Taylor Townsend (The O.C.)
Taylor Townsend | |
---|---|
Jack Hess (affair) Seung Ho (ex-boyfriend) | |
Relatives | Veronica Townsend (mother) |
Residence | Newport Beach, California Formerly: Paris, France |
Taylor Townsend is a fictional character on the FOX television series The O.C., played by Autumn Reeser.
In light of her more prominent castmate Mischa Barton's departure, Autumn was promoted to main cast.
Characterization
Background
Taylor is the daughter of Veronica Townsend, a successful sports agent and chair of the parents' committee at The Harbor School. Her unnamed father left them when she was young. The only mention of her father is in episode 3.02 when Summer mentions raffling off a gas guzzling SUV from Taylor's father's dealership, and in an episode in season 4 where she is trying to convince Ryan to see his father by telling him that her father "lives in San Diego with his new family, and is in Newport once a quarter to check on his car dealership", and tell him that she hasn't spent more than 20 minutes with him since second grade.[1]
Taylor is highly intelligent, quick-witted and over-achieving. She is thought to be multi-lingual, speaking French, Spanish and Korean in several episodes, and narrating a majority of her valedictorian speech in Latin.
Personality
Taylor does not get much attention from her mother and Reeser described her character's "desperate ambition" as a result of troubles in her home life.[2][3] Described as the "preppy, double-crossing nemesis of Summer Roberts"[4] who is said to be able "to handle a chainsaw",[5] Taylor Townsend was introduced into the show in the third season as a neurotic and annoying "goody goody"[2][6] who stalks Seth and attempts to sabotage his relationship with Summer.[7]
Despite being an overachiever, Taylor is also desperately needy and starved of affection and is prone to becoming besotted and obsessed with any man who offers her help or affection. This is largely the result of the lack of a father figure for much of her life and her being emotionally neglected by her perfectionist mother. In season 4, she is often seen in Summer's room or at the Cohens' house to escape her mother's constant put-downs. She was initially portrayed as a manipulative and conniving antagonist of the main characters, particularly Summer.
Character arc
Season 3
Taylor first appears in the third season, as
Taylor's power-grabbing encourages an otherwise reluctant
Initially, only Summer seems aware of Taylor's scheming, while Marissa seems only mildly interested in the goings-on in Taylor's life, and Summer's boyfriend Seth Cohen seems to not believe Summer's story at all. At this particular dance, Summer follows Taylor and catches her kissing Dean Hess in his office. Though she tries to convince Seth of what she's seen, no one will believe her.
In "
Seth and Summer eventually convince Taylor to go to an area motel (the same motel where
Despite being something of a socialite, Taylor is highly looked down upon by her classmates. During "
Their relationship is again brought into focus in "
Later in the year, Taylor develops a romance with a male Korean waiter, Seung-Ho. He takes her to the prom, and his cousin, a member of a Korean boyband, takes Summer.
Season 4
In Season 4, Taylor secretly arrives back in Newport after attending the
When Ryan arrives at the meeting place where Taylor and Henri-Michel's lawyer are, he gives Taylor a kiss to "prove" they are together. Henri-Michel's lawyer sees this and agrees to return to France with the news of Taylor's infidelity. Soon, Taylor realizes that she has an infatuation with Ryan and brings to his house a peach torte she prepared herself.
Ryan soon has insomnia, and when Taylor hears about it, she thinks it's her duty to cure him. So, she pretends to be his sleep therapist in an attempt to seduce him. She uncovers Ryan's unresolved feelings towards his late ex-girlfriend Marissa, and towards Marissa's other ex-boyfriend
In
Veronica Townsend (after some persuasion from Julie) comes to the hospital to see Taylor but is more disappointed that she missed her flight to Mexico. Taylor tells her to get a last-minute flight, hugs her and wishes her a Merry Christmas. The encounter makes Taylor happy that she can finally cut her mother loose.
Back in the alternate universe, Ryan, still not sure what to do, tries to matchmake everyone with the right person but realizes that that's not the case—it was that he had to read a letter from Marissa and move on from her. At the beach, alone, he finally reads it and slips out of his coma. The two have no memory of what happened in the alternate universe, however they both realize that they are at rest with their internal demons, Taylor being her relationship with her mother and Ryan reaching closure in his relationship with Marissa. Ryan rekindles his relationship with Taylor.
Ryan and Taylor are now officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Ryan attempts to organize a special rendezvous for himself and Taylor in
Now that Taylor and Ryan are a couple, their relationship becomes more serious. When Ryan's dad comes back into the picture, Taylor realizes that their relationship is going to face their first challenge and Taylor meets her boyfriend's father at a dinner and things between Ryan and Taylor are going well.
In "
She seeks out help from a therapist, but realizes that her and Ryan are right for each other and they get back together. Ryan and Taylor kiss and they agree to sort out their relationship issues. Ryan and Taylor become a couple again.
On Valentine's Day, now that Ryan and Taylor are a couple again, Taylor wants to do something special with Ryan. They end up helping out Ryan's dad and then Ryan kisses Taylor and they drive to the beach for a romantic evening.
In
Ryan, after some advice from Kaitlin, gives Taylor the original present he was going to give her, a book of French love poems that Taylor translated. Ryan tells Taylor that he loves her again. When Ryan tells her that he wants her to come to Berkeley with him, an earthquake strikes. He immediately takes Taylor under his arms and protects her using his body as a shield and receives a hit from Taylor's cabinet shelf.
The two survive the earthquake but Ryan hides the fact that he has been injured. Taylor is fine but she becomes very agitated and chatty. She quickly goes through her well-stocked emergency preparedness kit. Seth and Summer make it back to the house unharmed; Seth quickly covers for Ryan, who tries to conceal the fact that he bleeding from his back. After the two depart the house Taylor and Summer look for Pancakes.
Taylor accidentally fires a flare at her mother's foot who came to check on her. Summer, Taylor and Veronica make their way to the hospital. The two women are quite bitter towards each other but at the hospital Taylor tells her mother she loves her. Her mother replies that she loves her too and they share a hug. They both leave the hospital with Summer, the Cohens and the Coopers.
Series finale
Six months later, she and Ryan have broken up and Taylor has returned to Paris. Both of them refuse to see each other but end up meeting at the airport. It was made very obvious, to them as well as Seth and Summer, that they still had feelings for each other. She was devastated when Ryan told her that the Cohens are moving to Berkeley, meaning she won't be able to see him anymore. They get to talk at the Berkeley house before Julie's wedding. Initially they both agree to be friends but unable to resist they kiss passionately and end up making out on the bed together, interrupted by the house owner. Then it was revealed later that they had sex.
Ryan and Taylor spend time together as a couple. They sit on a train together, as she prepares to go to New York and then on a boat to France. They share a heartfelt conversation about their relationship and share another passionate kiss. The two thank each other for the happy memories they shared in the year. Ryan spends one last hour on the train with Taylor before getting off in San Bernardino.
In a flashforward vignette, Taylor and Ryan are seen together at Seth and Summer's wedding, with Ryan as the best man and Taylor as the maid of honor. They both exchange glances and smile at each other. Taylor appeared in 35 episodes total.
Trivia
It was revealed in The Case of the Franks during a flashback set in 1998 when Taylor was 10 years old and attended class with Summer, Seth, Luke, Holly and Marissa (Not seen), Taylor wrote the poem "I Wish I was a Mermaid" and Summer stole it from her and for a very long time Seth had mistaken the poem for Summer's. Also in the flashback, Holly Fischer made fun of her by calling her Taylor Dorksend.
Reception
Rob Lineberger of DVD Verdict described Taylor and the other new characters as "detestable additions to the
During the
Notes
- ^ Taylor's occupation at the time of the series flash forward is unknown.
References
- ^ "My Two Dads". The O.C.. Season 4. Episode 9. January 4, 2007. Fox.
- ^ a b Henderson, Angela (February 8, 2007). ""The O.C." Moment: Ryan and Taylor's First Kiss". The Herald-Dispatch. Champion Industries. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
- ^ Autumn Reeser (interviewee). Autumn talks Taylor (Interview clip). Autumn Reeser's official website. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
Interviews → Autumn talks Taylor - ^ Herndon, Jessica (November 3, 2005). "The O.C.'s Autumn Reeser". People. Time Inc. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
- ^ "The Day After Tomorrow". The O.C.. Season 3. Episode 20. April 6, 2006. Fox.
- TV Squad. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
- ^ Luce, Patrick (November 5, 2006). "DVD Review: The O.C. – The Complete Third Season". Monsters and Critics. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
- ^ Lineberger, Rob (February 5, 2007). "The O.C.: The Complete Third Season". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on December 29, 2008. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
- ^ "The O.C. - The Complete Third Season (2003)". Amazon. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
- Tribune Media Services. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
- E! Online. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
- ^ Yarish, Michael (February 15, 2007). "We'll miss: Our Peaches". Yahoo!. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
- Blogspot. Retrieved March 29, 2009.