One Tree Hill: A Complete Rewatch

Several weeks ago, an idea popped up in my hyperactive brain: what if I rewatched all nine seasons of One Tree Hill, from start to finish, and wrote about it all?

One Tree Hill has remained my favourite TV show as well as an important source of comfort in my life ever since I was fifteen years old, and I have seen its every episode an inordinate amount of times. I finished my latest viewing sometime last year, and I thought I would take a break until a French channel put it back on the air at one of the rare moments of the day I am in front of traditional television- lunch. Getting caught up in the adventures, the drama, and my favourite fictional town all over again sparked the idea of writing about it, something I have never done, and then, came the podcast. Not mine, but the Drama Queens podcast. Its first episode premiered last week all over streaming platforms, and it is the newest project of One Tree Hill's leading ladies: Hilarie Burton (Peyton Sawyer), Sophia Bush (Brooke Davis), and Bethany Joy Lenz (Haley James-Scott). The trio is planning on rewatching every episode, discussing them, inviting former cast members to share some behind-the-scenes stories and gossip. At the end of the first episode, Sophia Bush suggest fans listening along should rewatch One Tree Hill at the same time, which turned one of my many ideas into something more tangible.

ONE TREE HILL, 1x01 - PILOT.

Contrary to the following 186 episodes, it has not been given the name of a song or album as a title, and has simply been called Pilot. In these first forty-three minutes into the Tree Hill universe (Tree Hill-verse?), we are given a rundown of how the town is, how its inhabitants interact with each other, and we become the witnesses of the status quo being disrupted.

Tree Hill, North Carolina, is divided between two brothers. On one side, there is the golden boy on his way to a basketball scholarship to college, Nathan Scott, and on the other, the working-class kid who plays too, but on the court by the river, Lucas Scott. The pair share a surname and a father, but that's as far as the resemblance goes. After a game, some of the boys from the varsity team, the Ravens, steal a school bus and have a party on the road to celebrate. The principal suspends most of them after they get caught by the police, except for four of them, including Nathan and his best friend, Tim. Seeing as he has lost most of his line-up due to "tomfoolery" (or, as non-privileged humans call it, "breaking and entering (...) and a smidgen of grand theft auto"), Coach Durham, also known as Whitey, watches Lucas play and offers him a spot on the team, which he is reluctant to accept. Lucas also has a crush on Peyton Sawyer, local emo and popular cheerleader all rolled into one, who also happens to be Nathan's girlfriend. So far, the two brothers managed to spend their lives ignoring each other, but they are forced to confront and play a one-on-one game to see who gets to stay on the basketball team, and who gets the girl.

GENERAL THOUGHTS.

As far as pilots go, this is top of the pile, God tier, as the kids would say. I adore every minute of it, every small moment, everything. I love the early 2000s aesthetic, the now slightly grainy looking film, the colours, the music, the fashion in all its sometimes horrendous glory, the way the scenes parallel each other. There is a special atmosphere in One Tree Hill, which I never found in any other show.

The first few minutes of the episode perfectly set the tone and tell you everything you need to know about Tree Hill, North Carolina, and its residents. Lucas and Nathan live in two opposite worlds. Nathan plays varsity basketball, and people cheer when he scores. Lucas plays with his friends, all of them evidently outcasts, by the river. We are shown two sides to Peyton's personality. On one hand, she is a cheerleader dating the star of the team. She is pretty and seems confident enough in her relationship with Nathan to make a playful, sexual comment to him in a public setting ("Don't bother showering tonight" at the game.) or walk by his father in nothing but a towel. On the other hand, she drives an old car and fumbles with the pile of rock CDs abandoned everywhere in the backseat, and she seems moody, almost mean, when she almost runs Lucas over. Nathan's father, Dan, pushes him to be the best he can be and reminds him of standards he has to meet while he is warming up. There are visible disagreements of some degree between Whitey and Dan Scott.

You easily understand all of this just by watching the opening scenes, all the way to the end of the parallel basketball games. This is straight to the point, all while being shown in a poetic manner. This is televised perfection.

TREE HILL RADIO

One of the most important parts of One Tree Hill is the music. Ask any fan: chances are, they have discovered multiple songs and artists through the soundtrack. We will get into this in more detail when we reach seasons two and three, but, in a nutshell, my music taste has dramatically evolved during my teenage years, and it's all thanks to One Tree Hill.

- Drift by Forty Foot Echo

- 24's by T.I

- Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional. It plays when Peyton is trying to locate a CD in her car, not looking at the road, and almost runs Lucas over. I only clocked yesterday that one of the lines of the song, "so we can get some," has been cut while Peyton hits the brakes, the scene falls silent and picks up on the fast, pre-chorus drumming pattern as the scene starts moving again.

- Farewell Transmission by Songs : Ohia

- Never Enough by Bosshouse

- Your Boyfriend Sucks by The Ataris. Peyton is hanging out in her bedroom, drawing, and Nathan turns up unannounced to invite her somewhere, interrupting her, and generally being rude. (I'm a big fan of the irony of the title)

- Money Bags by Runaway Cab

- Aftertaste by Ben Lee

- Are You Gonna Be My Girl? by Jet. Again, the placement of the song and the lyrics matching the images is pure perfection. It is one of the finest examples of how music was never just something with no meaning or intention in One Tree Hill. It is thought of, deliberate, and precise.

- Lapdance by N.E.R.D

- What It Is To Burn? by Finch. I wish every sports event had emo bangers playing over them.

- Rest In Pieces by Saliva

- EZ by Pete Yorn

QUOTES.

Most Millenials immersed in the popular culture of the 2000s have read or heard quotes from the show, whether they have watched it or not. The writing was nothing short of brilliant, in all its seriousness and lightheartedness, and many were the references to classic authors, which was not something often done in teenage-orientated dramas.

Haley: So, Luke, what are ravens? I mean, more than one?

Lucas: An unkindness.

I try to save the foreshadowing for when it becomes relevant, but I adore how these two seemingly unimportant lines, nothing more than a mindless conversation between two best friends, will grow to become a major part of the plot.

"There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. But omitted, and the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, and we must take the current when it serves or lose the ventures before us." (from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar)

THE BEST BITS: FAVOURITE SCENE

I do not remember what first drew me to One Tree Hill, back when I was a teenager. Was it the fact it was a teen drama, and I used to watch a lot of them? Was it the soundtrack? Was it the characters? Was it sports? Between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, I was obsessed with sports in general, and I would spend hours on end watching football, rugby, tennis, or Formula One. We never had basketball on public channels, so I have no background for it, but I often find myself drawn to the game scenes in the show. There is something so engaging about the way they are filmed, something that easily gets you involved and on the edge of your seat.

I know no one is (sadly) going to play What It Is To Burn? by Finch in the background if I ever attend a basketball game, and the chances of me watching teenagers play on their local outdoor court in a small American town at midnight are slim to none, but Lucas and Nathan's one-on-one confrontation always gives me the chills. When Lucas slams the ball on the board, depriving Nathan of what he thought would be an easy basket, it feels like the world stops around both of them. Everything is reset. Nathan is not as invincible as he thought, and Lucas is not just Dan's other son who's aiming too high. In one swift move, the ball is slammed, the pin drops, everyone around the court erupts in cheers, and life in Tree Hill is steered off its course.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT.

- The gym where the Ravens play their home games is called the Whitey Durham Field House. At this point in the series, we know nothing about Whitey. We don't know how long he has coached the Ravens, we don't know how many trophies and championships he has won, we don't even know why people call him Whitey. But we can guess how beloved he is with just four words plastered on the side of a high school wing. This man is still alive, still coaching, and has a gymnasium named after him. This is probably the best introduction the show could have given to his character.

- When Nathan and Tim drive to the river court to challenge Lucas to a basketball game, you can notice blue lights underneath Nathan's car, exposing another layer of his personality. He is not just a rich boy with an expensive car, probably gifted by his father, who owns a dealership. He is a rich boy with an expensive car, but he has undoubtedly watched and liked The Fast And The Furious.

- Nathan's nipple ring, only here for one episode. Gone, but never forgotten.

- Peyton is one hell of a terrible driver. If this were France, homegirl would have her license suspended by the end of the first scene.

THE MOST AMERICAN MOMENT

I grew up outside of the United States, and my high school experience never included uniting sports events, teenagers with cars, complete freedom, or privilege. We didn't have a sports team, only a drama club. The legal age for driving in France is eighteen, though you can start learning two years prior. I wasn't even allowed to go to Paris from the suburbs with myself, and I'm the daughter of a single mum who paid for everything in instalments. My life was a far cry from everything you see in teenage dramas, and it was probably why I loved them so. Escapism.

In One Tree Hill, there are moments that always make my brain go "Oh, that's SO American," based on my ideas of the United States, straight out of fictional programmes and films. The winner for the pilot is the idea of the whole town of Tree Hill being heavily invested in an a, high school basketball and b, an amateur game played by the riverside at midnight. Imagine all these people outdoors, at midnight, to watch a basketball game between two high school kids? Only in America.

AN ODE TO THE 2000S.

Just like many teen dramas of the times, One Tree Hill remains a time capsule of the start of the millennium, and it's fun to look back on, seventeen years after the premiere. The winner of this category in the pilot is most definitely the blue lights underneath Nathan's car. They are so The Fast And The Furious it hurts, which, despite still being somewhat popular nowadays, is a staple of the teenage boy of 2003 starter pack.

DID SOMEONE SAY PRIVILEGE?

The pilot of One Tree Hill gives us our first glimpse of the privileged world a lot of these teenagers live in. The best example of it is the bus incident. After the first basketball game, some of the players on the team steal a school bus and have a party inside, all whilst driving it. There is underage drinking on board, and Nathan makes out with an unknown girl while behind the wheel. The parents, when finding out, describe it as "tomfoolery," which is, by definition, silly or foolish behaviour. While the principal is the only one putting the correct words on it ("breaking and entering (...) and a smidgen of grand theft auto"), he also clears Nathan and Tim's names, who were involved and most definitely the brains behind the operation. From the look on Dan's face when Nathan is excluded from the narrative, you can easily guess he has signed one hell of a check to the school board and/or the local police department to keep his precious son and his basketball career out of trouble.

A CREEK AND A RIVER WALK INTO A CAFE...

While having dinner at the café, Karen, Lucas' mother, and Haley, his best friend, give him a copy of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar as a present. In the middle of her hundred-miles-an-hour monologue, Haley explains how she doesn't want this, them, to be another "hideous Joey-loves-Dawson scenario," clearly referring to Dawson's Creek, which had been massively popular a few years prior to One Tree Hill. Two of the main characters, Dawson Leery and Joey Potter, have a romantic relationship after being best friends most of their lives. While One Tree Hill doesn't follow the same pattern, and Lucas and Haley's relationship remains platonic, I find it funny how they bring up the comparison between both shows, inevitable at the time, especially since the characters share similar traits and personalities. Haley, just like Joey, is witty, clever, observant, and speaks at the speed of light. Lucas, like Dawson, is emotionally invested in his family, lives in a world of his own, and his love of books can be equated to Dawson's love of films. (Funnily enough, Chad Michael Murray was in a few episodes of Dawson's Creek before becoming Lucas Scott.)

A PACK OF THIEVES IN SUNDAY SUITS GOT TO RULE THE WORLD.

Many parallels are being drawn between Lucas' and Nathan's lives, and one of my favourites is their friendship groups. Nathan is followed by Tim Smith like a shadow, who is closer to a minion than a true friend. Apart from talking about Lucas, they don't appear to share any real connection. On the other hand, Lucas' posse is a dream of a friendship group. They seem to have all known each other for a long time, they are comfortable around each other, and they have banter and a dynamic that makes them look like a natural group of mates instead of a leader and his subordinates. I adore how painfully real they are with Lucas, whether it is to make fun of how he downplays his crush on Peyton or to encourage him to take the spot in the Ravens. Skills' "we ain't shooting for teams, we're shooting to be your excuse" is one of the best lines in the series and asserts Skills as a true friend and confidante instead of just being the token Black guy who's only here for comic relief. If this were Romeo and Juliet and Lucas was Romeo, Skills would be Mercutio- able to be hilarious while giving serious advice and insight.

At the start of the midnight basketball game, Mouth and Jimmy are pretend-commenting on the pitch, and I adore that they have changed from jeans and t-shirts into their suits for the occasion. Their best friend is playing his first big basketball game, the game that could change the trajectory of his life, they are here to support him, and they have dressed up for it.

"GOD, WHY ARE GUYS SUCH JERKS?"

Peyton complains about Nathan and, from the get-go, it is almost impossible to understand why these two are together. She comes across as sensitive and sometimes moody, and he doesn't appreciate her, her art, her music, the makings of her as a person. If someone walked into my bedroom unannounced, turned the record player off, and asked me how I am "wasting my time," I'd tell them where to stick it. Nathan even goes as far as playing Peyton in a basketball game. Imagine how chilling it must be to ask your boyfriend what the other guy gets if he wins, and he replies "you" without showing an ounce of feeling or remorse.

When Peyton explodes, on River Road, "GOD, why are guys such jerks," Lucas answers "Guys or Nathan?" Which begs the question: is Lucas really well-placed to speak about not being a jerk? Granted, he isn't treating a girlfriend badly or cheating on her like Nathan is, but only a few minutes before, he asked a girl he doesn't know why she was a cheerleader, because "no offense or anything, but you're about the least cheery person I know." Really? You've got a crush on the girl, obvious enough for all your mates to make fun of you, and that's where you're going after she didn't care for you badly singing NOFX?

FIRST OF ALL, WE DON'T KNOW HER: IN DEFENSE OF PEYTON SAWYER

Growing up as a lonely alternative kid, Peyton Sawyer was one of my favourite fictional characters and has remained since. There will be plenty of occasions to talk about her shortcomings and failures, but today, I want to talk about peeling the first layers of her complicated personality. Already on the surface, she is a popular cheerleader into punk and loud rock music, which takes a cliché and smashes it into the tiniest pieces. As she warns us in one of the show's most iconic lines: "First of all, you don't know me. Second of all, you don't know me."

Throughout the pilot, she is the only teenager shown with only one person in their life. Lucas has Haley, Keith, and Karen. Haley has Lucas and Karen, and probably Keith to some degree. Nathan has Dan, Peyton, Tim, and his team. But Peyton only seems to have Nathan, and she is second best to everyone in his world anyway. In the last shot we see of her, she is alone on her webcam, looking miserable. Underneath the surface, Peyton is a lot more than the emo cheerleader who seems moody and a bit of a bitch when she almost runs Lucas over. She is lonely, and it becomes obvious that she is only staying with Nathan so she is not on her own, even though he doesn't treat her right. She sticks around, she lets him walk all over her, she is openly sexual, because it seems better to be in a toxic relationship than be on her own.

FOR FUTURE REFERENCE...

Lucas' love of books.

Lucas comes across as a quiet teenager, cultured (why else would he know the names given to groups of birds?), and seems to love reading. When he is having dinner with Haley and Karen, they give him a copy of Julius Caesar, an odd choice for most traditional teenagers, but a good introduction to Lucas' tastes and personality. We also watch Skills asking what he is reading lately, because he is "reading vicariously through" him, and Karen and Keith are seen rearranging the bookshelves in the café. Just like Lucas' place in Tree Hill is slowly forming and growing larger, literature is appearing, one detail at a time.

Nathan's criticising of his father.

From the first scene he appears in, we easily guess that Dan Scott is the type of father who lives vicariously through his child's athletic accomplishments. Nathan seems content to be following in his footsteps, for the most part, all the way until the end of the episode and the line "Don't worry, dad. Your dreams are still safe." There is trouble ahead, and it's another way of showing how life in town as everyone knows it is changing, even through nine words said in passing.