"The Places We Have Come To Fear The Most" is the second episode of One Tree Hill and aired September 30th, 2003. The episode was written by Mark Schwahn and directed by Bryan Gordon.
Lucas plays his first game as a Tree Hill Raven… and chokes. Feeling he doesn’t belong in the spotlight, Lucas quits the team. Meanwhile, Peyton struggles to find the courage to submit her artwork for publication in a local magazine whilst her relationship with Nathan continues to falter as Peyton tired of Nathan’s treatment of Lucas.
Contains examples of the following tropes:
- Arc Words: “Your art matters. It’s what got me here” is spoken for the first time, by Lucas to Peyton.
- Berserk Button: Nathan calling Lucas “Bastard” in the middle of class is enough to provoke Lucas into attacking him.
- Blatant Lies: Nathan tells Tim that he was kicking Lucas’ ass before they separated in class; Jake argues otherwise, saying that everyone else in the class is saying Lucas was on top of Nathan.
- Continuity Nod: Peyton’s car is being worked on in Keith’s garage, following on from it breaking down in the previous episode.
- Dare to Be Badass: After looking through Peyton’s artwork a second time, Lucas finds a drawing with the caption “They are not you”; this inspires him to remain on the basketball team, and to submit Peyton’s artwork to THUD magazine after she had backed out of doing so.
- Heroes Love Dogs: Lucas is stated to have once owned a dog named Rocket.
- Intrepid Reporter: Mouth and Jimmy try to interview Lucas before his first game for the Ravens, before Whitey bans all “media” from the locker room. The boys are simply thrilled that they’re media, and after a moment, banned media.
- Jerkass: Nathan goes out of his way to try and bully Lucas off the basketball team.
- Meaningful Rename: Averted, but discussed - After his first game for the Ravens, Lucas toys with the idea of legally changing his name to Roe as he doesn’t want to give Dan the satisfaction of seeing his name on two Ravens jerseys. Lucas ultimately decides to keep the Scott name out of respect for Keith.
- Second Episode Introduction:
- After a brief cameo in the previous episode, Jake Jagielski is fully introduced to the viewers.
- Brooke Davis makes her first appearance in the series.
- Shed the Family Name: Lucas removes the Scott name from his jersey before his second, not wanting Dan to have the satisfaction of seeing his name on two Ravens jerseys.
- Ship Tease:
- Brooke comments on Lucas’ looks he makes his way onto the court for his first game.
- Peyton doesn’t take kindly to Nathan’s amusement at Lucas’ poor performance in his first game.
- Shout-Out:
- Brooke compares Peyton to Gwen Stefani.
- Brooke asks Peyton if she has the new Beyoncé CD.
- Keith tries giving Lucas a motivational speech by claiming even Michael Jordan choked in his first pro game. Lucas immediately calls him out for the lie.
- Jake gives Lucas a copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
- Token Good Teammate: Jake is the first member of the Ravens to extend a hand to Lucas, and gives him some advice when Dan tries to get in his head again.
- Trash of the Titans: Peyton’s car is filled with an assortment of rubbish that she’s just dumped behind the front seats.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Peyton tells Lucas off for going through her art portfolio without permission; she’s also not happy when he tries to return it to her after she dumps it in the trash.
- Karen scolds Lucas for fighting with Nathan in class.
