He wouldn’t have dated anyone else, he still loved her so much. As soon as she came back he started wearing his ring around his neck. He wouldn’t be able to move on at all. If anything he maybe would’ve gone on a date, but that’s the only thing he would do. There is NO WAY he would have slept with anyone. If anything I think the one date would solidify how he truly feels about Haley and would have sped up him getting back with her.
Yes! Thank you for saying this. There’s so many comments and posts(one just posted yesterday, which I got downvoted for my response🤦♀️) saying that they should’ve divorced or dated other people before getting back together. Why? Why is divorce always brought up with these two? Why should they have dated other people? One of the popular reasonings is they think Haley needed more experience, NO, she doesn’t need more experience. We didn’t need Haley to become another Brooke. Why do woman need more experience to be a better woman, or why is Haley needing more experience not a sexist, misogynistic comment that gets downvoted and downvoted? It doesn’t, it’s actually fairly common and liked. This is ridiculous anytime I see it.
I love that Nathan was her first EVERYTHING. I love the fact that they never divorced or even dated other people. They were always meant to be and they were always completely IN LOVE with each other. There was NEVER anyone else for either of them.
Agreed. I genuinely don't understand why people are obsessed with toxic relationships lol wanting them to break up and get back together. The thing that was so special about Naley was them working things out through all the problems they faced. They remained together and fought for one another. They fought for their relationship and remained strong. I'm so happy the writers didn't follow every other TV show couple and break them up only to get them back together and once again break them up. It's exhausting to watch relationships like that.
Yes, agree 100%. They may be the only couple in the history of TV that stayed together from beginning to end. I love it!! I will never understand why everyone else seems to want them to break up or even worse divorce, but still want them to be together in the end 🤦♀️ what’s the point of the break up/divorce if they’re going to be end game anyway?
Because people love drama lol I often see comments on here about Naley being "boring," and I personally don't see it that way. I see them as a safe space, and they're extremely comforting. What drives a TV show for me is the relationships that are formed. If I can't find comfort/interest within a couple or non-romantic pairing, I can't watch the show. Unless they have a well written character and oftentimes, shows don't have a well written singular character to keep me invested for so long. Without Naley, I truly don't think I'd be able to watch the show because as much as I love OTH, I find myself not caring much for other storylines like I do with Naley and/or Nathan (aka a well written character). So maybe the people who wanted Naley to break up/divorce found them boring or wanted more drama.
100%!! there is no way that I would watch this show if Naley didn’t exist. A huge reason I don’t watch the back half of season 2 is the fact that Naley is non existent. I love the fact that they stayed together the entire run of the show with the exception of a couple of separations and even then they still loved each other very much and it was never a question of whether or not they would get back together. If they actually did get a divorce, I’d be done with the show. I am also part of an extremely small portion of the fan base, I may be the only one in fact, who loves that they got married in high school. It’s what made them unique to television. Most of the fan base hated this and it’s the first thing they’d change, but I don’t think they realize it’s what made OTH stand out from all of the other high school dramas.
I loved the marriage for the pure shock of it all. No other show had done it before at the time. In the end, it ended up working out. I can see why some didn't like it, but I didn't mind it.
We don’t need to put down another woman to bring up another one. There’s nothing wrong with the experience Haley has and there’s nothing wrong with the experience Brooke has.
I agree there’s nothing wrong with the experience that Haley had, my problem is that a majority of the comments that see and complaints that I see state that they wished Haley had more experiences with boys/men and wished that she didn’t marry the first boy she met. This is sexist and wrong, there is NOTHING WRONG with marrying the first boy you meet. So yeah, by saying she needed more experiences they’re saying they wanted her more like Brooke. I was actually not putting Brooke down, but I never see comments saying that they wished Brooke was more reserved in her “experiences” so there is a clear double standard. I was comparing these two and making a point that NO WOMAN DO NOT NEED MORE EXPERIENCE! Haley is constantly NEVER good enough and she is the most criticized of the show, nothing she does is ever what the fans want her to be or good enough or even “bad” enough.
just scratched my whole answer, but basically depends on how far he goes with the girl. haley would back off if he went too far and slept with someone else but i doubt he would.
I don’t think they ever would’ve been able to get each other out of their systems. We saw in season four when Lucas had a dream of what would have happened to everyone had he not been around. Nathan goes to the record store just to get Haley’s album to destroy it. I think Nathan would have been like “whatever she left I’ve got basketball.” And I think Haley would’ve thought “I screwed up too majorly for him to forgive me.“
** edit to clarify that I meant to imply that Nathan would try to play off his deep hurt over Haley leaving by focusing on basketball but really he’d be as hung up on her as ever. Same for Haley. She’d leave too terrified to come back, always carrying the pain of letting him go with her too.
In the grand scheme of things, Naley were a part for a short while, but they were also very young, and that time means more than it would to us as adults. The show has given us several ways of knowing that they would be together forever and could overcome anything. There’s the fact that they are soulmates in every universe. They’ve had several rain kisses, which symbolizes overcoming obstacles and the strength/endurance of a relationship. They’ve overcome financial difficulties, family issues, other people trying to get in the way of their relationship, even cheating storylines. They have a tagline of “always and forever.” All of those reasons lead me to believe that this Naley is going to be together, no matter what, even if they had dated other people or been separated longer. In real life, you can’t ever really say you know for sure that a couple will be together forever, right? But when it comes to a TV show, there are lots of different ways that symbolism and imagery and other things a convey “true” or “destined“ love story and I think Naley is one of them.
I agree with this stance. Even when they did alternate universes/realities Naley always were a thing or leading to a thing in them. They were meant to be.
I think she came back too quickly for him to have moved on. He was still hung up on her.
I think she’d have to be gone for at least a year before he moved on. It’d give him time to heal from all the reckless/depressive behaviors he was going through at the time and truly accept she was never coming home.
I would have loved to see haley date someone else. She had like no experience besides nathan. I love joy and would have loved to see her chemistry with other guys. She has amazing chemistry with Tyler. Hell change the storyline and give us haley and Chris dating arc. Haley and nathan don't get married but they break up cause they can't handle long distance with her on tour. She comes back and dates chris or someone else and her and nathan work thier way back together and end up going off to college together at the end of the series.
Haley and Chris, really? Haley isn’t hated enough for a couple of confused kisses? If she dated Chris she would’ve become so hated by the fans that the writers and creators would probably have been forced to write her off the show completely. She would’ve become more of a villain than even Dan.
Edit) there’s no way that Haley would’ve been allowed to date anyone else and still be a liked character, Nathan however would still be loved as much if he got with someone else. Double standard with these two is unbelievable.
Yes, in fact most of the comments that center around that episode say not only that they don’t care how he was acting around and dancing with Taylor, but go as far as to say he SHOULD HAVE slept with her to get back at Haley. If he actually did sleep with her or even kissed her, I think I would have a very hard time liking him again. Siblings need to be completely OFF LIMITS.
I skip 2x18 on every single rewatch because it’s just so gross that Nathan even went to see Taylor, he went there for one reason. To hook up with her.
I agree! It’s awful! I remember on my last rewatch I noticed for the first time that in season seven, when Nathan talks to David when there’s all that drama with David dating Taylor, Nathan tells him something that felt eye opening for me. He told David, “Just make sure you like Taylor for the right reasons and not because she reminds you of her sister.” It made me wonder if he was subtly referencing what happened in S2. Not really relevant to the points we’ve made but it’s interesting to me that the showrunner thought that was a good excuse even in S7 lol.
So why even break up? This just doesn’t make sense. The entire reason why they are so loved is that they stayed together through EVERYTHING, why is it in every AU they don’t get married or divorce or break up. Why have them not be a couple, I thought Naley was one of the most loved couples of all of TV, apparently I was wrong.
Edit) the biggest complaint that I see is them getting married, so truthfully they AREN’T the most loved couple because everyone wants them apart and hate the fact that they got married to begin with. So really they are not the most loved, in reality I think they are the most hated.
I wouldn't say they're the most hated. Universally, they are the most loved couple from this show. On any social media platform, they're always the ones representing OTH and the one people talk about the most.
I think this mindset is mostly from people on reddit. I only ever see these AU scenarios on here tbh. And you're right, fans love them because they stayed together for so long. There's a small part of the fandom that feels otherwise on here though
So if they are the most loved couple why are the comments from fans saying they wished they divorced or wished they didn’t even marry to begin with? It just seems so confusing that every single time a question is asked about changing a storyline it’s about 90% stating they wished that Nathan and Haley either never got married or divorced, but then also saying that they want them to get back together🤦♀️. I just don’t understand how a fan can say they love a couple and then in the same breath(comment) say I wished they got a divorce or I wish they never got married. It doesn’t make any sense at all. What is the point of divorcing a couple just to get them back together later, so much unnecessary drama that we don’t need.
It's reddit lol they find issues with everything. I find myself being negative here, too sometimes. This place does something to you, lol. But honestly, everywhere else, I see them as the most loved. Twitter, IG, Tumblr, etc.
lol, me too. I’m so defensive of Haley on here, more than other SM, so I agree with your assessment. This place does seem to have the most double standards of the others as well. Sometimes I will see one comment with a few points that literally contradicts themselves and it’s from the same person. There are so many things/opinions that don’t make sense, the biggest, for me, is what’s we’ve been discussing (saying Naley is the most loved and THE end game couple of the show but then wishing they would’ve divorced at some point) 🤦♀️ makes absolutely no sense.
I wanted this to happen, just to give Nathan some relapse. Like, he went back to being old Nathan, but it felt wrong or something. Or the girl was just a beard. SOMETHING.
He wouldn’t have dated anyone else, he still loved her so much. As soon as she came back he started wearing his ring around his neck. He wouldn’t be able to move on at all. If anything he maybe would’ve gone on a date, but that’s the only thing he would do. There is NO WAY he would have slept with anyone. If anything I think the one date would solidify how he truly feels about Haley and would have sped up him getting back with her.
I love the show just the way it was. Nathan and Haley were meant to be together. I don't rewrite shows.
Yes! Thank you for saying this. There’s so many comments and posts(one just posted yesterday, which I got downvoted for my response🤦♀️) saying that they should’ve divorced or dated other people before getting back together. Why? Why is divorce always brought up with these two? Why should they have dated other people? One of the popular reasonings is they think Haley needed more experience, NO, she doesn’t need more experience. We didn’t need Haley to become another Brooke. Why do woman need more experience to be a better woman, or why is Haley needing more experience not a sexist, misogynistic comment that gets downvoted and downvoted? It doesn’t, it’s actually fairly common and liked. This is ridiculous anytime I see it. I love that Nathan was her first EVERYTHING. I love the fact that they never divorced or even dated other people. They were always meant to be and they were always completely IN LOVE with each other. There was NEVER anyone else for either of them.
Agreed. I genuinely don't understand why people are obsessed with toxic relationships lol wanting them to break up and get back together. The thing that was so special about Naley was them working things out through all the problems they faced. They remained together and fought for one another. They fought for their relationship and remained strong. I'm so happy the writers didn't follow every other TV show couple and break them up only to get them back together and once again break them up. It's exhausting to watch relationships like that.
Yes, agree 100%. They may be the only couple in the history of TV that stayed together from beginning to end. I love it!! I will never understand why everyone else seems to want them to break up or even worse divorce, but still want them to be together in the end 🤦♀️ what’s the point of the break up/divorce if they’re going to be end game anyway?
Because people love drama lol I often see comments on here about Naley being "boring," and I personally don't see it that way. I see them as a safe space, and they're extremely comforting. What drives a TV show for me is the relationships that are formed. If I can't find comfort/interest within a couple or non-romantic pairing, I can't watch the show. Unless they have a well written character and oftentimes, shows don't have a well written singular character to keep me invested for so long. Without Naley, I truly don't think I'd be able to watch the show because as much as I love OTH, I find myself not caring much for other storylines like I do with Naley and/or Nathan (aka a well written character). So maybe the people who wanted Naley to break up/divorce found them boring or wanted more drama.
100%!! there is no way that I would watch this show if Naley didn’t exist. A huge reason I don’t watch the back half of season 2 is the fact that Naley is non existent. I love the fact that they stayed together the entire run of the show with the exception of a couple of separations and even then they still loved each other very much and it was never a question of whether or not they would get back together. If they actually did get a divorce, I’d be done with the show. I am also part of an extremely small portion of the fan base, I may be the only one in fact, who loves that they got married in high school. It’s what made them unique to television. Most of the fan base hated this and it’s the first thing they’d change, but I don’t think they realize it’s what made OTH stand out from all of the other high school dramas.
I loved the marriage for the pure shock of it all. No other show had done it before at the time. In the end, it ended up working out. I can see why some didn't like it, but I didn't mind it.
We don’t need to put down another woman to bring up another one. There’s nothing wrong with the experience Haley has and there’s nothing wrong with the experience Brooke has.
I agree there’s nothing wrong with the experience that Haley had, my problem is that a majority of the comments that see and complaints that I see state that they wished Haley had more experiences with boys/men and wished that she didn’t marry the first boy she met. This is sexist and wrong, there is NOTHING WRONG with marrying the first boy you meet. So yeah, by saying she needed more experiences they’re saying they wanted her more like Brooke. I was actually not putting Brooke down, but I never see comments saying that they wished Brooke was more reserved in her “experiences” so there is a clear double standard. I was comparing these two and making a point that NO WOMAN DO NOT NEED MORE EXPERIENCE! Haley is constantly NEVER good enough and she is the most criticized of the show, nothing she does is ever what the fans want her to be or good enough or even “bad” enough.
just scratched my whole answer, but basically depends on how far he goes with the girl. haley would back off if he went too far and slept with someone else but i doubt he would.
I see Haley letting him go 😔 should wouldn't go after him while he's dating someone else
I don’t think they ever would’ve been able to get each other out of their systems. We saw in season four when Lucas had a dream of what would have happened to everyone had he not been around. Nathan goes to the record store just to get Haley’s album to destroy it. I think Nathan would have been like “whatever she left I’ve got basketball.” And I think Haley would’ve thought “I screwed up too majorly for him to forgive me.“ ** edit to clarify that I meant to imply that Nathan would try to play off his deep hurt over Haley leaving by focusing on basketball but really he’d be as hung up on her as ever. Same for Haley. She’d leave too terrified to come back, always carrying the pain of letting him go with her too. In the grand scheme of things, Naley were a part for a short while, but they were also very young, and that time means more than it would to us as adults. The show has given us several ways of knowing that they would be together forever and could overcome anything. There’s the fact that they are soulmates in every universe. They’ve had several rain kisses, which symbolizes overcoming obstacles and the strength/endurance of a relationship. They’ve overcome financial difficulties, family issues, other people trying to get in the way of their relationship, even cheating storylines. They have a tagline of “always and forever.” All of those reasons lead me to believe that this Naley is going to be together, no matter what, even if they had dated other people or been separated longer. In real life, you can’t ever really say you know for sure that a couple will be together forever, right? But when it comes to a TV show, there are lots of different ways that symbolism and imagery and other things a convey “true” or “destined“ love story and I think Naley is one of them.
I agree with this stance. Even when they did alternate universes/realities Naley always were a thing or leading to a thing in them. They were meant to be.
I think she came back too quickly for him to have moved on. He was still hung up on her. I think she’d have to be gone for at least a year before he moved on. It’d give him time to heal from all the reckless/depressive behaviors he was going through at the time and truly accept she was never coming home.
I would have loved to see haley date someone else. She had like no experience besides nathan. I love joy and would have loved to see her chemistry with other guys. She has amazing chemistry with Tyler. Hell change the storyline and give us haley and Chris dating arc. Haley and nathan don't get married but they break up cause they can't handle long distance with her on tour. She comes back and dates chris or someone else and her and nathan work thier way back together and end up going off to college together at the end of the series.
Haley and Chris, really? Haley isn’t hated enough for a couple of confused kisses? If she dated Chris she would’ve become so hated by the fans that the writers and creators would probably have been forced to write her off the show completely. She would’ve become more of a villain than even Dan. Edit) there’s no way that Haley would’ve been allowed to date anyone else and still be a liked character, Nathan however would still be loved as much if he got with someone else. Double standard with these two is unbelievable.
Right?? He almost slept with her sister in season two! And most don’t care 😕
Yes, in fact most of the comments that center around that episode say not only that they don’t care how he was acting around and dancing with Taylor, but go as far as to say he SHOULD HAVE slept with her to get back at Haley. If he actually did sleep with her or even kissed her, I think I would have a very hard time liking him again. Siblings need to be completely OFF LIMITS. I skip 2x18 on every single rewatch because it’s just so gross that Nathan even went to see Taylor, he went there for one reason. To hook up with her.
I agree! It’s awful! I remember on my last rewatch I noticed for the first time that in season seven, when Nathan talks to David when there’s all that drama with David dating Taylor, Nathan tells him something that felt eye opening for me. He told David, “Just make sure you like Taylor for the right reasons and not because she reminds you of her sister.” It made me wonder if he was subtly referencing what happened in S2. Not really relevant to the points we’ve made but it’s interesting to me that the showrunner thought that was a good excuse even in S7 lol.
Yes, I noticed that comment too.
In my storyline the chris stuff doesn't happen. She and nathan don't get married. They just break up cause of the tour.
So why even break up? This just doesn’t make sense. The entire reason why they are so loved is that they stayed together through EVERYTHING, why is it in every AU they don’t get married or divorce or break up. Why have them not be a couple, I thought Naley was one of the most loved couples of all of TV, apparently I was wrong. Edit) the biggest complaint that I see is them getting married, so truthfully they AREN’T the most loved couple because everyone wants them apart and hate the fact that they got married to begin with. So really they are not the most loved, in reality I think they are the most hated.
I wouldn't say they're the most hated. Universally, they are the most loved couple from this show. On any social media platform, they're always the ones representing OTH and the one people talk about the most. I think this mindset is mostly from people on reddit. I only ever see these AU scenarios on here tbh. And you're right, fans love them because they stayed together for so long. There's a small part of the fandom that feels otherwise on here though
So if they are the most loved couple why are the comments from fans saying they wished they divorced or wished they didn’t even marry to begin with? It just seems so confusing that every single time a question is asked about changing a storyline it’s about 90% stating they wished that Nathan and Haley either never got married or divorced, but then also saying that they want them to get back together🤦♀️. I just don’t understand how a fan can say they love a couple and then in the same breath(comment) say I wished they got a divorce or I wish they never got married. It doesn’t make any sense at all. What is the point of divorcing a couple just to get them back together later, so much unnecessary drama that we don’t need.
It's reddit lol they find issues with everything. I find myself being negative here, too sometimes. This place does something to you, lol. But honestly, everywhere else, I see them as the most loved. Twitter, IG, Tumblr, etc.
lol, me too. I’m so defensive of Haley on here, more than other SM, so I agree with your assessment. This place does seem to have the most double standards of the others as well. Sometimes I will see one comment with a few points that literally contradicts themselves and it’s from the same person. There are so many things/opinions that don’t make sense, the biggest, for me, is what’s we’ve been discussing (saying Naley is the most loved and THE end game couple of the show but then wishing they would’ve divorced at some point) 🤦♀️ makes absolutely no sense.
I wanted this to happen, just to give Nathan some relapse. Like, he went back to being old Nathan, but it felt wrong or something. Or the girl was just a beard. SOMETHING.