Much of the material near the end of "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul" left a really pleasant taste in my mouth, and it wasn't only because I was drinking Phidian's during most of the episode.

Any story that deals with Chase is going to work like gang busters, but add the switching of a urine test and a pregnancy switcheroo, and you pretty much nail it.

The relationship between Chase and Chuck has been one of my favorites as of late, so seeing Chuckles disappointed after Chase failed to show up for the baseball game was originally tough to swallow.

When the big brother showed up though, it made the reunion that much more rewarding.

I am not entirely sold on how quickly Chase was ready to settle down with Alex, especially with everything that went down not too long ago between the two of them and Mia, but Stephen Colletti and Jana Kramer have such great chemistry that they can sell anything.

It was a bit too obvious that Alex was pregnant when the woman on the phone told Chase that his drug test said he was pregnant, so I am glad that it ended up not being the case.

The fact that it ended up being Brooke's urine?  Glorious.  I don't know how many times the writers are going to bring this character up and down, and up and down, but it needs to stop at some point.  If they don't let Brooke finally have a baby with this pregnancy, they will lose a ton of loyal fans.  Let her have a baby for crying out loud!

While Chase, Alex, Brooke and Julian are staying in Tree Hill for the time being, sadly it was time to say goodbye to August Kellerman.  He has begun his adventure of sailing around the world with his pal Dogust, and I for one will miss him.  The ex-professor definitely got a bad rap, and rightfully so when they all mistakenly thought he was the one that slammed into the car, but he was always just as misjudged as anyone else on this show.

The conversation between him and Nathan was certainly refreshing.  A son with a terrible dad conversed with a dad who has a terrible son.  They finally understood each other, and it was a shame that in that moment, it was time for them to say goodbye.

And now for the negative side of "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul."  The baseball scenes with Jamie, and all of his voice overs of Casey At The Bat, were extremely difficult to take.  Whenever they attempt to give him more material, it seems really forced, and this was no different.  Be honest with me, was I the only one that wanted Jamie's final at bat to end in the same way that Casey's did?  Call me an awful human being, but I wanted to see the kid strike out so badly.

So while there were plenty of things I didn't like about it, "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul" made up for that with a couple of very intriguing plots around Chase and August.  There are only two episodes left in this season, so they better pack a punch!

Other Thoughts:

• The opening theme song was performed by Against Me, and I really enjoyed it once again.
• I like the call back to Karen's Cafe, but wish the ex-owner would make a cameo every once in a while.
• Quinn and Clay were back to their old selves this week.  Awfully annoying, if I do say so myself.
• Chuck wearing those ridiculous glasses, getting a hit, socking Julian in the stomach, and shouting "Chucked!" was quite possibly my favorite sequence of the episode.
• Why did the scene where all three of our leading men tackled or punched Ian Kellerman into the water bother me so much.  The tackling just seemed so unnecessary, so I give credit to Nathan for the outright punch.
• How dare they tease us of an appearance by Paul Johansson and then never give it to us.  I would have loved a Dan Scott sighting.

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