Peyton is in a very dark place. It's the seventh anniversary of her mother's death and she's surly and short tempered(well, more than usual anyway)and she storms out of cheerleader practice after she explodes at Brooke. More importantly, she's taken to idling at traffic lights in her Mercury Comet, waiting for them to red, and accelerating straight through. Very dark.
Peyton lets her guard down with Whitey. Whitey finds Peyton at her mother's tombstone. He's there visiting his wife's grave, and he comforts Peyton with stories of their marriage.
Peyton keeps running red lights. She tells Lucas she can't understand why she avoids crashing so many times while it only took once to kill her mother. During her latest attempt she is almost hit by another car, and breaks down in tears. IT"S AN EPIPHANY, I TELL YOU!
Lucas is troubled by Haley and Nathan acting so buddy buddy. Haley swears that here's absolutely nothing at all going on(besides you know tutoring) but appearances suggest otherwise. Haley is all getting all dolled up when she's with Nathan, and she's still wearing that cracker jack bracelet.
Dan reminisces about the past. He confesses to wife Debra that his high school basketball days were the best time of his life. You know, even better than getting married and having a kid! Ouch. A father-son basketball game(meant for FUN) at the high school gives him a chance to relive his glory days, and he insists on taking it seriously. So much so that he prevents his own son from scoring the winning basket! You suck, Dan. You punk ass bitch.
What's in a name? Lucas is tired of Dan Scott, Nathan Scott and the Scott name in general. He considers filing to have it legally changed. But Scott is also the name of his beloved Uncle Keith, and Lucas has a change of heart when his mother reveals that Lucas' birth is the only time she saw Keith cry. Aww. Cue that 'A Touching Moment' song from Lost.
Another voice over from Lucas. This time a John Steinbeck quote: “It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of
thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live for
our death brings no pleasure on the world."
Nathan throws a party for the team at his parent's beach house. The show uses this setting to explore the character dynamics that have been established so far: Lucas and Nathan despise each other and their rivalry reaches a critical mass when Nathan shows a prom video of teenage Dan and Karen. Haley is keeping her tutorship of Nathan a secret form Lucas, and her pragmatism in dealing with the rivalry cause a strain in their friendship. To complicate matters, Peyton is aware of the tutorship and gives a warning to Haley about Nathan.
Debra has returned from a business trip, and she's none too happy with Nathan's jerkass attitude, or Dan's complete focus on basketball. She thinks spending more time at home will remedy this situation. Very naive.....
This episode with Peyton(and Brooke): So far , Brooke main character traits have been ditzy and horny. But here she shows real insight into Peyton's relationship with Nathan. While completely plastered, Brooke asks Peyton why Peyton allows Nathan to treat her like a doormat all the time. Peyton has been trouble by Nathan's treatment of Lucas, and the final straw comes when Nathan decides to take Peyton's Mercury Comet on an impromptu joyride and crashes it, causing major damage. She breaks up with Nathan.
Debra visits Karen at the diner, and confesses that she's jealous of Karen and Lucas closeness. She forces Nathan to pay the damages to Peyton's car. Lucas refuses, and demands that Nathan stay away from him and Haley.
Lucas and Karen: Lucas wonders why Karen didn't push for child support and alimony from Dan. Karen explains that Dan would have used his aid as leverage in order to interfere in her life. Smart lady.
And finally, ponytail Haley! Just because.
It seems I have completely forgotten one of the most important aspects of One Tree Hill..the voice over! The show uses the voice over to give insight into what Lucas is thinking, as well as illustrate the general theme of an episode.Since Lucas is very well read for a kid his age, these usually involve famous literary quotes.
The Pilot Episode has Haley giving Lucas a copy of Julius Caesar as a gift. Lucas' triumph over Nathan at the end of the episode is accompanied by his voice over, citing Julius Caesar:
There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
Haley is terrified of birds. She mentions being attacked by them once before, and then it happens again. Whether this is foreshadowing or not I have no idea.
Brooke introduces herself to Lucas by hiding in his car and stripping almost naked.(Whoa! Where can I find a woman like that?) Luckily, Coach Whitey shows up just in time to stop the shenanigans from going any further.
Haley accompanies Lucas to a "Burning Boat Festival", an annual gathering in which people put all of their unwanted junk on a Viking-like pyre. It's actually kind of cool. Also, we learn that Haley tutors other students! One of her tootees thinks she's the best thing ever. I concur.She's a saint! She asks Lucas to meet her at the theater to watch Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman, which she loves.
Dan is worried that Lucas' position on the team will jeopardize Nathan's future. He pressures Nathan to get rid of Lucas. The hazing begins, which culminates in the destruction of the riverfront basketball court by the entire team(minus Jake, 'cause he's a cool dude.) Nathan reveals his back up plan in case the hazing doesn't work, which somehow involves Haley tutoring him.(turns out he gets bad grades). But Saint Haley don't want any part of that mess.
Nathan and the team kidnap Lucas and dump him in a mud puddle, causing him to miss seeing that 50 Foot Woman movie. Damn it. She's waiting right there!
After some consideration, Haley decides to tutor Nathan. At their first session, Nathan gives her a gift: a charm bracelet from a box of cracker jacks. It's a cheap thing to give to such a holy young woman, but it's kind of sweet. Maybe he's not a total dick after all. Maybe it's true love!
This episode with Peyton: Peyton's sketches about her shallow existence as a cheerleader are going to printed in a magazine, and will cause absolutely no problems whatsoever with her friends. None at all.
And lastly the burning boat.
Peyton has her own website! And she has a webcam, which is apparently always on to allow others to see what she's doing. There's a brief shot of her in the Pilot episode where she's just staring into it while Lucas watches, and it's creepy, like something from a John Carpenter movie.
Haley and Lucas have a conversation about what their porn star names would be. She's apparently put a lot of thought into it: the name of your first pet combined with your mother's maiden name. Her porn name is Bunny Brigard. Haley is weird(but still very extremely cute).
Lucas befriends fellow basketballer Jake, who gives him a copy of Ayn Rand's Atlas shrugged. Jake says it's good. Jake is a cool dude, but he's wrong. That book is shit. It's way too long and boring as hell.
We meet Brooke for the first time in this episode. She's Peyton's best friend and fellow cheerleader. She also thinks Lucas is the bee's knees and totally wants to get up in his business! Stay tuned...
Haley James
(sung in the style of Bob Seger's Night Moves)
Haley James, don't you know
She's a character on this t.v. show
She's short and sweet with big big eyes
She saw Lucas get in a rivalry with Nathan, before her eyes
Right before her very eyes, yeah
She's on this episode but not very much
It would have been better if she was
But this is about Lucas and his basketball dreams
So Haley gets stuck without many scenes
Watchin' One Tree Hill, yeah yeah
Tryin' to get through every episode
Watchin' One Tree Hill
And it was summertime
Yeah, yeah summertime
