Episode Report Card Sars: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Dance
By Sars | Season 1 | Episode 2 | Aired on 01.26.1998
On the outdoor set of Nightmare On Cape Cod, or whatever stupid-ass name Dawson has given his forehead, I mean horror movie, Joey walks on a dock calling for "Steven," and she finds a piece of bloody clothing, and The Pacey From The Black Lagoon attacks her, and she clobbers him with an oar and takes off running, but she falls down, and she runs behind what looks like a propped-up rowboat, and then a dummy with her fake head on it pops up and gets chopped off and stage blood spurts out of the neck, and Joey's fake head rolls to the feet of Jen and Dawson, who has on earphones (whatever), and Dawson yells, "Cut! Beautiful!" and if Dawson can arrange for all these special effects, why does he need to take Mr. Gold's film class so badly? Jen compliments them on the scene while holding Joey's fake head by the hair, and Joey pops up from behind the dummy with gore all over her, and Pacey gives her guff about how well she dies, and how he loves the image of her biting it, and Dawson announces that they need to move on.
Joey glares at Pacey and goes to clean up; Jen gives her a thoughtful look, then follows her to a screen porch and offers to help get the fake blood off. Joey doesn't want her help, but Jen insists, and she starts to swab the goo off of Joey's chest (no comment), but Joey says she can do it herself. Jen gives her a towel to cover up with, and as she wraps Joey in it, she comments off-handedly, "You have nice breasts." Joey freezes. Jen tells her not to get the wrong idea, she's "completely hetero" and "just commenting, girl to girl" that Joey has "a really nice body." Joey's face and body language clearly communicate her desire to escape from this interaction, but she just mumbles shyly, "I'm too tall." Jen says she envies Joey's stature and her "long legs," and she calls herself "too short," and says her "hips do this weird thing," which, I have to say, they do, and she finishes with, "And my face is shaped like a duck," and I can't disagree with her on that either. Joey just stares at her and asks her, "Are you serious?" when Jen confesses that she hates her breasts, and Jen says she thinks "it's completely normal to hate the way you look," and because I don't want to embark on a master's-thesis-length rant on female body image, I'll just let that comment slide. Joey grudgingly tells Jen that she doesn't look like a duck, and Jen teases her, "You know, that's the nicest thing you've said to me since we met." Joey looks embarrassed and ducks (no pun intended) away from Jen to get her clothes, and as Jen leaves the porch, she tells Joey that she plans to make it really hard for Joey not to like her.
Cut to the next scene of the movie, in which Pacey and Jen now have to kiss each other. He says his line, he starts to kiss her, and then he overpowers her completely while Dawson protests from behind the camera. Pacey ignores Dawson's cries of "cut" and "Pacey, what the hell are you doing?" Joey giggles and tells a flustered and jealous Dawson to lighten up, and it doesn't seem to bother Jen, but when Pacey suggests a retake, Dawson gets in a snit and announces that he's cutting the kiss, and Joey says he can't do that, but Dawson makes the excuse that "it doesn't make sense" for the story. Pacey says fine, but if they aren't doing the kiss, can he go, because he has plans, and Jen says she should get going too, and Dawson says yes, "that's a wrap," and asks Jen to wait up. Joey asks Pacey what he's up to tonight, and he tells her that the woman of his dreams will be at the school dance tonight, "and I plan on attending," and Joey says derisively, "Lucky her."