"Everything in its Right Place" is the eleventh episode of Season 4 of One Tree Hill and originally aired January 17th, 2007. The episode was written by Dawn Urbont, and directed by Michael Lange.
Lucas returns to school following his heart attack, but his relationship with Peyton hits a hurdle as she struggles to her insecurities after almost losing yet another person she cared about. Nathan struggles with the guilt of Dan facing murder charges for a crime he committed, whilst Haley learns the truth about the accident. Meanwhile, Brooke and Rachel plan to break in to the school whilst Deb decides to break out of rehab.
Contains examples of the following tropes:
- Big Damn Kiss: Lucas and Peyton share one in the middle of the school hallway after she’s finally overcome her fear of losing him and she’s ready to enjoy their blossoming love story.
- Blatant Lies: Brooke and Rachel's claim they're in the school to attend the Clean Teens meeting.
- Book Ends: The episode begins and ends with Lucas standing in the hallway at school, waiting for Peyton before she leaves class. Further contrasting the two moments is that the first time, she's surprised to see him there, but the second time she happily kisses him.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Invoked by Gigi, as she justifies breaking up with Mouth - he's a senior heading off to college in a few months, and she's a sophomore, so she'd rather end things rather than put it off knowing it was going to happen in a few months anyway.
- Dramatic Irony: Dan is released without charge after the autopsy reveals Daunte had already died from the car crash, so Dan was innocent. Except Dan should be in prison for killing Keith.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Peyton telling Lucas that they've waited long enough before kissing him at the end of the episode alludes to how long it had taken for them to officially become a couple.
- Love Confession: Lucas finally openly declares his love to Peyton to make her fear of losing him after his heart attack go away.Lucas: I didn’t die, I couldn’t die. Do you know why? Because I had to come back and look into those green eyes of yours and tell you I love you Peyton. I do, I love you Peyton. You didn’t push me away, I came back for you and no matter how long it takes, I’ll wait for you.
- Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: Implied with Clean Teens - when Rachel asks if she can still "Brooke" herself whilst part of the group, Shelley makes it clear that it's allowed.
- No Social Skills: Gigi tells Mouth that she's going to break up with him, some time before she actually breaks up with him.
- Not Good with Rejection: Mouth initially refuses to accept Gigi breaking up with him, despite the logic behind it. He finally accepts that she has a point about their age gap when he sees her chatting with some kids her own age on the quad.
- Not Me This Time: After finding out that Dan has been released without being charged for killing Daunte, Nathan initially assumes he's pulled some strings to brush the matter aside; Dan has to assure his son that he genuinely was released because Daunte had died from the impact of the car crash and not Nathan's assault afterwards.
- Refuge in Audacity: After Principal Turner finds them breaking into the school, Brooke and Rachel claim that they're there to attend the Clean Teens meeting - despite wearing Spy Catsuits that show off their figures.
- Spotting the Thread: Karen realises that Dan took the fall for killing Daunte when she sees Nathan's bruised knuckles.
- Spy Catsuit: Brooke and Rachel opt for these when they break into Tree Hill High to steal calculus exams.
- Titled After the Song: The episode title is taken from the song "Everything In Its Right Place" by Radiohead.
- Trauma Button: Lucas having a heart attack literally hours after beginning a relationship with Peyton wound up triggering her abandonment issues, and she's suddenly skittish about letting him get close to her as she's worried she'll wind up losing another person she cares about.
- Villain with Good Publicity:
- Because the media hasn't reported that Daunte was a loan shark, Haley thinks he was just an innocent victim who ran her over accidentally and considers reaching out to the family of "that poor man."
- After finding that someone broke into Dan's home and covered the wall in newspaper clippings accusing him of being a murderer, Karen immediately assumes that it's because of Daunte's death - for which Dan has already been released without charge - rather than consider Dan could have killed someone else.
