Episode Report Card Wing Chun: D | 1 USERS: D YOU GRADE IT Four To Tango
By Wing Chun | Season 3 | Episode 9 | Aired on 11.30.1999
Andie barges into Jack's room, where he's dressing for his date. The first thing she says after telling him that Grams let her in is, "Is that what you're wearing?" Irritated, Jack snaps, "Goodnight, Andie." She falls over herself apologizing and reassuring him that he always looks good -- "Marky Mark-fine," even -- until he goes to close the door and says he feels a pep talk coming on. She tells him -- quite nicely, actually -- that she's his sister, she loves him, and his romantic life is vitally important to her, since if she winds up an embittered old maid, she's going to need to come live with Jack and his boyfriend. Jack asks if that means she's fairly sure he's going to have a boyfriend, and she says matter-of-factly that she is. He asks whether she's considered that his date could turn out to be a "total fiasco." She tells him that the worst-case scenario is that Jack will get there, they'll hate each other, and they'll go their separate ways; she adds that she has a good feeling about this, and that the worst-case scenario won't happen.
Jack makes some more nervous noises, and she tells him that Ben obviously likes him. Jack says that they don't even know each other, which she says is the reason they're having coffee. Finally, Jack tells her that this is a level of his life he doesn't even know he's ready for. He says that when he says hello to Ben, his entire life will be different: "I'm not just going to be telling the world that I'm gay. I'm actually going to be gay." Andie tells him that he'll be gay anyway, and that if he doesn't go, he'll be gay and without a boyfriend. Sounding unconvinced, Jack miserably says, "Yeah." That was a nice scene.
Dance studio. They're playing a game where they keep switching partners. I see some hijinx on the horizon! Miss Nosy walks through the class pairing people up, and puts Jen with Joey, and Dawson with Pacey! It's wacky already! Jen asks Joey when she and Pacey discovered their mutual love of ballroom dancing, and Joey says that it must have been moments before Jen and Dawson did. They awkwardly start dancing -- though not as awkwardly as Pacey and Dawson, who is telling Pacey how surprised he was to find Pacey in his bedroom the day before. Pacey says, "Not everyone is as fortunate as you are, to have a Sony Playstation of your very own right in your bedroom. But everyone could be that fortunate, because Sony has dropped the price in time for Christmas, to compete with the Dreamcast -- which, by the way, is a gaming platform that, I hear, really sucks." Dawson asks if that's the only reason Pacey was there when Dawson was out, and Pacey says that there's always "the allure of the Leery kitchen," which he adds has "lost its lustre" since the Flash took it over. Dawson asks what the condom was for. Pacey says, "What?" Dawson repeats the word, and Miss Nosy yells, "Switch!" Pacey grabs Jen away from Joey, and tells Jen that Dawson found it. Jen says she knows, that she's already talked to Dawson about it, and that Pacey shouldn't worry, because Dawson thinks Pacey has "another female lead." She glances in the direction of Joey, who by now is dancing with Dawson. He asks her the same question Jen did. She tells him about the scholarship. Dawson asks her why Joey didn't ask Dawson. Joey pauses, and then says that Pacey came to her first, and tells Dawson about their dance-for-Math arrangement: "That's what friends do, Dawson; they help each other." Dawson asks if she and Pacey are just friends, and before Joey can answer, Miss Nosy yells "Switch!" again and Pacey steers her away. Jen hooks back up with Dawson. Joey asks Pacey what's wrong with Dawson, and he tells her Dawson thinks she and Pacey are "doing it." Joey spits, "What?!" and says that Dawson would never think that. Pacey says that, under normal circumstances, she'd be right, but that events have been misconstrued. She asks to what events he's referring, but Miss Nosy yells "Switch!" and Dawson cuts in, leading Pacey away.
Dawson asks Pacey to tell him what's going on. Pacey tells him it's not what Dawson thinks. Dawson replies that Pacey doesn't know what Dawson thinks, and Pacey says that it's written all over Dawson's face. He explains about the tutoring and dancing, and then starts needling Dawson about the conclusion Dawson had jumped to regarding Pacey and Joey. Dawson tells Pacey he's "not going to get out of this" (out of WHAT? Like Pacey has to answer to you!) by psychoanalyzing Dawson. Pacey reminds Dawson that Joey isn't Dawson's girlfriend anymore. Dawson agrees that this is so. Pacey asks why, then, they're having this conversation, and notes that it was only a couple of weeks ago that Dawson had told Pacey that Joey and Dawson needed space away from each other. Dawson says that they do need to go their separate ways, but that it never occurred to him that...He trails off, and Pacey asks, "That what? She'd go her separate way too? Or perhaps it didn't occur to you that her separate way would include a stopover at me -- is that what it is?" Dawson doesn't answer, and Pacey says that it's always this way with Dawson: "You talk and talk, but you never listen to yourself!" That's very astute. He continues: "You say you're over her, but you're not! They're just words -- they don't mean anything to you!" Dawson quietly says that Pacey doesn't know what he's talking about. Pacey chuckles, then points toward Joey and tells Dawson to take a good look at her: "She's a freaking goddess, man! How long did you think it was going to be before some guy comes [sic] along and is [sic] interested in her? I mean, really, dude! And when that happens, what are you going to do?" Dawson claims he's going to take it all as it comes. Pacey sarcastically repeats Dawson's answer, and suggests, "Perhaps you should start figuring out [what you'll do] right now, because the guy that comes along is not going to be your best friend, and he's not going to ask for your permission. The guy that comes along is going to take one look at that woman and cut right in on you." Dawson, who can't handle the truth, says that all this analysis of Dawson's love life doesn't change the fact that Pacey still hasn't told Dawson why there was a condom in Dawson's room. Pacey wearily walks away, sighing, "Why do I bother?" I now think Dawson may actually be deaf -- deaf to reason, anyway. Miss Nosy yells "Switch!" Pacey trudges past Joey; Jen follows him, leaving Joey and Dawson to gaze at each other. Could I have had to type everyone's name MORE in that paragraph? MAN.
In the lobby, Pacey mutters that he "can't believe that guy." Jen tells him to chill out. They both go into the coat room. Pacey says that "this storyline is starting to stretch the limits of believability." WORD. Jen asks what he means, and Pacey says, essentially, that it's unbelievable that, having made the decision a few weeks ago to sleep together, they have thus far failed to actually do it. He sinks down to the floor, saying that he's spent a lot of time thinking about why they haven't consummated their non-relationship and has come up empty. Jen, sitting down next to him, says that they haven't done it for "about a million different reasons." He asks her for a couple, and she suggests that one reason is that their mothers teach them to be embarrassed about sex. Well, but...that's never stopped you before, Jen. Pacey looks away, so Jen goes on to say that they live in a country where violence is cool, but "gets squeamish whenever two people under legal voting age start using the correct terms for each other's body parts." Pacey chuckles and puts his arm around Jen, who laces her fingers through his and sort of sinks into him. He nestles his face in her hair, and she asks him if this is his way of telling her he's "ready for a return to Witch Island." Is that what the kids are calling it these days? He says, "Maybe it was the dancing, or perhaps it's just the romantic setting of this coat room, but I am definitely getting that witchy feeling." They gaze at each other. Okay, I don't especially think they should hook up permanently, but at least Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams are capable of acting like they get each other hot. I'm just sayin', that's more than James van der Beek and Katie Holmes have ever done.