This is the first appearance of recurring guest star Tyler Hilton (Chris Keller).

Lucas: (voiceover) Katherine Anne Porter once said "There seems to be a kind of order in the universe…in the movement of the stars and the turning of the Earth and the changing of the seasons. But human life is almost pure chaos. Everyone takes his stance, asserts his own right and feelings, mistaking the motives of others, and his own."

Lucas: How you feeling?
Whitey: Like a school girl in springtime.

Felix: So you like Lucas?
Anna: I don’t know Felix. It was just a first date.
Felix: Half of the kids in this town were conceived on the first date.

Nathan: You know what it's like to hit a game-winning shot. The whole crowd loves you. Everybody treats you like you're a star. I get to feel that every time I play. I mean, you know, you've felt it. Now it's Haley's turn. I mean, she's an incredible musician, Luke, and she's ready to give it a shot. So, if I go to camp now for 3 months, who knows where her head's gonna be? I just really want her to feel like, the thrill of the crowd. She deserves it.
Lucas: What about your future?
Nathan: I already know my future. It's with Haley.

Brooke: Okay, here's the thing. We are not dating, we are not going out, we are nothing. I am not your wife, your shrink, your mommy. There's no romance and no crappy poetry. No PDA and no spooning. This is purely physical. If we have sex, it's gonna be safe sex. We're friends with benefits, and in fact, we don't even need to talk.
Felix: I can live with that.

Episode Title: We Might As Well Be Strangers

"We Might As Well Be Strangers" is the title of a song by Keane from the Hopes and Fears album.

Andy: (to Karen) Did you know there's a One Tree Hill in Aukland?

The One Tree Hill in Aukland, New Zealand was the inspiration behind the U2 song "One Tree Hill", the song for which the series was named.

The episode title, "We Might As Well Be Strangers", can be applied to the lie that Dan tells Deb in order to keep her close to him. The episode title can also be applied to Nathan and Haley -- Nathan lies that he didn't get into High Flyers so he and Haley don't have to spend the summer apart, and Haley's musical career begins to break out.