Episode Report Card Jessica: C+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Merry Mayhem
By Jessica | Season 6 | Episode 10 | Aired on 12.10.2002
And yet, she's still talking. "Dawson and Joey, here you are, both of you, all grown up and very pleased with yourselves," Audrey begins, and then launches into this whole bit about how they finally slept together and they've never dealt with that and they need to deal with their crap once and for all, and for what it's worth, Audrey's really sorry that Joey broke Pacey's heart all those years ago, preventing him from "really committing to an adult relationship," and then my brain explodes, because, really, between Pacey and Audrey, I think the adult in the relationship is Pacey. You know, the one with the job. Audrey doesn't even go to class, and she spent the last weeks of her relationship with Pacey berating him for not being amusing enough for her anymore. If that's not being childish, I don't know what is. Frankly, I have to wonder what the dramatic motivation is as far as Audrey's Downward Spiral goes. Is it to make Joey look better by comparison? Because I completely hate Audrey now. I loathe her. I want to punch her in the face. And I can't see any workable way for the writers to get her out of that corner. I think this character is beyond rehabilitation. Why did they decide to make the audience hate one of the only characters who was even remotely entertaining? I know this is -- allegedly -- the last season of the show, but it seems shortsighted to ruin the integrity of every single character left.
Anyway. Audrey finally gets up from the table. "But you know what?" she asks. "Just grow up. Merry Christmas, scumsuckers! Peace out." And then she storms off. That was an awkward shot -- Audrey gave her dramatic farewell with her back to the camera. From what I read, her line was originally "Merry Christmas, a-holes!" and my suspicion is that the network made them change it to "scumsuckers" at the last moment, which is why they had to cheat this shot and fix the line in post-production. It didn't work very well. At the very least, the shot is awkwardly framed, considering that it's the climax of her speech and we don't even see her face. Also, Joey can call her father a dick, but Audrey can't say "a-holes"? Maybe the line was originally "assholes." Anyway. Audrey stomps out, grabbing Pacey's keys off the foyer table on her way outside. Back at the table, everyone sits in stunned silence. "Well, that was fun," Pacey says. "Merry Christmas?" Todd offers cheerfully. I can't believe no one has gone after Audrey, who has run out totally drunk into the snow. I know they're mad at her, but she's not even wearing a coat, much less hat and gloves. And she's high on pills and booze. She could very conceivably pass out and freeze to death. Nice responsible work from Gale, Grams, Bessie, and Doug, all of whom should know better.