James B. "Jimmy" Edwards is a minor character introduced during the first season of One Tree Hill. Portrayed by Colin Fickes, he returned as the central figure of a major story arc during the third season that would have lasting repercussions on the series.
Appearing in the series premiere as the best friend of Mouth McFadden and an original member of the River Court squad—a group of friends that included Lucas Scott, Haley James, Skills Taylor, Junk Moretti, and Fergie Thompson—Jimmy was a student at Tree Hill High School. After Lucas joined the school's varsity basketball team during their junior year, Jimmy and Mouth founded the Ravens Hoops sports broadcast revolving around the Tree Hill Ravens, on which Jimmy served as an original co-anchor. However, Jimmy was swiftly sidelined by his former friends as they became more popular at school and did not appear for the remainder of the season after the second episode.
While Jimmy had been portrayed as a gentle-hearted individual with a sense of humor and an appreciation for basketball during his two appearances in the first season, his characterization drastically changed over the course of the year between seasons one and three. As Jimmy lost contact with his friends, he became increasingly isolated at school, leaving him vulnerable to constant bullying. This was exacerbated by his father leaving him and his mother, causing Jimmy to develop severe depression before attempting suicide early in his senior year of high school. Feeling mistreated by his classmates and his former friends, Jimmy recorded a scathing account of his high school experience for the time capsule, wherein he ridiculed the school's social hierarchy and everyone who played into it.
When the time capsule was released early during his senior year, Jimmy fell victim to intensified bullying from his fellow students, leading him to perform a school shooting shortly thereafter. While he was not responsible for any deaths during the shooting, Jimmy was unable to be talked down and committed suicide in front of Keith Scott. In the aftermath of the shooting, wherein Dan Scott killed his brother Keith with Jimmy's gun, Jimmy was wrongfully accused of Keith's murder. Over the course of the fourth season, however, Dan eventually came forward and confessed to his crime, clearing Jimmy's name.
Character arc[]
Season 1[]
Jimmy and Mouth at the River Court.
Jimmy was a Tree Hill High Student, and was good friends with Mouth, Lucas, Skills, Fergie, Faith, and the other guys at the River Court. From the River Court, Mouth and Jimmy commentated most of the River Court games with big dreams of becoming professional sports commentators. When Lucas joined the Tree Hill Ravens varsity basketball team, Mouth and Jimmy started the website ravenshoops.com where they would commentate and update online for fans of the Ravens to see. After a while, however, Jimmy's friends eventually lost touch with him as they became more popular at school, leaving Jimmy lonely and upset.
Season 3[]
Jimmy reveals his true feelings toward his fellow classmates in the time capsule. ("Just Watch the Fireworks")
The teens at Tree Hill High created time capsules to show kids in the future what school was like back in their time, Jimmy was ignored by his old friends, and was getting bullied all the time, he took time off and no one noticed and was counting down the days till he got to leave school for good, then Rachel Gatina broke the time capsules out the wall and released them, Jimmy's time capsule was released where he stated his true feelings for all the people that went to Tree Hill. He insulted everybody in the school and Lucas and Marvin talked to him, Jimmy was upset with them because they had ignored him for so long and now they wanted his attention.
Tree Hill High School shooting[]
Jimmy during the school shooting. ("With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept")
The school went on lockdown and he locked himself in a room with some students and held them hostage, one being Abby Brown, but after finding out she was diabetic, Jimmy let her go so she could get medication. He also noticed Lucas and an injured Peyton Sawyer coming out of the library to get help for her bleeding, Jimmy reacted badly to this stating the school was on lockdown, and Keith came in to save the day, Lucas and Peyton left the building leaving Keith to try and talk Jimmy into putting the gun down, but Jimmy thought Peyton was going to die and nothing would get better ; he then shot himself. After Jimmy shot himself, Dan Scott walked in, picked up Jimmy's gun, and shot Keith dead. Following the school shooting, residents of Tree Hill mourned the deaths of Jimmy and Keith. Lucas took Keith's death badly and found it hard to forgive Jimmy for who he believed to have killing Keith, but he put his feelings aside and attended Jimmy's funeral with the River Court gang to give Mary Edwards some support. Lucas and Mouth got people to sign Jimmy's yearbook to give as a gift to Jimmy's mother.
Aftermath[]
Season 4[]
During the fourth season, Lucas began to question whether Jimmy actually murdered Keith during the school shotting. Recalling the events of that day, he remembered that Abby Brown had been in the room next to where Keith and Jimmy died and would have seen who pulled the trigger. While Abby initially did not want to talk to anyone about the traumatic events of the shooting, she eventually revealed to Lucas that his father, Dan Scott, had actually been the one who killed his uncle Keith. Consequently, Dan eventually turned himself into the police and Jimmy's name was cleared for Keith's murder.
Season 8[]
Mouth talks about Jimmy and Keith on his morning talk show.
When the River Court was threatened with demolition in the eighth season, Mouth went on his morning talk show, Mouth & Millie in the Morning, to muster public support in an effort to save the old basketball court. During his broadcast, he spoke fondly of his memories with Jimmy as they commentated on the streetball games of Lucas and their other friends. In the end, thanks to Mouth's personal appeal, the River Court was saved from destruction.
Season 9[]
In the ninth and final season, Mouth received an inheritance from Dan Scott's last will and testament with the line what you do matters. With the money, he established the Edwards-Scott Scholarship Foundation, a charity for sports scholarships honoring the memory of Jimmy and Keith.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Jimmy was initially best friends with Mouth McFadden until they eventually parted way after Mouth became friends with the popular kids at school. Even after Jimmy's death, however, Mouth still considered Jimmy his best friend throughout the series and set up a charity in memory of both him and Keith Scott.
- Although Jimmy's character only appeared in 4 episodes, his storyline in season three had one of the most profound impacts on the series as a whole, with the fallout from the school shooting playing a significant part in season four. Jimmy himself was also featured in flashbacks and was mentioned from time to time across later seasons of the show.
- The series has featured several continuity errors over the course of its run, with one being the appearance of Jimmy's headstone and the date of his death.
