S4 is great, actually
I just finished a rewatch and unliked the first time, S4 was my favourite season together with S1 (mainly for the nostalgia). S4 feels much more grown up as expected, although a couple weird episodes (christmukkah, earthquake) I enjoyed seeing how each character went through grief in their own way and evolved as a person.
Before S4 everything revolved about Marissa’s destructive behaviour and random problematic guys she started dating. On my first watch I thought Ryan & Marissa were endgame but they were actually not. As Kristen said “you marry your father”, and Marissa is literally Ryan’s mom in behaviour. He was trying to save her the same way he tried to save his mom. And ultimately got dragged down with them both.
Taylor on the other hand is a perfect match. She does not take a no for an answer and won’t just “leave ryan alone” which is exactly what he needs as someone who clearly has an avoidant attachment style due to his upbringing. Ryan grows so much in S4 thanks to his relationship with Taylor being as healthy as one can be in a drama.
On other characters, I think it’s great that Julie chose to be alone for a while although I do think she goes back to Frank eventually. Glad to see Seth & Summer evolved past the childhood crush stage finally. And Kristen and Sandy best couple as usual.
I know there’s a lot of discussion around Marissa’s death, I was completely pissed on my first watch as a teenager. Today though I think it was quite a brave choice and also a “cautionary tale” not that she deserved of course. But shit happens and it’s not a given that everyone will have a happy ending. Few shows today would have the courage to kill a main character. Story wise, I don’t think Ryan could ever gotten over Marissa if she was still alive somewhere.
I was planning to finish my rewatch on S3, but I’m glad that I pushed through the first S4 episodes.