Dawson's Creek - 209 - The Election

Original air date: December 16, 1998

We open this episode in Dawson's room, where Dawson waits impatiently for Jen to finish reading his now finished script. Again, the writers seem to be hitting the character switch for Jen because suddenly she's not falling over drunk but is helping Dawson out with his movie. However, I guess it could be argued that because Dawson "saved" her the previous episode from a drunken devil's threeway, she decided to shape up a bit.

Once she's done reading, he anxiously grills her for her opinion and Jen asks if he wants the "truth, truth or what Dawson wants to hear truth?" Dawson takes this as she hates his script and gets really whiny but Jen tries to calm him down by saying she didn't hate it. I'll just quote what she says about it because it pretty much sums up what I think of Dawson and his movies:

Jen: I didn't hate it. I just thought that it was, I don't know, for the lack of a better word....fluff.

Thank you, Jen. Yes, it is fluff. He thinks he's telling this sweeping, epic love story but really, he's just written your standard teen romance or as Jen put it so eloquently, he wrote fluff.



Dawson then starts to cry


Dawson argues that his script is supposed to be naive because it is about the magic of first love and all that crap. Jen then says that his script is very well written, funny and smart but is lacking relevance to today's society. Dawson looks even more butthurt and then Jen adds the icing to this very wonderful cake:

Jen: You go out of your way to comment on teen life, but say very little about it.

I just love Jen right now

Jen clarifies further that his script is lacking a bit of edge and the raw emotion and anger that comes from being young. Dawson says that he is raw and dark.

Awwww, sure you are, honey

Dawson gets defensive and asks what he has to do to prove he is awesomely dark and raw but misses the point by frustratedly asking if he should bring a gun to school or kill his parents. Seriously. He brought it up mockingly and it wasn't a serious suggestion but I love that his mind immediately goes to those two options when he thinks about being dark and raw.

Jen says that he needs learn to act his age and offers to try and help him do this. A kind of "Teenage 101" as Jen puts it. Dawson does not look thrilled with the idea.



But, then I can't pretend that
I'm better than everyone


Andie runs up to Joey at school the next day and tries to proposition Joey to be her running mate when she goes for class president. Oh, honey, Joey doesn't do anything positive for people. It's ok, you're new but you'll learn. Joey immediately starts whining about how she doesn't do student council and I have to call bullshit on this. Not that I don't believe she doesn't get involved because all evidence points to that, no I'm calling bullshit on her shit attitude regarding school extra-curriculars. Joey, you know how you want to get out of Capeside and be accepted into a good college or university? Yeah, being in the top 3% of your class in your small town is not going to be all that impressive because everyone applying to good universities or colleges have the same grades as you. You are not special because you study. The thing that sets you apart, is how involved you are in your school or community. Extra-curriculars should be a part of your master plan to get out of Capeside but you are too stupid, ignorant and up your own ass to think about that.



Yeah, you're not as smart as you think you are


Andie tries to convince Joey to run with her anyway but Joey only says she'll think about it before pulling a Joey specialty and running off.

Andie runs into Pacey and they are immediately approached by Max Ford and Abby (YAY! She's back!) who hand them a flyer promoting their campaign for student council. Pacey expresses concern over those two ruling the school and I laugh a bit because I never get why shows put so much importance on school council elections and how much power the student president has, when in reality, they do nothing but plan school functions. At least, that's what they did at my school.



Nope, we run the school, principals don't exist


Also, since when do Abby and Max Ford hang out? I thought Max was Jen's friend but now he and Abby are villains? Does Jen's friendship turn other people "evil"?

My god, Jen turns people evil!

Anyway, Andie mentions that she's going to run too and thinks she will win. Pacey questions why she would bother.



See? Andie gets it


Jen runs into Dawson who is acting like a little bitch because Jen dared criticize his masterpeice. Jen ignores his whiny attitude by suggesting that he get some teenaged experience to solve his script issues by skipping class. Dawson scoffs at the idea and acts like a little goody-two-shoes about skipping.

Actually, I feel like calling him a goody-two-shoes is insulting to goody-two-shoes because I was a bit of one, I did show up for tests and I got good grades but my god, even I skipped classes from time to time. Why? Because some days, you just need to. Cutting class is not a thing that was reserved for the "bad kids", pretty much everyone did it at least once so Dawson is like so far beyond goody-two-shoes, it's not even funny. He is an adult and I agree with Jen that he probably writes stiff as fuck teen characters.

Dawson suddenly agrees to skip and tells Jen to go first, he then goes to his class and leaves Jen in the lurch.



You're a fucking dick, Dawson


Mitch is helping Gail fix her sink. She's apologizing for calling him and explains she didn't know who else to call. How about a plumber, Gail? No? I guess we wouldn't have a thinly veiled excuse to have them interact and build up sexual tension until they start making out with each other, otherwise. For the drama! It's actually kind of a sweet scene as they get playful with each other again and then you can see their old feelings rush back to them before they start making out. Unfortunately, Dawson kills the mood by being a creeper. Another instance where the name Leery becomes scarily apt:



Because Dawson is a ruiner...and kinda creepy


Jack and Joey are wasting their time at the IceHouse instead of working by building a tower out of coffee creamers. This place is either so busy, it has Joey running around like a chicken with its head cut off or it's completely empty. How does Bessie afford to pay the both of them to work when no one comes in anymore?

Joey is trying to ask Jack about his family and who he takes after while Jack avoids all questions. Joey gets frustrated but before they can really talk, in walks Abby and Max Ford. Now, it's played off like Abby is being a bitch but I'll admit, when I walk into a restaurant where there are NO fucking customers and I see the wait staff goofing off rather than come and check on their new table, I get a little peeved too. Now, Abby could have asked for the menus more politely but that's just not Abby's style. She complains that the menus are dirty and yeah, that's also disgusting and Joey makes a face at Abby as she wipes the menu off on her shirt and gives it back to Abby. Ummm, gross!



You are so not getting a tip from me, Potter


Jack tries to convince Joey to run for student council with his sister because he doesn't like the thought of Max Ford and Abby "running the school" (even though that's not what student council does). Joey is still on the fence about it and so Jack starts to praise her for being super smart, a born leader and for having a girl-next-door quality and I gag myself with a spoon.

Thankfully, Abby overhears and throws her overly bitchy two cents in about Joey's "girl-next-door" qualities. Look, I know she comes off harsh in this scene and that she's supposed to because she's the "bad girl" but I really couldn't help laughing at what she said to Joey. I just really don't like Joey's character. I thought there was a time I did, maybe it's in the third season that I started to like her character a bit but right now, I just find her to be a self-righteous bitch. So, Abby, I approve of what you say.

Abby: The truth hurts? Well, if you want to embarrass yourself and your entire family even further than nature intended than by all means, throw your amazing girl-next-door quality into the ring. Hey, what's one more disappointment in an already meager depressing existance?



Joey does not handle it well


Abby leaves, all angry and telling Joey she'll rue the day she did this to her, or something and Joey tells Jack that she's in. You ever notice how people have to act like huge twats around Joey so that she can retaliate in over the top ways while everyone else looks on like she is the greatest thing ever? It's a little annoying.

Pacey and Andie are going over their campaign strategies and surprisingly, Pacey has read up on political campaigning. Andie is impressed and they're both turned on but Joey cockblocks Pacey by interrupting them to tell them about Abby and Max's smear campaign against them. Presumably against Joey because she looks the most mopey and upset about it and brought up that this was why she didn't like putting herself in the public eye but Andie refuses to stoop to their level. She tells them that the best revenge they can get would be to win and she wants to win honourably.



Yay, Andie!


Meanwhile, Jen is still trying to convince Dawson to be more like a kid and less like an adult by shoplifting. Because apparently every kid does it and it gives you a rush. Ok, I've done it but I felt super guilty afterwards...but I was also too cowardly to return what I took. But enough of me and my past indescretions, Jen wants Dawson to steal lipstick for her. He refuses but she tells him not to overanalyse and they walk out the door.

Jen is super pumped that he did it and Dawson says he feels a natural high but when Jen asks for the lipstick, Dawson refuses to hand it over. Jen has a brief moment where she considers whether or not he's a crossdresser (not really but it's what I imagine she thought in that split second) before she realizes that he did not steal the lipstick. He pussied out. Again.

Dawson stands up for his middle-aged perspective on life and says he's happy with it. Jen points out that he's going to have a tough time reaching a teen audience if he can't see things from their perspective.

Jen: Your hyper-awareness is disarming. You've got to start responding like an adolescent and stop hiding behind that psychology degree that you don't have.

Jen is so spot on, this episode. Of course, she could be talking about the entire cast with that psychology degree stuff but still, she's awesome.

We next cut to the critical student council elections where the kids make promises that the principal and the school trustees would laugh at. "Students that have a 3.5 GPA or higher should have only half a day of classes on Fridays" Ahahahahahaha! Yeah, I'm sure the school board will go for that. The only thing I could see being viable for a student council president to promise is being allowed walkmans in study hall but they would still have to petition the school board on that issue and it would ultimately fall to them and/or the principal to decide if they agree to allow it.

Anyway, it eventually gets ugly with Abby bringing up Joey's convict father. When Andie tries to defend Joey by saying that that isn't a relevant issue, Abby then announces to the whole school that Andie's mother is a few bricks short of a load. Abby goes way out of line and I'm surprised a teacher hasn't stopped her already for the things she says because there is no way to defend it. Abby is a horrible bitch in this scene and it makes me sad:

Abby: Uh, whatever. We have hard evidence that Andie's mother was responsible for the death of her older brother in a car crash less than a year ago. The fact of the matter is Mommy McPhee is a wacked out nut and we all know that mental illness is hereditary, so you do the math.

Abby, why have you foresaken me? A teacher does finally tell her to stop but the damage has been done.



Oh god...my feels!


Joey rushes after Jack and tries to apologize to him about grilling him about his family earlier. Jack is pissed and doesn't want her sympathy, he just wants to find his sister. He tells Joey off and I cheered.

Pacey finds Andie hiding in the girl's bathroom. He makes sure to announce he is entering and that there is no one else in there before entering, because Pacey is awesome. He tries to cheer her up and offer support but it's becoming increasingly clear that Andie is breaking down. She babbles about her brother and about how politics used to mean something and laments not having a normal life or a normal family. Pacey tries to tell her that it will all blow over but Andie is not listening, she hurls Pacey's politics book at a bathroom mirror and storms off.



This is our first clue that all is not right with Andie


Dawson, ever oblivious to all the drama going on around him and to all his friends, is at his father's apartment and is creepily trying to talk to his dad about making out with his mom. Like, I get that you might be excited that your parents might be getting back together but to hear your son so gleefully talking about how you got some but don't worry, he just saw the previews?



I'm as creeped out as you are, Mitch


Dawson goes on about how happy he is that they are going to reunite and Mitch is forced to make it clear that there will be no reunion and that it was just a slip back into what was safe and comfortable.



Dawson is not happy


Dawson runs to Jen and tells her that he is ready to be completely spontaneous and reckless now and asks her to be his sponsor. Jen is delighted by this and agrees.

Andie is back at home but still looks pretty shaken up. Jack comes in and tells her that he is worried about how much her moods have been fluctuating lately. He then drops the big final bombshell by suggesting Andie go back on her medication. Andie insists that she's fine but she obviously looks far from it.



I want to give her a hug


Dawson and Jen are running through the woods and laughing. They have just toilet papered a teacher's house and Dawson proudly proclaims that he's reached a rebellious 13 in his teen conditioning. Jen agrees and suggests they do something else and Dawson says he's up for anything. Jen then tells him to drop his pants because they are going skinnydipping.

They play around in the water and then Jen asks him if he's ever dreamed about her. Dawson doesn't get what she's asking and says he's dreamed about almost everyone in his life. Jen clarifies that she was talking about a wet dream which makes Dawson ask her if she had one about him, she hints that she possibly did and they start to kiss. Remarkably, Jen tells him that they can't go further because she just wants to be friends. I guess she gave up on that whole, getting him back thing, huh?



Ah well, at least they are having fun



The final speeches are being made for the student council elections over the intercom system at school. Abby once again is overly bitchy in this scene and shakes Andie up again so that she runs off instead of giving her speech.

Pacey then tricks Abby into revealing her "nefarious plan" to the whole school as he flips the mic on without her noticing and gets her to spill. Why does she spill? Who knows? Capeside logic dictates that those who are bitchy, get their comeuppance...except for Joey because everyone loves her.



I don't see why Andie or Max wouldn't
still be in the running but ok.
Let's say the geek boy wins it.


Back at the Leery household, Dawson returns to find his mother furiously cleaning. She's also been baking a lot because she offers him cookies and cake as a snack. Dawson asks if she's ok and Gail says that Mitch has served her with divorce papers. Wow, Mitch, you're going to serve her right after you sleep with her?

Stone cold

Jack catches up with Joey and apologizes for shutting her out. He explains that he feels like he can't open up because he needs to protect his family. His sister and mother depend on him and he has to be the rock that holds the family together and...hang on. Wasn't this exactly what Andie said to Pacey when we first found out her mother was a bit nutso? Now all of the sudden, she was never the rock but crazy also and needed Jack? Just for funsies, I'm going to post Andie's quote regarding her family situation next to Jack's so that you can be as confused as me:

From Full Moon Rising:

Andie: So it's basically just me. I mean, Jack helps, you know, some. But he kind of lives in this fantasy world where if you don't think about it, then it just didn't happen. I mean, she's not always like this. I mean, sometimes she's fine. But you just never know, and I'm the only one who can handle her, and sometimes that just gets really hard.

From The Election:

Jack: Joey, um, I can't allow myself the luxury of opening up. I mean, with my brother gone and my father missing in action. My mother and my sister they depend on me, you know? To be the rock. And I don't know. Sometimes I feel like...I can't even explain it. It's like my whole life is one big secret.

So basically, Andie has now become her mother and Jack has become Andie. I'm not even kidding, I'm pretty certain the mom is written out at some point and Andie is the one dealing with the mysterious "crazies" that is never quite identified. My best guess is that Andie is bi-polar, unless I missed the actual explanation of what she has. And Jack is the one to take care of her. Whatever, show, whatever.

Joey comforts Jack and says that she'll be there for him, and they don't even have to talk about anything. It's kind of sweet, even though she mentions it's something Dawson did for her when her mother died but at least she had the good sense to replace "Dawson" with "this friend who was amazing."



So yeah, this friend who was amazing
and totally not Dawson...


Andie is talking to Pacey on the phone. She is also getting mysterious pills from the medicine cabinet as she tells Pacey that she will be back to her old self tomorrow. She then takes her crazy pills.



These are the magic pills that will make
me automatically sane tomorrow!


Dawson has gone to Jen's house for support. I think this is a big step, he doesn't run to Joey, he finally runs to Jen. Too bad he couldn't do this when they were dating. Jen proves how awesome she is by letting him react the way he wants to react to the news of his parents' divorce and then just being there for him.



Jen is back to her sane self


Well, that was The Election. They seem to have dropped Jen being the party animal angle, which I guess was sort of explained last episode where she stayed over at Dawson's father's apartment but I still would have liked to see something definite and concrete. Like, Jen telling Max Ford off and saying that it's not a good idea to hang out together anymore. I also would have liked some explanation as to why Max and Abby are somehow friends now but it seems like the writers wanted to make them partners in crime and turn Jen "good" again.

So, will Jen stay sober and level-headed or will she be back to her drunken ways in the next episode, High Risk Behaviour? You may place your bets now.

Dawson's Creek - 208 - The Reluctant Hero

Original air date: November 25, 1998

I'd like to start off by apologising for how long it's taken to get this one out. I've had it written up for a while but needed to put pictures up and my life just became a shit storm the past few months which prevented me from doing so. Since things have hopefully quieted down in my life, I hope to get back to recapping regularly. With that out of the way, onto the episode recap!

We open once again in Dawson's room to find him watching a movie with Pacey this time. Pacey is shown to be a poor Joey substitute because he keeps asking for food during the movie but I actually think he's not a bad replacement. Pacey spends most of the time equating Dawson to Jimmy Stewart and saying that he is too nice and is a dying breed.

Come on, he's just trying to fill the Joey
void for you, Dawson

This argument that the show brings up serves to only piss me off. People do want nice people, they just want nice people with a personality and interests other than being nice. Being nice is a desirable quality, being boring is not. Mystery solved, guys.

Anyway, Pacey then turns his insulting eye on himself, calling himself a "needless waste" but insists he is happy with his status as a below average achiever. Well, this is a downer opener. Let's hope it picks up soon.

Jen enters, completely drunk off her ass, through Dawson's window. She mentions that her purse is in the hedge and that it's bright in Dawson's room before passing out on his bed. This is apparently not the first time this week and I'm a bit taken aback by this scenario.

Even Future Marty is confused

OK, what happened to Grams' talk with her where she told her that she wanted her to respect herself? It looked like Jen took that talk seriously. On top of that, she got burned by Max Ford last week but still didn't seem like she was getting drunk off her ass. My point is, this is added for the shock value and the drama, I really didn't see anything leading up to this and a really simple cue could have been given last episode that wouldn't have made this scene feel out of place for me. After Jen realises she's been used by the guy, they could have shown a brief shot of her downing some type of alcohol, just to hint to the viewer that she's going to get worse and not better. It would have been so simple but instead we go from slightly damaged/grieving but still somewhat level-headed Jen to balls out staggering drunk Jen in one episode. Writers, there is a way to create drama without just throwing crap at viewers to try and shock them. You can tell a cohesive story that is still full of drama and the viewers will still watch.

Fine. Just keep flipping character switches

The next morning, Dawson runs into his father who says he is getting more of his things to move out. This obviously upsets Dawson because he had a glimmer of hope that his dad was maybe moving back in, seeing him in the kitchen. Mitch asks Dawson if he wants to help him move out of their house after he's done school as a "friends thing."

Really, Mitch? Dawson is not your friend, he's your son and he is still trying to cope with you moving out and breaking things off with his mother. No, he does not want to help you leave, thus cementing the destruction of his own family and no, he does not want you to be a friend. Dawson does agree to help him but he asks that Mitch "skip the friend thing" since he already has real friends.

Burn!

Mitch then gives Dawson a letter that he'd accidentally taken. Whatever is in the letter completely thrills Dawson.

And this isn't even the best Dawson
reaction shot I got this episode

Meanwhile, Pacey is in his counsellor's office. His counsellor is going through a list of what makes Pacey such a failure which confirms what Pacey said about himself in the intro. He apparently even failed a career aptitude test which...neither I nor the counsellor thought was possible. Pacey asks what his options are and the counsellor says he'll have to do summer school, possibly repeat his sophomore year and if he manages to graduate, he'll probably end up on welfare.

See where your mission to have
no goals has gotten you?

Dawson runs down the school hallway to Joey to tell her the good news he got from the mystery letter. It turns out that Dawson's shitty creature feature won in the youth category of the Boston Film Festival. This is part of what the letter said:

"The clever send up of the horror genre shows a profound understanding of the traditional Hollywood fascinations and turns them upside down in an entirely refreshing and entertaining way.."

Ehhhhhh......what? How was his movie a "send up of the horror genre"? It seemed like a pretty standard creature feature to me. I know he added in the love angle but that's not in any way new and neither was his idea to kill off the supposed main character halfway through a movie. And seriously, "what the fuck?" to the "profound understanding of Hollywood fascinations", just what the fuck? He deeply understands what Hollywood is fascinated with? They are fascinated with standard creature features now? Because that genre has been pretty dead in the water for a while. I don't know, I'm probably just being nit-picky because I don't really like Dawson and I don't think he's as great of a film director as this show keeps telling us he is. But whatever, Dawson is super awesomely talented at film making.

Hooray!

Dawson says he's been given a grant to make another movie...what have you done, Boston Film Festival!? And he asks Joey to produce with him again. I laugh at this because the first thing I think about when I hear the word "producer" is the person who funds the project, and I'm just picturing Joey having to give up her measly waitress tips to fund rich boy Dawson's dreams as she cries into her apron.

Pictured: Dawson licking Joey's tears

Joey declines because she doesn't have time and crushes Dawson's good mood again. He sulks away from her.

He's a sad panda again

Jack approaches Joey the second Dawson leaves, which makes me think he was watching their whole exchange and just waiting for his chance to jump in, and he tries to apologise for the kiss again. Joey pretends like she never pulled a temper tantrum with him or gave him the silent treatment, but she totally did, and admits that he was right the night of the dance; that she was more mad at herself than with him. Jack looks super pumped that she's not mad at him.

Awesome! Now to make my move

Cut to Dawson typing on his laptop, he's presumably working on his new "masterpiece" *cough* but really it will just be a disappointing retelling of the events of season 1 and the beginning of season 2. Jen walks up and he tells her he is working on a script and she genuinely looks happy for him and seems glad that he's working on movies again, since he was so passionate about them when she first met him and he's done nothing this season but obsess over Joey. He tells her about winning his category in the film festival and she congratulates him and they joke about her being an actress in an award winning movie.

Jen is still one of the most decent
people on this show

Max Ford passes them by and Jen seems excited to see him. It is stated that he is the one Jen was getting drunk with the night before. So...what happened to the one night stand thing last week? I guess it wasn't explicitly stated that it was a one night stand but it was heavily implied that Max Ford was done with her and she seemed regretful about sleeping with him. Now they are best buddies and getting drunk together? OK, this is Capeside reset logic at work.

Max Ford invites Jen to a party which concerns Dawson. He asks her what is up with them hanging out, so I guess Dawson is as confused as the viewers. She says they are just hanging out and then invites Dawson to the party. Dawson makes a comment about having to choose between script writing and career advancement with getting drunk which causes Jen to get defensive. She claims she is not out of control and is just having fun.

She can see your judgement all over you

Andie and Pacey are talking about his meeting with his guidance counsellor and how Pacey thinks that a weight has been lifted because he has achieved full, documented slacker status. Andie is not pleased and tries to convince him to better himself. He says he doesn't know how and that he's not a hero, he's a joke.

God, I love her

She then encourages him to take the reigns and change his fate because "heroes are made, not born." Pacey seems to like this idea and at least thinks about what she said.

Jack tries to impress Joey by making jokes about cafeteria food, she laughs so success, I guess. He then asks her what she's up to and Clever!Joey retorts back with a sarcastic diatribe about her usual high society plans because, get it? She's actually poor. I guess she didn't learn the lesson Pacey did about their family losing their fortune, because I would hope she wouldn't mock the rich lifestyle just to rub it in his face. Jack is charmed by her outrageous wit and asks her to dinner and tries his hand at being "clever" by saying that it wouldn't be a date, it would be a dat. What's a dat, you ask? Well Jack helpfully explains that "you take the "e" out of the date and you have a dat." That explains...nothing. How is this clever or cute or charming? I have no clue but they banter about dats and finally agree to go on one.

Success!

Jack then joins Andie and Pacey at their table and starts bragging about having a date with Joey. Hey, hey, hey, Jack. She agreed to a dat not a date. Don't speed things up before she's ready. Andie congratulates her brother on scoring the girl of his dreams while Pacey looks like this:

Wait, she agreed to go out with Dawson and
you and yet rejects me? Fuck this shit.

Nah, Pacey says he's OK with it but wants to be left out of it. Jack then worries about it being his night to watch their mother and Andie is completely fine with watching her because she has to study. You know, am I just dreaming or the first episode that it was discovered that their mother was a bit crazy, didn't Andie say that she mainly cared for her mother because Jack was "in his own world" or something like that? Now they are sharing the responsibility and taking turns? OK, sure. I guess it makes the Jack character less douchey and clueless. Seriously, I didn't like Jack at this point in the series and I still don't.

Later that day, Joey is getting ready for her dat. God, every time I write that, I feel like a sad hipster who is just so over "dates"

Dates? Over it

Anyway, she's getting ready when Dawson comes to the door. Drama will ensue. He's there to give her half of the prize money they won and Joey is actually pretty gracious about it, so props to her on this one. She thanks him and Dawson says he believes in her but then things take a detour into awkward town when he asks her if she's going out. Joey is all awkward but then says that she's just going out with a friend. Unfortunately for her, Jack comes down the walkway as Dawson is leaving.



Busted!



Dawson is now helping Mitch move, as he promised earlier but he is anxious to leave. Mitch tries his best to connect with his son but asks how things with Joey are. Dawson is not pleased and spits back that she dumped him and asks for his father's next question. His father then asks about Jen and Dawson spits back that she's probably "drunk and stuck to a sidewalk somewhere." That's...concerning. But Mitch is too focused on his issues with Dawson to take note of that morbid tidbit of information he was given about his son's friend and tells Dawson that he doesn't have to like his decisions but he has to respect them.

This is the best reaction shot.
Isn't it magical?

Mitch counters that Dawson is only thinking about outcomes and not intentions and then tells him that no one is out to get him. Dawson then tells his father that he's not in the market for another friend or buddy and that he just wants a father. Mitch agrees to respect this but looks hurt. I agree with Dawson, for once. It isn't Mitch's job to be Dawson's buddy, he has to be his parent and give him guidance and Dawson sorely needs that right now.

Dawson runs to Jen's house and asks if her invitation to take him to a party is still open. She agrees to take him to the party on the condition that he doesn't "bitch or moan" about her partying and that he keeps an open mind and doesn't judge.



It's a tall order for him, though



Jen makes it clear that she's no longer interested in him because he's in complete rebound-ville and says that it is not a date. Dawson agrees and they make plans to meet up for the party.

Dawson immediately fails to live up to Jen's request and is already judging the party as the "destruction of young America" the minute he walks in. Jen reminds him to keep an open mind and have fun, then she finds Max Ford and his random friend to dance and drink. Dawson chooses not to go with them and then mopes outside while Jen parties.

I've made a huge mistake

Pacey arrives at Andie's house and is greeted by her mother. She mentions Andie's dead brother again which makes Pacey ask Andie about her mother's condition. Andie claims she's getting better but just "slips" sometimes. Pacey is not entirely convinced.

They go up to Andie's room to study and Pacey is impressed with all of her trophies. Andie plays it off as nothing and proceeds to outline their study plan.

Joey and Jack are on their "dat", sitting by the creek. They are watching heat lightening and Jack explains that he is fascinated by lightening because he almost got hit when he was a kid. Joey makes the mistake of recounting a story about her and Dawson replicating the Ben Franklin kite experiment. Jack is not impressed but he recovers well and jumps on every opportunity to hit on her and make Dawson seem foolish.

Smooth

Dawson has a little encounter with Max Ford regarding Jen to highlight his evil, not pure, un-Dawson like ways. In other words:

Nyaaah! I'm only interested in sex, see? *twirl*

Back at Andie's house, Pacey is being a smart ass about highlighting important passages in his text and Andie needs a break. She doesn't get it because the phone rings immediately after and it turns out that her mother has gone to "Molly's Market" again. Nice job watching your mother, Andie. This is why two teenagers shouldn't be in charge of looking after their mentally ill parents. Man, this storyline is kind of really unrealistic now that I'm re watching it. Wouldn't they have a social worker checking up on them? The father is out of the picture and they are still minors and their mother is in no condition to look after them. It just seems strange that no one is stepping in to help them or make sure they are being looked after. At any rate, Andie promises to get to the market in five minutes and rushes to the market.

At the market, her mother is in her PJ's and chatting to the customers about how her husband takes care of everything. Andie tries to get her mother to come home with her but her mother refuses to leave. Pacey steps in and talks Andie's mother down. He calms her by asking her to help him shop and Andie's mom finally says that she has lunch meat in her fridge. So Pacey asks if she will make him a sandwich and she agrees. They all leave the market peacefully.

Pacey is a hero

At the party, Dawson spots Jen in between Max Ford and Max Ford's friend on a bed. Since this is network TV, they are only kissing and are fully clothed but the implication is that Jen was about to be a part of a Devil's three way.



No eye contact during a devil's three way,
so it was written, so it shall be


Dawson rushes in to save her even though, she didn't seem to want to be saved. I'm on the fence on this issue. On the one hand, if a person doesn't want to be saved, you probably shouldn't save them just because you don't agree/approve of what they are doing. On the other hand, Jen is kind of really drunk and in no way able to give proper consent to this act. Plus Max Ford and friend seem to be pretty in control of what they are doing while Jen looked pretty out of it, I think it's clear the evidence points to them getting her drunk to take advantage of her and that is not cool. That is rape and that is fucking serious. So, I think I'm leaning towards:

Dawson is now a hero? Kind of, maybe except
that Jen seems coherent enough to tell him to
stop what he's doing so maybe she did
want a little double "p" action.

Jen is not grateful or happy that he saved her though because she's still convinced she was having a good time. She then throws up on a white picket fence before telling Dawson that he should accept her for who she is. Dawson tells her that she is hiding from the fact that she is unhappy and she points out that he plays by the rules and is the unhappiest person she knows. Dawson counters that he would take his sadness over hiding from it any day because it is real. He then tries to convince Jen that she's special but she isn't having it. Dawson asserts that she is special and hugs her, he then offers her a place to stay since she can't go home.

I'm still bugged about the lack of Grams in this episode. Like, where did she go? One minute she's chastising Jen about partying and sleeping around and saying that she won't tolerate it and then it's like she's just letting Jen do these things and doesn't notice the fact that she almost never sleeps in her own bed? Weird.

Jack and Joey return from their dat which becomes a date because Jack kisses her. So, how's that needing to be alone so that you can find yourself going, Joey? Pretty fucking crappy from the looks of it.

I hated Jen for doing this to Dawson with Cliff
but it's OK when I do it to Dawson with Jack.
Fuck Dawson's feelings!

Andie finishes putting her mother to bed and then thanks Pacey for what he did for her. She says she's proud of him and Pacey is happy to hear those words directed at him. He then suggests they go back to her bedroom and Andie assumes it's to make out.

You're a sly one, Mr. Witter

Dawson has brought Jen to Mitch's house. Dawson apologises for being hard on his father and Mitch tells him that he can be both his father and his friend. Dawson agrees.

He brings Jen some water and she calls him her hero. Dawson disagrees with "hero" and tells her he's just a friend. That's nice. Dawson's fairly likable in this episode. Jen then asks about his next movie and he tells her it's a romance. Jen requests that his movie not have a happy ending and Dawson says he'll see what happens when he finishes writing it but Jen is adamant.

Over it

We end the episode with Joey climbing through Dawson's window only to not find him in his room. I don't know why, but it makes me happy that he's not there. Probably because she'd just end up being a bitch to him and making him feel worse than he already does about their break up. I mean, she's got balls to go out on a date after breaking up with Dawson claiming she wants to be alone and then expect him to accept her with open arms as a friend again.

Don't let the window hit your ass
on the way out, Joey

And that was the Reluctant Hero. It was an alright episode, I actually liked Dawson in it so that's a plus but I admit one thing kind of irks me. All of the heroes in this episode were male and all of the females were dependent on the males to save them. I wish at least one of the females could have been a hero in this episode but this show tends to paint women as fragile and in need of help or stone cold bitches that stomp on men's hearts. It's a minor nit-pick though, at least for now. We'll see how this series progresses with this issue, if at all.

Side note: The song playing at the end of this episode is one of my favourites and because this show used it (perhaps more than once?), the song has been forever cemented in people's minds as "The Dawson's Creek Song" and that makes me sad. The song is actually called Acoustic #3 and is by the Goo Goo Dolls. For your listening pleasure:

See what I mean? So pretty!

Next up is The Election.