More than 15 years later, Chad Michael Murray still takes issue with one of One Tree Hill’s most notorious scenes.
While chatting with James Lafferty as part of People’s Sexiest Man Alive issue, Murray and his on-screen brother were asked whether a shocking moment from the show stood out in their memory — and they instantly agreed on Season 6’s heart transplant episode.
A Ruff Twist
In case you need a refresher — but then, who could forget? — the episode, “Searching for a Former Clarity,” begins with Dan Scott getting ready for a heart transplant surgery. But when his donor heart arrives, it’s dropped and ultimately gobbled up by a golden retriever who’s hanging out in the emergency room.
“I begged and pleaded — begged and pleaded! — Please, I don’t need to be there,” Murray recalled of the episode, in which Lucas and Peyton cross paths with Dan in the ER. “There is no need for Lucas Scott to be there. If you really want to do it, fine, go ahead and write the scene. But it’s terrible.”
Murray theorized that the scene that followed — its chaos rivals even the most outlandish Grey’s Anatomy moments — was a “promotional” move to get One Tree Hill mentioned on The Soup, Joel McHale’s erstwhile TV recap show. (If so, well, it worked! The 2009 episode was indeed skewered on The Soup days after airing.)
The Sullivan’s Crossing star then went on to detail just how unlikely the heart mishap really was. “If you were at home, and you were making pot brownies — as one does — and you fell asleep, and your dog happened to get into said pot brownies, and ingest the entire tin, first thing, of course, you’re going to do is take him to the ER.”
In the episode, a hospital worker tells the dog’s worried owner, “Sit your stupid ass down and I’ll call a veterinarian.”
Murray also noted the dog’s ridiculously long leash “that wraps around the whole ER,” posing a major hazard when an EMT rushes in with Dan’s heart. And, well…
“You’re going to walk right in through those doors — where, in fact, my dad is waiting to get said heart,” Murray continued, embodying the odd scenario. “He’s not in the prepping room. And if you have a trip line in the middle of an ER, you will trip. And the Igloo flies, and the heart goes skidding across the room. It’s not in a package. It’s just sitting right there, on top of ice.”
Before anyone can react — even Grey’s employed a five-second rule for dropped organs — the sleepy, hungry dog digs in. Dan can only watch in shock. “And he knows that that’s probably his heart that just got eaten by the stoned dog who had the munchies,” Murray said. “Wow, that’s a reach.”
Lucas sees it all go down with a smirk, which Murray was told was the “button on the scene.”
Looking Ahead
While Murray may have some questions about One Tree Hill’s zanier moments, he’s all for the reboot that is reportedly in development. “I hope it’s about a young group of kids, so that this generation of youth can see themselves in the characters,” the Freakier Friday star told Bustle this summer.
