Episode Report Card Sars: D | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT A Weekend In The Country
By Sars | Season 3 | Episode 12 | Aired on 01.18.2000
Later, Bessie parks the truck and says placatingly, "I'm just thinking about it," as Joey storms out of the car and snarls, "Bessie, it's our home, where we live, the only connection we have to Mom -- how can you even think about it?" Okay, ease up on the self-righteousness throttle there, Joey. First of all, what I know about real-estate financing would fit in a thimble, but I would hardly call mortgaging a house -- a very common transaction -- an unforgivable betrayal. Furthermore, defaulting on your mortgage doesn't mean you wind up on the street; you just declare personal bankruptcy. And second of all, if the house represents your "only connection to" your mother, then why do you insist on drawing parallels between said mother and every blooming situation you find yourself in? "Air -- before my mother died, she used to breathe air." "Shoes. You know, my mom used to wear shoes, before she died." Yes, your mother died. Yes, you miss her. Yes, you want to hold onto her memory. Fine. Great. But you can't just declare everything she did, thought, or touched a Joey Potter's Dead Mother Memorial Landmark, so find another note to play, girlfriend, because this one's gone flat, and moreover, WE BLOODY WELL GET IT. God. Anyhow. Bessie reminds Joey that everything takes longer and costs more than they expect, "and if there's a way to take a little out, then maybe we should." Joey says in her snottiest tone that Bessie can't do something "like this" without her approval, "and I'm not giving it to you." Bessie responds in an equally -- and far more richly deserved -- snotty tone, "Actually, I can. I'm an adult. You're a sixteen-year-old girl," and stalks ahead of Joey towards the house. Joey crabs that she's Bessie's sister and a part of the family, and she starts in again on the possibility of losing the house and thus her only "tangible connection" to her mother, but Bessie has had just about enough: "She left it to me, Joey, just like she left me in charge around here until you turn eighteen. That's a responsibility you can't understand." Joey narrows her eyes and says sulkily that she knows "all about" responsibility, and Bessie gets up in her face and sneers, "Do you? Because until you understand what it's like to humiliate yourself by asking some trust-fund snob who looked down on you in high school for money, I don't want to talk about it with you anymore." Bessie wheels and storms into the house. Rock on, Bessie.
Joey slumps down her front steps, looking insulted and sad at the same time, and looks up to see Dawson lurking at the edge of the property. "Dawson?" she calls. Dawson comes toward her, blathering something about putting his video camera to good use even if his film career is over. Joey ignores his blatant trolling for compliments of an "oh, no, Dawson, don't give up on your dream, o wunderkind" nature and asks shortly, "What are you doing?" Dawson says he's shooting footage of the Potter B&B to put on the Web, and they can set up links from all the Cape Cod visitor-information sites -- not a half-bad idea, actually, but Joey says rather sourly that they can't afford "frivolous" things like advertising. Dawson explains that that's where the Web comes in. Joey tries to blow him off again, but Dawson wonders aloud who wouldn't want to stay at the PB&B if they could see it from every angle "and meet the charming proprietors beforehand." No comment. Joey looks doubtful.