THE OC photo from Fox.com

Did anyone happen to catch this week's episode of the Fox series THE OC?

In the final scene, the lead actor (Benjamin McKenzie) picks up the (apparently) deceased lead actress (Mischa Barton). His facial expression in the scene; the way he's holding her and the positioning of her limp body is identical to the cover of CRISIS #7 (Superman holding the deceased Supergirl).

The two boys in it are teens in high school. They're often shown reading comics, Legion in one episode.

And in the last episode they were supposed to be going to Comicon but instead went to Tijuana. "Seth is trying to get Ryan to latch on to his plan. What plan? TJ, baby! As Seth helpfully explains, it's a rite of passage to head for Tijuana on the last weekend before school, and what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico." Anyway they get into some trouble, Seth and Ryan's friend Marissa sees her boyfriend with whom she'd just given up her virginity to in the previous episode, kissing all over one of her girlfriends. She finds out her boyfriend is a real player. Anyway, she runs off, takes a bunch of painkillers and alcohol and is later found passed out in an alley way. Ryan who is in love with her, pick her limp body up in the classic Crisis Superman/Supergirl way.

The creator of THE OC, Josh Schwartz is a major comics fan so I'm certain that this was a deliberate homage and not mere coincidence. It'a great series, lot's of comic references through out.

From www.fox.com/oc/ EPISODE 7 (excerpt) Marissa is bellied up to the one empty bar in Tijuana and pours a couple of pills into her hand. After some thought, she slugs them back with a shot of tequila. She stumbles out of the bar and staggers through the streets and then into a dark alley, where she passes out. The group comes across her and Ryan carries her limp body out of the alley....