"Are You True?" is the third episode of the first season of One Tree Hill and the 3rd produced episode of the series. It was broadcast on October 7, 2003. Frustrated by Lucas' growing popularity at school, Nathan searches for Lucas' weak spot, and finds it in Haley. Meanwhile, Peyton is furious with Lucas for submitting her drawings to the local newspaper without her knowledge. Karen faces her past and Brooke lets her feelings for Lucas be known.
Synopsis[]
It’s the final seconds of the latest Ravens basketball game and both Scott brothers are on the court. (Peyton & Brooke cheer them on from the sidelines while Karen, Whitey, Mouth, Jimmy, Keith, Dan watch from sidelines.) Nathan takes a shot and misses, forcing Tim to pass the ball to Lucas who prove he deserves his place on the team as he gets the ball and shoots for three points. He scores the basket and the crowd goes wild as the game draws to a dramatic close, with the commentator proclaiming "there is a new Scott in town." Nathan approaches Dan and he berates his son for letting Lucas take the shot. At the same time, Lucas sees Keith and Karen who offer him support and congratulations. After he leaves, Shari Smith approaches Karen and tells her now that her son is on a varsity team she is entitled to join Boosters (although through her vagueness, Shari doesn't seem keen on Karen joining.) Karen is at first reluctant but, defiant at Shari's doubtfulness, decides she might join them at their next meeting.
Lucas returns to his car and finds Brooke in the backseat in her underwear. She introduces herself (although, she says, he probably already knows who she is) and attempts to seduce him by undressing but she is forced to stop when Whitey approaches to both congratulate Luke on the win and tell him he still has work to do. Much to Lucas' embarrassment, Whitey tells him "there's a half naked girl in the backseat of your car."
When he leaves, Brooke asks Lucas if he knows that everything will change now that he scored the point.
In Peyton Sawyer's room, Nathan Scott obsesses to his bored girlfriend about the praise Lucas is getting, bitter because of Dan. When he notices something different, Peyton tells him that she took down her sketches - to which he replies "what sketches?".
Lucas returns to the café and tells Haley about the game. She is extremely proud and Lucas asks if she wants to go to the Burning Boat ceremony with him, to which she agrees. She calls her mom, Lydia James before leaving.
Karen won't stop obsessing over Shari. Keith calls her out for not getting over having Lucas in H.S & Dan. She gets defensive, but agrees to give Shari a chance
After Nathan has gone, she receives a call from Thud magazine and they ask her to do some sketches for their magazine after Lucas dropped her sketchbook off. Frightened, she deletes the message.
Lucas & Haley arrive at the Burning Boat, where Tree Hill residents are burn their 'bad karma' and start again. Lucas wants to burn the Scott name off his jersey due to Nathan & Dan. Lucas receives recognition from the students for his basketball win and Haley receives her own recognition when a student she tutors tells her about his B+ grades, which elates Haley.
The next day at school, Lucas & Haley make plans to see a movie and Nathan watches them, asking Tim who Haley is as he masterminds his next plot against Lucas, fueled by his desire to please Dan. An irate Peyton then approaches Lucas and yells at him for submitting her works, saying if she needed his help she would have asked for it. Peyton and Brooke leave, discussing Lucas. Brooke plans to get him to sleep with her, but it seems that Peyton thinks he won't go for her.
Later on, Lucas is showering after practice and the team, spurred on by Nathan steals his clothes. Left with no choice, he covers himself with two basketballs and takes the hallways to find his clothes, when he runs into Whitey who tells him to get back to the shower room. At Keith's garage, Lucas and Keith work on a car and he tells Keith about life since he became a Raven, especially the team aka Nathan's hazing, and Keith advises him to just go along with it. At practice, Whitey changes his tactics and tells Nathan that he will be taking a more defensive role with Lucas, who is shooting baskets with Jake becoming the shooting guard, motivating Nathan further to plot against his brother. Upon returning home, Dan yells at Nathan for letting their dream slip away, saying he wants more for him than a nine-to-five job at a garage (aka Keith, Karen, or Deb's life) and he motivates Nathan to fight back against Lucas by attacking his weaknesses.
The hazing of Lucas continues as the team, drenches his uniform after Nathan rallies them, along with Tim to see Lucas as an opponent due to his pep talk with Dan in the morning about Whitey's supposed vendetta but Jake refuses to be a part of it and offers Lucas support.
Lucas finds the River Court destroyed by the team.
On the court, Nathan reassures Tim that if the hazing doesn't work, he has a back-up plan. Nathan goes to the Tutor Center and reveals that he signed up for tutoring, and his tutor is none other than Haley. She refuses to tutor him out of loyalty to Lucas and agrees to find him someone else. . Elsewhere, Peyton has her interview for Thud, but the editor’s demands she makes it happier with some more stereotypical, cheerleader types.
Brooke & Lucas flirt in class. Peyton's oblivious, and Nathan fails his exam. In retaliation, Nathan takes a paper he failed to Haley and makes her feel guilty as it seems he does need tutoring after all.
At the wax parlor, Brooke confides in Peyton that Lucas seems like someone she could date exclusively, She wants what Nathan & Peyton have without the drama. Brooke asks Peyton likes Lucas. Peyton denies on account of Nathan and changes the subject with a wax strip
At the cafe, Karen discusses Haley & Lucas' friendship. Haley comes from a big family, but felt need with Lucas. Karen follows Keith's advice and goes to the Boosters club to see what it's like and she agrees. Upon arriving she is asked if she is Dan's ex, but she reveals to the women that she and Dan never married (which raises the eyebrows of some of the mothers.) When one mother raises the issue of Lucas getting a starting spot on the team ahead of boys who've been on the Ravens team for years, Karen retaliates that it's because he's good, and Whitey recognizes it. She then tells the mothers about the team's hazing of Lucas but Sherri, Tim's mom tells her that their boys are the good ones. Karen decides to leave the club, not before reminded Shari that she's still "the same petty little bitch she was in high school." Later, Lucas arrives on the River Court and finds that Nathan and the team trashed it. Annoyed, Lucas tries to repair the court when Peyton arrives and talks to him about Thud wanting to change her work. She thanks him for submitting her work but leaves after Lucas asks why she stays with Nathan & says the Thud editor was wrong
Having thrown him in the mud, the team leave Lucas in the middle of nowhere.
While Haley is working at the cafe, Nathan calls her and begs for help. She hangs up out of loyalty to Lucas and Karen begins questioning who it was. Despite Haley not revealing who it is, just that he is a bad person, Karen tells her that if he came for tutoring maybe he's trying to change, which hits home because it sounds like her mom Lydia's advice. At the garage, Keith tells Lucas that now the team have made it personal he can't just go along with it anymore. Jake then arrives and tells Lucas that he didn't have anything to do with the destruction of the court, and that he prefers to just play basketball and live his life. He tells Lucas to take the high road and promises him that the hazing will relent soon enough. Lucas then tells Haley about the hazing and blames Nathan & Dan completely for everything that's happening. Haley attempts to tell him about Nathan asking for her to tutor him but changes her mind when Lucas tells her that Nathan will always be in control until someone stops him, something which Haley believes she can do if she agrees to tutor him.
In a montage, Peyton finds her "They Are Not You" drawing in her locker that Lucas left there. In English class, Haley looks over Nathan, who's struggling. Karen watches Sherri give her a dirty look at the cafe. Lucas cleans up the River Court. At practice, Nathan's pissed when he sees Lucas & Whitey bonding
Lucas' hazing takes a drastic turn for the worst when he goes to meet Haley at the cinema but he is intercepted by the team, Nathan, Tim before he can get there. They grab him, force him into their car and drive him into the middle of nowhere. The team & Tim throws Lucas into a mud puddle and Nathan approaches him and warns him that it will only get worse unless he quits the team while taunting him about Dan, Karen, Peyton. They then drive away, forcing him to walk back to Tree Hill alone.
Haley tells Nathan that she, and math, doesn't care who he is.
Lucas returns home and finds Karen waiting for him. He tells her that he had a run in with the team aka Nathan and she tells him she is proud of him for putting up with the team for so long. She, like Jake, tells her son to take the high road, but he refuses and says he has reached the point where he has no choice but to fight back. They bond over Karen's low road with Sherri. He wants to fight back like Keith. The next day, at practice, Lucas is ignored by Tim and the rest of the team who refuse to pass to him at Nathan's command and he is forced to intervene with the other players to get the ball. Whitey reprimands the entire team, threatening suspension, and then cuts practice short. Jake has Lucas' back. Lucas finds Haley and tells her that things aren't going to get any better for him with Nathan. She apologizes, knowing she'll be working with Nathan. In return, she goes to Nathan's house and promises to tutor him on the condition that Lucas never finds out that she is tutoring him, and secondly that both Nathan and the team leave Lucas alone. He agrees, but Haley remains unaware that her actually tutoring him is just another ploy to get back at Lucas. The following day, the two meet and Nathan gives Haley a bracelet from a Cracker Jack packet, saying "Don't say I never gave you anything", clearly trying to create a rapport between the two, but Haley demands that she doesn't care who he is or how good he is at basketball. She tells him not to waste her time, because she's already taking a big enough chance on him.
Haley lies to Lucas about her latest tutoring student.
At Thud Magazine, Peyton approaches the editor due to Lucas' advice and says that her art is who she is and she isn't willing to change it.
At the burning boat ceremony that Whitey is leading, Lucas and Karen arrive. Thanks to Keith's advice & her talk with Lucas, she is finally able to let go of the past and throws her cheerleading outfit on the boat. In keeping with her fresh start, she kindly approaches Shari, Tim's mom and introduces her to Lucas and apologizes for what she said at the meeting. Whitey sets the boat alight, and with it Lucas' 'Scott' name badge which he put on the boat earlier, getting rid of Dan's energy. Brooke approaches him. He tells her she doesn't have to flirt all the time, which only makes her want him more
Having decided to fight back, Lucas approaches Nathan, gives him back the spray can he used to vandalise the River Court, and tells Nathan that it doesn't matter what the team does to him he isn't going to back down and he defiantly isn't going anywhere. In fact, he's going after Nathan's title. Peyton's impressed. Lucas then approaches Haley and they watch the boat burn together, as they said they would, but he soon notices that Haley is wearing the bracelet Nathan gave her.
Thud magazine is running Peyton's strip, thanks to Peyton listening to Lucas' advice about staying true to herself.
When Haley tells Lucas she was tutoring this morning, he questions her on who her new student is, but she responds that it isn't anyone he knows, lying about Nathan
Memorable Quotes[]
- "Oh by the way, there's a half naked girl in the backseat of your car, thought you'd like to know"
- - Whitey Durham to Lucas Scott
- "Memory lane is a two-way street"
- "Yeah, so is 'you don't know what the hell you're talking about' Boulevard"
- - Keith Scott and Karen Roe
- "The Brooke Davis leopard bra, dude that things like a welcome mat. Anyway, I heard you were naked in his car"
- "No, I was partially naked. At one point I had mittens on cause it was cold. Oh, did you see my ...
- "Okay, focus. You're a slut in mittens, you're in the car. Then what happens?"
- "I just want more for you, Nathan. More than a nine-to-five and a feeling you could have had a better life."
- - Dan Scott to Nathan Scott
- "Now you see, normally this is when you become part of the team. We'd have a keg, tell some war stories but you had to know that wasn't gonna happen, right?"
- - Nathan Scott to Lucas Scott
- "Do you see this? This is me, I am Math."
- "What's that supposed to mean?"
- "It means you can work your whole, I'm Nathan Scott Mr Big Shot scoring my touchdowns, on somebody else because-"
- "I don't even play football."
- "Whatever. The point is, at the end of the day all your bluster and BS don't mean anything to math, because math don't care and neither do I."
- - Haley James and Nathan Scott
- "I have two conditions. One, Lucas does not find out, okay? And two, you leave him alone"
- - Haley James to Nathan Scott
- "Don't say I never gave you anything"
- - Nathan Scott to Haley James
- "Whatever you got, you better bring it, cause I'm not going anywhere"
- - Lucas Scott to Nathan Scott
Voice-over[]
- "E.E. Cummings once wrote; To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting."
- - Lucas Scott (closing voice-over)
Music[]
- "You Own Me" - Sense Field
- "Glad To Be Alive" - Low Flying Owls
- "Apologies" - Bosshouse
- "How Good It Can Be" - The 88
- "Shoulder" - Cactus Groove
- "Hang" - Mojo Monkeys
- "Silence Is Easy" - Starsailor
- "Multiply" - Forty Foot Echo
- "Stones" - Peter Francis
- "You Dance" - eastmountainsouth
This episode's title originated from the song Are You True?, originally sung by The New Amsterdams.
Trivia[]
- Although credited as guest stars Lee Norris, Cullen Moss and Vaughn Wilson (Mouth, Junk and Fergie respectivly) do not actually appear in this episode.
- This is the first episode broadcast that does not feature the book that Lucas quotes in the voiceover at the end.
- The bracelet given to Haley by Nathan begins a key theme throughout the show.
- This is the first episode Mark Schwahn did not write.
- Brooke appearing naked in Lucas' car is later re-enacted five times through the series.
- By Rachel in Lucas' car in A Multitude of Casualties.
- By Chase in Brooke's car in All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone.
- By Brooke in Owen's car in Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want.
- By Owen in Brooke's car in Sympathy for the Devil.
- By Missy in Brooke's car in Screenwriter's Blues.
Episode References[]
- Both Jake and Whitey reference the suspension of many of the Tree Hill Ravens. ("Pilot")
- Nathan fails to notice Peyton has torn her artwork down from her walls, which she did in the previous episode. ("The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most")
Pilot • The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most • Are You True? • Crash Into You • All That You Can't Leave Behind • Every Night Is Another Story • Life in a Glass House • The Search For Something More • With Arms Outstretched • You Gotta Go There to Come Back • The Living Years • Crash Course in Polite Conversation • Hanging By a Moment • I Shall Believe • Suddenly Everything Has Changed • The First Cut Is the Deepest • Spirit in the Night • To Wish Impossible Things • How Can You Be Sure? • What Is and What Should Never Be • The Leaving Song • The Games That Play Us