Like You Like An Arsonist Episode Recap

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Synopsis

After the fire that destroyed his dealership, Dan's fate hangs in the balance. Did he survive? And if so, will he seek vengeance on those who plotted to destroy him, even if that person turns out to be his first-born son? And Dan isn't the only one in torment. Besides coping with his father's attack, Nathan must deal with Haley's reappearance in Tree Hill and the future of their relationship. Meanwhile, Lucas looks forward to seeing Brooke after a summer apart, and Peyton searches for the truth about the mysterious woman claiming to be her mother.

Full Recap

The season three premier starts with reminders from the end of season two: a scene from the dealership fire. We see Nathan returning home to his mother who mysteriously tells him they'll be free soon. Someone knocks on the door and it turns out to be Haley. She wants to come back home - not just to Tree Hill but to Nathan and their marriage. Before Nathan can begin to even consider the idea the telephone rings: It's the fire department. Oddly, Deb invites Haley to come with them.
We cut to a scene from the end of season two where Luke is sitting with Peyton. She's scared (the creepy emails and Ellie's strange appearance) and asks him to stay at her place with her. This episode (like the season 2 premiere) is full of flashbacks.

Brooke lands at the airport and finds Lucas waiting with flowers. But as it turns out, Luke's mom was also returning, so they aren't really for her. She's a little embarrassed and walks away. Dan turns their house upside down looking for Nathan and Haley's annulment papers. It turns out he has nightmares about the fire.

We then see Nathan at High Flyers, receiving a letter from Haley. He flashes back to a conversation between Haley and himself where she tells him the tour meant nothing without him. Instead of reacting positively, he tells her with a little hostility that he's going to High Flyers, and she can stay in the guest room if she wants, since he moved out of their apartment.

Lucas goes to see Brooke, with flowers, and she's happy to see him. She tells him she'd like to have a fling with him where they hang out but not exclusively, and he agrees. In a flashback, Luke and Peyton are talking in her room the night she asked him to stay with her, and he tells her it was always gonna be there between them. In another flashback, Peyton asks her dad about Ellie, and it turns out Peyton was adopted at birth and Ellie really is her biological mother. Peyton grows angry at the rest of the world and accuses her mom and dad and Ellie of being a bunch of liars.

Haley goes to their old apartment and finds their wedding wall obliterated. In a flashback, she and Nathan get into a fight about the annulment papers and she repeats to him the message she left on their machine - the one he deleted without listening to. She tells him that yes she loved the tour, but there was never a night when she loved it more than she loved him.

Back in reality, Brooke finds her there and tells her she can't stay there because she's rented the place. Haley is crushed but hides it from her friend. After all, she's the one who left.

Mouth comes to help Brooke move in, and they talk about her non-exclusive arrangement with Lucas as well as Mouth's breakup with Erica Marsh. Mouth explains that Erica broke up with him because "she got popular." Brooke tells him that Erica doesn't deserve him. Mouth doesn't look so sure. Brooke asks Peyton to help her paint the apartment and cover up the wedding wall, but Peyton is all for leaving it the way it is. Haley shouldn't be spared from looking at it, because it's her fault it's trashed to begin with. Clearly, Peyton has a bone to pick with Haley for leaving and never calling.

Karen goes to her café for the first time and likes the changes Deb made while she was in New Zealand. Haley comes in to ask for her old waitressing job back and gets it. In a flashback, the night before Nathan left for High Flyers she goes to talk to him. They almost have a moment, but Nathan stops and says he can't do that anymore. Haley says she understands if he doesn't love her anymore. He says "always and forever." He still loves her, but he just can't trust her. Brooke goes to the café and tells Haley she can move in with her, and split the rent.

Dan goes to the chapel for confession, and tells the priest that he knows someone tried to kill him, and he is confessing in advance for the sins he will commit when he finds out who that is. Too bad Dan doesn't really understand Catholicism - confession doesn't quite work that way. Luke goes to the beach to find Brooke and they share their first kiss of their non-exclusive relationship. Brooke takes a picture of them with her phone and blows it up for her room wall.

The episode ends with a Peyton voiceover describing the current situations they are all in: Brooke - running scared; Haley and Karen - coming home; Deb - lying; her - hiding from the truth; Dan - evil struggling with good; Lucas and Nathan - good struggling with evil. "... Six billion souls, and sometimes, all you need is one."