Nathan's heretofore unmentioned uncle Cooper visits to snap Nathan out of his funk. He's a race car driver! He takes Nathan and Lucas to the track to show off. We meet Cooper's crew chief and his daughter who is named Daytona(!) The crew chief teaches Nathan and Lucas to race the cars. Wasn't this a plot on a Dukes Of Hazzard episode?
Try as he might Nathan can't escape thoughts of Haley. Daytona sings that "Stars Go Blue" song, which might be the final straw for him mentally. When the race ends Nathan keeps driving, and he accelerates so quickly he loses control of the car and crashes. Nathan becomes the latest member of the other Scott family tradition: being unconscious on an operating table.
Dan drops in on Karen at school and reveals her relationship with Andy to the class. A student reports this to the officials of course, and Andy is given the option of quitting or being fired. Andy chooses the former, and he does it all for the glory of love.
Andy tells Dan what a bastard he is for doing the things he's done. Dan responds by offering Andy a job application since Andy is unemployed now. Don't ever change, Dan. Ever.
Brooke stays close to Peyton, because of Peyton's depression over Jake. All of the women(minus Haley of course) end up at Tric, where they dance! Debra shows up drunk, and proceeds to drink more. She is enabled by the others(who don't know of her pill popping problems. Brooke dances like a dork. Look at her. Dan finds Debra passed out on his damn lawn and doesn't even bother to wake her.
Oh, That Brooke! Brooke is using her new found responsibility to be a designated driver for drunk kids. On that particular night, she picks up Mouth, who's completely smashed and loving it! Mouth and Brooke drive around for fun, until she picks up her former rival Erica Marsh. Mouth and Erica like each other. They're going to be a thing now!
CLIFFHANGER! Nathan needs a blood transfusion. Debra is a match, but hers is unusable because of her drug abuse. Daytona(!) believes Nathan's crash was a suicide attempt. Nathan didn't break out of his funk! He got broken by it.
Lucas voice over!
“Time takes it all whether you want it to or not,
time takes it all. Time bares it away, and in the end there is only
darkness. Sometimes we find others in that darkness, and sometimes we
lose them there again.”(Stephen King)
Episodes without Haley: 3
(Next episode, Nathan imagines he's in an alternate reality where he and Lucas have switched places. That entry may be rather lengthy..)
Lucas (somewhat unsurreptitiously) snoops around in Dan's office! He discovers a duffel bag full of cash and a ledger of some kind. He and Andy hatch a plan to steal said ledger.
Andy and Lucas go into the dealership at night(it's not a break-in, because Lucas has the code!) The money and the ledger are now gone. Andy realizes Dan has found out their "plan" and tells Lucas perhaps he should forget this whole thing, which is good advice. But I know Lucas won't listen!
Andy has acquired a lawyer for Jake. The lawyer tells Jake he has no choice but to give Jenny to Evil Nicki, as a warrant has been issued for his arrest. The lawyer insists that Jake will get custody back in a couple of months.
Jake visits Evil Nicki and puts his foot down: he ain't giving up Jenny. Evil Nicki plays her latest card: she tells Jake Jenny is not his daughter. Oh snap, he didn't expect that.
Coach Whitey tries to talk Jake out of running again, dammit. But it's Jake who convinces Coach, with a horrifying story about how Nicki' s negligence almost led to Jenny freezing to death in a car.
Jake turns himself in to the cops much to Peyton's sadness and dismay! Coach takes Jenny away to parts unknown.
Haley-less Nathan is driving back home, he gets a call from Taylor! Taylor is in Georgia working at a bar called The Swinging Donkey. The girls who work there dance on the counter tops to The Devil Went Down To Georgia, just like in that movie "Coyote Ugly"(which I recommend for its cheesy earnestness). Nathan does drink and dance with the girls and it seems to be exactly what he needs right then!
Nathan wants(or rather, he thinks he wants) to nail Taylor, but he just can't bring himself to do it. Taylor knows Nathan is just a lonely fool acting out, so she understands. Nathan leaves to go back home, and Taylor doesn't appear on the show again for another four seasons!
Oh, That Brooke! Brooke's friend Bevin)played by an actress also named Bevin) entices her to sneak out of the house to go partying. Karen grounds her and make her scrub floors and work at the diner. Brooke learns responsibility from a likely source!
Lucas and Dan have an interesting discussion about the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories. Dan believes that Moriarty was the hero, and Doyle tired of writing Sherlock Holmes because Holmes was a "snoop," so he killed off Holmes. Lucas reminds Dan that Moriarty perished along with Holmes. I get it! It's an allusion!
Episodes reviewed so far: 40
Episodes without Haley: 2
Episodes with Coyote Ugly style bar dancing: 1
Episodes where Lucas "deduces" things: 0
