Always gonna be there, is it, eh?
I’m absolutely confident that the Anti-LP group’s primary concerns are:
1.) The lack of romantic evolution/development (from ‘wanting each other without doing anything remotely honest about their feelings for each other’ to full-blown ‘dependency on each other’s tortured, misfit personalities that is mistaken for an affirming relationship’)
2.) The twice-played, ‘arguable’ betrayal to Brooke (and then, as if Mark is not contented, he has to throw Lindsey’s character to complete the ‘soul mates despite the obstacles’ effect)
3.) The patronizing notions of the couple about what they have (and how other characters in the show interpret their lives through a fictional novel) that almost caused the relationship’s failure
These are the concerns I wish to address.
In the old days, as a rabid and proud Anti-Leytoner, I’m quick to negatively bombard the couple with restless passion whenever the opportunity presents itself. But let’s say I have given them the benefit of the doubt this time around (which I sincerely had, by the way) and this is the motivation for writing this article: I will not relinquish being a non-supporter but I certainly won’t demand Leyton to be burned down anymore. I have my right to disqualify them as a relationship to favor but I won’t trivialize or discredit whatever status they are in now either (Season 6-speaking). I might be hang up on their storyline but there’s hardly pent-up rage. I’m very happy and well-adjusted to continue my steadfast admiration for NH-BL-JP romance (even though both JP and BL will only remain the sidelines throughout the end of OTH). So yes, this article will still be negative on LP but I won’t be writing in the vehement way as I did in the first article (maybe some sarcasm here and there but nothing serious). Fellow non-supporters, consider this as a walk in the wildside: it’s easy to hate the couple sometimes but in our best forms and wisest times, we might find ourselves more sympathetic to TLA LP rather than annoyed. I’ve also made it to a point to refuse calling myself as an ANTI-LPER or PUCAS HATER. I go for LEYTON NON-SUPPORTER because just because I don’t support them, it doesn’t mean I don’t tolerate them.
Case #1: The lack of romantic evolution/ development
This is an opinionated view, of course. It’s not that Lucas and Peyton’s romantic development is lacking (nor is it completely acceptable to claim its triviality) but I’m more concerned of the fact, just like many BLers and JPers, that there’s no BELIEVABLE development, same goes for evolution. Sure, we can argue I circles with Leyton fans which is a battlefield never won. Yes, LPers may claim they have the victory flags waving but when it comes to fictional couples, it’s a varied perspective. NOBODY WINS. What I’m establishing in Case #1 is that this opinion is for the non-supporters and no one’s converting the LP fan to believe this. Not at all. Because it’s not my business to meddle with personal choice. So to the LP non-supporters like me, what Case #1 stated is familiar scenario, so recognizable that it makes our blood boil. Hold onto your horses; let’s view LP’s ‘escalation,’ shall we?
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I know what you want to ask: In the name of Thor’s hammer, WHERE IS THE ESCALATION, LET
ALONE AN EVOLUTION, IN THAT? Well, isn’t that why we’re non-supporters because we can’t see LP through rose-colored glasses? There was an escalation: They evolved as people who are friendly with each other. As a couple, they just commenced angst and not-the-good-kind-of tension. There was so much potential in their relationship storyline that was only left to be beautifully described inside the confines of a fictional novel [An unkindness of ravens]. Before this creative massacre of good sense, what us non-supporters have long been complaining about is our second case: Brooke and Lucas' relationship that had evolved remarkably but was discarded anyway because they are not the 'originally-planned' lovers.
Seeds of this “love” between Lucas and Peyton might have been planted from the beginning but consider how the dynamics shifted to favor Brooke and Lucas instead. It’s hard to root for two people, Lucas and Peyton, who interacted little through two seasons before season four, and yet are now being deemed as an ultimate couple with an ‘overwhelming’ love that was too ‘terrifying’ that they have to keep ‘pulling away from each other’ (but once the planets aligned, they found their way back to each other). Even though we non-supporters understand that this is TV, it’s still too far-fetched for us to favor now that we have witnessed Nathan and Haley, who married young and so their love was tested constantly with trials that have affected the way they perceive each other but in the end they evolved as a couple). In comparison to the other teenage show, The OC, there was a believable development between the two broody people there, Ryan and Marissa. They started early with their relationship with only little of the “will-they-won’t-they’ suspense. They tried to make things work but certain outside forces have rendered their efforts futile. They walked away with a truce and stayed friends and had other relationships but found themselves still longing for each other so they tried to do better the second time around. In the end, Marissa’s unanticipated demise signified that Ryan needs to move on to better things. And he found it with Taylor Townsend, a broody-for-cheery combination that we Brucas supporters know works quite well.
Case 1 firmly refutes the quality in the development of the Leyton storyline that seems to have crossed the line between triviality and exaggeration. Wenon-supporters do not believe they have evolved well enough to merit their position as the ‘ultimate couple’ of OTH (as most of their supporters have claimed). If anything, the throne still belongs to Naley.
Case #2: The twice-played, ‘arguable’ betrayal to Brooke
Once, shame on you; twice shame on me! And that is exactly how many Brucas lovers reacted to writer Mark Schwahn when he decided on replaying the twisted love triangle in season 3’s ending episode. Never mind that Brooke Davis has developed impressively as a character alone and that she was finally more honest with her fears on intimacy; she’s still on the far end of the cast (after Dan Scott, if we remember correctly, disregarding s5’s credits) and basically, Mr. Schwahn should strengthen his ‘original plan’ of Lucas-Peyton-Your-Art-Matters. Clever. Never mind that Lucas pledged that he’s the guy for Brooke Davis and had shown astonishing gestures to prove this. Never mind that Peyton is already confused as it is and finally found clarification when she was with Jake again. Just throw all of these great character-building dynamics out of the window and go back to the original plan. Because we all know that the original draft is always better. Oh wait, not really. It’s a rule that as writers, musicians, any real-life professional and even as human beings that we should hone our craft to be better than the first conception. We could argue with our Leytoner sisters that Mark ‘honed LP TLA’ throughout the seasons by giving them separate lives away from each other until they find one another again. Okay, sure. Lucas loves Brooke. Peyton loves Jake. And both Brooke and Jake dumps them because they both have an epiphany that Lucas and Peyton belong together (that seems to be gist of it) and the ‘lovers’ Lucas and Peyton were going “WTF?” within themselves because they clearly had no idea what the eff just happened...until they were around each other again. Talking about their pain. Laughing. Taking long walks together. And the clock strikes midnight and Lucas decided that Peyton was the one (It’s you!) and Peyton was just glad that someone loves her again.
Ah, yes. There’s always gonna be Lucas and Peyton. Is there, really?
I have nothing against Mr. Schwahn. We all love him for creating One Tree Hill. We admire the passion and ideas he put into the show for many seasons; the way he has woven each episode with mentally-stimulating quotes from great literature is splendid. He created teenage characters with depth and real problems. He is a talented TV show writer. We all love him! However, we have a problem with this: LEYTON. Let’s go back to Case #2.
What about Brooke Davis? Her role appears to be a good dose of comic relief; the cheery to everyone’s broody. I loved her at first sight (although I wasn’t yet a fan of the show. And when I became a fan of the show, Peyton caught my heart). We were sympathetic to her in s1 when she was deceived by her best friend and boyfriend. It was the classic story of betrayal that we eagerly watched, repulsed and delighted at the same time. We took her side because we felt her hurt and we also put the blame on the moment of weakness both shown by Lucas and Peyton in this situation but we never really judged them wrongly for it. They made a mistake and it seems like Peyton was determined to reconcile with Brooke. Then Lucas screws up when he fooled around with Nicki and we certainly voted for Breyton to be BFFs again. But to many it seems Brooke is simply the second choice for Lucas Scott...until the show’s dynamics shifted and proved otherwise.
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Forgive Peyton in s1. Hold Lucas responsible. In s3, do it the other way around.
What is Peyton thinking? How could she love someone she’s barely even tried dating or have a real conversation with about what she wants in a relationship? She only assumed it was Lucas she wanted because Jake told her and, in a way, rejected her and that messed her up. But what excuse did she have when she challenged Brooke by asking “do you love him”? And as if she’s being a good person when she said she would keep her feelings to herself. That was not comforting to Brooke; it insulted her. It’s like she’s saying that Brooke shouldn’t care how Peyton stands on this and just enjoy her relationship with Lucas. Brooke’s right, it’s like the time capsule and it’s out and they have to deal with it. And if Peyton really wanted Lucas this time, why hide it? Because she doesn’t want Brooke to get hurt? That is impossible and absurd. Someone is bound to get hurt and Brooke knows it’s her and she can’t go on knowing her best friend ‘loves’ her boyfriend. So yes, we non-supporters do not think she ‘overreacted.’ She had every right to get angry. Peyton doesn’t realize the implications of her confession. She said she wanted to be honest and yet in this scenario, her honesty has a price.
And let’s go to season 5. We jump ahead because nothing has changed here; it was the same sloppy scenario we have to endure again, a revisit to the circle of hell. It wasn’t Brooke who got hurt here but a nice girl named Lindsey who made a relationship work with Lucas and whom Lucas loved back as well. Admittedly he rushed proposing to her but we think that’s because he’s eager to get away from Peyton’s wandering clutches. But poor Lindsey, like Brooke, suffered ill-wisdom which is oh-so-convenient indeed to Shakespearean Leyton. So as we can see, there is a pattern here: Peyton will always be the girl who doesn’t know what she wants and she might claim that it was Lucas all along but once she has him, she doesn’t fight for him. And Lucas, who had moved on, gets sucked back in one way or another to this chaos. Many did not understand, all right, and he walked among them; ‘them’ meaning us, the on-supporters, and even until now, Leyton is just entropy to us.
Whatever Peyton claimed to love about Lucas in the last three years they haven’t seen each other is just absurd. How can you claim to love someone you haven’t even talked to in years? Because every time you open the book he wrote about the two of you, your heart soars and daydreams that this notion is still yours for the taking? Why didn’t Peyton drop her job earlier if her love for Lucas is that strong? Why prolong the resentment (as much as Peyton doesn’t want to resent Lucas, it still stemmed because they left things unresolved)?
Answer: Because it gives both parties an excuse to get tortured, a trait innate to their personalities respectively. Their relationship was so ‘sweet’ in every cookie-dough sense that they have to create drama again to stir their lives. If their love was strong, they could have at least kept in touch and tried to be part of each other’s lives. But no, no, no, no! On some subconscious level, they must have felt that things are too ‘easy’ for them so while having dinner in the restaurant, the reunion was tainted with awkward silences because they don’t have much to say to each other. And then Lucas wants to marry her? I can understand why Peyton went WTF but why does she have to make that reaction last for three years? Oh, because she saw Lindsey kiss Lucas. On. The. Cheek. He wanted her there for his book-signing and she just left him hanging. Where is the “I want everything with you” here, Peyton, we non-supporters dare to ask, let alone the same things that he wanted?So from what we non-supporters can see here, angst must commence to keep Lucas and Peyton’s ‘love’ on the edge, therefore worth having and begging for. Wow, that doesn’t seem deluded at all.
Both Lucas and Peyton grew apart and they’re different people now. Things could change people in three years and Lucas had with Lindsey and that wouldn’t have happened if Peyton bothered to call or drop by during his book signing. Pulled away again because what they have is overwhelming, my ass. Chuck and Blair from Gossip Girl definitely had a connection like that; so intense and volatile that it’s almost destructive to them but it was nevertheless very edgy and convincing. Leyton is not Chair, however, no matter how Chair-ish they were in season 5 (which should have been very exciting just as Chair in season 2 but just doesn’t work because LP is simply going to recycle anything Mark thinks is appropriate for them and this doesn’t please us non-supporters).
How hard could it be to say a casual ‘hello’ and ask him out for coffee so you could discuss about the elephant in the room (rejecting his proposal, etc.)?
Case 2 abolishes the myth that Lucas and Peyton have obstacles to overcome (and Brooke Davis as one of them). The only obstacle so great that they could never overcome is their lack of tenacity and dedication to each other. The only way they could be interested in each other is making sure Lucas is unavailable to Peyton so she could ‘fight’ for him. And as we are going to discuss in case 3, the relationship works only if the fictional state of ‘what they used to be’ is idealized to the point of madness.
Case #3: The patronizing notions of the couple about what they have that almost caused
the relationship’s failure
“...the words you wrote, the friends you had, the urgency you felt will always be there under the paint. The love you professed will always be there, the spark of something undeniable, a seed of hope, the truth, for better or for worse, burning fiercely just below the surface."
Now wasn’t that a kick in the pants? When Peyton wrote that letter to Molly, a girl who admired her life through Lucas’ book, she wanted to help the teen realize that something which is fiction is never going to be the real thing in the first place. As much as it was a beautiful story of a love undeniable, it wasn’t the same story four years after everything has already changed. But below the surface, that seed of hope, this truth that Lucas and Peyton belong together burns fiercely and, like the perfect storm, it once again washes away the hearts of the Leyton supporters when the two kids found their way back to each other; because people who are meant to be find their way each other in the end, right? That we should believe in the possibility even when life is giving us every reason not to, correct?
Hold on just a second! Wasn’t that Brooke and Lucas? Although whatever might be this urgency under the paint Peyton claims, we non-supporters certainly have a name for that: desperation. So okay, we missed out on the greatest love story ever told (otherwise known as ‘The unkindness of ravens’) and we still haven’t read the LP TLA from cover-to-cover without tasting bile on our mouths but we know the deal very well. Instead of focusing on what really matters, which is initiative to commit to a relationship regardless what people say, Shakespearean Leyton decided to base what they could have been (or what they were) as a couple in this book, pinning their hopes and dreams to the tasteless literature of their catastrophic delusions. Take note that Leyton tend to focus more on ‘what they could have been’ or ‘what they were’ instead of ‘what they are now’ and almost everyone in Tree Hill are playing along as well which begs the question: is everyone getting their rocks off on an ill-flavored cookie dough that us Brucas and Jeyton supporters skipped because we had a healthy lunch earlier in the seasons?
True Love Always is impossible to construct without a bestselling novel to prove its validity. This semi-autobiographical novel (also known as an instruction manual for the incurably corny) speaks about Lucas and Peyton, a couple which even editor-girlfriend Lindsay is rooting for. Because the love professed is a spark undeniable, everyone who read this book suddenly seems sympathetic for what Lucas and Peyton were. At the same time, because of constant guilt and a severe lack of spine, Peyton convinces herself that she should come back to Lucas and fight for him because ‘the kiss felt the same way it did’ and she holds a bigger-than-life torch for what she and Lucas could have been. With all this going on, who has time to pay attention to what Lucas and Peyton are NOW, four years after they fought over something that shouldn’t have lasted for four years anyway? Instead of reconciliation, Peyton decided to disappear in Lucas’ life (even when he expects her to at least drop by in his book-signing) and Lucas decided to jump therefore in a relationship to cure his broken heart. They made mistakes that they should have forgiven each other if they truly do care about one another. But they didn’t. Instead, Peyton plays the mute-understanding-ex-girlfriend card that seems to give Lucas the impression that he needs to apologize for something that wasn’t just his fault in the first place. This ‘soul mate’ of his, as far as he is concerned, ruins his relationships and he had enough. Peyton admitted she should have said ‘yes’ to his proposal but boy, isn’t that an understatement! She could add that she shouldn’t have held her silence for years; and that, just because Luke likes being that guy for her, she should have respected him a little bit more. Lucas didn’t even blink when Peyton was going nuts, blaming herself for something that is partially his doing. He was actually more preoccupied as to how he’s going to get even. He effectively did when Lindsay agrees to be his lawfully-wedded wife. Seeing her future vanishing before her eyes (with a ring to go with it), Peyton tried to keep it together inside (but chose to lash-out first with Lindsay for the heck of scorn) even though she knew damn well that back in the old days when Lucas fixed her car, he also fixed her heart.
Honestly, we non-supporters don’t know what’s so interesting reading about a bloody leg, a misunderstood kiss and a stalker anyway that made Lucas and Peyton a couple to root for, fiction-wise. But what they are NOW in season is definitely for the books! Their deception is the same broody beat accompanied with a wedding ceremony that went to flames when TLA comet crushed it. Oh yes, there is definitely an unkindness at work here that made the pain and the garbage poetic and healing and so in the last episode, Lucas picks up his phone and asks Peyton to marry him in Vegas. Thi is a day after he says that he hates her and wishes she never came back.
So sure, Lucas loves the gal, writes a book about her integrity and all. But as Peyton did say in one of her rare wise moments in season 5, it’s more about what he does than what he says. He wanted to marry Lindsay on that altar. When she left, he was determined to get her back. For two people who claimed to want the same things and everything in between, Lucas and Peyton can’t get their goals straight, let alone give their selves to one another.
‘lo and behold they did got their freak on in season 6. And this time it’s not a book that they have pinned their hopes and dreams to; this time it’s an unborn child (which is normal for parents to do but with Leyton, it seems skewed somehow).
I fell for their ‘love game’ in Season One. I mean, who didn’t?
I’m sure half of the new-age Brucas population used to hope for this couple. We’ve all been there; although some of us have already let go of the Lucas-Peyton-Your-Art-Matters illusion and explored more heights when Brucas and Jeyton piqued our interests and captured our hearts. Dynamics shifted for a better, developmental storyline.
LP non-supporter, there is no shame in admitting “oh, they’re so cute together once upon a time!” because they were.
...once upon a time.
Case 3 emphasizes that whatever Lucas and Peyton have loved about each other is never entirely genuine or anything romantic. For lack of a better term, it was simply an unavoidable prospect to keep the story going, given that their relationship should commence angst (to solidify fan-base) before they end up together (a cosmic plan). The relationship needed to garner support through exaggerating some false beliefs and discarding small-time facts. It also gained its place in substitute of other couples (namely Brucas and Jeyton link) because of the reasoning that there’s always going to be Lucas and Peyton.
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Endnotes and disclaimer: All ideas expressed in this article are copyrighted. I do like Bill Shakespeare but yes, I don’t favor the themes of Romeo and Juliet when it comes to romance.
*To Brucassers and Jeytoners: believe in the possibility even when life is giving us every
reason not to because even if every song ends, it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the music.
The way things are supposed to be
