By C.T.
Let me say right off the bat that I’m a Brucas fan from way back, and find Leyton the most snore-inducing TV pair since DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Mike and Susan. For those uninitiated in the language of fangirls (and boys), Brucas (Brooke & Lucas) and Leyton (Lucas and Peyton) are two of ONE TREE HILL’s founding couples. Come fall, the guy both girls loved will reportedly be exiting the canvas… with Peyton in tow.
And I say “good riddance.”
No, this isn’t just sour grapes from someone who always felt that Brucas had a fiery passion that the bland and boring Leyton (who seemed to suffer from a never-ending case of whine flu) could never achieve. Or maybe it is… but I’m gonna pretend to be taking a high road and instead say that I won’t be sorry to see them go because creatively speaking, it’s way past time to say “out with the old, in with the new.” I would rather watch the blossoming young love of Sam and Jack or anything Bitchtoria (aka Brooke’s nasty mama, Victoria) does than sit through another scene in which Chad Michael Murray’s Lucas tries to look earnest or, God forbid, soulful. And no matter how hard the show tries to rewrite history, I’ll never buy that Peyton (the laughably-stilted Hilarie Burton) ever felt toward Lucas what she did for Jake.
Frankly, Leyton has run their course. If we want a boring, married-with-children pair, we can spend time with Nathan and Hayley (who are made infinitely more bearable by their too-cute-for-words offspring, Jamie). Don’t get me wrong — I like the Scotts, who serve as a nice balancing point for some of the more dramatic antics that unfold in the burg of Tree Hill. But at this point, Leyton is serving the same function. Someone’s gotta go… and I don’t wanna see Jamie exit, so I guess his folks get to stick around.
Whether planned or not, storylines this season have served to pretty-much isolate Lucas and Peyton in their own little corner of the town, thanks in large part to her traumatic pregnancy and their seeming inability to talk about anything other than the most-postponed, least-anticipated wedding of all time.
The beauty of an ensemble drama like TREE HILL is that every few years, you can introduce new characters while pushing others gently toward the exit. I have no doubt that Lucas and Peyton will return for occasional visits, given the ties that bind them to those who will remain. And that’s fine… at least until Peyton meets some tragic fate, freeing Lucas up to return to his one true love, Brooke.
Hey, a fanboy can dream, right? 