A blazing "Home of the Ravens" banner graces the coliseum-like entranceway to Tree Hill High. The sign outside the front of the school reads, "Support the Ravens!!!" Three exclamation points means that Tree Hill gets just as excited about basketball as we all do about Jake. Peyton walks down the hallway toward Lucas, leaving a trail of sawdust behind her. Okay, I'm getting kind of sick of the annoying and awkward continuity. Remember last week when Peyton came up to Lucas and gave him a hug to thank him for helping her after Skanky Colin spiked her drink? Yeah, well, I assumed that must have been the Monday following the Saturday-night party. Right, so less than three days have passed essentially from the time Peyton rejected Lucas and that entire episode. But now, Peyton saunters up to Lucas asking, "How's your punching hand?" So are we to assume it's the Monday again? Or is it later in the week? Or is it really the Monday again? Or does it really matter? Luke smiles, "It's a lot better than the other guy's face." Well, come on now; Skanky Colin wasn't even bleeding, dude. Luke asks, "How about you, how are you feeling?" He leans on the locker and concentrates on Peyton's face. CMM takes this "acting" stuff very seriously. Peyton replies, "Like an idiot. Look, Luke, you're cool with us just being friends, right?" She stumbles around her words for a minute: "I mean, we are friends, right?" Saint Luke has polished his halo and checked his ego at the door: "We are. I'm cool with it, I mean, besides I wasn't ready for all that Peyton Sawyer girlfriend drama, anyway, you know." And he's over it that easily? He gets rejected by the girl of his dreams, the girl he's been pining for the last few months, after placing his hand on her freaking heart and telling her that he wants it all with her -- and within two days, he's cool with it. Well, Saint Luke seems to be one fickle pickle. Anyway, he leaves Peyton behind with a very telling, "Say hi to Brooke for me, okay?" And then he walks away, as chipper as a rooster cock-a-doodle-doodling in the morning. Peyton takes a deep breath, and sawdust blows out on the exhalation. "Whew!" she thinks. "That's my quotient of emotions for the day! So glad that's over," and then she too walks away.
Nathan sees Haley in front of him in the hallway, so he calls out to her, runs up to meet her, grabs her hand, and then pulls her into a classroom. She sort of lands in a corner of the doorway and they make out for a bit. Only Haley starts giggling and being all girly and stuff, telling Nathan they can't do that right there just now. Nathan smiles and says, "We just did!" Haley covers her mouth with her hand and giggles. Again. Nathan continues, "All right. I'll kiss you later." Aw, they're making out in front of a Bill of Rights poster. Wouldn't the forefathers be proud. The country has come to this -- a couple of kids using the history classroom to toy with their raging adolescent hormones. It's Thanksgiving, WB-style. Anyway. Haley glows. Then she runs her hands through her hair and makes her way to class.
Woda's got the team sitting down on the bleachers after practice. Jake's not there. Where's Jake? Why did they only bring him back as a teaser? Woda lectures, "When you leave this gym today, I want each one of you to look at the sun, because if you lose to Cove City on Friday, I can pretty much guarantee that sun will not rise the day." The boys chuckle. Woda barks, "That's not a joke!" Oops. It's probably not a good idea to interrupt Whitey the Great in the middle of his speech to end all speeches. "I've coached some great players and some great teams in this gym, but not one of those great players or great teams has finished the season undefeated." Insert dramatic pause here. Well, I'm upset that they're showing most of the team, a lot of kids that we've never seen before -- except Dim, of course -- but there's no Jake. If they can get Dim fulltime, why can't they get Jake? Does he have more important things to do than become the object of my infatuation? I think not. Oh, wait, is Whitey still talking? Blah they may be the first, blah two things, blah separating them from greatness, blah one Cove City, and blah two is the boys themselves, blah get to work, blah better win that game, blah or else blah.
The bell rings, and Luke chases after Brooke because she's delicious. She's wearing a reddish-coloured warm-up suit. I'm still wondering how jogging pants have become so fashionable these days. Brooke's red knapsack totally clashes with her outfit, but whatever. That's not important, right? What's important is that Luke was looking for Brooke, that he's got a book to give her (John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent) because, I guess, they were talking about it while they were looking after Peyton. Brooke's got her flirt on; after Luke says that he's got something for her, she replies, "I know you do, gorgeous." A caterpillar has manifested itself underneath Saint Luke's bottom lip. He hands her the book and says, "It's that book I was telling you about, thought you might want to check it out." Brooke says sexily, "Oh, I definitely want to check it out, I suppose I could read the book too, but what are you doing to do for me?" Luke's intrigued: "What do you mean?" She holds up the paperback: "If I read the book, you do something for me." Like what? "I don't know, something fun." He takes a millisecond to think about it and then agrees. Brooke jokes, "Should we shake on it or just make out now?" And just like that -- it's all about Brooke; Peyton's just a mere dusty memory in the back of Luke's, ahem, mind.
Okay. Karen has a freaking statue out in the front of her café. It's a truly horrible, fake-looking Grecian thing that should really be on someone's lawn in suburban Mississauga. Dan walks in as Deb fiddles with the coffee machine. She can't get the filter into the industrial coffeemaker. Dan says sarcastically, "Need some help?" First of all, I can't believe he has the balls to set foot in that place after how he's treated both Luke and Karen; second of all, he was such a jackass about Deb working there, I would have assumed he'd stay away purely out of spite. Oh. Wait. He's there to mock her, of course. Deb tells him that everything is just fine. Dan asks, "How about a cup of coffee?" He pulls out a bill and waves it around. She pours him one as he says, "I know you said [I should] think your taking over the café isn't some sort of payback." She insists that it isn't, that she just wants to help Karen. He takes a sip of the coffee and predictably winces: "By ruining her business?" There's that awesome sense of humour again! Three cheers for asshole Dan! "That's the worst cup of coffee I ever paid for." Deb purses her lips together and says, "If you've come here to mock me, Dan, save it." He tries to convince her that he's just trying to help, but we're not buying it -- because Dan's such a giving kind of guy. Luke walks into the café at that moment, sees Dan there with Deb, and promptly walks right back out again. For once, there was actually a glimmer of a strange emotion on Dan's face as he looked to Deb -- they both seemed to feel uncomfortable and troubled at the same time. Poor Luke; his home's not even his home now that his mom's gone away.
Later that night, Dan and Nathan are back to normal, meaning they're having a meal without Deb there. Dan asks, "How's your sandwich?" Nathan answers, "It's almost warm." They're eating take-out. Dan tells him that he'll start cooking again -- that is, until Deb "comes to her senses." Wow. Is it that hard for Dan to be supportive of Deb simply because she's his wife? Even if he doesn't agree with her decisions, he can still say, "Wow, good for you honey, taking on something that you've never done before, I'm really proud of you." Nathan says, "You know, just when I think things can't get any weirder around here, Mom takes over Karen's café." He jokes, "I think I'm going to invite Lucas over here to spend the night." And let the fireworks begin. Dan says, "Well, your mother hasn't exactly been herself lately." He takes a sip of his drink. "It might help if you tell her you're happy. She thinks I've ruined your life." Nathan's face drops, because Dan has essentially just blamed him for the problems between himself and Deb. Nice. Dan doesn't even notice; he pays no attention to how his words trouble Nathan. He just barrels onto his favourite topic: basketball. "Cove City game's coming up." Nathan says, "Yeah, Whitey claims that if we lose, the sun doesn't rise." Dan: "He might actually be right for once." Nathan laughs. Dan continues, "Of course, you know who scored the most points against the Cavaliers?" And so it begins. He says, "Forty-two," with a disgusting smirk on his face. Ah, yes, it's Dan's seemingly never-ending march down memory lane. He lives in the past so much, he might as well borrow Marty McFly's time machine on a weekly basis. Seems like that past is like heroin to Dan -- he just can't seem to live beyond it, needs a fix every few hours, and has track marks up and down his arm, only they're basketball scores and not needle marks.
Nathan says cockily, "Yeah, and I'm looking to top that this week." And just like that, Dan crushes the dreams of his sixteen-year-old son: "No, you won't." Nathan's face falls like a hundred-year-old tree in the rainforest -- a pointless kind of destruction. Dan continues, "You want to know why? 'Cause you're not tough enough inside. I got garbage buckets you'll never get 'cause you won't bang down low like I did." Nathan sighs; his air feels heavy because he's doesn't have any more trees protecting him from Dan's pollution. But Dan doesn't notice. He's too busy making his point: "That and your conditioning's for crap." Deb comes in to the kitchen. "I never left the floor during a game." Deb says tiredly, "Hey you guys." Nathan stands up and deadpans, "I'm happy, Mom. Dad loves me." And then he leaves. Deb asks what that was all about, and Dan has the absolute audacity to say, "He was wondering where his mother was." Deb whines, "Aw, don't start, Dan. I'm tired and I'm hungry." He bitches, "Oh, how about we eat first and then we argue." Deb: "How about we just don't argue." Dan says, "How about we just don't eat," and then walks out of the kitchen. Okay, so Dan treats his kid like he's a punching bag, then blames Deb when she's just walked in the door for Nathan's bad mood, and then proceeds to take his frustrations out on her -- wow, Dan's so well-adjusted, if he were a car, I'd drive him around the world. Not.
Nathan's got some very loud punk-like music playing in his bedroom. He tosses a stress ball into the air. He's on the phone with Dim, who answers with a strange, "What's up, holler!" Or something of that nature, to which Nathan replies, "You do know you're white, right?" Heh. Dim whines, "What's wrong with you?" Nathan wants to know if Dim's brother's still dealing because he needs to "tear it up" against Cove City. Dim asks, "So how is getting high going to help?" Nathan's exasperated: "Not weed, performance enhancers." Dim's not convinced it's a good idea, but Nathan pushes him -- he's sure he needs to do this. After he's off the phone, Nathan pitches the stress ball at high speed into a picture sitting amongst his numerous trophies. What's the picture of, you ask? Well, of course, Nathan and his father. I'm disappointed that Nathan feels so much pressure that he's turning to drugs, but then again, he's never been one for making the right choice yet, has he?
Keith and Luke are out having the bachelor's dinner of champions: pizza. Ah, fond memories of my youth growing up without a mom. Keith asks, "So what? Are you going to avoid the café for the six weeks?" Luke jokes, "Why, you don't like pizza?" Oh, Keith loves pizza, but that's not the parental point. Luke insists, "Don't you find it a bit strange, having Nathan's mom running the café?" Keith admits that yes, it is strange, but he also thinks it's really gutsy of Deb too, because she must be catching a heck of a lot of flack from Dan. He continues, "You know, Luke, you really ought to give her a chance, Deb's okay." Pause. "When she got pregnant in college, her life changed a lot like your mom's did." But why does she stay with Dan? Keith believes it's because she's protecting Nathan. Luke grabs a slice of pizza and puts it on his plate. And that's the end of that conversation. That poor pizza looks like it's been sitting out for about three days; it's so hard, it actually cracked Luke's plate. In the worst contrived way, Brooke seems to also be hanging out at the pizza parlour tonight. She sidles over to Lucas, leans in, and flirts, "Hey handsome, three more chapters and you're all mine." Then she smiles at Keith -- she doesn't say hello or introduce herself to him or anything like that. Man, in terms of manners, these kids need a lesson or two in how to be polite to their elders. ["That seems to be a network-wide thing. If I'd smarted off to 'grown-ups' like WB kids do, I'd be dead now." -- Sars] Keith smiles and asks, "What was that all about?" Luke replies, "Nothing." If Saint Luke weren't "acting," he'd actually be blushing. Keith chides him, "Now I disagree, that was definitely something." Heh. Brooke's a tropical storm that has just been upgraded to a hurricane -- she's a whole lot of power wrapped up in a relatively small package.
Dim's got Nathan's stash all ready for him, except there's no exchanging of money, so I guess they're free? Which is the first time I've ever seen anyone giving away drugs for free anywhere, but whatever -- maybe it means that Dim paid for them so he could insert himself even further up Nathan's ass. Dim hands Nathan a small baggie full of little white bennies. Nathan's wearing a red sweater. Everyone's wearing red this week. Again Dim asks Nathan if he's sure. Again Nathan responds, "Have you met my dad?" You know, the way Dan treats Nathan is really terrible, even approaching This Boy's Life kind of tough, but the kid should also take responsibility for his actions every now and again -- he's a man, he's got balls, he should use them every now again, and I don't mean just dribbling them. Dim explains, "Here's the deal, they're basically amphetamines, steroids on speed or speed on steroids, anyway, you got to be careful, Nate." Whatever gets him "jacked" for Cove City. Dim: "These'll definitely do that." Dim closes his locker: "If you grow breasts, I get first peek." Um, yeah -- good to see that your best friend, your comrade in b-ball arms, is more concerned about the freak of nature side effects of the damn drugs than the fact that Nathan's feeling pressured from his jackass of a father into taking the enhancers in the first place. Holy crap, Dim's an idiot. Nathan opens his own locker, hides the package of pills behind the door, takes out one of the pills, and pops it into his mouth. Let the games begin.
The boys are knee-deep in practice as bongo-like drums play in the background. Whitey blows his whistle, Nathan yells something about moving the ball, and then he jams himself up into the shot and fouls out of the practice round. Whitey blows the whistle and yells, "Hold it!" Luke watches from the sidelines. "That's a foul! Nathan, you've got to get off his back!" Nathan's all hopped up on speed, so his temper is in the same place as that move -- foul. He snots, "Why don't you get off my back, Whitey!" Nathan grabs the ball as it bounces back toward him. Whitey yells, "How'd you like to call that a practice?" Nathan slams the ball onto the court and bitches, "Whatever, man, that's fine by me," as he walks away. Whitey screams, "Nathan!" With an attitude as big as the court itself, Nathan turns back around and snits, "What? Huh? What the hell do you all want from me?" Whitey says calmly, evenly, "Just walk away, son, just walk away." Then Woda blows the whistle and says, "White ball up top." And they get back to practice. Seems like those little white pills aren't the magical solution to all that's wrong with Nathan's game -- shocking, isn't it?
Haley comes up behind Nathan (it's the day now) and tickles his neck. He looks to one side, but she's on the other, and shockingly, she's giggling like a maniac. For a second I thought Haley was a long-lost member of The Powerpuff Girls, she giggles so much. But wait, Nathan is still peaking, so he's not in a very good mood. Haley asks him if he's okay, because Lucas told her that he had some trouble at practice yesterday. Nathan bitches, "Lucas needs to mind his own business." He sees Haley's face and explains, "We have a game coming up this week, it just gets a little intense." She asks him again if he's okay, because his hands are shaking. Nathan takes his hand in hers and puts it to his chest: "My heart's racing too. It's what happens when I'm around you." It's a good thing he's smooth and she's inexperienced, because any rational girl would have rolled her eyes and walked away. But Haley just smiles and looks at him like he's the second coming of cool. Nathan says, "So your house tonight, right, tutoring?" Haley asks, "Are you sure you're all right?" Nathan replies, "Yeah, I'm fine, I just, I had a bad day yesterday. I'll see you tonight?" Haley walks away, and Nathan pops another little white pill. , he'll be following the rabbit, dancing on the rooftops and jumping into pools. Yawn.
Woda pays Dan a visit at his dealership. It doesn't go very well. Dan mutters, "If you came here to lecture me and argue, I get enough of that at home with the wife." And as if we needed any more reasons to hate Dan, here comes one more: what kind of a Neanderthal in this day and age actually refers to the woman he loves as "the wife"? Jackass. Whitey follows Dan into his office and says, "I came here to talk about Nathan. His behaviour concerns me." Dan mocks, "Oh really? You put Lucas on the team, give away his position, and drop him off thirty miles from home, and now you're worried." You know why we love Whitey? Because he never backs down from Dan's intimidating crap: "You forgot pressuring him and belittling him, of course, that happens at home doesn't it?" Then Whitey takes his own walk down memory lane, but unlike Dan, who needs the quick fix to boost his ego, Woda's just trying to make a point: "I remember when you came to me, you were a scrawny freshman with a hell of a jump shot." Pause. "You loved the game. What the hell happened along the way?" Dan bitches, "You happened. There was always something for you to pick apart, something was never good enough." Dan inches forward: "But you are right, I did love the game -- I simply despised the way you controlled it." Whitey asks calmly, "Who's controlling Nathan now?" Dan doesn't respond to that question, so Whitey continues, "Be a shame if he learned to hate that person like you hate me." Wait -- is that Chuck Barris over there? Is he dancing? And wearing that funny hat? Are we now on the set of The Blame Game? Where the one adult who should take responsibility for his actions seems to always find another person to blame? Yes, I think so -- look what Dan has to say: "I might be tough on him, Whitey, but I'm not the one who told him the sun wouldn't rise if he lost his game." To add insult to injury, Dan takes a sip of coffee or water from his Ravens Basketball cup. Sigh -- and just when I was getting so good at avoiding those random heavy objects that kept dropping from the sky. Ouch! There goes another one -- it landed on my toe.
Luke walks into the workout room, where Nathan's pumping iron. He sits down on a bench and says, "You really laid into Whitey yesterday." Nathan grunts, replaces the barbell onto its handle, and follows in his father's footsteps: "He deserved it." Nathan sits up as Luke says, "So Cove City's pretty tough, eh?" Nathan puts on a brave face: "They suck." Saint Luke grabs his halo and places it atop his head: "Listen, man, I know you're under a lot of pressure from your dad --" Nathan interrupts, "Hey, you don't know anything about my dad, all right. Maybe if you knocked down a shot or two out there, I wouldn't have to carry us all the time." And with that, Nathan floats away, high on two parts testosterone and one part speed. Well, that's what you get for trying to bond, Luke. You knew it wasn't going to be easy.
Brooke catches up with Luke and hands him his book back. She says, "All finished. Now it's my turn." Luke takes the book: "Hey, hey, hey, not so fast. Did you like it?" Brooke teases, "Did I like it or did I read it?" He laughs. They walk. Man, I wish I'd learned how to wear heels; the girls in this show are much better dressed than I ever was -- hell, than I am today. She says, "The book's about a guy who loses his integrity and gives in to temptation." She stops and points her finger at Luke: "Which is exactly what I see you doing tonight with me." He laughs again and says, "A deal's a deal, right?" Brooke: "That's right, baby, a deal is a deal."
Rack 'em up and roll. Brooke's wearing an off-the-shoulder black shirt and holding a pool cue. The waitress brings over two pints of beer and says, "Here you go!" She checks their IDs and says, "Thank you, Gretchen and Henry." Yawn. The Dawson's Creek references have really got to stop. It's gone way beyond subversive -- it's just kind of annoying now. Brooke puts the cards back into her pocket and says, "Fake IDs, I used your yearbook picture." Heh. She's crafty! Then she leans over, lines up, and lands the ball in the corner pocket. This one shot is enough evidence for Luke, who says, "I didn't know you could shoot pool." Dude, she's so not playing right now -- ah, the work of a good editor. Anyway. Brooke predictably replies, "There's a lot you don't know about me." And of course, Luke takes the bait: "Like what?" She walks around the table, brushes awfully close to Luke, and makes another good shot: "Like, I love it in the summer when there's heat lightning at night, and up until the fourth grade, I called squirrels 'squellers.'" He laughs. She stands up after the ball lands in the pocket: "Oh, and I love beating boys at pool." Then she teases Luke about smiling, and asks if he's actually having fun. He says semi-defensively, "I have fun!" Brooke laughs: "Lucas, you're like the most serious guy I've ever met." He takes this as a personal challenge and downs the beer. So now both Scott boys are using substances to prove they're something other than what they are -- good messages we're getting this week. Getting loaded equals fun, and speed's the answer when your dad's bugging your ass about basketball. Luke says, "Just as long as you don't feel cheated, you read a book, I drink a beer." Brooke walks over to him: "Oh. Did you think this is the thing you had to do with me?" Luke says bashfully, "Well, yeah." Brooke: "This isn't the thing, this is just drinks before the thing." She grabs her pint glass and says, "Bottoms up."
The shockingly more responsible (at this moment in time) Scott brother paces around in Haley's bedroom. I mean, he might be jacked up on speed, but at least he's studying instead of going out to a bar to drink and shoot pool. Oh, who am I kidding -- both Scott brothers seem to be on strange paths during this episode. Haley asks if he's going to do that all night. Nathan examines the collage of pictures she has on her wall and asks, "Are these all your brothers and sisters?" Haley replies, "Yeah, I'm the youngest. I don't think my parents know what to do with the silence." He sits down on her bed: "So, a month ago, did you think we'd be alone in your bedroom?" Haley jokes, "We're not alone, we have the forefathers with us." Nathan flirts, "They can watch." She wants him to be serious. Oh, baby, he wants to get serious all right. Nathan grabs her hand and pulls her onto the bed. They make out a bit, but Haley's worried that her parents might come home. Then the Mr. Hyde part of Nathan's speed personality comes out as he tries to move too fast, unbuttoning Haley's shirt and not stopping when she asks him to. She wriggles out from under him. He's kind of aggressive toward her, so much so that Haley asks him to leave. Nathan: "You're kidding, right?" Haley walks over to the door and stands beside it. Nathan says, "Haley, I'm sorry, we can study, it's fine." She says quietly, "I'd like you to go." Nathan walks out and bitches, "Unbelievable."
Peyton sits in her room in front of her web cam, fiddling with the drawing she did of Lucas after the party. She's amended it to say, "And now we can have it." Before, it used to say, "And now we can't have it." So maybe she's changed her mind about Lucas after all. In fact, we know she's changed her mind, because she tries to call him.
Brooke and Lucas are having that really fun bar conversation where you find out the strangest details about the people you're drinking with. She says, "Tell me you loved Weird Science?" Luke almost spits out his beer so he can quote something from the movie. Brooke does the same thing. They explode into alcohol-induced laughter. But wait! Luke's phone goes off, only the screen comes up, "Out of Area." Whatever that means, so he turns it off.
Peyton listens to his voicemail message at the other end. I'm loving all the ways they're devising not to have Hilarie Burton say any lines whatsoever during an episode. It's refreshing. She hangs up and doesn't leave a message.
He puts the phone back into his pocket and turns his attention back to Brooke: "Where were we?" She says coyly, "Why? Are you having fun?" He nods and almost falls into her, they're leaning so close to one another. Brooke whisper-flirts, "Good." Pause. "So what's your take on tattoos?" Luke doesn't know; it depends. She grabs his hand and pulls him off to the side of the bar, where they can have a bit of privacy. She leans against the wall; he faces her with his hand above her head. Brooke unzips her pants, holds them up with one hand, while she shows Luke her tattoo with another. She whisper-lusts, "What do you think about this tattoo?" Of course, she's wearing red underwear. Luke looks down, clears his throat, leans in closer toward her face, and says, "I think that one is very, very sexy." She says, "Right answer." And they start making out like crazy. Whew. For a second there, I felt kind of like I was writing porn. Pardon me, ahem, I need to get a glass of, ahem, water.
Heh. Honey. "Hip-hop can't take you places ballet can." Heh.
Luke stumbles home and tries to close the door quietly, but he's drunk, so his motor skills aren't really functioning. Keith turns on the light. Luke hollers, "Keith! Hey, man!" Keith says, "Are you okay?" Luke points at him and replies, "Perfect." Keith: "Have you been drinking?" Luke giggles. It's pretty cute, actually. He says, "Oh, Keith, there is this girl." Keith just nods his head and sighs: "Now, I know how my old man felt when I came rolling in." Luke just stands there as Keith lectures, "Why don't you go sleep it off and we'll talk about it in the morning." Luke sort of nods and then carts his sorry ass off to bed.
The morning, Nathan comes downstairs to find his father reading the paper. He almost doesn't go into the kitchen. Then he changes his mind and decides the best course of action would be to make a smart-ass comment: "What are you doing, Dad? Still looking for your name in the box scores?" Dan chides him, "Hey, knock it off and get serious, you've got a big game coming up." Nathan starts to walk away, but Dan just can't let it lie: "And you think you're going to break my scoring record." Then he actually snorts -- he blows air out his nose and snorts like a horse. Jerk. Nathan walks away, but not before leaving his feelings in a big, wet, and messy puddle on the floor.
Keith comes into Luke's room, saying, "Come on, Tara Reid, you're going to be late." If anyone actually understands that reference, can you please let me know? Luke immediately pulls a shirt over his shoulder, hiding something from Keith, who, of course, notices right away. Luke pulls the shirt away and says, "Check that out!" Keith walks toward him and says, "Tell me that's a joke." He shakes his head: "Wipe it off, okay?" Luke says point-blank, "Keith, it's a tattoo." Like that's the most normal thing in the world for a sixteen-year-old to do on a like Wednesday night: go off, get drunk and get scarred for life. Oh boy. ["Also, like any tattoo parlor would take a kid who's both underage and drunk. Doesn't happen." -- Sars] Keith says, "Of what?" Luke says quietly, "It's an ancient symbol for fun." Heh. Keith: "Oh, for fun? Because I thought it was for freaking fool." Luke tries to defend himself, but Keith's still on that whole lecture circuit: "Luke! Your mom trusted me. She's gone five days and now you scar yourself for life." Luke insists that it's "just a tattoo." Keith rages, "It's a tattoo, there's no 'just'!" Pause. "What were you thinking? You're out half the night, you're drunk, and now you've got a tattoo? What? Did you join the navy too?" Heh. Keith continues, "You took advantage of me, Luke, you'd-a never pulled a stunt like this if your mother was here." Luke fights back a bit: "What stunt? You mean actually enjoying myself for once?" First of all, really dumb to get a tattoo on your shooting shoulder the week of a really big game, because it's going to be so sore that you might not be able to even lift your arms above your head. Second, that tattoo is huge and probably would have taken the artist about an hour to two to do. Third, the proliferation of Chinese characters out there tattooed on people bodies is one thing, but to get a word like "fun"? How embarrassing is that going to be when you're sixty and telling the grandkids the story? Looks like Luke actually needs to find his halo -- he turns into an idiot when it goes missing. Luke snits, "You said it yourself, my mom's not here, is she?" Keith points at him: "Your ass is grounded." Then he tries to walk out the door, but Luke calls out to him. Keith turns back around: "Bread and water, hardcore grounded, starting now." Who knew Keith could play parent so well? Before he leaves the room, he says quietly, "I expected more from you."
Haley and Luke eat lunch outside and catch up. She asks what he did last night. He says nothing, you? She says nothing too. Then Luke admits that he kind of made out with Brooke last night. Haley's flabbergasted. Then Luke admits that he was actually drunk. He explains, "We went out as friends but things kind of escalated." Haley laughs, "You and Brooke Davis, please." Luke seems kind of offended: "What, is that so strange?" Haley tells only the truth: "Yeah, it is." Luke bitches, "You know, she's different than the Brooke people see." He points his water bottle at her: "You of all people should understand that." Haley: "Because of kissing Nathan?" Luke: "If I told you not to do that anymore, would you listen?" She asks, "Would you?" They both laugh and say, "Probably not," at the same time. Haley asks him about Peyton. Luke jokes, "Yeah, you can kiss her if you want." Luke gets serious: "I told her how I felt, but she doesn't feel the same way." Haley insists, "Maybe she's just not ready." Luke's not buying it: "Naw, she said she just wants to be friends." Haley teases, "So are you and Brooke Davis like a thing now?" Luke replies, "No, we went out, had fun, that's all." Haley gives in: "Well, if that's what you want, you deserve to be happy." Luke wholeheartedly agrees, and so does his tattoo.
Brooke's all giggles and smiles when she sits down with Peyton at another table: "Hi, friend, guess who I went out with last night, I'll tell you, Lucas." Peyton stops for a second, tries to act nonchalant, and says, "Define 'went out.'" Brooke happily complies: "We met at a bar, shot some pool, had a few drinks." Peyton: "Lucas Scott?" Brooke smiles, "Yup. You didn't tell me he was such a good kisser." And then as fast as she sat down, she's up again, leaving Peyton behind to cry cardboard tears all over her sketchbook. Poor poor Peyton, it's only when what she wants seems to want someone else that she sees the value in taking a chance. Oh, to be a tortured teenager again. Yawn.
For some reason that can only be construed as torture, Dan has called his wife and told her to meet him at an abandoned warehouse/restaurant-type space. When Deb walks in, she's totally wondering what it's all about. Dan holds out his arms and says, "So, what do you think?" She says, "About what?" Dan mocks, "A long counter here, some retro booths." Deb doesn't follow what he's saying. Dan clarifies, "Deb's Diner, the hottest little place in town." Deb tells him she doesn't want a diner; she just wants to know what's going on. Dan says coldly, "You tell me." Deb tells him for the eight-hundredth time that she's just helping Karen. Dan: "You hardly know the woman." Deb insists that's not true. But for the sake of discussion, she admits he's right and says, "Let's say I'm doing it to help you." Dan doesn't get it. "What do you feel when you see Lucas? I mean, it was different when we never saw him, but now?" Dan snaps, "What do you want me to say?" Deb replies, "Anything, something honest?" Dan snarks, "Okay. How does this sound? I was a kid, I made a decision, and I am tired of you and everyone holding it over my head every day of my life. So if you're running that little café so you can find absolution for me, forget it, I don't need it or I don't want it." And then he walks away, leaving his wife all alone in the broken-down, dirty old space. Man. That chip on his shoulder is reaching Sisyphus-like proportions. And again, look! It's Dan playing The Blame Game! It's not his fault he's acting like an ass; it's everyone else's. And that's a burden I'm sure Deb's tired as hell of carrying around.
Haley asks Peyton what's going on, something about wanting to talk. The two girls are sitting in the Tutoring Center. It's Haley's turn to wear red today. Peyton says, "Do you think second chances are a lie?" Haley says honestly, "I think it depends on who you're dealing with, I guess." Peyton mutters, "Yup." Pause. Then she asks, "How are things going with you and Nathan?" Haley runs her hands through her hair and admits they aren't great. She doesn't know what he wants them to be, because if it's just about the sex, then it's not enough for her. Peyton jokes, "Bad experience?" Haley smiles. Then Peyton gets it: "What? Are you a virgin?" Haley replies, "Yeah, so what if I am." Peyton says, "Good for you." And good for OTH for not making that whole virgin issue worthy of a three-month story arc that feels like it's never going to end. Peyton asks Haley what she's going to do, and Haley says she doesn't know, but she's going to get some answers. Peyton asks quietly, "Did Lucas tell you what happened between the two of us?" Haley replies, "Yeah, he said you weren't ready for a relationship." Peyton twists her pen around: "Did he tell you about Brooke?" Haley says, "That they went out, yeah." Haley continues, "Are you okay with that?" Peyton: "He's fair game. Plus, she's really not the dating kind, if you know what I mean." Haley smiles. That's an awkward, kind of jealous comment, especially seeing as Brooke saved Peyton's ass last week, but I guess it's also kind of honest. Peyton continues, "Is connecting with someone really this complicated? Or is it simple and we just make it worse?" Haley says wittily, "For me it's complicated. You just make it worse." Then the two of them laugh. You know, for all my Hilarie-bashing, that was actually a pretty good scene -- they haven't reached Gilmore-style levels of female bonding, but the friendship between Haley and Peyton seems to be developing nicely. They sort of understand one another in an odd way.
Luke is getting ready for the big game when Keith comes in and tosses him some tape to cover up his tattoo. Keith wants to see it, and when Luke lifts up his shirtsleeve, he sees that it's all infected, bleeding and stuff. Even though he's mad, Keith does sound concerned when he says, "Jeez, Luke, where did you get this thing? In a back alley in the Philippines?" And it's exactly comments like that that make it hyper-hypocritical for people to walk around with characters on their shoulders. Because it's not about the culture, it's about the appropriation of that culture, but whatever, not to worry, I'm stepping off my soapbox now. I'm one to talk; I have two tattoos, and they're both very old now and have absolutely no significance to my present life. ["Girl, please. I have a moon on my ankle. A moon. How Smurfy is that?" -- Sars] Keith bitches, "You know, you can get hepatitis, HIV, from --" He sees Luke's face and calms down a bit: "Well, we'll get it checked before the game." Luke teases, "Keith, man, you worry too much." But Keith says something very sweet: "Well, I've got to worry once for myself and once for your mom." Aw, Uncle Keith? Do you want to come and stay with me? I'll give you something to worry about. Heh.
Nathan is doing chin-ups when Dan comes in and tells him that he'll wear his arms out for the game tonight. Nathan snaps, "Yeah. You wish." Dan replies, "No, I don't. I'd love for you to break my record, Nathan, I just don't think you will." Nathan says snottily, "We'll see about that." Deb comes around the corner and says, "Good news and bad news, Nate. Bad news is I have to be at the café, so I'm going to miss your game, but the good news is that Haley can be there." And because Nate's still fighting with Haley, his response to that is the oh-so-very-shocking "Whatever." Poor Deb, she's getting it from every angle at home. Her kid's surly and on speed, and her husband's being a jackass. Dan cracks, "At least one of us will be there." See, see what I mean?
Nathan listens to angry hip-hop on his headphones as he makes his way toward the gym. Haley calls out to him, but he snaps, "Not now, Haley." They don't touch each other at all. Haley asks, "Okay, after the game, can we get some food and talk?" Nathan snits, "Haley, I said not now, okay." She asks him why he's being like that. "Because I can, okay, that's how it works, people are mean, life's a bitch." What is his problem? "My problem? My problem's on the other side of that wall. And in five minutes, if I'm not perfect, they're going to eat me alive. That's my problem." Oh. The. Pressure. Haley doesn't say anything. She just walks away. Because she understands that at the end of it all, it's really just a game, isn't it?
The crowd pours into the Whitey Durham Field House. The b-ball game is in full swing. Cheerleaders wave their pom-poms, but I can't see Peyton amongst them. Mouth's there with his recorder, telling us that Nathan's scored thirty-eight points already and they're still early in the fourth quarter. Dan sits on the bleachers, smiling at his son's performance. Nathan's got the ball again, and scores a three-pointer -- he's a basket away from the record. Brooke waves her pom-poms and smiles. Haley looks on and smiles too. Nathan's got the ball, but when he goes up to score, he bashes into a Cove City player and the ref blows the whistle -- I'm guessing to call a personal foul. The ref refuses to call the basket, something about charging. Nathan argues with him for a second and almost gets himself thrown out of the game. Whitey calls a time-out just in the nick of time. The ref yells at Whitey, "Coach, you'd better watch your boy." The boys sit down on the bench, and someone hands Nathan a glass of Gatorade. Haley sits beside Keith. She asks him, "What's he doing?" Whitey: "Nathan, I don't care how many points you've got -- you keep this up and I'll move you so far down the bench they'll have to pump air to you." The buzzer goes and the boys huddle up, call "D-Fence," and get back into the game. Nathan says to Luke, "Just get me the ball." As they walk back onto the court, Luke says, "You all right?" Nathan replies, "I will be two points from now." The game picks back up with a Raven grabbing the ball mid-shot from a Cavalier. Nathan jumps up, grabs the ball, and passes it to Luke, who waits for Nathan to get free, but when he gets the ball, Nathan starts to waver. He sees his father, then looks at Haley, then crashes to the floor. The whistle blows, and everyone, including Dan, is on their feet. The team gathers around Nathan, but he's out cold on the floor.
When Nathan comes around, Dan's standing beside his hospital bed, running his hands tenderly through his hair. It's the first almost-parental thing I've ever seen Dan do, and he seems genuinely concerned for Nathan's well-being. He says, "Easy, son, you're okay. Can you hear me?" Nathan's hoarse. He replies quietly, "Yeah." Dan says, "You collapsed in the game." The doctor comes up and asks how Nathan's feeling. He says, "I have to piss." The doctor laughs: "You were severely dehydrated. We had you in these ice packs because your body temperature was very high." The doctor wants to get to the bottom of why Nathan collapsed. He wants to know if Nathan's taking speed. But Dan jumps in and says, "Hey, Doc, he's an athlete, not a junkie, okay?" Well, duh, hasn't Dan read or seen The Basketball Diaries? The two categories aren't actually mutually exclusive. The doctor asks to speak to Dan alone, but before Dan leaves Nathan's side he says, "Listen to me, son, you're going to be fine, okay, we've been hitting it a little hard lately, so we'll dial it back a notch or two. You'll be as good as new. Hell, the scouts won't even remember this come the post-season." Dan leaves Nathan to chew on that while he talks to the doctor. Blah he'll be fine, blah speed in his system, blah say that again, blah lawsuit blah. Nathan overhears the doctor telling Dan that Nathan could have a serious problem. Dan refuses to listen. He just threatens the doctor, because the reality he makes up in his head is so much better than the one he lives in each day.
Haley comes into the café and says to Deb, "Hey, I was on my way to check on him when I realized that you were here, so I turned around and came back. You should go! How is he?" Deb seems far too confused; in fact, she doesn't know what Haley's talking about, because she says, "Who?" Nathan. "What about him?"
Cut to Dan on his cell phone in the hospital talking to Keith, but we're not sure what they're talking about. When Dan comes back to the bed, he says, "How you doing, son?" to an empty bed. Nathan's disappeared. Deb shows up at the hospital with a look of fear in her eyes. Dan says, "He's okay." She asks, "Where is he?" But Dan doesn't have time to answer before we break for a commercial.
Woda's in his office. He marks the Cove City game with a "W" and then tears the whole sheet down. Keith comes in and tells him that Nathan's going to be fine. Whitey lets out a deep breath: "You know why they made whiskey, Keith?" Pause. "For the poor fool that wakes up after thirty-five years and discovers that he's a part of the problem." Pause. "Well, no more. I'll forfeit the damn games before I'll lose a boy to that." Whitey takes a sip from a mug. Keith nods understandingly. Whitey continues, "I've got to be the sorriest son of a bitch on the planet." Keith says, "Well, Karen left me to watch Luke and, ah, he got drunk and then he got a tattoo." Whitey smiles and says, "Well, I take it back." They clink their mugs and take a sip of whiskey, elixir to the soul.
Looks like Dan and Deb have been fighting the whole way home from the hospital. But I'm not going to point out how they've got separate cars or how they could have arrived home at exactly the same instant or any other continuity-type issue, because we're getting near the end and I'm tired. Dan screams, "I tried to call you, you weren't answering your phone." Deb shouts, "Because I ran out of the café with nothing but my car keys and the fear that my son was dying." Dan yells, "And that's my fault?" Deb: "After Haley walked in, how long was that, Dan? Twenty minutes after Nathan collapsed, a half hour, maybe?" Dan barks, "My first concern was for Nathan. You're overreacting." Deb: "Oh, that my son nearly died and that my husband didn't see fit to call? Where is he, Dan? He could be anywhere! He could be unconscious!" Dan snots, "Get a hold of yourself, the doctor said he's out of harm's way." Deb retorts, "Well, the doctor was wrong. Because as long as you control him like you do, he'll be in harm's way." Dan snaps, "Oh, okay, I get, I'm to blame, it's got to be my fault, eh?" Deb stands her ground: "Yeah." Hallelujah. Finally, someone notices Dan's Blame Game. Dan steps forward, and he seems kind of menacing: "You consider this, lady. If you weren't off helping your little friend Karen at her café you might have been there for him like I was." Deb says quietly, "You smug son of a bitch." Pause. "I want you out of this house." Dan protests. But she shouts, "I said, get out!" Dan tries to reason with her: "It's been an emotional night --" She stops him mid-sentence: "No, no, no, Dan. It's been a night of clarity, and it's time for you to go." Dan plays the Big Daddy card: "It's my house." But Deb's not budging: "Fine. I'll go. But either way, Nathan stays with me." Dan asks her not to do this, but Deb only replies, "I'll say it one more time, Dan, pack a bag and get out, or so help me God, I will stab you in you sleep." Is it awful of me to whoop after Deb said that line? Because I wasn't expecting that at all. Dan just stands there looking at Deb for a minute. Then he shakes his head, and walks out of the room. But Deb's not done with her smackdown yet: "And you'd better pray that my son is okay." Dan lets out a breath and says hurtfully, "Do you really think that Nathan would choose you over me?" And if that's not a wake-up call for Deb, I don't know what is -- but she stands there with tears in her eyes watching her life, her marriage, and everything she's known over the past fifteen years collapse.
Haley's on the phone, trying to get a hold of Nathan. She leaves a message telling him that she's worried and that she really hated how they left things. Nathan comes in the door and says, "So do I." He can barely talk, let alone stand. She looks at him softly, emotionally as he says, "Nobody answered the door." Haley tells him that her parents are gone for the weekend. She turns off the phone and asks, "How are you?" Sarah McLachlan croons in the background. You'd think after six years recording a new album, she might have come up with something that doesn't sound exactly like every other song she's ever recorded, but whatever. I don't mean to bring you out of the moment. Nathan answers, "Not so good." His voice cracks and he stumbles into the room, falling into Haley's arms. He says, "I've made a lot of mistakes, Haley, sometimes because of my dad, but sometimes by choice." Nathan sits on her bed, and she sits beside him as he says, "I don't want to do it anymore." She rubs his back and tells him that it's okay. But Nathan disagrees: "No, it's not okay, I'm not okay." He continues, "I fell on the floor tonight. I was so scared. I was so terrified. And then I saw you, and I promised myself that if I could just get up and walk over to you, I'd tell you how much I need you, how much I want you, how nothing else matters." Haley hugs him and kisses him, looking warmly into his face. Aw, wow, everything's coming to a critical point tonight, and Nathan's realizing what Dan should have realized years and years ago, that in order to be well, to be good, you need to take responsibility for yourself, for your actions. Good for you, Nathan. Good for you.
Peyton knocks on Luke's door. He opens it and is surprised to see her there. She walks in and says, "I heard about Nathan." Luke says, "Yeah, he's going to be okay." He tries to disguise the confusion in his voice when he asks her what's up, because it seems like he sort of wants to get rid of her. Peyton says, "Lucas, I made a mistake. When you said you wanted to be with me, I got scared, and I pushed you away." He says, "Peyton --" But she holds up her hand and continues, "The truth is I want all the same things that you do, I do, and I want them with you." But before Luke can say anything, Brooke comes into the kitchen looking like she's wearing Luke's sweatshirt and saying, "Okay, superstar, are you ready to score?" She sees Peyton and says quietly, "Hey." Luke looks at Brooke, and then he looks back at Peyton. Brooke says, "We missed you after the game tonight." Okay, if she'd been there, cheering, she would have seen Nathan collapse, so was she there or was she not there? Anyway, this episode has forgone all methodical continuity and concentrated on heavy emotional intensity -- I'll forgive them, but just this once. Peyton replies, "Yeah, I guess I just got turned around." Luke says "Peyton" again, and she pauses at the door. Brooke looks at Luke looking at her friend and doesn't say anything.
Dan's got his bag in hand as he's about to leave the house. Deb just stares into space as she hears his heels on the hardwood as they walk out the door. Stay strong, sister, you've made the right decision!
Whitey comes out of the gym and closes the door. He's posted a sign that says, "Basketball Cancelled." He's underlined the "cancelled" for extra emphasis. In brackets it says, "Until further notice."
Back at Haley's, Nathan says, "Haley. I want to stay with you tonight." She smiles at him, and closes the door.
Peyton looks at Luke. Luke looks at Peyton as his voice-over says, "What a frightening thing is the human," then he turns back to Brooke, "a mass of gauges and dials and registers, but we can read only a few, and those perhaps not accurately." Who is he going to choose? My goodness, we just don't know!
And there are no -weeks, because that's it for new episodes from now until after Christmas, probably. Can you handle the wait?