History YMMV / OneTreeHill

** The belief amongst their fans that Brooke and Lucas weren’t endgame because of the real life divorce of Creator/ChadMichaelMurray and Creator/SophiaBush, the actors who play the characters. No-one involved with the production has ever confirmed this as the reason for Brooke and Lucas' relationship ending, and putting the timeline of the production alongside the timeline of the divorce shows that Season 3 was several episodes into production before Bush and Murray officially announced their separation, so, if this was the actual cause of their in-universe break-up, the production could have had time enough to abort the Brucas storylines immediately entering the second half of the season, instead of holding off until the beginning of season 4.

** Jake and Peyton. The characters didn't interact for the first half of season one, before they started to become closer after Jake publicly revealed he was a father. Throughout the second half of the season, Jake and Peyton's relationship comes off as platonic, before they suddenly share a brief kiss before he leaves Tree Hill to protect his daughter - and the entire time Peyton and Jake's relationship was developing, she was still in a WillTheyOrWontThey situation with Lucas, the one she was canonically in love with. When they get together the following season with basically no build up and making Peyton suddenly being in love with Jake out of nowhere, the show even acts as if they had been an epic romance in the waiting, but their history didn't lend itself to that at all.

** [[SophomoreSlump Season 2]] can be considered this, thanks to a number of reasons - the new characters Felix and Anna getting a divisive reaction amongst the fandom, the season ending by hitting a ResetButton on Lucas and Nathan's relationship, the Brooke[=/=]Lucas[=/=]Peyton love triangle being ignored until the final episodes of the season, Lucas and Peyton barely having any screentime together ''period'', Lucas suddenly becoming truly interested in Brooke [[StrangledByTheRedString out of nowhere]] in the second half of the season, Haley being absent for a large part of the season due to becoming a rockstar for no reason and even cheating on Nathan with Chris Keller, which were also the reasons why Naley got almost hit with ShipSinking.

** The belief amongst their fans that Brooke and Lucas weren’t endgame because of the real life divorce of Creator/ChadMichaelMurray and Creator/SophiaBush, the actors who play the characters. No-one involved with the production has ever confirmed this as the reason for Brooke and Lucas' relationship ending, and putting the timeline of the production alongside the timeline of the divorce shows that Season 3 was several episodes into production before Bush and Murray officially announced their separation, so, if this was the actual cause of their in-universe break-up, the production could have had time enough to abort the Brucas storylines immediately entering the second half of the season, whereas the two broke up for good at the beginning of season 4. Besides, WordOfGod has repeatedly stated that it was ''always'' meant to be Lucas and Peyton.

* RomanticPlotTumor: The (painfully) long-running Peyton/Lucas/Brooke love triangle (which can also be seen as an ArcFatigue). It was dragged out until just before the mid-season finale of Season 4, even though the issue was completely resolved at the end of Season 1, with Lucas clearly choosing Peyton over Brooke - only for his own bad decisions earlier in the season to cause Peyton to end things with him. This led to literally repeat the ''exact same'' triangle a second time with of course the exact same outcome, wasting ''two other seasons'' on the already resolved matter until Lucas and Peyton ''finally'' got together for real mid-season 4.

** [[SophomoreSlump Season 2]] in considered the weakest among the first six, thanks to a number of reasons - the new characters Felix and Anna getting a divisive reaction amongst the fandom, the season ending by hitting a ResetButton on Lucas and Nathan's relationship, the Brooke[=/=]Lucas[=/=]Peyton love triangle being ignored until the final episodes of the season, Lucas and Peyton barely having any screentime together ''period'', Lucas suddenly becoming truly interested in Brooke [[StrangledByTheRedString out of nowhere]] in the second half of the season, Haley being absent for a large part of the season due to becoming a rockstar for no reason and even cheating on Nathan with Chris Keller, which were also the reasons why Naley got almost hit with ShipSinking. Fortunately, season 3 was a huge improvement from season 2, so the show was able not to JumpTheShark and got back on track (despite taking a considerable dip in ratings) and then it remained successful until season six.

* ShippingGoggles: Brucas fans have a habit of vilifying Peyton and arguing that it's all her (and, to a lesser extent, Lucas') fault that Brooke & Lucas split up at the start of season 4, with Brooke being completely blameless. Never mind that Peyton was willing to hide her feelings for Lucas if Brooke were to admit that she was in love with Lucas, something she repeatedly refused to do, and that it was ''Brooke'' who wasn't willing to fight for the relationship and broke up with Lucas in the first place explicitly saying that it was ''not'' Peyton the reason she was doing it, but because she thought her and Lucas' relationship had run its course. Then, both Lucas and Brooke definitely realized by themselves they didn't work together and really weren't in love with each other and it was only ''after'' Lucas confirmed her it was over for good between him and Brooke that Peyton declared her love to him, but before that moment she effectively didn’t make any moves towards him even if she could have done so any time.

* SophomoreSlump: Season 2 in considered the weakest among the first six, thanks to a number of reasons - the new characters Felix and Anna getting a divisive reaction amongst the fandom, the season ending by hitting a ResetButton on Lucas and Nathan's relationship, the Brooke[=/=]Lucas[=/=]Peyton love triangle being ignored until the final episodes of the season, Lucas and Peyton barely having any screentime together ''period'', Lucas suddenly becoming truly interested in Brooke [[StrangledByTheRedString out of nowhere]] in the second half of the season, Haley being absent for a large part of the season due to becoming a rockstar for no reason and even cheating on Nathan with Chris Keller, which were also the reasons why Naley got almost hit with ShipSinking. Fortunately, season 3 was a huge improvement from season 2, so the show was able not to JumpTheShark and got back on track (despite taking a considerable dip in ratings) and then it remained successful until season six.

** Brooke and Lucas fall into this even ''twice'' during the first three seasons. The show makes a point that the characters have never really interacted prior to Lucas joining the Ravens, with their relationship being one-sided as Brooke falls for him over the course of a six week long relationship that largely takes place off-screen and with half of the on-screen relationship spent with Lucas either cheating on Brooke with Peyton or in a coma, while the story makes it clear that Lucas doesn’t love Brooke, but he’s in love with Peyton. After the truth comes out about Lucas cheating on Brooke, she's openly hostile towards him for the remainder of the first season (to the point she pretends to be pregnant to take revenge on him for his betrayal) while he basically ignores her and then they barely interact over the course of the first half of the second season (which is even set right after season 1 with no time jump between the season 1 finale and the season 2 premiere). Despite all this, Brooke seems to still be interested in him even though she openly admits in several occasions that she knows how unhealthy her feelings for him and their relationship were while Lucas suddenly decides that he's truly interested in her out of nowhere in the second half of the season. And all this mess was even pointless since it was made just to put them back together in season 3 and then break them up again for good at the beginning of season 4, both realizing that they were never meant to be, when it came time for the writers to make the story get back on track once and for all and finally put the OfficialCouple Leyton together for real.
** Jake and Peyton. The characters didn't interact for the first half of season one, before they started to become closer after Jake publicly revealed he was a father. Throughout the second half of the season, Jake and Peyton's relationship comes off as platonic, before they suddenly share a brief kiss before he leaves Tree Hill to protect his daughter - and the entire time Peyton and Jake's relationship was developing, she was still in a WillTheyOrWontThey situation with Lucas, the one she was canonically in love with. When they get together the following season with basically no build up and making Peyton suddenly being in love with Jake out of nowhere, the show even acts as if they had been an epic romance in the waiting, but their history didn't lend itself to that at all. And all this mess was even pointless since the story gets back on track in season 3 and Peyton realizes she really never loved Jake and that he was never more than a replacement for Lucas.

** Brooke and Lucas fall into this even ''twice'' during the first three seasons. The show makes a point that the characters have never really interacted prior to Lucas joining the Ravens, with their relationship being one-sided as Brooke falls for him over the course of a six week long relationship that largely takes place off-screen and with half of the on-screen relationship spent with Lucas either cheating on Brooke with Peyton or in a coma, while the story makes it clear that Lucas doesn’t love Brooke, but he’s in love with Peyton. After the truth comes out about Lucas cheating on Brooke, she's openly hostile towards him for the remainder of the first season (to the point she pretends to be pregnant to take revenge on him for his betrayal) while he basically ignores her and then they barely interact over the course of the first half of the second season (which is even set right after season 1 with no time jump between the season 1 finale and the season 2 premiere). Despite all this, Brooke seems to still be interested in him even though she openly admits in several occasions that she knows how unhealthy her feelings for him and their relationship were while Lucas suddenly decides that he's truly interested in her out of nowhere in the second half of the season. And all this mess was even pointless since it was made just to put them back together in season 3 and then break them up again for good at the beginning of season 4, both realizing that they were never meant to be, when it came time for the writers to make the story definitely get back on track and finally put the OfficialCouple Leyton together for real.

** Brooke and Lucas fall into this even ''twice'' during the first three seasons. The show makes a point that the characters have never really interacted prior to Lucas joining the Ravens, with their relationship being one-sided as Brooke falls for him over the course of a six week long relationship that largely takes place off-screen and with half of the on-screen relationship spent with Lucas either cheating on Brooke with Peyton or in a coma, while the story makes it clear that Lucas doesn’t love Brooke, but he’s in love with Peyton. After the truth comes out about Lucas cheating on Brooke, she's openly hostile towards him for the remainder of the first season (to the point she pretends to be pregnant to take revenge on him for his betrayal) while he basically ignores her and then they barely interact over the course of the first half of the second season (which is even set right after season 1 with no time jump between the season 1 finale and the season 2 premiere). Despite all this, Brooke seems to still be interested in him even though she openly admits in several occasions that she knows how unhealthy her feelings for him and their relationship were while Lucas suddenly decides that he's truly interested in her out of nowhere in the second half of the season. And all this mess turned out to be even pointless since it was made just to put them back together in season 3 and then break them up again for good at the beginning of season 4, both realizing that they really had never been in love with each other, when it came time for the writers to make the story definitely get back on track and finally put the OfficialCouple Leyton together for real.

** The belief amongst their fans that Brooke and Lucas weren’t endgame because of the real life divorce of Creator/ChadMichaelMurray and Creator/SophiaBush, the actors who play the characters. No-one involved with the production has ever confirmed this as the reason for Brooke and Lucas' relationship ending, and putting the timeline of the production alongside the timeline of the divorce shows that Season 3 was several episodes into production before Bush and Murray officially announced their separation, so if this was the actual cause of their in-universe break-up, the production could have had time enough to split them up immeditately entering the second half on the season, whereas the two broke up for good at the beginning of season 4. Besides, WordOfGod has repeatedly stated that it was ''always'' meant to be Lucas and Peyton.

** [[SophomoreSlump Season 2]] can be considered this, thanks to a number of reasons - the new characters Felix and Anna getting a divisive reaction amongst the fandom, the season ending by hitting a ResetButton on Lucas and Nathan's relationship, the Brooke[=/=]Lucas[=/=]Peyton love triangle being ignored until the final episodes of the season, Lucas and Peyton barely having any screentime together ''period'', Lucas becoming truly interested in Brooke [[StrangledByTheRedString out of nowhere]] halfway through the season, Haley being absent for a large part of the season due to becoming a rockstar for no reason and even cheating on Nathan with Chris Keller, which were also the reasons why Naley got almost hit with ShipSinking.

** [[SophomoreSlump Season 2]] in considered the weakest among the first six, thanks to a number of reasons - the new characters Felix and Anna getting a divisive reaction amongst the fandom, the season ending by hitting a ResetButton on Lucas and Nathan's relationship, the Brooke[=/=]Lucas[=/=]Peyton love triangle being ignored until the final episodes of the season, Lucas and Peyton barely having any screentime together ''period'', Lucas seemingly becoming truly interested in Brooke out of nowhere halfway through the season, Haley being absent for a large part of the season due to becoming a rockstar for no reason and even cheating on Nathan with Chris Keller, which were also the reasons why Naley got almost hit with ShipSinking. Fortunately, season 3 was a huge improvement from season 2, so the show was able not to JumpTheShark and got back on track (despite taking a considerable dip in ratings) and then it remained successful until season six.

* SophomoreSlump: Season 2 in considered the weakest among the first six, thanks to a number of reasons - the new characters Felix and Anna getting a divisive reaction amongst the fandom, the season ending by hitting a ResetButton on Lucas and Nathan's relationship, the Brooke[=/=]Lucas[=/=]Peyton love triangle being ignored until the final episodes of the season, Lucas and Peyton barely having any screentime together ''period'', Lucas seemingly becoming truly interested in Brooke out of nowhere halfway through the season, Haley being absent for a large part of the season due to becoming a rockstar for no reason and even cheating on Nathan with Chris Keller, which were also the reasons why Naley got almost hit with ShipSinking. Fortunately, season 3 was a huge improvement from season 2, so the show was able not to JumpTheShark and got back on track (despite taking a considerable dip in ratings) and then it remained successful until season six.

* FridgeLogic: In early season 4, Brooke accuses Rachel of trying to seduce Lucas when he was her boyfriend. Whilst Rachel ''did'' try to seduce Lucas, he wasn't technically Brooke's boyfriend at the time due to her insistence on a non-exclusive dating arrangement; this also raises the issue that, if Brooke did consider Lucas to be her boyfriend at the time, it would mean that when she slept with Chris Keller she was ''actually'' cheating on him - something that makes her treatment of Peyton at the time that much worse and her way more hypocrite.

* FridgeLogic: In early season 4, Brooke accuses Rachel of trying to seduce Lucas when he was her boyfriend. Whilst Rachel ''did'' try to seduce Lucas, he wasn't technically Brooke's boyfriend at the time due to her insistence on a non-exclusive dating arrangement; this also raises the issue that, if Brooke did consider Lucas to be her boyfriend at the time, it would mean that when she slept with Chris Keller she was actually ''cheating on him'' - something that makes her treatment of Peyton at the time that much worse and her way more hypocrite.

* RomanticPlotTumor: The (painfully) long-running Peyton/Lucas/Brooke love triangle (which can also be seen as an ArcFatigue). It was dragged out until just before the mid-season finale of Season 4, even though the issue was completely resolved at the end of Season 1, with Lucas clearly choosing Peyton over Brooke - only for his own bad decisions earlier in the season to cause Peyton to end things with him. This led to literally repeat the ''exact same'' triangle a second time with of course the exact same outcome, wasting ''two other seasons'' on the already resolved matter.

** The [[BirdsOfAFeather Leyton]] vs [[OppositesAttract Brucas]] war (which started in ''Season One'') is the most infamous and fierce one, to the point that it’s still going on, even after the series came to an end in 2012. Keep in mind that Lucas and Peyton got married and had a kid before leaving at the end of season 6, with Brooke as the ''maid of honor'' and ''godmother'' and also meeting herself the love of her life, Julian, and then getting married to him and having twin sons with him in season 8!

* RomanticPlotTumor: The (painfully) long-running Peyton/Lucas/Brooke love triangle (which can also be seen as an ArcFatigue). It was dragged out until just before the mid-season finale of Season 4, even though the issue was completely resolved at the end of Season 1, with Lucas clearly choosing Peyton over Brooke - only for his own bad decisions earlier in the season to cause Peyton to end things with him. This led to literally repeat the ''exact same'' triangle a second time with of course the exact same outcome, wasting ''two other seasons'' on the matter.

* FridgeLogic: In early season 4, Brooke accuses Rachel of trying to seduce Lucas when he was her boyfriend. Whilst Rachel ''did'' try to seduce Lucas, he wasn't technically Brooke's boyfriend at the time due to her insistence on a non-exclusive dating arrangement; this also raises the issue that, if Brooke did consider Lucas to be her boyfriend at the time, it would mean that when she slept with Chris Keller she was ''actually'' cheating on him - something that makes her treatment of Peyton at the time that much worse and her way more hypocrite.

* FridgeLogic: In early season 4, Brooke accuses Rachel of trying to seduce Lucas when he was her boyfriend. Whilst Rachel ''did'' try to seduce Lucas, he wasn't actually Brooke's boyfriend at the time due to her insistence on a non-exclusive dating arrangement; this also raises the issue that, if Brooke did consider Lucas to be her boyfriend at the time, it would mean that when she had slept with Chris Keller she was ''actually'' cheating on him - something that makes her treatment of Peyton at the time that much worse.

* FridgeLogic: In early season 4, Brooke accuses Rachel of trying to seduce Lucas when he was her boyfriend. Whilst Rachel ''did'' try to seduce Lucas, he wasn't actually Brooke's boyfriend at the time due to her insistence on a non-exclusive dating arrangement; this also raises the issue that, if Brooke did consider Lucas to be her boyfriend at the time, it would mean that she had cheated on him with Chris Keller - something that makes her treatment of Peyton at the time that much worse.

* RomanticPlotTumor: The (painfully) long-running Peyton/Lucas/Brooke love triangle (which can also be seen as an ArcFatigue). It was dragged out until just before the mid-season finale of Season 4, even though the issue was completely resolved at the end of Season 1, with Lucas clearly choosing Peyton over Brooke - only for his own bad decisions earlier in the season to cause Peyton to end things with him. This led to literally repeat the '' ''exact same'' triangle a second time with of course the exact same outcome, wasting ''two other seasons'' on the matter.

* RomanticPlotTumor: The (painfully) long-running Peyton/Lucas/Brooke love triangle (which can also be seen as an ArcFatigue). It was dragged out until just before the mid-season finale of Season 4, even though the issue was completely resolved at the end of Season 1, with Lucas clearly choosing Peyton over Brooke - only for his own bad decisions earlier in the season to cause Peyton to end things with him. This led to literally ''repeat'' the exact same triangle a second time with of course the exact same outcome, wasting ''two other seasons'' on the matter.

* RomanticPlotTumor: The (painfully) long-running Peyton/Lucas/Brooke love triangle (which can also be seen as an ArcFatigue). It was dragged out until just before the mid-season finale of Season 4, even though the issue was completely resolved at the end of Season 1, with Lucas clearly choosing Peyton over Brooke - only for his own bad decisions earlier in the season to cause Peyton to end things with him and basically lead to all the ''pointless'' events that happened between then and the already mentioned mid-season finale of Season 4, when Lucas and Peyton ''finally'' got together for real.

* RomanticPlotTumor: The (painfully) long-running Peyton/Lucas/Brooke love triangle (which can also be seen as an ArcFatigue). It was dragged out until just before the mid-season finale of Season 4, even though the issue was completely resolved at the end of Season 1, with Lucas clearly choosing Peyton over Brooke - only for his own bad decisions earlier in the season to cause Peyton to end things with him and basically lead to all that happened between then and the already mentioned mid-season finale of Season 4, when Lucas and Peyton ''finally'' got together for real.

** After Lucas and Peyton's LongDistanceRelationship becomes strained after a year spent apart, Lucas attempts to save the relationship by proposing - only for Peyton to ask him to wait another year, feeling it's too soon. Lucas takes this as an outright refusal and breaks up with Peyton by leaving her in their hotel room without so much as a note saying goodbye. Come Peyton's return to Tree Hill after three years, she still wants to repair the relationship, even after she watches him say "I do" to another woman and he drunkenly accuses her of ruining his life after being left at the altar in said wedding. Then, Lucas ''finally'' apologizes to her for what he’s done and Peyton forgives him, prompting him to propose again and this time she accepts. Fortunately, they are able to successfully rekindle their relationship and now both mature enough to reach a definitive stability, ending up HappilyMarried one season later.

** Nathan and Haley get together in season 1 and at the end of the season she accepts his impulsive marriage proposal. Come season 2, they start arguing all the time since they struggle to adjust their new life as a married couple while Haley begins to distance herself from Nathan once she discovers her passion in music and then the musician Chris Keller, who is clearly interested in her, invites her on tour with him; Haley accepts and leaves Nathan without saying ''anything'' after cheating on him ''twice'' with Keller. Then, she stays on tour for ''months'' even if she knows Nathan was devastated by this whole situation (and as a consequence even attempted ''suicide''), until she suddenly decides to come back home only after Lucas paid her a visit while still on tour and made her come to her senses at the end of the season. Once she’s back, she tries to make amends and Nathan, after keeping her away for some time, decides to forgive her and they get back together.
** After Lucas and Peyton's LongDistanceRelationship becomes strained after a year spent apart, Lucas attempts to save the relationship by proposing - only for Peyton to ask him to wait another year, feeling it's too soon. Lucas takes this as an outright refusal and breaks up with Peyton by leaving her in their hotel room without so much as a note saying goodbye. Come Peyton's return to Tree Hill after three years, she still wants to repair the relationship, even after she watches him say "I do" to another woman and he drunkenly accuses her of ruining his life after being left at the altar in said wedding. Then, Lucas ''finally'' apologizes to her for what he’s done and Peyton decides to forgive him, prompting him to propose again and this time she accepts. Fortunately, they are able to successfully rekindle their relationship and now both mature enough to reach a definitive stability, ending up HappilyMarried one season later.

** {{Averted}} with Lucas and Peyton. The two are seen as this only by Brucas and Jeyton shippers, who claim that Peyton's late season 3 revelation that she was still in love with Lucas was purely because the writers wanted to split Brooke and Lucas after [[RealLifeWritesThePlot their actors broke up in real life]] and because Jake's actor wasn't going to be available anymore (even though no one involved in the production ever confirmed all this and WordOfGod itself repeatedly stated that it was ''always'' meant to be Lucas and Peyton). When one rewatches the third season with the knowledge of Peyton's feelings in mind, it becomes beyond obvious how subtle a lot of the build-up to TheReveal actually was.

** Nathan and Haley get together in season 1 and at the end of the season she accepts his impulsive marriage proposal. Come season 2, they start arguing all the time since they struggle to adjust their new life as a married couple while Haley begins to distance herself from Nathan once she discovers her passion in music and then the musician Chris Keller, who is clearly interested in her, invites her on tour with him; Haley accepts and leaves Nathan without saying ''anything'' after cheating on him ''twice'' with Keller. Then, she stays on tour for ''months'' even if she knows Nathan was devastated by this whole situation (and as a consequence even attempted ''suicide''), until she suddenly decides to come back home only after Lucas paid her a visit while still on tour and made her come to her senses at the end of the season. Once she’s back, she tries to make amends and Nathan, after keeping her away for some time, forgives her and they get back together.
** After Lucas and Peyton's LongDistanceRelationship results in their relationship becoming strained, Lucas attempts to save the relationship by proposing - only for Peyton to ask him to wait a year. Lucas takes this as an outright refusal, and breaks up with Peyton (who spent years struggling with abandonment issues) by leaving her in their hotel room without so much as a note saying goodbye. Come Peyton's return to Tree Hill after three years, she still wants to repair the relationship, even after she watches him say "I do" to another woman and drunkenly accuses her of ruining his life after being left at the altar in said wedding. Then, Lucas ''finally'' apologizes to her for what he’s done and, despite everything, Peyton forgives him, prompting him to propose again and this time she accepts. Fortunately, they now both are mature enough to reach a definitive stability, ending up HappilyMarried one season later.

** Brooke and Lucas fall into this even ''twice'' during the first three seasons of the show. The show makes a point that the characters have never really interacted prior to Lucas joining the Ravens, with their relationship being one-sided as Brooke falls for him over the course of a six week long relationship that largely takes place off-screen and with half of the on-screen relationship spent with Lucas either cheating on Brooke with Peyton or in a coma, while the story makes it clear that Lucas doesn’t love Brooke, but he’s in love with Peyton. After the truth comes out about Lucas cheating on Brooke, she's openly hostile towards him for the remainder of the first season (to the point she pretends to be pregnant to take revenge on him for his betrayal) while he basically ignores her and then they barely interact over the course of the first half of the second season (which is even set right after season 1 with no time jump between the season 1 finale and the season 2 premiere). Despite all this, Brooke seems to still be interested in him even though she openly admits in several occasions that she knows how unhealthy her feelings for him and their relationship were while Lucas suddenly decides that he's truly interested in her out of nowhere in the second half of the season. And all this mess turned out to be even pointless since it was made just to put them back together in season 3 and then break them up again for good at the beginning of season 4, both realizing that they really had never been in love with each other, when it came time for the writers to make the story definitely get back on track and finally put the OfficialCouple Leyton together for real.

** Season two is the highest rated of all the seasons as far as viewership goes thanks to the show becoming a hit during its first season: despite this, most of the fandom considers it to be the weakest amongst the four set in high school.

** A lot of fans consider the season 6 finale as the real series’ GrandFinale due to it wrapping up the story arcs of all the characters almost perfectly, with everyone getting their fair HappyEnding, and mostly because of it being the final episode featuring main cast members Creator/ChadMichaelMurray and Creator/HilarieBurton, whose characters, Lucas and Peyton, are two of the original core five of the series: many people feel that the show [[AudienceAlienatingEra hasn’t been the same anymore or even made no more sense without them]]. In fact, the quality has dropped significantly after season 6 (along with ratings), with season 7 and 8 universally considered the series’ SeasonalRot and also season 9 being very divisive, despite better received than its two predecessors.
** A much smaller minority feel that the appropriate GrandFinale should have even been the season 4 finale, which featured the main characters’ graduation from high school and wrapped up all the major story arcs of the first four seasons. Actually, the following {{Retool}} made in season 5 with the 4-year TimeSkip was precisely planned in order to wrap things up in the much more complete and satisfying way they did in season 6.
** Most fans choose to basically ignore the entire season 2 due to being hit by SophomoreSlump and being in fact considered the weakest season amongst the four set in high school and the first six of the show in general.

** Dan and Rachel in Season 7. Yes, they’re both consenting adults, but there’s an age gap of 18 years between them and Rachel went to high school with Dan’s sons - even if they never interacted in that time frame.

** {{Averted}} with Lucas and Peyton. The two are seen as this only by Brucas and Jeyton shippers, who claim that Peyton's late season 3 revelation that she was still in love with Lucas was purely because the writers wanted to split Brooke and Lucas after [[RealLifeWritesThePlot their actors broke up in real life]] and because Jake's actor wasn't going to be available anymore (even though no one involved in the production ever confirmed all this and WordOfGod itself repeatedly stated that it was ''always'' meant to be Lucas and Peyton). When one rewatches the third season with the knowledge of Peyton's feelings in mind, it becomes beyond obvious how subtle a lot of the build-up to TheReveal actually was. Besides, a lot of ShipTease between the two of them was made during the entire third season and their relationship was being built up even since the beginning of season 1, keeping them in a constant WillTheyOrWontThey situation for the rest of the time until they finally got together in season 4, so it's definitely not the case.

** Brooke pursues Lucas, and after they get together, she quickly falls for him before he cheats with her best friend Peyton in Season 1. Come Season 3, Brooke gets back together with Lucas, ''constantly'' paranoid of history repeating with her boyfriend falling for her best friend again (turning out eventually that her fears were founded all along since in the meantime Lucas and Peyton actually find their way back to each other and then get together for real after she and Lucas split up again for good).
** Nathan and Haley get together in season 1 and at the end of the season she accepts his impulsive marriage proposal. Come season 2, they start arguing all the time since they struggle to adjust their new life as a married couple while Haley begins to distance herself from Nathan once she discovers her passion in music and then the musician Chris Keller, who is clearly interested in her, offers her to go on tour with him: Haley accepts and leaves Nathan without saying ''anything'' after cheating on him ''twice'' with Keller. Then, she stays on tour for ''months'' even if she knows Nathan was devastated by this whole situation (and as a consequence even attempted ''suicide''), until she suddenly decides to come back home only after Lucas paid her a visit while still on tour and made her come to her senses at the end of the season. Once she’s back, she tries to make amends and Nathan, after keeping her away for some time, forgives her and they get back together: this time it lasts and they remain HappilyMarried until the end of the series.

** Nathan and Haley get together in season 1 and at the end of the season she accepts his impulsive marriage proposal. Come season 2, they start arguing all the time since they struggle to adjust their new life as a married couple while Haley begins to distance herself from Nathan once she discovers her passion in music and then the musician Chris Keller, who is clearly interested in her, offers her to go on tour with him: Haley accepts and leaves Nathan without saying ''anything'' after cheating on him ''twice'' with Keller. Then, she stays on tour for ''months'' even if she knows Nathan was crushed by this whole situation (and as a consequence even attempted ''suicide''), until she suddenly decides to come back home only after Lucas paid her a visit while still on tour and made her come to her senses at the end of the season. Once she’s back, she tries to make amends and Nathan, after keeping her away for some time, forgives her and they get back together: this time it lasts and they remain HappilyMarried until the end of the series.

** Nathan and Haley get together in season 1 and at the end of the season she accepts his impulsive marriage proposal. Come season 2, they start arguing all the time since they struggle to adjust their new life as a married couple while Haley begins to distance herself from Nathan once she discovers her passion in music and then the musician Chris Keller, who is clearly interested in her, offers her to go on tour with him: Haley accepts and leaves Nathan without saying ''anything'' after cheating on him ''twice'' with Keller. Then, she stays on tour for ''months'' even if she knows Nathan was crushed by this whole situation (and as a consequence even attempted ''suicide''), until she suddenly decides to come back home only after Lucas paid her a visit while still on tour and made her come to her senses at the end of the season. Once she’s back, she tries to make amends and Nathan, after keeping her away for some time, forgives her and they get back together: this time it lasts.

** Nathan and Haley get together in season 1 and at the end of the season she accepts his impulsive marriage proposal. Come season 2, they start arguing all the time since they struggle to adjust their new life as a married couple while Haley begins to distance herself from Nathan once she discovers her passion in music and then the musician Chris Keller, who is clearly interested in her, offers her to go on tour with him: Haley accepts and leaves Nathan without saying ''anything'' after cheating on him ''twice'' with Keller. Then, she stays on tour for ''months'' even if she knows Nathan was crushed by this whole situation (and as a consequence even attempted ''suicide''), until she suddenly decides to come back home only after Lucas paid her a visit while still on tour and made her come to her senses at the end of the season. Once she’s back, she tries to make amends and Nathan, after keeping her away for some time, forgives her and they get back together.
** After Lucas and Peyton's LongDistanceRelationship results in their relationship becoming strained, Lucas attempts to save the relationship by proposing - only for Peyton to ask him to wait a year. Lucas takes this as an outright refusal, and breaks up with Peyton (who spent years struggling with abandonment issues) by leaving her in their hotel room without so much as a note saying goodbye. Come Peyton's return to Tree Hill after three years, she still wants to repair the relationship, even after she watches him say "I do" to another woman and drunkenly accuses her of ruining his life after being left at the altar in said wedding. Then, Lucas ''finally'' apologizes to her for everything he’s done and, despite everything, Peyton forgives him, prompting him to propose again. Fortunately, this time they both are mature enough to reach a definitive stability, ending up HappilyMarried one season later.

** Nathan and Haley get together in season 1 and at the end of the season she accepts his impulsive marriage proposal. Come season 2, they start arguing all the time since they struggle to adjust their new life as a married couple while Haley begins to distance herself from Nathan once she discovers her passion in music and then the musician Chris Keller, who is clearly interested in her, offers her to go on tour with him: Haley accepts and leaves Nathan without saying ''anything'' after cheating on him ''twice'' with Keller. Then, she stays on tour for ''months'' even if she knows Nathan was crushed by this whole situation (and as a consequence even attempted ''suicide''), until she suddenly decides to come back home only after Lucas paid her a visit while still on tour and made her come to her senses at the end of the season. Once she’s back, after keeping her away for some time Nathan forgives her and they get back together.
** After Lucas and Peyton's LongDistanceRelationship results in their relationship becoming strained, Lucas attempts to save the relationship by proposing - only for Peyton to ask him to wait a year. Lucas takes this as an outright refusal, and breaks up with Peyton (who spent years struggling with abandonment issues) by leaving her in their hotel room without so much as a note saying goodbye. Come Peyton's return to Tree Hill after three years, she still wants to repair the relationship, even after she watches him say "I do" to another woman and drunkenly accuses her of ruining his life after being left at the altar in said wedding. Then, Lucas ''finally'' apologizes to her for everything he’s done and, despite everything, Peyton forgives him, prompting him to propose again and ending up HappilyMarried one season later.