This episode has an extra special voice over! Jake reads a fairy tale to his baby Jenny. The characters in the story allude to the characters on the show. Haley and Peyton are both the "princess," Dan is the "evil king," etc. It's a little cutesy, but not completely bad.
Peyton is making her way back to Tree Hill when she develops car trouble. A series of flashbacks throughout the episode give us a progression on how her maybe marriage to Jake fell apart: Jake hears Peyton talking in her sleep, expressing love for Lucas. She's obviously subconsciously revealing in her sleep what she refuses to admit in her waking life, but Jake sees it differently: he surmises that Peyton wants him because she's afraid to be alone. Jake knows she really love Lucas, so he does the right thing by sending her home. And alas, we reach the end of Jake's time on One Tree Hill.
Peyton calls Nathan to give her a ride, but needs her car towed. The tow truck driver is Marcus, one of the kids held hostage the day of the shooting. We learn that he was so troubled by what happened that he dropped out and started a full time job to keep his mind off that terrible day!
Brooke is busy designing Haley's wedding dress! Haley is very excited at this, until she has to try the thing on: the dress is a monstrosity with a protruding collar and a tiara thing. Haley tries to be diplomatic by hinting that it may be a bit much, and Brooke gets angry, leading to the following exchange:
Brooke: If you want to go shopping and buy a new wedding dress why don't you go to Slut Barn? I'm sure they're having a sale!
Haley: Oh, well you would know, wouldn't you?
Haley takes out her frustrations by kickboxing a punching bag! Another one of her many skills. Luckily for Brooke, Haley wants to patch things up and everything's okay.
Hey, It's Rachel! Cooper hasn't been returning Rachel's calls, so she goes to Tric to inquire about his whereabouts. Debra uses this opportunity to give Rachel a reality check about how the whole "30 year old dating a 17 year old thing" isn't going to work out, but Rachel is having none of that. In fact she may be losing her mind! Shes at the clothing store trying on jeans, when she gets a call. When she sees that it's from Mouth instead of Cooper she punches a mirror, injuring her hand. She should have picked Mouth! None of this would have happened.
Lucas and Karen have been looking for college options. A basketball scholarship is out of the question now that Lucas' heart disease has been revealed, but Lucas has a plan B: he wants to study literature. As for the money issue, Keith had that shit covered: he had been saving money for Lucas in a trust for years and years.
The whole town puts on a play to celebrate the wedding. This play consists of comical recreations of key moments of Nathan and Haley's love affair. Bevin and Fergie do "The First Date," where Nathan gave Haley the Cracker jack bracelet. There's more, but I'll skip to the key moment, in which Lucas and Peyton reenact the "Wedding Proposal"(the first one)and they realize they love each other. Cue Lucas and Peyton flashback love montage!
Haley confronts Dan moping about outside the cafe(and creeping out the customers.) Dan butters up Haley by telling her she's the best thing to ever happen to Nathan. This convinces Haley that maybe Dan has learned the error of his ways, and she later invites him to the wedding.
NOT REALLY A CLIFFHANGER, JUST THE END: Haley offers to tutor Marcus. Nathan and Haley come home from the play to find their bedspread gone...OH WAIT, Brooke made a dress out of it! Haley is very pleased this time.
Now that Lucas is off the team indefinitely, he must step up(he even says so in a voice over!) Nathan is killing it! Haley is pleased. But she isn't so pleased with being hit on by a pompous jerk from a rival team.
Peyton is in Savannah spending time with Jake. We learn that Evil Nicki did indeed get custody of Jenny, and Jake only gets a couple visits a week. He's still very cool about the whole thing.
He's also cool about Peyton's dating Pete WhathisName from Fall Out Boy. He shrugs it off with a joke about how he dates Shakira. It's incredible how he lets everything slide right off of him. Jake is a singer too! He performs at a club as a second job.
The happy reunion causes Peyton to have feelings of euphoria! She wants to stay with Jake, and even asks him to get married. This is reinforced when Jenny calls her "mama." I should have put this as a cliffhanger. Oh, well.
Dan visits Debra, seeking pity over Keith. This doesn't go so well, because Cooper is present, and the two almost come to blows. Nathan arrives and demands that Dan vacate immediately. Dan is suddenly all anger and venom. He claims that's he's the mayor and can do ANYTHING he wants, including burning his(former)house down with everything inside. He also calls Haley "Hades." He's obsessed with fire now! That's not good.
Oh look, it's Rachel wearing a bikini and washing her car in slow motion! Well played One Tree Hill. Mouth arrives to share his disapproval with being rejected, but they are interrupted by Brooke, who soaks Rachel with a garden hose. Well played again.
Brooke is very dismayed to learn that Cooper is dating Rachel, but quickly realizes she can sue this to her advantage to help her and Mouth get revenge. You see, Cooper thinks Rachel is a 26 year old model. Oh,boy!
Nathan confesses to Haley that he's completely wiped out from carrying the team. He doesn't know if he can go against the other team led by Damian(the dude that hit on Haley)Dan is listening in one this, and he tries to get back in Nathan's good graces by attempting to destroy Damian when he once again harasses Haley before the game. It's too late: Dan's blowup at the house convinces Nathan and Debra to get a restraining order. The cops force Dan to leave the gym.
Fireworks at the game: Damian fouls Nathan, causing Nathan to sustain an injury that requires stitches. Damian pushes Haley and calls her a bitch!
Brooke taunts Rachel, telling her that Mouth is too good a guy for her conniving ass. Brooke is a good friend. Rachel agrees with this, but still continue to see Cooper. He knows she's only 17 now, since he saw her cheerleading at the game, but he is powerless to resist her.This will not end well.
Dan is listening to the game in the parking lot. He has a flashback, in which we see him forcing an exhausted young Nathan to shoot free throws over and over until he gets it right. The radio goes out, and Dan misses his son win by the game(by shooting a free throw, of course.) Well played, One Tree Hill....
(I just realized...Lucas does not appear in this episode! And everyone got along just fine.)
The Ravens wear black jerseys patched with Keith's initials in their latest game. Lucas sees an empty spot in the bleachers(where Keith and his mother would no doubt be sitting if things had gone better)and can't go on. Nathan and the rest of the team refuse to play as well, and Whitey calls a forfeit. Whitey is not angry about it though, for once he understands(dammit.)
Rachel discovers a poster of a fat girl and is very upset. She used to know the girl, but the girl is now "dead, like Jimmy." She tells Mouth that Brooke is responsible. Mouth confronts Brooke, who does indeed confess to doing this in revenge for Rachel's scheming. Mouth is very angry, and goes out in search of other posters.
Haley and Nathan hear somebody crashing around in their apartment. It's Nathan's Uncle Cooper(last seen in that racing episode). He's introduced exactly the same way as last time: drinking a bottle of beer, and asking how much Nathan wants for the pink wall.
Debra is back, too! Karen is none too happy to see her. Keith told Karen all about Debra's attempted murder of Dan, and now Debra's guilt will force her to ho back to the booze and pills. I'm assuming. I 'm getting ahead of the story. Meanwhile Debra goes back to running the the diner.
Whitey wants Karen to know about Lucas' depressed state. He tells her about how he misses his dear departed wife(Camilla). Karen claims it's not the same, because Whiteyhad Camilla for years and years, whole she only had Keith a few weeks.Whitey says that this was partially her fault, dammit, causing Karen to slap Whitey right in the face! Oh, snap. He did this on purpose, to get a rise out of her! To snap her put of her funk, you know.
(UNSURPRISING)PLOT TWIST! The fat girl in the photo was Rachel. She got a lot of surgeries and stuff and transformed from "fat" into "all that." Mouth doesn't care that Rachel used to be a tubby, but he's pretty sure he would have like her then too. Mouth finally gets some Rachel action!
Spot the Sunkist(again)
Whitey's Origin Story: Lucas wants to know why he should keep on playing basketball when he feels so empty inside. He needs it to mean something. He needs a purpose...
When Whitey was a young man playing basketball the teams were segregated. The teams decided to meet in secret in the old gym and play. After a while the captains decided to mix the teams. The captain of the black team looked at Brian Durham and said "I'll take Whitey." This motivates Lucas enough to finally drop the bombshell about his heart condition.
Peyton is bummed because Pete from Fall Out Boy went back to his regular life and stopped returning her calls. There's a dumb subplot where Haley and Nathan take a test from priest to see if they are compatible(they are not)but it doesn't matter because they tear it up.
CLIFFHANGER(S)! Lucas breaks down and tells his mother about his heart condition(finally.)He cries like a big fat baby! Mouth goes to Rachel's to profess his love, but she's with Cooper. Boo to that! Peyton doesn't need that Pete dumbass, Jake and Jenny are back!
