I have been posting that I think Rachel is the new villain and her being shady is going to be the downfall of her and Dan.  I think the tipping point for her was when she was staying with Brooke and Victoria tore her a new one.  I don't think she's now all bad but she has gotten really hard since then. Am I missing something or am I on to something. Need some feed back.

p.s. Was I the only one who was disappointed that we did not see when Nate found out that his dad married Rachel?

Hey Arpagian, I don't think that Rachel is a villian at all.  I believe that she is someone that, although grew up rich and probably never wanted for anything, never had the love and guidance of her parents, and had to learn to fend for herself and go after what she wants. Sort of like Brooke, which is probably why they eventually clicked.  I believe that she was very lonely until hooking up with the Tree Hill gang and really didn't quite know how to go about fitting in.  She did eventually find her way after quite a few mistakes, some bigger than others.  She was also a good friend to Brooke and Mouth, and in a round about way, a friend to Nathan and Haley when Haley first found out she was pregnant. 

So, if I had to pick an answer to your question, I would say that she is misunderstood instead of a "bad" girl.  Rachel has always been my favorite "supporting" character, and that's outside of Mouth and Skills.  I'm looking forward to seeing how her current story plays out.

And yes, I would have loved to have seen both Nathan and Haley's reaction to finding out that Dan had married Rachel! :)

 

 

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vickih420 said...

I would say that she is misunderstood instead of a "bad" girl.

I would tend to agree, except I am curious about how Mark and crew are writing her now. I enjoy Rachel as well and have loved her relationship with Mouth and Brooke. My feeling. however. is they are making her seem more cold and calculating then she was. I guess I will just have to wait and see where it goes.  As far as the things you said about her up to this point I completely agree with you.

Yes, it seems that they are, but I think whatever she is up to, it isn't something bad.  When she was talking to Renee about her being on the show, I knew it was going to be to help Nathan.  I just don't see her doing anything to hurt anyone, except may Victoria, lol, but like you, I'll wait and see.  :)

I think I agree to some extent with both you and Arpagian.  If anything, I feel really overwhelmed when I think about it.  I think it's really complicated, where "bad girl" and "misunderstood" are the extremes and she doesn't fit entirely into either category.  There are times when she's been cruel & calculating and times when you not only see but understand what's motivating her and you're able to empathize with that.  I think where she differs from Brooke, though, is that Brooke evolved and reached a certain level of maturity as well as understanding about herself, society, relationships, etc.  I'm not sure we're seeing that with Rachel yet (though I think she does have part of the "society" part down--she knows how to use the world and, by extension, people to her advantage but that's part of the problem, too) so I look forward to seeing more reveals about where she's been with Dan and where she goes from here.

BTW, I also would've liked to see Nathan's reaction when he found out Dan and Rachel were married.  Hoping it's in a flashback eventually.  There's still a lot of holes in Dan and Rachel's story, IMO.

That makes a lot of sense, as they have been doing lots of flashbacks to explain things-I hope that is what is going to happen.

I think that is true of all the characters in that they are not one dimensional and do not fit into neat categories. That is the beauty of this show. That being said I feel a certain coldness from Rachel,especially in the last episode that I think is why I am not sure of where they are going with her. I guess we will have to wait and see.

That's true, too, but I feel like I can more easily categorize the others.


I don't see Rachel being anymore cold than we had seen in the past.  Sure, we've seen her be nicer than this, too, but I don't think what we're seeing now is all that different from her prior mean/b*tchy/whatever you want to call it days.  JMO.  Wait and see, we shall!

Yes I agree, but having to choose one, I chose "misunderstood" over bad girl. IMO, Rachel is a complicated character and we haven't really been given a whole lot to go on in regards to her background/childhood before she came to Tree Hill.  Just bits and pieces here and there.  But she does have a good heart and has shown it quite a few times.

Again, I agree but I was referring more to the Brooke we were first introduced to and how she was before she really started to evolve later on in S1 and then in S's 2 & 3. I should have made that more clear.  I believe we did see Rachel try to evolve and start to understand herself, as well as have meaningful relationships with friends such as Brooke and Mouth, but then she was gone.  When she came back in S5, we really didn't get to see too much of her before she was gone again, so I'd love to know more about her and also see some meaningful scenes with both Mouth and Brooke, but I somehow doubt we'll get them.

I think many of us would have loved to have seen that and I'll take a flashback, because his reaction has to have been a good one.  I can just see the WTH expressions on both his and Haley's faces, lol! And I share your opinion of there being a lot of holes in Dan and Rachel's story and I'm looking forward to seeing more of their backstory as well as where they are headed. :)

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I'd like to see that, too!

How's this for a coincidence: I was talking to Lee Norris today and he brought up the Rachel-Dan pairing and said that it's interesting to him that you really don't know who the "bad guy" is in the relationship.  We didn't go more in-depth about Rachel, though, as we were really talking about Dan. Lee said Dan is his favorite character.