When we last saw the gang on One Tree Hill, Nathan and Haley just had a baby, Lucas was planning to be Whitey's assistant coach, and Peyton and Brooke were off to Los Angeles together to fulfill their dreams.  Now the show is jumping four years into the future for tonight's two part season premiere, skipping all of that pesky college stuff and joining the characters as they're on the road to adulthood.  It's a big, risky leap for the series, but one that just might pay off and bring us even better storylines.

The episode starts off by re-introducing us to all of the main characters and showing us where they are now that the years have passed.  Nathan is bearded and pissed off that his son, Jamie, has an interest in basketball.  Brooke (Sophia Bush) is managing Clothes Over Bro's and barking orders at her assistant Millicent.  Millicent is one of those nerdy TV girls who you know would be sexy if she just took off her glasses and let down her hair, which I'm sure will happen sometime this season.  Peyton is the assistant to the assistant at a record label in Hollywood, and she's willing to undo an extra button on her blouse when the cranky boss asks her to.  Haley is getting ready to become a school teacher, while Lucas is coaching the Ravens and struggling to work on his second novel.  Finally, Mouth is unemployed, living with Junk and Fergie, and attempting to do a demo tape to get an announcer gig.

The next scene shows us just why Nathan (James Lafferty) is so grizzled and angry.  He was planning to go join a professional basketball team in Seattle, but instead he has somehow ended up in a wheelchair with all of his dreams destroyed.  Does this show have the guts to actually paralyze one of its main characters?  That would be awesome.

Peyton (Hilarie Burton) is bombing at her morning meeting, even with that extra button undone.  She's trying to introduce indie rock to the masses, while the big bosses want the latest pop tart with a scandalous social life.  Sorry Peyton, but I can't get behind any band named Low Vs Diamond either.

We're then introduced to Victoria, Brooke's bitchy and demanding CEO at Clothes Over Bro's, which is a fashion line that has an apostrophe where no apostrophe should ever be.  Victoria is insisting that Brooke fire one of her friends at the company.  Brooke reluctantly goes along with the idea, even though it causes her to mope in her high rise and stare sadly at her $4000 dishes for awhile.

Not only is Nathan bearded and in a wheelchair, but he wants to drink scotch at 10am too.  Lucas (Chad Michael Murray) is over to play with Jamie, who he's bonded with over the years, and he also stops Nathan from drinking himself into oblivion.  Lucas tells Nathan that he'll be walking again soon, which means that my hopes for paralysis have quickly been dashed.  However, Nathan will never be able to play basketball again, so maybe he should down a couple shots of that scotch.

Back in Hollywood, California, home of cynical and skeezy record executives, Peyton is getting a talking to from her boss, John.  Peyton wants to discover bands that will change the world, but John, being cynical and skeezy, says that music can't change lives, but undoing a few more buttons may help Peyton change career paths.  She doesn't want to play that game, but I think her storyline would be more fun if she did.

The next few scenes remind us that there isn't much happiness amongst the Tree Hill gang.  Brooke is rich and famous, but feels lonely and trapped by her surroundings.  Peyton is continuously being beat down by the realities of the music industry.  Lucas can't get anywhere on his second book, and I'm personally surprised his first even got published with a dumbass title like An Unkindness of Ravens.  I know that's the technical term for a group of ravens, but still, I wouldn't buy a navel-gazing memoir with a title like that.  Haley (Bethany Joy Galeotti) and Nathan aren't any better off, as they continuously fight over Nathan's mopey, trophy smashing, intoxicated ways.

Instead of wallowing forever, the gang then decides to get their respective acts together and put their lives back on track.  Peyton quits her job and heads back to Tree Hill, meeting up with Lucas again.  Unfortunately for her, he's dating his book editor, Lindsey.  Nathan admits that he drinks too much, and also flashes back to the bar fight that sent him through a window and landed him in a wheelchair.  Mouth (Lee Norris) successfully finishes his demo tape, and Brooke skips out on a trip to Milan to hang out with Peyton back in Tree Hill.

By the end of the episode the gang is nearly back together and Nathan is back on his feet again, attempting to walk and apologizing to his son for being such an angry father.  Though a lot of things have changed, it looks like they may be back to normal sooner than we expected.  I like the message of this episode: that no matter how well you plan your life and how successful you are at chasing your dreams, life always throws you curve balls.  Sometimes getting everything you want isn't all it's cracked up to be.  The Tree Hill group learned that lesson the hard way over the past four years, but now it looks like they're finally moving toward happier futures.

Read the recap for part two of the season premiere here.


- Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
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