Last night’s episode of One Tree Hill was one of the best in a while. Revolving all around the relationships between father and child, it took you on a roller coaster ride of emotions that should lead us straight to the finale. So lets dig in!
The episode started with Julian driving a cop car with Nathan and Dan in the backseat. You quickly realize that Julian is not the one you want driving your get-a-way car, but makes it to the hospital right as Dan stops breathing. While Dan getting checked out, Haley is frantically searching the hospital for Nathan when she finally spots him. She runs into his arms and Nathan says two words and breaks your heart: Hi Hales. She thanks him for coming back to her and in true Naley fashion tells her ‘always and forever.’
After Nate gets a good bill of health, the doctor who seems to be the only resident in Tree Hill, tells them that at this point they can just make Dan comfortable. It’s then Nathan realizes that Dan is going to die and can’t figure out why he feels bad. He’s spent his whole life hating him, and now feels like it’s been wasted. In fairness, the episode did flashback to all the terrible things Dan has done throughout the nine seasons on the show. So hate definitely was the right emotion, but there’s nothing like the end to make you think about how badly you want a new beginning, right?
Jamie is also having a hard time handling the news. He keeps telling everyone he’s gonna be okay because “he’s Grandpa Dan” which actually has a lot of logic to it. The guy is seriously invincible. He’s attempted suicide, got hit by a car, and had a heart attack. But Nathan tells him that this time is different. So Jamie vows to be strong like all Scott men are and offers to tell his little sis Lydia. But when Jamie walks into Dan’s room and sees him holding Lydia, something he’s never been allowed to do before, he says he can’t be strong. Luckily for him, Grandpa Dan isn’t feeling to strong either.
Dan gets a lot of visitors at his bedside. The first from Haley where we see two people who have never seen eye-to-eye have one of the most genuine heart-to-hearts. Dan tells Haley that he never thought anyone would be good enough for Nathan. But she proved him wrong. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him, and she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to Nathan. It hits Dan that he will never see his grandkids grow up and Haley vows to tell them that he loved them very much. That will be the thing he’s remembered for. He also apologizes for taking Keith away from Haley too.
Another person who ends up at Dan’s bedside is Deb. Seeing the two of them together, holding hands, shows how far the show and these two people have come. Despite it all they have always tried to do everything in Nathan’s best interest — even if the outcome didn’t always reflect that. Dan tells her to stop feeling guilty about Keith’s death and she thanks him for finally doing a good thing.
Next up is Nathan who shows up at his bedside, and we are transported to the river court. Nathan gets the truth about Keith, and Dan gets forgiveness. He asks Nathan to play a game of one and one and Nate asks what they’re playing to. But they’re not keeping score, they’re going to play just to play, something that is unprecedented in the Dan-Nathan chronicles. Unfortunately, back in reality Dan flatlines. When Dan opens his eyes there’s a man standing with his hand outstretched. KEITH! I love his afterlife cameos. He leads Dan to the hallway where Dan apologizes for that infamous day and all the ones before it. To Dan’s surprise Keith forgives him because he finally turned into the brother he’s always wanted. As they make their way towards the light they stop and Dan sees his whole family at his bedside. Dan knows where Keith is headed, but asks where he’s gonna go. Luckily for Dan, Keith put him down as his plus one.
While ALL of this is going down, Brooke too finds herself at the hospital searching for Julian. When Julian was driving the cop car he called into the radio just as Brooke was giving her statement to the cops about Xavier. She tells him everything that went down with Xavier, and the two go and find Nathan and welcome him home. Haley thanks Julian for having saved both of her boys. OK, so maybe I don’t give Julian enough credit as the hero. In either regard, the two return home to a surprise visitor: Brooke’s dad.
He tells her he’s not there for business, but just to check up on his little girl. His visit is filled with playing with his grand-kids and telling stories about Brooke’s youth that she didn’t even know he remembered. When Julian tells Brooke that he found something to do with the sound stage, turn Lucas’ novel An Unkindness of Ravens into a TV show, her dad is all for it. He even says he read the book because it was about his little girl. Brooke is so happy to finally have the attention of her father and says it’s too good to be true. Which of course, it ends up being.
We learn he has already sold Bakerman. Brooke doesn’t get how he doesn’t see that this was supposed to be something they did together. Julian tells her that maybe he just needs a push in the right direction to see that she just wants him to be a father. Unfortunately, push turns to shove when she learns he already had the paperwork for her to turn over her company. Again. Brooke tells him to get out of her house and her dad tells her to act like a child. But how would he know what she was like as a child? He was never there. Well played Brooke, well played.
Also finally playing well are Clay and Logan. Logan showed up at Sara’s parents house thanking them for taking such good care of Logan and apologizing for everything. They are extremely understanding, but think Logan needs some time to adjust which Clay agrees too. But with everything going on with Dan and Nathan, and seeing Nathan with Jamie, Clay returns promising to prove that he can be a good father.
He talks to Logan and tells him that he’s more mad at himself than Logan is at him. He promises Logan he’ll be back more often and Logan is worried he’ll start wandering again. But it turns out he wasn’t wandering, he was looking for something, he was looking for someone: him. This brings Logan into his arms and Clay and Logan walk outside where he finally meets Quinn and the beginning of a beautiful family begins.
Have you forgiven Dan? Were you glad there was closure? What do you think about An Unkindness of Ravens as a TV show?