#pretend like the background is beautiful and convoluted

[moomoorare]

Finally, Cleo as Spring inspired by Mucha's 1896 painting!! 🩵🌿 Couldn't choose a version so you're having both <3

[maya-matlin]

Thank you so much for being one of my first and only mutuals! I'm making a great first impression by sending you a terrible ask - how would you rate the six One Tree Hill seasons that Chad was on the show from your first to sixth based purely from a Brucas perspective? For instance, Season 5 is one of my least favorite seasons of the series but I love the Brucas content so would probably rank it as high as second on this list. I'm sorry if I worded this in too convoluted a way! Please don't feel pressured to answer.

You're welcome! You definitely aren't making any sort of bad impression and your question makes perfect sense to me.

1.) Season 2 - This one kind of has to be the best. It's the only season where there's less of a triangle between Brooke, Lucas and Peyton and much more focus on Brucas's individual feelings for each other with their potential relationship being given the room to grow. I loved watching their friendship form and seeing Lucas pine for Brooke. Plus, the chemistry between Chad and Sophia was so raw. So how do you not love it?

2.) Season 3 - I love the vast majority of the third season and watching Brooke and Lucas settle into their second relationship. So many of their most iconic moment happened this season. But, this was also when the ghost of Leyton started lingering in the background and eventually ruined everything.

3.) Season 5 - I agree with you 100% about season 5. It's a mess in a lot of ways and suffered somewhat due to the writers' strike. I'm fully aware a lot of the Brucas teasing only happened for the sake of the season's cliffhanger where they pretended for a few minutes that Lucas wasn't going to end up with Peyton, but still. I LOVED watching Brooke and Lucas support each other and spend time together as adults. The chemistry was as great as it always was. Regardless of the eventual endgame, it felt much more natural seeing Brooke and Lucas bonding and finding this new yet familiar rhythm than it did watching Peyton pitifully holding on to "true love always" as Lucas did all he could to spend time with anyone except Peyton.

4.) Season 1 - Obviously, things ended terribly. No matter how much Lucas liked Brooke and enjoyed spending time with her, he was way too fixated on the idea of Peyton and making something happen with his longtime crush to give their relationship a proper chance. In spite of this, Brooke and Lucas were very fun and had this great physical chemistry that was notably lacking with Lucas and Peyton. But even beyond that, the few moments where Brooke and Lucas connected on an emotional level were just... A+. It would have been so easy to make Brooke and her relationship with Lucas this throwaway thing. In fact, I'm sure many viewers would have preferred that, but the fact Brooke's heartbreak was taken seriously and Lucas was forced to deal with what he'd done was the much better writing choice.

5.) Season 4 - To be honest, both seasons 4 and 6 were big disappointments for different reasons. These are both Lucas/Peyton heavy seasons with minimal Brucas interaction. I hated the heavy handed writing meant to tear down Brucas's past and Brooke as a character all to justify Lucas and Peyton coming together. But, this season features the scene where Lucas shows Brooke what he wrote about her in his book. It's a very beautiful, underrated moment. Brooke's the other half of Lucas's book, indeed.

6.) Season 6 - In season 6, Brooke and Lucas barely seemed to acknowledge the other existed outside of their relationships with Peyton. They got a handful of moments, but not nearly enough for my liking.