One Tree Hill Review: "Mouthful of Diamonds"

at .

At this risk of incurring the wrath of readers, I'm gonna to have bad things to say about One Tree Hill once again this week. 

Nothing really happened on "Mouthful of Diamonds" and in the moments when meaningful action could have been taking place, it was once again drowned out by the music.

Tony Gonzalez on OTH

The major problem I had with season seven, and a good chunk of season six, was that there was way too much song overlay.  A great song placement can do wonders in adding drama to a scene.  This is something I thought One Tree Hill did really well in the early days. 

I always commended its use of music.  Somewhere around the middle of season six, I started to notice how much of the show was nothing but music.  We would go scene to scene with an over-sappy song playing over an over-dramatized moment.  It got to be too much.  You can't accentuate the dramatic moments with great song placement when you're doing it for the entire 42 minutes.

This is a problem I thought the series started to get away from as the eighth season began, but this week I noticed it big time.  The whole episode felt like one long music montage.

I'm sure some of the moments were fantastic for  viewers.  Haley's heartfelt conversation with Erin and Brooke and Julian's "happiness" moment come to mind, but none of it worked for me because it all seemed over-the-top soapy.

But I give credit where credit is due. Mark Schwann has done a great job at securing athletic facilities for this show.  We got a chance to see the Bobcats' arena before, and this week we were welcomed into the home of the Atlanta Falcons.  It was really nice to see on screen.

Where things get tricky was in the writing of the stories that coincide with those facilities. "Guy has been in the league 14 seasons, first ballot Hall of Famer, and he's putting in extra work."  This line is the most obvious thing your generic sports fan would say.  If you have any idea about sports, this is even too obvious to state.  The kid you're talking to was a first round pick in the NFL draft, he gets it.

We were also blessed with a special guest starring role by Tony Gonzalez.  While it was great to see him get so much screen time, actually doing a nice acting job here, I have one question.  Why is he so concerned about this Troy Jamison signing? Does Matt Ryan not exist in the One Tree Hill universe?  While we're at it, why would the Falcons have drafted such a highly touted QB when they have a young star in Ryan?  Silly.

I definitely could have done without Chase and Mouth's story this week.  Brooke's time with Julian was great, but the Mother Baker stuff wasn't all that interesting.  The Haley/Erin/Mia stuff was probably my favorite aspect of the show.  I loved when Mia first came on as an up and coming artist, and I'm kind of digging Erin in such a similar role.  From what I've seen from her so far, I have no doubt she could continue to recur like Kate Voegele has.

Other Thoughts:

  • Jamie returned this week, but no Quinn.  Where has she gone?
  • I enjoyed the opening theme once again this week.  It was performed by Grace Potter.
  • Do obituaries come out weeks after deaths?  Because they either do in the One Tree Hill universe or Clay has really old papers lying around.  His ghost friend from the hospital died a long time ago, right?
  • I feel like Clay has spent way too long around dead people since he joined the show.  Come up with some new stuff for this guy, please.

Mouthful of Diamonds Review

Editor Rating: 2.0 / 5.0
  • 2.0 / 5.0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
User Rating:

Rating: 2.9 / 5.0 (20 Votes)

Dan Forcella is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.

Show Comments
Tags: ,

One Tree Hill Season 8 Episode 8 Quotes

Sorry for the guy who has to clean up this place, which is me.

Mouth

Sylvia: Good luck with your Hoot 'n Nanny Wedding.
Brooke: Good luck with being old. By the way, I like my towels.

One Tree Hill Season 8 Episode 8 Music

  Song Artist
Can't Be Love Laura Izibor iTunes
Time Moves Slow Aqualung iTunes
Tangled Up Gareth Dunlop iTunes