Peyton Sawyer

Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer is a fictional character from The WB/CW television series One Tree Hill and one of the female leads, portrayed by Hilarie Burton. A talented visual and musical artist, Peyton has a heavily guarded heart due to the number of lost loved ones in her life and, over the course of the series, she goes through a lot of life-changing events, difficult times and challenges. One of her character’s cores is her everlasting and complicated love story with the main male protagonist, Lucas Scott. She also shares a special bond with Brooke Davis, her best friend since childhood, and becomes close friends with Haley James too.

Wilmington Star described the character as having "blown away every stereotype the media has placed on cheerleaders", while PopMatters referred to her as "a walking contradiction."

Character development

Casting

Burton was one of the more prominent VJs on MTV for two years, with her looks and other onscreen activities acting as assets. She was the host of her own show, MTV's Hits, helped launch the network's Beach House from the New Jersey shore in May 2002 and was a regular on TRL. "[Burton] is an old soul," said Mark Schwahn, the series' creator. "She's great. She's always just thrilled to do the job, even though she's kind of new to acting. She's just a joy to be around." With regard to what her life is like as an actress, Burton said, "Actors like to think their lives are very difficult, but they're not. Yeah, you're running around a lot. But I used to work in a supermarket and in a bar. That was hard. This is fun." and as someone who is often a victim on the series. "My character is a good girl, but she is also kind of [sexually] suggestive. This is definitely not your mom's drama," said Burton. "She's very contradictory. Yes, she is a cheerleader, but she also goes home and listens to punk music. She's into really dark art and probably rips the heads off of Barbie dolls. Basically, she's a train wreck." Burton said the character may be "a train wreck" but that she was "so glad [that someone was] putting a girl like her on TV. You don't have to be one thing. Peyton has made that OK".

210px|thumb|Peyton's hair and wardrobe evolution: Her seasons 1 and 2 curly hair, along with vintage clothing style (bottom left), season 3 shorter hair style (top left), season 5 sexier dress style (top right), and season 6 straight hair style (bottom right). Burton said she herself was torn between cheerleading and hobbies which would not necessarily be considered hobbies of a cheerleader while in high school. "That's part of the reason I took the show, because I was like, holy cow, this was me in high school." Burton said there are always stereotypes in high school. "People get put into groups. "You're a jock, you're a cheerleader, you're a freak, you're in the drama department. I had a lot of trouble fitting into those groups when I was in high school because I wanted to be a part of all of them," she said. "I think that's how a lot of people are. Some people have the nerve to go ahead and branch out and be a part of everything and some people don't." She said One Tree Hill represents people who are multidimensional and who like more than one thing. "People do like more than one thing. It's nice that [One Tree Hill] shows that," she stated.

Burton said that portraying a younger age (16 at 21) was not a problem, except for one aspect: "My only concern was when I had to put on my cheerleading uniform again. You forget how nerve-racking that is – the vulnerability of wearing bloomers."

Initially, the character was mixed-received: she came off as too angry and bitchy to some viewers. "At first, the audience rejected her character because, well, she was mean to our hero (Lucas)," said Schwann. "And she's pretty and popular." Schwann decided to soften the character a little, which included having her bond with character Haley James, Lucas's best friend, and she eventually caught on with the audience. "[That was] our challenge, because she [was designed as, and became] the moral center of the show," said Schwahn.

Schwahn eventually began to change the character's styles, especially in season 4 and up. Burton said, "Peyton's wardrobe has changed quite a bit, which is nice for me, because I am a... In real-life I am [several years older], and was wearing T-shirts and jeans, and Converse sneakers for five years." She said that after some time, it weighed on her femininity. With the four-year timeline jump, Peyton got to wear more skirts and dresses, and shorter ones. "Boobs aren't bigger, but legs are out," said Burton. Burton explained her character's attraction to Lucas, saying she sees Peyton as questioning a lot about her life, similar to how Murray envisions Lucas, and thinks Peyton often differs from her friends on what is important – much like Murray has said he felt as a child.

Artwork

310px|thumb|Various Peyton artwork.

Peyton was further designed as an artist, in order to add more depth to the character and express what she cannot or does not want to say. It also complemented her romance with Lucas, as both are deep thinkers who use their skills to speak to the world. One year later, Lucas's novel becomes a bestseller and he is scheduled to have a book signing in L.A. Having missed her, he calls her and invites her to come to the signing. Peyton comes, but witnesses Lindsey Strauss giving Lucas a congratulatory kiss, assumes that Lindsey and Lucas are in a relationship, and leaves thinking there is no hope for her and Lucas to be together. Lucas thinks Peyton did not bother to come to the book signing, and consequently goes on his first date with Lindsey the same night and some time later begins dating her, despite his surviving feelings for Peyton. Peyton then runs into Julian Baker, whom she had met for the first time the day after her breakup with Lucas. They talk and he invites her to a work party he has to attend that night. She and Julian date for a while afterwards, to the point where she moves in with him and they profess their love for each other, but he ends it after realizing that she will never get over Lucas.

Final seasons

In season 5, it has been almost five years later since high school graduation. Peyton, now 22, works as the assistant to the assistant in a recording company in LA, as her boss likes to remind her. Unable to make it in the music business and fearing to lose her integrity, she decides to quit and goes back to Tree Hill with her old best friend, Brooke Davis, Things get rocky, and Haley convinces her to fire him and keep Mia, the keyboard player, as Mia is the true heart of the group. Peyton also struggles with her feelings towards Lucas, especially since his girlfriend tries to be nice to her. However, Peyton soon antagonizes her. After visiting her old house and remembering how she thought she would always be with Lucas, she becomes bitter. This then escalates into a fight with him as he confronts her about not being the same Peyton he used to know; she retorts that he gave up on the two of them not waiting for her. She later reveals to Lucas that she came back to Tree Hill for him and that she still loves him. She kisses him, and he kisses back but when she goes to his house, she finds out he has just proposed to Lindsey because of his fear of being rejected again by her. After the initial shock, she tells him that if it is what he really wants, she will bury her feelings for him because she wants him to be happy. However, she later winds up lashing out at Lindsey. She regrets her hostile remarks toward Lindsey when she discovers Lindsey's dad died from cancer, which prompts the two to start from a clean slate regarding their interaction. Peyton tricks her former boss into helping her launch Mia under her label.

On Lucas and Lindsey's wedding day, Peyton puts on a brave face while watching Lucas saying "I do" to Lindsey. Although the wedding ends up falling apart because it has become crystal clear to Lindsey either that he hasn’t moved on from Peyton due to his second book, which is obviously again dedicated to Peyton and about his everlasting for her, she is still hurt because Lucas went through with his wedding vows. She then focuses on making Haley's new album and helping Brooke with baby Angie. Feeling guilty, she tries to have Lindsey reconcile with Lucas, but Lindsey tells her to read his new book, which she says is about her. One night, Peyton finds Lucas drunk at TRIC. She gets him home, where he utters that he hates her. Distraught, she starts to spend her time throwing water balloons on people as a form of therapy and later paints "Love song" from The Cure on the Rivercourt to tell Lucas that she will always be in love with him. Having seen this and being hardly confronted by Haley about his late behavior, he goes to Peyton to apologize for saying that he hates her because it’s obviously not true, but it was just the drink talking, and he says that it was really hard losing her, letting her go and seeing her again and it’s still really hard for him, making again apparent his everlasting love for her. During this time, Peyton gets word from Mia about a man who claims to have known Peyton's biological mother, Ellie. From the information given, this man could possibly be her biological father. At the end of the season finale, Lucas calls a woman asking her if she wants to get married at Las Vegas - the woman could be Lindsey, Peyton or Brooke.

In the season 6 premiere, it is discovered that the person whom Lucas called is obviously Peyton. She goes to the airport and they hop on a plane to Vegas to get married. Once they get there, the chapel is too trashy, and so they do not get married. Instead, they drive to L.A. and Lucas proposes to her in the same hotel room he did years before and finally become engaged. The two are still in L.A. during Brooke's attack. After Brooke calls Peyton and sounds weird, Lucas and Peyton decide to head back to Tree Hill and have the wedding there instead, but Lucas asks Peyton to move in with him in his house and she happily accepts. Peyton sees that Brooke is beaten up, but Brooke lies and says she fell down the stairs, and Peyton believes her, not knowing that Brooke was attacked. Peyton meets a famous musician named Mick Wolf, who used to know Ellie. He is the one who asked Mia about Peyton during the tour. He keeps dodging around the subject of Peyton's real father, but says a little more about him each time Peyton brings him up. Peyton continues to get to know Mick and continues to ask about her real father. When she asks him why her parents gave her up and, he replies, "We... I mean they, had a tough decision." Mick accidentally lets the truth slip out, and suddenly Peyton realizes this is her father. She invites him over for a nice dinner together, he instead goes and gets drunk at a bar after being sober for a year (as shown by a sobriety chip in his pocket). She and Lucas have also set a date for their wedding, which causes conflict between Lucas and Lindsey with regards to the book tour for his second book. Peyton closes herself off emotionally with regard to Mick and is angry with him for not being upfront with her about who he is. She tells him to leave. Not long afterward, during a visit to Brooke's, Brooke tells Peyton the truth about how she got all the bruises on her body and the two share a meaningful moment, reconnecting. Peyton is later seen on the phone with Larry, her adoptive father. She tells him how much she loves him. Though the cohabitation is initially hard, Lucas and Peyton eventually decide to accept their difference and go throw them while their relationship continues to grow stronger and stronger. Peyton also reconnects with her biological brother Derek, who has returned from the war. Later, she goes to TRIC to meet up with Lucas and a man named Julian, who is interested in making a movie based on Lucas's first novel. Julian was asking Lucas a lot of questions about Peyton before she got there. She runs into Julian near the bathroom, and it is soon revealed that he is her ex-boyfriend. Three weeks go by and Peyton still has not told Lucas the truth about her romantic history with Julian. Lucas is left to discover their past on his own, and is initially angry about it. Peyton throws a USO concert in which Angels and Airwaves, Mia, and Haley play. She continues to connect with her brother, Derek, and clash with Julian over Lucas and his film.

Mia visits Peyton, and Peyton is concerned that Mia is not focused on her work. She suggests to Mia that she listen to a CD of songs she could possibly sing. They clash because Mia writes all of her own songs. Eventually, Peyton gives up on Mia and asks her to leave the label. Meanwhile, Peyton deals with stomach pains. She sees a doctor about it, and tells the doctor about Ellie's cancer. Her tearful face after the phone call predicts trouble ahead. Peyton later finds out that she does not have cancer, but is actually pregnant. She tells Lucas first and he is very happy and then Haley finds out in her own time, but Peyton seems hesitant to share her news with Brooke because she knows how much Brooke has wanted a family. Peyton eventually tells Brooke, and Brooke is really happy for her. Peyton has her first ultrasound, but is upset because she thinks that Lucas is too busy to come and has forgotten. Lucas surprises her by coming, and the two get to hear their baby's heartbeat for the first time happier than they’ve ever been. Later, Lucas and Peyton learn that Peyton has placenta praevia and that having this baby could mean the end of her life. Lucas, afraid of losing her and raising a child that has to go through the same motherless state Peyton did, tries to convince her into an abortion, but they decide to get through this and decide to have the baby. After she asked him to marry sooner, Lucas tells her that he wants to do it, but not because she might die beforehand, but because he loves her with all his heart, and wants her to be his wife. Lucas and Peyton get married at the lake where they met. Haley is the minister, Brooke is Peyton’s maid of honor and Nathan is Lucas’s best man. After the reception, Lucas and Peyton go home and Peyton collapses on the floor while waiting for Lucas's surprise. Lucas walks in the house and finds Peyton unconscious on the floor in a pool of blood. Peyton is rushed to the hospital by a blood-covered Lucas, who begs her not to leave him. Peyton goes through an emergency caesarean section, and falls into a coma. The caesarean section is successful and she gives birth to a daughter named Sawyer Brooke Scott. She later awakes with Lucas and Brooke by her side. Karen, who has come back to Tree Hill for the occasion, brings in Sawyer, and Nathan, Haley, Jamie and Julian join them. Dan visits Peyton and she, after some hesitation, allows Dan to hold Sawyer. She and Lucas then leave Tree Hill with Sawyer finally leaving happily ever after.

For season 7, Mark Schwahn, the series' creator, said Lucas and Peyton are traveling the world; they are spending time with Karen and her husband Andy, and Lucas is writing a new book. They continue to be mentioned by characters on the series. Her and Lucas' absence during Brooke and Julian's wedding is mentioned by Brooke as being due to baby Sawyer being sick. Haley takes her place as Brooke's maid of honor. In season nine, Haley sends Jamie and Lydia to live with Peyton and Lucas due to Nathan's disappearance.

Reception

Peyton has been described as "a very talented artist" who expresses her emotions through her work and guards her heart after losing so many important people in her life. The character was initially mixed-received, as the audience felt that she was too mean, especially to love interest Lucas. and the pairing emerged as one of the show's supercouples. Their departure received significant media attention and was even picked as one of the "12 most essential episodes" of One Tree Hill in 2009 by fans at starnewsonline.com.

References

External links

Peyton's MySpace page
Peyton's podcast
Peyton's website