"The Other Half of Me" is the thirteenth episode of Season 8 of One Tree Hill and originally aired February 1st, 2011. The episode was written by John A Norris and directed by Greg Prange.
Brooke and Julian’s wedding day has arrived. Haley and Jamie compete over writing the best speech, and Skills endeavors to make sure at least one Tree Hill wedding runs smoothly.
Contains examples of the following tropes:
- Auto Erotica: Chase and Mia are found going at in the backseat of the limo set to take the newlyweds from the reception.
- Bait-and-Switch: Sylvia compliments Paul by noting he‘s responsible for giving her her greatest gift… her Aston Martin.
- Brick Joke: Jamie tells Julian that you can tell Chester has a crush on Brooke because of his eyes; Julian says the same thing about Madison to Jamie when they’re at the altar.
- Call-Back:
- Nathan advises Jamie to stay away from jokes in his speech, citing Haley’s experience at Lucas and Peyton’s wedding and Jamie’s talent show routine.
- Skills, Mouth and Chase are shown tailgating prior to the wedding, much like Skills, Mouth, Junk and Fergie were prior to Lucas and Lindsey’s wedding.
- Skills runs a background check on Julian to make sure he’s really who he is, before recounting the time Keith’s bride turned out not be who she claimed.
- At the reception, Skills runs down how this wedding didn’t have any psychos, kidnappings, or people being left at the altar.
- Haley’s matron of honor speech makes reference to the first road trip she took with Brooke.
- Skills had Julian’s truck prepared for the bride and groom’s departure on the off chance someone stole the limo and crashed it off the side of a bridge. As he explains, the camera cuts to an embarrassed Haley glancing at Nathan, showing that Skills isn’t the only one to remember it.
- Continuity Porn:
- References are made to every previous wedding in the series over the course of the episode, with the sole exception of Nathan and Haley’s first wedding.
- As Brooke walks down the aisle to Julian, there’s a flashback montage of their relationship up to their engagement.
- Continuity Snarl: Haley recounts an abridged version of the story of her first road trip with Brooke in her matron of honor speech, as the the moment she and Brooke became friends. Except this is false - the road trip was a bonding experience for Haley and Peyton, whilst Brooke spent the majority of the journey high on painkillers before telling both girls that they weren’t suddenly going to be friends when they were back at school; Haley and Brooke didn’t become friends until the second season.
- Crazy-Prepared: Skills had Julian’s truck prepared for the bride and groom’s departure in the event they couldn’t take the limo.
- The Ghost: Brooke’s father is absent from the wedding.
- Internal Reveal: Haley tells Jamie that he’s getting a little sister.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Chase and Mia are found hooking up in the backseat of the limo, as Brooke and Julian go to leave the reception.
- Lampshade Hanging: Skills notes the historically bad track record of Tree Hill weddings, and goes out of his way to avoid it this time around.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Nathan notes Lucas’ tendency to quote his favorite authors in his speeches - something he commonly did when providing the opening and closing narration to episodes.
- Pet the Dog:
- When it’s time for the bride and groom to dance with their respective father and mother, Paul steps in for Brooke in the absence of her own father.
- After everything Skills does to ensure the wedding runs smoothly, Julian gives him a sincere thank you as he and Brooke go to leave.
- Rearrange the Song: This episode’s cover of "I Don’t Want To Be" is performed by Augustana.
- Serious Business: Skills takes his duties as usher with the utmost responsibility, to the point of treating it more like a security detail.
- Shout-Out: Jamie quotes Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at the start of his best man speech.
- Titled After the Song: The title of the episode is taken from the song "The Other Half of Me" by Within Temptation.
- Wedding Episode: Brooke and Julian get married.
