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Payton’s ‘who’s my real half brother and who’s this other guy who wants to kill me,’ one. And it’s not just because of how ab-tastic Matt Barr was who played her gentleman caller, but because it added some real danger to the show. Normally you just sit back and hope that the latest secret about who kissed who doesn’t get out, but here you were all jazzed about watching a for real, if this goes wrong someone’s gonna die fight! Plus the character was totally demented, what’s more fun than that?
And only on a show like One Tree Hill could you be held captive by your best friends’ stalker, fight him off and ultimately kick his ass thanks to a timely reference to eighth grade cheer camp and still make it to the prom in time to be named Prom Queen. I don’t know about any of you, but that’s exactly how my senior prom night went!
The other life or death, well mostly death I guess, through line for season four is Lucas finally realizing that there was more to his Uncle Keith’s shooting than anyone is letting on. We all know it was evil Danny boy that shot him in cold blood and blamed it on the fat misfit Jimmy Edwards (Colin Fickes), but when will the rest of the world discover the truth? By season’s end that’s when! Apparently there was a witness to the shooting that no one knew about and that someone is haunting Dan with eerie messages trying to guilt a confession out of him. Meanwhile, Dan is dead set against confessing because he is finally working his way back into Karen’s heart and actually establishing a relationship with his previously abandoned son Lucas. Just another day in Tree Hill folks!
This show never, ever gets boring. You can sit down with these DVD’s and watch the entire season in one shot and never have the desire to come up for air. Unlike my other favorite-for-reasons-I-can’t-really-explain teen soap The O.C., Tree Hill never feels repetitive; and it never seems to be struggling or at a loss for new stories or twists. Most shows like this, and the now classics like Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place ultimately become solely about bed hopping - trying out every character in a relationship with the other, even if it doesn’t make sense just in an attempt to keep things ‘fresh.’ I think at one point the gay guy on Melrose was sleeping with one of the girls just because they had completely run out of things for that character to do! Thankfully that has yet to happen with this show.
The true test will be what happens to the show now. Season Four was the group’s last year in high school so the forth coming season will be the true test of the show’s longevity. If they can make an interesting smooth transition into college life, then ...
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