stlavin95

Yeah agreed, Season 1 is probably the only season I don't really have issues with the storylines.

DylanLovesKelly

The SL were great. Loved the friendship scenes most

stlavin95

Yeah I loved the Leyton, Laley and Lathan (even though they weren't friends for most of season) this season.

Slayerette89

S1 is my overall favorite too. I do have issues with it, but less than with the rest of the show. However, towards the end, excessive soapiness of the later seasons already began to loom on the horizon with the Nikki/Jake/Jenny sl and NH's teen marriage.The content of those two sls combined with the way they were told was just so yucky. Sudden identity revelations (the random girl Lucas slept with is Jake's baby's mom!) and flashbacks (NH got teen married! did Brooke tell Nikki about JJ's whereabouts?!?) for cheap suspense and shock value.

BlondieLeigh

Season 1 was definitely better written.

stlavin95

Yeah it definitely was.

BlondieLeigh

That's usually how it goes, though

stlavin95

It does

fly me to the moon

Really? I tho that some was like umm, no.. But maybe I haven't watch it for years..

stlavin95

Compared to some other seasons it was haha.

PureJavaWhimsy

Hello

I really enjoyed season 1 of OTH. I think it sets up the High School years of OTH perfectly and really makes you invested in the characters. I liked that the show not only focused on the teens, but also made you interested in the adults as well.

I really enjoyed the development of Brooke's character this season (and generally throughout the series) and I enjoyed the tension between Lucas and Haley over her relationship with Nathan.

When it aired originally, I was a sophomore in high school and I remember really liking how Peyton's character was very multifaceted and that the writers didn't force her into a specific stereotype for a high school girl.

I'll always remember Peyton saying, "I'm into the music, not the uniform." It really resonated with me at the time because in high school I feel like you're often compelled to fit in with a specific group and you would be shamed if you didn't conform to some pre-set criteria. As you grow up, you realize that's garbage, but it was really refreshing to see them attempt to show how different people can be and how you should be true to yourself. I felt like this was also reflected in Brooke and Haley's characters as well, but to a lesser extent.

Favorite Episode:

The Search For Something More

Favorite Characters:

Brooke
Peyton
Dan
Haley

Favorite Couples:

Brooke and Lucas
Haley and Nathan
The "will they, won't they" aspect for Karen and Keith.

Favorite Song:

If She Wants Me - Belle & Sebastian

DylanLovesKelly

I agree with everything you said. Peyton and Brooke were my favorite characters in S1 as well.

stlavin95

Lucas and Peyton were mine and it was also my favourite Nathan/Haley/Naley season.

Slayerette89

I like that line too and I agree with your take on high school experience.

However, I wasn’t satisfied with the way oth captured it in general or through the characters of Peyton, Haley and Brooke in particular at all.

With Peyton, I think they largely drop the ball with the (interesting imo as well) angry punk cheerleader angle. She was alienated and unhappy in that cheerleading world. The only reasons she even did it seemed to be her dead mom and Brooke. Given it was set up like that, I would have preferred if she had eventually dropped cheerleading and focused on things she actually enjoyed but was too scared to pursue (i.e. drawing). It could have also been set up differently. She could have genuinely enjoyed cheerleading from the get go. Or she could have enjoyed it subconsciously, but pretended to herself and others that she doesn’t because she didn’t want to be seen as the cheerleader type and/or felt it contradicted the rest of her personality. She could have also been an angry wannabe feminist in addition to being generally angry and insisted cheerleading is looked down upon and dismissed as a sport just because it’s an athletic activity mostly girls do. Idk, but I think there were many ways to do it better than it was actually done.

Speaking of cheerleading, I also don’t get why the writers not only decided that 5 out 5 main characters needed to be jocks and cheerleaders, but also approached these characters in a very off-putting way many American tv shows and movies do. All these characters could have been a diverse group of ppl who are there for joint love of sports. No need to make it seem most of them are, at the first glance at least, mean, shallow and in love with all things mainstream, so that those who aren’t are some sort of aberration in the group. Granted, I might be out of my depth here given I’m not from the USA and I have no personal experience with this. Jocks and cheerleaders aren’t really a thing here at all. But if they really are in the USA, I imagine they are not the monolithic caricatures a lot of American entertainment industry makes them out to be. Though I might be missing something there.

With Haley, I hate how they completely ignored parts of her character I was really interested in. For example, she was raised by seemingly very hippie parents (though trust oth to not be able to even pull the eccentric hippie trope I like too well; Haley’s parents were the only characters I found remotely fun when I first saw the show in 2.01, but in comparison to tv’s other hippie parents, they are just bland and tame) and I really wanted to see how she shaped herself in reaction to that particular influence. Also, while I think it’s good that she learned to judge Nathan, Peyton, Brooke and their world less with time, I saw no need for her to morph into another cutesy cheerleader by s3. I have issues believing she’d ever want to be a pop star too. Something less flashy with music yes, but oth’s Britney Spears no (no offense to Britney, I have nothing against her).

With Brooke, she is admittedly the type of character I find least interesting from the get go. And I’m also not too moved by the development these characters typically receive. But, in a better story, I would have still been at least able to respect the writing and maybe even warm up to the character. I did go from indifference or dislike to like or even love with some of Skins’ Brooke-esque characters, for example. However in oth, with its imo atrocious characterization, I was just bored and annoyed. For instance, I don’t get why she had to look and sound so caricaturishly dumb at times to convey the fact she isn’t or doesn’t want to present herself as book smart. I get that Felicity’s Ben is a popular, athletic guy who is not or doesn’t think he is book smart without excessively dumb lines and exaggerated mannerism. I also don’t get why her character growth didn’t focus more on her overcoming her insecurity and need for external validation that stem from her parent’s negligence. Why give this girl a sl where she runs for the class president out of the desire for people to see her as more than a party girl and present that mindset unproblematically and even admirably, instead of leading her to a place where she would genuinely care less about what the masses of ppl she doesn’t even know and will never have any sort of relationship with think of her.

All of this is of course just my subjective and very ungenerous/unsympathetic take on oth. I don’t mean to imply it’s the only good reading that invalids any other reading. So, sorry about the essay, especially if it came across as hostile or argumentative. For what it's worth, I really did enjoy reading your reading of the story, even if it's different from mine.

stlavin95

Yeah I kinda wished that Haley didn't become a cheerleader tbh.