First off, please note: This review comes from a really big One Tree Hill fan (perhaps the biggest), so I can assure you it’s being handled with care.
Fans knew months ago that former leads Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton did not sign their contracts to return for the seventh season and if fans didn’t know, then last night’s episode surely was a shocker of epic proportions.
We left off with Lucas (Murray) and Peyton (Burton) driving into the sunset with their daughter, Sawyer, and when we returned we don’t really get an explanation as to where they went, just mentions that they are gone. The big question plaguing fans is how our beloved show will do without two of the main core leads — and in my opinion, it didn’t do too poorly.
The lives of the Scott family seem pretty swell as we joined them on the day of Nathan (James Lafferty) and Haley’s (Bethany Joy Galeotti) son Jamie’s (Jackson Brundage) seventh birthday party. After his first season in the NBA playing for the Charlotte Bobcats, Nathan is now doing endorsement deals while waiting to sign another contract. We met Clay (Robert Buckley, Lipstick Jungle), Nathan’s cheeky agent; the two have some fun banter and we can tell that Clay is looking out for Nathan’s best interests. Not to mention it really doesn’t hurt that OTH added more eye candy to its roster.
Meanwhile, back at home Haley was preparing Jamie’s party when she got an unexpected visit from her sister, Quinn (Shantel VanSanten), who’s clearly going to bring some drama of her own to town. Brooke (Sophia Bush) basically moped around for most of the episode because now that she’s finally found love with Julian (Austin Nichols), he’s busy working away on a film. The party kicked off and we got to see the familiar faces of Mouth, Millie and Skills. Julian ended up surprising Brooke at the party and informed her he didn’t take a job that would take him out of the country for 10 months. When the party died down, Haley got a call from Peyton’s music studio, which was a bit odd since Haley is the only one running it. When Haley arrived, she was informed the parent company of the label is shutting her down.
As the birthday boy went to bed, he turned on the TV to watch Tree Hill’s hottest new late-night talk show — hosted by his own grandpa and the man that never dies, Dan Scott (Paul Johansson). While Tree Hill was asleep, Clay called Nathan to inform him that a girl is claiming that she slept with Nathan while he was on the road and is going public with her story. Yikes.
With a batch of fresh new faces and most of our favourite old ones, there’s hope for another good season of One Tree Hill, and sadly it will most likely be the final one. We can look forward to seeing Haley with a real storyline, fighting to keep Red Bedroom Records open, to finish her album and to see how she, Nathan and Jamie will deal with the oncoming scandal. We’ll also see how Brooke and Julian handle their relationship and their careers. We’ll also get to know more about these new characters and how they will affect the lives of our Tree Hill residents.
The show will obviously suffer a dent with the loss of Murray and Burton, but I think fans will enjoy this fresh new look of Tree Hill. Some things haven’t changed, but that’s not a bad thing. Did I mention most of the men were shirtless at least once in the première?
One Tree Hill airs Mondays, 8 p.m. ET, The CW
Follow TV Guide Canada on Facebook!