Episode Report Card Sars: F | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT A Family Way
By Sars | Season 4 | Episode 5 | Aired on 10.31.2000
First things first. Go, Gale. BUT. Why, why, WHY couldn't the writers just have Gale decide that she doesn't want a mid-life baby? WHY? That's a conclusion women reach every day! Their bodies, their lives! Nothing wrong with it! But noooo -- the writers wimped out once again and, instead of sticking with Gale's perfectly VALID reasons for choosing not to go ahead with the pregnancy, they made her FEARFUL of having another child because...she thought she messed up with DAWSON? What the fuck is that? Yeah, she messed up with Dawson, for sure -- because, at the age of seventeen, he still thinks that he HAS A VOTING SHARE IN HER LIFE! Do you know what my mother would have said to me if I'd objected to a late pregnancy she'd chosen to terminate? She'd have said, "Sarah, I'm sorry you feel that way." That's it. IT! Why? Because it's NOT MY BUSINESS! Do you know why my mother might have chosen to terminate such a pregnancy? Because she's not obligated to have a child just because it showed up, or because she already had two kids, or for ANY OTHER REASON, and she's certainly not obligated to consult with me before making the decision, because SHE'S THE ADULT! Dawson does not have, and should not ever have, anything to do with this decision, and frankly, if I had a child like Dawson, I'd have had my tubes tied long ago, not to mention moved to another state and changed my name, the better to cut ties with the self-satisfied monstrosity to whom I'd given birth, and I could rant on and on about Dawson's revolting sense of entitlement and his supercilious attitude towards his parents, but there's only so much bandwidth. So, just to review here: Gale should keep the baby or not, whatever she wants, but she shouldn't base any decision, whether about an unborn child or about whether or not to buy skim milk, on a guilt trip paid for by her asshole son, and Dawson can shove it up his nosy, self-righteous ass.
Oh, one more thing. Dear writers: The way you treat women and their reproductive choices on this show blows goats, and every last one of you should be ashamed of your hack-ass selves. Try selling it to Phyllis Schlafly, because I ain't buying it. Love, Sars. Co-signed, every other human being on earth with so much as a sub-atomic particle of respect for women, as well as a handful of domesticated animals and one or two politically motivated members of the plant kingdom. PS: You suck.
I hate the hell out of this goddamn show.
Aaaaaanyway. Back from commercials to the Sanctum Dawsonorum, where Dawson broods at his desk. The Flash comes in; Gale wanted him to tell Dawson that breakfast is ready. Dawson is, predictably, not interested. Gale also wanted The Flash to tell Dawson that she's sorry he's upset, and The Flash can testify that she didn't sleep a wink last night. Dawson, now on his bed futzing with a stack of prints, asks morosely if she's "really gonna do this." The Flash shrugs. Dawson asks what The Flash wants. The Flash doesn't know, but he does know that he doesn't want Gale to go through with the pregnancy if she doesn't think it's the right thing. "Ultimately, it's her body, her decision -- I respect that," The Flash adds. Let's hear it for The Flash, ladies and gents. "What if it's the wrong decision?" Dawson asks, in a less snotty tone than you might assume. The Flash doesn't answer for a moment, then tells Dawson that he and Gale tried for three years before she got pregnant with Dawson. You can insert your own "and this is their reward?" joke here. The Flash says that they'd nearly given up -- again, your joke goes here -- and after Dawson's birth they tried again, but no dice. "Five years of hope and disappointment," The Flash sighs, and says he'd always wanted a big family, "a house filled with love and all that," but then one day he realized that "my house is filled with love, and my life is full." He's just grateful to have Dawson, and Gale: "Makes all the rest easier to deal with." Dawson nods in his usual acknowledgment of the praise rightfully due him. The Flash gets up, kisses Dawson on the head (poor John Wesley Shipp), and walks out of the room. In spite of the fact that he had to direct it at Dawson, it's a nice speech from The Flash.