Episode Report Card Wing Chun: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Crime And Punishment
By Wing Chun | Season 3 | Episode 15 | Aired on 02.08.2000
At McPhee Manor, Jack and Andie are eating dinner (again). Jack says, "Say again?" and Andie replies, "You heard me," so of course we know she's just confessed to him about the theft of the PSAT, but just in case we didn't get that, she goes on to say it on-screen so we can actually hear her. Apparently she scored within the ninety-eighth percentile. Okay, that's pretty good. Anyway, Jack can't believe she was the one who stole it, and she confirms again that it's true. Jack asks why she would do it, since she already knew the test material "backwards and forwards" and hence had no need to cheat. She says that it was like forbidden fruit -- irresistible -- and that the prospect of there being no possibility of getting caught made it even more enticing; it seemed like the solution to all her problems, at the time. Jack asks what she means, and she says that she felt as though, if she aced the test, everyone would think she was okay again. Now that she really is "okay" again, she's "having a hard time living with" herself. Jack correctly divines that that's the reason she resigned from the disciplinary committee. Yes. WE GET IT. She says that for the past six months she's been feeling like a hypocrite, and that she's been hard on Capeside offenders as a way of punishing herself. HOW is that a punishment for herself? Whatever, she says that she's finally going to make amends by confessing to Principatundé. Jack tries to talk her out of it by saying that she shouldn't get herself "kicked out of school over something that has the word 'practice' in front of it." She says that she wants to be free of it, once and for all. Jack says there has to be a better way, and Andie says that she's thought about it, and that there's no better way, for her. Jack fails to add the obvious coda to this scene, which would be, "Thanks a lot for showing me the test, jerk-ass."
Pacey reclines on Deputy Doug's couch with a steak over his right eye. Deputy Doug promptly materializes to confiscate the steak, and to open the door at the sound of the buzzer; Joey is on the other side. Pacey, whose back is to the door, complains, "Doug, I'm a soldier here, returning from the killing fields. Where's my Purple Heart, my ticker-tape parade?" Joey snaps, "Watch it on your black-and-white. You know, the one with the coat hanger as an antenna, at the Chevron station where you'll probably be pumping gas for the rest of your natural-born life, Pacey. Of all the boneheaded moves...." Pacey protests her assessment, noting that he was right -- that Matt Caufield did ruin her mural. Joey asks how that lets Pacey off the hook. Pacey says that Matt deserves whatever he gets -- "preferably, his silver spoon shoved up his ass." Joey sarcastically tells him that's funny, and Pacey complains that even when he tries to do the right thing, he still can't win. Joey tells Pacey that he overreacted, adding, "If you're going to throw away your future, just do it on your own account, okay?"
She turns to leave, and Pacey says, "Don't get me wrong; don't think I ever cared, here. I was only doing Dawson a favour." Joey doesn't know what he means, and Pacey says that looking out for Joey was the favour he was doing: "Think back with me. Way back. You know, like the beginning of the school year? Dawson Leery returns from the big city a changed man, determined to sever ties with girl across the creek, so he asks Trusted Friend to look after said girl during the delicate transitional period. Trusted Friend? Of course he obliges, and now Trusted Friend gets his head handed to him on a platter." Joey looks appalled, and clarifies, "So you guys just traded me off like some sort of baseball card? Is that what this is about?" Pacey asks, "What?" Joey says, "Us. You and me. I thought that --" Pacey asks, "You thought what?" Joey shrugs, and says, "I guess I thought something else, Pacey." The Acoustic Guitar of Emotional Deception twangs in the background as Joey leaves, and Pacey looks dismayed at his own monumental stupidity.