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
Pacey splits wood out in the yard. The Flash comes out, eating an apple, and they have a man-to-man talk. Pacey blames himself for the B&B and for inviting Fricke to visit, and predicts that the resulting "comedy of errors" will bankrupt the Potters. The Flash chuckles that Joey and Bessie probably consider themselves very lucky to have Pacey in their lives; Pacey won't play, saying that he has the opposite of the Midas touch. The Flash points out that at least Pacey hasn't given up, and tells him to think about the selfless work he's contributed instead of dwelling on what's gone wrong. Pacey continues to chop wood as The Flash looks at him, bemused, and when Pacey turns and asks, "What?" The Flash asks in response, "What makes you care so much?" Pacey blinks and doesn't answer.
Gail and Dawson investigate the blanket situation. Dawson apologizes, albeit somewhat gracelessly, for taking his mother's head off before, but says that the rules keep changing on him. Gail mutters, "Tell me about it," and says that "the post-divorce landscape is like an emotional battlefield." Block that metaphor! Dawson says he doesn't get it, because she and The Flash still seem to like and care for each other, and Gail says that they do, "which is what makes the knowledge that we're better off apart even more difficult to bear." To illustrate her point, she calls on The Soulmate Injured Reserve, telling Dawson to think about his own life, "you and Joey"; she describes the decision to break up as "not made in one sitting -- it's cumulative," and says you have to decide to do it over and over each day. Dawson looks at his mother with concern.
Over at the Ryan Home For Wayward Girls And Alternatively Lifestyled Boys, Jack lets himself and Andie in, saying he knows there's a space heater somewhere. Andie looks at a grocery list on the fridge and asks, "Hey, what's 'Jack milk'?" Jack explains that it's Ryan-Home code for whole milk, which he drinks, as opposed to one percent (Jen) or skim (Grams). Aw. "Everyone gets their own kind of milk?" Andie asks enviously. Jack says that Grams "is accommodating, but she runs a very tight ship." Then Andie finds a giant coffee mug with Jack's name on it in yellow script; she holds it up and says, "Coffee much?" Jack laughs and says, "It's an inside joke, it's kind of hard to explain." Andie thumps the mug down and says sadly that he doesn't have to, that she gets it -- he's part of a family now, and "families have three types of milk and inside jokes." Jack regards her with a worried expression as she goes on, "Why would you want to move back into that big cold house, with a man who has no idea of what kind of milk you drink or what kind of play you're directing?" She adds with a rueful smile, "You're really lucky." Jack walks over to her: "It's you, isn't it?" Andie's eyes fill with tears; she looks away, then looks back at him and nods slightly as Jack repeats, "It's not Dad that's asking me back home, it's you." Andie says that she misses her brother, especially when her life gets crazy and she wants "someone around to share it with." She says also that that statement isn't meant to make him feel guilty, or as a sympathetic ploy (she said "plea," but I think she meant "ploy"): "It's just the truth." She leaves. Jack sighs. Andie has gotten on my last nerve all season, but Meredith Monroe did well with that scene.
Shots of the moon -- oh, boy, I'd better get my protective gear on. Jen and Dawson sit outside looking at the moon, which has colored clouds moving across it. Dawson attributes these to industrial pollution, and Jen comments on his increased cynicism of late; Dawson says that he has "a better sense of the reality behind the magic." Bootie and the Blowchunks sing in the background as Jen asks, "Can I ask you something -- just for the record?" Dawson nods, and Jen reminds him of when they dated -- which stretches the term "to date" kind of far, but okay -- and of when she told him about her past, then asks, "What was it that you were scared of?" Dawson says glibly that "anything that we don't know or understand can scare us," but goes on to admit that he'd never known anyone with Jen's "degree of life experience," and when you add that to his infatuation with her -- "and you have one very intimidated Dawson Leery," Jen finishes with a smile, and Dawson assents. I'd like to interject here that Jen looks quite lovely in this scene; by contrast, a rabid croissant mated with one of Liberace's toupees, and the offspring of that union settled on Dawson's head. I mean, such bad hair, folks. Anyhow. Jen asks Dawson if he thinks most boys would react the same way he did, and Dawson says he'd like to say no, with an unspoken "but"; Jen's face kind of hardens, and Dawson says hastily that you never know how different people will react. Jen stares up at the sky, and Dawson tells her that he knows the way he reacted "was wrong," and she turns to look at him again as he says that the only thing more beautiful than Jen Lindley "is the reality behind her magic," and they both smile, and he adds that he feels sorry for any guy "who's too insecure to see that." Wow -- pretty deft coming from Dawson.