Holly Fischer

Holly Fischer is a fictional character from the first and fourth season of the FOX series The O.C., played by Ashley Hartman.

Character's background

Season One

Holly is introduced at the outset of the series as one of the best friends of Summer Roberts and Marissa Cooper. After the fashion show, Holly holds a party at her house as a reward for their good work for charity. She tells Summer that she thinks Ryan Atwood is cute. At the party, people are doing drugs and drinking alcohol. Holly is then seen with Summer carrying Marissa, who has passed out due to alcohol. They can't find Marissa's keys and don't want to wake her parents, since her dad will go ballistic, so they leave Marissa passed out on her driveway.

Holly holds Summer's birthday party at her house. However, Marissa doesn't attend because she is in the model home with Ryan. Holly is later seen holding another party at her house. Summer tells her that she hopes Holly's parents never come home. She also says that she heard Ryan is a total psycho.

Holly is later seen at the dance practice for Cotillion. After practice, she approaches Marissa, who is talking to Seth Cohen and Ryan Atwood. She tells them that she is holding a party at her house, which she does every year for cotillion. Seth says she didn't do it last year, and she tells him that she did. This means that Seth wasn't invited. Later, Holly is seen with her father Greg Fischer buying things for her party. They run into Marissa's dad, Jimmy Cooper. Privately, Greg informs Jimmy that he wants to invest in a company and needs to pull $250,000 out of their investment account. Jimmy tries to talk him out of it by telling him that the market is about to turn around.

Holly is then seen at the party talking to Summer. Summer tries to get her to trade escorts for Cotillion, but Holly won't switch. Then she is seen at Cotillion.

Her father, Greg, discovers that Jimmy Cooper has been stealing money from his clients, a revelation that leads him to punch Jimmy at Cotillion in front of everyone.

Holly is next seen holding another party at her house. Marissa has now broken up with her boyfriend Luke Ward. Holly approaches him at the party and asks where Marissa is. He tells her that she is at home and they are taking a break. Holly is later seen making out with Luke on her bed. Luke asks her if she knows how long he's wanted to do this. She replies, "As long as I have." She then says that he and Marissa should have broken up a long time ago. They hear something smash downstairs, so they stop to see what was broken. Holly yells at the person, saying, "That's my blender." The person ends up shooting Luke.

Every year they take a trip to Tijuana before school starts. Holly tells Luke that "what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico." Luke tells her he can't get involved with her because he and Marissa are back together. Holly responds that she thinks it will be a week before they break up again. Then she says that Luke will miss her.

In Tijuana, they are in a club called Boom-boom. Holly starts touching Luke, who tells her he isn't interested. Holly tells him that Marissa's not even coming. She says that she loves the song that's playing and they dance together, then start touching each other and kissing. Ryan, Seth, Summer and Marissa enter the club and look around to find Luke, only to see him dancing with and kissing Holly.

Marissa walks over and asked what they are doing and how could they do that to her. Holly says that Luke "hooks up with everyone" and continues, "Freshman girls, girls from Mater Dei, girls from UCI" (both actual schools in Orange County, Mater Dei being the high school that Holly's actress graduated from). Marissa asks Luke if that is true. Luke appears guilty. Holly then says, "Marissa, everyone knows. Everyone! Now you do too." When Summer accuses her of being mean, Holly replies, "Summer, I am honest." Summer then pushes Holly and shouts, "Her parents are getting divorced." Seth tells Holly to walk away because Summer suffers from rage blackouts. Marissa is then depressed and takes an overdose of pills as a suicide attempt. However, she is found by Ryan, Seth, and Summer, and she lives.

Then Holly is seen at school at a table full of girls. When Marissa walks in, Holly says to the girls, "Did you know that she overdosed on Vicodin?" They all then laugh at Marissa.

Summer and Marissa blank Holly from then on.

Season Four

Holly appears once again in Season 4 in The Chrismukk-huh? episode when Ryan and Taylor Townsend fall into concurrent comas, which situates the narrative in a putative "parallel universe." In this universe, Marissa died from the overdose in Tijuana, and Holly has continued to be very close friends with Summer. The two are highly materialistic and vapid, and they use hip-hop slang. It is strongly hinted that Holly is having an affair with Summer's fiance in the alternate reality, Chester (Che's alternate persona).

In a later episode, The French Connection, it is revealed that Holly got married the previous summer (i.e. shortly after she presumably graduated from high school). Hoping to find out what married life is like, Summer meets up with her. Holly introduces Summer to a couple of other recently married young Newport girls who collectively refer to themselves as the "Newpsie-weds" and live an incredibly shallow lifestyle of going to the gym, going to lunch and shopping. The "Newpsie-weds" try to help Summer plan her wedding to Seth and suggest that Pancakes (Summer's pet rabbit) should be the ring-bearer. As they've decided that the wedding should be pink-themed, Holly is about to dye Pancakes pink as a test to see how she will look. Summer realises that marrying Seth is the wrong thing for her to do, that she doesn't want to live like them, and she saves Pancakes from Holly's big pot of pink dye.

Holly next appears in the flashbacks in The Case of the Franks, which are set in 1998. In the flashbacks, it shows a younger Summer and Holly when they are 10 years old and best friends attending class with Seth, Taylor, Luke, and Marissa (not seen). Holly makes fun of Taylor Townsend and calls her Taylor Dorksend.

In The Shake Up, Holly makes her final appearance at a yoga session for pregnant women, where she meets the newly pregnant Kirsten Cohen. Introducing herself as a former classmate of Seth's, Holly tells Kirsten she has just found out she is pregnant. She confides in Kirsten that she has no intention of letting her body turn into a "dumpy baby factory" as she has worked way too hard to be in perfect shape, adding, "Who says I can't have a baby and a six pack?"

Holly then calls over her two friends, who congratulate Kirsten on her pregnancy. The three pronounce Kirsten to be "ripped" and invite her to join the club they've formed. They have all promised they will never look like "Molly the Mammoth," another pregnant woman in the class, and intend to keep their figures and not let pregnancy interfere with looking good. One of them says that in nine months she will still be wearing a bikini, while the other says that if she gets too big, she will induce her baby at eight months, as it is easier to lose the weight. Holly tells Kirsten the club is called the "Six Pack Pack".