Props to Liz, to Sars, to owen, and to Queen Victoria, whose birth gives me the holiday required to write the final first-season recap.
Previously on Dawson's Creek: Joey told Dawson that, in five years, she'd be "a million miles from here"; Pacey suggested that Jen was having "dumper's remorse" over Dawson, and she denied it; Joey told Dawson that, once she ditched the lipstick and hairspray, she'd be Joey again, and Dawson would no longer be interested.
Fade up on the Sanctum Dawsonorum. The hair of Dawson "Roger Bore-man" Leery looks like a skullcap made of ornately-crafted yellow foam rubber. He turns at the sound of Joey "Spine Iron" Potter climbing through the window, and marvels, "You're here!" Nonchalantly, she says she thought they were watching movies tonight. He stammers, "Yeah! I'm glad you're here, I just -- I didn't think...I didn't even get any movies from the store." He crosses to the other side of the room, and her face falls, but she plays it off: "Well, actually, I just dropped by to tell you I couldn't make it, so..." She moves toward the window, but he smirks, "You dropped by to tell me you couldn't drop by?" She flaps her hands and says, "Yeah," and makes for the window again. He asks her to stay: "We can watch bad reruns and throw sarcastic remarks at the television." And now, I present to you the meta-statement portion of tonight's episode, as Joey declares: "Well, for the record, I'm getting pretty tired of the television. I mean, the metaphor alone is making me nauseous." What metaphor? The metaphor...of what? Never explained. Doesn't make a lick of sense. She continues: "Every night it's the same: We hang out in your Spielberg-ized bedroom and watch obscure movies and TV reruns. It's so predictable!" Dawson stares dumbly back at her, and then clicks on the TV and plops his fat ass down on the bed, exclaiming: "This is a great show! It's a huge two-parter with a big cliffhanger!" Get it? Because this episode is part one of a two-part cliffhanger? Do you get it? The parallel? Between the character's line and the content of the show? Because they've never done that before. Joey replies, "'Cliffhanger'? Come on, Dawson, you of all people should know that a cliffhanger is merely a manipulative TV standard designed to improve ratings." Boo! Joey, you are the voice of dissent! Dawson is the voice of Williamson, and he argues, "No, a cliffhanger's purpose is to keep people interested -- keep 'em guessing what's going to happen in future episodes." Joey sinks down to him, and retorts, "But just like in our own lives, they are so predictable. I mean, the producers put the characters in some contrived situation hoping that the audience will think that something's going to change, but you know what? It never does. It's back to the same way it was before your so-called cliffhanger. It's boring, Dawson." Joey's speech is particularly evocative for me, having just recapped an episode in which Joey and Dawson rehash the whole "things have to change"/"no, they can stay the way they've always been" non-debate for about the four billionth time since this series has been on the air. Yes, this episode for which you are now reading the recap does contain a cliffhanger, but no, the events that unfold do not have any lasting effect on the basic composition of the show. At. ALL.
But Dawson still has to toe the Williamson party line, and he protests, "Well, what if this time, it's different? What if this time, in the cliffhanger, something changes? You wouldn't want to miss that, would you?" Dawson snaps the TV back on, and Joey mutters, "It still sounds like one big tease to me, Dawson," and then glares at him balefully. It's almost as if she knows she still has two more years of exactly the same old shit ahead of her.
Over a shot of Grams's House of Discipline, we hear the voice of Grams "Sable" Ryan repeating some church-related gossip to (we see as the camera takes us inside) Gramps, still comatose. She switches gears and confides, "Your granddaughter and I seem to be co-existing lately" just as Jen "Pork Knockers" Lindley comes to the doorway. Grams continues: "She broke it off with Dawson Leery, though. Heaven help us, though -- between you and me, I think she's starting to miss him." Jen asks, "How's he doing this morning?" Grams says he's peaceful, but that there's no real change, and that he's in the same sleep he has been for the past three months. Jen says she's going to school. Grams reminds her to take a sweater. Jen strokes Gramps's hand and says goodbye. She walks out, and Gramps turns his head and grunts, "'Bye...Jen." Grams leaps up and chases after Jen, calling her name. Jen comes back. Grams tells her Gramps is awake. Jen chokes up. Aw.
At school, Jen babbles to Dawson that she feels like "this big cloud has just been lifted off [her] shoulders!" She adds that Gramps had to go to the hospital for some tests, so she won't get to see him until tomorrow, but for the first time in a while, she feels like "letting loose and having some fun." She says she knows that it's a school night, but casually suggests that they do something together. Dawson says that he has plans with Joey. Jen's face falls, and Dawson offers to cancel on Joey, but Jen acts like it's no big deal until she sees Joey rounding the corner, whereupon Jen glares at Joey and snorts, "Speak of the devil." Dawson says hi to Joey and, noting her distracted expression, asks whether everything's okay. Joey says, by way of answer, "How do you go about getting a passport?" Dawson chuckles -- because where would Little Joey Potter From The Wrong Side Of The Creek (which is, legally, her full name) get the money or the wherewithal to travel anywhere that would require a passport? -- and asks where she's going. Joey says that Mrs. Tringle (WHATEVER, Williamson!) just told her that another student just turned down a scholarship to spend the semester in France "because she doesn't want to leave her boyfriend," and Joey was in line for it. Jen squeals, "Dawson, isn't that amazing?" and at this juncture, she actually seems more jubilant at the honour bestowed upon Joey than she is excited about having Joey out of the picture so that she can get her hamhocks on Dawson. Dawson is momentarily stunned silent, and then busts out one of the least supportive things he could say: "Wait. Slow down. You're going to France?" Joey beams, "I don't know yet. I have two days to decide." Dawson's selfish motors are running at 5000 RPMs as he pouts, "If you did go, when would you leave?" Joey says she'd leave in two weeks. Dawson stares morosely back at her, and Joey, now that her good mood is fully deflated, slinks off, saying she'll see them later. Jen and Dawson stand silent for a moment, until Jen, a little too cheerily, says, "I definitely think she should go, DON'T YOU?" Dawson hesitates and replies, "Um. Yeah. Why not?" Jen broods. Jen, shouldn't you be a little more interested in your grandfather's sudden and pretty miraculous recovery, and a little less fixated on the prospect of (ugh) deflowering Dawson?
At the Icehouse, Joey reviews the cons of going to France with Bessie "Sis. Boom. Bah!" Potter: "I mean, France is so far away. I won't know anybody. I don't speak the language, plus I don't think I could spend a year in any country that worships Mickey Rourke." The school offered a scholarship to study in France to a student who doesn't even take French? Why? Bessie very kindly says that whatever Joey decides, it's an honour for her to be asked, and that Bessie is very proud of her, which is exactly the right thing to say, except for the part where she forgets to say, "And you're going to France. Right? There's really no other option." Bessie adds, "Dad will be [proud of you] too, when you tell him all about it." Bessie scurries off, and Joey follows, asking, "Question: Why would I tell Dad?" Bessie reminds her that the day is Mr. Pothead's birthday. Joey shrugs, "Well, you're on your own, Bessie -- enjoy yourself." Bessie says that she's not going, but Joey is. Joey says she's not going anywhere. Bessie says, "Joey, we made a deal. I know you remember -- alternating birthday visits for as long as he's in there. Now, I went last year, so according to my calculations, it's your. TURN." They argue their positions back and forth a bit longer until Bessie says, "Look, I know you're still angry at him for what he did to Mom, and to us -- I am, too -- but you know what, Joey? He's still our father." Joey snorts, "Yeah. Our father who art in prison," and snits off. Sorry, I'm with Joey. When your dad screws around on your dying mom and then gets busted for dealing drugs, essentially leaving you an orphan, I don't think you really owe him any consideration. Not that my own biological father ever dealt drugs or abandoned my mom and me, penniless, in a foreign country, and then tried to make it up to me about fifteen years later. Oh, wait. He did. I'm just saying, I know where Joey's coming from, and I don't think she should have to visit him -- or ever speak to him again -- if she doesn't want to.
Pacey "Fail, Caesar!" Witter is riding his bike along the sidewalk when he hears the siren of a police car. Pacey turns to see the source, and then rides his bike into the road and drops it directly in front of Deputy Doug's car, demanding to know what Doug wants and bitching that he's on his way to work. Deputy Doug says that their dad is looking for him, and that he's mad. Pacey asks what he did now, and Deputy Doug says it's what he didn't do, "like, pass any of [his] midterms," and that Sheriff Witter's worried. Pacey sarcastically says, "Well, you can tell him that his concern is appreciated, but he should save it for the closet case with the gun." Deputy Doug gets out of the cruiser to bust Pacey's balls about being a screw-up, and Pacey drawls, "You know what, Dougie, why don't you run along and go grab a cat out of a tree or something? And tell Dad that if he wants to talk to me, he should do it himself." Deputy Doug warns him, "You know, one day, Pacey, you're going to be tired of being a joke, and it's going to be too late. You're going to wake up and realize that you're just a bad punchline that nobody's laughing at. Now, you have a good day, little brother." Wait a second. Hold up. Pacey has problems with his family? They could have mentioned that. And, wait, is Joey's mom dead, or something? Because I'm not sure.
At the bus station, Joey thanks Dawson for coming with her to see her dad. He asks when she last saw Mr. Pothead, and she says, "Two years ago. About the same time I discovered he was trafficking marijuana while cheating on my dying mother with a bleached-blonde cocktail waitress." Dawson's tremendous words of support upon hearing this rather disturbing description of the man she's about to see: "Well, it's only for today." Clap. Clap. Bra. Vo. Dawson then "casually" asks whether she's made any decision about going to Europe. Joey shrugs, and says she's "still weighing it for fantasy elements," whatever that means. He tells her it's "an incredible opportunity," like, thanks, I don't think she knew that, and she asks him what he'd do if she went. Dawson replies, "Suicide." Oh my God -- JOEY, now you DEFINITELY have to go! Dawson jokes some more about his method of suicide (and, sorry, readers, he wants it to be by a means that's "painless," worse luck). Joey seriously repeats the question, and the strings squeal with trepidation on the soundtrack as Dawson replies, "If Paris made you happy, then I'd be happy for you." Joey smiles wanly.
Prison exterior. Adjacent to the building is a yard fenced in only by chain link (that's secure?), and containing about fifty wooden picnic tables. The prisoners outside are being called in for "chow time" as several passengers disembark the bus bound for "Daleman, Mass." Dawson asks Joey if she's ready, and she says, "No." He takes her hand and they walk toward the prison.
At a guard booth, Joey exclaims, "You're kidding me. We missed visiting hours?" The guard impassively tells her that visiting hours end at 5 PM. Joey protests that they just spent four hours on a bus to get there, and what are they supposed to do now? Wouldn't Bessie have warned her about the time, and made sure she got on the earliest possible bus? Dawson looks away, apparently hoping no talent scouts see him in a venue so déclassé. The guard, who should have been given his own spin-off, gives Joey a reality check: "Look, Miss, I know you think your problem's very important and I'm sure, to you, it is, but here at a prison housing over eight hundred felons, they're not even a blip on the radar. Now, can I ask you, are we done here yet?" Joey scowls, and stomps off, telling Dawson (who, it must be said, was so very helpful during that whole exchange) that this is now a much bigger nightmare than she'd anticipated. Dawson tells her that if she asks him very nicely, he'll come back with her tomorrow. Joey thanks him for the offer, but says there must be a better solution than spending another day on the bus. Dawson chirps, "Maybe there is."
Just when I get scared that Dawson's going to go try to "sweet" talk the guard, we cut to a motel exterior, and then go inside, where Dawson is sitting on the bed, cheerily watching TV because nothing in his world has changed as a result of this trip, and telling Joey that he just called Mrs. Flash, who promised to tell Bessie that he and Joey are staying in Daleman overnight. Joey emerges from the bathroom, and Dawson asks whether she wants to watch TV, but she says she'd rather just go to sleep, so he turns the TV off and they go to opposite sides of the bed. Dawson asks, "So, are we sleeping left to right?" Joey says "as usual" is fine with her. Dawson starts (ugh) unbuttoning his shirt to reveal THE PENDANT and, chuckling to mask his awkwardness, points out that it's the first time they've "slept together in a foreign bed." Joey irritably asks whether that's a problem, and he says it's not, but that it's just different. They climb into bed in their clothes, and Joey complains about the lumpy bed, and Dawson spontaneously announces that he'll sleep on the floor. Joey tells him he can't sleep on the floor, since "it's freezing, and besides, what's the big deal?" The camera cuts to a long shot, which shows that they each have at least two unused feet of bed but are still squeezed to each other right in the middle -- this bed is way bigger than Dawson's. Dawson turns on his side and props his head on his hand; Joey is also on her side, with her back to him. Dawson says, "Jo?" Joey says, "Yeah?" Dawson says, "I don't want this to affect your decision about France, but I would really miss you if you left." Um, I think you do want to affect her decision because you don't want to kill yourself, but I want you to kill yourself, and even if you didn't exist and your gory death were not a possibility of which I dreamed every night, she SHOULD STILL GO. Joey sighs loudly and says she'd miss him, too. Dawson says, "I've been thinking about us a lot lately." Joey asks what he's been thinking, and Dawson says, "I'd like to figure out where we are, what's going on between us." Joey rolls over and asks, even more irritably, "And how do we do that, Dawson?" Dawson flops down on his face and moans, "I'm sorry, Jo. I'm not -- I'm just not all there. I can analyze someone else until the cows wander home, but as soon as I turn all that indulgent perecption on myself, it's like I completely zzzzzzzzzzz." Oh, sorry, I nodded off there, because this speech was like half an hour long, but the gist was that Dawson is scared of what will happen if he can't figure out whether he likes likes Joey, or if he just likes her. Joey glares at him impatiently. Dawson asks whether any of this makes sense to her. Joey sneers, with a glorious contempt not seen since, "What are you so scared of, Dawson?" Dawson gazes back, all dewy, and she rolls back over. Dawson rolls onto his back and moans, "I don't know. I don't know." CeilingCam reveals that the bed is like nine miles across. Joey: Scootch over before Dawson makes another bid on your spinette set.
Morning on the creek. Jen clasps her hands in a hospital waiting room. Grams comes out, and Jen jumps up to ask how Gramps is. Grams, with cautious optimism, says that his tests seem to be going well, and that even though the doctors keep telling her Gramps was "lucky" to have come out of it, she knows that it was actually their daily prayers, and their faith in the Lord, that got Gramps out of it. Jen proves that, along with chastity, a sense of occasion was not among the few talents imparted by her parents in her laissez-faire New York City upbringing, and declares, "You know, Grams, no one is happier about his recovery than me, but I very much doubt that prayer had a whole lot to do with it." Grams tells Jen that "God has a hand in all good things." Jen looks around, decides this is, yes, exactly the PERFECT time and place to have a philosophical discussion, and sarcastically asks, "But He had nothing to do with war, famine, AIDS, huh?" Grams points out that it is not always "up to us" to understand the Lord's ways, which is a very nice way of telling Jen to shut the fuck up, and Jen says that "Gramps is better. That's all that matters," and that they should quit debating the reasons why. Jen, you brought it up. And you know what else you brought up? The bile, to the back of my throat, so cram it, pork chop.
Back at the prison, Joey leans against a table, apparently waiting for Mr. Pothead. Dawson tells her he'll be right outside, and she warns him not to go anywhere. Dawson reminds her that she hasn't seen her dad in a long time, and should spend some time with him alone. Joey scoffs, "Yeah, right. Like I'd want to spend time with the man who's responsible for the destruction of my family." Dawson stares blankly, and then a buzzer sounds, and Mr. Pothead walks in. Joey takes a few slow steps away from the table, and then turns back and sits in a chair opposite Mr. Pothead. He jokes, "If I knew you were coming, I'd have sent for cigars and champagne, or a couple of donuts, anyway." He sits down. Dawson sits beside Joey, staring at Mr. Pothead, and, no doubt, trying to impress each detail of the meeting in his memory so that he can use it later for a scene in one of his crappy-ass "films." Joey faces Mr. Pothead, but keeps her eyes on the table. Mr. Pothead marvels, "Joey, you're beautiful." She looks up long enough to murmur, through gritted teeth, "No. I'm not." Mr. Pothead greets Dawson, who chirps, "Hello, Mr. Potter!" Suck-up. Mr. Pothead carefully says, "I thought, the other night, you might come. Then I thought I'd better not get my hopes up. Birthdays in prison are depressing enough." Joey tightly replies, "Well, I'm here, aren't I." Mr. Pothead effusively tells her, "And I'm so glad. You have no idea." Joey sets her jaw and look away. Mr. Pothead says, "You're all grown up! It's amazing!" Joey scowls, "Well, that's what people do. They grow up." Dawson looks uncomfortable. Mr. Pothead asks how school is. Joey snorts, "That's what you want to talk about?" Agreeably, Mr. Pothead asks what she wants to talk about. She glares, and then shakes her head a little and says, "Nothing." Mr. Pothead starts to break down, and says that he gets lonely in prison, and that he misses Joey, and Bessie: "I miss my family." Joey snaps, "Your family? Tell me this: Do you miss Mom?" Now, Joey. You know you have the exclusive rights to mourn your mother, and that you have restraining orders on each member of your family preventing them from coming within fifty feet of your own grief.
Mr. Pothead looks down and says, "Yes. Very much." Joey makes a mental note to call her lawyer and bust him on copyright infringement as Mr. Pothead presses, "Joey, talk to me. Tell me what you're thinking." Joey bitterly chuckles, to cover her tears, and tells him, "You don't want to know what I'm thinking. Believe me. You know, this was a mistake. And I guess I should tell you that I'm probably going to be leaving in a few weeks. I'm going to France." Dawson gives himself whiplash turning to look at her, like, yeah, Dawson, this scene is all. About. YOU. Joey continues: "So I won't be around anymore. And that family that you miss doesn't exist anymore. It's over." She gets up and backs away from the table, and Mr. Pothead moans, "It's not over, Joey! It's still a family!" Joey's shooting not daggers but full-sized battle-axes from her eyes at Mr. Pothead as she says, "Well, it's over for me. Have a happy birthday, Dad!" She walks out. Dawson gets up and, before following her, unnecessarily tells Mr. Pothead that he "should go after her," like, what else should you do -- stay here and shoot the shit with Mr. Pothead? Maybe learn how to turn a spoon into a shiv? He also wishes Mr. Pothead "good luck," which must have really brightened that convicted felon's day, but for some reason Mr. Pothead implores Dawson to stay and tell him about Joey. The buzzer sounds to let Joey out, and Dawson looks in that direction, but then turns back to Mr. Pothead and asks, "What do you want to know?" Mr. Pothead says he wants to know "anything. Everything." Dawson pauses a moment and then sits back down to say, "She's great. She's smart, she's beautiful, she's funny. She's a big ol' scaredy-cat; if you creep up from behind her, she'll jump out of her skin. It's pretty amusing." Yeah, relay this information to a room full of convicted criminals. Good one! Dawson goes on: "She's honest. She always calls 'em just like she sees 'em. You can always count on getting the truth from Joey, even if the truth hurts. She's stubborn. We fight a lot. She can be so frustrating sometimes. But she's a really, really good friend -- loyal to a fault. She believes in me. I'm a dreamer, so it's so good to have someone like that in my life. God, if she goes away, I don't know what I'm going to do. I mean, she's my best friend. She's...more than that. She's everything." Notice the moment where that stopped being about Joey and started being about Dawson? Yeah, me too. And I'm sure Mr. Pothead was glad he could be there when Dawson had the epiphany that he really wanted to nail Mr. Pothead's daughter.
Back in Capeside, Dawson and Joey walk along a little footbridge. She asks him what his deal is, and says that he didn't say a word the entire bus ride home. He didn't? After Joey went through that confrontation with her dad? Just because he was trying to decide whether he might want to kiss her or not? What a giant, seeping ass-boil. How selfish can a person be? Oh, I HATE HIM! Joey points out that if anyone should be "brooding" right now, it is she. Finally, she asks what her dad said. Dawson says Mr. Pothead was asking a lot of questions about her, and that he misses her and loves her. Joey sighs. Dawson goes one too far: "You shouldn't have left." Bullshit. She shouldn't have gone in the first place. Under the circumstances, I'd say she acquitted herself beyond reproach.
Joey decides she's in the mood for a little spine dancing and snaps, "Don't lecture me." Dawson protests, "I'm not," even though he is: "You've got to deal with him sometime." Joey goes quite easy on him: "I deal with him every day of my life, okay, Dawson? Every single second, I am dealing with the legacy that he left for me. He doesn't want me to deal with him -- he wants me to make him feel better. He wants me to say, 'I forgive you, Dad.' But I can't. I don't forgive him for anything. I'm sorry, but I can't." Dawson, who is so knowledgeable about such matters, tells Joey she should tell Mr. Pothead that. She asks what the point would be, if she did, and Dawson informs her, "The point is he's your father. Jo, he's your only father." Joey throws up her hands and declares, "I hate him, Dawson." Dawson sternly observes, "'Hate' is a strong word." Joey simply states, "Then it applies." Yeah! There's my spinebacker! Dawson somehow doesn't realize she just got the last word, and barrels forward: "Joey, sooner or later you're going to have to deal with these feelings of anger and resentment you've got toward him. Otherwise, you're just going to handcuff yourself to him for the rest of your life, and it's going to cause you nothing but pain." WRONG! She was in a perfectly good mood two days ago when she'd just received the news about the scholarship, and then Bessie FORCED her to go see him, when she clearly didn't want to and, in my opinion, had a very strong case never to speak to him again, if so she chose. And, when she saw him, she expressed very clearly and eloquently why she didn't want to see him, why she didn't feel he deserved to see her, and exactly how his actions had affected her. I think she has dealt with those feelings of "anger and resentment," and that, at this point, the only thing keeping her from leading a perfectly healthy life is the fact that she's still a dependent minor, and that she will be obliged to see him, when he gets out of prison, until she's eighteen. (Although, given that we already know what happens when he gets out of prison, I doubt she'll have to wait until her eighteenth birthday to cut him out completely, and that the state will probably go ahead and do that for her.) Anyway, instead of telling Dawson all that, she shrugs and asks, "Even in Paris?" As she walks away from him, she wipes her nose. Dawson asks, "You decided to go?" "Yes, Dawson," she says, and adds, "I think a geographic change is exactly what I need. It'll give me time to think, you know. Start over. Clear my head." Dawson tells her that running away isn't the answer. Gosh. Thanks for plumbing the depths of your own experience in this area to come up with that advice, Dr. Snore-a. Joey scoffs, "What is the answer, Dawson? Why don't you give me one good reason why I should stay? Give me one non-analytical, off-the-top-of-your-head reason why I should stay?" Dawson stares at her, and then swallows hard, and Joey sneers, "I thought so." She gets in her boat and starts a rowin'. Dawson sucks. I mean, "Dawson sniffs." Wait, no, I was right the first time. Row away, Spine Daly!
Hospital. Grams broods. Jen asks what's wrong. Grams tells her that Gramps has had another stroke. Jen tries to cry. Grams tells her Gramps is in Intensive Care. Jen doesn't get it. Grams tells her that God has a plan for everything. Jen's nose goes all pinched and she disses Grams's faith. Nary a tear falls from Jen's eyes.
Pacey ambles into the Icehouse as Joey cleans up. She tells him the kitchen's closed. He sarcastically implores her not to make him "eat dinner with the Stepford family." She feebly ranks on him: "I guess I can scrape something up; I think I saw some rat droppings behind the oven." Pacey amiably tells her to toss them in the microwave. Joey slowly turns around and marvels, "That was weird. For a second there, I was overcome with this wave of sympathy for you. It'll pass." She sinks onto a bar stool; Pacey sits to her and asks exactly when it happened that he was "designated the town loser" and "a walking, talking embarrassment to [his] perfect family." Joey rolls her eyes and says he's not an embarrassment to his family. Pacey replies, "According to Deputy Doug, I am." Joey one-ups (or one-downs) him: "At least your whole family isn't an embarrassment! I just got back from visiting my dad." Pacey asks how it went. Joey folds her arms, and shrugs. Pacey offers, "Fathers are weird creatures, you know that?" He tells a story about playing pee-wee baseball when he was eight, and striking out in a big game, and the huge talking-to his father gave him, and how, the day, he overheard his dad telling Deputy Doug the story and adding, "At least I have you." Oh. Ouch. Joey sighs sympathetically. Pacey admits that he's never told anyone so, but he wishes he'd never heard the Sheriff say that. Joey suggests that Pacey have a talk with his dad, and tell him how he hurt Pacey. Pacey quietly asks, "Is that what you did?" Joey blinks, and says, "No. But I'm going to." She springs up off her bar stool and tells Pacey that she has to go back tonight, and tell her father how he hurt her. Pacey tells her that the buses don't run this late, and Joey asks, "Can you help me? When have I ever asked you a favour? Can't you steal your dad's car or something?" Pacey says he prefers to call it "borrowing." Joey thanks him, and they book. Man, EVEN THEN these two were better together than Dawson and Joey were. Have I mentioned that I hate Dawson? I really do.
Hospital. Gramps is hooked up to all manner of machines. Man, I already wrote the ER recap! Enough with the medical shit! Jen slips in, sits beside his bed, and delivers a speech so selfish that I have to keep freezing the tape to make sure that it's her and not Dawson speaking: "I've missed you. You know, just when I thought I was going to get you back, you go away from me again? What am I supposed to do? What can I do to get you out of this bed and back into my life? Because I feel so helpless sitting here right now, because I want to help you so badly, and I can't. Because I want you to help me. I want you to smile at me, and I want you to listen to me, and I want you to magically uncomplicate my life the way you used to." Gramps breaks the land-speed record sprinting toward "the light."
Pacey is up at the booth, talking to My Favourite Prison Guard (this fall on the WB Sunday Night), and asks to speak to the guard alone. As they stand apart, Pacey shakes the guard's hand, and they have an inaudible conversation, and then the guard invites Joey to follow him. Joey asks Pacey what he said, and Pacey, looking smug, admits that he slipped the guard a twenty.
In the Sanctum, Dawson flicks through his CDs. Jen comes through his bedroom window, and Dawson asks her how his grandfather is. She scratches her arms and laughs, a little hysterically, "It doesn't really look too good. I think I'm losing him. I feel like I'm losing everybody!" Dawson says he's sorry. Jen walks toward him, sighing, and sits at the end of the bed to tell him, "I miss you, Dawson." He hurries over to sit to her, and she continues, "I really do miss you." He tells her he's here, and she says, "No, you're not. You're half here. And part of that's my fault, Dawson. I blew it, you know? But I'm going to stop blowing it." He asks what she's talking about, and she asks, "Can I sleep here tonight? Dawson? With you? The way Joey does? As friends? Can I just lie here with you tonight?" Caught off-guard by the request, Dawson says, "Yeah. Sure." Sarah McLachlan starts whining on the soundtrack as Dawson reclines on his back, and Jen cozies up to him and starts crying. Dawson awkwardly tells her it'll be okay. Sympathy grab or booty call? You be the judge.
On opposite sides of the prison fence, Joey and Mr. Pothead approach each other. She tells him she doesn't really know what she's doing there, and then says, "That's not true. Look. I came here tonight because I wanted to tell you that you messed up. You really messed up. And not because you broke the law, or you got caught, or you left me without a father. You messed up because you don't know me. I'm your daughter and you don't know me at all. So, I guess I just came to say that I'm all right. I turned out pretty good. And I'm gonna be okay. No help from you." Tears trickle down Mr. Pothead's pock-marked cheeks. Joey continues: "And I just had one question. [long pause] Do you love me?" And thus commenced the great Joey Potter spinectomy, because, as I've already said, she shouldn't give half a shit what he thinks of her. Mr. Pothead sobs, "More than you'll ever know. And I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Joey starts to melt, and she asks, "Do you think about me?" and I call up Mount Pleasant cemetary and ask them to break ground on a grave for Old Joey. Mr. Pothead moans, "Sweetheart -- all day long: Every day, every hour, every minute." Joey asks again, "Do you really love me, though? Because I'm fifteen years old, and I go through every day of my life thinking nobody loves me." Mr. Pothead tells her nothing could be further from the truth, and adds, "And I'm not the only one. Dawson Leery -- he loves you, Joey." She shakes her head, and Mr. Pothead asks, "He's never told you?" Um, hi -- you're standing at the fence of a prison in the middle of the night, a four-hour drive from home. The most pressing issue on your mind to discuss with your incarcerated father is your dating prospects?
Joey says Dawson's never told her that he loves her, and Mr. Pothead says that Dawson does. Joey asks how he knows, and Mr. Pothead burbles, "Because he looks at you the same way your mother used to look at me." Joey weeps, and Mr. Pothead chokes, "And you love him!" Joey nods. Mr. Pothead asks her if he's told her, and she shakes her head, and Mr. Pothead says, "You have to tell him, Joey. Don't make my mistake. Don't wait 'til someone you love is eaten by cancer and wasting away while you hold back the one thing they're waiting to hear." Joey seems finally to have an inkling of how inappropriate this conversation is, and she shifts her weight from foot to foot and then grabs her father's hand through the fence and says, "I love you, Dad." He says, "I love you." They both cry. She says she has to go. I do too, and the toilet seems like it's a four-hour drive away. What is Mr. Pothead, Cupid? Doesn't he have better things to do in prison than hook his daughter up with a little action?
Sunrise over Capeside. Dawson and Jen have slept the whole night in their clothes, and in the same position, on his bed.
Joey rows across the creek.
Jen caresses Dawson's face with her finger and wakes him up. He doesn't really respond to the touch.
Joey walks along the pier from Leery Landing.
Jen is all "good morning." Dawson is all "get out, please."
Joey makes her way to Dawson's ladder.
Jen thanks Dawson for letting her crash there. Dawson tightly says it's no problem, though his body language says otherwise.
Joey climbs the ladder.
Jen leans over and kisses Dawson on the cheek. Joey appears at the window with her face all open and happy just in time to see Jen kiss Dawson's cheek. Joey's face falls and she backs out the way she came. Dawson practically shoves Jen to the floor chasing after Joey, who tears across the lawn at a very impressive speed. Dawson goes to his front window to shout Joey's name, but she isn't stopping and runs all the way along the pier.
In his bedroom, Dawson rakes his hands through his hair and says he "can't believe this." Jen asks where he's going, and Dawson, putting his shoes on, says he's going to stop Joey: "She's got the wrong idea about us." "Does she?" Jen asks tearfully. Dawson tactlessly LAUGHS, "Yeah!" Jen folds her arms and asks Dawson whether he's in love with Joey. Dawson evades the question, saying all he knows is that he has to talk to her. As he leaps out the window and runs outside, Jen mutters, "'Bye, Dawson." Dawson runs down the pier yelling Joey's name, but she's nowhere to be seen.
On her porch, Grams stares out the window. Jen comes in and asks how Gramps is. Grams says she's been at the hospital all night, and that there's no change, but that she'll be going to the hospital later if Jen wants to join her. Jen pouts and scratches her arms and Grams asks her if something's wrong. Jen says she doesn't want to talk about it, and Grams very kindly invites her to come to church. Jen simply says, "Grams...." and Grams purses her lips and says, "You know, you don't have to be in God's house for him to hear you." Jen sort of nods, and goes inside, where she picks up Grams's and Gramps's wedding picture, and gets into bed, hugging it to her chest.
Suddenly it's dusk as Joey rows on the creek. Huh?
Dawson knocks on Joey's door.
Joey dangles her feet off a pier.
Dawson looks for her at the Icehouse.
Joey sits alone on a park bench.
Jen picks up the phone and says, "No, this is her granddaughter." Grams comes up behind her and Jen says, "He's gone."
Dawson walks past the bench where Joey had been sitting, but which is now empty.
I take a dramamine to settle my stomach so I can sit through the rest of this interminable montage.
Joey mopily walks down the sidewalk.
Dawson jogs through downtown Capeside, and rakes both hands through his hideous hair.
Grams sits alone in the front pew at church. Jen walks in, wearing a dress and cardigan, and looks around at the stained glass, and then spots Grams and goes to sit to her. Grams snuggles to her and says, "He's in the Lord's hands now. Oh, please, Lord, take unto him my dearest love. Please keep him safe for me." "Me too," Jen says wanly. Grams breaks down. Grams has, in the space of fifteen seconds, out-acted every other performer on this show. With the possible exception of Pacey.
Dawson storms into the Sanctum; no doubt, he's all sweaty and stinky from having run all over town all damn day. He yanks open his closet door and finds Joey sitting inside. She looks up at him balefully, and he yells, "Joey, god! I've been looking everywhere! Look, there's nothing going on between Jen and me." She tells him he doesn't have to explain, and he says, "Yes, I do, Joey!" Joey tells Dawson that he and she are just friends, and he says, "Joey. Come on. You know that's not true." Joey scoffs, "So what are we, Dawson? I am SO TIRED of the way we relate to one another. I mean, we spend all our time analyzing our sad adolescent lives." Sing it, Larry Spine! Dawson feebly protests, "I know we know too many big words, but it's a good thing to analyze." You may know the words, but, two years on, you STILL don't know what they mean. Joey tells him that the analysis doesn't get them anywhere, and that it's time to grow up. He lurches toward her and declares, "I know, Joey. We can. We are growing up." Joey replies, "No, we're not. Every day is the same. We watch a movie -- preferably a Spielberg film -- find the appropriate life correlation, and then we pat ourselves on the back for being so clever. You know? And as much as our perception is dead-on ["more like dead wrong" -- Wing Chun], our honesty is severely lacking, Dawson." Dawson takes another step toward her and says, "There is something lacking." She says, "The reason I came here tonight is because we need to move on. Look, we're not kids anymore. I'm not gonna do this anymore, and I thought you should know." Joey makes for the window, and Dawson whines, "So, are you going to France?" She wearily turns back and scoffs, "Ah. The inevitable cliffhanger. Am I going to France?" "Are you?" he demands pitifully. Joey says, "Look, I am tired of all the drama in my life right now, Dawson, and leaving town makes the most sense to me, so --" "No, it doesn't!" Dawson squeals. Joey demands, "Why should I stay? Is there some new release at the video store I don't know about? It's time to grow up, Dawson." No duh. And, again, TWO YEARS LATER, it's STILL time for them to grow up. Dawson pouts, "Well, then, we'll do it together. Joey, I can grow up! Give me a chance! Even Spielberg outgrew his Peter Pan syndrome." Joey says she could have told him that months ago, and turns back to the window. Dawson says, "You did." She very slowly turns back and says, "Yeah."
Dawson gives her The Look, and Joey tearfully says, "I am so tired of dancing around these big words. You know? I just want to be honest with you." Dawson replies, "Me too. Jo, more than anything, I just want to be honest." Joey asks, "Do you think we're ready for that honesty?" Dawson whispers, "Yeah. I do." She asks him if he's sure, and he is so close to her face, and, ugh, I know what's coming, and she goes on, "Honesty is a big word, and it changes things, and it complicates things, and...are you sure you're ready for everything that comes with telling the truth?" Joey looks more horrified than excited and when Dawson still doesn't make his move even though her lips are like an inch from hers, she sways back and cries, "I'll see you, Dawson," and takes another step toward the window. It's like with each attempt she makes to get to the window, they're teasing me -- and cruelly, I might add. Dawson swallows hard, and then says, "Joey -- Joey!" He grabs her arm and turns her around and very awkwardly lays one on her. She sways back again -- and, again, looking more horrified than surprised -- and he grabs her by the neck and seizes her face, and...well, sucks said face. She smiles and kisses him back, and the lip mics are cranked up to Jesus (tm owen), and from outside we see them macking against the window shade. And now...you're up to date. I need to take about forty showers.