"Prom Night at Hater High" is the fifteenth episode of Season 4 of One Tree Hill and originally aired February 21st, 2007. The episode was written by Mike Herro and David Strauss, and directed by cast member Paul Johansson.
Everyone in Tree Hill deals with the aftermath of Nathan's pre-prom party - and the revelation of Brooke and Nathan's sex tape from two years ago. Haley asks Nathan for a list of his past sexual conquests, Peyton ends her friendship with Brooke, and Lucas tries to play peacekeeper. Rachel faces the consequences of her actions after taking the fall for the stolen exams, whilst Skills attempts to raise Mouth's spirits after his break-up with Shelley. Meanwhile, Brooke is forced to reflect on her past treatment of Peyton.
Contains examples of the following tropes:
- Book Ends: The episode starts with Peyton punching Brooke, the punch being shot from the first person perspective of the victim; it ends with Psycho Derek punching Peyton, shot in the same manner.
- Does This Make Me Look Fat?: Bevin asks Skills if her prom dress makes her butt look big; Skills’ response is an appreciative "Oh yeah" which is the response she was looking for.
- Double Entendre: Rachel jokingly asks Brooke if Lucas or Nathan is the real big brother.
- Downer Ending: Psycho Derek returns, attacking Peyton as she answers the door expecting Lucas to take her to prom.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Before Psycho Derek turns up on Peyton’s doorstep, there’s a shot of someone putting on a tuxedo in front of a framed picture of Peyton… an oddly candid photo of Peyton, almost as if she had no idea the photo was being taken.
- Heel Realization: Brooke finally has one in regards to her relationship with Peyton after speaking with Peyton and Rachel.
- Hope Spot: Peyton painting "WHORE" on Brooke’s prom dress with fluorescent paint that only shows up under blacklight, oddly enough. Brooke points out that, despite Peyton saying Brooke is dead to her, this shows that she cared enough to publicly humiliate Brooke.
- How We Got Here: The episode opens on a flashback which reveal the events that led up to Nathan and Brooke making a sex tape.
- Hypocrite: Brooke is exposed as one, as after months of demonising Peyton across both Junior and Senior year over her feelings for Lucas, it turns out that Brooke made a sex tape with Nathan on one of his and Peyton’s many one-night break up.
- Laser-Guided Karma: When Mouth asks Rachel if she’s going to say goodbye to anyone, she points out that she doesn’t really have anyone to say goodbye to after everything she’d done.
- Never My Fault: Brooke blames Peyton for Chase dumping her, ignoring that Chase outright tells that it’s because of Brooke making a sex tape with Nathan during his relationship with Peyton.
- Playing the Victim Card: Brooke keeps trying to justify the sex tape by pointing out Peyton & Lucas’ history of getting together when Lucas is already dating her. It’s only when Rachel points out how crappy a friend Brooke has been to Peyton that she stops.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Peyton delivers one to Brooke, after Brooke starts egging Peyton’s house.Peyton: Why do I care? Brooke, this has been one of the worst years of my life. And I needed my best friend more than ever and you cut me out because I was honest with you! And you were never, ever honest with me!
Brooke: Peyton-
Peyton: You made fun of my mom's death, Brooke! You knew her! You cried with me when she died and now... you use her as a punchline for a joke to hurt me. It hurt. It did. But, not anymore. 'Cause you and me, we're done. You're right; she's dead. As far as I'm concerned, so are you. - In their final conversation before she leaves, Rachel outright tells Brooke that she’s in the wrong about the sex tape and knows it, and it’s not fair to expect Peyton to immediately forgive her for the sex tape when she still refuses to forgive Peyton for how things played out with Lucas.
- Peyton delivers one to Brooke, after Brooke starts egging Peyton’s house.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Deb returns from rehab to find the kitchen counter covered in bottles of alcohol; she immediately assumes that it’s her mess and apologises to Nathan, who’s more than happy to go along with it.
- Tempting Fate: Mouth saying that no-one thinks Brooke is a whore seconds before she walks into a blacklight and finds the word "WHORE" painted on her dress in fluorescent paint.
- Titled After the Song: The episode title is taken from the song "Prom Night at Hater High" by The Long Winters.
- Tranquil Fury: Peyton’s immediate reaction to seeing Brooke and Nathan’s sex tape is to wordlessly punch Brooke in the face.
- Trauma Conga Line: Lampshaded by Peyton as she describes the last 12 months (Which, due to Comic-Book Time, goes back to some point in Season 2) as the worst year of her life.
- Verbal Backspace: When Nathan apologises to Lucas over the sex tape, Lucas admits that he’s just glad it wasn’t Peyton, and then sheepishly asks if it could have been Peyton, apparently not considering it a possibility until he verbalised it.
- Wham Shot: Peyton answering the door, expecting to see Lucas as he takes her to prom, only find Psycho Derek instead.Psycho Derek: Hi, Peyton. [Psycho Derek punches her in the face before she can respond]
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Haley’s pissed off at Nathan over his making a sex tape with Brooke, and his Really Gets Around tendencies from before their marriage.
- Peyton’s pissed at Brooke for… everything. The sex tape is just the straw that broke the camel’s back - see "The Reason You Suck" Speech above.
- Peyton snaps at Lucas when he lets it slip that he went to see Brooke first instead of her, his actual girlfriend.
