"The Search For Something More" is the eighth episode of One Tree Hill and originally aired November 11th, 2003. The episode was written by Jennifer Cecil and directed by John T Kretchmer.
Brooke talks Peyton into attending a party at Duke, but the situation quickly turns bad when one of the guys drugs Peyton. After Brooke calls him for help, Lucas gains a new appreciation for Brooke. Meanwhile, Brooke tries to repair the damage she did to Nathan and Haley’s burgeoning relationship.
Contains examples of the following tropes:
- The Atoner: Brooke tries to make things right with Nathan and Haley, after her behaviour at the party.
- Big Damn Kiss: Nathan and Haley kiss for the first (and second) time. Whilst the first is very much a "Shut Up" Kiss, the second better fits this trope.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: The moment Brooke tells Lucas that Peyton’s in trouble, he abandons what he was doing and drives to Duke.
- Continuity Nod: The episode deals with the immediate aftermath of the previous episode.
- Date Rape Averted: Brooke manages to get into Gabe’s dorm room and get Peyton away from him before anything can happen.
- First Kiss: Nathan and Haley share their first kiss.
- Hypocrite: Brooke lies about being in high school when she attends the party at Duke; when it turns out the guy she was into was actually a high schooler lying about his age, Brooke angrily asks "What kind of loser pretends they’re in college?" apparently oblivious to the fact that she’s been doing the same thing.
- The Missus and the Ex: Dan isn’t particularly happy when he finds out Deb has volunteered to run the cafe whilst Karen is in Italy.
- Put on a Bus: Karen leaves Tree Hill to attend a cooking school in Italy.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Karen attending a cooking school in Italy was written to allow Moira Kelly to go on maternity leave.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Karen immediately relents on punishing Lucas for staying out all night without calling to let her know where he was after she finds out that Peyton had been drugged and Lucas spent the night to make sure she was okay.
- Shout-Out: Brooke refers to the boy she tries to hook up with at Duke "Abercrombie" in reference to the Abercrombie & Fitch male models.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: As Haley yells at him for being embarrassed to be seen dating her and says nothing he can do is going to surprise her, Nathan proceeds to kiss Haley.
- Slipping a Mickey: Gabe does this to Peyton as he prepares her a drink whilst she’s distracted by his record collection.
- Stating the Simple Solution: When Brooke calls him for help with Peyton, Lucas tells her to call the campus police but Brooke notes that she can’t because the underage Peyton had been drinking.
- Titled After the Song: The episode title is taken from the song "The Search for Something More" by Antifreeze.
- Verbal Backspace: Brooke teases Lucas by asking if he has a brother she can date, before remembering his situation with Dan and Nathan.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Haley calls Nathan out for trying to hide the fact they were on a date together from Tim and the rest of the basketball team.
- Karen scolds Lucas for staying out all night without calling to let her know where he was; she forgives him fairly quickly when Lucas explains that he stayed at Peyton’s to make sure she was okay after being drugged.
- Wild Teen Party: Brooke and Peyton attend a party in a dorm at Duke University.
