Episode Report Card Sars: D | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT First Encounters Of The Close Kind
By Sars | Season 3 | Episode 10 | Aired on 12.14.1999
Jack sort of tiptoes along a neon-lit corridor, towards the loud music coming out of a club, and as he enters the club itself, he gawks at gay men of every hue and stripe standing around with drinks in their hands and dancing with one another. Cut to a tight close-up of Jack, who looks decidedly nauseated indeed and staggers toward the bar. The bartender asks what he wants, and Jack stammers for a moment before a relatively cute guy in a tight t-shirt comes up beside him and comments that Jack doesn't look like he could handle much more than a beer. Jack's jaw drops as Relatively Cute Guy tells the bartender, "Make that two," and Jack stammers some more about RCG not having to do that, and RCG tells him he wanted to, and Jack thanks him, looks utterly panicked, and stares down at the bar. RCG laughs and says, "You're adorable." I agree with RCG -- Kerr Smith does wonderful things with "stark terror" -- but Jack just stares at him before laughing nervously and looking away. RCG tries to soothe Jack by offering to "start all over" (ooh! ooh! leitmotif! got it!) and continues, "You're not adorable, and I am not attracted to you." Jack sort of smiles, but then he catches himself and practically turns his back on RCG in discomfort. RCG suggests going elsewhere, correctly figuring that "this probably isn't [Jack's] scene," and Jack looks increasingly scared, and RCG says they can just talk yadda yadda yadda and reaches for their beers, and just as RCG mentions "get[ting] to know each other better," Jack bolts while RCG isn't looking. RCG turns around, beers in hand, to see a small puff of cartoon smoke where Jack was standing. Aw, poor Jack -- he looked really overwhelmed. I hope he learns to run towards the hotties soon, instead of away from them.
Film festival awards. The winner is announced. Nikki arranges her face to accept the accolades, but she doesn't win after all. Dawson claps politely but looks confused. Nikki bolts.
Dawson follows her. "What now? Time to rub salt in the wound?" she sneers while booking away, but Dawson says, "You were robbed," adding that her film was the best at the festival, "hands down." Nikki doesn't want to hear it, suggesting that he "dispense with the mock compassion," and Dawson perseveres, so Nikki turns on him and says she wants to be alone. Dawson doesn't understand why she's so upset, and Nikki reminds him of how he felt when his film bombed. Dawson says "there's a huge difference" between her experience and his, and when she demands to know what, he tells her that he learned he needs to make better films, and she learned that film festivals don't always "reward the meritorious." "Meritorious"? Okay, you know the part in The Abyss where the pink liquid fills the divers' helmets, and they have to inhale it to help them "breathe"? I need that, only with Maalox. Anyhow. Nikki's face falls: "I wanted to win, Dawson." They gaze at each other. Dawson admits that her film "wasn't just technically brilliant; it was inspired. It inspired me," and that it reminded him why he got into film in the first place -- not to win festivals, but to reach people, and Nikki did that. Nikki arches a brow, but she smiles a little; Dawson goes on that he won't give up until he reaches that goal himself. Nikki asks, "You really liked my movie?" and Dawson nods and says, "I really liked your movie." Nikki smiles at him. Dawson looks mildly smitten. For a scene with Dawson in it which contained film-related dialogue, this one could have really bugged, but it wasn't that bad.