Last week on One Tree Hill, a giant SUV crashed into Keith's truck while he and Lucas were on the way to pick up Karen from the airport. Crash! Dan carried Luke into the hospital. Blood! They had to operate. Flatline. Luke's heart stopped beating.
Blah be someone, blah piece of mind, blah other than what I've been trying to be lately, blah theme song, blah they used to play basketball blah.
The hospital machines are all still showing flatline and blaring that singular note that indicates that Luke's heart has stopped beating. Lights flash in the ER as the surgeon yells for them to charge the paddles to two hundred. A second surgeon does CPR. Luke's heart is still not beating. They shock him. Still flatline. The surgeon asks that the paddles to be charged to three hundred. A nurse gives Luke a gram of epinephrine. After the second shock, they get Luke's heartbeat back, and he returns to normal sinus rhythm.
A bright white light flashes. For a second, I'm scared to death that we're going to be treated to a scene of Luke's near-death experience. He'll be frolicking on the beach with Peyton. Or playing basketball in the NBA -- oh, wait, that would mean that he would actually have to play basketball. Thankfully, we're spared that cheese-fest; the light simply indicates a switch over to Keith getting his head stitched up by the emergency room doctor. Keith asks, "How long will this take?" The doctor replies, "We're just about done here now." He puts a small band-aid on top of Keith's stitches. Keith says, "I don't mean me, I'm talking about my nephew Lucas. How long will he be in surgery?" The entire weight of the hospital -- hell, the entire weight of the hospital plus its patients, gear, and all the doctors -- weighs on Keith's shoulders as the doctor replies, "That depends on his injuries." The doctor walks away, and Keith looks down at his boots. Man, his face is a combination of complete dejection and utter sadness. Okay, and then he pulls out his cell phone and speed-dials. Yes, in the middle of the emergency room, where there are heart monitors and all kinds of other electrical equipment that could, oh, I don't know, save someone's freaking life, Keith uses his cell phone. And then, some guy in the bed dies from the interference. Silly show, they should at least make Keith go outside to use the phone. Anyway, the phone beep, beep, beeps and Keith takes a deep breath.
Haley rolls off the side of the bed and says, "I'm sorry. What did you just say?" About what? "About the way that we started?" Her cell phone rings mid-sentence. Nathan half-sits up and answers, "Ah, nothing, just that when I first came to you for tutoring I figured the easiest way to mess with Lucas was to hook up with you." Oh, poor Haley; she's had a fight with Lucas, and now she's going to break up with Nathan: "So everything between us has been a lie?" The phone keeps ringing. Then it stops, and her answering machine picks up. Haley's hyper-speed dialogue doesn't help Nathan's cause. He tries to deny it, but she's already three steps ahead before he's even caught on that they're having a fight. "I cannot believe this, Lucas was right about you all along." Keith's voice crackles on the answering machine: "Haley! Pick up. There's been an accident. Lucas is hurt pretty bad. Haley?" This stops the Haley/Nathan argument dead as she jumps over to the side of the bed where the phone is and picks it up, saying, "Keith? Hey." Pause. "He's going to make it, right?" Pause. "Okay. Thanks." Nathan gets up now and says, "Come on, I'll take you to the hospital." The colour drains from Haley's face as she holds the phone in her hand. "I can't talk to you right now, Nathan." He tries to apologize, says that he didn't mean it like that -- asks her to "come on." But she's having none of it. She closes her eyes, waves the phone at him, and tells him to "just go." And if there's one thing we know Haley's good at, it's kicking Nathan the hell out of her bedroom. (Insert Ragdoll waving her hand frantically. "Um, yeah, TPTB?" Focus, we're in the OTH Classroom of Life now. "Yes, Ragdoll." "Yeah, um, where are Haley's parents? And who would let their sixteen-year-old hang out with her boyfriend on her bed on a school night?" Silence from the front of the classroom.) Nathan reluctantly leaves, looking sodden from sadness and wishing he'd put something else in his mouth other than his foot, while Haley beep, beep, beeps away on her phone.
With all of the children in the world staring at them from Peyton's newly decorated bedroom, Brooke says, "Hey, you know you can tell me anything, what is it?" Peyton hesitates for a minute. She's waiting for the perfect moment to tell Brooke about her and Lucas. She stutters and replies, "It's just, there's something you should know." But wait! The phone rings, of course. Peyton answers the phone by saying, "Haley? What's the matter?" Peyton's mouth falls open when she hears the news; she immediately hangs up the phone, grabs her purse, and almost hightails it out of there until Brooke stops her by saying, "Peyton? What?" Only then does Peyton realize that moving on instinct right about now might not be the best course of action, considering that Brooke's still Luke's freaking girlfriend. Stopped dead in her tracks, Peyton turns around and says, "Lucas. There's been an accident. You should go to him." And didn't that just break her heart, because every bone in her body wants to run as fast as she can over to the hospital and make sure Luke's okay.
Karen runs into the waiting room and jumps into Keith's arms. She whisper-cries, "Keith! Oh, I'm so glad you're okay." They embrace. Then they let go. I note that Keith should probably hang onto this moment; he's going to need to remember what it feels like to hug Karen. He might not get the opportunity to do so for quite some time. She cries, "Where is he?" He says, "I'm so sorry. I didn't see the other car --" Karen turns away and panics: "Where's the operating room, I need someone to tell me what's happening." Keith says calmly, "They asked us to wait here and they're going to let us know when he gets into recovery." Karen starts babble-crying about having to get a cab and paying with euros, and then she says, "He's got to be all right, Keith. I won't lose him." Her voice cracks. The tears stream, and she cries, "I can't." Keith whisper-soothes, "I know, I know." Then he spots a doctor and asks if he knows anything about Lucas. Faux-Carter says, "Dr. Hill is an excellent surgeon. The kid's lucky his father got him here so fast." And there goes the root beer out my nose. Karen stutter-cries, "His uncle --" The doctor corrects her: "No, his father, he may have saved your son's life." And with that, he walks away -- no status report, no "it'll be X number of minutes until he's out of surgery," nothing except a cock-and-bull story about how Dan's Superman routine might have saved his life. Oh, this show!
Karen turns to Keith for an explanation: "Dan saw the accident. He pulled Lucas out of the car and then he drove us here." Karen whisper-squeaks, "Dan?" Keith continues, "Yeah, Lucas was in bad shape, so he couldn't wait, and, um, Dan gave surgeon permission to operate." Karen whisper-asks, "How could he?" Keith replies, "He said he was Lucas's father." Before Karen can ingest this gem, or before she can feel the ice forming under her feet as hell freezes over, a hysterical Brooke comes rushing into the waiting room, bawling, "Keith! Keith! Is he okay?" Keith turns to her and says, "Oh, honey, we don't know yet." She starts ranting hysterically and crying uncontrollably, and where's the sassy Brooke when you need her, because this baby-sucky-faced one is totally annoying. She splutters, "I was supposed to see him tonight, he was supposed to come over after the airport." Keith turns to Karen and says, "This is Brooke." Then Brooke splutter-introduces herself to Karen: "I'm Brooke, Lucas's girlfriend." Karen's eyes widen.
But before she has time to ingest that gem, Faux-Corday comes in asking who's there for Lucas Scott. Karen announces that she's his mother, and asks if he's okay. Corday tells her that Luke's stable and now in recovery. The doctor continues, "He needed a lot of work. His right lung collapsed and needed to be repaired. I had to remove his spleen but there shouldn't be any long-term repercussions." Does that mean he'll be fine? "He'll need physical therapy to his shoulder; it separated in the crash. But we were able to reset it. Other than that he has a concussion and some bruising." The Dramatic He's Out of Danger Music plays as the doctor tells Karen about how Luke's heart stopped beating, a "complication" that happened during surgery. Now, all they have to do is wait for him to wake up. Karen: "When will that be?" Faux-Corday says, "Could be a couple of hours, could be a couple of days. That's up to him." When my cousin was Luke's age, a couple years after we had lost my mom in a car accident, he had a crash similar to this one. Like Luke, he was in a coma for a bit, and then just like that, he woke up, pulled the tubes out of his arms, and started to walk out of the hospital. Funny how differently the body reacts in different situations; its resiliency is amazing -- perhaps not as amazing as what Luke ends up looking like by the end of the episode, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyway, he ended up dead for a millisecond. Damn you, WB, and your misleading promos! Like, that's barely a cliffhanger. But then again, should we be surprised -- everything moves at hyper-speed on this show, and it's totally fitting that Luke's life should really only be hanging in the balance for the first three seconds. Keith embraces Karen and kisses the top of her head after the doctor leaves.
Haley sits on her bed, listening to estrogen-based moping music. Peyton shows up in her doorway and half-knocks on the frame. What time is it? How come the kids can walk in and out of each other's houses like it's nobody's business? Who visits after dark on a school night? I mean, really? Anyway. Peyton says, "Hey. I thought you'd be at the hospital." Haley sort of half-looks at her and says, "Why aren't you there?" Peyton replies, "I dropped Brooke off. It's kind of weird, she's still with Lucas." Um, so when did Peyton tell Haley what's going on? And did Luke tell Peyton in the meantime what happened between him and Haley? Because that's the only way this conversation could make sense. Haley says, "She doesn't know about you guys yet?" Peyton admits that they were going to tell her tonight. Damn. Timing truly is everything, eh? Haley scoffs. Peyton says, "Don't you want to see him?" Haley replies, "Yeah, I do, I just can't." Why not? Haley dodges the question: "If you don't mind, I'd really like to be alone right now." Peyton says no problem, but then she adds, "I'm sure his mom would really like to see you." Haley snits, "Peyton. I'll go when I'm ready." Who knew sweet little Tutor Girl could have so much attitude?
Back at the hospital, Karen stands by the nursing station and hands the nurse back a clipboard. She says, "Ah, they took my son out of recovery and the nurse hadn't filed these insurance forms?" Faux-Sam asks, "Oh, sure. What's your son's name?" Karen replies that it's Lucas Scott. There's a cop standing beside them there, and he too fills out paperwork. He overhears their conversation and says, "Scott? From the car accident?" Karen says yeah. He continues, "I need to get a statement from that driver Keith Scott. He's a lucky guy." Karen smiles and says, "Yeah, a couple of stitches." But wait, that's not what he means -- turns out Keith's blood-alcohol level was a mere point below the legal limit. Oh boy, and if the sky hadn't opened up before and started to rain down on us, it sure as hell has now. Karen's face turns to stone. And it's not just because the cop mistakenly calls Keith her husband, either; it's because now she knows he had that beer over at her café before getting behind the wheel. What? Is that steam rising? Um, no, that's her trust dissolving like fog when the weather turns into a hot summer day.
Karen walks into Luke's hospital room. Keith sits up. She kisses a comatose Luke, and Keith says, "I'll never forgive myself if he's not okay." Karen doesn't look at him when she asks, "Were you drinking tonight?" He purses his lips and says, "Karen --" She asks, "Were you?" He says, "I wasn't drunk." She turns to face him: "That's not what I asked you." Pause. "Were you drinking before you drove Lucas?" He says yes, and he tries to add a "but," but Karen's not interested. She whisper-shouts her disappointment: "I trusted you." Pause. "I want you to leave." Oh man -- without even saying anything to defend himself in any way, Keith quietly gets up and leaves. Now, that's love, where the guilt weighs so heavily upon you that you don't even need the other person to point out what a jackass you were. But Lord, was it just that one beer? And when did the bloody cop even have time to take a breathalyser test, if Dan scooped them both up so fast and carted them off to the hospital at super-speed?
The day, Peyton shows up at Karen's Café, where Haley's busy with work, of all things. She asks, "Haley, what are you doing?" Haley answers with a clipped "Inventory." Peyton says, "Lucas is lying in a hospital bed, why can't you just go see him?" Haley continues to contemplate the clipboard and the bags of beans she's so not counting. "Because he wouldn't want to see me." Peyton is confused: "Why not? You guys are best friends." Haley turns around to face her, clipboard at the ready, and explains, "Not last night we weren't. We got in a fight." Peyton asks, "About what?" Haley admits, "You --" And that blows my theory that Luke told Peyton about it and that's how she knew that Haley knew, but whatever. There are bigger issues to be concerned with this episode, like boyfriend in a coma, oh no, oh no, it's serious. Haley continues, "Him, and Brooke." Pause. "The last thing I said to him was, 'I don't like the person you're becoming and the time I see you, don't talk to me.'" For once, Peyton's the most logical person in the room. How shocking is that? She says, "You didn't mean that." Haley steps forward and asks, "Peyton. What if I can't take it back? What if he doesn't forgive me?" Peyton insists, "He will, but you just need to see him." Haley makes a pained face, so Peyton continues, "Listen, whenever you're ready, I'll go to the hospital with you, strength in numbers." Haley agrees, thanks Peyton, and then tells her that she'll see her later. I guess that's Peyton's cue to leave. Again, these two are on speed-friendship terms; they bonded quickly, they talk quickly, and they have the shortest, most intense conversations I've ever seen.
Deb shows up at the hospital carrying a basket of food. She quietly says "hi" to Karen, who's still wearing the same clothes she had on when she arrived home from Italy. Deb says, "Nathan told me about Lucas. I'm so sorry. How is he?" The two of them walk toward the waiting room chairs as Karen says, "He's still unconscious, but the doctor's say his vital signs are strong." Deb thinks that's good news, and that she figured Karen hadn't had a chance to grab any food. The two of them sit, and Deb goes through the basket. Karen says, "I'm really not that hungry." A giant photograph of a serene mountain adorns the wall of the Faux-ER. It's hideous. Deb pulls out a thermos and tells Karen she can at least offer her some half-decent coffee. While she undoes the top, she says, "I don't want you to worry about anything other than Lucas. I'll take care of the café as long as you need." Karen's voice almost cracks when she thanks Deb. You've got to hand it to these Scott women, they sure are well-versed in how to deal with tragedy. Karen waxes sad-philosophical for a minute: "All night I sat up watching Lucas thinking I'm the one who can't wake up. This has to be some sort of a dream." Yeah, it's called motherhood and maternity leave, but you look good by the way, Moira. "'Cause if this isn't a dream, it's got to be some sort of punishment." Deb asks, "Punishment for what?" Karen replies, "For being selfish. If I hadn't have gone to Italy this wouldn't have happened." Deb plays the supportive friend role very well: "You can't think that way. This is not your fault." Karen half-laughs, and continues, "And if you had told me yesterday that the Scott brother that I would feel grateful to was Dan I would have said you were crazy." Now it's Deb's turn to be confused: "What do you mean?" Karen asks, "He didn't tell you?" Tell her what? "Dan brought Lucas to the hospital. If it wasn't for him Lucas wouldn't have made it."
Peyton finally makes it all the way into Luke's hospital room. She walks over and sits down after taking a good look at him. His cheek is cut up, but other than that, he looks fine -- he totally doesn't have that pale, puffy after-surgery skin, that's for sure. She says quietly, "Hey, it's me." Then she sits down and continues, "Can you hear me?" She puts both her hands around Luke's hand, on either side because his finger is attached to the monitor, and says, "Squeeze my hand if you can hear me, okay?" Nothing happens. "Never mind. Um, I just came by to tell you that I'm not going to be around very much, with Brooke here it's just kind of weird." She looks down at his hand and continues, "But I'm with you, Lucas, you know that. And I'll wait forever if I have to --" Karen interrupts her one-sided conversation, and when Peyton hears her come in, she jumps up and apologizes. Karen says, "Oh, no, you don't have to go, he's allowed visitors." Karen smiles. Peyton introduces herself. Karen says, "I know. Lucas has talked about you." Karen smiles again: "It's nice that people want to do something, but the last think I can think about right now is food." Peyton considers the basket for a minute. Then she says, "You'll be glad you have it in a couple days. I swear the cook at this hospital gets a bonus for making people sick." Karen says, "Sounds like you spent some time here." Blah dead mother, blah hospital, blah she died there, blah bonding, blah car accident, blah mother-Peyton connection blah.
Karen quickly changes the subject before it gets too heavy by saying, "You're a good friend to visit." Karen walks around Peyton and over to Luke while saying, "I was really expecting Haley to come around." Peyton explains, "She and Lucas got into some argument and she's really beating herself up over it." Karen's entered the ever-hopeful stage of her stress: "They'll patch it up." Pause. "Best friends can forgive each other anything." And the hits just keep on coming. How many hints do we need that the situation between Brooke, Peyton, and Lucas is going to mess with the friendship between the two girls? And you know what, Karen, they can't, and they don't, and friendships break up all the time, but whatever. Brooke walks in that very moment, holding a large bag of stuff. She sees Peyton and says, "Hey stranger! Check it out, I dropped so much cash at the gift shop I think they're going to name it after me." Wicked! Hospital gift shop stuff -- old-lady-knitted baby clothes and really bad inspirational tapes. Brooke pulls out a gift bag and says, "And, um, I got something for you too, Karen. Nothing makes me feel better when I'm blue than chocolate and I figure we couldn't be in a better place if we dipped into a sugar coma, so --" The deep troubled look on Karen's face indicates that Brooke, once again, has put her foot into her mouth. Brooke immediately apologizes, but that comment even made me uncomfortable -- I know, I know, it's serious. Brooke looks kind of uncomfortable for a second herself, and then she walks over to Luke, kisses his forehead, and says, "Hi baby." When she leans over, her very short skirt almost shows off all of her ass. The kiss, the Brooke, the mom, and just about everything else in the room makes Peyton totally uncomfortable, so she bails. Brooke says, "I've got him now, but I'll see you later?" Peyton nods, then she turns to Karen and says, "It was really nice to meet you." Karen says, "You too." And the guitars strum, playing on all of our heart strings. Yawn.
Haley works hard at the café, ignoring her feelings and trying hard not to hate herself. Nathan shows up, wearing that damn black Nike jacket he always wears, and says, "How's Lucas?" She brushes by him and bitches, "Like you care." Nathan protests, "Haley, come on, that's not fair. We're not tight, but I don't want to see the guy in the hospital." She snaps, "Why? Because if he's out of circulation then you can't use me to piss him off?" You know, Nathan's kind of brave to show his face when Haley's obviously this pissed. Haley brushes past him and keeps busy. Which he notices, obviously, so he asks if she can stand still for a second so they can talk. Her reply? Yeah, "not a chance in hell." Ouch. Nathan's insistent, though. He says, "All right, fine, don't talk to me, but at least let me take you to see Lucas today." Haley slams down a couple plates. Crashes some dishes around for a minute. Then she says, "You know Peyton's already doing it after my shift, and even if she wasn't, I wouldn't go with you." Nathan sighs heavily, and when he turns around his mom's there, asking him if Haley's all right. He admits that she's not okay at all. Nathan changes the subject and asks her if the split between her and Dan is "real." Deb answers, "Yeah, honey, it is. How do you feel about that?" Nathan says honestly, "Actually, I'm fine. How sad is that?" Then he walks out of the café, leaving Deb to wonder if that's a good or a bad thing.
Later that afternoon, Peyton and Haley arrive back at Luke's hospital room. Um, how bad is it that Luke's even annoying when he's in a bloody coma? Anyway, they see Karen passed out on the bed, and Haley freaks out. She totally can't handle it, so she doesn't even say anything to either Karen or Luke, and runs out of the room. Peyton follows her out into the hallway. Peyton says, "It's all right." Haley whisper-whines, "No. It's not. He's lying in there and there's nothing I can do about it." Peyton says, "You could be there for him? Just go talk to him, you'll feel better." You know, Peyton's the true friend in this episode. She leaves when she feels it necessary, she doesn't bring ostentatious, ridiculous gifts, and she supports the people around her who are having a really hard time, like Haley. I actually like Peyton in this episode. I think it's because she's a girl who's been through so much tragedy; she just instinctively knows how to deal with it. She's a girl after my own heart. Haley starts to cry: "I don't deserve to feel better. I mean, giving him an apology is not worth anything if he's not awake to hear it." She brushes the tears away from her face and says, "If I go in there, I'm just going to start crying, and that's the last thing that Karen needs." Peyton says, "Well, why don't you let her be the judge of that?" Haley answers, "I can't." And then she walks off down the hallway without ever going back into the room.
Deb shows up at Keith's body shop, where he's just going about his business fixing cars. Heh. I wonder if he's fixing up his own car and the other guy's car -- I guess that's one way to keep yourself in business. She says, "I just wanted to see how you were doing. I left a couple messages about Lucas." Keith stops turning his ratchet for a minute (I still can't believe that I even know what a ratchet is!) and looks at Deb: "Is there any change?" Has he talked to Karen today? Keith answers, "She doesn't want me at the hospital. And I can't blame her." Deb says, "She's just in shock, Keith. Once Lucas gets better, things will go back to normal." Keith sighs: "I'm not so sure about that, Deb. Karen isn't speaking to me, Lucas is unconscious, and I'm to blame -- that's a tough one to bounce back from." He's awfully calm about the whole thing, and thank goodness we haven't been treated to a Keith-drowning-his-sorrows-in-alcohol moment. Deb says sweetly, "Just give it some time." He scoffs, "It's funny, you know? I wasted all those years being too afraid to tell Karen how I felt, and then she kissed me at the airport." He looks off into the distance. "And suddenly everything I hoped for seemed possible. And all I had to do was wait six weeks." He snort-scoffs again: "Just six weeks, yesterday should have been the best day of my life. Now it's all gone." With that, he walks away, leaving Deb with the scent of sorrow and motor oil. Holy crap, every single person on this show has some aspect of their life falling apart. How much of it can we take? Yawn.
Back at the hospital room of impending doom, Brooke asks Karen if she follows astrology. Honestly, if the girl wants to make a good impression on the mom, this is not the way to do it. Karen doesn't -- follow astrology, that is -- so Brooke closes the magazine and says, "Me neither. It's actually not as accurate as numerology anyway." Karen looks over at Brooke and asks, "You two been dating a long time?" Brooke says, "A little over a month now." An Amy Quinn from the billing department takes this opportune moment to drop by and let Karen know that there's a problem with her insurance. Yup. You heard me right: on top of everything else, Karen's coverage won't even begin to take care of Luke's medical bills. And yes, that's me in the corner, losing my religion, trying hard not to roll my eyes back as lyrics to songs from my misspent youth start popping up into my head. Anything to avoid the tragedy at every turn that this episode seems to be delivering. Anyway, Karen wants to set up a payment plan. Of course she does, because she's poor, in case anyone in the last fourteen episodes hadn't noticed yet. Yawn.
When we get back from the commercials, Karen's singing Luke a lullaby as she pulls up his covers. She hum-sings "You Are My Sunshine," which I'm hoping is a remnant from their days growing up together, because if it's not, it's really barfy and I'm too tired to deal with this melodramatic crap. She leans in and says, "Open your eyes, Lucas, come on, honey." Oh boy -- then she lifts up his sleeve and sees the tattoo. Oh boy. She whisper-barks, "Is there anything that didn't change while I was gone?" Heh. Nothing like yelling at your kid when he's in a coma; and that's a hell of a way for Luke to get out of his punishment. Whitey comes into the room now, carrying his hat in his hand. Aw, Woda -- if there's anyone you'd ever want to see at the hospital during a crisis it would be him. He asks how Luke's doing, and Karen says he's the same. Woda asks, "And how about you?" Karen pulls up the blankets and her spirits as she says, "Oh, I'm fine." Whitey walks closer to her, stands right to her, and then says, "You got a lot of talents, Karen, but lying is not one of them." This sweetness launches Karen right into Woda's comforting arms. Whitey bites his lip. Karen takes an emotional stroll down memory lane: "When Lucas was a little boy, we used to play this game, 'What would you do?' 'What would you do if I blacked out,' 'What would you do if the house caught fire.' I was his only parent." Her voice cracks. "I wanted to prepare him if anything happened to me." She cries, "But I wasn't prepared for something happening to him." The tears stream down her face. Woda says, "Why don't you take a break?" But Karen's on an emotional tear: "How could Keith be so careless? I trusted him with the only thing in the world that matters to me." Woda insists, "Lucas matters to Keith too." Karen shakes her head. "Karen, you have every reason to be angry, Lord knows, but no man ever loved a boy any more than Keith loves Lucas, and that ought to count for something." Can I get a witness? Can I get a witness? Amen, Whitey. Amen.
Oh boy. The crew's assembled at the River Courts when Jake! Arrives, saying, "Well, it looks like we all had the same idea, huh?" Aw, he's adorable -- his jacket is shorter than his t-shirt. He continues, "Better to think of Lucas here than in the hospital, right?" Skills asks, "What, you seen him?" Yup. Jake! sits down on the picnic bench beneath the rest of the River Court Regulars. He says, "No change." Blah it sucks, blah it's unreal blah. Mouth picks up his video camera. All the boys take turns giving Luke their mad props and shut-downs; they're all dogging him, busting his chops until he gets back. Yeah, I'm the street. Dawg. Word. Blah scrawny ass, blah no spleen, blah bust out blah. Mouth turns the camera on Jake and asks for his thoughts. Jake says, "We need you back, man, simple as that." So now no one is playing basketball. Hell, I'd even wish for Luke to come back just so they can toss a ball around for a while; at least that doesn't take any massive emotional commitment -- oh, wait, what am I saying, in Tree Hill sports are life. Right, sorry. I got carried away thinking I was on the set of One Life to Live.
Dan shows up at Karen's Café, and Deb's surprised to see him because he was supposed to meet her at the mediator's office. Dan says, "I wanted to tell you in person, I'm not going." Deb sighs, "We both agreed to mediation." Dan says cuttingly, "We also both agreed to 'til death do us part and you didn't have any trouble backing out of that one." Ouch. Deb doesn't say anything. So Dan keeps talking: "And maybe you're wrong about what's best for this family too." Deb insists, "What family? We haven't been one in a long time." He counters with a little "That doesn't mean we can't be one again." Boy, they are setting the stage for this to be u-g-l-y ugly between the two of them. Dan continues, "We chose each other, we built a life together. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Deb shakes her head: "Don't put this on me, Dan. We've both made mistakes, it's time we corrected them." They've filmed this whole scene with tight headshots on Dan and Deb. It's unnerving to see him so intense and up close. Dan bites out, "Our marriage was not a mistake. And Nathan is too important to me to just see him on weekends. He needs both of us." And. He's. Slipping. Losing. His. Grip. On. His. Son. Deb threatens, "Don't make me hire a lawyer." And Dan lobs one right back at her: "I'm asking you not to, and I'm asking you to remember when you were the one who needed forgiveness. When you were the one who almost lost this family." Deb whisper-loses it: "That was a long time ago." The Skeletons in the Closet start to shake again. They're dancing. Brushing off the dust. He says, "Exactly. And we made it through that, and I'm glad we did, so don't throw us away. Give us one more chance." Is he threatening her as a way of winning her back? Is this a tactic he thinks will actually work? Deb thinks for a minute and then says, "I'm all out of chances, Dan." His face is stone when he says, "I may not show it the way you want, but this family is my life. I'm not giving up." He insists, "I won't agree to a divorce." And then he walks away, leaving Deb behind to wonder how in the hell she ever fell in love with that creep.
Wow! It's been a while since we were on top of the café at the homemade putt-putt course. Haley is sitting by herself; she's wearing a tea cosy on her head. Peyton comes up behind her and says, "Deb said I might find you up here." Haley says hey. Peyton tells her the place is "cool." Blah she and Lucas, blah built it, blah when it was, blah the two of them against the world blah. "I'm sorry I ran out of the hospital." Peyton tells her not to "sweat" it. Then she kicks the picnic table and continues, "I'm probably not the best person to be giving moral support anyway." Pause. "Maybe if you went with Nathan." Haley barks, "Nathan!" Then she calms down a bit and explains, "And I are taking a little break." What happened? Haley runs down the whole "using her to get to Lucas" scenario. Which sucks, yes, but it's totally not what they're relationship has ended up being, so maybe, just maybe, Haley needs to let it go? Peyton echoes my thoughts exactly: "I don't believe that. I know Nathan. And he's into you." Haley tries to convince herself when she says, "It doesn't matter." And even more so when she continues, "Anyway, why do you think you're no good for moral support." See, she's trying to change the subject. It's okay, though, because Peyton rolls with it: "You said that you were disappointed in Lucas for betraying Brooke, and I just figured you felt the same way about me." At some point, Peyton sat down on the bench, so she's looking at Haley, who's facing sideways. Haley says, "Actually, no, I don't. I know what it's like to need Lucas in your life." Huh? Anyone understand that? Peyton tells Haley that she never lets herself need anyone, ever. Not since her mom died: "But with Lucas, he looks at me and he really sees me, you know, right down into my soul." With those beady little broody eyes of his -- yawn. Haley says, "I just want to tell him that I love him and I'm sorry." Peyton admits, "I just want to tell him that I'm in love with him." The two girls smile at one another -- oh, the wonder of Lucas, the wonder of the power of his love. Yawn.
Keith's back at the hospital, trying to drop off a package for Lucas. The nurse tells him just to go on in, but Keith resists. He gives her the package, and she mentions the note -- the fact that billing has some questions about a payment discrepancy. She says, "They need to talk to Lucas Scott's mother or father." Pause. "That's you, right?" And the light bulb goes off over Keith's head as the angel on his shoulder screams, "Make amends! Make amends!" Keith smiles, and without directly answering her question, he asks, "Which way is the billing department?"
Brooke bounds into Peyton's room, complaining about how the hospital needs a makeover and how it's no wonder everyone there is sick. Um, okay, but is Brooke really this shallow? Oh, Brooke, you were right the other week when you said you weren't good in a crisis. Ain't that the truth -- you're downright annoying. She puts her head on Peyton's shoulder. Peyton asks how Luke's doing. Brooke sighs and says he's the same. She's wearing a bow across her chest -- perhaps a present for when Luke wakes up? Brooke is scared. Peyton asks why. Brooke replies, "I know what the doctors said, I'm just worried he's not going to wake up." Whoa, that's some bad makeup on Brooke. She's wearing piles and piles of rust-coloured eye shadow that would better suit an aging drag queen than a young, hip hottie. Blah don't think that, blah she knows, blah it's just the thought of losing him now, blah tears blah worry blah. If Brooke's this upset and they've only been dating for a month, I can only imagine what it would be like if they had any lasting relationship. Ah, histrionics. You are such a good friend during sweeps. Anyway, Brooke tells Peyton she's going to grab a bite to eat and go back over there, and asks if Peyton wants to come. Peyton makes some bullshit excuse and says no, but that'll she'll go later. Brooke calls her on it: "You've been saying that for two days." Peyton contemplates her sketch pad as Brooke continues, "I know it's hard for you." You do? "I know your mom died in that hospital, but Lucas needs his friends right now, even if it's hard to be around him in that place. He's worth the trouble." Oh, as if that's the reason -- poor Brooke, she knows so little of the eventual heartbreak from this whole misguided love triangle situation. Peyton says, "Yes, he is. I'll try to come by tomorrow." Brooke hugs her, says she's the best, and then leaves; she's off to cry some more at the bedside of the boy she thinks is almost in love with her too.
Karen sits by Luke's bed, reading basketball statistics. We're into the second day now, and she still hasn't been home or changed her clothes. I'm assuming she has her suitcases at the hospital because she went right there from the airport, so she could have changed, but whatever. Brooke bounces into the hospital room, teasing, "You a big basketball fan?" She's carrying a big cardboard "Get Well Soon" card. Oh Lord. How sixteen-year-old girl. Heh. She says, "I've been suffering through Salinger for him -- would it kill him to read a little Jackie Collins." Brooke takes another horrific picture remnant of the decorating in Harvey's restaurants during the '80s, and puts it on the wall. Karen comes around, asking if she made the card, which by looking at it's large cursive writing and sparkles is an affirmative. There's a picture of Brooke in her cheerleader outfit in the centre, flanked by two strips of those dollar-booth pictures. Brooke figured this summer-camp-grade vanity project would be "nice for Lucas when he wakes up." She explains, "That's us at a Bear Creek game, and those are coasters from where I kicked his butt playing pool." Karen examines the poster for a minute and says, "Nothing from the tattoo parlour." Brooke apologizes: "Okay, that's totally on me. He's just so serious all the time. You know, that I thought a tattoo might lighten him up." Karen asks, "You couldn't take him to a comedy?" Brooke nods, "So you're not a big tattoo fan." Karen: "Not on my son, no." Brooke says she's sorry, and then adds, "I think I could probably set myself on fire and my mom wouldn't notice, so it's kind of hard for me to remember that some moms would." Oh no, Brooke's bonding with the mom; there's no immediate spark like between Karen and Peyton, but it's a little glimmer of hope. At least Brooke's done totally embarrassing herself for now.
Haley and Peyton arrive at the River Courts to find all kinds of people doing chalk drawings "for Lucas." Um, when did he get so popular? And who are all these people? Haley says, "Is that Tim?" Dim scribbles something frantically on the asphalt. She's astonished: "He's always been such an ass to Lucas." Maybe that's his way of saying he's sorry. Haley says quietly, "Why am I not surprised Nathan isn't here." She half-scoffs, and walks toward the courts to take a better look. Jake! comes up to Peyton and says, "You've got to love watching people make sense out of the way they feel for Lucas." Peyton jokes, "Who knew Tim could spell, right?" He laughs. Jake looks at Peyton for a second, kind of like she's the girl he's sort of interested in, but doesn't really know how to approach the whole situation. He asks her how she's doing. Peyton says she's hanging in there. Jake! looks at her and offers some of his own brand of support: "Look, I know we don't really run together, but if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm around." Um, TPTB? Yeah, if Jake! needs someone to run with, I'll gladly volunteer.
Nathan's wearing a red warm-up suit that says "Baller." I'm frustrated that the only basketball these guys play now is either on their clothes or in front of their houses. Anyway, he shoots and misses. Peyton comes up to him and says, "Those free throws look like crap." Nathan shakes his head and smiles: "I'm glad to see you're picking up the slack in my dad's absence." He's not around? Nathan confirms, "Yeah, he moved out, my parents are getting a divorce." Peyton apologizes; she didn't know. Nathan tells her it's all right and that they "suck together anyways." Which is kind of true. Nathan reverts back to his asshole days with the words out of his mouth: "Speaking of, what are you doing here?" Peyton replies, "Haley, actually. Um, I don't know what you did to her, but I do know that she's the best thing that ever happened to you." He asks if Peyton's including herself in that statement. Peyton nods. Then she walks over to the bench that sits in the driveway and sits down as Nathan admits that she's right about Haley. Nathan looks like a giant sports-inspired clown in that crazy get-up. Peyton asks, "So what happened?" Nathan says, "I told her that I only went after her at first to screw with Lucas." Peyton calls him a jackass. Nathan nods in agreement, and then he says, "But it hasn't been about that for me and Haley for a long time." Peyton tells him that Haley needs his help, that she can't face Lucas. He doesn't think that's really his place: "I mean, Lucas isn't exactly my biggest fan, right." Peyton says, "That doesn't mean you couldn't try, for Haley." See, here's Peyton again, being there for Lucas, because he'd want Haley there; she's his best friend. Nathan says, "So is this advice for me, or for you?" Pause. Nathan rubs his hands along the legs of his track suit and laughs, "Well, this is kind of weird, huh? The two of us talking about each other's relationships." Peyton giggles nervously and admits, "It's all weird." Where's her dad? Isn't he supposed to be home by now? I know that's a completely unrelated thought, but give me a break, my mind's all over the place in this recap.
Karen visits the billing department. Amy Quinn hands her the receipt -- which means the bill is totally paid. Karen's confused. What's going on? Well, it turns out the man everyone keeps mistaking for her husband, Keith, has paid all the bills. Aw, guilt's a marvellous thing, isn't it?
When Karen gets back to the room, the sun's gone down on Luke's second day in a coma. Brooke's there, holding his hand. She sees Karen's face and asks if she's okay. Karen nods her head and then says, "Ever since I landed nothing's been the way I expected it to be." Brooke drops Luke's hand: "Including your son's new girlfriend, right." Karen tries to make Brooke feel better with a half-hearted "that's not true" and she doesn't really know her. Brooke starts babbling: "I know I talk a lot when I'm nervous, actually I'm pretty gabby all the time, but my stupid quotient kind of goes sky-high when I'm flipped out, and meeting my boyfriend's mother in the hospital with all of this going on is kind of off the stress charts for me --" She takes a breath: "But I'm here for you if you need anything." Karen thanks her. Brooke's waterworks start up again, blah the only thing she wants, blah is to see Lucas laughing again, blah hear him sing off-key, blah roll his eyes at me when I steal French fries off his plate. Brooke is full-on crying now: "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm crazy about your son, and I hope that's enough for you." Oh boy. Poor Brooke, her heart's going to get trampled like the streets of Spain during the bull run. Karen smiles and says, "Actually, that's more than enough." She reaches over and touches Brooke's hands. It's nice to have Karen back; her character added a subtle sense of reality to the show, and Moira does a good job.
Deb knocks quietly on the door and says, "I figured if I kept bringing by food, you're bound to eat something sometime." Brooke's foot goes right back into its rightful place in her mouth: "I'm starving!" Pause. "But that's not for me, example of that stupid quotient thing, I'm just going to go." Karen asks her to stay, though, and says they can have dinner together. Brooke says she'd like that, and she'll go get drinks. Karen sees the bag embossed with "Karen's Café" and comments, "That looks great!" Deb explains that a start-up company gave them a hundred for free as a test run. She continues, "I know it's the last thing on your mind, but business is fine." Karen starts unpacking the bag: "It's a strange world when the least important thing is doing well and the most important thing is just hanging on." Deb asks if there's anything else she can do. Karen says yes, and wants Deb to thank Dan for her: "I haven't had a chance, things have been so crazy, but as soon as I can leave the hospital, I'll stop by the house." Deb says hastily, "Dan isn't living at the house." Why? "We're getting a divorce." Karen says, "This may sound crazy, but I'm sorry." Deb thanks her, and then leaves. Karen shakes her head, lets out a deep breath, and says, "It was only six weeks?" Our thoughts exactly, Karen, our thoughts exactly.
A well-dressed, attractive woman comes into Dan Scott Motors and admires a car. Of course, this prompts Dan to come out of his office and say, "That car's perfect for you!" She traces her hand over the sports car, and answers flirtatiously, "How's that?" Dan answers, "Smooth lines, sleek styling -- Dan Scott." He holds out his hand; she says it's a pleasure to meet him. She continues, "Cynthia Price, your wife's new attorney." Dan immediately drops his hand. Cynthia says, "I came here to tell you that I've read the mediation agreement and I think that it's more than fair. I wanted to give you a last chance to accept it." Dan tells her that he's got a lot invested in his life, in his family, and, I quote: "Deb's not getting rid of me that easily." Cynthia asks, "Is that love talking or just a bruised ego?" Dan replies brazenly, "Roll the dice and find out. But first, go back to your client and ask if she's ready for what'll come out about her if she does go to trial." Again, this is the way to smooth over things with him and Deb? To strong-arm her into taking him back? Cynthia nods, then says, "See you in court," as she walks out of the shop.
With crossed arms and a heavy heart, and still wearing that ridiculous red track suit, Nathan arrives at Luke's hospital room. He sits down and says, "Hey man, I kind of need to talk to you." Pause. "So, I'm here because everything's screwed up. I know you don't trust me with Haley, but I like her a lot, you know. She's hurting right now too." The strangest thing about this whole scene is that they're brothers, and that must make Nathan feel awkward. Anyway, he continues, "She needs you to open your eyes, man. She feels like she can't be forgiven, and I'm sort of in the same place." Luke lies there, immobile. Nate glances over at Karen, who is sleeping in a chair covered with a hospital blanket. Nathan leans over and puts his hands down on the bed, to Luke's hands. And more for his own benefit than for Luke's, I think, he says, "You know, this accident might not turn out so bad. You can take a break from the game, from the pressure, people's expectations." Only that's never really been a problem for Luke. He plays because he loves the game. Nathan says quietly, "I wish I had that chance. This might be hard to believe but maybe you're the lucky one. You can get out." Luke's fingers brush Nate's hand, and his eyes open slowly. His throat is absolutely hoarse as he asks for water. Nathan gets it for him, and then gives it to him slowly. Luke asks, "What are you doing here?" Nathan replies, "Long story. I'll get your mom."
Nathan walks over to Karen and shakes her awake. She too is surprised to see Nathan there. He says, "I think Lucas wants to talk to you." Karen pulls the blanket off and rushes over to her son, saying, "Wake up, Lucas, come on, talk to me." He whisper-sings, "Don't take my sunshine away." Karen smiles, "You heard that." Luke says, "I'm glad you're back, Mom." Karen says, "You too! Now I can kill you for that tattoo." Heh.
When Haley sees Nathan arrive at the Café, she tells him that she's "not in the mood right now." He stands there and says, "Lucas is awake. I was there when he opened his eyes. I went to see him." Why? "Because I knew you couldn't. And I wanted him to know that you were thinking about him." Oh boy, more waterworks, and it's not Brooke. It's me -- can I blame my watery eyes on lack of sleep? Yeah, that's the story I'm going with -- lack of sleep has made my eyes dry, and I'm just giving them a bit of moisture. Ahem. Right, recapping. Nathan continues, "I know it was wrong to go after you for the reasons I did, and I can't apologize for it, but I'm not that person anymore. And that's because of you. Let me take you to him." And when holds out his hand, Haley looks at him with big, crocodile tears in her pretty brown eyes.
Okay, it's montage time.
Keith looks at a beautiful diamond engagement ring that represents everything that he can't have in his future. He shuts the lid.
Peyton puts the finishing touches on a graphic of a heart in flames with the number three in the centre -- it's her tribute to Lucas.
Karen walks into Dan Scott Motors. She sees Dan, and he immediately goes on the defensive. He says, "It had to be the consent forms, he needed surgery. You have a right to be upset --" But before he can say anything else, she hugs him so hard it actually shuts him up, and Dan's face is a mixture of stunned and sort of moved at the same time. Karen pulls away and says quietly, "Thank you." He nods, and she leaves.
Haley finally goes to the hospital. Brooke sits on the bed to Lucas, who is now well enough to sit up -- after having surgery on his spleen and lungs -- but whatever, it wasn't a real car accident, it was just a plot device. Brooke gets up, and Haley takes her place. Lucas says, "Hey buddy." And Haley falls into the crook of his arm, crying. He says, "I missed you." Brooke looks at the scene and smiles in a strange sort of melodramatic way, and looks at Nathan, who stands in the door, watching.
Karen arrives home and turns on the light. There's a sign in the kitchen that says, "We missed you!" The flowers Keith so lovingly placed on the table are dried out and falling apart. She puts her bags down, collapses into a chair, and starts to cry and cry and cry.
week: Luke tells Brooke he needs some time to figure some stuff out. He walks past Peyton's flaming heart on the River Courts. Brooke says, "Are you breaking up with me?" Deb and Dan go into court, and the battle really begins. Oh, and Luke makes out with Peyton in front of the web cam. Of course, Brooke sees this and confronts the two of them. Instead of waterworks, we'll be treated to fireworks week.