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By Sars | Season 2 | Episode 21 | Aired on 05.18.1999
Dawson hasn't gotten the hint. Neither has Mr. Potter. Dawson asks Mr. Potter, "What drove you to your lowest point?" Mr. Potter explains that, due to mounting bills and his late wife's illness, he made a bad decision and "risk[ed] everything for the almighty buck" by trafficking marijuana. At that moment, Joey barges in between Mr. Potter and the camcorder and reminds him that he promised to bring Bessie "Dixie Chick" Potter and Alexander "Wahhhh" Potter their dinner. Mr. Potter goes to deal with that. Joey seethes at Dawson as he adjusts a light, and he asks, "What's the matter?" and she huffs, "Look -- this whole 'Dawson Leery, Investigative Reporter At Large' thing, it's intrusive." Dawson looks stricken as Joey goes on, "Why are you making my father relive such an excruciatingly painful time in his life?" Dawson tries to justify it -- he wants a complete picture of a man "who's changed so completely and so heroically," yadda yadda yadda -- but Joey cuts him off and says she doesn't want to live in the past, she's closed those doors, so on and so forth. Dawson starts to apologize but Joey cuts in, "If you're so hell-bent on making this assignment about something real, then why are you basing it on another person? Why don't you just do the obvious -- turn the camera on yourself?" Dawson: "I can't." Joey, impatient: "Why not?" Dawson, not saying "because my head won't fit in the frame," instead spluttering: "Be -- because I'm afraid, okay?" Joey looks skeptical as Dawson tunes up for the weekly it's-all-about-me aria: "I'm afraid that, that I'm not enough for you, and that I never will be, all right? And if I do this, that you're just gonna realize that you've grown way beyond me, and then I'm -- I'm just gonna lose you again." Joey, nonplused, stares at Dawson as he hangs his colossal head.
Yes, I suppose it does feel good to pay less -- until those crappy shoes fall apart the second time you wear them.
Jack knocks and enters Andie's room to find her primping for her date in suspiciously good spirits. "I talked to Dad," she says perkily. Jack, confused: "Then why are you smiling?" Andie, smiling and putting on lipstick: "Because he said if I wanted to stay, he'd try and work it out." Jack, laughing in disbelief, says that sounds like great news, and Andie holds up a necklace and shrugs and says absently, "I guess." I believe that this is what they refer to in psychiatric circles as "lack of affect." Jack, puzzled, wants to know if Andie is now "thinking about leaving," and Andie says she doesn't know as she bustles about anal-retentively and rummages in a drawer full of jewelry. Jack thinks "the decision here is pretty obvious," but Andie responds pertly, "Is it?" Jack makes an "uh duh" face and says, "Well, yeah." Andie explains that most days she feels fine, but she isn't fine, and in fact she is getting worse, which "that whole Tim thing" indicates quite clearly. She goes on to say that the more time she spends in Capeside with the gang and with Pacey, the more she wants to get better and not drag Pacey down with her problems. Jack doesn't "think Pacey feels burdened by" Andie, and he knows he doesn't -- as if he's spent any real time dealing with Andie's "problems" in the first place. Whatever. Andie says, "But I do. I feel burdened by the knowledge that I know [sic] how hard it must be for you guys to have to take care of me," and Jack shakes his head as she announces her decision: if she leaves, Jack should stay in Capeside. "No way," Jack says; they need to stick together, and if she goes, he goes. Andie asks, "What about what you want? I mean, you're always so selfless, Jack -- will you promise me that you'll think about yourself this time?" "Selfless"? Hmm, perhaps I should check my dictionary to see if they've changed the definition of "selfless," because I don't think Jack qualifies under the original etymology. Anyway, Jack looks sad and doesn't answer.