I loved tonight's One Tree Hill. I was shocked and confused and intrigued all at the same time. It didn't feel like a season finale. It felt more like a series finale which reminded me a lot of Season 4 when we left them in high school. No one knows what can possibly come next. We didn't know what would happen to these characters, what would they do during college, where would they be, who would they be with. We are left with the same burning questions. To top it all off we know that CMM and HB won't be coming back. So where did Lucas and Peyton go? I don't see this as a bad thing right now but as a new adventure with these characters. Nobody died, nothing truly bad happened so why would they be gone?
These and so many more questions burn my mind. It's worse than a cliffhanger season finale because the lack of cliffhangers give you nothing to look forward to. The possibilities are endless. I am more unnerved by this season finale than by Grey's Anatomy's season finale. (If you haven't watched it yet you might want to skip the next couple of lines) We know that Izzie and George's lives hang in the balance and that one or both or neither of them could die. (Ok you can read again) But even all of that doesn't get my mind racing more than this episode did. It might be the creative side of me, or the writer in me, or just my weirdness but I love stories like this. It's like what can they do with the characters now because it seems like their lives are perfect and happy.
Thank you Mark Schwan for not killing off Peyton. Thank you for giving us the happy ending with Lucas and Peyton that we have all been waiting 6 years to see (unless your a Brucas fan which I'm sorry but Lucas and Peyton were always meant to be together, it's time to face it). Thank you for 6 amazing seasons of one of the best ensemble casts on TV that I would rank up there with the cast of Friends. Thank you for taking a risk and bringing the show back next year and daring to take a established show and yet again throwing it in a different direction.
Thank you Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton for your 6 wonderful years of entertaining us through Lucas and Peyton. The work you did on the show was amazing and something none of the fans of the show will ever forget. Whatever life brings you personally and professionally you will always be able to look back at One Tree Hill and know that you have fans from the show who will support you through. Your time on this show was amazing and it will not be the same without you.
For all of you doubters out there who are writing off the show, saying you will not watch next year, that it should have ended here I challenge you. How can you call yourself a fan if you are so quick to abandon it? I have supported the show since the pilot episode. I have not always liked the direction it has gone in, or the way storylines played out but every time it aired (except for that one freakin year it was on The CW and I couldn't watch it) and so did you. Why should you turn your back on it now? We all had our doubts about jumping into the future. We all didn't know how the show would be the same after that and I would have to say we were all pleasantly surprised with what we saw. The show (in my personal opinion) got better. Now who's to say that this change in direction can't be the same. Don't count something out until you see what is coming. Nobody knows what next season will hold. So how can you say that it's dead, or crap, or anything else?
I personally will be tuning in premiere night, anxiously awaiting what has come out of the mind of Mark Schawan and the writing crew. Because lets face it, it's One Tree Hill it always has been and it always will be.
