Episode Report Card Jessica: B+ | 11 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT ...Must Come To An End (2)
By Jessica | Season 6 | Episode 24 | Aired on 05.13.2003
In the waiting room, Joey and Pacey rest their heads and hands on each other. Alex and Lily play as Gale and Dawson watch. Amy plays with Grams. Joey reads to the children. Dawson and Pacey toss cards at a chair. Sweet montage, a recapper's one true love.
Later, Grams sleeps in Jen's sun- and flower-filled room. Jen opens her eyes for a moment and glances over at her grandmother. Jen's breathing is pretty labored. She looks for one long moment at Grams, and then softly closes her eyes. Grams soon opens her own eyes, and looks at Jen. You can tell, from her face, that she knows. But she gets up anyway and checks Jen's pulse. Poor Jen. Poor, dead Jen. Grams purses her lips and looks at Jen's peaceful face. She takes a deep, shuddering breath and kisses Jen's head, resting her cheek on her granddaughter's forehead. "I'll see you soon, child," she whispers, and kisses Jen one last time. "Soon," she says. And I just bawl and bawl. I'm crying as I type. DAMN YOU, GRAMS! Damn you, and your very effective deathbed farewell!
Jewel sings in the background as we cut to the Icehouse, where they're having the wake. Grams feeds the baby a peach, as Jack watches, his eyes full of tears. Amy reaches out and grabs his finger, and he manages to smile at her. Pacey and Doug sit and watch Jack and the baby. Pacey tells Doug to go talk to Jack. "Now's not the time," Doug mutters. Pacey nods that this is fair enough, but…"[something totally unintelligible but probably sort of supportive]."
Later, Pacey and Joey are working in the kitchen. She asks how he is, and he says he's okay. "What's going on in that head of yours?" she asks, and he just looks at her. "You're off the hook," he says, and I can't not laugh at that, because someone on the forums recently said that she thought he meant that in the slang terminology, you know, as in "you're hot," and that's just a funny idea to me, Pacey talking like that. Anyway. Joey is all, "Wha?" So, Pacey explains. "You're off the hook. I've never really put much faith in that If You Love Someone, Set Them Free crap, as evidenced by everything I've ever done in my life up to this moment, but I am determined to be happy, Joey, happy in this life, and I love you. I mean, I always…I have always, always loved you. But our timing has just never been right. And, I figure, time is no man's friend. So I have to get right with that and be happy now. Because this is it. This is all that we get. That's one thing I've learned from losing Jen. That's what I've learned." Joey tries to interrupt, but he won't let her. Pacey tells her that he wants her to be happy. "It's really important to me that you be happy," he says, whether with Dawson or "New York Guy" or someone else. "I want you to be with someone who can be a part of the life you want for yourself. I want you to be with someone who makes you feel like I feel when I'm with you. So I guess the point to this long run-on sentence that's been the last ten years of our lives is that the simple act of being in love with you is enough for me. So, you're off the hook." Joey looks like she's about to cry. She tells him that, "for the record," she doesn't want to be let off the hook. "Everything in my life that I've done has led me here," she says. "Pacey, I love you. You know that. It's very real. It's so real that it's kept me moving -- mostly running from it. Never ready for it." Pacey just smiles at her, wistfully. "And I love Dawson. He's my soulmate. He's tied to my childhood. It's a love that is pure and eternally innocent." Oh, gag. "I can't be let off the hook, because I might just get the notion that it's okay to keep running." Pacey, his heart clearly in his throat, asks what, exactly, she's trying to say. She opens her mouth to tell him that she lurves him, when Gale comes in and announces that she needs a plate. Way to read the room, Gale. They're so clearly in the middle of something. She finally leaves, and Pacey tells Joey that she was clearly about to say something really important. Joey opens her mouth again, but Bessie comes running in and drags her off to help serve. And Joey goes with her! Pacey just stands there all, "Dude."
Jack sits on the beach with Baby Amy. Enter Doug, who sits next to his lovah. Jack says he's thinking about moving to New York or Boston. Doug doesn't think this is the best idea in the world. Jack admits that he's worried Amy will be all stigmatized if she has a gay daddy. Doug tells Jack that, no matter where he goes, he'll be a gay parent. And every kid faces rejection. "I just want to be a good parent, Doug. I have to be," Jack says. Doug nods, and says that being a good parent involves helping your kid get up after she gets knocked down. Jack just looks off at the ocean. "What do you know about being a parent?" he asks. "Not much. Hoping to learn quickly," Doug tells him. Jack looks at the sand and says that this is a sweet gesture and all. "I'll be damned if we get back together over a sense of obligation, or, worse, pity," Jack tells him. "Screw pity. I love you!" Doug says, and it doesn't sound nearly as bodice-rippery as that looks. "I love you, Jack. I love that you're the bravest person I know. And the kindest. " The Gay Piano Of Take THAT, Kerr Smith plays in the background. "I love that no matter what you do, your life is going to stand out. I want to stand out with you and your daughter. If you'll let me," he says. Jack just smiles. And they mack. When they pull away from each other, Kerr Smith totally wipes his mouth. Nice acting, dude. And I was so pleased with you after that scene with Jen. An old couple walks past them. "Evening, Mr. and Mrs. Dudley! I was just, ah, kissing my boyfriend," Doug calls to them. Mrs. Dudley smiles. "That's sweet, dear," she calls. The boys giggle at this and hug. Aw, gay love! At last!