Episode Report Card Jessica: B+ | 11 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT ...Must Come To An End (2)
By Jessica | Season 6 | Episode 24 | Aired on 05.13.2003
Out in the waiting room, Joey is haranguing Grams about getting Jen on a transplant list. Apparently, it's not a good option, since her lungs are all jacked up. As Grams explains that modern medicine has no cure for Jen's mysterious (and apparently legitimate) ailment, Deputy Doug arrives with flowers. Jack greets him tersely, and Doug sort of shoves the flowers at him. "Tell her I came by," he says. "I will," Jack says. They exchange a series of Meaningful Gay Glances until Pacey sticks his head out of Jen's room and calls Joey and Dawson inside. Doug just makes a sad face.
Jen waits, lying back against her pillow like Beth in the final scenes of Little Women, but minus the dolls and piano. Enter the Triangle. Joey puts on a fake smile and asks Jen how she's going. Pacey and Jen exchange amused glances. "What's wrong with these guys?" Pacey asks. "I don't know. What's wrong? Somebody dying?" Jen cracks. Joey looks appalled, so Jen has to explain the concept of gallows humor. "It has to be funny, or else I'm going to get angry and bitter and I don't want to," she says. Wow, I'm angry and bitter already and I'm in the best of health (well, allegedly). Think of the time I've saved! Joey continues to look appalled. "She gets very crabby on her deathbed," Pacey says, smiling at poor dying Jen.
Later, Joey arrives at the B&B, where Bessie is waiting for news of Jen. "She's more brave than she'll ever know," Joey says, embracing her sister. Bessie explains that she's on the way to the hospital herself, and asks Joey to keep an eye on Alexander, because Bodie is dead. (Don't email me and ask me if that's true: I just made it up on the spot.) Joey agrees, as her cell phone rings. She looks down at the caller ID and hangs it up. Bessie cocks a critical brow. "You're avoiding," she says, explaining to the slower members of the audience that Joey's too busy to break up with Creepy Jesus. Joey sits at the table and reflects that she's not entirely sure if it's over between her and Our Lord. "You're still in love with your ex-boyfriend," Bessie says. "I am NOT still in love with my ex-boyfriend," Joey snickers. Bessie throws her a classic "girl, please" look. "No, you're still in love with your ex-boyfriends. Plural," she says. Joey laughs that this is totally ridiculous. Bessie hands her sister the phone and instructs her to call Creepy Jesus and break it off now. "I hate you," Joey retorts. "You're welcome," Bessie sings.
Over at the Ice House: Now With 90% Less Arson, Pacey putters around in the kitchen. Joey arrives at the door and tells him that she was just walking around in a fog. "And realized I hadn't eaten today." Or in the past four years. Pacey remarks that she's come to the right place, and the two of them head back to the kitchen, where he cooks and she observes. I have to say, there's nothing I enjoy more than watching a man who can cook prepare a meal for me. Okay, maybe not nothing. Joey reflects that cooking really is Pacey's calling. He's where he's supposed to be, she says. "A man in an apron, his roots cemented into Capeside?" he asks, wearily. Joey furrows her brow and wonders what's up with "the life ennui." I wonder what's up with her use of the word "ennui." Pacey stirs the pasta sauce and explains that all the rest of them got out of Capeside. "Why couldn't I have a restaurant in Hollywood or New York?" he asks wistfully. Joey looks sad and tells him not to be so hard on himself. "You have got a great life here." He says nothing for a long beat. "I just wish that I could feel that," he says. And then he tells her that he hasn't felt much…until she came back to town. She makes him remember what he's capable of feeling, he tells her. They stare at each other for a long beat. And she throws some food at him. I mean, it felt a little more organic in the moment than it looks, there on your screen.
This devolves into a full-on food fight, and Joey finds herself right up against Pacey, holding two handfuls of pasta. "I want you to think thing very carefully about the next thing that you do," he warns her. So Joey just grins at him and eats it. They give each other a long, kissy stare. "Here we are again. What is it between the two of us?" Pacey asks. It's called chemistry, kid. Joey makes light of the moment, and says she can "fly right out of there" if she needs to, but Pacey assures her he doesn't want that. They smile at each other, and he takes that moment to take a handful of pasta and toss it down her shirt. She laughs and tosses it right back at him. "What are you going to eat? That's your dinner," Pacey tells her, laughing, and Joey laughs right back at him. I heard that line was an ad lib, but it certainly works here. Joey wonders if they ought to be laughing, you know, at A Time Like This. Pacey thinks. "I would say, at a time like this, yes, now more than ever," he tells her.