Dawson's Creek - 109 - Road Trip

Original air date: March 17, 1998

We are nine episodes into this season and I am getting more and more confident that every episode will begin in Dawson's room. I am not disappointed here and all I can think is that with three episodes left this season, they had better not disappoint me.

Or I'll mope like Dawson

Dawson is moping in his room while Joey complains that he's moping. It's apparently been two days since Jen dumped him and Dawson hasn't eaten and he constantly stares at Jen's house. Or maybe he leers at Jen's house. What did I tell you about that spelling of the name? Creepy.

Maybe she dumped you because you collect
creepy alien dolls? Seriously, fuck E.T.

Dawson whines that since she rejected him, she rejected romance, honesty and respect. Oh, did she, Dawson? Really? Because from what I remember, she dumped you because you were being a possessive jerk and she needed some time to herself. No boyfriends. Oh and also, respect? Don't make me laugh Dawson, you basically called her a slut on numerous occasions. In fact, you insinuated her sluttyness on the day she broke up with you, so you are not a champion of all things respectful, is what I'm saying.

She also rejected judgement, shaming,
and my goofy hairdo.

Anyway, Joey suggests they watch a movie because the conversation is getting too disturbing and I agree with her. It becomes more disturbing when we find out what tape is in the VCR:

See? What did I tell you guys? Wank material.

After the theme song finishes, we cut to Billy pulling a B&E in Jen's room. He waits on her bed for her when Grams walks in. I've got to hand it to Grams, if I turned around and saw some strange guy in my or my family's bed, I would straight up scream and run away. But not Grams.

Bitch, please. I've dealt with worse than you.

She's cool as a cucumber. I don't understand why she needs a serious talk with Jen though because when Jen comes in she is genuinely surprised he is there. Grams leaves them to talk warning Jen to get him out of the house or she will call the National Guard.

Jen asks Billy what he's doing there and he claims that he heard that she dumped Dawson and so he thought she would be looking for a replacement. Except she dumped you too, Billy. Or do you not remember? You know, you were packing up and congratulated Dawson on getting the girl or whatever. Who the hell did you hear it from anyway? The only person you know in Capeside is Jen. Whatever. Jen clarifies to him that just because she and Dawson broke up, does not mean she is looking for a new boyfriend.

Didn't I already dump you?

Dawson is on his way to school when he bumps into Billy. Billy starts talking about how they have common ground with them both having lost Jen and for some reason, Dawson listens. Billy then convinces Dawson to go to Providence with him so that they can pick up college girls at a bar where he knows the bouncer. Dawson agrees, because he hopes that it will make Jen wonder about him for a change.

Dawson the oblivious and gullible

Some high school jock named Warren pulls up next to Joey and tries to offer her a ride. Joey reacts with snark but eventually relents and accepts the offer. It takes about two seconds for the jock to be all creepy and ask her if she's cold or just happy to see him.

Hey, it's Jesse! Xander and Willow's
forgotten best friend.

Dawson walks into school and tells Pacey what he's up to. Pacey is very excited and says he's going to go too. Billy is OK with this and Dawson goes to hand in his math homework before they leave.

Way to hand in your math homework before
cutting class.

Jen and Joey are actually walking out from class together when they bump into Billy the kid. Billy tells them that he's taking Dawson and Pacey to a club he knows because Dawson was complaining about not getting any in Capeside. Joey asks him what kind of place he's talking about and Billy alludes to the fact that they are going to a whore house. He then pulls Pacey away with him as they go get Dawson. Pacey asks if they are really going to a whore house but Billy says he was joking.

Pacey's face when Billy says they are going
to a whore house is adorable.

Jen and Joey are aghast at their beloved Dawson daring to go to a whore house. Jen then tells Joey that she heard something about her that morning and asks if she slept with Warren. Joey answers with snark instead of just saying no and then asks why Jen would ask that. Jen says that Warren is telling everyone they did. Damn, that guy works fast. One ride together equals sex?

But, what about Dawson going to a whore house?

Joey confronts Warren in the lunch room. He tells her that this lie could help both of their reputations and Joey questions how exactly it would help hers. I have to agree, in what world does having sex equal a good reputation for girls? In my experience, in this sad world we live in, girls who have sex are automatically labelled sluts and ridiculed or seen as "easy". In other words, your logic does not resemble our, admittedly sad and outdated, Earth logic. Joey goes to walk away but Warren yells out that he never said he'd be her boyfriend and the whole cafeteria starts snickering at Joey. It's OK, Joey, Warren is eventually going to get captured and turned into a vampire and then staked by his best friend accidentally.

I might be getting my shows mixed up again...

Jen approaches Joey in the hallway and tries to comfort her by saying she didn't believe the rumour. Joey retorts that if she didn't believe it, she wouldn't have had to ask. Sort of true but I would still want to confirm it just in case it was true. It's better to hear it from the person that just assume, is all I'm saying. Jen tells Joey that she may have a way to get back at Warren. Yay, Jen and Joey bonding time.

Dawson and Pacey are on the ferry to Providence and Pacey is hammering home Dawson's "nice guy" image by saying that he doesn't need an "angel on his shoulder" because he has Dawson. Dawson tries to claim that being the angel doesn't work for him anymore. They bicker some more when Billy comes back saying that he doesn't like the look of two guys, who he's dubbed the "Deliverance Twins" on the boat. He points out that they are harassing everyone and Pacey asks if they should give them some instant karma. Billy suggests slashing their tires but Dawson claims that is unimaginative. He then proves his super imaginative and bad boy self by asking if they've seen American Graffiti. Yeah, you're super imaginative for doing exactly what you saw in a movie, Dawson.

Yeah, you guys should be more like Dawson and
copy things from other, better movies.

Joey is copying when Abby walks by and sees her. Yay! Abby returns. God I missed her. Anyway, she makes a comment about Joey and Warren and Joey promptly pretends to cry. Joey makes up some story about how Warren said they didn't need protection and that the pregnancy is her problem, not his. Abby gets super concerned and offended on Joey's behalf which, actually shows Abby to be pretty decent in my opinion. I mean, sure she was going into the copy room to ridicule Joey for having slept with Warren but the minute she found out that Joey was pregnant, she was all concern. I don't know, she just seems not that "evil" to me. She's just a bored girl who loves gossip.

Best side character on the show.

Side note here, I never understood how this was payback. Not then and not now because again, in this sad world we live in, I rarely saw the guys get any flack over getting a girl pregnant. Most of the stigma went towards the girl so Joey was inviting more scorn onto herself but this is fiction land and apparently teens are very concerned for the girls who get knocked up and very against the guys who try to deny they did the knocking because her plan works and Warren immediately has baby stuff put in his locker.

Who put all of that in there? The locker fairies?

Dawson hooks up the Deliverance Twins' bumper to the back of the ferry. When they are cleared to go, Pacey moons the guys as Billy hits the gas and speeds away, when the "Deliverance Twins" follow, their back end is ripped to shreds, courtesy of Dawson Leery. Now everyone will be leery of Dawson being near their cars.

I'm King of the World!

Once they are at the bar, Billy starts pressuring Dawson about locking down some babes already. Dawson can't fathom picking them out that fast but Pacey already has some locked down while playing pool because he's a BAMF.

Scoping the ladies while playing pool. What a player!

Meanwhile, Joey is confronted by the librarian, Mrs. Tringle from the detention episode. Hey, fun fact: Did you know that Katie Holmes starred in a movie called Teaching Mrs. Tingle? It popped into my head the moment she said the librarian's name and I thought it was a funny coincidence. Back on track, Mrs. Tringle wants to get Joey to join a family studies class to help her prepare for what's ahead. Joey replies with, what else? Snark and scorn. Ehhh, I'd watch out if I were you, Mrs. Tringle. This is what happened to the last teacher that crossed Joey:

Oh look, the side note paid off already.

Billy pressures Dawson to follow Pacey's lead and try and pick a girl up. Dawson goes over to a girl who is wearing a film threat shirt, hoping for ease of conversation through common ground, I guess. She doesn't react well to his "Hi, my, my name Dawson" line though. Shocking:

The sarcastic force is strong in this one

Pacey attempts to chat up a different girl and strikes out. It's too bad because "I'm the drummer from Pearl Jam" would have totally worked on me...if Joshua Jackson said it.

Pretty funny response though.

Dawson somehow wins the girl over with his ramblings and she offers him up a name, Nina. Pacey points Dawson out to Billy and comments on how the woman looks fine. Billy looks disappointed, so he's clearly up to something.

Nyah, my evil plan is failing. *twirl*

Next, Joey goes over to Jen's place and tells her that she wants to call off their...prank? I don't know what to call it and neither do they as Joey refers to it as a thing. I don't get what they were hoping to accomplish with this. People would have found out eventually that she wasn't pregnant and then Joey would be that crazy ass chick who lies about pregnancies to desperately win back the guy who slept with her. How would that be on her reputation? She'd be labelled a desperate loser who tries to ruin people's reputations and Warren would be back on top and sympathised with. This thing was never going to end well for Joey, why did they do this?

It's almost as incomprehensible as trying
to outrun the wind. Right Marky Mark?

Jen says that Warren deserves what he got because he didn't treat Joey with respect and she understands how that feels. Joey then lashes out at her claiming that Jen was just using her to get back at all the men who wronged her. That's not really fair, possibly true but come on, the dude was an asshat and he did deserve some retaliation, just not the retaliation you went with. Not because it was too mean but because it was dumb and really wouldn't work. She then starts accusing Jen of a bunch of stupid shit like this:

That's not even the worst part. She also tells Jen that Dawson was probably the only nice guy she ever dated but she fucked it up and drove Dawson into the arms of a prostitute.

Girl, you trippin'

What the hell, Joey? Why do you keep trying to make Jen the bad guy just because Dawson picked her over you to date? That's so not cool. Also, Jen was the only one willing to help you out with the whole Warren situation, your other friends were AWOL and everyone else in the school believed Warren. Her idea was stupid but at least she tried to be on your side. A part of me is really sad because it seemed like Jen really only had boyfriends and was craving a female friend and that she hoped if Dawson wasn't between them, they could be friends. Well, Joey shit all over that.

Shut up, Joey.

Jen puts Joey in her place though by saying that ever since she and Dawson broke up, Joey has been scared to death because now there are no more excuses and no one to blame but herself when Dawson treats her like "just one of the guys".

Go, Jen!

Dawson is talking to Nina about movies and someone finally calls him out for pretending to be into movies and yet his favourite director is Spielberg. No offence to Spielberg, his movies are fun but, with the exception of a few, they are nothing all that meaningful or deep like Dawson keeps pretending they are.

OK, so this scene represents the divide
between the social classes...

Thank you random bar girl who we will never see again. Dawson's rebuttal is probably the most overused and annoying come back in movie discussions, "his movies make billions at the box office." Mmm hmm, because the amount of money a movie makes is an accurate gauge of quality or a director's ability.

Just saying.

Nina calls him out on this too and I wonder if we're supposed to buy this as Dawson being super innocent and optimistic about film or just blatantly incompetent. Judging by the movies he will make through out this series, I'm going to go with incompetent.

Billy walks over to them and tries to pick up Nina, I guess to prove that he is better than Dawson. However, his charms don't work on secure, college girls and Nina asks Dawson if he wants to get out of the bar and away from Billy. Dawson happily agrees.

He and Nina talk as they walk to her car and Dawson let's slip that he just got dumped. Nina is not surprised by this and when Dawson explains the situation, she actually offers to let him come to her place to watch movies to help him impress his friend. Dawson turns her down because he still wants Jen back and doesn't think it would be right.

I'd stick with offended, because if Dawson is the guy that
restores women's faith in men, we're all doomed.

Back in Capeside Jen is approached by Abby who informs Jen that Joey is a desperate sophomore who made up a story about being pregnant in order to land a popular boyfriend. You see? I told you all that would happen!

I told you so, I told you so, I I I told you so!

Abby goes on to say that the reason she knows this is that she talked to a girl that used to date Warren who, I think, said that he was impotent or something. That's the only thing I can infer from "he has a soft spot for the ladies in a very unfortunate location." Jen runs over to tell Joey and they laugh about this. But...she's still the one who lied about being pregnant, you guys. Are we going to ignore this? OK then.

Victory? I guess.

I have to say one thing about this scene, while Abby does spread the gossip to Jen by accusing Joey of lying, it seemed from her reactions that she was on to them and quite happy to divulge the information to Jen in order for them to get back at Warren. She's really not that evil or mean, she looked genuinely happy as she watched Jen tell Joey about Warren's impotency. This is yet another reason Abby is awesome.
Back at the club, Dawson goes back in with Pacey and Billy. Billy makes fun of Dawson for still being at the bar and supposedly blowing it with Nina like he did with Jen. Dawson finally calls Billy out on his crap and that he doesn't want to be like Jen's loser ex-boyfriend. Billy then pulls a hissy fit and leaves them to find their way back to Capeside. Hopefully we never see him again.

That would have been the smart thing but
we're talking about Dawson Leery here.

Joey threatens Warren with her new found knowledge and makes him recant his lie about them sleeping together. He then stupidly still asks her out for a date which she rightfully rejects. The guys at Capeside are kind of overwhelmingly piggish, is this to make Dawson seem better by comparison? Like the only true "nice guy" of the school?

Joey then goes over to Jen's house with ice cream as a peace offering. They bond a bit over the cookie dough ice cream and Jen asks if they can keep Dawson from coming between them. Joey says she thinks so because he's only in love with one of them. Jen agrees but then hints that she thinks Dawson is in love with Joey and that she is just the object of his infatuations. They then express how grossed out they are at the idea of Dawson having sex...

So neither of them like him? Nah, I jest. I'd be grossed out if a guy I wanted to sleep with slept with a prostitute first too. Nothing against women of that profession, it's just your chances of catching an STI go way up. I've never gotten one and hope to keep it that way so if a guy I liked had done it, I would have crossed him off my list of suitable mates until he got checked out.

The next day, Dawson walks into his room because his parents didn't bother to check up on him or anything and finds Joey waiting for him. She tries to grill him about his time in Providence and if he's actually had sex but with vague questions to try and feign indifference. Dawson doesn't pick up on this and says there is so much he wants to tell her but that he's just too plum tired to talk at the moment and gets into bed so he can sleep. Joey says she's good with waiting to hear it but you can tell she's itching to know if he got it on with a prostitute. The end.

Wake the fuck up and tell me whether or not
you had sex with a prostitute already!

Will Billy's lie about them going to a whore house be revealed? I'm guessing they'll forget this little exchange even happened. Will Jen and Joey continue their friendship? Probably not. Was this episode a waste? Kind of. It really only served to show what a nice and honourable guy Dawson is and we already knew that. I guess we were supposed to wonder if he would succumb to temptation and be happy when he didn't but I think I would have respected him a lot more if he had gone to Nina's house. It was shown that she wasn't some floozy. They connected over their love of movies, they had something in common which is something he lacks with both Jen and Joey. He's just a kind of boring character who doesn't really take any risks. While most times I'm screaming at a character to not do something so stupid, I find myself screaming at Dawson to actually do something fun for once.

Well, that's it for this recap, next episode is Double Date. Another one of my favourites this season because of a certain pairing being realised in it. Stay tuned.

Dawson's Creek - 108 - Boyfriend

Original air date: March 10, 1998

Hey Internet. Happy New Year and all that junk. I'm finally back after a longer hiatus than I actually wanted but I come bearing more Dawson's Creeky goodness.

So, when we last left off, we ended on Joey almost breaking down and telling Dawson her feelings for him. Everyone else figured out what she was going to say and were super tense and stuff but then the librarian interrupts them. Now in real life, you would continue your conversation as you left the library but this ain't real life, this is the Creek!

We open this episode in....



You guessed it!

Dawson is deciding what to watch when Joey enters and begins complaining about Bessie's baby keeping her up at night. Since, apparently, the detention and the awkward almost confession never happened, Dawson tells Joey to crash with him.

Well, Dawson can't. He's the embodiment of oblivious.

Joey thanks him by commenting on how lame his movie tastes are because he's watching old movies with dorky looking men. Wonderful, now Dawson is all insecure about being the dorky, well meaning guy again instead of the tall dark stranger. Cue theme song!

Oh ho! Some fall out from the Hurricane thingy involving Dawson's parents. No wonder I didn't remember their break up happening so early in the first season. They just shoved it to the background for two episodes to finally bring it up here. Anyway, Mitch and Gail make awkward conversation at the breakfast table. Dawson sees this and bails before his parents can drag him into the awkwardness.

Wait, come back! We have so much more
uncomfortable to give!

Pacey is sitting next to an old dude on a park bench complaining about how dull Capeside is. He then tries to cross the street without looking both ways and almost gets hit by a car.

If you don't look both ways before crossing the street,
you're gonna have a bad time.

The guy who almost hits him backs up and asks for directions to the high school. Pacey obliges by explaining to him about how to get there and then says that he'd be happy to navigate for the guy since he's going to the high school too. Pacey...



If you get in a car with a stranger,
you're gonna have a bad time.

The guy makes a snarky comment about his dangerous driving and speeds off away from Pacey.

Because he's a bad ass, or something.

Joey is trying to get ready for school but is denied access to the bathroom and her dresser. She whines about the baby and her sister tries to make her feel better by saying that things will settle down after the adjustment period...in two to three years.

Joey is not impressed.

We next cut to Dawson helping Joey to study for the Spanish test she couldn't study for the night before because of baby Alexander. Because she can't stand to talk about anything else with Dawson, Joey brings up Jen. She asks if things have been OK with them and Dawson says they have and she says that's good and I'm sitting here thinking, so....no one has brought up Joey's teary almost confession at all? We're just going to pretend that didn't happen? OK then. Joey, continue obsessing over Jen while Dawson acts clueless about your crush.

Yes, like that.

Jen interrupts them and Dawson turns his focus on her which annoys Joey. As they all leave for class, Jen spots the car guy from earlier and tells Dawson she'll catch up with him. Both Dawson and Joey watch as she walks up to the guy who turns out to be Jen's ex.

Billy the *ahem* "kid", in all his glory.

This brings me to one of those nostalgic memories. When I watched this as a teen, I remember thinking that Billy was probably college age because, I mean, look at the guy. However, in this re-watch, with the characters continuously referring to him as "Billy the kid," I realise that they actually intended him to be sixteen at the most and just no. Lets face it, the main four don't pass for 15 either but somehow, this guy is worse.

Shut up, he's totally 16!

Anyway, Jen confronts her ex and from what she says, I gather he is the guy that her dad caught her in flagrante with in his bed so this should cause much drama and feed into Dawson's insecurities as the nice guy versus Billy's "bad boy". Fun. She agrees to go for a ride with Billy to tell him just how much she has changed.

Dawson is not impressed.

Cliff approaches Dawson and asks if he's seen Jen around. He says he wants to invite her to a party he is throwing and for the heck of it, invites Dawson too. He then asks Dawson if Jen has a girlfriend, Dawson says she does and that it's him.

Cliff is not impressed.

Back in the Leary household...actually it has come to my attention that I am spelling their last name wrong. I had always thought it was Leary but according to IMDb, it is actually Leery. I don't know why but that seemed wrong to me, I like my spelling better but there you have it. I guess I'll have to go with Leery from now on. Even though Leery makes it sound like he constantly leers at people which is creepy.

I'll just die a little every time I write it that way.

Anyway, back at the Leery household, Gail is trying to pick a new activity for her and Mitch to try together as per their couples therapist's suggestion but Mitch is not interested. He spits out a catty remark about them trying swinging or couple swapping because that would be more her speed.

Oh snap!

Gail asks him when he's going to stop punishing her and he tells her he'll stop when it stops hurting. Awww, poor Mitch. I find myself having no sympathy for Gail yet, she is a horrible person and to me, only ended her affair and tried to fix her relationship with her husband because she got caught. She was perfectly happy to be all kissy face with her co-anchor until Dawson told her he knew so yeah, no sympathy Gail. Team Mitch!

Don't give me that look, Gail. You were the
one who cheated.

Meanwhile, Billy seems to accept Jen's assertion that she's changed and is dating someone else now but says that he needs to stay the night but has no money. Jen gets the bright idea to dump her ex boyfriend into the lap of her insecure current boyfriend. In what world did she think this was a good idea? Has she not met Dawson? Has she not seen how freaking jealous he gets of other guys, including his best friend, over her? Jen, you're normally awesome but it's when you start to do shit like this that I can't get behind you.

Worst. Girlfriend. Ever!

Dawson agrees because he's a doormat "nice guy". We then get a cliche confrontation between Billy and Dawson where Billy insults Dawson's nerdy room and then reveals his dastardly plan to steal Jen away from him. All he's missing is a moustache that he can twirl, evilly.

Yes, and then I'll tie her to the train tracks.
Mwahahahahahaha! *twirl*

He claims he's joking and then tries to pique Dawson's curiosity about Jen's past in New York, claiming that Dawson probably "doesn't know the half of it."

Dawson runs crying to Joey for advice even though she is usually the one who makes him feel insecure and hey, didn't she kind of start him on the "nice guys finish last" train of thought in this episode too? I'll give her a pass because she didn't seem to be trying to make him feel like shit this episode and she passed out before they had a chance to really get going in the conversation but still...

I got my eyes on you, Joey.

She actually gives him decent advice by telling him that his problem is pretty minor and that it will probably blow over. He feels better and he repays her kindness with slamming the door to her house and waking her little nephew up after she'd just gotten him to sleep. Nice job, Dawson.

Instead of letting things blow over, though, Dawson decides to confront Jen. I kind of have to give him props here because it was nice to see him stand up for himself.

Dawson: He's not exactly here to watch the leaves change colours is he, Jen. No, I didn't think so. I think he's here to get you back. I don't know whether you think I'm super evolved or just plain oblivious to everything.

You go, Dawson. Even though, well you kind of are oblivious to most things vis-à-vis a certain friend who is clearly obsessed with you. Still, good effort. Jen claims that she wants to be with Dawson and that she and Billy are over with but when Dawson asks her if she wants to take Billy back and she has to think about it, he rightfully doubts her assertions. He invites her to Cliff's party and says that he hopes she'll come and that Billy will be gone and leaves her to think about things.

Way to actually be assertive, Dawson.

Pacey is working at the video store when Joey bursts in and demands to rent the English Patient.

I love you, Pacey

Joey explains to him that she needs the movie because it is the only thing that puts the baby to sleep and he relents and gets her the movie. Of course, Joey can't pass up an opportunity to bring up Jen and her ex in a smug and happy way that says that she really hopes that Jen goes back to Billy and gets the fuck out of her life and back to New York. Of course, Pacey sees right through her little charade of innocent gossip and cuts right to the chase.

Pacey: See, the three of us have been friends too long and up until now, I've just kind of stood idly by and watched this all go down. But it's time to lay this on the line, okay? You have some raging hormonal obsession for our friend Dawson and you just can't wait to get your hooks into him butt good, can you? Huh?

Joey: Bite me, Pacey. 

...I love you, Pacey.

Moving on, Gail and Mitch fight over their failed attempt at scuba diving while Dawson overhears them. Mitch gets in a good zinger about the irony of him being bitched at for floating away from her.

Mitch is on fire today.

Next we go to the Icehouse where Bessie barks orders at Joey who struggles to keep up with all the tables. She's poor so she has to work as a waitress, I don't think you get how poor Joey is, guys. To be fair, I kind of wanted to smack Bessie for confusing and rushing her when she's trying to take people's orders. Give her a second to finish the table she is working on, for fuck sake!

Well then don't rush her, Bessie!

Pacey comes in and yet again defies my dislike of Joey and makes me ship them when he asks her to accompany him to Cliff's party. Sure, he's doing it so he won't be going alone and convinces her to go by saying Dawson will be there alone but, come on!

Look at the cuteness of them.

Dawson is getting ready to go to Cliff's party when Mitch walks in to see how he is. Dawson complains about his situation with Jen and Mitch tries to make him feel better and then this happens:

Dawson: Let's face it, dad. We're a couple of nice guys, which stopped being a desirable character trait about half a century ago.

Oh my god no, Dawson. Just no. I could go on and on about the no-ness of this stupid, overdone, generalised complaint that guys use about girls. Because you know what? The supposed "nice guys" that complain that girls only like jerks, are trying to get with super hot girls with daddy issues rather than actual nice girls. Let me just be really clear here, NOT ALL GIRLS DATE JERKS OR DON'T WANT NICE GUYS. There are a few really shallow people who prefer looks over personality. That goes both ways, both guys and girls are guilty of this because I have seen plenty of guys follow around a hot bitch who treats them like shit, like they are her own personal servant/lap dog. I just, really, really, hate this generalisation so fucking much I want to punch things and I hate everything and...

Sorry about that. Nice guy syndrome
is kind of a trigger for me.

Alright, moving on, Jen is walking down the beach with Billy who says he wants to take her back to New York with him. Jen insists she will just come straight back to Capeside as she sees it as her home now. She tells him it's over and that she needs to go to the party to find Dawson. Billy asks for one last kiss for old time's sake. Jen accepts on the condition that it's one kiss and he's gone. He promises and she obliges him with a very brief peck which restores my faith in her a bit because she gave him what he wanted while also making clear that there are no feelings involved. Kudos, Jen.

Peck and push

At the party, Joey looks as sullen as ever as Pacey spots a girl he wants to talk to and asks her how she thinks he looks. Joey responds in her native Snarklish that is common to her people.

I just...how can you not love him?

Dawson then approaches Joey and she's suddenly all smiles while they banter about how much better they are than the jocks and the cheerleaders at the party. Really nice, guys. You know, neither one of them has been bullied or put down upon by any jocks or cheerleaders unless you count Nellie but I don't think she was a cheerleader and she's thankfully dropped off the face of the Earth so really, these two are just being pretentious dicks. Maybe they do belong together.

Dawson proposes they have one drink and then ditch the party in favour of the video store. Since he got dance themed movies for the school dance, what do you want to bet they pick to watch this time? My money is on House Party.

Or would that be too "crazy" for them?

Dawson goes to get them some drinks but then bumps into Jen and forgets all about Joey. In this case, Dawson really is a shitty friend. You don't just go wander off when someone is waiting for you, it's rude. Jen apologises, says she ended things with Billy for good and then they go and talk.

Nice Dawson, just forget about your friend
who is waiting for you. Don't even tell her
where you've gone. Douche.

Joey is approached by a guy who looks even less like he belongs in high school than Billy "the kid" does. She turns him down when he asks if she'd like a drink, saying her friend Dawson is getting her one. He then points out that Dawson is walking away on the beach with "that cute, blond chick." Joey is crushed and takes Old Man Beach Bum's drink.

If you take drinks from strange older men,
you're gonna have a bad time.

Dawson and Jen attempt to mend their relationship but Billy quickly ruins this and let's slip that he and Jen kissed. Dawson is not pleased, especially when Billy mentions that it was more passionate than it actually was. This makes me super pissed because to me, it was a goodbye kiss so this guy just basically came to ruin her current relationship to be a dick. Billy asks Jen to tell him if all the kiss meant was goodbye.

It said goodbye to me but whatever. Continue to
create the drama, Billy. That's what you're here for.

Pacey takes Joey's drink from her and tells her to pace herself. Pacey told her to pace herself, heh heh. Yes, I amuse easily, what of it?

It's a little funny, right? Or am I more drunk than Joey?

Anyway, Pacey tries to help her out but the blond dude comes back and takes her away.

Pacey does not approve. Look at him, it is on!

Billy and Dawson gets into a pissing match with each other over who is the third wheel resulting in Dawson basically calling Jen a slut. Jen then decides that she's the third wheel and leaves.

Pacey follows Joey and Blond Beach Bum and pulls them apart. Joey is clearly completely trashed and tells Pacey to leave. The guy tries to skeeve on Joey again and Pacey pulls him off her. Then this happens:

Awwww, he hurt his hand doing it too.

But who gets the credit for getting Creepy McRaperston off of Joey?

Girl, seriously? I know you're drunk but damn.

Dawson, because Joey is a drunken idiot and can't tell who was being the better friend for her that night. Dawson abandons her, causing her to drink out of anger whereas Pacey made sure to check up on her and when he saw she was drunk, tried to take care of her. Then he protected her from getting into a bad, alcohol-fuelled situation. Yet Dawson is still her hero. I roll my eyes hard at this scene, I tell you.

What the fuck?

Dawson and Pacey sneak Joey home. Pacey tries to keep baby Alexander quiet while Dawson puts Joey to bed. Pacey is freaking adorable because he remembers that the English Patient helps to sooth Alexander and even though he thinks the movie blows, he still knows the basic plot and his improv of it is pretty funny.

I promise, Pacey.

Dawson talks to a passed out Joey and tells her that if she ever needs him, all she has to do is ask. She then wakes up for a second and kisses him.

Millions more teen squees

Back in the Leery household, Mitch comes across Gail putting the scuba diving equipment away. Mitch tells her that he doesn't think the new stuff needs fixing in their relationship, but that the old stuff could use some work. He then puts music on and asks her to dance. Gail leans in to kiss him but Mitch tells her they have to do things one step at a time.

In other words, REJECTED!

As Dawson and Pacey make it back across the creek, Dawson lets it slip that Joey kissed him. Pacey asks what kind of a kiss it was, an "Aunt kiss" or a "kiss, kiss" and Dawson says it was an actual kiss but that it meant nothing and blah, blah, blah still too stupid to figure it out.

EXACTLY!

Pacey spells it out for Dawson that Joey is completely obsessively crushing on him. Dawson brushes this off saying that what Joey and him have together is friendship, not love. Yeah but that doesn't change the fact that your friend just told you that your female friend has a huge crush on you. You think you are friends but he's telling you that she wants more. you can't just ignore that information by white washing it with the "nah, we're just friends" brush. Fuck, Dawson, come into reality!

OK, fine! Stay oblivious for all I care.

Dawson passes by Billy the kid who is finally leaving. Billy says that Jen officially dumped him and Dawson excitedly goes to claim his prize.

Except that Jen is breaking up with him too. She explains to him that she has always been in relationships and that she has never stayed home on a Saturday night. She also says that she needs to live life on her own for a bit which is kind of good and I can respect that. She then says that she'll miss him and that she'll probably end up wanting him back but he'll probably be with someone else and then Dawson unleashes a bitchy tirade on her.

Dawson: Somebody who appreciates me. Somebody who doesn't blow into town with her dysfunctional past and play mind games with the boy next door. Somebody who is capable of a healthy, committed relationship and unfortunately, somebody nothing like you.

Yikes, that was rather harsh considering she broke up with you way more maturely than most fifteen year olds do. Then again, your reaction is also pretty much how a fifteen year old would act so, kudos. Dawson then storms away, leaving Jen alone on the pier.

Look at her, she's holding herself, she's so sad.

Actually, does anyone notice that this season, anytime Jen is upset or by herself, she crosses her arms? Even when she was in Dawson's movie, acting mournful, she did the same thing.

See?

Apparently Michelle Williams used to think that to act upset and vulnerable, you have to hug yourself. Thankfully, she's improved since then as far as I can recall.

Well, that was Boyfriend. After all the build up to get Dawson and Jen together, they are now broken up. I remember my teen self starting to hate Jen at this point, probably just because she actually wanted to stay home and not have a boyfriend and I wanted not to stay home and to have a boyfriend so I thought she was crazy to want to give that up. Understanding her past more, I understand her decision now but I know I'm going to hate her again soon.

So, will Dawson confront Joey about her supposed feelings for him next episode? Will Jen regret her decision? We'll have to wait and see in the next episode Road Trip.