Paul1984

This took a while

I thought the episode was ok to watch. I hated the way it just felt like one big string of insignificant jokes though, like the writers cared more about writing that than the actual storylines. Not that they weren’t funny, but if I want to watch a comedy show it won’t be this one, because as much as I did enjoy the jokes, this show is not a comedy.

I thought Kate Voegele as Mia was great. Mia as a character is actually kinda loveable for the little moments she appears. The music was really great too, but for the episode as a whole I just hate the club episodes. It sucked when they did this last year too.

Mouth I’m just sick off and I’m glad the boss thing is over, but really I’m sure he took up 7 or so minutes that could have been better devoted elsewhere. The only good thing about his scenes was that Millicent is really cute to watch. She seems nice, light, funny and a genuinely good person.

Lucas was really infuriating at the end of this episode. I know he’s confused and I’m doing my best to take his perspective in some things, but I just don’t see any way that I can defend kissing your ex girlfriend and then proposing to someone else. I know Peyton kissed him first, but then they pull away, he looks at her and they come together again equally. That was a real choice he made to kiss her, so to go and put the ring he meant for Peyton on Lindsey’s finger after that is flat out bizarre and wrong. The only way I can see it making sense, is that Lucas is terrified of letting himself get hurt by Peyton again and he’s terrified of being alone. So he clings to Lindsey who he knows for sure won’t say no to a proposal. I still think it’s got to be one of the most annoying things I’ve seen on the show though.

Peyton made me laugh a few times and I loved her scenes outside of the LP stuff. The bitter shrew moment was funny. I also loved her scenes with Mia, really doing well to get her on stage and be supportive. She told her what she needed to hear. I can’t hate her at all for going after Lucas. I find no justification for saying she only wants Lucas when he’s with someone either. He was single at the beginning of s4, Peyton then even waited for him and Brooke to be totally done and then she told him how she felt. She also came back to TH for him and didn’t find out about Lindsey till 501. So the statement she only wants him because he’s with someone just does not ring true, at least not for me.

Lucas and Peyton in their scenes were interesting to watch going back and forth about the cheque. I also loved how Nathan pointed out Lucas seemed more upset about the Peyton thing. Nathan and everyone else seems to be able to see through Lucas, just Lucas himself seems to be dense about the whole thing. Lucas spent the whole night chasing Peyton down, which even Lindsey can see, yet somehow it was Peyton who wanted something from him. That made no sense to me, she even wants to leave the office in Tric to get away now. I really think he transferred his anger from the fight with Lindsey onto Peyton, even said that buzzer comment to hurt her. He’s been pushing and pushing to see if he could get that response from Peyton and he got it. She finally admitted to him that she came back for him and that she should have said yes. Not sure I agree that she should have, it was her decision to make and she wasn’t ready, but anyway. She kissed him, ok it’s not an amazing move considering he has a girlfriend, but at the end of the day Peyton doesn’t owe Lindsey anything like she did Brooke. She isn’t loyal to Lindsey and since they don’t like each other, she doesn’t really have to be. Lucas doesn’t have to kiss her, he can always push her back. The thing is after a brief pull back, they look at each other then they both go in at the same time for a really passionate kiss. That’s just a big choice they both made and Lucas is as in it as Peyton is. Then when confronted with a very straightforward question from Peyton, he just says he has to go and see Lindsey. It was a heartbreaking scene, but Haley seeing it again is so annoying. I just don’t need to see this repeated again. I have a feeling I know how it ends already.

The scene with Peyton at the door was totally crushing for me. Lindsey has the ring, Lucas looks a little confused and Peyton is just heartbroken. I mean who would expect that. What was Lucas thinking? Even if before that night he wanted to marry Lindsey, the timing of doing it after a kiss with his ex is just flat out wrong. I just fail to see how a viewer is supposed to be sympathetic to that at all. I know I’ve never been much of a Lindsey fan, but even so, you just can’t help but feel this will end really badly for her, with the way it’s happened. She really deserves better than this situation and so does Peyton. I don’t want to totally condemn Lucas, because a lot of the ways he reacts are human and he’s also always been one of my favourite characters. At the moment though I don’t even know where to start really on building a defence that stands up to anything.

I do have to applaud Chad and Hilarie’s acting in these scenes. They are intense and I’m really buying into every moment, even when I don’t agree with what’s happening. I really feel like they both enjoy playing out the angry stuff together and that comes across. It makes the scenes a lot easier to bear as well.

BP were great this episode I loved their chemistry, their flat out honesty and the support Brooke offered to Peyton. I know some BL fans don’t like Brooke being on team LP. I just see that though as Brooke really putting Peyton above whatever she really thinks. Like she said in 505 she loves Peyton. The hug at the end was sweet too, Hil and Sophia’s chemistry really works for these two.

PH were ok in patches, but I really feel like this friendship has been pushed aside to accommodate Lindsey. Basically they don’t have a scene that isn’t about business or about how wrong Peyton is with Lindsey. That’s not really a friendship to me, so the scenes never quite ring true. They just aren’t the same this season. Maybe you could say time and distance makes that understandable, or even what Haley feels Peyton did to Lucas. In the end though I just hate those writing choices and I still feel like there was a role for their friendship to play again. This just feels like early s3 all over again at times.

Brooke I enjoyed this episode and her interactions with Owen were really funny and lightened the annoyingness of other parts of the episode. Owen really seems like a good casting, so I hope we see more of him. Brooke’s mother troubles are getting a bit silly now, Victoria just becoming a caricature and Brooke still taking too much crap. I do love their interactions though. I just feel like something is missing to add that real substance to the storyline and it’s probably missing from Victoria’s character. I need to feel there’s a soul there that Brooke could get through too. I even felt that back when Dan was around, so to not have that with Victoria is a little annoying.

Haley I found frustrating, because she seems to get easily angered at Nathan again, which is fine, but that seems to be the only thing of substance she’s getting in the whole season. It just feels like Joy has been really sidelined and underused this year. Bits of music stuff here, have lunch with Lindsey there, ask Lucas how he’s doing. Where is her real storyline? Where is her pursuit of a dream being shown? I hate that her only role seems to be to watch from the side as psycho nanny tries to attach herself to Nathan. Which I agree with a lot of people on, is just so played out. Really I’m not saying I’m frustrated by Haley, just more the stuff she’s given. She’s still been shown as a good person, but I’d like to see more than that.

Nathan I didn’t find as irritating as some. I just don’t think he knows how to react to that kind of behaviour and push it away. He had this with Rachel in s4. He just doesn’t push them away. He would never even dream of doing anything wrong with Carrie though. He looks totally bemused by the way she’s acting and the only reason he won’t tell Haley and get her fired is because he seems to think she’s a good nanny. I am irritated by Nathan’s storylines as much as Haley’s though. He seems too much of a bit part player, just chiming in on other people’s storylines. The psycho nanny crap seems to be all he gets and it’s awful. The lack of actual NH interaction and good moments between them is also very noticeable and very annoying at this point.

Lindsey seems to only get in scenes that involve LP driven stories. She doesn’t really have a purpose beyond that. She just bores me now. I find nothing of any interest going on with her at all. I don’t dislike her s a person and she has every right to be insecure about things. Just I don’t care. There’s nothing I’ve been shown to connect me to her character in a meaningful way. She loves Lucas, dislikes Peyton, went to an Ivy league school and is an editor for her dad’s company. Do we actually know anything about her besides that to provide any depth? I just am never thinking about anything happening in relation to how it affects Lindsey. I just don’t feel like she’s anything, but a plot device. So when she has interactions with Lucas or Peyton, I always think of how it affects their character development for the future, not really how it affects her. I don’t think she deserves what’s happening to her as a person right now, but as a character I can’t get myself to invest at all, so I just don’t care. I feel like a lot of things about her character break the golden rule of story writing, which is show, don’t tell. We are told she’s nice, we’re told she’s friends with certain people, we’re told Lucas has loved her for years. We don’t really see it though, we never see anything much of her to bring the substance I want to see. We just get told it. As an audience member that makes me disconnect with her. I’ve been shown other characters and how their relationships build on the show. Lindsey is supposed to be just as valid because we’re told about things she’s done. Why would I have an emotional reaction to that? I just don’t see it. Maybe other people do and I know she has her fans, but I just don’t see the depth and substance.

Psycho Nanny just freaks me out, she has all these creepy little touches she’s doing with Nathan and her sleazy comments. I can’t stand her at all, but I guess that’s how it’s meant to be right? Everyone knows what she’s up to, but she’s just getting closer and closer to doing something evil. She claims to be innocent then says she meant everything she said to Nathan in the bar. At that point maybe he should have just told her to get lost, but I really think he’s just bemused as I said earlier. Even if she wasn’t doing the things she did I still think behaving like a drunk in front of your employer, who lets you watch their kids is totally stupid and unprofessional. Do have to say though I’m enjoying Torrey, she’s creeping me out, so she must be playing it well.

Victoria was hilarious and I love Daphne, but where is the depth. I just don’t understand the need to write such 1 dimensional characters. I think there’s only been about one or 2 lines that if you dig really hard for, show that she even the tinniest bit of care for Brooke at all. All she does is trash and belittle people and despite it being funny it just doesn’t leave any room for growth, it leaves her again feeling like a short term plot device. I know she probably might be, but at the same time that doesn’t mean I want to be sure of that from the off and see no depth. I want to see why someone acts the way they do. Otherwise they just become caricatures like I believe she has. She just fits the hostile controlling mother stereotype that I expect to see as the wicked character in a Disney movie.

This ended up being a little long, but anyway, I didn’t not enjoy the episode. Just it seemed to drag and the whole episode being in the club just really made it seem like every scene was rolling on, like it was just one big scene or something. Not sure if that makes sense, but I’m used to cutting from here to there and this we were just bombarded by the club all the time. I also hate having to constantly listen to the characters speak over the top of music. I don’t want to watch one long music video. I miss the quiet scenes sometimes, especially when something really important needs to be said. I miss the show using score, being subtle and sometimes letting the acting and dialogue be enough. Instead it seems like too much music is used on the show to convey the mood of the scene. If the acting is good enough that will come across anyway. I do absolutely love the music on this show. I just don’t need to here it blare over every single scene. I did still really like the music choices for the episode though, which seem to have got better as the season has progressed.

Overall it was probably a 5/6 out of 10. It was ok, had some good moments, had some awful ones, but in the end I could still watch and enjoy, so it’s got to be better than most of what I’m seeing on TV sometimes, which is why it warrants a 5/6 for me.