Episode Report Card Sars: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT That's what friends aren't for
By Sars | Season 4 | Episode 23 | Aired on 05.22.2001
Okay, I used to hate those Kodak Max ads with the redheaded little kid, but it's totally grown on me. "Soooo, how long have you guys been brothers?" Hee.
Outside the theater after the movie, The Fearsome Foursome can't decide what to do with themselves next. Back-and-forth about eating or not eating, going home or staying out, Dawson has to pack, Jen's all pimping Dawson and Joey to go ahead on their own, and Jack's like, "So what did we just decide?" Heh. They decide to go home. Then they have to figure out who gets dropped off first. It's actually a pretty good scene in that it captures that reluctance to say goodbye.
Ingrate Inn. The Flash and Gale. The Flash waxes pissy about Dawson. Gale points out that The Flash is suffering from empty-nest syndrome. The Flash then gets pissy at Gale. Gale's like, "Whatever, you big baby." The Flash injects a double espresso into his left buttock.
Dawson pulls the Jeep into the driveway at the PB&B; Joey unbuckles her seatbelt, looking uncomfortable, and in the back seat, Jen and Jack exchange a look before Jack says, "Later, Joey," and Jen tells Joey to call her tomorrow, "okay?" Yeah -- call Jen. Become friends with Jen. Hang out with a girl now and then. CUT THE CORD. Joey's all "I guess this is it then" to Dawson, and Dawson offers to walk her to the door. Joey jams her hands in her pockets, of course, and says too brightly that she had a nice time, and it's comforting "seeing a movie you've seen before." Dawson agrees on both counts, and anvils that you already know how it ends. Joey says it's "going to be weird next year" with the two of them on opposite coasts, and Dawson says, "Yeeeah." Awkward pause. Joey tries to lighten the mood by talking about how he'll have "celebrity sightings left and right," but Dawson doesn't think LA "works that way," although from what I hear, it's actually a pretty small town and you do see famous people all the time, but whatever -- Joey keeps blithering about how Dawson will eventually run into Spielberg, and what does he plan to say? Dawson tries to up his coolness quotient by saying that he's more in "a Soderbergh phase right now." Oh, very convincing, LL Uncool D. Not. Shut up. Dawson doesn't know what he'd say. Joey lays it on with a trowel, reminding Dawson that Spielberg shaped his "entire world view," got him through childhood traumas, "made growing up just a bit more bearable," blah blah blah we-get-it-cakes. Dawson puppy-eyes at her all "no, that's you," but says that, in that case, he'd have to say thanks. Enter the ovary as Joey puppy-eyes back at Dawson all "no, that's you" and whispers, "Doesn't quite seem like enough, does it?" Dawson, still tractor-beaming her: "No, it doesn't." Long, very awkward pause as Joey realizes that it's really goodbye. She'll see him at Thanksgiving, though, right? Well, The Flashes said something about bringing Lily out to LA, so…well, Christmas, then. "Christmas, definitely." The scene is draaaagging, but in a way, that's really real; it reminds me again of saying goodbye to my high-school friends, and of how we just couldn't quite bring ourselves to say the actual word "goodbye" and turn around and go inside, so we'd stand on each other's porches and in each other's driveways talking about nothing way after curfew so that we wouldn't have to see something end. The continuing soulmate saga is annoying, but the scene is paced well. So anyway, Dawson nods and furrows his brow sadly at Joey; she's about to start crying, but she shakes it off and wishes him luck, and they hug. Over Joey's shoulder, we see his mind racing; cut to over Dawson's shoulder, where Joey's losing it. Before it gets too soggy, she breaks away and heads inside, but turns to tell him in a tone of false cheer, "I'll see ya, Dawson." She rushes inside before he can answer, and he starts to say something, then sighs all "dammit" and turns to go.
Inside, Joey looks lost. Absently, she starts to drift back towards the door.