Episode Report Card Wing Chun: D | 6 USERS: C+ YOU GRADE IT Show Me Love
By Wing Chun | Season 3 | Episode 21 | Aired on 05.09.2000
Will "Jake Hanson" Krudski assists Pacey on the True Love. Pacey stares impassively at the pier, where Dawson stands, handing the folded flag to Pacey. Pacey unfolds it, thanking him, and noting that he could have picked it up himself. Dawson tightly says, "It's no problem." Wearily (notice how that adjective seems to apply to people who have to talk to Dawson?) Pacey says, "If you want me to drop out of this race, you're going to have to ask me yourself." Dawson shrugs, of course, and tells Pacey he doesn't care what Pacey does. Pacey indicates the flag in his hand and says, "I'm only doing this to help your mother." "The way you helped Joey?" Dawson chirps. Pacey sighs, "Look, if you want to stay angry, stay angry. It really doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm just glad it's finally directed at the right person." Dawson spits, "Oh, save it, Pacey." Pacey slowly looks up with Richie Aprile-style Manson lamps like he's thinking about "saving" Dawson in a vacuum-sealed box, as Dawson goes on, "You know, everyone else might buy this chivalrous, self-deprecating crap -- I don't." Dawson, no one wants to sell anything to you, except maybe a ten-gallon vat of cyanide. Or a twenty-gallon vat of Nair.
Back at the commercial part of the pier, Joey is complaining to Bessie "The Other Sister" Potter about having to make and serve pancakes at the race registration table as a marketing strategy for the B&B. Bessie suggests that she might enjoy scrubbing toilets or making beds more, but before she can finish her thought, she glances over at Pacey, who's raising the IHOF flag on the True Love, and says, "That's the last name I expected to see on Pacey's boat." Joey turns and gazes at the flag with wonder and relief. Bessie continues, "That's a good sign. Are they talking again?" "Hopefully!" Joey grins. Bessie asks Joey whether she's managed to "mend any fences yet." Joey tells Bessie about her conversation with Dawson at the wall, and says that it doesn't feel right to her to restore her friendship with Dawson while he and Pacey still aren't speaking. Bessie tells Joey to leave the reconciliation of Dawson and Pacey to themselves: "They're big boys. They'll work it out. Besides, you saw the banner. Maybe they already have." Joey looks at the flag again, looking like she wants to be convinced.
At Grams's house, Jack, Andie, and Jen all assemble floral wreaths for the regatta winners. Jack, getting frustrated, snorts, "You know, it's moments like these I'm convinced I'm straight." Grams teases him about creating "a jubilant public display" and tucks a flower behind his ear (aw!) but then Andie ruins the touching moment by crowing, "Ohhhhh! Looks like we're not the only ones creating a public display!" Jen follows her gaze out the window, where Henry is, once again, standing on the damn lawn with his damn sign. Girls (and boys): It's called stalking, and it's not cute and romantic; it's a crime. Jen says, "Could this possibly be more embarrassing? How long can he last?" but she's smiling, and is flattered by the attention, which is just about the best way to encourage a stalker. Jack asks how long Henry's been at it, and Jen tells him it's been a week, and that yesterday he stood outside the window for an hour. "In the rain," Grams adds, looking amused. Jack asks what Henry did to merit his getting the boot in the first place, and Jen says that she'd defended Henry to Grams as being more than a typical teenage boy with a one-track mind. Andie asks, "And...?" Jen snorts, "Typical teenage boy. One-track mind." Grams says, "I don't know what you expect. All healthy, normal boys want the same thing," and that "to err is human -- to forgive, divine. Hasn't he paid enough penance?" Jen considers. Wing Chun pulls up Amazon and orders Jen a copy of The Gift of Fear.
As he and Andie carry Grams's wreaths along the pier, Jack asks, "Dawson, how do you remember our dad has a boat? I don't even remember our dad has a boat." Rubbing his hands together, Dawson asks, "The question is, is he using it this weekend?" Andie wryly says that Angry only takes it out twice a year -- "Memorial Day and Labor Day" -- so he probably isn't using it this weekend. That being so, Dawson asks whether he could borrow the boat. Has Dawson ever met Angry McPhee? Where does he get the gall even to form the idea of using his boat? Jack laughs in his face and says Dawson can't. Dawson ACTUALLY ASKS, "Why not?" Jack says, "Because pieces of the last boat that you borrowed are still floating around the creek, that's why!" Such a good point. Dawson tries turning on the non-charm, but since he's squinting straight into the sun and his face is all pinched, he looks more constipated than sincere: "Look, I really need a sailboat, okay? I've entered the regatta." Wouldn't the person who accepted his registration ask him -- I don't know, the license number of his boat, or at least ITS NAME? And shouldn't you have thought of that before you entered? GOD. Jack asks, "Whoa, isn't Pacey racing?" Dawson says he is, and Jack asks, "Well, don't you think pistols at dawn would be a more suitable -- not to mention romantic -- way to settle this thing?" Dawson looks down, which is unfortunate, because it draws the viewer's attention to the poor old stringy, bleached-out hunks of hair jutting out from the crown of his head like albino straw. Andie pipes up (trying to sound more supportive to Dawson than bitter at Pacey, and failing), "What is the problem with Dawson seizing the day? Pacey most certainly did." Dawson claims that it's not about Pacey, but Joey: "Look, I've spent the last two months lying on my bed staring at empty walls. It's no wonder Joey got away from me." Actually, she tried to get back together with you in the fall, and you rejected her, and that is how Joey got away from you. Dawson continues, "This is my chance to actually show her how much I care. You've got to help me." By entering an overblown pissing contest against the guy she actually does like? It's more likely to "actually show her" what a self-involved ass you are, and that, she already knows. Jack says, "It's not right." Andie snaps, "No, Jack, you know what? I'll tell you what's not right: Watching the person you love throw everything away so they can be with someone else." Yeah. And that's what you did when you screwed around on Pacey when you were still dating -- not what he did months and months after he dumped your ass. But she's not done: "Listening to [the person you love] lie to your face day after day. That's not right." Again, that was all you. Finally she says: "So if you're not going to help Dawson, I will." Jack all but throws up his hands and relents.
Dawson moves through the maze of craft vendors and stops beside the registration table to gaze for a moment as Joey -- looking very pretty in a yellow peasant blouse and a ponytail -- serves pancakes. He walks up and she turns and chirps, "Hey!" in a genuinely friendly tone. WHY? She offers him a pancake and he takes it, thanking her. Meaningfully, she says, "Thank you, Dawson." Beaming, he replies, "You heard already." She says, "Well, I have to admit, I mean, I had my doubts as to whether or not things would get better, but when I saw your restaurant's banner on Pacey's boat, I just felt this huge sense of relief." Dawson's face darkens at the mention of Pacey's name, and he chokes, "That's what you're thanking me for?" Joey, not knowing what else there is for which she should thank him, says, "Yeah...?" Evidently thinking the news is going to make her drop her pants right there on the dock, Dawson says, "I thought Bessie might have told you already....I'm entering the boat race." Joey asks who his sponsor is, and he says, "You are....I'm being sponsored by the Potter B&B." Joey laughs a little incredulously and says, "We can't afford the entry fee," and Dawson says it's taken care of. He hands her a slip of paper (evidently showing that the Flash has paid the fee) and takes a bite of pancakes. Joey furrows her brow and Dawson, trying for nonchalance, says, "Your sister was pretty psyched about the idea," and Joey says, "I'm sure she was." Dawson explains (because we all know how slow Joey is), "A victory -- however slim my chances might be -- would guarantee the B&B the cover of the tourist brochure. You guys would be booked the whole season." Joey screws up her courage and blurts, "I really don't think this is such a good idea." Looking for all the world like a WASPy college date rapist, Dawson lies, "It's not what you think, all right? All I want to do is help. If I needed help, you'd be there for me, right?" Joey shakes her head slightly and says, "Dawson --" "Of course you would," he concludes for her, adding, "so sign me up and wish me luck." He hands her back the plate and takes off before she can punch him out.