The Importance of Character Development, "One Tree Hill"

***SPOILER ALERT***

 

Beginning with this column, I'm going to be starting a bi-weekly essay entitled "The Importance Of Character Development" The idea of this column is to focus on television and the importance of creating loveable characters.  My first essay is going to be about the importance of character development in the CW's "One Tree Hill."

I've always felt that the most important aspect of a television series is it's character development.  Earlier today, I laid in my room and was thinking about the characters in different shows and how they affected how I felt about those shows.  Those close to me know that I hold "One Tree Hill" near and dear to my heart.  The main contributing reason is the characters.

For those unfamiliar, "One Tree Hill" ran for nine seasons beginning on the WB network in 2003.  After the WB and UPN merged to form the CW, beginning with the series' fourth season, it ran for an additional six seasons airing it's series finale in 2012.

The story of "One Tree Hill" starts with two brothers, Lucas and Nathan Scott, living two very different lives.  Lucas lives with his mother, Karen, while Nathan lives with their father, Dan, and his mother.  The two clash in many different ways living two completely opposite lives.  Of course that changes through the course of the series.

The characters that the two brothers interact with in their hometown of Tree Hill, North Carolina send the plot soaring from the first moment until the last second.  Whenever I really involve myself in a show the most important question I ask myself is, "What relationship do I consider to be the heart and soul of this show?"  Most commonly it's a romantic relationship, as is the case in "One Tree Hill."

From the very first season Nathan Scott and Haley James began an unorthodox relationship.  Haley was a bookworm as well as close friends with Nathan's arch nemesis, Lucas.  Nathan began going after Haley as a way of tormenting Lucas but the feelings grew to be real.  As the series progressed, Nathan and Haley developed a relationship that withstood many tests.  The two of them never cheated on each other and through better or worse, always believed in the other.  Their relationship grew into a teenage marriage which, over the years, grew into a family when they welcomed their children Jamie Lucas and Lydia Bob into the family.

Jamie became a character beginning in the show's fifth season.  He was approximately 5 years old at that point and was developing his own childhood being guided by his parents.  Jamie was never really a character I grew to appreciate but saw his importance as a staple holding Nathan and Haley together.  There were times when the two argued to a point where I didn't know they would make it, but they stuck it out for their love of Jamie.

Another relationship that grew from the beginning was the relationship between Lucas Scott and Peyton Sawyer.  Although Lucas had been in a love triangle with Brooke Davis, his feelings for Peyton won out and the two eventually got married.

Peyton was the show's 'troubled teen.' She lived in a parentless house in her infamous red bedroom.  She had an extreme interest in music.  She would often turn to her favorite bands when she was having emotional times.  In season five she grew to own her own her own music label, Red Bedroom Records.  The label's office was located right behind Tric, the club Peyton grew very fond of and invested a lot of herself into.  After having daughter Sawyer in season six, Peyton and Lucas left the show.

Enter Clay Evans and Quinn James.  Quinn was Haley's sister, reunited when their mother, Lydia, passed away in the show's seventh season.  Quinn was very fond of photography, a hobby that united her with Clay.  Clay was Nathan's agent when he was in the NBA.  Clay had a rather unique story for a teen drama.  He had come from a previous marriage that ended in his wife's death.  His wife had died a few years earlier of a brain aneurism.  He became traumatized over the events and created a wall in his mind that caused him to forget a lot of the events that happened in his previous marriage.  With Quinn at his side he began to unlock what had happened in his marriage and even led him back to his child.

Perhaps one of the shows most energetic characters is Brooke Davis.  During the high school years, Brooke really got around with the guys of Tree Hill.  Even going so hard as to enter Clean Teens, a group where teens pledge abstinence, to get a guy she wanted to be with.  Her part in the love triangle with Lucas created a lot of friction in another one of my favorite Tree Hill relationships, the friendship between Brooke and Peyton.  The two went through so many trials and tribulations together, most of which ended up with Peyton getting the guy and Brooke ending up alone.  I found Brooke's quest for both love and children to be the most endearing story lines for her character.  At first, Brooke always dreamed of her wedding day.  With every failed date, that day seemed to be further and further off.  Enter Julian Baker, filmmaker from Los Angeles.  At first he came into the show as Peyton's ex-boyfriend but soon fell head over heels for Brooke.  He often said in the series that the moment he fell in love with Brooke was when he walked in on her dancing to "Don't You Forget About Me" in her clothing store "Clothes Over Bros."

One of the stronger elements to "One Tree Hill" was it's resident villain, Dan Scott.  A character who was so well developed in the series that you felt emotions going from cringing every time he came on screen to wishing him dead to rolling your eyes at his redemption attempts to actually believing those redemption attempts to wanting to see him redeemed to crying at his death after he gets his redemption.  To see a character go from being hated so much to being an unsung hero is the most poignant storytelling device in "One Tree Hill," in my opinion.  If you were to ask who I believe was the greatest fictitious villain of all-time, I would answer with Dan Scott.  Boy, was he a good villain.  In the end, he was a really good hero too.  From the moment he killed his brother in cold blood to the moment he breathed his last breath after taking a bullet for his son, Nathan, Dan was a character that made "One Tree Hill" the show it was.

Along with an ensemble cast that each had their own storyline, "One Tree Hill" was a show that grew into it's own and was steered by it's characters.  Love them or hate them one thing remains true, there is only one Tree Hill.