Episode Report Card Wing Chun: D | 3 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Like A Virgin
By Wing Chun | Season 3 | Episode 1 | Aired on 09.28.1999
Dawson up-ends couch cushions in search of loose change and finds, in addition to a few cents, a pair of sunglasses he'd lost. Pacey tells him that unless he's planning to find a Rolex in the couch, there's not much point to this exercise. Dawson says that he only has $42, and that even if he sells his DVD player, he'll still be close to $2000 short. The doorbell rings. It's Eve. She told Dawson's story at "the club" and took up a collection for him; there's around $400 there. Pacey starts to take it, but Dawson says he can't because it's her money and his problem. They argue for a minute. Pacey puts on the found sunglasses. The "Old Time Rock and Roll" riff plays with the notes in ascending order instead of descending. Essentially, the homage to Risky Business is that Pacey suggests they have a party at Dawson's house, charge $20 a head, and ask the strippers at the club to dance in order to help raise money for Dawson. Eve seems to think this is a good idea.
That night, the lawn of Estrangement Estates is lousy with horny high school boys. Pacey, along with some big beefy guy, works the door. Dawson stumbles through the party looking disoriented. Eve counts money and says that at this rate they'll have something left over for Jerry's kids. Dawson says he's going to go lie down.
In his room, he flops down on the bed. Joey's sitting at his desk, and remarks, "Rager downstairs, huh?" apparently unaware of the exact nature of the event. Dawson says something uncommittal. She says she's probably the last person he wants to see. He says she's a lot of things, but she's never the last person he wants to see. She walks over to the bed and says she's sorry, not just about today, but about everything. He doesn't look at her while she pours her heart out, and says, "You should have called me, Joey."
Okay, I swear this happened. It was raining the night the show aired and for a second the power failed, just long enough to turn off the cable converter box. So what I have on the tape after that line is a moment of static, followed by the converter box turning onto the default channel, which was TVO (Ontario's public television station), broadcasting an image of a chimpanzee pounding on a rock.
After that all-too-brief respite, Joey is winding up something about "ashamed." ["You didn't miss anything; I think she just said she knows she should have, but she couldn't, or something, and by the way, Dawson? They have phones in Philly. I'm just sayin'. Little prick." --Sars] She says she'd figured that she'd just ignore life for a while, but that you can't do that forever. Dawson agrees that you can't. Joey asks, "Who is she?" Dawson says, "Eve? I just met her." Joey says, "Are you two...?" Dawson laughs weakly and says, "Hardly." Okay, is that a semantic dodge like "Everything but a virgin?" I don't want to think about it. Joey visibly screws up her courage to ask, "Did you miss me?" Dawson says she knows he did. She says, "Good, 'cause I missed you too," and gets up to stand before him. Dawson says that things aren't the same. As she strokes his face, she says it doesn't have to be the same: "It's a new year. Things can be different. And they can be better." She is breathing very, very loudly at this point, possibly because Katie Holmes is trying to convey nervousness through hyperventilation. Joey stares at Dawson a moment longer and takes off her shirt. They stare at each other some more. Aw, geez.