I just spent an hour watching this week’s One Tree Hill and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

There was funny karaoke, cute little kids, sweet budding romance and lovely family bonding (fiancees, husband/wife, brother/brother, father/son, uncle/nephew).

For the first time in a long time on this series (ever?) I like everyone. I could do without Marvin and Millie, and Chase has a bit of a bumpy past, but I’m really liking the whole cast of characters for the most part.

Brooke, consistently my favourite, has finally been given a romance that I buy, as well as some inner turmoil about it. She’s also being forced to relive her highschool troubles (and reminisce with the audience about earlier seasons) as she designs costumes for Lucas’ movie. She had a lovely moment when she found out Peyton was pregnant and her double sided reaction to Millie’s revelation was very true to character.

Nathan and Haley are up to their usual sweetness with Nathan really stepping it up with the goofily endearing comedy this week. Jamie and his friend Andre are always cute. Lucas and Peyton are at their most endearing when they’re at their least dramatic and I quite like Mia so found her story fun as well.

There was no Dan, no Deb, no awkward sexlife Skills. There was limited Marvin and tolerable amounts of Millie and Sam. There were no scary parents, no psycho stalkers, no crazy nannies and no masked attackers. There was no reason for a character to pull a gun or run away or punch anything or anyone.

Mostly this episode was funny. It was sweet and cute and simple. No car crashes, dangerous people or life-threatening diseases. Just some karaoke, some ice cream and a couple of walkie talkies.