Episode Report Card Sars: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Full Moon Rising
By Sars | Season 2 | Episode 5 | Aired on 11.03.1998
At the Icehouse, Jack and Joey finish cleaning up. Enter Dawson, who says, "I had to get out of that house" when Joey asks him what he's doing there. Dawson and Joey hug; Dawson stares blankly over Joey's shoulder at Jack. Dawson then acknowledges Jack's existence for a change: "Hey Jack." Jack tells Joey to go on home and he'll close up. Joey presses her lips together to make her trademark "awkward face" and says okay, and Joey and Dawson leave, holding hands. Jack stares after them, wondering how his itty bitty little head can hope to compete with Dawson's big old Fruity Pebbles head, and as she walks away Joey turns around to look at Jack and then she looks away and Jack borrows Dawson's arm-flap of frustration.
In the semi-darkened kitchen of McPhee Manor, Andie sits at the breakfast island and explains, "Columbia had just beaten Cornell -- it was homecoming, almost exactly a year ago." As Pacey sits on the counter, Andie fidgets with something and continues, "Dad had had one too many tailgate martinis, so Mom was driving. Jack and I were fighting for Tim's attention -- we were always fighting for his attention." Close-up on Andie as it becomes more difficult for her to speak: "And um, she didn't see the truck." Pacey chews his lip and looks down as Andie says, "Please don't say anything to anyone, Pacey, because I don't want my mom to become [the subject of] the town gossip," not that Andie should worry too much about that since, what with all the inappropriate student-teacher relationships and the open marriages and the backsliding floozies from New York, the town gossip probably has a full dance card at the moment, but Pacey promises that he "won't say a word," and he asks, "Is your mother getting any help?" Andie, not looking up as a tear rolls down her cheek because she knows she will lose it if she makes eye contact with Pacey, explains as matter-of-factly as she can manage, "We've tried -- she was in the hospital for a little while. Dad kinda bailed and um, he checks in once a week. Um, he lives in Providence with the business which is going under, so he's hurtin' too. So it's basically just me." Pacey fixes her with a look of sympathy as she says, "I mean, Jack helps, you know, some, but he kinda lives in this fantasy world where if you don't think about it, then it just didn't happen." She looks up at Pacey briefly: "I mean, she's not always like this. I mean, sometimes she's fine, but you just never know, and I'm the only one who can handle her." It gets even harder for Andie not to burst into tears as she says, "And sometimes that just gets really hard." Pacey rubs his face and hops down from the counter while gesturing at Andie and saying, "Come here." Andie yanks her arm out of Pacey's hand and says, "Don't pity me, okay?" but Pacey pulls her up out of her chair, and she still struggles and says "no" but Pacey finally overcomes her and gives her a big hug and rests his chin on top of her head as he strokes her hair and rocks her back and forth while she cries. While Pacey tells Andie "it's okay," my friend the Couch Baron and I resolutely do NOT look at each other because neither of us want to admit to the other one that we have welled up ourselves.