'One Tree Hill': Special limited time engagement!
Watching One Tree Hill is sort of like observing a baby's first experience with a mirror. Sure, one one level the baby realizes he is looking at himself, but every time he turns away and looks back again the surprise of finding a person staring back at him begins anew. One Tree Hill has the tendency to do the same thing with respect to its own romantic history. Just when you think the characters might be learning something and moving on they catch a glimpse of that mirror and repeat the same mistakes all over again, with seemingly no recognition of the pattern they are repeating.
Sometimes, I wish someone would just break that darn mirror.
(Warning: fun house mirror-sized spoilers below!)
This week, those doomed to repeat history because they've obviously learned nothing from it are Peyton and Lucas. Actually now that I think about it, Lucas is involved in almost all of the self-destructive romantic behavior on this show. Wise up, Luke. After learning of Lucas's proposal to Lindsey at the end of last week's episode, the show backs up to the big Peyton and Lucas kiss to show us how the whole thing went down. Just as many fans suspected, Lucas didn't propose to Lindsey unprompted. She conveniently found the ring Lucas was hiding in his sock drawer all of these years and assumes it is for her. PEYTON'S RING. Which Lucas doesn't tell Lindsey, of course. That's unfortunate, really, for everyone involved here. After Lindsey maintains she is still leaving Lucas despite the ring, but when she pours her heart out about how awesome Lucas is and what a wonderful writer he is, his ego is sufficiently stroked and he gets down on one knee and pops the question. I've been saying this since episode one, but this is not going to end well for anyone.
Once she learns of the proposal, Peyton heartbreakingly turns to Brooke, who allows Peyton to cry on her shoulder and helps her start the letting go process by helping Peyton burn one of the 1,000 copies of Lucas's book she has in her apartment. If they burned the whole collection, they wouldn't need to use heat for a week! I always knew this show was environmentally conscious at heart. Peyton, however, can't fully let go and visits Lucas at work and begs him not to marry Lindsey. He blows her off, but Chad Michael Murray is so horrible at showing emotion I have no idea what his inner monologue is during this exchange. Distress? Relief? Intestinal discomfort? Really, it could be anything. In the end, Peyton decides to be the bigger person and tell Lucas she wants him to be happy and she's letting go. For at least one episode. Lucas responds by going home and telling Lindsey they should get married "right away." This is probably a smart decision on his part, to get married before either he or Peyton changes their mind and decide they want to get back together. He's so mature and ready for marriage!
So, does anyone here think they will actually tie the knot? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Yeah. That's what I thought.
Also making horrible decisions this week was Nathan. Again. Some more. He starts the episode out strong, telling nanny Carrie she cannot be inappropriate with him any longer, which means no more flirting or skinny dipping. She seems to take his message to heart, but after little Jamie mistakenly calls her "Mama" she flips right back into psycho mode, telling him she sometimes pretends he's her kid and kissing Nathan full on the lips. Nathan makes the mistake of his marriage so far by not firing Carrie on the spot and telling Haley why after the fact. Mark my words, this story is just getting started, and the results are not going to be good for Nathan's character. Can he please get something to do this year besides being passive and idiotic? Also, the vague misogynistic undertones of this story are unsettling, as it seems they're setting the whole thing up to happen because Haley is a busy mom who is never home, as evidenced by Nathan's pitiful "I wish you were home more." Well, Nathan, I wish you weren't so ridiculously stupid. So we're even.
As for Brooke, she spent the episode cutely taking care of little Jamie (which, why do they have a nanny if everyone else takes care of him all the time?) and flirting with cute bartender Owen. Unfortunately, Brooke flirts by repeating her "naked in the back seat of the car" stunt from season one. Brooke has come a long way as a character since then, so to see her simplified this week into that girl again was disappointing. However, it seems to have worked on Owen. Because boys are dumb animals that respond to naked girls, I guess. Mark my words, though - there's more to Owen than just a bartender with a second-class car. He's probably secretly a Nobel Peace prize winner or something, because god forbid someone just be a bartender on television.
One person who seems to have the world at his feet this week is Mouth. Despite being fired by his boss last week for his dalliance with Millicent, Mouth returns to pack up his belongings at work only to learn that his boss was fired herself for sleeping with a subordinate before she could tell anyone of Mouth's firing. He of course thinks the person she was sleeping with is him, until he learns she was doing pretty much the entire newsroom. Professional! And not insulting to career women at all! The misogyny is alive and well in Tree Hill this week, folks. After receiving his dream shot of an on-air position from his male and decidedly less biased new boss, Mouth goes about trying to win Millicent back. She gives him a hard time at first (good for her!) but eventually caves when he shows interest in her big interest: ballet. Good strategy, Mouth. Now stop being so annoying.
Skills was also hanging around this week, delivering some funny lines and giving some good advice, like always. I wonder - do I like him the best because he has the least screen time? I'm thinking...yes.
What did you guys think? Will Lucas and Lindsey actually tie the knot? What is Owen's hidden talent? And why do they insist on making us think Millicent is the "ugly duckling" when she's probably the hottest girl on the show?
All I can say is I want Nathan to have real storyline and to fire the Nanny.
Why do they still have her? He was taking care of Jamie more than she was. What is she there for? To give us the a tired storyline?
Show needs more Dan...preferably manipulative, but guilt-ridden about being manipulative Dan.
I think my biggest problem with this season is I don't like the new characters as much as I miss the old ones.
The new ones all seem so one noted and boring. They don't make me forget the ones they are replacing. They make me miss them.
I miss Karen and Lucas' relationship, Deb's craziness, Whitey's wisdom and Dan manipulation.
Another thing I really miss is the relationship of Nathan and Lucas. Isn't that suppose to be the core of the show? These guys have great chemistry whether they are fighting or getting along. So why oh why aren't they in more scenes together with a storyline?
I agree with SG's comments-- the show could be improved by focusing on the brothers' relationship again, which means bringing back Karen, Dan and Deb for some screen time. Instead we waste time on the cartoonish Victoria, OTH's version of Cruella De Vil!
The writing and directing have been very poor so far. Was Lucas supposed to be feeling regret after he had proposed to Lindsey? (We couldn't tell.) Was Nathan supposed to feel guilty after the Nanny kissed him? (His expression was blank.)
You know that it was a BAD episode when Mouth's sexual harr***ment storyline was the least offensive thing! At least that part is over.
Yes, it is too contrived that the Nanny has to live in Nathan and Haley's house. Nathan doesn't even work full time, and Skills and Brooke don't seem to mind baby-sitting Jamie. If Nathan really wanted to fire her, he could just tell her that they don't need a full-time nanny now that he is out of the wheelchair.
I did not think it was humanly possibly, but Peyton Sawyer has almost moved to the top of my list for "TV's Most Annoying Characters of All Time". (Although Smallville's Lana Lang still has the #1 spot for sure.) Peyton was extremely whiny and self-centered in this episode. I kept screaming at the TV: "Get over it and MOVE ON!" This isn't high school anymore, and YOU were the one who turned down Lucas's marriage proposal THREE YEARS ago. It's not like you couldn't have picked up the phone during the past three years to apologize or reconcile.
Obviously, Lucas has moved on to a serious relationship, since Lindsey lives with him, and they have been a couple for three years. I had flashbacks of Meredith from Grey's Anatomy when Peyton was whining "Pick Meeeee! Not Lindsey!" *BLECH!* Geez, did Hilarie Burton's voice go up two octaves during that crying scene?
Don't even remind me of that pathetic B-plot about the girl who lives in Peyton's childhood home. That girl was going on and on, drooling over Lucas's book, like he was the second coming of Ernest Hemingway or something. She wanted to be "connected" to Peyton because she was the object of affection in the book, which made that character seem creepy and stalkerish! I felt like saying, "Here's a REAL cl***ic -- try reading some Jane Austen!" Sorry for the rant! ;-)
I like crazy Carrie! Can't wait to see what's she's like when she's totally gone! You know at some point she's going to kidnap Jaime in a plea to replace Haley. Cheesy and totally foreseeable, yes. Do I care? Not really.
There needs to be an extravangant back story on what happend to Bevin and Skillz.
Thing is you could have the Crazy Carrie storyline without her still being their nanny. The fact that Nathan hasn't fired her or told Haley about what's going on, underminds his character and that's what I don't like.
I don't feel like the writers are even trying this year. The first couple episodes were fun, but the last few have been painful to watch. I almost fell asleep last night while the episode was still going. Maybe I should start recording them to watch when I can't sleep...
Anyway, if I wanted to watch The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, The Sweetest Thing (yes, the wedding scene is coming, and not in the cool The Graduate or even Wayne's World way), and some cheap knock-off of Disclosure, I'd throw any of those movies into the DVD player. I want fun angsty soap with some level of humanity and originality. Rewatch the school shooting eps, writers, and try to recapture that feeling.
Everyone is so serious about this show. I was under the impression that it was a friviolous soap opera with played storylines and cheesy "never in a million years" outcomes. When has Nathan ever been the wise one? Obviously Lucas loves being in love triangles and apparently these twists (and I'll admit nonsensical) turns keep people returning. Hooray for brain rotting candy!
I don't think wanting to be actually entertained by our entertainment is taking this so seriously. A really good soap opera can be completely ridiculous and also completely riveting. It's often said that there aren't any new stories out there... so I'm not looking for true originality or even that much innovation, I just don't want to see totally recycled storylines and lame writing. I guess I want a reason to watch rather than kill time; 'cuz I'm starting to enjoy these recaps a lot more than the episodes...
Character Development:
This episode could of been great Character development for Nathan! after he fired her honestly and Nathan honestly needs to get a job. and I would rather see carrie go crazy yet fired, like maybe stalking Jamie are Jamie gets mad that shes not around.