Review of One Tree Hill Season 8 -- It Truly Was Season Great!!
Since the final season premiere airs this Wednesday I was bound and determined to catch-up on season eight during Winter Break. Believe it or not I finished the entire season in a matter of six days!! That was the fastest I have ever watched a full 22 episode season….ever lol. I haven’t done many season reviews since I’ve been preoccupied with other things and my current tv viewing to write one. I’m making an exception with One Tree Hill because their final season is upon us, and I thoroughly enjoyed season eight.
One Tree Hill is a show I still hail as one of the best television shows on television. I know many people will snicker at the comment, and compare OTH to other shows. However, you talking to a person that previously misjudged this show from the beginning. I was mislead by those same snickers and awkward marketing trailers. I’m glad I gave the show chance, and bought the first season on dvd for $20 bucks. It has been investment I do not regret. This show is truly underappreciated. Is it perfect? Of course not, but no show is.
Season eight is a season, in comparison to previous seasons, was quite the quiet season. It wasn’t uber-dark, but it was still life changing for the characters in the show. Well, every season is life changing for the characters. It’s just the atmosphere of the season was quite simplistic. Which is something I feel the series needed after the tough, but also amazing dark seasons of season five through seven. Season eight reminded me of season two where the characters can have a bit of breather to enjoy the life around them instead of huge incidents one after another.
If anyone has read my previous seasonal reviews, then you know they can be pretty long. Since I’m trying to be more concise on my writing this review will be done quite differently than my previous posts.
Favorite Episodes
"Asleep at Heaven's Gate"
"I Can't See You, But I Know You're There"
"The Space in Between"
"We All Fall Down"
"Nobody Taught Us to Quit"
"Not Afraid"
"Luck be a Lady"
"Mouthful of Diamonds"
"Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace"
"Lists, Plans"
"Darkness on the Edge of Town"
"The Drinks We Drank Last Night"
"The Other Half of Me"
"The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get"
"Quiet Little Voices"
"The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul"
"Flightless Bird, American Mouth"
"This is My House, This is My Home"
There are some shows where I love or enjoy nearly every single episode in a season, such as Lost, Whedonverse, and etc. One Tree Hill is a show that have always thoroughly enjoyed.
Favorite Storylines
Nathan & Brooke: The Next Chapter - One of my favorite scenes in the series ever surrounded the pivotal decisions by Nathan and Brooke in this season. The decisions they made in “Nobody Taught Us to Quit” have been led up for a couple of seasons now. I always wondered if the rigorous rehab, training, and Slamball affected Nathan’s back. Sometimes too much of it can do more harm than good. So to have Nathan transition from athlete to agent made perfect sense to me. Nathan love sports and cares about the welfare of how athletes are treated. He has been there from scandals to physical rehab, so it makes perfect sense to me for him to make that transition.
I’m glad they didn’t allow Nathan to jump into a sports agency without completely his college course work. I loved that they made continuity shout-outs to the first season with Haley’s “Tutor Girl” (love that Nathan called Jaime his “Tutor Son” hehe) to Nathan taking accountability about just worrying about the sport and achieving a passable G.P.A. I know many people thought Nathan’s storyline was boring or lame, but to me I found it be quite realistic. I loved seeing Nathan gain his confidence in his academics, and see him be completely honest with his family about it. He totally deserved his A- grade from Professor Kellerman.
Jump to Brooke’s decision to repay back all of her investors that Victoria and Millie lied to. I was honestly glad the creative team made decision because our economy is in the toliet, and fashion stores are closing right and left. It didn’t make sense for Clothes Over Bros to still be just as successful as it was in season five. I know many thought it was a repeat of season two when Brooke’s father lost all of his money (which they referenced in S8), however; it right with the story of Brooke’s yearning to have and build a family with Julian. Brooke loves fashion. No doubt about it, but she also loves Tree Hill and her loved ones. To me it made perfect sense for Brooke to co-own the Karen’s Café with Haley. When you are in your twenties and thirties you can’t help, but reflect upon the past. The decisions Brooke and Nathan made have been forshadowed for multiple seasons, and it did felt like it was time for the next chapter of their lives to begin.
I just loved the monologue of Nathan and Brooke’s press conferences from “Nobody Taught Us to Quit”:
Nathan: Letting go is never easy. As athletes, we have an expiration date,and even if our professional careers are substantial, that expiration date comes pretty early. Sometimes our ...our hearts are willing, but our bodies say no. And that happens to be the case with me. Because of this, I'll be leaving the game of basketball.
Brooke: Obviously, there are things I regret......Things I would like to take back......Things I would change if I could. But we all have to live with the residue of our choices...And the consequence of our actions.
Nathan: I know that some of you may be concerned for me, concerned that I might struggle with the fact that my career has been cut short. As Lou Gehrig said,"today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Finally, I won't be taking any questions tonight. Instead, there's a long interview conducted by Mouth McFadden at his website, mcfaddensports.com.
Brooke: I won't be taking any questions tonight. But I just want to ensure the investors of my company, now my former company, that you will all be paid back in full 100%. Our mistakes shouldn't cost you a penny, and they won't. People say, "it's just business. Don't take it personally." Well, I think business is as personal as it gets. Just because the system allows it, it doesn't make it right.
Nathan: Some people never get to touch their dreams...Never get to know what that feels like.....never find that thing they love or get to do it for a living. So, is it a tragedy to have that taken away from you? No. The tragedy would be to lie awake at night, wondering, "what if?"
Brooke: For those of you who believed in me once,I hope you can believe in me again...
Brooke & Nathan: For now, I say goodbye to this chapter of my life..... And I look forward to what comes next.
They did a perfect job at filming that montage with going back and forth between Brooke and Nathan. To see Brooke show the audience her next arc will be about her building the family she always wanted. Alas, it was still bittersweet to see them do these career altering decisions. I mean I was proud of Broke and Nathan’s decisions in the episode because they showed so much integrity, grace, and honesty. Still my heart just ache to see Brooke’s store empty, and Nathan literally closing the door on his basketball career. I loved how they showed that in the episode. To see Nathan close his son’s door, that had every of Nathan’s basketball jerseys on his wall, with having the symbolism of saying goodbye by closing the door. It was all quite moving.
The Scott Family - Reopening Karen’s Café seemed right for the journey of the store, and they love making parallels between Haley/Jamie and Karen/Lucas. I loved the parallels in the season finale with Jamie’s pullover hoodie of Keith’s shop, coming into café for dinner, and playing basketball on the river court. The Scott Family had some of the most adoreable moments this season. I loved how they did Haley’s preggers storyline. I have no idea how Bethany was able to be in every single episode while being pregnant before and after her own pregnancy. My hat seriously goes off to her.
I loved how they did Lydia‘s birth episode with all the Naley flashbacks, and baby Lydia is just so freakin‘ cute!! Wow, Bethany and James were babies back then lol.. Haley’s preggers storyline was done so well from her mood swings and HoHo’s cravings. It was nice to see Haley get her much deserved baby shower because I always wanted to see her baby shower for Jamie. Anything with baby Lydia was golden, such as Jamie reading her a story, Haley talking for Lydia in front of Brooke lol, and Nathan singing karaoke with her in the season finale. James Lafferty was beyond cute I that moment hehe.
I also liked that they allowed Jamie to grow up with his acceptance of liking Madison (awww…I love Madison/Jamie subplot throughout the seasons) to asking his father if he could go to the Rivercourt without parent supervision. I couldn’t do it in the city I live in, but Tree Hill is as Jamie says is magical. One of my favorite moments with Nathan and Haley was when they label themselves as screw-ups lol. The whole episode they are fumbling and messing up, but in the end things turn out okay. Alas, the episode ends with them forgetting Jamie at Chuck’s haha.
I know many people were annoyed with the lack of Naley angst, but truthfully I didn’t mind. Nathan and Haley have been having a rough year since….well…..season one lol. It was nice to see Naley adjust to life with their second pregnancy, without Mama James, and adjusting to Nathan and Haley’s new career choices. Sometimes if you put too much angst things just don’t work out at all, and it become too unbelievable *cough*Grey’s Anatomy’s Alex Karev anyone*cough*. So I found it quite welcoming, and Naley are just too cute in these adoreable moments they had throughout the season.
Clay & Quinn: Shooting Aftermath & Romance - I thought Clay and Quinn’s limbo in the first two episodes was made of awesome. It made you think at first they weren’t shot by Katie, but in fact they were. I loved how they transitioned back and forth between their limbo to reality. It was so sad and beautifully well done when Clay convinced Quinn to cross back to the other side to be with their family and friends. I also think the colors throughout their limbo was breathtaking cinematography. I really loved the humor they brought into the physical healing process with Quinn’s bullet wound and Clay’s right arm.
It was gut wrenching to see Quinn go to that dark place of PTSD. It was a side to this character we normally don’t see. To see her react to her surroundings, and to deal with her intense anger for revenge. I loved how they incoorporated Dan Scott into Quinn’s storyline. Wonder if that will be referenced in the final season.
Season eight dealt with a lot of Quinn’s mental healing of the shooting, and there is no way for Clay to be okay so quickly. So Clay’s upcoming storyline for season nine *not going to say due to spoilers* truly make sense. We haven’t gotten into Clay’s psychie about the shooting, and we only barely touched upon the physical ramifications he had to deal with. Its just with all the storylines that went on in season eight I’m glad it will be shown in the final season. If they swept it under the rug, then it would annoy me.
Clay and Quinn had some awesome romantic moments in this episode from Valentine’s Day to so much more. If I would list all of the romantic moments, then I would be here all day lol. I will just say I got my warm and fuzzy Clay/Quinn quota in season eight hehe. Before I forget I actually loved how they closed the arc of loony Katie. I still don’t think was the perfect choice in season seven, but I felt they did a better job with her crazy arc in season eight. She was quite chilly in the mid-season finale taunting Quinn throughout the storm.
Brooke & Julian’s Wishes Come True - If you watched OTH since the beginning, then you should know how much Brooke yearned to have “the boy and a baby”. She just simply wanted to be love for being herself….flaws and all. So it was great to see Brooke’s dreams come true finally, and done the right way. I mean Brooke and Julian didn’t fall in love instantly. Attraction? Yes, but it took a while for love and for Brooke to trust someone intimately after what happened with Lucas and Peyton. The same for Julian because of what happened with Peyton, and for someone to love Julian completely from his Grease 2 obsession to his need to help others. I always been a big fan of how they did Brooke and Julian’s romance storyline. One of my favorite episodes was “Lists, Please” because it showed Julian making Brooke completely happy by checking off her list. Which is what their season eight storyline felt like. So to see their wedding was awesome!! I love that Haley was the maiden of honor and Jamie was the best man. It was fitting for Victoria to walk Brooke down the aisle. Despite Brooke and Victoria’s arguments there is no denying anymore that Victoria loves her daughter. She went to prison for her afterall. Victoria will always be Victoria, but she does love her daughter and knows Julian is the one for her. I’m glad Julian picked Jamie because those have really bonded in season seven. Personally, I love Julian and Jamie’s relationship more than Skillz (more on him later). They get each other, and Julian doesn’t treat Jamie like a kid.
I really loved how they did the mid-season finale with Brooke and Julian. It was so intense!! I loved seeing Julian as the hero, and later on the season to see a darkness to him we have seen before. I wasn’t expecting to see a follow-up to the hit and run driver on the bridge during the night of the storm. So it was pretty awesome to see continuity to that amazing mid-season finale, and to see so much rage and anger within Julian. It was awesome to see Julian need to avenge the wrongs done to his family. I loved seeing Clay and Nathan have Julian’s back during the confrontation scene with Ian Kellerman.
The pregnancy arc in the second half of the season was rough. Over the past three seasons we have seen babies and teens come and go in Brooke’s life. My heart just ached for Brooke when the adoption fell threw. However, you just knew it was coming since the young mother said she didn’t want to do it by herself. So to hear Brooke was pregnant (which has been known to happen -- don’t call them miracle babies for nothing!!) you just can’t help, but be overjoyed for her and Julian. Plus to have twin boys on the top of it was the icing on the cake. I love that one of the boys was named Jude after The Beatles song “Hey Jude”.
Nathan’s Daddy Issues - I thought they did an exceptional job with this. It wasn’t too over the top, but made perfect sense for Nathan to have residual emotional issues about Dan Scott. You don’t have a father like Dan Scott without it doing so much to you emotionally and mentally. It also sets up the final season arc about Dan perfectly. Even before Keith’s murder Nathan and Dan never got along. There was too much envy, jealousy, and Dan living in the past and putting too much on his son. I’m really looking forward to seeing Nathan and Dan’s final father/son arc in the upcoming season. I loved how it intertwined with Nathan’s academic storyline with Professor Kellerman. Kellerman and Nathan misunderstood each other because they saw each other as their Ian and Dan. The difference is Ian has yet learned the lessons Dan continue to face himself. I was hoping the character of Professor Kellerman wouldn’t be formulatic and it wasn’t. The writers did a job at misleading you with the wrong clues like Nathan came to. I loved how Clay pegged Ian from the start. Ian just rubbed Clay the wrong way, and Nathan just saw himself in Ian when he was a kid. So when Clay tackled Ian into the water off the bridge it was a long time coming, and I loved it!!
Chase & Chuck - I do think the season had too much Chase, but there are two Chase storylines I did like which was the Air Force and his big brother relationship with Chuck. Sometimes there are reasons for bullies to act like bullies. If one can help that young individual, then I say more power to you. Sometimes they just need a listening ear, and they will test you because of their trust issues. I’m glad Chase got to Chuck, and Chuck didn’t automatically change. Chuck will always give Jamie and everyone else a hard time, but he did tone it down quite a bit. I thought Chuck was adoreable this season from his Broadway singing to needing glasses. His Chuck’d got annoying after awhile, but it was worth it for Nathan to “Nathan” him near the end of the season haha. I really loved the bonding Chase and Chuck did throughout the season. Chuck definitely needed that male role model despite his love and disappointment surrounding his father. I loved Chase’s (short) Air Force arc. I wonder how they are incoorporate that into the final season. Are they going to have Chase on leave throughout the thirteen episodes?
Holidays, Sports, & Comedy - We don’t have many holiday episodes on OTH, so to have Thanksgiving and Halloween in the same season was quite a treat. We haven’t had a Halloween episode since I think season three. The outfits were awesome: Brooke as an orange (she looked too cute), Mouth as the Situation, Quinn as SuperQuinn, Clay as Edward Cullen (spot on!!), Haley has herself, Millie as Lady Gaga, Nathan was stylin’ as Mad Men’s Don Draper, Julian and his mother were characters from 101 Dalamations hehe, and Chuck, Madison, and Jamie dressed as Harry Potter’s Ron, Hermoine, and Harry were just too adorable *fansqueels*. I thought it was done so well to intertwine with Quinn’s PTSD. The zombie nightmare was awesome with all the prothestic make-up. It was nasty, but yet very cool. I loved the run on joke of the vampires and zombies within her nightmare hehe.
The Thanksgiving episode was awesome!! The episode had moments where I thought “yup been there done that” haha. I loved how Haley was the center piece by bringing everyone together, and realize how lucky Brooke was to have her mother alive despite the problems they are having. The football game was badass, and you just knew someone would bleed especially with Mia and Alex on opposite sides lol.
I was kinda worried that since Nathan retired from basketball we wouldn’t get to see much sports on the show, but I’m glad it was nothing to worry about. I loved the mini-arc surrounding the NFL Atlanta Falcons. It was awesome to see Falcons stadium on the show, and to see Nathan and Clay’s first Fortitude client get his spot in the sunshine. I really loved how they did it on the show with the 360 degree turn on Troy, and jumping to Nathan and Jamie in full support of Troy and wearing Atlanta Falcons clothes. As I stated before I loved Nathan’s seasonal arc from beginning to end. It was also awesome to see the show focus on baseball instead of basketball. I really loved seeing Jamie’s baseball subplot from quoting Casey to Chuck realizing he needs glasses. It was quite refreshing to see something besides basketball, and I thought the show did a great job with it all the while referencing basketball.
Now onto the comedy of season eight. Since this season was not as dark as previous seasons this season had a ton of them!! Quinn was uber-adoreable with her toaster pop tart song, teasing, and basically everything else. I couldn’t help, but think how cute she was this season. Clay was just as funny especially when it involved his favorite living room chair cherry haha. One of my favorite comedic episodes was OTH’s girl version Hangover episode. I seen many Hangover episode rip-offs most recently on Smallville. Smallville’s Hangover episode had so much potential, but they totally messed it up by having too much Chloe Sullivan in it frankly. What made the first Hangover work is because it was an ensemble movie. What made OTH Hangover episode work is because it was an ensemble. They were able to make all the girls have important parts in that episode even Haley who wasn’t able to stay at the Bachlorette party. Not only was the episode so funny, but it also had a lot of heart. It referenced Brooke’s loss for Peyton, and noted sometimes people just drift away. Not on purpose, but it’s just life. It also brought Brooke and Mama Baker closer to one another. It has to be one of my favorite episodes of the series due to humor, flashbacks, and heart. Another favorite comedic moment was seeing Clay, Quinn, and Jamie doing a eating contest with crackers. I couldn’t stop laughing at seeing them trying to eat six crackers in a minute. The ending of the contest was just too funny with all of them spitting crackers out of their mouths, and talking with their mouths full lol. Not to mention all of the holiday episodes had some great comedic moments. The whole season had so many comedic moments that I seriously can’t name them all from Brooke’s quoting Die Hard to Julian’s poker night.
Hated It!!
Now there wasn’t a whole lot I didn’t hate in this season, but there were three things that did quite annoy me throughout the season.
Chase & Alex - Okay, seriously I couldn’t stand them together. The only scenes I enjoyed them together were their scenes when they were golfing together. Other than that I was completely bored with them. I did enjoy Mia vs. Alex because it was quite fun to see them go at each other in various ways. Plus I wasn’t bored with them, however; once the triangle ended I was completely bored. I think Alex should be by herself so soon after the events in season seven. I didn’t think they wrote Chase that great either. It was great to see Chase finally mess up and show his flaws, but to have it be over Mia and Alex it was plain lame. Having that said I’m looking forward to seeing Chase’s flaws come out in season eight because it was interesting to see. I just couldn’t buy this love between Chase and Alex, and I hated that Alex didn’t write to Chase when he was training and at school to become an air force fighter pilot. Now I know I’m biased because I really wanted Mia and Chase to hook-up again, and Alex to work on herself. I still think Alex is a great character, and Jana does an amazing job with her character but season eight just wasn’t Alex’s season. She was great in the comedic episodes and moments though.
Alex & Quinn Quick Friends? - Even though I did enjoy Alex and Quinn’s scenes in the Hangover episode I think their quick friendship was just too quick and too contrived. Alex is a great character, but the way they handled their friendship was just too cute-ish to me from the ending of the Hangover episode and onward. It just didn’t sit well with me. I rather they lead up to it because their discussion about their scars was a great lead in. It’s just jumping in that quickly was lame to me *shrugs*.
Skillz the Annoying - Why is he even on the show anymore? He just there making fun of people and stealing food. That’s all he does. I really didn’t find him funny at all. I used to love Skillz in the earlier seasons, but now I feel he just doesn’t belong at Tree Hill anymore *shrugs*.
Other than that it was awesome season!! I know there are some that say otherwise, but I thought it was a great season. Sure, it wasn’t uber-dark or action packed, but it did deliver some pivotal moments for all of the characters on the show. I didn’t mention everything like Mouth and Millie (who had some great moments), but if I did I would be here all day. Overall, it was a great season and definitely one of my favorite from the series. I can’t wait to see what season nine has in store and thanks for reading!!