SUMMARY
Episode 26 - The Strip

 

Night. Seth asks Ryan if he's asleep. He is. Until Seth turns on the light and pinches him. Seth needs to talk about Summer. Is Summer going to dump him? She's going to dump him, isn't she? She is! Oh, and also, aren't you worried about how long Theresa plans on staying? I mean, won't Marissa start thinking stuff? Ryan says no. But then he thinks. Yeah, let's go talk to Theresa. Right now. They barge into the pool house and don't find Theresa. They do find a grocery bag, however. Then Theresa comes out of the bathroom. Before the talk can even start, she assures them that she'll be leaving soon. And then she digs into her grocery bag. For a pregnancy test.

Morning comes. Julie is showing Caleb wedding site brochures in the Cohen kitchen. He tells Julie to pick wherever she wants. Kirsten complains that Caleb hasn't been around the office because he's working on the wedding. Then Julie complains that every time she wants to work on the wedding, Caleb claims he has to meet Kirsten for work. Then it comes out that Caleb needs to go out of town. For one night. On business. To…uh…Nevada. Caleb, you sly dog, you're having a bachelor party! Sandy expresses mock hurt that he wasn't invited. Seth and Ryan enter, grab a bagel, and invite themselves and Sandy to the festivities. Good times!

Sandy heads to Jimmy's for their breakfast meeting. Jimmy proudly shows off a digital pic of his new beach home and Sandy invites Jimmy to Vegas. Doorbell. Sandy answers. It's Gail van Deepen. She congratulates Sandy on his sale of The Lighthouse. She heard Robert Campbell is going to turn the place into an outdoor mall. But…we sold the place to Caleb Nichol. Oh, well Caleb must've sold it to Robert and made himself another fortune.

At school, Marissa is grousing about Caleb. She still doesn't know how to tell her dad she's moving out. Ryan isn't much help, but he does know Jimmy will be in Vegas this weekend. Ryan isn't sure he's going. Somebody has to look after Theresa. Marissa says she can handle it. After all, Marissa is his girlfriend, right? No big deal.

Over at the Newport Group, Julie is starting to put together plans for her own smutty bachelorette party. Kirsten suggests a tasteful cocktail party. Julie declares that they need to hire limos to LA for a Sunset Strip night, then off to male strip joints. Kirsten offers a compromise: one stripper. Back at school, Seth tips off Summer that he'll be knee deep in strippers this weekend. But she's still more concerned with what her dad thinks of Seth. Seth argues that he only cares about her and storms off. Summer watches him go, wants to reach out to him, but doesn't say a word.

Ryan hits the pool house to chat with Theresa. How was work? Good. Ryan wonders if he and Marissa and Theresa can hang out tonight. But Theresa picked up another shift at the bakery. She needs all the money she can get because she's moving to Atlanta. Her cousin said she can stay there as long as she needs. Ryan wonders how much money she needs, but Theresa resists. This is her problem. Go to the Vegas and have fun.

In the living room, Ryan has spread the news to Seth and Marissa. Seth has a master plan. He has about $1000 in savings bonds and Bar Mitzvah bucks. Marissa can kick in a couple hundred more. Take that to Vegas, Ryan uses his card counting mojo and triples the money. Ryan thinks he may be a little rusty, but Seth says if he sucks, he'll just cut him off. It's foolproof!

Vegas! The boys check into the Hard Rock. Amy, the hotel concierge, greets the group and shows them to their penthouse. Seth and Ryan immediately begin bowling. Jimmy and Sandy can't contain their glee. But a seemingly disgruntled Caleb goes off to explore the casino. Amy asks if anybody would like a tour of the grounds and Seth and Ryan want to take her up on it. But she'll need to see some ID. The casino has had a rash of youngsters using fake IDs. And she'd hate to have to kick them out of the hotel. You know what? They'll pass on that tour after all. Seth wonders if their Theresa blackjack plan is shot, but Ryan assures him that it's Vegas. They can find their action elsewhere.

Down on the floor, Caleb is playing craps when he gets a cell call. When are we going to do this? Okay. I'm on my cell. Sandy finds him and asks if he's figured out what he's going to do with The Lighthouse. Caleb snidely asks if they figured out what they're going to do with the money. Well, Jimmy's buying a house so Marissa can have somewhere nice to live. Oh, really? Last time Caleb checked, Marissa was moving in with them. This is a slight shock to Sandy.

Back in Newport, Hailey, Marissa and Summer are watching a marathon of The Valley. Summer is crying over this particularly sad episode, but Hailey is complaining that the boys are enjoying a raging bacchanal while they're immersed in melodrama. Marissa claims this episode touches Summer because she broke up with Seth. Hailey says girls are better off when their fathers don't approve of their men, so don't fret too much. Doorbell. It's Kirsten. She needs to talk to Hailey. Alone. Umm, Hailey, can you get us a stripper? Julie a stripper? Hailey says she'll do it, even though she hates Julie. Hmm.

At the hotel pool, Seth and Ryan wander and wonder. How are so many hot women in one place? Just then, a woman approaches Seth and plants a kiss on him. She's a pool crasher and needs to act like she's with a guest. Seth then gets a call from Summer, who overhears the woman raving about Seth's kissing prowess before kissing him again. Summer hangs up and begins crying to Marissa, who declares that they need a girls' night out.

On the other end of the phone, the woman apologizes for messing things up with Seth's girlfriend. Anyway, she should be going because she's a UNLV student with a paper due. But do they want a ride anywhere? Well, they are looking for a blackjack game. She doesn't know blackjack, but she does know a couple of her classmates are doing a poker thing downtown. But it's kinda intense. Ryan and Seth will go anyway.

Elsewhere, Sandy is still wondering what Caleb is doing in Vegas. Especially since Robert Campbell is in town and just paid Caleb $500 million for most of the Newport coastline. Jimmy tells Sandy to let Caleb off easy. Heck, without his Lighthouse money, Jimmy couldn't afford a new house. Sandy advises Jimmy to maybe retract the offer because, according to Caleb, Marissa is moving in with him. 

Again back in Newport, Marissa is relaxing with Theresa and trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Sushi? Beer? Nah, Theresa can't have either one of those. What are you, pregnant? Oh my God, you're pregnant! This probably isn't how Theresa wanted people to find out.

Vegas nights. Ryan and Seth and their new female friend head into a rather rough looking club. She shows the boys the poker table, and let's just say it's not a very Newport crowd. Nary a sweater vest in sight. Ryan isn't so sure, but Seth tells him to give it a run. In another tense situation, Theresa tells Marissa that she's the only one who knows. And she has no money, so she doesn't know how she'd pay for an…anyway, she works in a bakery. How can she raise a kid? Marissa thinks maybe she should just tell Eddie. But it might not even be his. Marissa wonders who else it could be. Oh…I see. 

Non-celebrity poker showdown. Ryan calls an all-in bet of $2500. Fifth street is a face card. Ryan was holding pocket aces for three of a kind. He wins. With a very angry stare, his trucker-hatted opponent bows out. Ryan tells Seth they have all the money they need, now let's get out of here. Seth asks about the Ryan and Seth go to Europe money. Ryan just wants to beat it before Trucker Hat goes wild. But Seth thinks he's doing okay with the UNLV student, Jen, too. Just invite her back to the hotel room. Hmm. Okay. How do I do that? Well, how about inviting her to the penthouse at the Hard Rock? Seriously? She and her girlfriends always wanted to do that! Perfect. Call them up, invite them over. Nothing bad could possibly come of this!

In Newport, an elegant bachelorette cocktail party is underway. Julie just wants to know when the stripper is showing up. She's not so enthusiastic when she sees Hailey at the front door. Hailey can't stay, though. She saw a fire truck outside and wanted to make sure everything was okay. Fire truck? Shortly, four firestrippers are doing their thing for the ladies. Kirsten gets a call. It's Sandy. He wants to know if she thinks it's odd that, despite the fact that Caleb was a partner in The Lighthouse and knows the entire liquor board, they still couldn't get their license. Honey, do you think he did something so he could buy out Jimmy and Sandy on the cheap, then turn around and sell the place for ten times what he paid? Kirsten can't believe he would do something like that. Sandy says she needs to realize

Seth, Ryan and Jen arrive back at the Hard Rock. Ryan sees Jimmy and sends the new couple upstairs so they can talk. Jimmy asks Ryan if he knew that Marissa was moving in with Caleb. Sure, she finally told you? No, Caleb did. Ryan wonders why he would do that. They had a deal. Deal? What kind of deal? At that moment, a determined Summer, with luggage in tow, walks to the front desk of the Hard Rock and asks for the Cohens' room number. Up in said room, Seth is marveling at the view while Jen is getting ready for the hot tub. Seth balks, but a reminder that Summer is his ex-girlfriend seals the deal. A little kissing, then Summer rips the bathroom door open. Then three of Jen's friends walk in. Accompanied by their pimp. And a bodyguard. Oh, and he wants $5000 for Jen's time this afternoon. 

The prostitution crew starts bowling. Seth starts fretting about how he's going to pay for them, then starts arguing with Summer about her father. He only tried to impress him because he knew that was important to her. Touched, she forgives Seth. As long he didn't do anything with that skank! Ryan refocuses the group. They need $5000. They only have $3500. Jen helpfully points out that the girls are hired until midnight, which is plenty of time for more poker. 

In Newport, Julie approaches her favorite firestripper with compliments. He wants to know what she's doing after the party. Getting married. Not tonight, right? Hmm. She'll just go get her purse. When she does, she sees Hailey talking to her man, and Kirsten says they're old friends, Julie realizes something's up. She accuses Kirsten of having her friend proposition her so she could tell daddy and get the wedding called off. Hailey tartly replies that she knew Julie wouldn't sleep with Jeff the firestripper because he doesn't have enough money. He may be a stripper, but Julie, honey, you're a whore. Slap! Shove! Hairpull! Scratch! Catfight! Will they tumble into the nearby pool? Yes! 

Sandy pushes his way into a swanky eatery where Caleb and Robert Campbell are sharing a meal. Mr. Campbell invites Sandy to join them and he does, over Caleb's protests. Immediately launching into his spiel, Sandy asks if Mr. Campbell is indeed interested in Caleb's stretch of coastline property. You see, Sandy and some partners were going to open a restaurant there. Until one of the partners went behind their backs to the city council and got them to deny the liquor license. So he bought them out and is now trying to peddle that property at a much higher price. Problem is, not only is he guilty of collusion and fraud, but that property is going to be tied up in civil litigation for months, if not years. So that property is basically worthless. Caleb grabs Sandy to pull him outside, but Sandy is ready to throw him down. Right here! Jimmy steps in, pulls Sandy away and drills Caleb with a punch himself, knocking him over a table. Jimmy yells at Caleb that he won't be manipulated through his daughter.

Time for more poker. Trucker Hat bets five hondo. Ryan folds. He asks Jen to let him borrow some money. She can't figure out why he's losing everything now. Ryan tells him he was just putting the hook in Trucker Hat. She gives him a stack of bills. CUT TO: Ryan walking down the Strip wearing Trucker Hat's trucker hat. All in all, the boys figure they broke about even this trip. Even though Seth's Bar Mitzvah bucks are gone. 

The gang arrives back home. Sandy and Kirsten are both happy to share their wild stories. But when Marissa sees Ryan, she can't believe that he told Jimmy about Caleb's plan. You'll tell him the truth, but not me? And another thing, Theresa's pregnant. And it might not be Eddie's. So why don't you tell me what's going on?


(From : The O.C. Official - FOX )

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