*Gavin DeGraw theme song plays, we sing along*
Nathan and Needy Tim are shooting around, and Nathan seems to think that Peyton's dumping him was once again a temporary act. Dan runs and shoots to score, claiming that he'll crush them at the Father Son game that week. Oh, this should be good. As if Dan reliving his high school basketball glory days wasn't bad enough when he was doing it through his son, now he has a "charity" event designed to give him the chance to pretend he's still seventeen, a star, and hasn't yet accidentally fathered two children.
Lucas apologies to Quirky Best Friend Haley, and asks her to let him handle Nathan and his cronies from now on, which means she can stop tutoring Nathan, but she refuses to break her promise to Nathan. Cue the old eyebrow raise. Some flannel-clad nobody in Karen's Cafe comes up to Lucas and shows him an article about the Scotts, and how both of Dan Scott's sons are now living up to his legacy. He goes so far to refer to Dan as "your pop" and we really want to try whatever drug he might be on to forget that everyone has been pretending for seventeen years that Lucas appeared out of nowhere and has no relation to Dan. Nathan and Dan aren't happy about the article either. Deb mentions that maybe Nathan and Lucas could get along if Dan encourages it, so we assume that she's either on drugs as well or has no idea who she is married to.
Nathan asks Peyton if she's still mad, and she says no, they're just done. Nathan has trouble comprehending this, and decides to ask Quirky Tutor Haley to help him. Brooke approaches Lucas and does that flirting-bordering-on-sexual-harassment thing that she does so well, and when she walks away a few minutes later, he sees Nathan and Quirky Best Friend Haley walking into the Tutor Center together. His Adam's apple is bobbing up and down, so we know he is angry.
Whitey asks Lucas who he might want to play in the Father Son game with, and encourages Lucas to participate. Maybe it's because Whitey is old with a big belly and a gentle, deep voice, but everything he says just makes us like him more and more. He seems to have a genuine concern for Lucas, one of the few characters in this show who have shown any care for another person so far. It seems like Whitey is just psyched to have another person who hates Dan just as much as he does, so he encourages Lucas to play just to beat him. During cheerleading practice on the other side of the gym, Peyton throws a bitch fit so huge that the whole team and Whitey stare. Brooke assumes it's because she and Nathan broke up, but Peyton just yells that it's about how pointless the entire Popular-cheerleading-basketball routine is.
In the auto shop that night, Lucas asks Good Guy Uncle Keith to play in the Father Son basketball game, a move that solidifies his intended surrogate father role. You can tell how touched Good Guy Uncle Keith is, so it's actually a nice moment, until Dan comes in on some jank bicycle and asks Keith to oil it up for him, completely ignoring Lucas's presence, something he is well practiced at. When Keith tells him he's playing with Lucas in the Father Son game, he tells Lucas that he has a responsibility to the family name now on the basketball court. Lucas tells him he isn't his father, and Dan responds that he agrees that Lucas never should have had the family name. The writers of this show really do a fantastic job in making sure that there is no possible way to like Dan, yet it's almost comical how truly awful he is. There is no redemption for this character so far; the audience is forced to despise him. Lucas tells Uncle Keith that he's changing his last name, so as to truly be free from Dan.
Dan goes to talk to Whitey. If I were Whitey, I would have figured out a way by now to get a shock collar locked around Dan's neck and set the boundaries in front of my office. He comes around far too much for someone who seems to hate the coach. Dan asks Whitey if he thinks it's wise that Keith play with Lucas, and Whitey tells him he has to acknowledge his mistakes, because it's Dan who should be embarrassed that his son is playing with someone else.
There's a super boring scene of Karen and Lucas playing mini golf on the course he built with Quirky Best Friend Haley. She tells him that she gave him the Scott name because Dan briefly wanted to get married to Karen, but then never showed up when Lucas was born. She reminds Lucas that Good Guy Uncle Keith (Good Friend Keith to her) is a Scott as well.
Peyton is sitting in the cemetery, struggling to light a cigarette. Whitey finds her, and begins to talk to her about her mother, who used to be a cheerleader for his team as well. As soon as Peyton's eyes well up, ours do too. He explains to Peyton that he came to the cemetery to visit his wife. Cue the waterworks. Whitey assures Peyton that when they speak to the people they lost, they are definitely listening. It is the most heartwarming, yet heart-wrenching scene of the show so far. It is revealed that this week is the anniversary of both Peyton's mother's death, and Whitey's wife, Camilla's, death. Something about Whitey's soft demeanor and a vulnerability we haven't quite seen in Peyton before now makes this episode's Feelings Level go right up. This friendship is unexpectedly perfect.
Mark Schwahn and the other writers of the show realized that they needed to reveal more of what made Peyton who she is after the first few episodes aired. The audiences watching the show at the time seemed to absolutely hate the character, after she was so bitchy to Lucas most of the time. The writers knew there was so much more to Peyton that they were going to work towards, but when the audiences failed to relate to her, they brought out her past tragedies, starting in this episode.
Nathan talks to Quirky Tutor Haley about how he's worried about how hard Peyton seems to be taking the breakup, and then gets mad when she tries to tell him what he did wrong. We have to agree with Nathan here, because Haley has demonstrated a certain need to tell other people exactly what they've done wrong in the most condescending tone.
Dan visits the auto shop. He gets in a fight with Good Guy Uncle Keith over how Keith apparently has no right to be playing in the Father Son game, and says once again that Lucas does not deserve the Scott name. Good Guy Uncle Keith comes up with a fantastic line assuring Dan that he and Lucas are just as ashamed of Dan as he is of them.
Aaand, Peyton is walking through a crowded boys' locker room as they are all showering. Nathan obviously assumes she is there for him, because apparently she used to join him in showers all the time, and even Lucas looks like he's about to say something, but she goes into Whitey's office and asks him to talk. Nathan is back with Quirky Tutor Haley, and she encourages him to talk about Peyton. He admits that he treated her badly, and that the breakup was his fault. He notes that he's talked more to Quirky Tutor Haley than he ever did to Peyton, then invites Haley to come to the Father Son game. Raised eyebrows. Haley tells Nathan that she'll come to the game if he gets higher than an 81 on his exam, because the best motivation is a girl in a poncho coming to watch you play a charity game against your washed-up dad.
Peyton and Whitey are chatting again, so this time we got tissues ready. Whitey tells her that the only time he comes close to regretting all his years of coaching is when he thinks of all the more time he could have spent with his wife before she died. He tells Peyton that he knows her mother is proud of her. And so Whitey is the best, especially in episodes not featuring Perfect Jake.
We were a little distracted during this next scene because Haley is still wearing her hideous poncho, but we're pretty sure that she is trying to impress upon Lucas that she loves tutoring and helping people and she doesn't want to give up being able to do that for Nathan, but she also would put her friendship with Lucas above almost anything else. Most importantly, she promises that she is just tutoring Nathan, nothing more. Later, after practicing for the Father Son game, Keith urges Lucas to think carefully before he changes his name. At home, Nathan is lifting weights as usual, and he complains to his mom about how much pressure Dan puts on him, but how he has to continue to play for his father. This is hard for me to understand, because I was one of those kids who were less inclined to do something the more my parents wanted me to do it. I thought everyone was like that.
Lucas finds Peyton drawing sketches while leaning on a bridge (?). We find out that Peyton's father is the captain of a dredging boat, and is therefore almost completely absent. TV shows always find the most creative ways to keep parents out of the picture so that teenagers can do reckless things and they don't have to pay an extra actor, but in this case, it's actually important to Peyton's character that she really doesn't have anyone around. Good Guy Lucas as usual has kind words, and she thanks him before walking away. He tries to call her back but she turns and says, "Don't ruin it, okay?" Unexpectedly cute.
To make a long story short, Deb tries to tell Dan that he is pushing Nathan too hard. Dan disagrees. Are you surprised? He even goes so far to basically tell her that the days he spent playing basketball were better than having Deb and Nathan, but we're paraphrasing. Speaking of asshole Scott men, Nathan comes to visit Peyton in her room. He tries to tell her that he wants to get back to the good times they used to have. When she tells him she's been dealing with stuff, he says that he has too, and starts complaining that his mom wants him to hang out with her. Needless to say, this is completely infuriating and therefore genius on the writers' part. Even if Nathan had no idea what time of the year Peyton's mother died, what type of person complains about their mother to someone who doesn't have one? Every time we see a glimmer of hope for Nathan when he's briefly nice to Quirky Tutor Haley or even his mom for a moment, he ruins it when he talks to Peyton. And the best part is he's completely oblivious to how terrible he sounds. He asks her to come to the game and hang out with him after.
Nathan shows Haley his 84 on his test, and looks smugly over at Lucas when she hugs him. Nathan, you suck, but well played. Dan mocks Keith in the locker room, but Keith comes in hot with a great line to another father about how he's just standing in because one of the players doesn't have a father. The boring basketball stuff begins. Dan is taking everything extremely seriously. Peyton isn't at the game, but instead running through all the red lights once more. The important thing to gather from the game is that the Sons are killing the Fathers, and the game turns into a huge joke, with the kids just mocking the adults and having fun. Since it's a charity game, this is presumably what it's supposed to be like, but Dan goes ahead and ruins everything as usual by taking it way too seriously. At halftime, he goes into the players' locker room and threatens Nathan that he better bring his best game. Good Guy Uncle Keith comes in to diffuse the situation.
Peyton finally almost gets hit, and she slams on the brakes. She sits in the middle of the intersection crying. This scene is so brief that it takes a moment to sink in, but the image of her sitting alone in the car crying is resonant.
Back at the game, Lucas is angry at Haley for talking to Nathan, and says that he doesn't believe that there's nothing going on. The announcers decide to make things fun and make the score 0-0, so the next basket wins the game. I didn't know the announcers had the power to do this, but I guess when it's for charity, nobody gives a shit. Dan gets competitive, and knocks Nathan to the floor to keep him from scoring the winning basket.
Lucas comes in to help Nathan to his feet, and Nathan decides he's going to beat Dan. He turns the ball over on purpose, and Dan scores. He tells Dan that he simply does not deserve Nathan's best game, and that Dan didn't beat him at all. It's a twist, and most definitely the best way to put Dan Scott to shame. Lucas and Good Guy Uncle Keith have a nice moment where Lucas says that he's proud to have had Keith as a father, and that he's going to keep the Scott name for him.
Nathan sees Peyton after the game. Apparently he believes that she's been there the entire time, because he was playing basketball and therefore had no regard for anything around him, just himself, and, this time, his horrible father. She abruptly asks him if he knew that her mother died on that day seven years ago. Nathan seems genuinely regretful that he didn't, and he asks her why she came, if not for him. She walks towards Lucas, but then walks past both of them. She goes back to the street with all the red lights while Lucas gives a voiceover of a fantastic John Steinbeck quote, but this time she waits for the green as she drives through.
Times I Cried: 3. First Whitey and Peyton conversation in the cemetery, second Whitey and Peyton conversation on the bridge, and at the end when Peyton is crying in her car.
Feelings Level: 8.
Plotline Believability: 9. Nothing that couldn't easily happen in reality, though we hate believing that there are people like Dan Scott out there.
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