“One Tree Hill”: The Slippery Slope NEVER ENDS 19

by haro1d

There’s a lot of transition and development going on with the Tree Hill gang this season, so not too many filler episodes. But it still doesn’t help the feeling that this series just goes on and on, and on, and on, and on …

But here’s last night’s recap in all its gory glory:

The episode begins with Victoria waking Brooke in her room. She’s there to discuss the business. Sam, barely awake, says that Victoria frightens her.

At Chiefs practice, Coach Irons tells Nathan tells him that it’s his team now, and that he has to step up and be a leader. Nathan has to take Nino, the snotty new guy, under his wing. But Nino isn’t having it — he challenges Nathan to a game of one-on-one … and loses handily.

Haley gets word from Jamie’s teacher that Jamie has tested into the gifted percentile, and Haley is thrilled — she’s thinking that Jamie might be able to attend Oppenheimer, a school for the gifted.

Skills and Lucas are out on the court talking about the states of their lives, and Skills admits that Deb broke up with him, and that he’s just trying to get past it. Lucas reassures him, but Skills almost doesn’t need it when he meets Jamie’s teacher and he thinks she’s savory. Later in the episode, Jamie brings flowers to his teacher and tells her they’re from Skills, and that Skills thinks she’s cute. (Yet another “Awww” moment.)

Millie and Mouth are back together, hanging out in Millie’s apartment (spacious to the point of fictional, of course) in NY, and Mouth gets tix to a Broadway show to make Millie happy. Walking around Central Park, they talk about how wonderful their new selves are, and how sad they are that he has to go back to Tree Hill. (Still another “Awww” moment.)

Mia’s song is on the radio as Peyton drives in the Comet with the top down and she’s feeling euphoric as she sees a mother and young daughter talking on a street corner as she stops at a traffic light. When the light goes green, she proceeds cautiously into the intersection only to be broadsided by an SUV. Brooke arrives at the hospital — Peyton is OK, but Lucas tells Brooke about the perils of having the baby. Brooke freaks out when she talks to Peyton, for not telling her and out of concern.

Jack and Sam are lying on Sam’s bed, talking about what scares them, and Jack says he may be going to live with foster parents in Charlotte. Then Victoria walks in. They try to hide, very uncleverly, and she asks them who the hell they are, and they tell Victoria that they don’t like her. When Victoria asks where Brooke is, they try to be clever again, telling Victoria that Brooke is outside. When they try to lock her out of the house, they fail … she has a key.

Lucas and Peyton are back from the hospital, and everything is OK. Lucas urges her to take a nap, then goes to check out the Comet, which is in serious disrepair.

Nathan, Haley and Jamie check out Oppenheimer, and Jamie doesn’t look happy … especially when recess is called, and the teacher says, “Get out your recess books.” The school doesn’t have sports, but they try to work them into the curriculum — like playing “Mathketball.” Nathan says under his breath that the kids are acting like a bunch of Matholes, and calls for Jamie to come with him, that they’re going. And Haley looks crushed, her dream for Jamie receding into blackness without any discussion. Back at home, FINALLY we see some friction between Nathan and Haley — her academic prowess versus Nathan’s pro-sports attitude. But the next day, Haley meets Nathan on the river court, where he and Skills are playing with Jamie and a few of his friends (and Skills is, of course, drilling Jamie about Miss Horn, his teacher), and they talk about the school again, and they both have conceded in the other’s favor. Nathan is OK with the school now, and Haley has decided against it.

Victoria goes back to Brooke to try to get her to come back, leveraging the fact that Brooke’s former employees are going to lose their jobs. Brooke goes to see Peyton for advice about what to do about the dilemma. Peyton says she doesn’t know what Brooke wants to do, but she knows that Brooke will help Victoria, because helping people is what she does, and that’s why everyone loves Brooke. (Yet another “Awww” moment.)

Peyton doesn’t want to be on bed rest, but Lucas is adamant that she stay in bed. She just doesn’t want to. Then he tells her that the Comet is totalled. THEN she’s off her feet. “It was the Comet,” she mopes. Soon, Haley shows up to see Peyton, and Peyton asks her to finish producing Mia’s album, which Haley agrees to do.

At Brooke’s house, Sam is depressed that Jack is moving to Charlotte, and Brooke tries to sympathize, but it comes out that she’s really pouting about Julian and the fact that Brooke gave up the opportunity for them to become a proper family. Brooke tries to explain to her that she’s trying to do the right thing by Sam, but Sam doesn’t buy it, and tells her that she sounds like Victoria. This upsets Brooke, of course, and she tells Sam that that was a cheap shot, but Sam cries that Brooke can’t admit that she’s just afraid — that she just couldn’t give Julian and the notion of a family a chance. (They’re both right and wrong, of course … but really, would YOU have trusted that Julian guy?)

Victoria goes to see Sam in the diner as she’s getting all bummed out with Jack. She asks Sam how she and Brooke came together, and Sam reams her out for being such a bad mom. Victoria asks Sam whether she’d prefer a mom who bailed, or a mom who stuck around and was bad at being a mom. A little later, as she’s sitting in the booth with Jack, talking about the rock festivals where they’ll meet up (because money is no object for anyone in Tree Hill) his new foster parents show up. They’re young, and they’re hipster material, in Sam’s eyes. They tell her that they’re glad to meet Jack’s girlfriend. Jack, looking uncomfortable, says that she’s not his girlfriend. Sam surprises everybody, standing up saying that she is, and when he leaves, she follows him out and tells him that his kiss was good, plants one on him, then watches him drive away.

Victoria and Brooke reach an accord — Brooke will come back, but only if she gets 51 percent ownership stake in the company. Pretty soon, it’s montage time, and the episode starts to wrap up.

Nino continues to be difficult on the court in practice, but Nathan entices him that if he listens and they play well together, they might both get noticed and they won’t ever have to play together again. THAT provides an incentive, and Nino gets to work …

Mouth and Millie are shown lying in bed together … only they’re looking all googly at each other via webcam and laptop …

Brooke is on her way back up the Clothes Over Bros ladder …

Mia and Haley come to work on the record in Peyton’s bedroom … and Lucas aims to be Superman — by fixing the Comet himself …

… And as Sam weeps for Jack (and probably a little for herself) in the diner, Victoria comes and collects her in the only mommy-like moment she’s exhibited in the series so far.

And that’s it, folks — hope it was good for you. And I hope that Skills does what he has to do in a hurry, at this point, since Antwon Tanner may be going away for a little while.

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Photo: David Giesbrecht /The CW ©2008 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.