XaiJu
BookBoundPodcast337
BookBoundPodcast337

patreon


One Tree Hill 7X20: Learning to Fall

I don't know if this is better or worse than I feared for Haley. Self medication or self harm is what I was afraid of, but her having a complete break from reality and almost setting the house on fire is not what I expected.

So, Haley is completely out of it. She's sort of walking around like a zombie. She doesn't seem to comprehend or understand what is going on. She bails on her music video and doesn't answer the phone for hours. Eventually, Miranda gets in touch with her and Haley tells her she can't talk now, she's making soup. Jamie comes down excited for the soup and spills it. Haley immediately sends him to his room. Nathan sees all this and tries to help, but Haley tells him she wants to be alone.

Later, Nathan suggests she use her music as a way to help her through the pain. She makes herself a martini and goes to set it on the piano, where it tips over. She looks at it for a moment, before purposefully knocking a candle over on top of the alcohol. And she just sits here and watches it burn until Nathan rushing in and puts he out. When he asks if she's okay, she says she's got to go call her mom and walks away. Honey, we need to get you a therapist. This is not a healthy way of dealing with grief. (I mean, she gave Jamie leftover Chinese food for breakfast. Which, I would love, but that's not the sort of thing Haley does).

Meanwhile, Brooke is trying to take care of Julian because he's too busy to take care of himself and she wants him to live a long life. Seriously, he's totally gonna die at the end of this season, isn't he? There is too much allusion towards being together forever.

Also, in Julian's life though, he's dealing with the sex tape coming out. He's livid that his dad would do this to Alex, but he tells Julian it was Alex's idea. Turns out, her co-star (whose name I still don't know) is gay and planed to leak the tape himself, to prove to the world he wasn't. Alex decides that they are going to pretend to date to help out the film. I guess co-stars falling in love on set would be good publicity.

Clay finds out from Katie's (roommate?) that she's gone off her Lithium and is unstable. Maybe even dangerous. As he's finding this out, Katie goes to the gallery and smashes the photo of Clay. She holds a giant piece of the broken glass towards Quinn while she tries to explain to her that Clay is gonna fall in love with her and a bunch of other crazy shit. Later, we see her watching Clay and Sara's wedding video mimicking Sara's parts. Oh, yeah, and she's also stalking the house. It's past time to call the police. I know that Clay and Quinn haven't been in Tree Hill that long, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, but this is, like, crazy stalker central!

Still not super interested in Mouth, Millie, Lauren, or Skills right now. I still care zero about Grubbs and Miranda (although, I did manage to learn their names in this episode, so that's something).

Oh, and I love that Brooke was so freaked out that the tabloids thought she was Victoria. ๐Ÿคฃ

One Tree Hill 7X20: Learning to Fall

Comments

Glad to hear that you're feeling better Dana, and not to worry, you made the correct choice to plow ahead with your reactions. Thanks again btw. Yes...Joy is amazing, and I'm so glad that you can appreciate her acting chops as well. The writing and the material for Haley this season, specifically this storyline has been an absolute home run for her as an actress....and she's absolutely knocked it out of the park. And yes...both you and Nathan seem to have a love for her song "Flying Machine", which is so cool, hehe. I remember you saying after 7x13 how much you loved it...and so does the character and actor in Nathan and conversely James, lol. It is a great one, no doubt!!! And yeah...whether Haley was going to crash or drive off a cliff, I was concerned either way that something bad was going to happen to her the minute she stepped into the car and sped off with her state of mind being what it was...yikes indeed!!!! And it is hard to believe that S7 is almost over.... but hope you are enjoying it after getting used to the initial changes. It's one of my very favorite seasons out of the entire series, especially the later adult years, and it's one that I often find myself rewatching the most. As a Naley and NHJ fan.... it's extremely special and satisfying in every kind of way. There's still a lot to look forward to and like about S8 as well.... despite that season having a bad rap for being one of the weaker ones, so hope is not lost, lol. You still have plenty to look forward to, hehe!!!!

Melissa

I do feel much better, thank you! I hope it wasn't too horrible. I know I sounded terrible, but I figured missing a couple of days would be worse. I hope I chose correctly. Lol. She's so good. I, mean, she's always been great, but this really shows off what she can do. I love that song of hers. I've listened to it quite a bit since I first heard it. It's just got a hold on me. Glad to see that Nathan and I have similar tastes. Didn't think she was going to crash, per se, but I was concerned about her driving off a cliff! I'm so sad that this season is almost over! But I'm very concerned about how it's going to turn out for Haley.

Dana Licciardello

First off Dana....hope you're feeling better and that your voice is back or at least better. Thanks for being a trooper and plowing ahead with these reactions so that you don't get behind. We sure do appreciate it, especially with this Haley storyline to wrap up S7. Joy continues to be so impressive, and this episode really showcased the depth of her acting as we pretty much got to see every imaginable emotion from Haley here dealing with her grief. First, we have Nathan strolling into the kitchen singing Haley's "Flying Machine" that he's listening to on is iPod getting ready for his run, hehe. And it's such a JL's thing as James certainly knows Joy music very well and would often sing and hum along to her stuff if she was playing or singing some tune, hehe, so to see Nathan do it is heartwarming for sure!!!! I loved that unscripted moment between them (Joy snickered too, hehe) in what was supposed to be a heavy scene with the backdrop of Haley's depression. Then we have Haley's distant and far off look regarding Jamie when he comes downstairs expecting breakfast and she just plants cold leftover Chinese food in front of him, leaving him confused as to what's going on with his mom. We then see her suffocating and overwhelming state of mind at the set for her video shoot when she just needs to get out of there and speeds off in her car. Was anybody fearful that she would crash? Raising hand....I sure did!!!! And then we see her at home fixing her mother's soup because that's the only thing that she can think of as how to stay close to her mom and still feel her presence. We see the disconnect in her scene with Miranda on the phone when she doesn't understand why she's needed back on the set. That scene with Jamie when he comes running into the kitchen and knocks over the batter and she loses it with him, and Nathan is left speechless as what to do to help....is so gut-wrenching. You see Haley on the verge of complete collapse, and that menacing look she gives Nathan as he tells her it's going to be okay, and she tells him that she just wants to be left alone is chilling indeed. Joy played it so well...it literally sent chills up and down my spine watching her spiral like that. And gosh...that piano scene at the end when Haley spills her martini all over and then proceeds to knock over the candle on purpose and is just content to sit there and watch everything burn, perhaps herself and the whole house on fire too, if Nathan hadn't come running in to rescue her....is chilling. If that doesn't just about break your heart, I don't know what will, it was that powerful. And yes...just what exactly is Nathan supposed to do here to help his wife navigate this immense grief, when all she wants to do is sit in it and be left alone. It's a tough one for sure!!!! And then for all the other side stories.... we also have psycho Katie on the loose who's now broken into Clay's beach house and is watching his old wedding to Sara on his tv. We know the truth about the sex tape that Josh made with Alex, and the reasoning behind it. Brooke and Julian are happy. Victoria and Alexander continue to be a hoot, lol, and then there is Miranda and Grubbs, and Mouth, Lauren, and Skills (which is boring, and I'm sure nobody cares about, lol) but it was put in place to move the friend's dynamic between Mouth and Skills along. So yeah.... there's lot's going on here, but the main plot featuring Haley and NHJ absolutely owns my heart. Enjoy these last two episodes of S7....they are lit for sure, hehe!!!!

Melissa

Bethany's acting as Haley these past episodes this season have just been pure briliance and I have cried along with her for almost all those scenes and I just breaks my heart to see her hurting soo much especially when Haley is one of my favourite characters and Haley's mums death episode never fails to make me cry on every rewatch. Also loved Brooke in this epsiode and her comical annoyance at the media confusing her for her mum. Also I am with you I don't really want Mouth with anyone because i just think he is a bad partner and a bit of an incel and just the way he thought that milly owed him her virginity (yes she was wrong for cheating on him but he was also wrong for thinking he is entitled to someones virginity) and the way he practically guilted shelley into sleeping with him when she didn't want to in season 4 when they dated has given me major ick and red flags since i first watched it and don't know how all these women keep falling for him but maybe that part is just me. the only thing I like about him is that he is a amazing friend and is willing to stick his neck out for those he loves and is a great news reporter but thats it.

The great mist of Gaming

You are literally me whenever Grubbs and Miranada are on screen It's like ok your here now what do you want me to do with that information. The only silver lining for me with those two characters is that it ended up with discovering Grubbs music irl and loving it but thats literally it. overall love the actors real life music but his character I just feel whatever about sam with Miranda's character.

The great mist of Gaming


More Creators