Episode Report Card Jessica: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Appetite For Destruction
By Jessica | Season 5 | Episode 10 | Aired on 12.18.2001
The doorbell rings. Jen gets it. It's Charlie. Chad Michael Murray looks like he just smoked a bowl of chronic and then took a nap and woke up two and a half minutes before he was due on set. The Wacky Tuba Music Of Too Many Boyfriends toots in the background. "Hi," Charlie offers. Jen stands, stunned, in the doorway. Behind her, Jack, Pacey, and Dawson peek out of the dining room. Two of the three of them look thrilled by this dramatic development.
Everyone's back at the table except for Jen. They're passing the salad around. There's a bit of banter about the correct placement of the salad course, and then everyone stares at his or her plate and wonders if they ought to eat, or to wait for Jen. "Who knows how long Pretty Boy is going to take to -- oh, look! Bread," Jack says, reaching for the rolls and avoiding Dawson's eye. Dawson looks around, and decides he's going to go check on Jen. He wanders out into the foyer, but is stopped by Pacey before he gets to the door. "She'll be right in," Pacey says. Dawson swears he's not going to cause a scene. "I'm all for scene-causing," Pacey says, drying his hands on his apron. "I wanna serve the guy up as garnish for the third course. But don't be that guy. I know you. You're better than that guy." Dawson makes a face as Pacey explains that checking in before a check-in is due and basically "checking out the competition, which, let's face it, is what [Dawson's] doing here" only starts a relationship on "a needy overtone" and is a "rocky-road best left untravelled." Dawson raises a brow. "That doesn't sound a whole lot like me," he says. What, nosey and needy? Sounds like you to me. "Why do I get the feeling you're this guy?" he asks. Pacey punches him in the face. They fight. Eventually, Pacey overpowers Dawson and pummels him to death with the fireplace poker. He then kidnaps Joey and goes on the lam, eventually driving over the border and deep into Mexico, where they buy a fleet of shrimp boats and live off the fruit of the sea. Not really. Actually, Pacey just grins and tells Dawson that, "generally, [he's] a very wise man." Dawson insists that he appreciates Pacey's advice, but…"you're going ahead anyway," Pacey says. Dawson agrees. "Can't say I blame you," Pacey says.
Outside. Dawson pokes his head out of the front door. "Everything okay?" Jen tells him that it is. Are they holding dinner for her? Dawson assures her that they'll wait. Jen swears it'll only be a minute. He goes back inside. "Nice to meet you," Charlie smarms at the closed door. Jen's like, I'd have introduced the two of you, except for the part where I hate you. Charlie admits that -- you know what? Screw this boring scene. Long story short: Charlie brings Jen back her Flaming Lips t-shirt. She tells him that she has "the habit of picking the wrong guy, and [she] feels like maybe this time [she] made the right choice." He wants her to be happy. She is happy. Maybe they'll see each other around sometime. Jen suggests graduation. The end.