Ugly Betty, which I usually recap, did not air this week so I thought I'd look at the series finale episode of The OC.

Although the show had a creative resurgence this season, the writing had been on the wall for some time with the abbreviated number of episodes ordered for this year and the unwillingness of Fox to move the show out of the way of the double whammy of airing opposite the two most popular scripted shows on television: Grey's Anatomy and CSI.

The finale's circle of life theme resulted in a satisfying sendoff to our favorite fictional Newpsies. Plus the witty and self-referential skewering of pop culture continued to the end. Read on to find out the fate of the Cohen-Cooper-Atwood-Roberts-Townsend clan ...

First off, no major characters from the past, dead or alive, returned to finish out the series, save for Marissa Cooper (who died at the end of last season)who appeared in a locket Summer gave to Julie just before Julie walked down the aisle (more on that below). I had read some rumors that Caleb Nichol might return somehow from the dead but I guess Alan Dale is just too busy acting on just about every other show I watch... like Lost, 24, Ugly Betty, and not to mention all the shows I don't watch. All we need now is a show staring him and this season's "it" girl, Julia Ling who so far has appeared this season on The OC (Band geek who had a crush on Kaitlin's brief boyfriend, Will), Studio 60 and ER.

OK, I digress, so back to the show at hand. We begin 6 months after the earthquake that leveled Newport over the previous two episodes. The Cohen family is living in the Robert's mansion with the Coopers and Kaitlin has been working on perfecting her Sandy imitation (I'll schmear it for ya). Ryan and Taylor broke up and Taylor is back in France. Julie is pregnant and planning to marry the Bullit. Seth and Summer have retreated to her room to live in their bathrobes, sit in recliners and watch "Briefcase or no Briefcase."

The Cohen family learns that their house is beyond repair from earthquake damage so they go on a tour of cookie cutter mcmansions with infinity pools but no pool house and no soul. Kirsten glumly asks the real estate agent to put in an offer on the last one because Kirsten is nine months pregnant and tired of imposing on and squatting at chez Roberts-Cooper.

It's not all game shows and lounging in Seth and Summer's room as Summer shows Seth the floor plan for their apartment in Providence (which is oddly the same as her bedroom) and she catches a glance at one of her old sea otter flyers.

Taylor returns from France for Julie's wedding and as she chats insanely with the customs agent, recounting the demise of her relationship with Ryan, the agent places her on the terrorist no-fly list.

Summer picks Taylor up at the airport and they bump into Seth and Ryan on their way off on a mission. Ryan and Taylor look at each other and both realize that they are still in love.

Kaitlin and Julie meet Bullit's 11 other sons who, unlike Spencer the gigolo, are all named after cities in Texas (El Paso, San Antonio, ...) except his Vietnamese son, Hanoi. Houston is home to one of the largest Vietnamese populations in America but I guess that name was already taken by another brother.

Seth and Ryan arrive at their mission destination and they try to buy the Berkeley house of which Sandy and Kirsten have such fond memories. The gentlemen who now own the house laugh at the offer and slam the door in the boy's faces - no deal. Seth and Ryan try again, making a sentimental plea including the story of Seth's handprints in the cement but still, no deal. They realize that they need the big emotional guns and since Kirsten can't fly commercial at nine months pregnant, the Bullit swoops in just as Sandy and Kirsten are about to make the offer on the Newport mansion, buys it for them and whisks them off in his private jet to Berkeley to make the Berkeley house owners an offer they can't refuse.

Back home in Newport Summer is catching up on news of her favorite show, "The Valley" and reads that the real life Jake and April broke up (much like the real life Seth and Summer broke up) and that "The Valley" has been picked up for 5 more seasons because those teen dramas run forever (completely unlike "The OC" which of course ends tonight). Summer also realizes how much the narcotic of "Briefcase or no Briefcase" has changed her and Seth's lives. For instance, they are so hypnotized that Summer is completely unaware that Pancakes is a she, somehow got pregnant and gave birth to a passel of baby bunnies.

In Berkeley Seth runs into a guy handing out flyers for the environmental organization GEORGE with which Summer had turned down an opportunity to work.

Meanwhile, Julie reveals to Kaitlin that her baby will be born not with a ten gallon hat on but rather a wife beater. The baby is an Atwood not a Bullit. Bang! Frank couldn't deal with Julie's pregnancy so they broke up and she confessed all to Bullit and Bullit still wanted to marry her.

Sandy and Kirsten arrive at the Berkeley house and make their pitch but, once again, no deal. Kirsten asks to use the restroom and before she can get there her water breaks and she's in labor. Helpfully, one of the new owners is a midwife and he delivers the newest Cohen, Sophie Rose. Bullit tells the midwife that he wants to hire him to deliver his 13th child. Bang!

Frank shows up and Kaitlin gives him hell for not fighting for Julie and their son and tells him, "I thought Atwoods were good at fighting."

Sandy has a heart-to-heart with Seth about his La-Z-Boy rut but Seth is afraid to let Summer go.

At the wedding, Taylor debates hitting on either El Paso or San Antonio and then decides that Hanoi has a certain charm. Taylor always has had a weakness for the Asian guys.

Julie counsels Summer not to settle for comfortable - after all Julie is, 20 years later, still knocked up on her wedding day - and Summer gives Julie the aforementioned locket with Marissa's picture so that Marissa could be with Julie on her wedding day.

Bullit returns and gives Julie Kirsten's regrets that she can't attend the wedding. Julie says she can't get married without her best friend Kiki so they move the entire wedding, guests and all, up to Berkeley. Helpfully, the midwife's partner is a wedding planner.

Ryan and Taylor decide to try to be friends and then seconds later tear each other's clothes off and they christen the guest room.

Seth and Summer discuss their rut and Seth gives Summer the GEORGE flyer and encourages her to go for it - for us, he says.

The midwife and the wedding planner decide after seeing all the birthing, wedding and canoodling love taking place at the Berkeley house - DEAL! They will sell their house to Sandy and Kirsten.

Julie and Bullit start to exchange vows and Frank runs up to the ceremony to bust up the wedding. Unfortunately, Frank is in Newport so he calls Kaitlin who, like a true teen, has her cell phone with her as she stands up for her mother, and Kaitlin puts Frank on speaker so he can profess his love for Julie. Bullit tosses the phone away but Julie runs off to contemplate her choice.

Cut back to Newport...

Julie decides to stay single and Kaitlin asks for a life plan while Julie flips through an undergraduate catalog Summer left behind.

Sandy and Kirsten flip through old pictures and pack up their house, including the iconic bagel slicer.

Seth and Ryan see Summer off as she boards the GEORGE bus. Summer gives Ryan one of Pancake's progeny named Flapjacks and tells him not to use the cage for cage fights. Summer tells Seth that he's her destiny and that she'll see him in '08 after the New Hampshire primary.

Ryan and Taylor say their goodbyes on the train she's taking to New York where she'll take a boat to France because no plane will have her.

Seth and Ryan say their goodbyes before Ryan follows Sandy and Kirsten to Berkeley. Seth is happy that he's leaving Ryan funnier than when he found him. Ryan is glad that he's better than when Seth found him and Seth admits that he's also better off than he was before meeting Ryan.

Ryan imagines a montage of his time in Newport and then we fast forward to where everyone winds up in the future...

Ryan arrives at the Berkeley campus to join the class of 2012. Seth is in his dorm room in Providence hanging a newspaper photo of Summer at a GEORGE protest. Sandy is a law professor. Kaitlin is at Williams College. Julie graduates from college with Team Julie (nice to see after the Team Frank and Team Bullit battle) cheering her on, including Kaitlin, Bullit, Frank and their son. At Seth and Summer's wedding Ryan and Taylor stand up for them and glance at each other without revealing if they are still a couple.

Finally, Ryan is all grown up and working as an architect. He sees a glum kid on a bike across from a construction site who reminds him of his younger self and Ryan asks the boy if he needs help. And, I have to admit, I got a little verklempt so talk amongst yourselves.