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Brooke's darker turn. When we read that Brooke would be heading down a darker path in Season Six, we were a little worried. After all, it's usually Peyton who loses parents, has random stalkers, and is generally abused and broken down on OTH. But this season, Peyton enjoyed blissful romantic status as she and Lucas shacked up (okay, she did lose one parent, but it wouldn't be OTH if that didn't happen!) while Brooke descended to new lows. Who wouldn't? Between an attack in her store and a mom who doesn't seem to care about her except as a business plan, Brooke had little to believe in this season. Acting in several episodes with enormous bruises, Sophia Bush made us feel her pain and isolation post-attack. And when she finally bounced back and let Sam move in as a foster child, we were with her every step of the way. We're hoping Brooke gets some more happiness in the second half of Season Six, but we're not holding our breath -- after all, last time we saw her, she discovered Sam was indirectly responsible for her attack AND realized Sam had run away. It won't be smooth sailing for awhile yet, but we're excited to see what happens next.

Nathan's rocky return to basketball. It may not have been the easiest to watch, but we give the show credit for showing us the ups and downs of Nathan's basketball career. Slamball had us as worried as Haley when it came to Nathan's safety (especially when he was thrown through a wall of glass!), but we liked that they talked it out and Nathan ultimately decided to take a step back and approach b-ball in a new way. Basketball has been the heart of OTH since the pilot, so we're glad to see that it's still an important part of Nathan's story.

Chad Michael Murray's episode. We waited with bated breath for his debut as a One Tree Hill scribe, and the noir episode didn't disappoint! While some of you found it too cheesy to handle, we loved the departure into '40's fantasy. Peyton is SUCH a damsel in distress, Brooke rocked as a woman scorned, and we loved watching Nathan and Haley's relationship evolve under totally different dynamics. Oh, and Dan got to be totally evil again, plus Mouth gossiped his way to sleeping with the fishies.

Julian. The new guy in town is everything Owen wasn't -- witty, multi-dimensional, and, well, interesting. He has a history with Peyton, seems into Brooke, and clashes with Lucas on his movie script, which leads to some fun interactions. Whether or not Julian has good intentions almost doesn't matter -- we're having too much fun waiting to see what he does next.

What we're unsure about:

Sam. We were most definitely not sold on her mopey, bratty character at first, but the girl's grown on us. Sam has come a long way from her sharp retorts and slouchy sulks of early in Season Six -- she's a well-developed character with a tough past that makes us feel sorry for her. She doesn't hang out with the best crowd, and she has a hard time forming attachments, but we think that her relationship with Brooke has helped her overcome a lot of what she struggles with. The question is -- is it too late? With Sam's big confession and her leaving town soon afterward, we wonder if she'll even want to be found once Brooke finds her.

What we could do without:

Nanny Carrie. This one-note psychopath wore out her welcome in Season Five, and she's the number one thing we won't miss at all moving forward. Watching her torment Dan was squicky enough for one episode, but we had to suffer through several episodes' worth of this unpleasant subplot. Plus, she's just too obviously BAD for us to really believe that she could do serious damage to anyone. It's the more realistic creeps that have our hair standing on end, like Sam's friend's brother.

Not enough Haley. Haley's always reacting to other people's drama, but she rarely gets to go out and do her own thing. We know, we know -- it's an ensemble show, and there are already tons of characters fighting for screentime. But when flimsy characters like Nanny Carrie have entire subplots devoted to them, it's hard for us to understand why Hales can't get a little more to do.

Q, post-death. We really liked Q's character... before he died. After he died, the guy kept popping up to talk basketball and encourage Nathan to follow his dreams, but it was weird for us to see him in the room. And he just kept showing up! It seemed like the guy got more screentime after he died. We much preferred fast-talking, in-your-face Q on the basketball court -- this new angel version was a little too preachy for our tastes.

Gigi and Mouth. This one almost speaks for itself. When Gigi returned to OTH as Mouth's completely unbelievable intern who talks about sex nonstop, we just about lost it. She's completely unprofessional and ridiculous, to be sure, but we're not letting Mouth off the hook for this behavior, either. As Gigi's boss, he could have tried harder to rein her in, or even gotten rid of her for a more professional intern who had less history with him. True, Mouth technically did nothing wrong, but he put himself in some questionable situations, and it was enough to cause major doubt on Millie's behalf. After all, Mouth was the one who actually had someone to lose -- and lose her he may have, judging by the final scenes of the last new episode.

What about you? What did you love or loathe about Season Six so far? Do you agree with us at all, or do you think we're way off track? Let us know what you think in the comments!