Ryan Atwood-Cohen

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Ryan Atwood was a teenager living in Chino. He was caught stealing a car with his brother Trey and later met attorney Sandy Cohen. Ryan was abandoned by his mother, Dawn Atwood and Sandy eventually adopted Ryan, with some initial objections from Sandy's wife, Kirsten Cohen. It didn't take long for Kirsten to warm up to this new addition in her household, and since then, Ryan has been living in Newport Beach. He has become a brother to Sandy and Kirsten's misfit son Seth Cohen, and Sandy and Kirsten consider him as a second son. Ryan was involved in an on-again, off-again relationship with Marissa Cooper, the girl next door who went through traumatic changes over the entire season.

Season 1

In Season 1, Ryan was portrayed as a newcomer to Newport Beach society and had trouble fitting in, despite forming a friendship with Seth Cohen. He lived in the pool house, and was generally rejected by everyone except for Marissa Cooper.

After his mother's initial abandonment, Seth and Marissa hid Ryan in The Newport Group's model home. He was planning on leaving for Austin, but got into a fight with Luke Ward over Marissa, knocking over some candles and starting a fire. He was taken into custody by the police and was going to have to stay there, but Kirsten Cohen became concerned for him when she and Seth visited him in prison. They brought him back into the home and let him stay until they could find his mother, Dawn Atwood. After an incident with drinking, Dawn decided that she could not be a good mother to Ryan, and Sandy and Kirsten took legal custody of Ryan.

Ryan then tried to fit into Newport society, by becoming an escort at the annual cotillion. He was initially an escort of Anna Stern, but after a strange term of events, became the date for Marissa Cooper. During the event, a fight broke out between Greg Fischer and Marissa's father, Jimmy Cooper, because Jimmy had lost some of Greg's money.

Ryan then started a job at The Diner, and became friends with Donnie, another worker there. Donnie got drunk and went to a Newport Beach party, where he shot Luke and disappeared. This prompted Ryan to quit the job.

While Marissa was confused over whom she liked, Luke or Ryan, Ryan became involved with Caleb Nichol's girlfriend Gabrielle. Since Caleb was the father of Kirsten, they kept their affair a secret, but they were caught by Marissa, who then gave her virginity to Luke. This complicated a trip to Tijuana they took with Seth and Summer Roberts, where the two bicked constantly. After Marissa overdosed, Ryan saved her. When Julie Cooper, Marissa's mother, tried to send her to an institution, Ryan risked his enrollment at The Harbor School to save her. However, Dr. Kim allowed him to enter the school anyway.

Ryan initially joined the soccer team at Harbor, but attacked Luke Ward after thinking he was trying to get back together with Marissa. It appeared as though they were not going to get together, but eventually got together at The Kickoff Carnival.

On Thanksgiving, Ryan's brother Trey asked him to visit him in prison. He reluctantly brought Marissa along with him. Trey asked him to deliver a stolen car to a chop shop for him. Ryan obliged and met with Gattas, his next door neighbor, and Marissa met Theresa, Ryan's ex-girlfriend from Chino. They eventually delivered the car and Trey told his brother to make a clean break from him, and to not worry about seeing him again.

Ryan's relationship with Marissa was interrupted by Oliver Trask, a mentally deranged person who loved Marissa. Ryan and Marissa fought over Oliver's intentions and after Ryan's supicions proved to be valid, he broke off their relationship. At this time, Ryan slept with Theresa. At the end of the season, Theresa was pregnant and Ryan, thinking that he was the father instead of Theresa's abusive fiance Eddie, decided to return to Chino and take care of Theresa and her child.

Season 2

Not surprisingly, Ryan returned to Newport Beach, after Theresa made him believe she had a miscarriage. He also convinced Seth to return to the Cohen household with him after he ran away to Portland.

Ryan is portrayed as much more mature in the second season. After he broke up with Marissa Cooper, Ryan had a relationship with Lindsay Gardner, who is soon discovered as Kirsten Cohen's illegitimate half-sister. Later, after Lindsay moved to Chicago with her mother, Ryan reunited with Marissa. At the end of the season, there is a cliff-hanging fight between Ryan and his brother, Trey Atwood. Trey had tried to rape Marissa, while Ryan was in Miami visiting his step-grandmother, Sophie Cohen. Eventually Ryan found out about the attempted rape which lead to a confrontation between him and Trey. The confrontation turned violent and Trey had Ryan pinned to the floor and was strangling him. Marissa walked in and pleaded with Trey to let Ryan go. Trey, in a fit of rage refused and Marissa shot him in the back as a result. It was left unclear whether Trey survived or not until the third season.

Season 3

After being in a Coma for two months, Trey wakes up and initially when offered money by Julie Cooper implicated Ryan in the shooting. He then however cleared Ryan's name afterwards when confronted by Marissa and subsequently left Newport. Ryan and Marissa both faced a campaign to expell both of them from parents at the prestigious harbour school as a result of the shooting however, which resulted in the school board and the new Dean of Discipline Jack Hess expelling Marissa, and later Ryan after he assaulted the dean. Marissa then ended up going to Newport Union public high school, with Ryan eventually being re-admitted to Harbour after Dean Hess was blackmailed over having an affair with a student, Taylor Townsend. While Marissa was at Newport Union, until she was readmitted again into Harbour, she made friends with another boy Johnny Harper and his friend Chilli, who later complicated Ryan's relationship with Marissa when Johnny fell in love with her & Ryan was suspicious about whether the feelings were reciprocated. Marissa confirmed her committment to her relationship with Ryan, and told Johnny although he was her friend and she cared for him she would never be in love with him. This rejection prompted Johnny to go on a drinking binge, which resulted in Johnny falling off a cliff despite both Ryan and Marissa trying to talk him down. This resulted in Ryan and Marissa becoming distant from each other, and both of them admitting there relationship was not working and breaking up. Ryan then started dating Sadie Campbell, Johnny's cousin who moved down to Newport temporarily to help her aunt. The relationship was short lived however when Ryan was accepted into the University of California, Berkeley and they admitted they had little concievable future together with Ryan due to leave for college in the fall and Sadie then left Newport. He recently became reaquainted with his waitress mother and had a love relationship with his mother's waitress co-worker& his graduation from Harbour is coming up. On graduation night Marissa told Ryan, that she's intending to leave Newport to work on her fathers yacht in greece. He wants to drive her to the airport, but then Volchok appears and tries to talk to Marissa. They have a terrible accident, in which Marissa dies...

Season 4

5 month after Marissa's death Ryan's life has changed completely. He didn't attend her funeral and left the Cohen's house. When Julie asks him to find Volchok and take revenge on him, Sandy solves the problem. Ryan confronts Volchok one last time, before he's imprisoned... Ryan returns to the Cohen's house and has a new job. But he still can't think of anything else than Marissa... When he has problems sleeping Taylor offers him help. She falls in love with him, but he's not ready to let go of Marissa, but then he receives a letter from her in which she tells him, why she had to leave and that she loves him, he finally can start over and starts to date Taylor. Several problems arise with this new relationship. Taylor's ex-husband Henry-Michelle from france appears with a biography about his love to Taylor alias Peaches. Ryan starts to compete with Henry-Michelle and in the end wins Taylor's heart with a sweet poem. The relationship continues a bit weird as Ryan still has the "I love you"-problem. When his father, Frank Atwood returns Ryan is reminded once again of his dark past and has to more-or-less decide between his two dads. After a few difficulties he and his father get along pretty good and grow together with the help of Taylor. During the devastating earthquake Ryan is seriously injured and rescued by Seth, who delivered him safe to the hospital.

References

Season 1

• Pilot
• The Model Home
• The Gamble
• The Debut
• The Outsider
• The Girlfriend
• The Escape
• The Rescue
• The Heights
• The Perfect Couple
• The Homecoming
• The Secret
• The Best Chrismukkah Ever
• The Countdown
• The Third Wheel
• The Links
• The Rivals
• The Truth
• The Heartbreak
• The Telenovela
• The Goodbye Girl
• The L.A.
• The Nana
• The Proposal
• The Shower
• The Strip
• The Ties That Bind

Season 2

• The Distance
• The Way We Were
• The New Kids on the Block
• The New Era
• The SnO.C.
• The Chrismukkah That Almost Wasn't
• The Family Ties
• The Power of Love
• The Ex-Factor
• The Accomplice
• The Second Chance
• The Lonely Hearts Club
• The Test
• The Rainy Day Women
• The Mallpisode
• The Blaze of Glory
• The Brothers Grim
• The Risky Business
• The Rager
• The O.C. Confidential
• The Return of the Nana
• The Showdown
• The O.Sea
• The Dearly Beloved

Season 3

• The Aftermath
• The Shape of Things to Come
• The End of Innocence
• The Last Waltz
• The Perfect Storm
• The Swells
• The Anger Management
• The Game Plan
• The Disconnect
• The Chrismukkah Bar Mitz-vahkkah
• The Safe Harbor
• The Sister Act
• The Pot Stirrer
• The Cliffhanger
• The Heavy Lifting
• The Road Warrior
• The Journey
• The Undertow
• The Secrets and Lies
• The Day After Tomorrow
• The Dawn Patrol
• The College Try
• The Party Favor
• The Man of The Year
• The Graduates

Season 4

• The Avengers
• The Gringos
• The Cold Turkey
• The Metamorphosis
• The Sleeping Beauty
• The Summer Bummer
• The Christmukk-huh
• The Earth Girls Are Easy
• The My Two Dads
• The French Connection
• The Dream Lover
• The Groundhog Day
• The Case Of The Franks
• The Shake Up
• The Night Moves
• The End's Not Near, It's Here