It Gets The Worst At Night(Season 4, Episode 17)

Lucas is in bed with Peyton and Brooke(it's not like that)when Skillz barges in with urgent news. It's been a week since Mouth left with Rachel, and now Mouth has sent a cryptic text message from Texas. The text message is "need assistance, " but reads as "need ass." Everyone comments on this comical spelling.

Brooke: Why does he need ass? Didn't he leave with Rachel?  Oh, That Brooke!

 

So Lucas, Haley, Nathan, Peyton, Brooke, and Skillz go on a road trip to rescue Mouth.

Mouth is in jail with several rough customers who appear ready to crush him. Mouth wins the support of one of these men by helping the man win his chess match against the guard. Soon, Mouth is regaling all his fellow inmates with stories of his romantic exploits.

Our heroes suffer car trouble! It seems worse they went out of the way to see a novelty attraction(a sandwich shaped like Elvis) which blows up  the engine somehow. But then the unthinkable happens: Chris Keller appears in his tour bus! He may not be the jerkass they want, but he's the one they need!

Chris Keller upsets Haley by chiding her about her weight! He hasn't changed a bit.

Luckily, Mouth is imprisoned in a small town(called Honey Grove)so he is easy to find. The car will not be fixed for a while, so Haley proposes that the gang crash the local prom. 

Mouth tells Chris Keller his whole story of Rachel. Rachel and Mouth had a good time in New Orleans and stuff, but she started flirting with other dudes and Mouth bailed. When he returned to the room they shared, Rachel was gone, and she left a keepsake photo of the two of them. Mouth fell asleep in a park and was arrested for vagrancy.

The kids at the prom are really cool about strangers showing up. Plus, they all seem to have appropriate Texas accents. Hey, you know what? Of  all the On Tree Hill none have North Carolina accents, apart from Mouth, Bevin and Tim(who actually are from North Carolina in real life.) The illusion is broken! Okay, not really. The girls think that Chris Keller sucks  and won't dance with him, despite the awesome old country western style suit he's wearing. Bummer.

 

Anyway it's time for the kids to go home. Brooke and Peyton have made up. Chris Keller departs heroically, for no reason at all.All is well. Except....

CLIFFHANGER! Dan blackmails his assistant to trace the calls form that cell phone he found in the school hallway. He arrives at Abby's home to see Lucas already there. Skillz identifies Abby to Lucas as the  girl in the tutor center the day of the shooting that Jimmy let go, due to her diabetes. Lucas looks up Abby 's address on one of those public record websites. Privacy! Who needs it?

(I am very unhappy with the way the Rachel storyline develops from here on out, but I will deal with that later.)