Episode Report Card Sars: F | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Baby blues
By Sars | Season 4 | Episode 19 | Aired on 04.24.2001
Ryan Home. Jack walks out to the swing to find Jen knitting, and asks if she's "churning butter now, too." Snerk. Jen remarks on the "meditative" benefits of knitting, and Jack talks about wandering over to friends' houses and pondering problems. Jen asks what's up: "Tell me of your trivial woes." "Woe is Tobey," Jack sighs, and when Jen needles him with, "That boy is in looooooove," Jack responds sadly that "that boy is on crutches." He fills Jen in on the beatdown, and says he thinks Tobey "got attacked 'cause he's gay." Jen, disgustedly: "Oh, god." Does Jen think Jack's "being paranoid"? No: "Paranoia's healthy, trust me." Ha! Jack says it's ironic that, when they first met Tobey, he "was carrying on about taking action," but now he won't report the incident. Jen asks what Jack's going to do, and Jack says he tried to talk to Tobey, but Tobey shut him out, and it's really none of his business. Jen asks what Jack would do if she got attacked, and when Jack argues that it's not the same thing, Jen makes an impatient face and points out that, in this case, "the only difference is that [Jack is] exactly like the victim!" Jack rolls his eyes, then looks at Jen and nods all "yeah, I guess you're right."
Hospital. Dawson buys a bottle of Pepto-Bismol for the Flash, and Gretchen comments that a newborn "changes everything -- consistently putting someone else's wants and needs before your own," it makes you a grown-up, fishcakes. Dawson, not surprisingly, looks puzzled by that concept, then passive-aggresses that he wonders what it says about him and Gretchen. Gretchen thinks they care about one another's needs; so does Dawson, "up to a point," but then they have to think about themselves. Does he think they shouldn't at this point in their lives? Dawson doesn't know; he only knows that part of him that wants to beg her to come to California with him. And the other part? The other part knows he has to let people go. Dawson walks past her and slumps onto a couch, and Gretchen sits beside him and says that "the timing sucks." Dawson thinks for a moment, then sits bolt upright and says that "maybe [he's] misinterpreting things," but he really thought Gretchen wanted to sleep with him. Oh, gross -- not this conversation again. Dawson adds that something seemed to change Gretchen's mind "that night on the beach." Your ugly mug at close range, perhaps? Or the bitty little chipmunk boner pressing into her thigh? Just a thought. Gretchen takes a page from Joey's flagrant-lie book and says, not meeting Dawson's eye, that "it just wasn't the right time," and then she walks away. Okay -- ladies? Here's the thing. If you want the guy to believe you, you have to stand still and look him in the eye. That's how you sell a lie. Ducking your head and walking off? Doesn't work. Obvious tip-off. Dawson follows her and asks if there's "ever gonna be a right time." "Not in my lifetime, Fugsy Siegel," Gretchen snorts. Okay, she doesn't -- instead, she crabs about how getting closer before they both leave will just make things "more painful." Dawson busts on her for applying for a job in Boston -- and again I must point out that Boston isn't that far from the Cape, and also, they'd have six whole months before he left for school, so I really don't see what all the operatic snitting is about here, but whatever -- and Gretchen reminds him that he's leaving, and while she's happy for him, she can't take "that next step" and open herself up that way "just to be left."
Gretchen's about to go on that she has to get on with her own life when the Flash comes out to report another false labor alarm. Oh, for the love of Mike -- water. Breaking. Pretty tough to miss. FIGURE IT OUT, Flash and Gale! Dawson mutely hands the Flash the bottle of Pepto, and the Flash grabs it and bolts out of the shot. Snick! Dawson turns back to Gretchen, but she just fixes him with a sad look before walking away. He looks after her, flummoxed.