Let's Compare Scenes: Baby Sisters Named Lily

The teen drama genre has a few essential ingredients, like high school settings and fan-dividing love triangles, that contribute to the recipe for each show. Sometimes, though, things are a little too similar. That’s what inspired my “Let’s Compare Scenes” series on the original TeenDramaWhore.

In these posts, I would point out something specific that two (or more) of the teen dramas did and compare and contrast the scenes. For example, I highlighted how both “Dawson’s Creek” and “One Tree Hill” had scenes where Chad Michael Murray was left without any clothes. As I bring back this series for the new TDW, I again want to examine an eyebrow-raising similarity between those same shows.

Dawson’s Creek

Dawson, a senior in high school, becomes a big brother with the birth of sister Lily during season 4.

Early in season 4, Dawson learns parents Mitch and Gail are expecting a baby (episode 4.05, A Family Way). Gail gives birth later in the season (episode 4.19, Late) and names the baby Lily in honor of Joey’s late mother. Skip to the 43-minute mark here to watch.

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One Tree Hill

Lucas, a senior in high school, becomes a big brother with the birth of sister Lily during season 4.

Late in season 3, Lucas learns mom Karen is expecting a baby (episode 3.22, The Show Must Go On). Karen gives birth later in the next season (episode 4.20, The Birth and Death of Day) and names the baby Lily after dreaming about the late Keith (episode 4.21, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone).

Obviously the circumstances in which these pregnancies and births happen are extremely different. On “Dawson’s Creek,” Gail and Mitch are happily remarried, she has several false alarms where she thinks she’s going into labor, and she ultimately “coaxes” little Lily to make her arrival by calling out her name, “Lillian, Lillian.” This echoes a story about Joey’s birth, in which her mom Lillian called out, “Josephine, Josephine.”

On “One Tree Hill,” Karen is expecting but single in the wake of Keith’s death, goes into labor during a dramatic standoff between Lucas and Dan, and nearly dies giving birth. She names her little one Lily after dreaming about Keith and their daughter in a field of lilies while unconscious.

But two teen dramas where the main character gets a baby sibling named Lily?! And they both happen during senior year of high school and in season 4?! And both shows were filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina?! WHAT?!

And, of course, fans later see adolescent versions of both little sisters — namely in the series finale of “Dawson’s Creek,” which is set five years in the future, and in the 100th episode of “One Tree Hill,” which takes place after a four-year time-jump.

Pretty uncanny, isn’t it? Stay tuned for more scene comparisons in the months ahead.

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