It’s Peyton! Cue the cheers and whistles. Yes, Lucas called Peyton. Finally, the answer we’ve been waiting all summer for. Well, those of us rooting for Leyton (Lucas+Peyton) anyway. Last season, we were left with the ultimate cliffhanger. Lucas makes a call from the airport. “I have to tickets to Vegas. Do you want to get married tonight?” I’m pretty sure we all wanted to kill the writers for doing this to us. Who did he call?!? But, the payoff was well worth it. And it’s only the first episode.

We start off in Lucas’ dream where he is told to pick between three cards (representing the three women in his life–Peyton, Brooke and Lindsay). Then, in his dream, we get to see him celebrate his one year anniversary with each girl. And, is it just me or has Chad and Sophia lost their chemistry? And, why is she really even in the picture anymore? Last season, we got to see a wonderful friendship grow between them, as adults. There weren’t any signs of a reconciliation. In fact, Brooke was pro-Leyton all season. So why was she included as a possibility? Sadly, I think it’s to keep those devoted Brucas (Brooke+Lucas, keep up now!) fans watching. For me, it was almost unbearable. Chad and Sophia, as we know, were married at one time and quickly divorced amid rumors of Chad’s infidelity. Well, I’m sorry, but hearing those two, who usually have amazing on-screen chemistry despite their history, say “hi wife” and “hi husband” to each other was just…awkward. So yeah, I’m glad Brooke wasn’t on the receiving end of that phone call.

Thankfully, Lindsay’s pretty much out of the picture, for now. Michaela McManus, who plays Lindsay, has been cast as a lead in a new show so it’s safe to say she won’t be around much longer. AKA one less thing getting in the way of total Leyton bliss. She wasn’t even in the episode aside from the dream sequence and let’s hope it stays that way. I’m just waiting for her to call and say she’s pregnant (what was her friend on the phone talking about in the finale–”did you tell him yet?”–tell him what?!?).

Sure, some of the Lucas and Peyton scenes were a little cheesy, but it was so long overdue. Not to mention, when Lucas turns around in the airport, in the pivotal scene that revealed who he chose, I wanted to jump up when I saw it was Peyton. It was nice to see him smile and run to her. “I made the right choice,” he said. When asked how he knows, he responds, “I guess I always knew.” Thank you! It’s about damn time, buddy.

As for Nathan and Haley (or Naley), the real rock of the show, where the hell were they? We get a little kiss well after the second commercial break, and still, nothing with substance. While we see their son Jamie bonding with Haley’s student/Nathan’s practice buddy Quentin, we don’t see much of the old Naley we all know and love. Although, I gotta say that the dancing scene with Haley and Jamie was classic. Bethany Joy Galeotti (Haley) is the driving force of comedy on the show now. It used to be Brooke, but she’s been so serious lately with wanting babies and trying to get her company run without her crazy mother. Bring back a little bit of old Brooke! As for Nathan and his NBA dreams, we are all pulling for him. We see him trying to hide his pain as he works out and picks up Jamie, which is a clear sign that tough roads are ahead. Let the boy get his dream already!

Dan, Dan, Dan. Last we saw, he was run over and lying on the street all bloody with a bad heart and at the top of the donor list. As fate goes, as soon as he gets hit, his beeper goes off signaling a new heart is waiting for him. Now, he wakes up in a hospital room and who do we see? Carrie. Yes, the psycho nanny who abducted Jamie. She’s back for her revenge on Dan who helped Jamie get home to Nathan and Haley. Nanny Carrie goes all Kathy Bates on him and ties him to the bed and drugs him. When he tries to escape, he sees he is not in a hospital at all, but a house (a house that looked an awful lot like Dawson’s). But Seriously? It really did feel like I was watching a bad horror flick. But, this is Dan we are talking about.

Now for the kicker–Deb and Skillz. Honestly, watching these two jump into a crazy older woman/younger man relationship kind of makes me sick. Granted Deb is a hot mom, I really have had enough of seeing her flashing people in the midst of this quasi midlife crisis. And now they want to go public? So wait, it’s a real relationship? Gag. At least it’s keeping us kind of entertained…should be interesting to see Nathan’s reaction.

Oh, and something happened with Mouth. Besides his terrible bowled haircut circa 1996, Mouth’s storyline was well, boring. He and Millicent are moving to Omaha for his new job. Is that the end of Mouth? Quite possibly. I think the writers may have run out of ideas for his character. And I think I’m okay with that.

So did Lucas and Peyton go through with the marriage? Nope. The trashy Vegas chapel with Elvis initiating and a myriad of cheap flowers wasn’t going to cut it for them. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief. We want a real Leyton wedding! It was cute to see them drive to Los Angeles back to that hotel room Lucas proposed to her in four years ago

Was it a good way to kick off the season? It wasn’t perfect by any means. It was a little over the top and was too much of a departure from the old One Tree Hill. But, the Leyton reunion made up for most of it. And according to next week’s preview, the drama will only escalate. Brooke gets beaten up as her store is broken into…can’t wait! All I ask of this season is less love triangle drama, more Naley scenes and more brother scenes between Nathan and Lucas. After all, that is where is all began.

Sharon is a freelance writer who has contributed to a variety of publications including HotIndieNews.com and the Web sites of both Marie Claire and CosmoGIRL! magazines.

Sir Linksalot: One Tree Hill