Growing up with One Tree Hill

     On January 11th, a big part of my life will start to come to a close.  One Tree Hill will premiere its ninth and final season.  Usually on the bubble at cancellation time, but having a very loyal fan base, OTH will leave Supernatural as the last remaining show from the WB network.  Having grown up watching  such WB classics as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Roswell, Felicity, Gilmore Girls, and Dawson's Creek (This could go on forever.), the ending of One Tree Hill is a very sad time for me.  OTH took me from my senior year of high school to my mid-twenties, so I really do feel like I've grown up with each of the characters.
     In many ways, One Tree Hill was like most of the other teen-oriented shows of the time.  OTH just had something extra, something intangible that helped it stay on-air for nine seasons.  It must be what Karen said in the season 1 finale when she told Lucas, "There's only one Tree Hill, and it's your home."  Most high school shows floundered in the post-high school years, but OTH took a different route.  After graduating high school in season four, OTH did something crazy and skipped the college years, picking up four years after high school, slowly filling in the blanks as to what the characters had been up to during the break.  This added to me feeling like I grew up with Haley, Nathan, Brooke, Lucas, and Peyton.  Instead of having actors play characters younger than they really are, they were playing characters who were now closer to their real ages.

      I'm going to take this opportunity to tell you some of my favorite moments from One Tree Hill.  The episode that is obviously at the top of the list to me is "With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept", episode 3.16.  Known as the school shooting episode, this episode brought grace, integrity, and emotion to a topic that could have come off as tacky, while also advancing the storyline of the show.  Jimmy, a boy who was once friends with the Rivercourt guys, comes to school with a gun.  He can no longer face being ignored and being mistreated after his thoughts on the time capsule, and he ultimately takes his own life.  Dan Scott of course takes the opportunity from this tragedy to kill his brother, Keith.  OTH is known for the music it uses throughout the episodes, but this one used only one song, "God Bless the Child" by Michelle Featherstone.  All of the actors do such a great job in this episode, and, if you can watch it without crying, you should check your pulse.

     The episode that probably gets watched the most at my house is also from season 3.  It's episode 20, "Everyday Is a Sunday Evening".  I like to think of this as the Nathan episode because he takes Lucas' place as the usual narrator, and he totally owns this episode.  Having said that, it also features a heavy Peyton/Jake storyline.  I usually fast forward through these parts because I wasn't a big Peyton fan until seasons five and six.  Anyway, back to Nathan.  He carries the Ravens during a basketball tournament since Lucas is no longer playing after Keith's death.  This episode is very Naley heavy, and it does a great job of showing how these two have always got each other's backs.  My favorite song from the episode is "Unsatisfied" by the Nine Black Alps, played as Nathan makes the winning free throw...without even looking at the basket.  Love it!
     Season 3 was one of my favorite seasons, and this next one is from the same season.  Episode 13 "The Wind That Blew My Heart Away" takes place during a storm in Tree Hill.  Couples are fighting and making up, families are connecting, and relationships are taken to a higher level.  Haley and Nathan have spent the beginning of season 3 trying to make their relationship stronger after the hard times in season 2.  Lucas is trying to show Brooke that she can trust him again.  Keith and Karen are in love.  Peyton is connecting with her sick birth mother, and Mouth and Rachel are exploring their relationship.  It's a good one, and helping to set the tone is Tyler Hilton singing "Missing You".

     It has taken me some time to come to terms with the new characters on OTH.  Peyton and Lucas left after season 6, and new characters were brought in to sort of reinvigorate the show.  It was hard to sympathize with characters that hadn't been around as long as some of the others, so not many of my favorite moments come after season 6.  There is one episode from season 8 that takes me back to the good old days for some reason.  Episode 11, "Darkness on the Edge of Town" was the mid-season finale, and it takes place during a hurricane.  Lives are in danger, old enemies resurface, but all's well that ends well in Tree Hill.
     Season 5 was also a season with many changes with the jump from high school graduation to post-college life.  I have love/hate feelings towards it, but one of my favorite episodes is episode 9, "For Tonight You're Only Here to Know".  The girls (including newbies Mia and Lindsey) get locked in the Tree Hill High library the night of the first Ravens game of the season.  I love when the team walks out to the floor (with Jamie Scott in uniform too!) to Lenny Kravitz's "Bring It On".  Feelings are hurt, and some friendships are tested.  Also, Mouth gets a big break but can't decide how to portray his story.  Every time I watch this episode I start to cry when the characters start singing Kate Voegele's "Wish You Were".

     I've already mentioned some of OTH's songs above, but there are so many more that I would only have discovered by watching One Tree Hill.  It may not be the cool thing, but I'm mostly a country music fan, so OTH's playlist has helped me expand my horizons.  There is no way I could just choose one as my favorite, but here are a few that arguably make the cut.  From one of my favorite episodes, 3.13, is "Here Comes a Regular" by Paul Westerberg played as Peyton's birth mother dies...so sad.  From the good old days of the season 1 episode "Every Night Is Another Story" is the song "Headlights" by Dispatch.  One Tree Hill mostly plays new and current music, but every once in a while they know how to use the classic songs like they did in the season 6 finale with the Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't You See", played at the end of the episode when everyone's dreams are coming true. Another favorite is Matt Nathanson's "Wedding Dress" played during the episode of Lucas and Peyton's wedding.  There's just so much good music on this show.

     Although I call myself a loyal fan, sometimes I question the people writing these episodes.  More often than not, however, the episodes are quotable, and they speak truths that are relatable to most people.  Here are some of my favorite lines or speeches through the years.  First is this one from Haley as she officiates Lucas and Peyton's wedding: "I believe in true love.  I believe in love at first sight.  I believe love conquers all, and that doesn't mean there's not gonna be hard days or difficult things to deal with, because there will be, but finding that person who does it for you and knowing that that person loves you back just makes everything so much easier."  This next one comes from Brooke as she and Peyton try to get their lives back to normal after the attack by Derek/Ian: "You have a friend that's gonna tell you that life kicks you around sometimes.  It scares you, and it beats you up, but there's a day that you realize that you're not just a survivor, you're a warrior.  You're tougher than anything it throws your way."  I'm following that one with another Brooke quote from Nathan and Haley's wedding reception: "'Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds.'  When life gets hard, when things change, true love remains the same.  We can all use a little hope sometimes, ya know?  That feeling that everything is gonna be okay and that someone is there to help make sure of that.  Here's to al love that will not alter."  I'll end some of my favorite quotes with one from Lucas: "Truth is still absolute.  Believe that.  Even when that truth is hard and cold, and more painful than you're ever imagined.  And even when truth is more cruel than any lie."
     In closing, I just want to say thank you to One Tree Hill. You've made me laugh, and you've made me cry.  You've made me angry, and you've made me wish summer would end so that a new season would begin.  You've been something that I look forward to, and you've introduced me to characters and people that I can look up to.  You've been wonderful, and I'll miss you when you're gone.  I'll still have the DVDs to look forward to when I'm needing my OTH fix.  I can't wait for the final season to begin even though I know that only brings the ending that much closer.  Goodbye, Tree Hill.  I'm sure I won't be the only one to miss you.