marissa once again becoming romantically involved.
At the end of the first season, Julie and Caleb married, making Marissa stepdaughter to the most powerful, but also the most controversial, man in Newport. She was blackmailed into moving in with her mother and Caleb in their new mansion. Ryan also left her to go back to Chino after it was discovered Theresa was pregnant with maybe Ryan's child. Theresa wanted to return there to be with her family and Ryan felt compelled to go with her, effectively ending his relationship with Marissa and leaving her. Marissa, as a result, once again restarted her drinking.
Season 2
During the second season, Marissa struggled with alcohol and depression, caused largely by Ryan's departure from her life. When Ryan returned it looked as though they may have rekindled their relationship, but after finding out about her relationship with DJ, the yard guy, Ryan decided they should just be friends, which they remained throughout most of the season. Marissa's relationships in the interim period seemed somewhat specifically chosen to take stabs at her mother — first with DJ, the lawn boy, and then a lesbian relationship with Alex Kelly, Seth's ex-girlfriend. Marissa moved out of her mother's house briefly to live with Alex, returning home once she and Alex broke up. Her relationship with her mother improved little throughout the season. She did eventually rekindle her relationship with Ryan after a period of friendship and growing gradually closer, paticularly as she helped him with his brother Trey after he was released from prison. However, this support Marissa provided Trey with resulted in Trey getting the wrong idea, and under the influence of drugs and alcohol, attempting to rape her. This caused inevitable tensions between Trey and her, which Ryan picked up on and became suspicious of, causing difficulties in their relationship. Ryan eventually found out about the attempted rape, which lead to a confrontation with Trey and turned violent. Trey had Ryan pinned down to the ground and was strangling him when Marissa, having been warned by Seth and Summer, turned up and pleaded with Trey to let Ryan go. Trey continued despite this, and Marissa picked up a gun and shot Trey to save Ryan's life.Season 3
As the series' third season opened, Marissa was under investigation regarding the shooting of Trey Atwood. In an effort to shield her daughter, Julie attempted to obstruct justice by bribing Trey into accusing Ryan. Marissa becomes aware of this, and convinced Trey to confess the truth, detailing that Marissa fired only to protect her boyfriend, resulting in Ryan being let free and Marissa facing no legal liability as she was defending another person's life using proportional force in the circumstances.Despite a lack of legal repercussions, the event caused Marissa to be expelled from the prestigious Harbor School, as it was cited along with her past of flagrant shoplifting and substance abuse. She eventually was readmitted after a campaign to let her in from Ryan, Seth and Summer with the surprising assistance of Taylor as well. However, while at Newport Union, she befriended a local surfer called Johnny Harper, who eventually fell in love with her and caused rifts in her relationship with Ryan. However, Marissa confirmed her commitment to Ryan, and wrote Johnny a letter saying that whilst he was her friend and she cared for him, she would never love him. This resulted in Johnny falling to his death after a drinking spree, which eventually caused further rifts and distance for Marissa and Ryan from each other eventually ending their long but troubled relationship.
In the wake of Johnny's death, Marissa unable to find closure with her standard friends in tow, struggles to find her own place and purpose in Newport. She develops a relationship with Kevin Volchok amidst a developing estrangement from her friends as well as returning to bad habits. During prom, she catches Volchok cheating on her and ends the relationship with him.
In the season finale, Marissa sustained injuries when Volchok, drunk, rammed the car she was in, causing it to tumble down a hill. She died in Ryan's arms after Ryan had asked her several times if she was all right, and when he said he'd go to get help, she asked him not to leave her. [link]
| The O.C. | ||
| Episode List | [Official Website] | ||
| Current Main Characters | Ryan Atwood | Kirsten Cohen | Sandy Cohen | Seth Cohen Julie Cooper | Kaitlin Cooper | Summer Roberts | Taylor Townsend | |
| Former Main Characters | Marissa Cooper (S1 - S3) | Jimmy Cooper (S1) | Luke Ward (S1) | Caleb Nichol (S2) | |
| Recurring Characters |
Dawn Atwood | Trey Atwood | Lance Baldwin | Rebecca Bloom Carter Buckley | Reed Carlson | Sophie Cohen | Theresa Diaz Lindsay Gardner | Johnny Harper | Alex Kelly | Charlotte Morgan Hailey Nichol | Matt Ramsey | Jess Sathers | Anna Stern Zach Stevens | Veronica Townsend | Oliver Trask | Kevin Volchok | |
| Places | Newport Beach, Orange County, California | |
External links
- [Fox show page - The O.C.]
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