Dawson's Creek - 312 - A Weekend in the Country

Original air date: January 19, 2000

Here we are back in the Creek. Last episode we got the drama of Andie and Pacey doing a school play, Jen and Jack going to a music festival in Capeside, and Dawson was his usual douchebag self while Kendra totally schooled him and his shitty "movies about other (better) movies." Let's see where the drama takes us this time.

We open the episode in Joey's room, unusually enough. She is pacing the room while Dawson and Pacey are watching The Big Chill. Thanks to contrivances, they are watching the exact scene that will be replicated later on, just so that all you kids out there understand what they are ripping off paying homage to later. The scene in question, is where the characters are dancing and singing while in the kitchen.

Anyway, Joey is freaking out because the B&B will be opening officially tomorrow but they don't have any customers. I have no clue how to run a business, let alone a B&B, but it seems to me that you should have started advertising the hell out of the place before you opened and been booking people for the projected open date. Then again, I suppose a lot can go wrong in that instance but it seems better than opening and then beginning to book people or generate interest. But, I digress.

The phone rings and Joey gets super excited but when she answers, it's a telemarketer. Womp-womp. I kind of love that she tries to sell her B&B to the telemarketer and gets hung up on though.

See how you like it, Telemarketer!

At school, the next day, we see Henry run into Jen, not literally though this time. He wants to ask Jen to go to a fancy restaurant that he's been working at to earn a free dinner. No, scratch that, he's not asking because then she can say "no."

I don't like where this is going

Really writers? This isn't cute or charming no matter how hard you keep trying to tell the viewers it is with your light/fun music. It's actually really creepy and sends a horrible message. I don't know, maybe I'm oversensitive and girls actually do like this type of thing and I'm the weird one but I just don't see this as cute. Like Jen said before "dating is a consensual activity." You do have to ask someone out and they have the choice to say "yes" or "no", that's kind of how it works.

Jack bumps into Andie and offers to help her with some computer thing she's having trouble with. Andie takes the opportunity to drop hints to Jack about moving back home. Jack takes this to mean that their father asked her to guilt him into moving back so he wouldn't have to ask. Judging by the fact that Mr. McPhee is the Worst Parent in Capeside for life, I can totally understand him thinking that his dad would do that but it's pretty obvious that it's Andie that wants him to move home since she storms off when Jack refuses. The writers want us to think otherwise though so, I guess we'll humour them.

Gee, I wonder why Andie is upset with Jack?

Meanwhile, the Potter sisters are in a bank looking to take out a loan but they don't qualify. They are offered the opportunity to remortgage the house as apparently they own it outright, thanks to their mother who left it for them. Joey laughs at the idea but Bessie wants to consider it and asks for the forms.

Joey is super pissed that Bessie is considering to put their family home on the line for the new business and bitches at Bessie that she isn't allowed to do it because Joey doesn't agree. Bessie rightfully puts her in her place.

You go, Bessie

Dawson then shows up at their home with a video camera, and it actually looks a bit creepy. Maybe I'm biased because I hate Dawson but seriously, he just appears from behind a bush with a running camera pointed at their house.

Yeah...that's it...

He's actually trying to be helpful by taking footage of the Potter B&B to advertise on the web, which isn't a terrible idea. Joey moans that they can't afford advertising and I would hope that Dawson is offering to do this for them for free. It also costs nothing to upload a video to...wait did YouTube exist then? I think it did. My loose Google search tells me that it did not so maybe it would have been costly to have a video file on the internet. Damn, those were dark times...

Lacey arrives to make everything better and to tell them all that he managed to get a well known hotel critic to agree to stay at the Potter B&B and give them a review. This is extremely sweet of him though very ill timed as the Potters are ill prepared to have a professional critic come and review them. Joey points out that they have no guests but Pacey has taken care of that and has contracted the help of the Creek gang, Grams, Jen, Jack, and Andie, and Mitch and Gail, to help.

Joey is not grateful so much as majorly pissed. Dawson is mad as well because of the parents thing but I don't give a crap about him or his feelings and am focusing on just Joey and Pacey this scene. It was apparently Mitch's idea to ask Gail to play married couple for the weekend anyway so there, Dawson.

Joey tells Pacey to call it all off because they are not ready for guests and professional critics and one bad review could tank their only chance at a viable business and now, leave them with no home. Pacey agrees to call everything off immediately but just as he's calling the critic guy, he's shown up at the door.

Womp-womp!

Dawson confronts his parents about their ruse and how hurtful it is to him to see them play acting a happily married couple right after they got divorced. Mitch and Gail are all, "We're just helping Bessie and Joey." but Dawson calls Mitch out and says that Pacey just asked him to help and didn't say anything about Gail coming along. He then storms out.

Joey deals with snobby critic guy as he snobs around the room complaining about lack of heat and private bathroom. Joey covers nicely about the heat being down because they are an environmentally friendly establishment but admits that there is only one communal bathroom. Yuck. I know places like that exist but I prefer having my own bathroom. 0 stars! Anyway, the Snob continues to be a dick to Joey and criticizes her for saying "Enjoy your stay" more than once. That seems like a rude thing to point out to a person, maybe they just really want you to enjoy your stay.

Joey feels like she's blowing it, regardless

Andie visits her brother in his room and jokes about being able to play brother and sister. She also drops more hints about Jack moving back home. It seems really obvious to me that Andie wants Jack to move back in because she misses him but Jack still thinks she's only pressuring him to come home on their father's orders. The writers think they are being clever so, shush. Let the writers have their fun.

Gee, I wonder why Andie is pressuring Jack to come home for their father!

Bessie asks if Snob is having fun but Joey snarks that a lemon never looks like it's having fun. Bessie tells her to be nice because the guy is just doing his job, so at least she's relaxed about it. Joey is just on freak out mode. Bessie asks for Pacey's help to turn down the beds but he's working on the overflowing toilet in the bathroom. I guess he gets the crap jobs for getting them into this mess.

Mitch confronts Dawson about the situation with Gail. He apologizes to Dawson and tells him that he just wants to be Gail's friend and cheer her up because she is apparently being turned down for jobs everywhere. Dawson is pissed off because he doesn't understand why his parents can be friends but divorced. He should count himself lucky that his parents aren't bickering constantly but I'm not a child of divorce so I don't fully get it. I guess this is pretty realistic for a teen to be pissed/confused about though so, good job, writers.

Bessie and Joey are trying to cater to Snob and explain their situation for a more favourable review, then this awkwardness happens:

Bessie! Your sister is right there! Gross!

Pacey says he has everything taken care of just as the furnace burns out. Snob points out that "handyman Witter" should check the furnace. Thanks for that, Snob.

Joey is trying to get the furnace working again when Bessie comes in and informs her that Snob has gone into town to eat. Joey ignores her and TV swears at the furnace. Bessie points out that swearing at the thing won't help and Joey sasses that flirting with it might. I thought this was leading to an argument about the flirting but Joey instead launches into a tirade about how hard it is to be sixteen to the woman who is trying to manage a new business, a baby, and raising her little sister because their mother is dead and their father is in prison, while her husband has to work out of town. Yeah, Joey, tell us more about how hard your life is, I don't think your sister understands hardships at all. But again, props for writing a realistic teen moment, writers. Bessie calls Joey out for wanting to leave Capeside so badly but putting in a lot of effort with the B&B and Joey gets snarky about how she'll stop putting so much effort in then.

Pacey, bless him, is out chopping wood for the fireplace because he feels responsible for the weekend and everything that is going wrong. Mitch comes out to see if he's OK but Pacey feels like a screw up. Mitch gives him a really nice pep talk and it's actually kind of sweet. I actually wish that Mitch was Pacey's dad in this scene. Dawson doesn't deserve a dad like Mitch. Yeah, Mitch has his faults but he's definitely better than Pacey's dad and Dawson sucks.

Dawson apologizes to Gail for freaking out on her and his dad. Dawson goes on about how weird it is that she and Mitch are still friends after getting divorced and Gail points out that it's kind of like him and Joey still being friends which is fairly legit. This causes Dawson's mind to be blown.

Whoops, guess I am a hypocrite

Andie and Jack have gone to the Lindley's to pick up a space heater for the Potters. Andie notices how ingrained Jack is with the Lindley's life, having his own type of milk and in jokes with them, and she gets upset because she wants that with Jack. She lets it slip finally that their father, Worst Parent in Capeside for life, also ignores her and tells Jack he's lucky for having a family that is so warm and together. Jack finally clues in and realizes that Andie is the one that wants Jack to move back because DUH! Uh, I mean-OH! How surprising! You sure got us, writers. Did not see that coming.

Of course we did! Obviously Andie misses Jack, they're siblings! Idiots!

Dawson is outside with Jen and she asks him flat out what he was so scared of when she told him about her past when they were dating. Um, he wasn't scared, he was a giant slut-shaming cock-bag. This was his problem:

And you never know when you might need to
have a sacrifice to the Gods!

Dawson bullshits about the fact that he was scared the unknown is always scary and that he was intimidated by her experience. That's one way of glossing over his behaviour, writers. Touché. Jen then asks if most other boys would react the same way as him and Dawson tells her that there is no way to know how anyone else would react but he actually admits that the way he reacted back then was wrong and apologizes for it! Holy shit! The only question now is, will he change? My money is on 'no'.

The men are trying to light the fireplace when Grams comes in and shows the men how it's done. Like a boss! Grams reveals that she's the one that used to light the fires in the winters after dinner. She then tells a story about her and Jen's Gramps and how he'd read to her in front of the fire. The gang then starts talking about their memories. And it's actually a pretty sweet scene, I wish the show would do more scenes with everyone hanging out because it's nice to see them getting along.

The important story is Joey's as she reveals that her mother had dreams of opening up her own B&B which is why it was so important to her that the B&B doesn't fail. She then surprises me by thanking everyone for coming to help them out and make her mother's dream a reality. Then she doesn't surprise me by being all mopey and telling everyone to go home because it's useless. Joey then notices that Snob has overheard her and she apologizes to him for the horrendous experience he's had and tells him that their B&B is probably awful but that her mother would have loved it. Gotta play that dead mother sympathy card, eh Joey?

Did I mention my mother was dead? Because she is. 

The next morning, Joey wakes up to the smell of bacon cooking and chatter in the kitchen. She goes down the hall to investigate what is going on and walks into the scene from The Big Chill that they were watching and she was criticizing earlier.

Same music and everything, this must have really cost them

Also, I have my suspicions that the editor for this scene is a crack shipper for Andie and Joey because  check this out:

Ohhhhh yeaaaaahhhh!
You are welcome, male/lesbian readers

Joey asks everyone what's going on and they urge her into the bedroom for breakfast. Snob is at the head of the table and is happily eating breakfast. Joey apologizes, like it's her duty to and not Bessie's, for the fact that their B&B sucks but Snob assures her that theirs is the warmest (meaning friendliest) place he's ever stayed and that the pancakes are delicious. Joey tries the pancakes and then compli-sults her sister on the fact that they are good but that she sucks at cooking so they can't be hers. I guess she's justified because they aren't Bessie's, apparently Bodie is back!

Yay! Bodie has been rescued from the room of forgotten side characters!

Although I don't get this reveal because the Big Chill montage clearly showed Andie and Jack cooking the pancakes. But, whatever, Bodie is back and that's awesome for Bessie. She deserves some happiness because she gets shit on a lot and has had to deal with everything Joey has had to and more but constantly gets forgotten about. Like in this episode, where everyone was worried about Joey and not about Bessie who is actually going to be running the B&B.

Bessie reveals to Joey that she found a guest book that their father had gotten their mother ten years ago which apparently Bessie had forgotten about until Joey mentioned it. Joey finally acknowledges everything that Bessie has had to do and excuses her for forgetting that their mother had wanted to open a B&B. They continue eating breakfast and Snob gives a toast to the Potter B&B and wishes it to live long and prosper because he's apparently secretly Spock.

Mitch and Gail are talking about the memories they shared the other night by the fire and Mitch says that it brought back another memory. Apparently, he wanted to open up a fish bistro when Gail was pregnant with Dawson. Mitch then claims that it wasn't really his dream, it was hers. He encourages her to pursue that dream instead of applying for more broadcasting jobs. This is a mighty convenient twist, writers. I think he offers her the warehouse he bought last season from Ta-mah-ra and was going to turn into a restaurant himself but the writers aren't too clear. I think they are being intentionally vague because they realized that for two seasons they did show Mitch wanting to open his own restaurant so it shouldn't have been a "forgotten memory" for him. Whatever.

Jen tells Henry about her jaded past because this is apparently the reason she was reluctant to date him. She is amazed that he's not disgusted or judgemental about it, you know like Dawson was when he found out? And I laugh because the psycho serial killer Henry is still a better person than Dawson fucking Leery.

Oh sure, I murder people all the time but I'd have to be
an absolute dick to slut shame the girl I like

Jen is amazed that he's taking the news so well because most guys would react horribly (just Dawson, Jen. Just Dawson.) but Henry, rightfully points out that her experiences made her who she is and that's why he likes her. OK, show, you are starting to sell me on Henry.

Dawson mocks Pacey for handling a camera but covers it by saying that he was just asking in general if he knew what he was doing. Dawson tells Pacey that he's changed and thanks him for "taking care of Joey" which is really kind of insulting but whatever. He then tells Pacey that he's gone above and beyond and that he's glad that he's there for Joey. Pacey jokes about how hard it is to look out for her and makes like he hates it but we all know the truth.

Jack tells the Lindley's that he wants to move back in with Andie and be with her because she needs him. They are concerned about his father because he is the Worst Parent in Capeside for life but Jack tells them that he wants to move back to support Andie. He then thanks them for being the best people ever because they are. He wants to give what they gave him to Andie, love and support. It's super sweet. I love these guys, best family ever.

Pacey goes to try and tell Joey about the furnace being repaired but finds that she's asleep on the couch. He puts a blanket over her and it is super sweet!

Awwww!

Then we get a montage of everyone, Bessie and Bodie with Alex hanging out, Jen and Henry hanging out, Jack moving back home, Dawson alone (as it should be), Pacey watching Joey sleep...no no no no no! Stop being Edward Cullen! You're better than that, Pacey. Tucking her in was cute but staying and watching her sleep is creepy. I am happy that we end the episode with the two of them though and it is getting really obvious that Pacey likes Joey which is getting me pumped for future episodes.

That was A Weekend in the Country, not a great episode but not a horrible one either. I liked the gang pulling together to help Joey out. I also like that Jen gets a guy who does not care about her past or shame her for it so the show is selling me on Henry finally. Here's hoping that Northern Lights keeps the good things going, especially Joey and Pacey.