10 'One Tree Hill' Couples That Deserved Better

1. Lucas and Brooke

Okay, I know the writers decided to break them up because Sophia & Chad broke up IRL, but that's not a good enough excuse. Not to mention, I *HATE* the trope of spending an entire season having one character convince their SO that there's a particular friend they don't need to worry about, and then they end up dating that friend the next season (see also: Jonah/Frankie/Grace from "Degrassi")

Lucas and Brooke brought out the best in each other, and while I'm not necessarily anti-Leyton (in general) you have to admit that the person Lucas was with Brooke was a much better person than who he was with Peyton, and Peyton was a much better person without him, too. I'll forgive the writers, I suppose, because Brooke and Julian were a great couple and that kind of makes up for it. Kind of.

2. Chase/Mia/Alex

Chase's character wasn't ever really someone I was all-in for until the final season with Chuck. I didn't particularly care for Chuck or Chase until that season. He had some cute scenes with Brooke in season 4, but was hardly a decent replacement for Lucas. When he came back, I kind of felt like "ok, I didn't ask for this but I'll roll with it". His relationship with Mia was cute, but then we were supposed to root for him and Alex, I guess. I didn't dislike him with Alex; I didn't particularly care for the plot, but I think in the end, he was good for her. But then, once I finally though, "yeah okay I could get on board with this", Alex just LEAVES randomly with no good explanation. Not cool.

3. Grubbs & Miranda

Okay, listen: I didn't care for either of them separately, and I didn't care for their relationship. But they still deserved better. If the writers were going to try to sell them to us, separately or together, they needed to do a lot better. It feels like they just kind of realized "nobody wants this" and gave up.

4. Keith and Karen

As heartbreakingly intense as this plot was, I like to consider "All Tomorrow's Parties" the series finale sometimes because everything was just fine and Keith and Karen were going to finally be endgame and neither of them deserved this.

I also feel like Andy deserved better. It was very obvious when he came back for Lucas's wedding that he knew he was and would always be Karen's second choice to Keith. Even though Keith was obviously out of the picture for good, Andy didn't deserve that. He was a genuinely good character and as much as I adored him and Karen in the end, he shouldn't settle for being someone's second choice in any sense.

5. Shelly and Mouth

Don't get me wrong, I am 110% Mouth x Millie. I don't think he should have ended up with Shelly, but again it was a case of "the writers tried to sell this to us and it feels like they changed their mind at the last minute and tried to write it out but could have done a much better job". Honestly, the whole "clean teens" plot could have been done better (a rant for another day, yes this includes Chase & Brooke's scene in the season 4 finale).

6. Skills & Bevin

We literally never got an explanation for their breakup. They were so cute together! I get that people don't usually stay together after high school, but we at least deserved a real explanation. And then we got Bevin and Tim, which nobody asked for, and then apparently they got divorced but there wasn't really an explanation for that either. Are we supposed to care about them?

7. Rachel, just in general

No offense, but what the HELL was Rachel and Dan? As if the way Victoria treated her while she was so vulnerable and the results of that weren't heartbreaking enough, I don't think I'll ever forgive the writers for this. NOBODY ASKED FOR THIS. Every single time I started to think "hey, I could actually like Rachel", she went and did something that made me dislike her again, but this takes the cake.

8. Brooke and Peyton

They're getting put on this list because their friendship deserved a lot better. After everything they went through, the implication that they weren't going to stay friends was uncalled for. I get that Peyton couldn't come to Brooke's wedding, but the whole conversation about "yeah, you just drift apart from your close friends sometimes" I GET THAT IT HAPPENS IRL BUT THEY DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT.

9. The Davises

Brooke's parents getting back together in the end was really random and messy (see also: Serena's parents on "Gossip Girl"). I wasn't a fan of Victoria as a character, but if I had to pick anyone for her to end up with, I was rooting for Alex. This was just... random and sloppy writing.

10. Peyton and Jake

I don't need to say more than this: THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN ENDGAME AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT.