Ree When will Peyton and Lucas ever learn? He’s jealous of her ex. Julian wants her back. Peyton didn’t leave Julian for Lucas: she got dumped. Why in the world wouldn’t they leave well enough alone? Lucas has forgiven Peyton. He punched Julian and got his macho-ness out. He made a pile of money selling the movie rights to ‘Ravens’. If they never see Julian again, the lurking ex will make a movie out of their love story and yeah, he’ll probably add in some digs at them. But they will have each other, a happy life and a great story to tell. Instead, Lucas is going to continue working with Julian so he gets the movie ‘just right’. The Peyton/Lucas past will look glorious onscreen but the Peyton/Lucas future won’t be so rosy in real life.

 

Julian is charming. He’s attractive. He’s got money and clout and maybe he’ll be able to give Peyton’s record label a boost. Let her release the ‘Ravens’ soundtrack. Maybe he’ll flirt with Brooke to get under Peyton’s skin. It just might work. Peyton was in love with this guy and he broke her heart. Oh, the horror! Why couldn’t they have let him make his crappy movie without them?

 

Also among the lost causes are Millie and Mouth. I’ve been saying all along that she needs to find herself a path. If she had a job or goals or even a hobby she might not have time to spy on her boyfriend and catch him in innocent hugs with an ex-girlfriend that only look suggestive. Her world is Mouth so she’s going to drive him away by clocking his every move. Then Gigi’s plan will work. She’ll look sane and Millie will look like a possessive freak.

 

And who could blame him if he strays? I know I said Mouth was too good of a guy to cheat but that was before I realized he wasn’t getting any.

He gave up his whole world for this girl and he can’t go further than a kiss? How can they sleep in the same bed? That’s just cruel and unusual punishment. I’m not urging anyone to have sex just for the sake of it but they are in a loving and committed relationship and THEY LIVE TOGETHER! It’s almost as preposterous as Donna and David not doing it for all those years. At least in her case there was always the excuse that Tori Spelling was the boss’ daughter.

 

Thank goodness for Haley and Nathan. They are a couple trying to stay on the right track. And Haley’s getting back into her music – finally, hooray! They have the chance to have it all, set a good example, be the people everyone wants to be like. While I appreciated the return of Q, ghosts giving advice have always been the cheesiest part of the show. I cringe whenever Keith shows up to give an inspirational speech. Q brought tears to my eyes (this kid is a pretty great actor) but I’d rather watch Nathan work through this with someone who’s alive.

 

May I humbly suggest his old basketball buddy Skills? Where have he and Deb gone? It’s been a month since we’ve seen them. Nathan’s little dilemma was the perfect opportunity to bring them back. Who better to get advice from than a living friend? Or your mom, for that matter?

 

Brooke may be on the way to becoming a single mother of two. Looks like Sam could be running for the hills in order to help Brooke get a baby. She just had that look in her eye when the adoption agency told Brooke the foster kid complicated things. Hopefully she won’t run and Brooke won’t get so caught up in motherhood that she forgets her love of fashion.

 

That would be seriously tragic.