So, you are probably asking yourself – why on earth is there a post all about Dan Scott from One Tree Hill on a music blogging website? There’s a very logical explanation to this.

SPOILER WARNING: THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE TEEN DRAMA ONE TREE HILL. IF YOU WISH TO NOT BE SPOILED, PLEASE STOP READING NOW. IN FACT, ONE TREE HILL IS STREAMING ON HULU AT THE TIME OF WRITING THIS – IF YOU ARE INTO TEEN DRAMAS AND HAVE HULU, I RECOMMEND YOU WATCH ONE TREE HILL.

In my blog post about the band, Always Grounded, I mentioned that Dan Scott was an underrated villain and I love One Tree Hill. So, this post is my explanation for those who are also into One Tree Hill and are interested to hear why I think this.

…and side note – some of the music choices on One Tree Hill are phenomenal, but that’s a discussion for another blog post or two.

Why Do I Think Dan Scott is an Underrated Villain

Every person I’ve convinced to watch One Tree Hill hates Dan. They hate his guts, with very good reason. Dan Scott was the kind of character where you just look at him and you just immediately get tense.

This is why Dan Scott is a phenomenal villain. This is also a huge testament to Paul Johansson’s acting.

Sure – you have villains. There’s an antagonist in every story, and you expect there to be a villain. Because we expect there to be villains, it can be underwhelming at times. Of course, they’re going to do something to inconvenience the protagonist.

Not Dan Scott.

Dan challenged everything he has done before. Just when you thought he couldn’t get more ridiculous, he has you hold his beer and then proceeds to do something even more ridiculous.

THIS IS YOUR LAST SPOILER WARNING. LEAVE NOW IF YOU WISH TO NOT BE SPOILED

By the time you get to season 3, Dan has established himself as a monster and a horrible dad. Nathan resents him. Karen and Lucas most certainly do not like him. His own WIFE Deb does not like him.

But, killing his brother Keith and then pinning the murder on Jimmy Edwards was downright despicable. The LENGTHS this man went through to seize this opportunity. Keith, like the good-natured guy he is, goes into Tree Hill High School to talk Jimmy out of shooting up the school. What does Dan do? He sneaks in behind him. Once Jimmy Edwards took his own life thinking Peyton was not going to make it, Dan shoots Keith and pins it on Jimmy.

By THAT point in the show, you, not only despise Dan Scott, but you find yourself wishing ill on that narcissistic tool – with very good reason. In season 4, when he is finally caught for killing Keith, and Karen spits in his face in his jail cell, we cannot help but cheer. We cheer because we all want to spit in Dan Scott’s face.

We also all cheered when the dog ate his heart at the hospital in Season 6.

Name me another antagonist who gets that kind of reaction.

…You probably could, and you can argue that fans of dramas, especially teen dramas, are passionate. However, I think it goes deeper than that.

Dan Scott is a well-written character. Paul Johansson portrayed him perfectly.

This is why Dan Scott is my favorite character in One Tree Hill and is the most underrated villain of all time. Period.