Episode 3.5 A Multitude of Casualties

Overview:

The Ravens begin basketball practice. New team captain Nathan clashes with Lucas over Haley, and a new cheerleader sets her sights on Lucas. Elsewhere, Dan’s mayoral bid takes a surprising turn when an unlikely opponent emerges, Karen.

Recap:

The episode begins at the gym where Dan [I think acting as mayor] is introducing the midnight madness, just before basketball season begins. After he counts down the cheerleaders come out dancing. The scene changes to the rest of the team in the changing rooms, where Lucas is badgering Nathan about Haley. This starts up a fight. And just as Dan is introducing them saying "… Your Tree Hill Ravens" the fight spills over into the gym. The first people to show are of course Nate and Luke so Whitey goes over to Dan "Damn your sperm, Danny."The scene then flashes back to two days earlier with Mouth handing out fliers for the first official practice for assistant sports caster Midnight Friday. Haley sees Nathan and wants to talk about the kiss, he tells her it was a nice moment but it was over. Brooke and Peyton are trying out new cheerleaders. They have a spot. None of the girls really match up [they're real airheads, like cheerleaders are rumored to be], until one comes who’s even better than current cheerleaders. Her name is Rachel, and Brooke remembers her as Pamela Anderson from the masquerade party in Episode 4. She even comes with her own music, a sexy Ying Yang twins song. Peyton is impressed [Rachel even quoted John Lennon at the end of her routine], Brooke just sees a skank. They take her anyway.Whitey calls Nathan and makes him captain. Brooke is pushing Lucas to see other chicks, and mistakenly points Rachel out. She’s not amused. Chris runs into Haley at the music store and convinces her to work with him again. She says no and he goes over to report to Nathan. Deb is still making things difficult for Dan. Rachel bonds with all the other cheerleaders. She sees Lucas and goes over to confirm their date. He tells her he just asked her out to make Brooke jealous. She says she doesn’t mind. At practice, Nathan and Lucas’s tug wars continue, and Nathan makes him sit out the game. Only one person, a girl called Gigi shows up for Mouth’s tryouts. Peyton runs into Ellie who invites her to a concert. They bond. Over at Ellie’s room Peyton sees a really good drawing of her by Ellie and flies off the handle about lies.Brooke runs back home and forces Haley to join the cheer squad [she filled in once in Season 2], because she feels Rachel is taking over her life. Ellie goes to Peyton’s to try to explain and leaves her the article Peyton got mad about to read. Lucas while out with Rachel on their date, passes her near Brooke’s work place and Rachel gets her all riled up. Nathan goes to Haley’s and tells her she should work with Chris because he was good for her music. He tells her it’s about trust. This is her chance to prove herself to him.It turns out they’re retiring Dan’s jersey at the Midnight Madness that night, which Dan thinks will be good for PR. Karen goes over to the school, sees Dan at work running his campaign and decides to run against him. The cheerleaders are late and it turns out Rachel took them out for a treat. Just as Brooke and Rachel are having it out Haley shows up in cheer outfits and Brooke tells Rachel to go to hell. They dint need her any more. Other members say they do. So Haley is in, as is Rachel.Midnight Madness has started. Whitey introduces Dan, and while Dan is talking about running unopposed, it comes out that Karen is opposing him and Whitey endorses her. Dan is not jazzed. He anyway introduces the cheerleaders etc [this is where the episode started]. Only this time, the fight is not just Nathan vs. Lucas, Brooke also starts one with Rachel on the stage. Later on Whitey lets everyone have and makes Nathan and Lucas co-captains. Now they’ll either make the team or break, but they’re gonna do it together. Brooke finds Rachel naked in the back seat of Lucas’s car and cozies. Lucas goes to ask her what she’s mad about since it was what she wanted, and she says "I wanted you to fight for me. I wanted you to say that there is no one else that you’d ever be with and that you’d rather be alone than without me." She then goes over and punches Rachel in the face.Peyton goes to her room and read Ellie’s article. Then she goes to Ellie’s motel to see her and finds her gone. She laments in her podcasts, and we see Ellie going into an MRI machine listening to it. Haley goes over to Chris’s to work, and Nathan on his morning jog just happens to see it. The episode ends with him jogging away.

Originally aired: Wednesday November 2, 2005 on The CW

Writer: R. Lee Fleming Jr.
Director: Thomas J. Wright
Show Stars: Paul Johansson (Dan Scott), James Lafferty (Nathan Scott), Moira Kelly (Karen Roe), Hilarie Burton (Peyton Sawyer), Bethany Joy Galeotti (Haley James-Scott), Barbara Alyn Woods (Deb Scott (as also starring; 2004-present)), Chad Michael Murray (Lucas Eugene Scott), Barry Corbin (Coach Whitey Durham), Sophia Bush (Brooke Davis), Lee Norris (Mouth McFadden (2005-present))
Recurring Role: Sheryl Lee (Ellie), Danneel Harris (Rachel), Tyler Hilton (Chris), Brett Claywell (Tim)
Guest Stars: Danielle Motley (Clown Girl)
Production Code: 2T6155

Source

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Season 3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.