Rachel Gatina
| Rachel Gatina | |
|---|---|
| File:Othrachel.jpg Rachel Gatina in Episode 4.13: "Pictures of You" | |
| Portrayed by | Danneel Harris |
| First appearance | "An Attempt to Tip the Scales" (Episode 3.04) |
| Created by | Mark Schwahn |
Rachel Virginia Gatina was a fictional character on the CW television series One Tree Hill, played by Danneel Harris.
"Rachel, what happened to you?"
— Brooke
I don't know. Life happened, I guess.
— Rachel
Biography
The character of Rachel is introduced in the show's third season and is portrayed as the ultimate "bad girl"; promiscuous, cunning and manipulative. She is presented as an opponent for fellow character Brooke Davis and the two frequently lock horns. Later episodes show a more vulnerable side to Rachel, after she establishes a close friendship with her former nemesis and she is seen to deal with issues such as cosmetic surgery, relationships with older men, expulsion and heroin addiction. The character is written out in the show's fifth season, set four years after the events of the previous one but returns for a two episode guest appearance before being subsequently written out again. She made her last appearance on March 11, 2008.
Season 3
In Episode 3.04: "An Attempt to Tip The Scales", Lucas and Brooke meet Rachel at the TRIC Masquerade Ball, where she is dressed as Pamela Anderson. She makes reference to the fact that Lucas is dressed as Tommy Lee, Anderson's ex-husband and the two dance with each other, infuriating Brooke, Lucas' non-exclusive girlfriend. Rachel quickly becomes a thorn in Brooke's side when she joins the cheerleading squad and challenges Brooke for her position of Squad Captain. Brooke inadvertently sets Lucas up on a date with Rachel and they go to the store where Brooke works. Rachel insults Brooke and this continues into the "Midnight Madness" game to officially begin the new basketball season. Brooke and Rachel become embroiled in a vicious catfight which turns into a brawl when the other cheereleaders become involved. To stop the internal fighting among her squad, Brooke devises a "Fantasy Boy Draft" but this backfires when Rachel picks Lucas.
On their date in Episode 3.07: "Champagne for my Real Friends, Real Pain for my Sham Friends", Rachel attempts to seduce him but upon realising that nothing will happen between them because Lucas loves Brooke, Rachel finally gives up her pursuit of Lucas and instead begins flirting with Brooke's friend, Mouth. Brooke tries to warn Mouth against Rachel but Mouth has seen another side to Rachel and begins to fall for her, though it appears Rachel is only using him to get at Brooke.
Rachel submits Brooke's designs to "Rogue Vogue" which is hosting a fashion show in New York on the same weekend as the Sparkle Classic. With Brooke in New York and out of the way, Rachel captains the squad and deviously puts Peyton in Lucas' bed, deliberately not telling her about a room swap so as to cause more trouble for Brooke. Brooke shows up in Charlotte and when she and a hungover Peyton sabotage Rachel's routine, Rachel is livid.
In Episode 3.15: "Just Watch The Fireworks", the Time Capsule recorded in Season Two is opened and released throughout the school, causing widespread chaos. One student, Jimmy Edwards, is vilified by his fellow students for expressing his contempt for them in the Time Capsule and pushed over the edge, takes several students hostage, among them Rachel, with a gun. Edwards eventually takes his own life and Keith is fatally shot by Dan, though everyone believes Jimmy to have killed Keith. Brooke and Rachel organise a "Cleansing Party" at the school to allow all the students to work through their grief together. At this party, Mouth and Rachel dance together and Rachel confesses to Mouth that she was the one who opened the Time Capsule. Mouth is furious with Rachel and she brings the group to her family's Log Cabin for the weekend out of guilt. She and Mouth make their peace with one another and Mouth talks Rachel out of telling everyone what she did. When Rachel reveals to the group during a game of "I Never" that she walked in on Brooke "Brooking herself", Brooke swears revenge.
She enacts this revenge in Episode 3.19: "I Slept with someone from Fall Out Boy and all I Got was this Stupid Song Written about Me" when, having broken into Rachel's cabinet at the cabin, puts up fliers of an obese 14 year old girl all over town entitled "Guess Who: Find Out Soon..." prompting a horrified reaction from Rachel, who tells Mouth the girl is someone she used to know. Upon further investigation, Mouth discovers that the girl was Rachel herself, prior to extensive plastic surgery. As Rachel opens up about her past to Mouth, it brings them closer and they share a kiss but when Mouth comes to Rachel's house to tell her how he feels about her, he finds her with the much older Cooper Lee, Nathan's 29 year old uncle, who Rachel met online, under the guise of a 26 year old model. Brooke and Mouth revel in watching a horrified Cooper discover that Rachel is actually a 17 year old cheerleader. He tries to finish things with her but she seduces him once again before he leaves town and stops returning her calls. Rachel is heartbroken by this, having fallen in love with Cooper and Brooke is surprised to find herself feeling sorry for Rachel. They slowly start to develop a friendship.
In Episode 3.22: "The Show Must Go On", Cooper and Rachel cross paths at Nathan and Haley's wedding reception, where she is furious to see him flirting with other women and drunkenly makes a speech where she reveals Cooper slept with her even after he found out she was only a teenager. After this, she runs off and steals the wedding limo, Cooper jumping into the passenger seat. He calms her down and she agrees to let him drive her back to the reception, though he tells her when they get there, their relationship never happened as far as he concerned. Asking Cooper if there is anything she can say to stop him from leaving her, she is downheartened when he tells her there isn't, prompting Rachel to make a revelation that Cooper refuses to believe. Inebriated, Rachel grabs control of the wheel when Cooper refuses to pull over. They swerve to avoid Nathan and Haley, who are coming in the opposite direction and the limo veers off the edge of the bridge and into the water, rendering Cooper and Rachel unconscious and fighting for their lives. Nathan, in his attempts to rescue them, also becomes trapped and he too is left in a life-threatening predicament.
Season 4
The opening moments of the season premiere see popular girl Rachel reveal to Cooper in a flashback that she is pregnant. She becomes Nathan's girlfriend halway through season 3 in "One Tree Hill".
Season 5
Four years have passed since High School ended and in these four years, Brooke has managed to turn Clothes Over Bro's into a multi-million dollar corporation, achieving fame and success in the process. Her company CEO is also her mother, Victoria, who is depicted as cold-hearted and calculating, seen almost immediately when, in Episode 5.01: "Four Years, Six Months, Two Days", she forces Brooke to fire one of her friends who models for the company as this model's personal problems is giving the company negative publicity. Under pressure from Victoria, Brooke calls her friend and dismisses her over the phone.
This friend is revealed to be Rachel when, in Episode 5.10: "Running To Stand Still", Brooke takes her new boyfriend Owen to New York. When they arrive at one of Brooke's apartments, they discover someone has been squatting there. Owen finds Rachel in the bedroom, unconscious after a heroin overdoase. He manages to revive her and while she is sleeping, Brooke tells Owen that she hasn't seen Rachel in a while and had no idea of the extent of her problems. Owen, himself a recovering addict, tells Brooke that if Rachel is to recover, she's going to need Brooke's help. While Owen fends off Rachel's drug dealer, Brooke tries to persuade Rachel to go back into rehab but Rachel pleads with Brooke not to make her as she doesn't want to be left alone again. Instead, Brooke brings Rachel home to Tree Hill which proves beneficial as Rachel is soon making progress and on the way to recovery, though after being rejected by Mouth when she makes a pass at him, Rachel is left feeling low again and a visit from Victoria is the final nail in the coffin. Victoria brands Rachel "worthless" and incapable of overcoming her problems. When Brooke and Peyton return home that night, Rachel is nowhere to be found and neither is the money Peyton had given to Brooke. After discovering Victoria was responsible for Rachel's sudden departure, Brooke fires her - both as her CEO and her mother.
Rachel has not been seen or heard from since and her current whereabouts are unknown.
See also
References
| Seasons | |
|---|---|
| Episodes | |
| Characters | |
| Related | |
