So real talk: "One Tree Hill" is probably the greatest show to ever hit the CW. It's honestly probably the greatest show to ever hit television. Each episode of all nine seasons is a bit of magic, from the killer theme song (hello, Gavin DeGraw) to the out-of-this-world drama to the small-town vibes. And the characters. Oh, the characters. They are the definition of squad. We've got good-guy Lucas, with his broody squint and mad writing skills. Then there's Haley, with her big dreams and even bigger heart. And Peyton of course, with her sass and a wicked record collection. And then Nathan, who I'm sure every and all OTH fans can agree is very literally everything. They're all incredible characters, relatable and tragic and amazing and lovable.
But as freakishly stunning as each of them is, it's the fifth member of this epic cast that stands apart. That character is Brooke Davis.
Played by Sophia Bush, Brooke Davis is the girl that we looked at and thought, there it is. Because somehow, Brooke Davis managed to be all of us, while simultaneously being this out-of-this-world human that we all aspired to be. She was the kindest, the bravest, the smartest, the wisest; she was (and is) the person that we looked up to.
So here are 8 reasons why Brooke Davis is and forever will be the best character to ever grace television.
1. She is the greatest friend that anyone could ever ask for.
She believes that her friends deserve the absolute best. She is always there for them, no matter what, waiting with a shoulder to cry on or some seriously inspiring wisdom. She's all about loving yourself (even if it's something that she's had a hard time with) she's always doing whatever she can to make sure her best friends are happy. And along with all of that, she is unbelievably kind. Like next level kind. This girl's got a heart the size of the sun.
But she knows what she deserves, too, meaning she's not about to sit by and let herself get treated badly. So while Brooke was the friend we both wanted and wanted to be, she also taught us to know how to cut off toxic people.
You know these three are the definition of friendship goals.
2. She knows what's up.
Brooke Davis isn't one for sitting idly by while the world trashes you. She stands up for herself and for what she believes is right. She has some seriously strong opinions and isn't scared to shout them from the rooftops.
3. She makes herself vulnerable on the daily.
I'm sure none of us have forgotten about the Lucas/Brooke (Brucas? Looke?) saga, right? The painful truth is that the way Lucas treated her for most of that relationship was pretty awful. But the better truth here is that Brooke was never afraid to tell him what she was thinking. She wasn't afraid to say that she knew she deserved better than what she was getting from him.
The thing about Brooke was that she had a really specific image: she was the happy, pretty, ambitious cheerleader who was ready to rule the world. But underneath that exterior was a sad girl who had been horribly mistreated and torn down by her parents. She spent her life believing that she could never possibly be good enough, and it was nothing short of heartbreaking whenever she opened up about it.
4. She owns her own business.
Brooke started her fashion line in high school. By the time she was 22 years old, she was running an international business, based on the clothing line "Clothes over Bros" that she started during her junior year. She has more ambition in her fingernail than most people have in their entire body. More than that, she ran her business like a total queen. She made sure that all of the models featured in her fashion shows and ad campaigns were healthy, meaning no drugs, healthy eating habits, etc. She wanted to change the image of beauty that younger girls had to look up to.
5. She knows what she wants and she goes for it.
From boys to work, Brooke isn't afraid to take risks. How did her relationship with Lucas start? She got naked in the backseat of his car. What did she do when her mom told her she could never be a successful designer? She started an internationally renowned fashion company. What happened when the adoption agency told her she wasn't a good fit for parenting? She fostered a teenager. Brooke Davis doesn't take no for an answer. She turns her dreams into realities no matter the odds.
6. She is pretty much the strongest person on the planet.
Brooke has been to hell and back, but no matter what life throws her way, she comes back a better, stronger person for it. Her parents completely sucked; her dad was never around, and when he was, he was too busy fighting with her mom to pay her any attention. Her mom was straight up cruel. First she tells Brooke that she's not good enough to start a company, then goes on to mooch off of the success of that company before eventually stealing it from Brooke altogether (and running it into the ground). But how does Brooke respond to all that mistreatment? She works and works and works at fixing her relationships with her parents until finally, they learn to be the parents that she always deserved to have. Brooke's best friend fell in love with the boy she loved -- twice, and Brooke was the maid of honor at their wedding. Brooke wanted to have a baby; the doctor told her she could never get pregnant. Brooke was attacked in her own store, very literally beaten by a very literal murderer. But she overcame it. She overcame it for the sake of her first daughter, Sam, and because she knew that her life was meant to be more than a tragedy.
7. She goes through some mad character development.
At the start of the show, Brooke's character seems like your stereotypical vapid cheerleader; the girl that doesn't care about much outside of partying, clothes, and boys. That's how we're made to see her all through the start of season one. But then she goes and apologizes (like seriously apologizes) for her screw ups, and the whole game changes. She goes on to save Peyton from a rapist, and run for student council president, and start a fashion line, and realize that she deserves better than what she's getting, and become the incredible human that we know and love today.
8. She is the most loving person in the world.
From her friends to her husband to her kids, Brooke Davis does not hold back. When she loves someone, she loves them. She protects them and cares for them and looks out for them like it's nobody's business. We all looked at Brooke and thought, that's the kind of person I want to be.TV shows are abundant in characters with little depth or complexity, with bland and poorly played-out background stories and broken attempts at being relatable. There aren't a lot of characters that young girls can look up to, like really look up to, but Brooke Davis is one of them. She was compassionate and beautiful and kind-hearted and taught girls everywhere that they should go after their dreams with determination, and that they should love without reservations, and that it's possible to let go of the past and get have the life that you want, no matter what everyone else has told you.
Lucas Scott once said, "Brooke Davis is gonna change the world some day." And he was right. She taught us how to be brave, and how to love, and what it means to get your happy ending. "One Tree Hill" may have ended in 2012, but Brooke Davis created a legacy that definitely won't be fading out any time soon.
