"A Multitudes of Casualties" is the fifth episode of Season 3 of One Tree Hill and originally aired November 2nd, 2005. The episode was written by R Lee Fleming Jr and directed by Thomas J Wright.
The Ravens officially begin basketball practice. Nathan is named team captain, and Lucas struggles to hide his HCM. Brooke finds herself having to resort to desperate measures when cheerleading try-outs are a bust. Meanwhile, Dan's bid for mayor sees his old Ravens jersey number being retired - and prompts an unexpected opponent to stand against him.
Contains examples of the following tropes:
- Bathroom Brawl: Lucas and Nathan’s fight began in the locker room, before winding up in the gymnasium and provoking another brawl amongst the cheerleaders.
- Call-Back: Rachel hides naked in Lucas’ backseat, in the same manner that Brooke did after his first successful game for the Ravens. The situation is lampshaded by Brooke.
- Clothes Make the Legend: Dan arranges for his Ravens jersey to be retired to help increase voter goodwill towards his campaign.
- Continuity Snarl: Dan’s #33 jersey was shown retired in the background at various points in the first season; Lampshaded by Whitey, as he notes that he thought they’d already retired it.
- Escalating Brawl: Nathan and Lucas start fighting in the locker room, which winds up spilling into the gymnasium and sparking another fight between Rachel and Brooke, and pretty soon everyone on the basketball team and cheer squad is involved in two separate brawls. And also Peyton is fighting the mascot for some reason.
- Fisticuff-Provoking Comment: Lucas and Nathan keep taking shots at each other, until Lucas provokes Nathan into violence by comparing him to Dan.
- Gretzky Has the Ball: When Nathan splits the Ravens into two teams at the River Court, Lucas has to point out that Nathan’s got both centers on his team, leaving both teams with sub-optimal line-ups.note
- Never My Fault: Brooke blames Lucas for the situation with Rachel, despite Brooke forcing him to date other people and choosing Rachel herself, despite Lucas protesting that he was only interested in Brooke the entire time since she returned to Tree Hill.
- Noodle Incident: At some point in the brawl, Peyton began fighting with the Ravens mascot for some reason.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis: Peyton not only has to explain Rachel’s The Beatles reference, but Brooke names the wrong band afterwards.
- Shout-Out:
- After her cheerleader audition, Rachel quotes John Lennon from the "Let It Be" album.Rachel: I’d like to thank you on behalf of myself and the group… and I hope we pass the audition.
- Brooke names The Bee Gees as the band John Lennon was in.
- After her cheerleader audition, Rachel quotes John Lennon from the "Let It Be" album.
- Take a Third Option: After the brawl, Whitey doesn’t strip Nathan of the captaincy or kick Lucas off the team, but instead names Lucas as Nathan’s co-captain - either the brothers learn to work together, or they can take the blame when the team falls apart.
- Tempting Fate:
- Brooke decides that Lucas has to date someone else per their non-exclusivity agreement, and picks a girl at "random" - not realising that Rachel just walked in front of the girl she intended to pick.
- Just as Dan has finished bragging about running unopposed, Whitey announces that Karen will be running against him.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: The vast majority of the people trying out to be cheerleaders simply lack any of the qualities desired. Naturally, the only desirable candidate is… Rachel, the girl who spent the Masquerade Ball dancing with Lucas.
- Titled After the Song: The episode title is taken from the song "A Multitude Of Casualties" by The Hold Steady.
