"One Tree Hill": an old favorite never dies

It’s kind of embarrassing to admit that, after five years, I still tune in once a week to a teen drama driven by love triangles, psycho killers and sibling rivalry. However, having been a devoted fan since high school, the characters of One Tree Hill have become part of my life. I have and will follow brooding writer Lucas (Chad Michael Murray), his cocky half-brother Nathan (James Laferty), promiscuous fashionista Brooke (Sophia Bush), troubled artist Peyton (Hilarie Burton) and good-girl Haley (Bethany Joe Galeotti) anywhere from the WB network to the CW—being a voyeur of their lives will always be a guilty pleasure of mine.

In its golden years (if you can call them that) the show, which first aired in 2003, was about a group of high school kids growing up in the small town of Tree Hill, N.C. Their lives revolved around Raven’s basketball and the latest gossip of who was sleeping with whom. Now, four years has fast-forwarded past college and instead of the pains of growing up, the plot of One Tree Hill is driven by the bends in the road, the highs and lows of being an adult.

Tuesday marked One Tree Hill’s 100th episode, and, to be perfectly honest, if it weren’t because Felicity and Gilmore Girls are off the air and that I have become entangled in the young soap, I probably would have given up watching by now.

Without any transition between seasons four and five, I felt betrayed by the fast-forward mode of the show. I guess everyone else felt the same because recently, creator Mark Schwahn (Coach Carter) started incorporating past incidents and characters to present shows. Even though the 100th episode provides a progressive storyline, it looks like Schwahn is trying to revive the old feel because the new one isn’t getting good ratings—the show lost 550,000 viewers reaching a season low of 2.45 million viewers according to TV Guide’s reports.

Tuesday’s episode revolved around the wedding of Lucas and his annoyingly perfect editor fiancée Lindsay (Michaela McManus). Peyton is forced to choose between intervening or losing Lucas, her true love, forever. In the meantime, Nathan tries to win Haley back after a misunderstanding and Brooke discovers that she needs more than money to fill her void—she needs a family.

Filled with flashbacks and daydreams, the show’s creator does nothing but pack this episode with confusing moments. When Peyton stood up before the “I do’s” and proclaimed her love to Lucas reminding him of the first time they met, I thought she was actually speaking up, but I was wrong. With one daydream after another, I’m still not sure what was fantasy and what was reality, which gives the writer an easy out if he plans on re-writing the outcome of Lucas’s wedding for the next episode.

I had expected something catalytic to happen especially in the centennial episode, but nobody chases Lindsay down the aisle when she leaves Lucas at the altar, Peyton doesn’t have a heart to heart with Lucas and Brooke doesn’t sleep with anyone to fulfill her dream of having a baby.

All these conflicts are merely secondary to the reemergence of Dan, Lucas’ and Nathan’s convict father. I’m tired of all cliff hangers ending with: what did Dan do this time? Which was the cop-out cliff hanger this episode. Hero or villain, after five years of him lingering, his devious character has been exhausted. At this point, I say, put him to sleep, literally—he killed his brother in cold blood, give him the death penalty.

Let’s face it, though, no matter how annoying I find Dan, April 14 (the start of six brand-new episodes) is too long to wait for my next fix. Plus, one thing’s for sure: One Tree Hill always manages to have great music—the kind that is solemn and sentimental and makes you smile while you are crying. The writing used to make me feel this way, but now I rely solely on the music because the plot this season is weaker than ever.