"Return of the Future" is the eleventh episode of Season 3 of One Tree Hill and originally aired January 18th, 2006. The episode was written by Terrence Coli and directed by Bethany Rooney.
After the Ravens lose their second game of the season, Whitey administers some tough love - but some are more receptive than others. Peyton and Ellie start to work on recruiting bands for their benefit album, and Haley gives Nathan some news that leads to some self-reflection. Finally, Brooke plans a romantic night for Lucas after learning that her fashion designs have been submitted to a prestigious competition in New York.
Contains examples of the following tropes:
- The Alleged House: After the Ravens lose their second game of the season, Whitey tells them that they won’t be playing or practicing at the gym bearing his name until they start playing better. The gym he takes them to clearly hasn’t been used in years, and requires the boys to work together to fix it up before they can start practicing again.
- The Bus Came Back: Keith Scott returns to Tree Hill, having been told by Deb that Dan thinks he started the fire.
- Call-Back: After finding out that Brooke’s designs have been submitted for the prestigious Rogue Vogue competition, Haley assumes that it was Lucas because of his previously submitting Peyton’s artwork to THUD magazine.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Nathan tells Dan that he had no right to reject Oak Lake on his behalf without letting him know about their offer.
- The Cameo: Nada Surf appear as themselves, as Peyton starts recruiting bands for her cancer benefit album.
- Failed a Spot Check: Brooke, caught up in the excitement of being accepted for the competition, doesn't realise that Rogue Vogue coincides with the Sparkle Classic cheerleading competition until Rachel points it out to her.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Dan pulls some strings to get Nathan’s offer from Oak Lake back on the table, and proceeds to brag to Whitey that Nathan’s moving on to better things… only for Nathan to walk in as he is doing so, and point blank tell Dan that he has no intention of leaving the team.
- Loophole Abuse: As he’s working on cleaning the gym, Lucas discovers a dead spot on the floor that kills the momentum of a bouncing basketball. Upon revealing this to Nathan, he suggests that they map out the court to find any other similar spots on the court so the Ravens have a definitive home court advantage.
- Never My Fault: Nathan blames Haley for sleeping with him when she wasn’t on birth control, but she points out that he’s not exactly blameless in the situation as he never stopped to check or put on a condom himself.
- Not Me This Time:
- Keith denies starting the dealership fire, dismissing Dan’s evidence that points to him.
- Brooke and Haley immediately assume Lucas was the one to submit her designs for Rogue Vogue as he had previously done something similar for Peyton. When Brooke tries thanking Lucas, he can only express his confusion about the subject before admitting it wasn’t him.
- Papa Wolf: Keith is immediately angered upon learning about Dan choking Lucas, and proceeds to threaten Dan if he ever touches Lucas again.
- The Reveal: Keith admits to Karen that he briefly returned to Tree Hill to see her, but found out she was heading to New Zealand to see Andy so he didn’t say anything.
- Secret-Keeper: Discussed by Lucas and Keith, in regards to the dealership fire.Keith: Who else knows what you did?
Lucas: Well, you, me and Deb… and Dan. He kinda choked it outta me. [Keith’s eyes widen angrily] No, its fine, it’s… it’s OK. [Beat] And Peyton knows too.
Keith: You kept the Jules secret for two months. Nice work. - Titled After the Song: The title of the episode is taken from the song "Return Of The Future" by Scooter.
- Will They or Won't They?: Averted - after their respective failed relationships with Andy and Jules, Karen and Keith don’t fall back into their old habits and are instead open with one another about wanting to start a relationship.
