"Resolve" is the twelfth episode of Season 4 of One Tree Hill and originally aired January 24th, 2007. The episode was written by Michelle Furtney Goodman, and directed by cast member Moira Kelly.
With prom rapidly approaching, Haley's struggle to find a perfect prom dress is compounded by her injuries and her pregnancy, whilst Nathan is roped into Skills' plan to make some quick money. Brooke's new crush Chase is impressed by her Clean Teen status and calculus grades, but she has to choose between keeping up the façade and betraying Rachel; whilst the loved up Lucas and Peyton adjust to their new relationship. Meanwhile, Deb's addiction spirals out of control.
Contains examples of the following tropes:
- Becoming the Mask: Brooke wants to keep pretending to be a member of Clean Teens after she meets Chase, another Clean Teen who's impressed by her ill-gotten A grade in calculus.
- Birds of a Feather: Chase and Brooke bond over being in a Love Triangle where their significant other left them for their best friend.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Peyton gets Lucas to lower his guard in their cookie dough fight by complaining that it’s gotten everywhere and she needs to take off her bra; cue Lucas' head peering out from behind the doorframe to check, and Peyton throwing more cookie dough at him.
- Dramatic Irony: Chase explains to Brooke that he joined Clean Teens because he wants his next relationship to be with someone he can trust and is completely honest with him; all Chase knows about Brooke is membership in Clean Teens and her good Calculus grades, both of which are lies.
- Driven to Suicide: Deb tries to kill herself by overdosing on pills.
- Eating the Eye Candy: The girls all clearly enjoy the sight of Nathan, Skills and Mouth stripping.
- Erotic Eating: After their food fight, Lucas eats some cookie dough directly off Peyton's shoulder.
- Fanservice:
- Nathan, Skills and Mouth's strip routine.
- Bevin enticing Skills to go through with the routine by teasing him with her lingerie.
- Everyone Has Standards: After Deb tells Dan that she's taken all of her pills, he winds up calling an ambulance rather than let her die of an overdose.
- Foodfight!: Peyton and Lucas wind up having one in her kitchen, after she takes a glob of cookie batter and wipes it on the side of his face.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Sheldon, an overweight Clean Teen who only joined the group because no-one was interested in him.
- Lethal Chef: Peyton's attempt at making cookies goes wrong because she doesn't understand what a "dash of salt" means and when asked to demonstrate what she thinks it is, pours out a handful.
- New Transfer Student: Shelley introduces the newest Clean Teen, Chase, to Brooke and Rachel by explaining that he's just transferred from Westerberg.
- Oh, Crap!: Dan has a downplayed one after Karen tells him that Lucas doesn't think Jimmy killed Keith.
- Product Placement: After Lucas challenges her music knowledge by asking for the name of the song playing at the time, Peyton uses Shazam to identify the song, complete with a prominent shot of the app on Peyton’s phone as it processes the information.
- Self-Serving Memory: Brooke recounts to Chase an abridged version of her love triangle with Lucas and Peyton, albeit in such a manner that it portrays her as the innocent victim and ignores her manipulative actions of Season 1 or Peyton only confessing her feelings for Lucas after she nearly died in the school shooting.
- Shipper on Deck:
- Skills tells Peyton that she and Lucas make a lot of sense together.
- Karen openly admits to Lucas she approves his relationship with Peyton and she is very happy that the two of them have finally found each other since he’s been in love with her for years.
- Shout-Out:
- Skills claims to be a good dancer by claiming he's been watching Usher music videos on MTV.
- Peyton references "Kid A" by Radiohead whilst scolding Lucas about misplacing the records in her collection.
- As they talk about how happy they are, Peyton compares it to "living in an Air Supply song" whilst Lucas opts for Van Halen.
- Mouth compares another participant in the dance contest to Chewbacca.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Karen teases Lucas about this, remarking on how rare it is to see him without Peyton these days.
- Spotting the Thread: After Principal Turner informs the tutor staff that someone has stolen exams, Haley immediately realises it was Rachel, since she had already tried to bribe Haley for them.
- Talking to the Dead: Peyton takes Lucas to "meet" her mother, and then has a conversation with her tombstone. At the same time, Lucas talks to Keith in the same manner.
- Titled After the Song: The episode title is taken from the song "Resolve" by the Foo Fighters.
- Trauma Button: Lucas looking over at Peyton stood at her mother's grave causes Lucas to remember the image of her stood at his grave during his coma dream, which in turn gets him to remember his conversation with Keith in the hallway and his insistence that Lucas open his eyes.
