While a show about high schoolers in North Carolina may seem lackluster, “One Tree Hill” is anything but. Premiering in 2003, the show cemented its place in history as an iconic teen drama. Like any series spanning nine seasons, it’s no surprise that they jumped the shark, creating unrealistic plot points for the sake of more drama. It is a shock, however, that they jumped it in season one.
Chad Michael Murray and James Lafferty star in the series as Lucas and Nathan Scott, respectively — half-brothers whose rivalry stems from their father abandoning the former and abusing the latter. The rest of the “One Tree Hill” cast consists of the brothers’ partners, friends and enemies — each of whom contribute to the drama of Tree Hill High School.
One of the other characters is Peyton Sawyer (Hilarie Burton), Nathan’s girlfriend in the first season. Despite Peyton’s relationship status, Lucas has harbored a crush on her since before the series even began, with Peyton acting as his main love interest throughout the show. This buildup leads to an engaging love triangle that furthers the brothers’ rivalry, though it turns even more complicated with the inclusion of Peyton’s best friend, Brooke Davis (Sophia Bush).
With Lucas getting with his crush’s best friend, Peyton’s attachment issues go into overdrive, and are furthered after she fears her father’s death. This false alarm is the catalyst for Lucas and Peyton hooking up, ultimately leading to viewers hating Burton and Murray’s characters, thinking they ended up changing for the worse. Cheating plotlines are nothing new, with a similar situation being done in “Dawson’s Creek” years before, a lazy decision on the writer’s part.
Despite this, there are worse mistakes made throughout Season 1. In an effort to annoy his brother, Nathan begins to romantically pursue Lucas’ best friend, Haley James Scott (Bethany Joy Lenz), only to actually end up falling for her. While this cliche isn’t necessarily realistic, it’s still feasible. What’s unrealistic, however, is how fast their relationship progresses, with the couple getting married at the age of 16 in the season one finale.
This decision took viewers out of the reality that the show had based itself in, leaving them unable to find a point of connection to the characters. A multitude of problems arise in season two because of this decision, with Haley leaving temporarily to explore her singing career — yet another unrealistic storyline. The ensuing issues between the couple become almost irreversible, as they have the looming threat of a divorce rather than a simple breakup.
“One Tree Hill” producers realized they could market off of drama and shock value, adding multiple storylines for the sake of gaining a rise out of viewers. These included multiple stalkers, attacks, car crashes, pregnancy scares, shootings and hostage situations. None of these storylines have much of an emotional impact on the characters themselves. The complexityt that comes with the Scott brothers’ parental issues falls into the shadows as well.
Other storylines are slightly more believable, yet still unrealistic for high schoolers. After Brooke’s parents virtually abandon her to move to California, she bounces from house to house before rooming with Haley — whose parents have also run off — in her and Nathan’s old apartment. The teen girls then go on to hardly see their parents for the rest of high school.
The show attempts to fix these problems by aging up the characters in season four. While this time jump allowed the actors to look like the age of the characters they were portraying, it raised another problem revolving around their occupations, with the majority of characters being highly successful in their early twenties. This leads to the entire friend group becoming famous, despite coming from a small town with no connections. Tree Hill essentially becomes a hub for Hollywood.
Murray and Burton’s decision to leave the show at the end of season six allowed for new characters to be thrown into the mix, though these additions make “One Tree Hill” feel like an entirely different show — one that is more like a soap opera than a teen drama.
While the show began with a feel-good, cozy vibe, it started to lose itself in the middle of season one, with the nail being hammered in during the final season. Ultimately, the writers ended up ruining a show that could have really connected with people, choosing in favor of mass drama — no matter how out of left field it may be.
