Top 5 Episodes- Dawson's Creek

When debating on what my favorite episodes of Dawson’s Creek were, these were the five (well, technically six) that came to mind. Not all of them were ground breaking episodes. Not all were packed with emotion and angst. And two of them do not even have our struggling filmmaker in them. But I picked them anyway.

5. Stolen Kisses- 3x19- “It made me feel alive.”

Synopsis: It’s spring break in Capeside. Dawson and the gang are headed to Aunt Gwen’s for some fun times in the mountains. But the times are not so fun for Pacey and Joey, who spend the majority of the trip secretly pining after each other. This is the best part of the episode. I mean, what was Jen’s storyline in this episode, even?

Oh yeah, she got jealous because some girl was hitting on Henry. Here’s what I remember about Henry: one time he donated a ton of blood to buy Jen things. That is all.

So Pacey… He and the others, including a childhood friend of his, named Will, get to Aunt Gwen’s. (Side note: Tag-a-long friends name Will need to be watched. Sometimes they turn out to be murderers hell-bent on getting revenge for their father’s missing appendages.  Just sayin’.) Andie kinda likes Will… or something. Who cares?

Aunt Gwen questions Dawson about why he and Joey aren’t together and then Dawson asks Joey the same question. I don’t really remember what she tells him, but I do know the real reason is Pacey. Also Dawson is lame. But I guess maybe Joey doesn’t see it that way.

That evening, Joey and Dawson do some reminiscing and perform Day Dream Believer karaoke-style together. Pacey, who realizes that he can’t compete with that kind of history, goes outside. When Joey follows him, he confronts her about her feelings and then kisses her. Nosey Aunt Gwen catches them and tells Joey she’s stringing Dawson along. It’s not like Dawson strung Joey along for 15 years or anything. (Sarcasm… original I know.)

When Joey tries to tell Dawson, Aunt Gwen interrupts them. (I know it’s her house but sheesh, give people some privacy.) Joey informs Pacey she couldn’t tell Dawson and Pacey gets angry. He says that if she felt even a shred of what he feels, she wouldn’t be skirting around. Then, in her best decision of the episode, she kisses him back. Happy sigh.

Also Dawson’s parents had some drama and then kissed.

The reason this episode makes the top five is because of the Pacey and Joey epicness of it all. This is the first time Joey made the move instead of Pacey, admitting that she does indeed have feelings for him. It also makes the love triangle official. Who doesn’t love a good love triangle?

4. Four Scary Stories- 5x9- Out-of-the-ordinary episodes rock!

I love when shows venture out of their ordinary dramatic plots and into interesting territories. One such case for Dawson’s Creek was the episode Four Scary Stories.

Synopsis: Joey, Pacey and Jack have just watched a horror movie. After the boys scare Joey, they start telling each other about terrifying things that have happened to them. (And no, watching Dawson cry was not one of them.)

Joey tells a story about visiting the library on Halloween: She’s just sitting there, studying away, when Audrey shows up and informs her that a girl was attacked in the library. Comforting. While Joey is hitting the books, she sees a creepy older man sitting there, seemingly watching her. As the night wears on, people thin out until it is only her and creepster. He comes over to her table and tells her she shouldn’t be alone because it isn’t safe. She asks the library aid if he will be around all night and he assures her that he will be. When Joey goes to the basement to look through the stacks (why do they always have to go in the basement?), the man shows up.  As she’s running away, she meets the library aid, who knocks the man out. Yay! But… as it turns out, the man was an undercover cop and the aid is the one who has been attacking girls. Luckily, Joey manages to fight him off until the cop regains consciousness.

Jack’s story is next. He tells of being in the frat house one night with two other pledges. They get drunk and look through old fraternity photos. He learns that in the 60’s, one pledge killed himself. When Jack goes to the bathroom, the other two disappear. He hears banging in a closet and opens it to find a boy bound and gagged. Jack frees him and finds out his name is Tad. Tad is sad (rhymes!) because the guys do not accept him because he’s gay. Jack says he is accepted and that it will get better. When he leaves the room to take a phone call, Tad disappears. Jack looks at the photo from the pledge class in the 60’s and sees Tad in it.

Pacey tells them about a night he drove Karen home. (Who was Karen? I just don’t remember.)They pass a car with their lights off and Pacey flashes his lights at them. In true Urban Legend fashion, the car turns around and follows them, ramming the back of their car. They pull over at a truck stop and the car goes on by. Once inside, they try to use a payphone to call the police, to no avail. They notice the mysterious car is now parked outside and demand to know who the driver is. After they leave the restaurant, they meet the car again but Pacey manages to run the car off the road. They get out and go to the reckless vehicle to find out who is driving but, upon opening the doors, discover there is, in fact, no one inside.

Grams arrives home and tells a story of her own. Jen is working late at the radio station one night. She hears a noise outside and decides to check it out. (This never ends well, but tell that to people in scary movies.) She finds a branch scratching the window and nothing else. But when she goes back to the door, she finds it has closed and she is locked out. Jen goes around the side of the building and sees a dude standing there. She tries talking to him but his head falls off (not as funny as it sounds). She manages to get back inside the station and puts the radio to commercial. Then, just as you think she’s safe, someone comes crashing through the window.

Grams leaves the three sitting there (freaked out) and we see a figure watching them from outside.

I love scary stories, especially when they’re done right and could really happen. That’s mainly why I enjoyed this episode so much. Also no Dawson, so that was a bonus.

3. Escape From Witch Island- 3x7- Another good scary tale.

This episode, though it wasn’t an aside to the main plot, was also packed with thrills and chills.

Synopsis: Dawson is filming a documentary about Witch Island, a spooky place off the coast of Capeside. Joey, Pacey and Jen accompany him to the island. The lady in the gift shop warns them not to go in the woods. She tells them about Mary Bennett, one of the witches burned to death on the island. Unlike the other witches, Mary’s body was never found. (Those darn Bennett witches.) Some say her lover took her away, others say she really was a witch and still haunts the island.

This leads Dawson and Joey to have a passive aggressive conversation about true love. Dawson actually delivers a good line. “If he met someone else and forgot about her, then obviously, they were never meant to be in the first place.” Joey also tells Dawson she doesn’t feel their “connection” anymore. Foreshadowing perhaps?

 After getting some footage, Dawson and Joey, who have become separated from Pacey and Jen, go back to the boat dock. The boatman tells them he will leave without them if they are not back before dark. Joey and Dawson go look for the stragglers and the group meets at the church when they hear the bell ringing. Pacey notices; however, that the church does not have a bell.

Now stuck on the island for the night, the group decides to sleep at the church. They hear strange noises and then the church catches on fire. They all flee and run back to the boat docks. Conveniently, there is now a boat and they hop on in and leave. Later, when watching the documentary, two silhouettes can be seen standing on the dock. Was it the boatman and shop owner? Or the ghosts of Mary and her lover?

The episode was a mock of the Blair Witch Project, which may be what I liked about it. Not that I liked that horrible movie, mind you. But I liked the idea of the story. If the whole episode had been filmed with nauseous-making shaky cameras, I probably would not have liked it as much. Basically, I enjoy the scary.

2. Castaways- 6x15- Ever dreamed about being locked in a store all night? Yeah, me too.

Synopsis: Pacey convinces Joey to attend a business dinner with him out of town. He flirts with a girl at dinner and plans, unbeknownst to Joey, to meet up with her later that night. However, when he stops at K-Mart to buy condoms and Joey has to use the bathroom, they are accidentally locked inside the store. Let the fun begin.

After phoning the police, who are in no hurry to let them out of the store, the two argue about their relationship. Pacey is upset that Joey wasn’t as devastated by the ending of their romance as she was about the end of her and Dawson’s. When Joey finds out they stopped only to by condoms, she becomes even more upset. To apologize to her, and to attempt to make up for dragging her off on a school night and getting her locked in a K-Mart, Pacey tells Joey that he will do one thing, anything, she wants him to do that he doesn’t want to do.

She decides she wants to shave off his lucky goatee. Or as she put it, that thing on his face.

In the end, she backs down, and they decide to play a few games and watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Then Pacey lets her shave his face anyway. Soon after we can all see his glorious chin again, Pacey kisses Joey, stunning her. He tells her that his feelings for her never went away. Though she insists she has to think about it (what is there to think about, I say…) they end up cuddling in a sleeping bag while Joey talks about being stranded on an island naked… or something.

This episode rocks! Any Pacey and Joey action is awesome. And, like I said before, who doesn’t dream of being locked in a superstore?

1. All Good Things… Must Come to an End- 6x23 & 6x24- Two episodes that made me cry, and still do every time I watch them.

Synopsis: It is 5 years into the future. Joey lives in New York and works for a publishing company. Pacey owns the Ice House restaurant. Dawson runs his own show with a peculiarly familiar plot. Jen has a baby and a heart condition. Yeah, she got the crappy end of the stick for sure. Also Jack and Deputy Pacey’s Brother are a couple.

The episode begins with Dawson and Joey coming back to Capeside for Dawson’s mother’s wedding. The gang meets at the restaurant and reminisces about the past. Later, while at the wedding, Jen collapses and is rushed to the hospital where they discover she has a heart condition that will not get better. She doesn’t have much time. To really put the pressure on Joey to choose between the two loves of her life, Jen makes it her dying wish.

Dawson helps Jen make a video for her daughter and in such a bittersweet moment, Jen tells Jack that he will be her daughter’s guardian and that he is her soul mate. Then while alone with Grams, Jen passes.

Pacey closes the restaurant for the post-funeral dinner. He and Joey have a talk about their relationship and he tells her that he’ll always love her but that she is off the hook. Before she can say what’s on her mind, they are interrupted. (Always the interruptions!)

As Dawson is sitting alone, attempting to write the season ender for his show (should Sam choose Colby or Peety? What kind of name is Peety?), Joey shows up. They talk about being soul mates, but it sounds more like an ‘I choose the other guy’ speech. Which it turns out to be.

The final scene of the episode shows Joey watching Dawson’s show. Sam chooses Colby. But as the camera pans out, we see Pacey sitting on the couch. He and Joey kiss and then call Dawson to congratulate him. But the filmmaker is already excited because he has a meeting with none other than Spielberg.

So in the end, everyone got what they wanted.

Except Jen. Who died. Still sad.

This was an emotional ride of an episode. I went from being happy, to sad, to more sad, to elated. In the end, I think the writers made smart choices with their characters, and of course I am happy Joey picked Pacey.

Though Dawson’s Creek might not make my top 5 favorite shows list, it had intriguing characters and plotlines that kept me watching for six years. Looking back now, the only thing I really wonder about this show is… what is in the water in Capeside? Do any teenagers really speak like those on this show?

“What is it about me that inspires such vitriolic diatribes?”- Pacey (as a 16 year old)

What?

Okay, I know what a diatribe is, but I’m 26. On the other hand, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the word vitriolic in my life. And I went to college. Let us dumb this phrase down.

“What is it about me that causes other people to hatefully criticize me?”

Or in true teenage lingo:

“Why are people mean to me?” 

“I don't believe in perfect love. But I do believe that there are people whose lives are inextricably intertwined.”

~Mallory