One Tree Hill (5.5): Sexual Favors for Career Advancement, That Can’t Be Right?

I have followed the Tree Hillers fairly consistently, but not with utter devotion, since they arrived four seasons ago. If your looking for soapy drama, you could do worse. I am really impressed that the show creators had enough sense to skip over college, where most teen-based shows meet their very grizzly demise. Since it is one of the few shows on with a new episode that isn’t the very hated humiliation fest on Fox, there is no harm in talking about it.

We all should pause and bask in the glory that is K-Fed on primetime. Actor the guy is not, but I am wondering if he was actually singing, because if so, he could be a fairly pedestrian alt/rock singer. Anyone get a Daughtery vibe? This is not to endorse him as a visionary talent, just saying that rap might not have been his forte, and don’t we all deserve a second chance?

I have believed for a while, and now I am convinced that Skills (Antwon Tanner) is one of the overlooked comic geniuses of TV. There is nothing brilliant about his lines, but his delivery is phenomenal. More screen time for him would do wonders to balance the melodrama, which thankfully has toned down this season, but more Skills couldn’t hurt. Bring on the funny.

I have to wonder with Haley (Bethany Joy Galeotti); was Nathan (James Lafferty) trying to bring back the mullet? Doesn’t matter now, but what would it have been like if the show went in that direction? Maybe the return of Uncle Cooper (Michael Trucco) and the NASCAR circuit?

I have rooted for Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) and Peyton (Hilarie Burton) from moment one. I never like Lucas and Brooke (Sophia Bush), and didn’t watch the show during the actors’ real-life divorce because it just seemed weird and voyeuristic. Did I miss the moment when they explained why Peyton and Lucas aren’t together anymore? Am I simply to understand “life took them in separate directions?” Or is the marriage proposal teaser really a flashback? Since I have no doubt that Lindsey (couldn’t find her name on IMBd) will be out of the picture in the relatively near future, Lucas and Peyton will be reunited, and all will be righted in the One Tree world, I hope Lindsay goes out with some fireworks. I don’t know, fake pregnancy, uber-crazy destructive meltdown, arson, death, whatever. I don't want the melodrama to completely disappear. I hate seeing Peyton and Lucas apart, but I love the road to reconciliation.

But what must be addressed, more than maybe anything that transpired between 8 and 9 PM CTZ on The CW Network, is the horribly clique but fantastic Mouth (Lee Norris) and his boss storyline. Lets all say it together: sexual harassment lawsuit. This may be filed by Mouth when he eventually gets fired, or by the as yet unnamed coworker who gets beaten out for a job because the other guy is doing the boss. Either way, I am waiting with baited breath for this courtroom battle. And I don’t know if my reception is bad, but Alice (also not on IMBd) is not that hot, and doesn’t really look old enough to qualify as a cougar, but I’m splitting hairs. Mouth should know that having sex with the boss never ends well. I think it’s going to be fun to watch him learn his lesson.

Shout Outs:
Little Things to Know That Make Watching Better

This might not be fair, since he hasn’t been on the show since the beginning of the fourth season, but I mentioned Nathan’s Uncle Cooper, who is none other than the detested Sam Anders on Battlestar Galactica. As far a quality of show goes, he’s moved up in the world (even out to others worlds, hehehe), but quality of character is a whole other issue.

Final Thoughts:

I know I have seen the actress playing Lindsey, but I couldn’t find her name, and I can’t remember where I saw her. It’s driving me nuts.

The TV Girl