The original post: /r/television by /u/James-Samuel17 on 2026-05-08 13:30:12+00:00.
I watched a lot of TV shows, some among the best TV ever. My all times favorite episodes are “The Body” from Buffy The Vampire Slayer (I watched only twice, because it’s way too real for me), "Long Term Parking"from The Sopranos, “Suitcase” from Mad Men, “Michael’s Gambit” from The Good Place, “Mud Bowl” from Friday Night Lights, “Five By Five” from Angel, “Weapons of Class Destruction” from Veronica Mars, “They Shoot Gilmore, Don’t They” from Gilmore Girls, “Homecoming” from Smallville, “Family Meeting” from The Shield etc…
And yes, those shows are very much on the runner-ups for best TV ever but I can with confidence say that the shooting episode from the One Tree Hill episode is one of the most well-made episode of the show. Obviously the show was the best in the early seasons (4 first ones) and then kinda jumped the shark and those early years have really amazing television in it. As someone who was in a school shooting like two years ago, this episode was purely realistic.
I’m someone who is very much interested in other’s people behaviors and what drives them to the the decisions they made (my friends often ask me to analyze them so they can avoid making the same mistakes) and I’m very perceptive. The person doing the shooting was very overwhelmed and I knew him. He was overwhelmed with school work, bullying and not feeling good at home. It felt like his life was going nowhere and everything was meaningless, which probably led him to that event. Thank god nobody was hurt but anyway.
The episode takes the time to make us enter Jimmy’s mind and what drives the darkness he’s now producing (it’s the episode for me where Lucas’s literature narration is the most effective) “does its darkness has a name ?” Is it pain ?. I found that it was very smart for this character to have been presented as one of the recurring characters in the early episodes and then make him fade (I also forgot who he was by the moment I got to those episodes of season 3, so I felt as guilty as the characters in the scene). This episode uses it the characters in the right way : Haley is trying to calm the situation, to reason with him and sees the best in him as she does with most people , Nathan is blunt and tells it like he thinks, Peyton, who is someone who feels very lonely and wounded also shares her empathy with him while she’s in… the worst conditions and Mouth feels guilty and I think part of him realizes he did in fact crossed over the popularity side (he always felt like he was a loser among them but he clearly wasn’t), Brooke is trying to make a difference by confronting the news lady but ends up getting guilty for not knowing someone who knew her . The performances given are top-notch and the writing is sharp. And it’s not close to be an after-school special in the vain of like, Beverly Hills 90210, this incident has an impact on everyone moving forward and on the show itself.