We’ve Got Skills • EP402

is everybody a stalker? That's just what I want to know, because we're teenagers. This is my takeaway. Oh man, it's a sloppy one. Brooks Birthday I forgot. Wait, I thought you had a summer birthday. I didn't realize that Brooke was an October birthday. Well it isn't. Brooks birthday is March fourth, what yeah? So, but I don't know why this aired on October four. But remember every season of

our show was a semester. I guess in high school, so like we were doing annual years, but the show was only doing six month periods, so it made everything a little sticky in that like second semester every year. I see what you're saying. Listen, hey, I gotta give it to the fans then for like keeping track of that, like and yeah, because you know what it is. It's it's about to be playoffs and March madness is obviously in March. Girl, you read these signs sports, I'm just like, wait, second,

it's October fourth, What is that? What's going on? Yeah? This air October four, two thousand six. God you guys, Joyce here, she's here. You got here just in time for the synopsis. Tell them about your traffic, your traffic fiasco. Um No, I was just on my way back from my writing session of working on some music, and on my way back, I'm just getting to know the highways here, so I missed my exit. You know, of course one time I'm really in a rashow. I'm here, we got you.

We're just reading the synopsis. You watched the episode earlier. Cooper's life remains uh, precaring, Like his life remains precarious, hanging precariously in the bad. It feels like a weird sense. It's a weird thing to say. Anyway. Nathan still struggling with what happened in that river. Brook celebrates her big eighteenth birthday, but finds it diminished by her struggles with Peyton.

Lucas and Karen come to terms with her pregnancy while also trying to figure out who's pregnancy tests they found in the purse and Deb's past addictions. Intersect with Haley in an explosive manner. Good, God that was that was Like that was upsetting? Yeah, for sure, I just I

didn't like it. I will say what I What I like so much in this episode is the misdirect with Brooke and Haley about who's pregnant, because it's one of the better things that they've done in terms of the fact that you just really don't know what's going on. And I watched it like it's like when you've seen The Sixth Sense and you know the ending and then you go back to watch the need to figure out if they were telling you about the ending the whole time,

and you realize that they were. Like I watched that scene of us in the back of Karen's cafe like a hawk, just being like, who says exactly what? And how did we do this? And God, it was good. It was really saying, uh, it's it's gonna be okay, right, And I remember because I kind of I was like, why is she asking me if it's okay? I'm the one who's freaking out. But then that's the mr. The

audience doesn't know. Yeah, everyone's really thinks it's brooke. And with with Rachel catching her and and the perfume you know that Lucas talks about before the pregnancy test was in a purse with your perfume minute, you know, like it really the writers did a good job of really making you lean to think that that's what it was, even with Haley saying did you guys ever talk about it?

And then Brook asking the question and these girls talking about their experiences, you know, in their young intimate relationships. When Haley goes to Karen and she's like, boy, that must have been really hard for you at seventeen, and you know she's wishing. But they also remind the audience when you're like, hey, have you ever dealt with this? And you're like, yeah, last year when I had the scare, which means like, yeah, I'm sexually active. Yeah, I've had

scares in the past. And Haley's like, well, we got in a fight about birth control, which makes you think like, oh, well, Haley is on birth control. It couldn't possibly be her. They've already had this fight, don't don't a little bit of exposition. Yeah, this was This was a big episode. This was like packed. Well, there were so many things I loved. I loved seeing the river Court even just

so much. Skills, so many like moments with Skills finally coming back, and those shots um when Barry and Chad were in the car and you could see not just the River Court but then passed it onto Front Street or Water Street across the river. I miss seeing those. Yeah. And because we did all that lighting, like we lit down down and then the lights stayed up and it became this really iconic vista. I just about fell out of my chair when Hillary rolls up in the comment

and Skills goes, hey, home wrecker. Here is how I want all of you to say hello to me from now on. Do you remember was I'm turning so red that made me laugh so hard? Was that in the script or did Antoine just yell that at you man? Listen.

That's the best part about working with Antoine is that his lines were funnier than the lines that are on paper, and they would try all the time to try to match his cadence and his rhythm and just like the way that he talks, and it was always just like white people writing for a black man, and it sounded so forced and dumb, and so Antoine very well could have have written that or come up with it on the spot. But what I like about him is that

he commits to the material. And when we're in Peyton's room and he's like asking about records and he's teasing her about like this sounds like a lot of white girl drama, and he's just leaning into it. He can just take a scene that could be like awkward and clunky and make it funny. It is a skill set I don't have. And so I'm en Vince Vaughan thing. It's like, you know how Vince Vaughan can just you just drop room and he'll just go until something happens. Yeah.

I think Antoine is the same way. Yeah, we were lucky. We're seeing more and more and more of him. They've put him in the new opening credits um, which is great and our show need at that. Our diversity problem is major huge huge, Um. So, yeah, I and I like that Skills is going to be on the team. I think it was cool to watch before we even like round, like came back to it at the end of the episode, watching that first scene where Luke takes Barry to the river court and does the same exact

thing that Keith did in the pilot. It is great. That's right. I forgot about that hill. Yeah. I mean you've got you've got Nathan telling the whole story of like Keith was with me in the car, and you've

got Luke emulating Keith's behavior. You know the effects, Yeah, exactly, those are the Luke's drives Keith's car now, and yeah that you see his influence everywhere, and it's really cool to see his positive influence on the boys while the absence of him is making Dan Scott crazy, Like Dan is losing his mind, he's hallucinating, he's miss hearing things that you know. The UPS guy comes in and he says, signed here Mr Mayor, but he hears Mr Murderer. Mr works at the way the way Paul looks at the

UPS guy. Did you make a note about that? Because I did, I did, I totally did. Can you imagine if there was someone in political office that you go like, you're just there to drop off a package, and they'd say they stare at you and glare at you, and they're like, from now on, just leave the package to the front door. So I'd be like, oh my god, I do not want this person in charge in any way, shape or form. Paranoid right now and be like are you okay? No one in the Scott family is okay.

Dan's losing his debs, like nearly causing a shooting. Yeah, and then having these crazy visions and fears. Um. For the episode in a Row, I know, listen, they worked that water tank and they were like, we're going to fit this water work that's very expensive into no less than six episodes. We are making this work. We got to invest. Yeah, Barbara's great. I love watching her work. I love the things that she creates. Um. I love

the scene with Moira. I don't know if you, I mean, if you've ever talked with someone who is high in a really troubling way. It was so realistic because that her total lack of concern and actual She was laughing at her, like you are so uptight. This is ridiculous um and seeing Moira really drop into this, really drop into this fear um and like, you're not going to threaten seventeen years of my business just because you're stressed out and you know your life is falling apart. Yeah,

it was very it was realistic and yeah, troubling. As you said, Sophia, it was really bothered me. Well, it kind of it was like light and any like oh ha ha gun went off to the cafe today. We both screamed, like when when the scene happened, Hillary and I both shouted. We were so startled, and it's terrifying. And you're right, it is really interesting to see somebody, yes, who's struggling, but like, look, Deb's acting out. She's afraid, so she's masking and she's acting out. She's saying, I

want to feel better, I want to feel good. I don't care what it does to anybody around me. And and Karen comes in with such vulnerability and says, you will not do this. You need help. What you're doing is hurting you, it's hurting me, and it's hurting this business. And I got to set up a boundary. And Dev's

just not ready to hear it. You know, it's like that thing that they say when we talked about this a little bit last week, right, like you have to be willing to look in and excavate and when you when you have to layer the things people need to heal from with addiction and and where that can send people. You know, It's why they say, like nobody gets sober until they're ready. Sometimes you have to send people to

rehab three times. Sometimes there have to be multiple interventions with family, and those people who lead those interventions always say, you have to set up a boundary. You cannot be an enabler. And it's wild in this adult female friendship to watch Karen trying to set up a boundary and deb trying to hold onto her dignity and the last pills.

Oh god, Okay, So here's what I loved about that moment because I had a couple of these moments with our writer where something would be scripted to be really really bitchy and instead like we would choose to play it really vulnerable or really earnest, and it would bug them And the last us two lines of the of the scene are it's an altoyd and Deb like plops it on her purse anyway, And I know exactly how

it was supposed to be scripted. It was supposed to be like a bitchy judge line from Karen, like a little button not on the scene, it's cute, And instead she played it like it was breaking her heart to say it. And so when deb popped it in her purse anyway, it hurts so bad instead of being a bitchy moment between women who were shrews, you know. And I just I love that you caught that. I was so happy Moira made that choice because it's not what

was on the paper at all. That was something that we had to do a lot on this show when we would have because we had so many guest directors come in and most of the time they think they just wanted to stick with what was on the page. Nobody wanted to make waves. There were a lot of people coming in who were newbie directors and wanted to um,

not rock the boat. They just want to maintain a good standing in their reputation and um and so whatever the producers were telling them, this is how the line should be read, is how they were instructed to instruct us. And you know, we were getting to a point now where four years in this show was ours. Now we knew these characters, we knew what we were doing, and

I encountered the struggle a lot. I think you guys did too, where the directors would tell us, okay, we have all right, great, we have it basically, we have it your way, all right, we got that. That's great, so we just give me one. Just do one the way it's scripted on the page, you know, just one, and we would we would accommodate often until we figured out, oh wait, that's that ends up always being the only take they use. They always inevitably use the tape um

that that wasn't really true to our character. And so we would have to wrestle a lot with some of these directors and be like, look, I'm sorry, I'm realized this might reflect on you and you might get in trouble for not being able to force me to do it. But yeah, just blame me. I'm telling you I know the best way for this thing to go down. I

don't know. Did you guys experience that? Yeah? And and look, I think what's kind of tough about knowing what to do in those situations is, yes, sometimes we do know the right thing for our characters, and directors are responsible for building the roller coaster, so they know, like what track from scene eight is needed in scene nine to connect it to scene ten, Like they have to build that track to be able to carry the car. Yeah.

It's not that they were always wrong, it's just well, yeah, but it's like having been in the director's chair, I've also experienced when somebody just cannot get out of their own way to help like build the scene. And and what I think becomes the really tricky kind of high I aer act is figuring out how to really be your character's best champion and be a really good team player.

And what I thought, yeah, and what I thought was was always important for us was knowing the way I felt like I began to know the difference was being able to see what directors had done their homework and knew the shape of the roller coaster versus the ones who were parroting something that I knew they didn't believe in. But they've been told that there and you can tell

you start to tell after you do this long enough. Yeah, And and that that then has become a really interesting thing for me, you know, post our show like on other jobs, being able to make sure um as a producer, as a co star that I know why we're advocating for the things we are and if somebody can punch holes in it, it means our argument sucks and we need a better one, you know. Yeah, And it's and it's so refreshing, I think to be at a place in our careers where we work with people who actually

talk to us about what's going on. Instead of saying, yeah, well, I I really just believe in this for your character. It's like, do you just need it for the shot? Because if you do, just tell me that. Do you need her just to stand on the bridge? Oh yeah. There were some directors who had come in and I've seen this on other jobs too, where they're like, listen, I realize it makes no sense for you to say the line this way, or to walk across the room

after you say this line or whatever. Can we please like, we have to find a way to make this work and here's why. And then they it's either the hours of the day that we're in or you know, I have to get you over there because they're dying for this transition shot and there's too many people you mean the door, the door I need, Yeah, whatever, the door. It's like, okay, I'm totally happy to help with you. Yeah,

it is really interesting. So it's cool when you see I guess that's what it is, right, It's like seeing these women you just want to be trusted with it.

Well yeah, but but this scene I think we love because we're seeing these women who were the seasoned professionals that we are now, who said, oh, we're going to do something so much more real with this dumb thing that some guy wrote, you know, yeah, like and they made it heartbreaking and you saw how sad it made Moira to say it, and you saw it hit Barbara.

But her pride wouldn't let her let Karen see it, and so she made this flourished gesture with her hand that was very like, well i'm you, I'm leaving, and and all of it was actually pain and oh it's delicious, Like that's a delicious scene to watch. Also, Barbara had to commit to some heinis in this episode. I mean,

let's just address it. Uh. There's the scene where deb has a customer up a complain and she attacks the way this woman's body looks, and I don't know how we cast Always Wrestle with the always for that, Like, I just it was also Fhia said while we watched, She's like, it's literally the only dig that our writer knew how to make against women. Yeah, it was like, I'm gonna attack your weight because in the same episode, Lucas is talking about Peyton's chicken e legs. You know,

it's just like the female body shape was the target. Um, it's and it's gross and it's cheap. It's so cheap, such low hanging fruit, for sure, But Barbara had to do it because the whole point was that Deb's behavior was like character. Yeah, but like can you imagine getting that script? And that's hard to Yeah, how do we cast for that? How do you I mean, how do you get that call? As an actor? You're sitting at home and your agent calls and says, here's the sides.

But you know, like as an agent, how do you send that to I mean, this is I'd really like to know how they pull that off. Now it's all just bad. Well, hopefully it's like not a problem anymore, do you know what I mean? Like, maybe we get to a place where it's like those jokes aren't the jokes we tell because they're not funny. Well, they're not

funny and they're incredibly lazy. You know. There was there was a big debate years ago with a bunch of male comics about how maybe they should stop making jokes about sexual assault, like just stop, it's not funny. And you know, all these guys said, well, we have a right to joke about whatever we want. And it's like, well, maybe be funnier then, maybe be better writers, maybe observe something in society that has anything to do with you not being a total And that's the way I feel

about like men who do this stuff. I'm like, so, what you're really doing is telling me you're lazy and that you don't want to work harder to be better at the thing that you claim as you chosen career path. I see you. Because Deb could have made fun of anything like this, could have been a woman with like a horrendous beehive hair, do you know, or like who could have been wearing something like very provocative, like wearing like Junior's clothing, but she's really, like, you know, fifty

five years old. It could have been a moment for for Deb to still be offensive and still be shocking, but not as to your point like lazy. Yeah, I mean, she could have been holding a baby, and she could have like made a made a joke about the baby or something like like a person who's not going to know what's happening in the script, you know what I mean, Like if you have to, if she's gonna go for

the joy, is gonna go through all the scripts. Listen, if we could just like make fun of the baby, would be a baby, but then we don't hurt anybody that way. Yeah, you're right, Hillary, It definitely could have been something just as offensive about a choice that somebody made rather than exactly a choice instead of like their hereditary shape. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly exactly. Yeah Yeah.

It's just weird. And you see it. You see it in those moments that feel kind of cheap, and then you also see it again, like God, there's so much good stuff in in the last episode. In this episode, the blossoming truth and and sort of hard one friendship between Brook and Rachel makes me so happy. I love it, and then it makes me just want to like punch a wall. That On the flip side, the guys say, how do we get what we wish we were getting from these young women. Let's make Rachel go and do.

By the way, it's like a line they've given to Brooke. Take two and call me in the morning about boys, like they say, you know. Rachel's like, we'll pick one and they'll make you feel better. And Brooke now is the one saying, listen, it's not gonna it's just gonna make me feel worse. It'll make you feel worse. And

Rachel's like, I don't care. So they've got her going off to hook up with some guy and then like being super stalkery and creepy with Nathan and saying, you have Cooper's eyes all of a sudden, like she literally learned nothing. The whole thing. It's just not real. It's like it's creepy, porny fantasy that they made her stay in her bra and she walked out of that bed. For the first ten seconds, it follows her on her tits through the room, on her face. I missed that.

I must have been looking at something, because I looked up and I was like, why is she still in her bra? It starts on the back of her bra with her clasping it. She turns around into camera, but only the bra. They don't ever start collecting her clothes. And then it's not un till she's leaving the room that you see her face and it's like, it's so stupid that she would be leaving the room without her shirt, Like, get, this is the first thing you do is get dressed. Yeah,

it's not like the guy's waking up. She had another four seconds to put her shirt on. Yeah. Also, it's not like it's a house she knows, or like what is she going into an apartment hallway or that's the house? Is there? I was like, what if they wouldn't have done that to the three of us because we were established at that point. But for Danielle was guest starring, who's not in a position to be like why wouldn't

I just put my shirt on? You know? You see that trickle down of like, oh, well these girls won't do this now, so we'll hire someone who will classic power dynamic. What's also really important for listeners to know is when you're on camera, you don't see what the frame is. We had no playback back then, so no, we had no playback, So it's not like daniel knew that they were zoomed in on her chest. She thought she was getting up out of bed and the camera

was tracking her out of the room. And I just do have to say, like on behalf of her and us who were putting similar positions in any woman anywhere, it's a real experience when you see the finished edited product that is in the world and you go, oh, you zoomed in on my tits, Like ill, I didn't agree to that. Nobody even asked me. Just ask me, like there were times when I might be okay with it. I don't know. It depends on the story. It depends

on how the structure of everything's going. Like it's not that I'm saying no, it's just ask me. Don't just take it. It's gratuitous and it's and it's creepy and I don't know, y'all. All I'm gonna say is now, more often than not, on a set you have playback. Ladies ask to see it, yea, and gentlemen, if you're uncomfortable, you asked to see it too. It's free for all

in terms of consent. Everyone deserves it. Uh. Yeah, that was weird her coming on to Nathan and that Nathan would slowly leaning to kiss him, and Nathan at this point, after she's already like released the time capsule and ruined his wedding and almost killed almost killed his uncle, lets her kiss him on the cheek. I'm like, and what's and what is he doing waiting in that room? Cooper's gone?

And he went to go get his wallet leftovers or something, But it's like he's standing there to tell her Cooper's gone. It's so weird and high school and I'm sorry, I know this is I know this is dumb, but I will just never get over that. They wrote a line for her to say, you have Cooper's eyes to James Lafferty who has big blue eyes and Michael Truco's eyes or brown? Are they out there blue? They're blue? Yes, Maybe I'm just seeing Daniel's eyes reflected in the scene

and in my rage, I'm reassigning them. But I'm like, who would say that anyway? It's just so dumb. It didn't For a minute there, I was like, why didn't he push her away? But then I thought about the times when I've been in positions where I was I just wasn't myself, like my my brain was somewhere else. I was feeling awkward and I've had people like I've had someone hit on me and it just and like I don't I just don't have the wherewithal and have it in me in that moment, I'm just kind of

like you just get frozen. And he's a seventeen year old boy and having this girl sort of like crawl on him, and she's vulnerable because she just had this horrible thing happened to him, and he's also got a kind heart, and it's like if I pushed her away, also, is that going to confound, you know, insults injury for her in the bigger picture. I don't know. It didn't bother me so much. I could see why. I didn't think he was giving into it. I think he just

felt paralyzed. And I will say, for a scene that I thought was so obviously stupid and terribly written, I didn't think James did a very think. You know, I thought James did a very good job because he did look so uncomfortable and vulnerable, Like that look on his face was like what is happening? It wasn't like I'm attracted to her, Yeah, And I wasn't getting that no, no, But I'm just saying I thought it was a good choice on his part, because listen, we talked about this

when we were watching the episode. Sometimes you just gotta commit, even if what's on the page is dumb. It's your job. If the dialogue is bad, you're an actor. You have to do it, you have to say it. So what I really respect is that I believe Danill. The way she looked at him made me uncomfortable, and the way

he reacted was uncomfortable. And those two, James and Denil really committed to the scene regard us of what their opinions of it were, and and they they did the actors work, and so yeah, from the from the bird's eye view, we're all going, what was this? How ridiculous? But they really lent into the material. And like, there's also the flip side from the bird's eye view, where I'm like, our friends are great. I'm so proud of you.

What it signaled to me and what we're gonna start seeing more and more of our show eventually reached a place where we were getting made fun of on the soup, where um, we there were there were storyline things that would fall through the cracks. And it started with little things like why is Nathan hanging out in Cooper's room? Why is Rachel just allowed in Cooper's room all the time? You know, like little piddlie. I mean, there was another one that made me crazy. Oh how did Dan refurbish

this crib all in one day? He's got like the Brooke Davis five hour energy drinks, or he's like, I want to get it all done on net. By the way, he didn't even paint it. He sanded the whole thing down, stained the wood, and then painted the stars and then we'll cobbled the whole thing together. Cobbled it. That's the

perfect vocab word. But what it what it signals to me is that what was going on behind the scenes is we had a boss who was increasingly unable to hear like feedback, where certainly someone caught all of these things. Certainly someone must have been like, there's no way a writer's room of what people is like. Hey, by the way, it's still day one, and this feels weird. We're at the hospital at ten o'clock at night to get pregnancy tests, you know, um, and so we're starting to see more

and more of that disinterest in reality. So that's why when we start to move into like gun in the Cafe, you know, psycre Stalker from the Internet, some of these like bigger, crazy storylines, it's because we had a we leadership that didn't care about reality anymore. I was like, who cares? The fans don't care, so we can do

whatever we want. That's right. It's like now knowing we're gonna be watching Rachel chase after Nathan for another I don't know what's five six episodes that's going to start happening, and it just again, it feels lazy and boring. And it would have been so interesting to to watch Rachel's trajectory into uh getting worse instead of having it instantly happened. And now she's just like, I'm not gonna grow, I'm not going to change from this. I'm just gonna start

chasing after boys again. I would love to have actually watched her. She proved herself as an actress to be able to watch her go through a journey of trying to change, finding out it felt too hard for her,

and then continually making the weaker choice every time. That's interesting to watch well, and by the way, how cool would it have been if in the spittal, instead of immediately creeping on Nathan, she had been really vulnerable with Nathan and he had offered her some really kind advice because they're both kind of traumatized from what happened, and he had just been friendly, and then in the next episode at school, she could have begun watching him in

a way like it's it's the flip, it's the immediate, like I'm zooming in on pictures of you in my phone and you're going to fix it. It's like stupid, Calm down, just like, slow down a little bit. You're right.

So think about if that had happened, if if Rachel had started to take it the wrong way and really fell Wait a second, I'm actually falling in love with this boy and started coming up with and then you see the long journey that she's doing the same thing with him that she did with Cooper, making it up in her mind, creating this imaginary scenario where he really loves her back. That takes you somewhere, because then when that crashes and burns, it's so much harder to come

back from that. That's second time. Then it's like you know what, just I'm throwing everything out the window and I'm just gonna go be a manipulative party girl or whatever label she wanted to live under. But instead it was just that immediate switch and we missed it. We got robbed. We keep getting robbed. They passed it a

little bit. There was that one visual after the crash where you see Nathan and Rachel and her little dress all wet on the banks of the shore and they're laying there together with his arm over her, and so the audience has had this like subliminal viewing of like, you know, their bodies close together, his arm around her, and if she had flashbacks of that, you know, like yes, seized me, you know, that could have been interesting instead

the transference he's my hero. There was a great storyline to be had, and and then she could have been the one saying to him, but you are a hero. You are a hero, and he's like I think I am, and all the guys are saying, look, dude, it makes sense if you blacked out, but like you were, you had to be the one who got us out of the car, you know, like it could have gone a little deeper instead of more of that like single white female energy which Peyton hadn't in the last episode, and

now Rachel has it in this episode. And you know who else has it in this episode? Brooke Davis? Because where did she get a printer to print out that creepy asked picture she took a Peyton and Lucas walking out of the mall on her birthday? Did we have at home printers in two thousand six? I don't know. Well, they have them in the trailer. Oh, that's true. We printed out continuity pictures in the trailer, did we at that point? Yeah, we had switched over I think from polaroids.

We were like we were the last one of the last in the row for but they, I mean rich to have a well Brooke Brooks broke, what are you talking about? As she always walks in exactly the wrong moment. Yeah, and by the way, how often in a red dress Season one after the wedding on her birthday? I'm like, stop wearing red girl. It's like an omen. It's a bad omen for you. Have you guys ever had, Like, what's the worst birthday you ever had? Who? Worst birthday? Uh? Okay,

so listen, this is terrible story. I barely I briefly touched on this in my book and Jeff was like, you're going to tell that story and I was like, just a little bit. I won't go into detail, but I had had this had that the boyfriend I had when I first started One True Hill was like whatever, he's fine, but not for me. And one year for my birthday, he gave me a watch and I was

like a watch? How, Like I don't wear watches and he was like yeah, but like I don't know, You've got all these weird hobbies and I'm really hoping you grow out of most of them, so at least a watch like you can keep for a long time. And so to me, I always felt like that wasn't a gift that said I support your interests. It was just like, okay,

it's a watch. And so after I gave birth to Gus, you know, I'm like a couple of months postpartum um, Jeff showed up in the city like he had got into the city, and he definitely didn't plan anything beforehand. There was like no planning involved. In the day before my birthday, He's like, I can't hang out with you. I have to go buy your birthday present. And then his parents were flying out in the morning, and he really wanted us to open up presents before his parents

flew out. And so it's like nine o'clock in the morning and I've got an infant, and like everybody wants me to open presence and like be all performative. And I opened up this present sking watch and I lost it. I lost it, Oh my gosh. And and he didn't know the back story, and he's just like, I bought you a nice thing. Why are you being psychotic? Um? And and so it was just it was a whole thing. And so now he's like anytime I'm being high strung, he's like, do I need to go buy you a watch? No,

but don't buy me a watch ever. I hate them. Yeah, what about you? Like I don't like watches either. Anyway,

that's my long story. God, I love watches. I don't remember which birthday it was, but I definitely had a birthday that was like covered in rain and I couldn't get where I needed to go, you know, miss the reservation, like and you know, four of my friends couldn't show up, like out of six, and you know, something happened the last minute, and they were all like I hope you guys all have fun, but you know those when you know you don't, you throw a party and then like

everybody thinks everybody else's to be there, so they're like, it's okay, I guess I can anyway, And uh yeah, I just remember, like I think I was living in New York at the time, and just you know, trying to get a cab back home, and you know, trying to get a cab in New York City in the rain the hardest, so hard. That's why I got invented. Yeah, I just got back to the apartment and probably put on I think I put on a movie and called

it a night. But it was definitely one of those like this did not This birthday did not go the way I wanted. But then you take it as a bad omen You're like, the whole year is gonna be like, yeah, it's gonna be awful. But he loves Oh my god, here and Sophia. I mean, I had a real bad birthday. I can't really share the story of on this podcast, but I think the I think the top level would just be that I finally said to, you know, my bad boyfriend, we'll just use that terminology for all of us, right.

I was just like, don't come, don't come, don't be here. Yeah. I was like, don't, don't get on the plane, don't come to see me here. I will I will call reinforcements if you show up. And then the birthday wound up being nice. You guys. I just can't get over I can't get over that you hate watches. I love what doesn't? Watches are fine? No, I know, I get it. You bought yourself like a vintage Rolex and we're all wood Tree Hill, And I was like so feeling. I

was like, this is my gift to myself. That's the thing. Oh, I don't know, there's something even you know me. It's like I'm I'm just like I'm such like a like a like a professor trapped like a cute man professor in a tweet jacket kind of professor. I'm like that guy trapped in my body. So like I just want all the blazers with the elbow patches and all the like big old men's watches. Like I don't think I've

ever had a nice watch. Maybe that's why I don't really like that, because I'm always like they're they're they're like kind of not the big thick ones. I have had one that was big and thick, but then it stopped working. That's my problem with watches. They stopped working and then you have to replace the battery. But it's the same thing with me in the post office, Like, I'm never going to replace that battery. The watch is gonna sit on the shelf. You know what I'd prefer.

Let's just get cough bracelets, same energy, same weight. But I don't have to look at numbers. I don't like you love a cuff. I don't like something on me that makes me feel guilty for not being where I'm supposed to be. Maybe that's I look at a clock and I think guilt pressure. Yeah I don't want that. Well, yeah, because that's what you're That's what your bad boyfriend assigned to that watch for you. He guilt tripped you with that watch. How rude? My hobbies are cool? God damnit listen.

I I as an actor. As a viewer is a Peyton enthusiast. Really liked how hard Peyton was working for Brooke on this episode and for herself trying to find Derek. Like Peyton was eager in this episode. I liked it.

And you know what those scenes between the Peyton and Lucas scenes in the comment, like between you two sitting out in front of them all and then back in the car after you went into the mall, Like it is so sweet and you see the friendship and the lightness and the silliness and the chemistry and it it really does, at least as a viewer for me, like because I wasn't there, Like I don't remember those scenes,

I didn't film them. Watching it, I go, yeah, that's that's what was brewing even in the first season as those two became friends. And then obviously it's a team drama. There has to be drama and conflict so other people get in the way. But that you come back to something that feel is really like I don't want to be cheesy and say pure, but kind of you know what I mean, Like it's a little sparkly and it's

really fun to watch. I remember shooting those scenes with Chad and you know, it's all night work, so that was probably what two o'clock, three o'clock in the morning, and maybe that's why we were so giggly, because you get punchy at that time. But I I remember the feeling of, oh my god, this might be something like the scenes between Peyton and Lucas, because I've never really gotten it before, Like it was always just like broody kids being broody, right, And I'm like, this is like

a misery tar pit. And I remember like like legitimately laughing in the car with Chad while we were shooting those scenes, being like, well, this feels different, Like I was just clocking a different energy, and we legitimately had a nice time together in that car because it was kids being kids, just like what's your favorite color? Anyway?

What's your favorite you know? Cereal? Okay, It's just it's fun. Well, and maybe that's part of why it also feels so fun to watch, because there was a lot going on around you two in this episode that was intense or that did feel a little not grounded in reality. So then you get in the car and you're like, tell me a story, and you're just laughing and sharing and bonding. Yet it feels real. It's not a huge semi truck driving by. That says murderer Boy. He's really coming unraveled,

and it's so annoying that he won't leave Karen alone. Yeah, it is so strange. Yeah, why doesn't debar Why doesn't Dan have the stalker wall, like of all of us to have like the weird photo stalker images, it would be Dan, not us girls. Maybe he'll start on Sam going through his old yearbook. Look at us Karen, where we adorable Karen going to Kinks and Seox and all the photos. Hey, did you guys notice the appearance, like the sudden appearance of the giant red chair in Nathan

Haley's apartment. Listen, I didn't want to bring it up. It's from the London episode. The set dressing in Nathan and Haley's apartment is so jarring, it's so awful when

it's from the last episode. Remember you guys come back and you say what is Yeah, and there's a giant red chair under the that all it's under a canvas of those London phote um where they called the London telephone booths, and it's like a mural of a bunch of them in a row and under and there's a red chair, and the whole apartment is navy blue with the London Bridge thing. And then she's already made a

pinterest board based on it. She's like word because when you guys walked in and he was like, yeah, well, you know, we spent all our money on the wedding and now all this new furniture. I was like, who did this? Like look at that, look at that, look at that, look at that. This is crazy to think that a teenager did this. But it's just overkill. Also, it was like friends style furniture. It's all like big and it's like the central perk. Girl, it's pee Wee's playhouse.

It's like, why is that chair so big? And that's a giant red painting. I don't even know what that was on the walls, Like somebody said, we need more red in this room, but they threw a complimentary color up on the wall. Strange. It's very strange that everything very strange. Yeah, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed. I wasn't into it, But the scene that you guys had in the apartment I did love because Nathan's whole speech where he's like, I'm the kid. Should

my mother have a gun? Am I gonna let it my life up? No? Like I'm the kid is something that I have said as an adult to people in my family and that, and I like to surprise myself saying it, and I thought I was the only immature person on the planet that had said stuff like that, And so a teenager on TV saying I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I love it. And what I loved too is that he was so just frank about it. I'm the kid.

My dad's got a restraining order, my mom's got a glock enough, And and then that moment where you two are really bonding over how this is so inappropriate and you're just supposed to be able to be the kids, and then he says, I'm not going to let anything get in the way of my dreams. I'm going to play basketball. And we know what, Haley, How Haley takes that you have that moment where you take a breath. My god, I didn't even think about that. Oh yeah,

I'm like, I'm a kid. Oh man, it like it hints. Yeah. Wait, I feel like I have to go back and watch it now. It's amazing to me how the writing can sometimes nail it so hard and be so good and right on, and then sometimes it's so far off. It's wild, especially in an episode like this, because it's seesaws back and forth so aggressively it like gives you whip lack. You're like, how can this show be so good and

so embarrassing? Like what's happening? Yeah? Well, you also had another really good moment when you came and you found him on the bridge where he's just been like taking naps. I guess um, and you're like, you know, you have to let me in. We will do this together, and Nathan says something like, you know, I'm not quite ready to let you in yet. I'm still I'm still like figuring this out. Did you write that line down, Sophia, I did. He says, I don't understand it enough to

let you in yet. Yeah. Oh I felt that I did too, because we've all been there, right when you're trying to figure out why something is affecting you the way that it is and you don't have the words yet, and it's such a it's such a beautiful thing for him to say, rather than to be like stop, leave me alone, you know, to to freak out, to just say, yes, you're right, I am going through something, but I don't know how to tell you about it yet. I don't

have the words for this. Yet it's it's such a gift to give to the person who loves you that sees that you're having a hard time. Yeah, I just I loved it. I really really loved it. And then we went from that moment to Brooke putting her creepy little stalker photo of Peyton and Lucas in her photo album, and I was like, here we go, We're back on

the Seesaw. I'm uncomfortable. Um, what I will say about that seesaw is this scene gave us the push Vice mug with the little message we got to see on the bottom at the end of the episode that's like it says to my posh best friend, love Peyton. And it feels really like nice and full circle that now we have kids that have like mugs and t shirts and like little pictures with their friends that are like, you're the book to my Peyton, You're the posh to my Scary Spice. I was always Scary Spice in my

group of girlfriends. Like that was the one that I was like, Jimson Scary, I like her. I love it. I love that so much. Oh my god, I don't know why. That just reminded me something about like picturing those girls remind it, like gave it gave me such a flashback when you were asking about birthdays. So I was like, I can't really tell you the story of my worst it's not it's not fit to be printed. But no, the weirdest birthday I've ever had my twenty

fifth birthday. My friends took me to Vegas and joy that's the birthday. There's a photo of me and one of my best friends and I'm in a little black dress. It's like a very posh by Stress And it's that birthday party that the fans or perhaps fans with no boundaries whatever they're called, have photo shopped all the photos with us into them. So there are photos of you and me and it looks like I'm kissing you on the cheek. They photo shopped a bunch of pictures of

me and James. They photoshopped this picture and I yes, and there's like all these pictures floating around, but you, James and Lee were not there. I was like on a trip with my college best friends in Vegas. But they've created all these pictures and I feel sort of bad about it because fans are like, oh, I love these pictures of them and I'm like, those aren't real, and I'm uncomfortable. Listen, I thought they were real. I was like, where were they that they were kissing? Where

was everybody? What I missed out? You're like where, We're like, where was that party that Sophia bit Joy's face? I didn't. It wasn't her. It was a joke. It was like an old running joke from childhood. And I'm just like, do we tell people these are fake? Maybe we just let them believe the fantasy. It's okay. It's so weird. And also, I'm like, there are a few people I have as many photos with as you guys. Yeah, so why are they photoshopping? Like anything? There are so many

photoshops I've seen over the years. So many people have sent me photos, even friends of mine who were like, uh, asking me about a hair color or something, and they're like screen grab. They said, they screen grab something from their phone, and I'm like, this photo is completely fabricated. First of all, that's not my body at all, and I never was. I was never in that place with this person. There's so many James and I that look really personal and enacted and they're totally photos. I'm just

like have a couple of those, dude. Weirdly, I have some of those. I have some of those with him. I have some of those with Lee. And the thing that makes me the most uncomfortable. One of my best best guy friends, who for clarification of like why we take ridiculous photos with each other is gay. There's a photo of us from a party and we were like sending it to a friend as a as a gag, and I like, we took a photo and I'm like licking the side of his face. I'm not like actually

licking his face. I just take my sure, but like there's I'm like, you know, there's just like posing for a photo that's funny, and then there's the full action, which feels a little like were wolfee that don't know if I'm down with somebody, And this makes me so creeped. Somebody photoshopped Jensen in photo. It looks like I'm licking Danielle's husband's face. Just like I would like to call a time out here, Like there has to be a world in which there's a little bit of a boundary

and people stopped doing this. I also just think, like I don't know, maybe I'm a little prude, but I think manipulated photos in general should be off limits. Like we didn't consent to that I have posted. I have posted a manipulated photo for Chad's birthday. One year. I had been to a party with Chad and so assumed that this picture that I posted was real. No, I had been with some reality TV star and it never

occurred to me that that picture had been altered. I've been sitting at a table with this like reality TV kid, you know, like I was hanging out with my buddies. I didn't even but like some magazine came along and took a picture, and then over the years someone manipulated it. And I remember Chad and I were both at this party, so I just assumed the picture was real. And then one day I saw the real picture and I was like, wait a second, this is weird. I took this picture

with Chad. My God, I got duped. I got duped by God. I love it well. Speaking of um Sophia being a werewolf, Okay, we have a fan question. Let's move to a fan question here from zib Would you rather be cast as witches or vampires in a supernatural movie? On which is I'm vampire all the way? Are you kidding? Interview with the Vampires like forever my obsession. And you were really good at throwing up blood on Sophia's show. You want to do that spittake with like all the

bloody vomit, and you nailed that. I didn't. Like. I get to dress up in like eighteen century seven nineteenth century ruffles and things and then put vampire teeth in and just like bite on some handsome boys, you know on Our favorite costumer from One Tree Hill, Carol Cutshall is the designer of Interview with the Vampire. She's designing all of those costumes. Wait, design, what do you mean? Is there a retail a remake? Yes, Interview with the

Vampires on AMC the series act. Oh yeah, and it's like critics love you, sang to me right now that I didn't know. You know this, your weekend is planned. Joy, you have things, have something to do right now. Carol is killing it her Instagram page where she's showing all her inspiration videos. I gotta go look at this. Yeah yeah, Carol Cultshaw is a beast. But yeah, so we're witches all day. But that's also my god. I mean When we heard they were doing another practical magic we were like,

can we be in it? And they were like, it's a prequel, guys. The kids are like fourteen. And they were like, oh, okay, alright, bye. Don't they have mothers? Don't they have moms? Yeah, we could be witchy moms. Like, I'm into it? Can I tell you that funny? The Salem Witch Trials right now in seventh grade history class, and I am chomping at the bit to get into the classroom because they're doing a mock trial. And I was like, oh, hello, do you need any acting advice

from a real witch? I would love to come and talk to you about it. Well, you're a little dog too. Oh my god. I like it. I also like Samantha's question, do you want to kiss Mary or slap Uncle Cooper, Jake or Skills? I'm like, apparently it should be like, you know, kiss Mary or bite um? Yeah, I don't know. I don't want to slap anyone unless it was a sexy slap. Oh who would give us? It was like, unless it was like a deb and Skills kind of a slap scene, like how dare you do it again?

I mean, here's the thing Brookes should have married Uncle Cooper. Yeah. For me. From there, I'm Cooper is a Mary and and Jake and Skills are a kiss. I I don't no, I don't wouldn't slap any of them. I guess I don't want to write circumstances. Um. I can't see anybody needing to slap Jake for any reason, because he's just a puppy dog. But I don't know. I guess I guess skills could could get fresh sometimes. Maybe. I mean

I I like the sage wisdom of skills. I could be down with Mary and that guy and Peyton would totally make out with Cooper, and I could see her slapping Jake just as like a just fucking be cool man, Like why down here? I took a plane ticket from Pete Wins, Like couldn't we just kiss all weekend? All these big talks. God, that feels that's it? Um, I love that fan question do we want to spin a wheel? I have to go pick up my son. I love it. We get a little most likely to start decorating for

Christmas November one. I mean, like maybe a Haley thing. All of us are like, no, is it a Haley thing. Yeah, it's probably Haley, maybe Karen for the cafe, like who who's hype? Ever, No, I feel like Haley is too chilled for it. I think it's like an Erica Marsh thing. M yeah, then Erica Marsh hyperchick thing, or maybe like

of the boys Brooks Jewish. I don't know, yeah, right, I don't know, like because you know, I come from a blended family, so we do both holidays, and I'm kind of like, I gotta wait till after Thanksgiving and then I put up like a little something for this side and a little something for this side, and things got easier once I got like a Christmas tree that lives in a box. Just pop it out. Um, got a Christmas tree over here when I'm Honora over here

and everybody gets a holiday. Yeah, I don't know that it's any of our core five on the show. I think it's definitely like a sneak attack. It's like a jump or one of the board. Eric Marsh is a great instinct as well. Yeah, but in real life, who are always realized it's Buckley. Buckley is Psycho for Christmas, you guys, fun, Yeah, it's him? Okay, alright, good, So Erica Marsh and Robert Buckley. He literally wrote an entire ass Hamemark movie about his family's decorating for Christmas, like

people would drive to their house to go see their decorations. Amazing. I love it. Um. What's next week? Hey, next week we have Season four, Episode three, Good News people who love bad News. Oh dear, oh dear, what fun. It's gonna be fun. You're to find We're gonna find our way through it. Guys, we can't wait to watch with you. Thanks for joining, Hey, thanks for listening. Don't forget to leave us a review. You can also follow us on Instagram at Drama Queens O t H or email us

at Drama Queens at I heart radio dot com. See you next time. We are all about that high school drama. Girl Drama Girl, all about them high school queens Forever. We'll take you for a ride at our comic Girl Cheering for the right Drama Queens draw up girl Fashion, but you'll tough, girl. You can sit with us Girl Drama Queens, Drama, Queens Drama, Queen's Drama, Drama, Queen's Drama, Queens