A complete rewatch: One Tree Hill

In the thirteenth episode of One Tree Hill, Hanging By A Moment, things move fast in our little world. After six weeks away in Italy, it's time for Karen to go back home, and Keith is nervous, unsure of where things will go after time apart and the kiss they exchanged at the airport when she left. His nervousness leads him to have a beer or two and crash his car, sending him and Lucas straight to the hospital. In the meantime, Brooke is falling head over heels in love with Lucas, while he is chasing Peyton behind her back.

BEHIND THE TITLE.

The episode is entitled Hanging By A Moment after a song by the Californian rock band Lifehouse. Before we dive into the lyrics of this early 2000s hit, let me just say that Lifehouse was a staple of early 00s soundtracks. Their music featured in the WB's Smallville, which I have personally never watched but remember being a big deal when I was a preteen, and their song You And Me was featured in, hold your beer, Cold Case, Boston Legal, Gavin & Stacey, Everwood, Grey's Anatomy, The 4400, and Medium. They were just in EVERYTHING. Hanging By A Moment, their first-ever hit, is a great title for the episode, even if you choose to not look at the lyrics- everything in this episode is hanging by a single moment, from the second Lucas looks out of the window and sees the car about to crash into him, to Haley passing PE. The lyrics of the song focus more on love, and they fit perfectly with Peyton and Lucas' story. "I'm falling even more in love with you / Letting go of all I've held on to / I'm standing here until you make me move / I'm hanging by a moment here with you." Pretty straightforward.

GENERAL OPINION.

At this point, I think I have declared my undying love for every episode of the season, and I am not about to change my tune. Hanging By A Moment is fantastic. The perfect balance between the highs (Brooke falling in love, Keith's nervousness, Nathan teaching Haley how to play basketball) and the lows (the car crash, the cheating, the hospital, Nathan's lies) is near perfect, and it just gets me in my feelings every time, all of them, even after I have seen the show a disgusting amount of times and know what happens next. There is magic in this season.

SOUNDTRACK

- The One You Want by The Get Up Kids

- Inside Of Love by Nada Surf (this song was also in How I Met Your Mother, another show I love)

- Everybody Wants You by Josh Kelley

- Leaving Trains by James William Hindle

- Don't Confess (This Thing That Breaks My Heart) by Tegan & Sara

- All I Can Do by Sandstrom Thomas

- Pink Bullets by The Shins

- Brief Intermission by Rob Momary

- Most Of The Time by Josh Canova.

The only thing I'll have to say about the soundtrack in this episode is that little emo me is thrilled every time she hears The Get Up Kids, Nada Surf, and Tegan And Sara.

QUOTES

"But this is, like, L-O-V-E mad crushed out."

There is something so pure and innocent about the way Brooke describes her love for Lucas, something too big for her to put into words and so simple all at once. The joy on her face when she tells Peyton she's in big trouble is so damn adorable (and heartbreaking when you know what's going on behind her back.)

"You were in the library? The temperature must have dropped in hell."

There is a special place in my heart for Whitey's sass and quick comebacks.

THE BEST BITS: HALEY AND NATHAN.

For once, Haley and Nathan get to act like teenagers and have teenage worries. In 1x13, Haley's biggest concern is passing physical education, and in order to do that, she only has to score a single free throw, which she cannot do. She first enlists Lucas to help her, but when he is too busy, she turns to her boyfriend Nathan. The scene at the Rivercourt during which he teaches her how to shoot is so goddamn adorable.

There's this boy, and basketball is the one thing he is one hundred per cent sure to be good at, but he hasn't been enjoying it much recently. He almost even died for it, and because of it. It's tearing his family apart. But the joy on his face when he shows Haley how to shoot is heartwarming. That's what he enjoys about the sport. Not the drama, not the overachievement, but the fun of playing with no aim aside from teaching his girlfriend how to score a free throw. And there's this girl, and school is the one thing she's meant to be good at, except for P.E. (Didn't we all suck at P.E? I passed it, but just barely, and, thirteen years down the line, I am still convinced I did because my teacher took pity on me.) She knows nothing about sports, and her athletic boyfriend, who she is slightly embarrassed to ask, is her only way out of failure. After she almost scores, following Nathan's advice, he tells her it was "kind of sexy," and the look on Haley's face is everything. You can tell no one has ever called her sexy before, and she's testing it out, seeing how it feels, and liking it. There's such an innocence in this scene- they're not worried about sex, or her virginity, or their families, or his health. They're playing basketball together, and he tells her she's sexy, probably for the first time, and they're both having a great time, and it warms my little heart beyond belief.

THE LITTLE THINGS.

Why are people constantly barging into Lucas' house? Doesn't anyone knock on any doors in Tree Hill?

Peyton says she has a lot of friends, but, outside of Brooke, Lucas, and occasionally Haley and Jake, we don't see her surrounded by anyone, most of the time. Sure, she is a cheerleader, but we never see her interact with any of her teammates either, and cheerleading isn't part of her identity like it is Brooke's.

I understand it's a plot device for Dan to remember he loves Deb and doesn't want to cheat on her, but do people really throw in photographs in the same drawers as they do corkscrews?

Peyton grows uncomfortable and changes her mind about redecorating her bedroom straight after Lucas has taken her mattress away. That's...an interesting timing. Is she going to sleep on the floor or what?

We see on Camilla's grave that she was born in 1938 and passed away in 1966, meaning she died at twenty-eight years old.

Dan and Deb's therapist graduated from the University of Richmond, which is situated in Virginia.

When Brooke pops up in Lucas' room unannounced, Haley calls her Tigger as a reference to Winnie The Pooh's over-energetic tiger friend.

The song playing when Brooke explains her love for Lucas to Peyton is Tegan & Sara's Don't Confess (This Thing That Breaks My Heart), and looking at the lyrics make the situation even more heartbreaking. "Yeah, you send a little smile my way" // "Don't think I'll escape / Why would I escape you / Don't think I'll replace / How could I replace you" Heartbreak. Just heartbreak. And it fits both girls, which makes it even sadder.

I had personally never heard of the concept of a "courtesy telephone," so I had to research it. It's a phone present in airports, hotels, and large train stations and is used to relay messages to specific people, which is why we hear the voice on the tannoy specifically call Karen to answer it. I couldn't find any information about whether they are still in use, with the Internet and smartphones, so...I'm going to assume they are?

THE MOST AMERICAN MOMENT.

There are two in this episode, and they both revolve around sports. The first one is when we see the communal showers in the locker rooms. See, there were some in my old gym, back in high school, but no one in their right mind would have dared to get naked to take a shower after physical education. First of all, we did not have time, and second of all, which teenager is confident enough in their body to take their clothes off in front of all their classmates to take a public shower? Also, those showers have probably seen a lot of things in their lifetime, and they're definitely infested with germs. The concept of having them built inside a school is not what strikes me as American, but where else than American TV shows have we ever seen teenagers taking showers at school?

The second one is about the basic concept of Haley's P.E class. You're telling me she only has to score one singular basket to pass the class? And that's it? As I explained before, I almost failed mine, and I sucked at anything athletic, but we had A LOT of things to do. During the first trimester, I had to be good at badminton. (I'm awful at badminton.) During the second trimester, we were split into groups and had to create our own choreography, come up with a theme, and perform it in front of the class in costumes we would have chosen. And during the third trimester, we had to do orientation runs, running around the woods by my school, locating signs on trees, just to show we could run, be observant, and use a compass. You are telling me that American people only have to show up and score one free throw? I would have THRIVED in the United States. And I'm small, and not very good at basketball.

THE MOST 00s MOMENT

There are quite a few in Hanging By A Moment, including one we have seen before: the old school computer in Lucas' bedroom, Times New Roman, chunky keyboard and all. By the way, I remember thinking, a few episodes ago, that Lucas and Karen could probably not afford a computer if Lucas had to use Peyton's one to book his mother a flight to Italy, but it's now shown that he has one in his bedroom. The mystery remains.

When Haley visits Lucas at the start of the episode, she plays with a bouncing ball she's found lying around. Who has even bought a bouncing ball past 2003?

After Whitey asks Nathan if he has taught him something, Nathan and Haley decide to take a look at his life and accomplishments by researching his name online at the library. Remember the days when you simply did not have access to the Internet in a phone you could carry in your pocket and had to go to the school library to use it? Those were the days. I didn't have the Internet at home until I was seventeen, and I have lived a long life of using public computers and other people's computers to do my homework.

FASHION REVIEW

There is not much in this episode, but, again, the little emo in me simply HAS to point out Peyton's Get Up Kids t-shirt. Any mention of bands I like is going straight to my heart.

A BRIEF CONVERSATION: THE BOULDER METAPHOR.

When Deb and Dan are in therapy, Deb mentions Lucas, and shortly after, Dan tells the story of the man who found himself trapped underneath a boulder in a mountain and had to cut off his arm to escape and survive, all in very graphic detail, with undisguised admiration for the man. This is the story of Adam Ralston, who was canyoneering in Bluejohn Canyon, Utah when he got trapped underneath a boulder and had to amputate his own right arm to survive. The story later became a book, Between A Rock And A Hard Place, written by Ralston himself, and a film, 127 Hours, starring James Franco, released in 2010. In this episode, Dan uses the story as a metaphor for his past.

As a teenager, finding out his girlfriend was pregnant felt like being trapped underneath a boulder, and he had to amputate himself to survive, meaning he had to leave her and the child behind to reclaim his life. I have to admire the way he can compare the story of his life, of being a reckless eighteen-year-old who got his girlfriend pregnant and chose basketball over her, to a man who had to amputate his own arm in a canyon or he would have died, with a straight face. There is a drama to it, but also a clear lack of self-awareness. I think that we can all admire Adam Ralston's composure and bravery in cutting off his own arm to save his life, but it's a far cry from a young adult breaking up with his high school girlfriend and abandoning her with a child just so he could carry on with the life he wanted.

OH, LUCAS.

...is basically what I think every time he opens his mouth on screen.

Let it be clear: I am not some man-hating Peyton and/or Brooke fan who puts all the blame on him. Peyton is just as much to blame as him in the cheating. But she showed remorse where Lucas never did. He keeps chasing her and asking her "about us," even after she states she is uncomfortable and would rather pretend it never happened. In the corridor, she tells him, all over again, that she doesn't want anything more to happen between the two of them because Brooke is her best friend, and he pulls her in for a kiss afterwards, just to prove to her that she will feel something. Of course, she will! She's in love with him- but at least, she's trying to fight it. There is the way Peyton asks about Brooke, and Lucas answers: "She's great, but she's not you," and then admits to hiding behind her so he doesn't get hurt again. Did he just tell the girl he likes that he is using her best friend? I would have run away so fast, feelings or not.

Then, during the scene at Peyton's house, before she changes her mind about redecorating, Lucas insists they have to tell Brooke the truth, even when Peyton is unsure about it. You could argue that coming clean to Brooke is the right thing to do, but pressuring someone to break their best friend's heart, when they have stated, like, ten times in the past few days, that they don't want to pursue a relationship with you is...questionable. If there weren't enough red flags as it is, the two of them sneak out in the library, which is not even a private place, by the way, anyone could have seen and ratted it out to Brooke, but Lucas tells Peyton he likes their relationship private and wrong because it "makes it feel deeper." Maybe he's just a kid being misguided by the books he reads or the things he has watched, or maybe he is just a kid, full stop. They are both sixteen, seventeen, after all. But what an awful thing to say to someone you supposedly love.

The episode ends with Haley confronting Lucas about what she saw in the library, which provokes a huge argument between them. Lucas tells Haley that if she is looking for betrayal, she should look at herself first. What? Being single and dating a single guy who, yes, has fucked up in the past, but at least, is actively working at redeeming herself? That's not on the same level as cheating on your girlfriend with her best friend who has second thoughts about it.

Both of them are in the wrong. They both know Brooke will get hurt, and they both willingly carry on with the cheating and the secret relationship. But we have to admit that Lucas' attitude is absolutely horrible, whether it is towards Haley, Peyton, and even Brooke. Watching her get excited because she will get to meet his mother, and she is worried about them getting along because she doesn't have her own mother around, and knowing he's lying to her and is cheating on her is heartbreaking and infuriating all at once. There is a sense of entitlement in Lucas. He has to be right about everything, and things have to go his way, whether it makes others uncomfortable or not.

FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.

The big one is obviously the car crash at the end of the episode, and Dan finally admitting Lucas is his son. How are things going to go forward?