Recap / One Tree Hill S3E22 "The Show Must Go On"

"The Show Must Go On" is the twenty second episode and Season Finale of Season 3 of One Tree Hill and originally aired May 3rd, 2006. The episode was written and directed by Mark Schwahn. It was also the final episode to premiere on The WB.

Nathan and Haley’s wedding day has arrived, but Nathan’s nerves may be more than cold feet. Brooke finds her relationships with Lucas and Peyton forever changed as buried events resurface. Meanwhile, Dan learns the truth about the dealership fire, and Karen finds herself missing Keith more than she expected.

Contains examples of the following tropes:

• Artistic Licence: Nathan's dive from the bridge after the limo crashes into the lake. In reality, you would not dive into body of water that you can't gauge the depth of in the manner that Nathan does, i.e. a professional dive; this is acknowledged on the DVD commentary, as it is admitted that they opted for what looked better on camera rather than what was realistic.
• Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with a shot of Haley’s crackerjack bracelet floating in a pool of water.
• Call-Back: As Peyton walks down the aisle, she teases Nathan that he had his chance with her, alluding to their relationship from early Season One.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Brooke brings up the lists of boys she claimed for herself and allocated to Peyton for the first time since painting the lists on Peyton’s closet doors, effectively admitting that it was a way for her to claim ownership of Lucas and remind Peyton of that on a daily basis.
    Brooke: He’s on the door, Peyton! He’s on the damn door under ME!
  • As she looks for her purse in the room where the bridal party got ready for the wedding, Brooke bemoans giving everyone identical purses. Towards the end of the episode, Lucas finds a positive pregnancy test in one of the purses, but he's unable to identify who the purse belongs to.
• Cliffhanger: The episode - and season - ends with Cooper, Rachel and Nathan trapped under water in a crashed limo; there's also the matter of an unidentified member of the bridal party being pregnant.
• Dramatic Irony: Lampshaded by Brooke, as she finds out Lucas and Peyton kissed during the shooting and has an argument with Lucas just before she has to give her maid of honor speech where she talks about love.
• Drives Like Crazy: Rachel tries taking control of the limo from Cooper, and winds up causing the limo to go off the side of a bridge to avoid hitting Nathan and Haley.
• Hypocrite: Lucas argues that Brooke’s anger over his kissing Peyton during the school shooting is unfair considering that she slept with Chris Keller and he forgave her for that.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Dan learns that it was Deb, not Keith, who started the fire at the dealership.
  • Brooke learns about Lucas and Peyton’s kiss during the shooting.
  • After Cooper's toast to Nathan and Haley, a drunken Rachel gives one of her own, which is a thinly veiled Take That! towards Cooper, cluing everyone in about their relationship.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Lucas is completely unaware of Peyton admitting her feelings for him to Brooke the previous night. Subsequently, he doesn't take Brooke's demand to stay away from Peyton seriously.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After learning that Keith wasn’t the one to start the dealership fire, Dan breaks down in tears at Keith’s grave as he comes to the realisation that he killed his own brother for nothing.
• Poor Communication Kills: Brooke doesn’t tell Lucas why she’s fighting with Peyton, just that he’s not allowed to talk to her. Subsequently, Lucas doesn’t take her anger seriously and when they speak about the matter during the reception, he unwittingly tells Brooke about the kiss he shared with Peyton during the school shooting as he incorrectly assumes that Brooke’s anger is because she learnt about the kiss somehow, making matters worse.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Peyton returns home from the wedding, she finds Brooke packing up her things and moving out of the Sawyer home. Despite Peyton’s protests, Brooke can’t be talked down.
• Ship Tease: Brooke tells Lucas not to talk to Peyton, and doesn’t elaborate any further. Lucas’ response is… to flirt with Peyton.
• Someone to Remember Him By: Karen is revealed to be pregnant with Keith’s child.
• Teen Pregnancy: One of the cliffhangers for the season is Lucas finding a pregnancy test that belongs to an unidentified member of the wedding party.
• Titled After the Song: The title of the episode is taken from the song "The Show Must Go On" by Queen.
• Trashcan Bonfire: After Brooke moves out of her home, Peyton starts burning mementos of her relationship with Brooke.
• Wedding Episode: The episode in mainly focused on Nathan and Haley’s vow renewal, which is organized as a proper wedding as the two didn’t have it when they actually got married at the end of season 1.
• Wham Line: As Lucas and Karen are gathering the identical purses gifted to the bridal party, Lucas finds a pregnancy test.
  Lucas: Mom, are you pregnant?
  Karen: Yes... But that's not my purse.
• Wham Shot: Dan returning to the beach house to find that someone has painted "MURDERER" on the wall, revealing that there was a witness to his murdering Keith.