Original air date: October 4, 2000
Hey everyone! I conquered NaNoWriMo this year and to celebrate, I thought, why not lovingly complain about a show no one but me cares about anymore (she says facetiously). In all seriousness, I am glad to get back to this again because I just realized that I'm halfway done this entire series!! Woohoo! And I know I've said this before but...I'm not a huge fan of this season. This season has exactly one episode I really, really remember and that's the ski trip episode for...reasons not at all related to my overloaded teen hormones experiencing second-hand catharsis...what? Um, also, I remember really liking Jen's arc this season so hopefully that memory is not crushed on rewatch. Basically, I really want to get to the college years which is something you never normally hear me say on teen shows because they usually blow but this show blew in such an entertaining way that I cannot wait.
But...on we go to the first episode of season 4. Pacey and Joey are returning home from their romantic vacation together that I'm sure was filled with so much sex because my god, the sparks and...oh wait, what was that? Oh, they're playing this coy like they might not have had all the sex they could being unsupervised and in close quarters together for two months. They did, didn't they? This episode wants to keep you guessing so here we go.
They debate about whether or not to go home and I'm with Pacey about never returning because home is where Dawson is and where he lies, so too does the devil. If you're new to this blog, I hope it's super apparent that I dislike Dawson. If not, I'm sorry I'm boring you with my hatred. Anyway, they both jump off the boat together and it's cute.
Back in Capeside with the rest of the gang, they're all hanging out at the beach together and it's honestly crazy to see them all just chilling like this. This show was not great with the friendship angles. Anyway, Dawson and Jack are apparently working as handymen for the summer and leave to go do that. Dawson has also apparently become a photographer and this is important because he's still moping over being an objectively terrible filmmaker.
Andie and Jen are hanging together when she notices a couple of cute guys. Jen is uninterested because she's still dating aserial killer Henry and Andie is too chicken to actually go up and talk to them. Jen calls her out for this and Andie claims that Jen is talking a big game but Jen is like bitch, please. Yeah, Andie, don't question Jen's confidence. Girl is legit. Andie decides to go for it.
Pacey and Joey have just docked and Pacey decides now is the time to discuss what they'll tell everyone. Joey is clueless as to what he means so he spells it out for her, they're going to ask if they did it. I like how this is a conversation entirely for the benefit of the audience who were absolutely waiting in anticipation to find out about the sexy times, to which their friends become us by proxy because honestly...I doubt people would actually care this much about whether their friends did it. But then again, I'm the type that doesn't talk about sex stuff with her friends and family because I find it weird to do so (totally my hang up).
Joey thinks they won't care but of course, they will. She thinks they won't ask but you know they will. They both agree to say nothing because it's none of their business. They agree to a 24 hour break period so that they can get some time away from each other but not before running back into each others' arms because Pacephine is magical and are forever. Yes, I have seen this whole season before, shut up.
Dawson is at the hardware store when a woman comes up to ask him where lightbulbs are. He's rude at first but then recognizes her as Gretchen. Apparently she's Pacey's sister who was never mentioned before because she was away at college and, as we all know, people cease to exist when they go away to college. No one talks about them.
Gretchen asks how he's doing because apparently the teen drama between him, Joey, and Pacey was all anyone wanted to talk about, including parents. He says he's fine. Gretchen says she's taking time off from college and they part ways. Jack asks who she is.
At the B&B, Bessie is weirdly invested in whether or not her sister had sex with her boyfriend. Maybe this is normal and it's totally just me, it's probably just me, but I find it wierd how much she wants to know about this. I suppose it depends on your relationship with your sibling if you share details like this so to each their own. Bessie wants to know and feels she's owed since Joey up and left her high and dry over the summer (probably the B&B's busiest season).
Joey brought her a gift to apologize and distract her but Bessie brings it right back to the sex question. Joey is not impressed. She quickly tries to escape to her room but finds a strange man in there instead. We only hear him via ADR so he's not a major player just an excuse to have Joey feel unmissed while she was gone since Bessie rented out her room. Bessie surprises Joey with the news that their B&B is doing incredibly well. This doesn't help Joey in the not feeling missed department.
Jen finds Andie on the beach hanging out with the two French guys. Andie gushes about how sexy they are and Jen is all, hey they can hear you but Andie informs her that one only speaks a little English while the other can only say 'hello' and 'goodbye' so they're fine. The guy that can sort of speak it asks them to be their tour guides. Andie readily agrees but Jen backs out but is impressed with Andie.
Pacey gives Doug a "Florida Snowman" snowglobe and he is less than amused. Doug informs him that he needs to find another place to stay. There is a lot of "lol Doug is gay" comments from Pacey which are jokes that have not aged well at all so we're going to just breeze by to Doug is kicking Pacey out so that Gretchen can stay with him instead.
Joey goes over to Dawson's house and it's played as this super serious thing that I find incredibly boring. As much as I totally get Joey's attitude last season, I still dislike her wanting so desperately to be friends with him again. Even if she basically grew up with the Leery's, he treated her like garbage last season. She goes to his bedroom and finds the walls covered with pictures of him, Andie, Jack, and Jen all hanging out and happy together.
We finally get back to Jack's question about who Gretchen is to Dawson and apparently on top of being Pacey's older sister, she was also his first crush. They were going to water balloon them as kids but then he saw her in a bathing suit and fell in love. This stands true to me as Dawson views women as nothing until they look a certain way to him. I'm sorry, I can't stop the irrational hate. Dawson goes on to say that he spent all his allowance on getting her anonymous gifts for a while which all the Witters knew he did and rightly mocked him for.
Pacey and Gretchen argue over who can stay with Doug. So, like Gretchen mocks him for being mad about being kicked out and then when he mocks her back she takes a dig at his maturity and like...he's a teenager who has just been kicked out and you both know how shitty your parents are to him. I don't think he's being immature here. She suggests he stay with Joey which is really presumptious of her and I really dislike Gretchen too. It's no wonder she ends up with Dawson. They suck.
Joey is visiting with Jen who is informing her about Henry being sent to some prestigious football academy school thing for the year so they are now in a long-distance relationship. I'm sure this won't go south at all. Even Grams is like, just dump the dude already. I love Grams. Jen quickly transitions to sexy talk and as much as I said I didn't talk about this stuff with my friends and wouldn't think of asking, this feels natural and I really like the friendship between these two. More of this from them, please. Joey says they're not talking about it which Jen takes to mean they definitely did. Joey sarcastically agrees that they did and had it a lot. Jen gets the hint and says it's none of her business.
Joey then asks about "everyone else" and Jen, being the awesome friend she sees right through it and tells her that "everyone" is fine but both of them mean Dawson. Jen then invites her to go to the dive-in with them. Joey is hesitant but Jen insists, it's sweet.
Andie is touring her French guys and the one compliments her which she likes. The other guy still refuses to talk which is super weird when you get to the conclusion of this story arc. Especially with the French guy translating for quiet French guy.
Dawson has a dark room now and is developing pictures. He's asking Jen how Joey looked. She tells him Joey looked great and Dawson gets pissy. Jen then reveals that she invited Joey to the dive-in and he gets even more pissy. Dawson asks if "what's his name" is going to be there. Excuse you, Dawson, that is Pacey Witter you are talking about.
*the greatest*
Jen says that he won't because they're taking the day off from each other. She says this way they can finally work things out and promise to be friends forever. Jen still feels responsible and Dawson, to his credit says she isn't responsible. So he's what? 1 for 1000000000000 on the being a good friend scale.
Mitch and Gail are back to being inappropriate with each other in front of Dawson's friends so we're back to their season 1 behaviour except this time Gail isn't secretly cheating on Mitch. That we know of...Nah, there's no more cheating between these two. They're pretty solid from here on out.
Pacey sneaks up behind Joey and tells her about being homeless but Joey is also stuck on the couch and the B&B is booked. They both feel like they're in bizarro It's a Wonderful Life where everyone's lives are better for them being gone. Pacey wants to hang out and be unwanted together but Joey admits she was invited to the dive-in and wants to go. Pacey is not happy with this turn of events because he knows that Dawson is going to be there. I can't blame him for wanting to avoid him. Pacey says she can go on her own but she offers him to come too. Pacey agrees to go for her but is understandably not stoked.
The night of the dive-in event (like a drive-in movie theatre but with boats). Andie meets up with the gang to discuss her progress with the French guys, er guy. She only likes the one that can speak English because quiet guy just stands around like a dolt. Then she's off to go see if French guy is single.
Pacey and Joey show up and Dawson is super pissed. He asks Jen why he's here and Jen says that he wasn't supposed to be here. Joey finally realizes that this was a bad idea and sends Pacey off to get drinks. Joey goes to talk to them and Dawson bails. Jack distracts Joey while Jen talks to Dawson.
Pacey sees Gretchen at the dive-in and they go take a walk. Pacey admits he's angry at her for stealing his bed and she says that she got her comeuppance because Doug is an annoying roommate. Gretchen is shocked that he got the girl but then says she's not surprised because she called it when they were younger. She says they're both lucky to have each other. Pacey asks why she's back suddenly but Gretchen sticks with the vague, taking a break, excuse.
Joey wants Jack to ask her a question so they look like they're talking until Dawson comes over. Jack asks that question, much to Joey's horror. Jen points out Joey's maneuver but Dawson is adamant that he will not go over. Jen kind of works him into going by telling him she knows it's hard. Reverse psychology really works on him. Jack bails so they can talk.
Dawson and Joey talk awkwardly together but he's smiling like a dolt so that when Pacey shows up, he sees them talking happily and gets mad. The whole thing is kind of hard to watch. Dawson waks away to have a brief cry over the fact that he still likes her. It's not said but it's what's implied.
Andie sees Pacey and wants to avoid him. She explains to French guys that he's her ex-boyfriend and segues into asking him if he has a girlfriend. He does and Andie is disappointed. French guy bails and leaves her with quiet guy and she vents about how disappointed she is, thinking this guy won't understand her. He then has the gall to call her a rude girl and she's embarrassed that he spent the day with her while understanding everything she said. Like sure, she should be mortified with all the things she said but like the dude kept silent ALL day for a joke so I think that's more on him than her.
Pacey finds Joey and says they are leaving. Joey is upset that he doesn't even ask and he says that if this is her having a good time then she didn't have a good time on the boat. Which, like I get he's looking out for her but I'm more on Joey's side here. She should have a say, even if she's miserable, if she still wants to stay, that should be up to her. Pacey gets mad because he thinks she wants to stay for Dawson and she admits that she wants to fix things with him.
They argue over the Dawson situation and it sucks to see. Joey calls him out for ordering her around and he calls her out for having Dawson on her mind way too much for his comfort.
Dawson comes across Joey who is upset and he offers her a ride home. She's super happy and accepts the ride.
Andie apologizes to the quiet guy who was a faking faker which somehow charms her instead of annoys her and they kiss. I don't get it. The guy's a douche but thankfully, I don't think he sticks around.
Joey asks Dawson about his new photography hobby and he goes on this spiel about not choosing what you love but it choosing you which is laying it on a bit thick. But right now, I'm about to get extremely mad over the next turn of events so bear with me.
Joey apologizes to Dawson. For everything she put him through. Because it was hard on him. I'm mad enough already but Dawson's response? Whining about how hard it was on him thinking about the two of them alone every night. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???
I'm sorry but did they fire all the writers from season 3 and hire new ones for season 4? Because this narrative of Dawson being the put upon victim with manpain over Joey crushing his heart is complete and utter garbage. Hello??? Dawson was the villain last season. He blew a gasget when he found out his friends liked each other, gave an ultimatum to Joey to prevent her from getting with a person she cared about so that he could then manipulate her into falling for him again. He threw a whole anti-prom for her to parade her around to Pacey and prove that he'd won despite her telling him that all she wanted was friendship and then got mad that he couldn't will their feelings out of existence and made it her problem that the evening didn't go the way he wanted.
AND SHE APOLOGIZES TO HIM!?!?!?!?!?!?!
So after Dawson guilts her yet again, she rewards him with a present. A brick from Ernest Hemingway's home in the Keys. She offers it as an emblematic artifact representing the foundation of a new friendship. Which is just...wow. She's putting so much effort into this garbage friendship and he rewards her with guilting her further about how the gift isn't enough to repair their ruined friendship (which he and the show seems to be putting as Joey's fault???) and that he might not even want to repair it.
Oh, and to add insult to my many injuries that this episode has inflicted on me, she reveals the answer to the question everyone else but Dawson was asking. She did not sleep with Pacey. I don't know why this pisses me off so much but it does and I think it's the whole notion that they couldn't "ruin" Joey for Dawson by having her sleep with Pacey first. So, just keep picturing Lindsay Ellis in the above gif right now because it's all that's playing in my head as I watch this unfold before me.
Joey then goes to find Pacey at his boat and has a meta moment saying that she came to an epiphany in the last 45 minutes (get it? that's how long the episodes are). Joey admits that she thinks of him when she's upset and it makes her feel good. She's admitting this because she wants to score major brownie points with him and it works because he asks her to continue.
Joey explains that her need to repair things with Dawson isn't because of the four months that he was her boyfriend but because of the many years they were friends and she felt bad about hurting him deeply which made her feel bad. See my above feelings on this issue and insert another "Thanks, I hate it" gif right here. However, she apologizes for her mind not being all there the past week but says that her heart never left the boat or him. Pacey is won over by this and I'm happy because these two are cute. We end the episode with her asking if they could do that thing they do sometimes and that thing turns out to be reading The Little Mermaid to each other and while odd, it's pretty sweet and I'm here for this cuteness so thank god we close the episode on this to put me in a better mood.
Initial thoughts? Weak return to the Creek after the epicness that was the season 3 finale but it was serviceable and I get that they needed to address the whole Dawson thing but I really, really hate the way it was handled. They seem to be trying to undo the damage they did to Dawson last season by making it seem like he's the only victim in all this but like no, I was there. That's not what happened, THAT'S NOT HOW IT HAPPENED AT ALL!
They also had my favourite couple fight like right off the bat and while off-screen it had been a couple of blissful months together over the break, we went straight from the good stuff to a fight in their first episode as an official couple and that kind of sucked. Their making up was cute though but I hope we can stray away from these fights for a little while. I really feel like they tried to make Pacey do an ultimatum type thing this episode to make Dawson look a little less dickish in comparison but sorry guys, that bridge was burnt a long time ago, you're not fooling me.
Stay tuned for the next recap, Falling Down. I remember nothing about it. Should be fun.
Hey everyone! I conquered NaNoWriMo this year and to celebrate, I thought, why not lovingly complain about a show no one but me cares about anymore (she says facetiously). In all seriousness, I am glad to get back to this again because I just realized that I'm halfway done this entire series!! Woohoo! And I know I've said this before but...I'm not a huge fan of this season. This season has exactly one episode I really, really remember and that's the ski trip episode for...reasons not at all related to my overloaded teen hormones experiencing second-hand catharsis...what? Um, also, I remember really liking Jen's arc this season so hopefully that memory is not crushed on rewatch. Basically, I really want to get to the college years which is something you never normally hear me say on teen shows because they usually blow but this show blew in such an entertaining way that I cannot wait.
But...on we go to the first episode of season 4. Pacey and Joey are returning home from their romantic vacation together that I'm sure was filled with so much sex because my god, the sparks and...oh wait, what was that? Oh, they're playing this coy like they might not have had all the sex they could being unsupervised and in close quarters together for two months. They did, didn't they? This episode wants to keep you guessing so here we go.
They debate about whether or not to go home and I'm with Pacey about never returning because home is where Dawson is and where he lies, so too does the devil. If you're new to this blog, I hope it's super apparent that I dislike Dawson. If not, I'm sorry I'm boring you with my hatred. Anyway, they both jump off the boat together and it's cute.
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| Jump and cut to credits |
Back in Capeside with the rest of the gang, they're all hanging out at the beach together and it's honestly crazy to see them all just chilling like this. This show was not great with the friendship angles. Anyway, Dawson and Jack are apparently working as handymen for the summer and leave to go do that. Dawson has also apparently become a photographer and this is important because he's still moping over being an objectively terrible filmmaker.
Andie and Jen are hanging together when she notices a couple of cute guys. Jen is uninterested because she's still dating a
Pacey and Joey have just docked and Pacey decides now is the time to discuss what they'll tell everyone. Joey is clueless as to what he means so he spells it out for her, they're going to ask if they did it. I like how this is a conversation entirely for the benefit of the audience who were absolutely waiting in anticipation to find out about the sexy times, to which their friends become us by proxy because honestly...I doubt people would actually care this much about whether their friends did it. But then again, I'm the type that doesn't talk about sex stuff with her friends and family because I find it weird to do so (totally my hang up).
Joey thinks they won't care but of course, they will. She thinks they won't ask but you know they will. They both agree to say nothing because it's none of their business. They agree to a 24 hour break period so that they can get some time away from each other but not before running back into each others' arms because Pacephine is magical and are forever. Yes, I have seen this whole season before, shut up.
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| Look how cute! |
Dawson is at the hardware store when a woman comes up to ask him where lightbulbs are. He's rude at first but then recognizes her as Gretchen. Apparently she's Pacey's sister who was never mentioned before because she was away at college and, as we all know, people cease to exist when they go away to college. No one talks about them.
Gretchen asks how he's doing because apparently the teen drama between him, Joey, and Pacey was all anyone wanted to talk about, including parents. He says he's fine. Gretchen says she's taking time off from college and they part ways. Jack asks who she is.
At the B&B, Bessie is weirdly invested in whether or not her sister had sex with her boyfriend. Maybe this is normal and it's totally just me, it's probably just me, but I find it wierd how much she wants to know about this. I suppose it depends on your relationship with your sibling if you share details like this so to each their own. Bessie wants to know and feels she's owed since Joey up and left her high and dry over the summer (probably the B&B's busiest season).
Joey brought her a gift to apologize and distract her but Bessie brings it right back to the sex question. Joey is not impressed. She quickly tries to escape to her room but finds a strange man in there instead. We only hear him via ADR so he's not a major player just an excuse to have Joey feel unmissed while she was gone since Bessie rented out her room. Bessie surprises Joey with the news that their B&B is doing incredibly well. This doesn't help Joey in the not feeling missed department.
Jen finds Andie on the beach hanging out with the two French guys. Andie gushes about how sexy they are and Jen is all, hey they can hear you but Andie informs her that one only speaks a little English while the other can only say 'hello' and 'goodbye' so they're fine. The guy that can sort of speak it asks them to be their tour guides. Andie readily agrees but Jen backs out but is impressed with Andie.
Pacey gives Doug a "Florida Snowman" snowglobe and he is less than amused. Doug informs him that he needs to find another place to stay. There is a lot of "lol Doug is gay" comments from Pacey which are jokes that have not aged well at all so we're going to just breeze by to Doug is kicking Pacey out so that Gretchen can stay with him instead.
Joey goes over to Dawson's house and it's played as this super serious thing that I find incredibly boring. As much as I totally get Joey's attitude last season, I still dislike her wanting so desperately to be friends with him again. Even if she basically grew up with the Leery's, he treated her like garbage last season. She goes to his bedroom and finds the walls covered with pictures of him, Andie, Jack, and Jen all hanging out and happy together.
We finally get back to Jack's question about who Gretchen is to Dawson and apparently on top of being Pacey's older sister, she was also his first crush. They were going to water balloon them as kids but then he saw her in a bathing suit and fell in love. This stands true to me as Dawson views women as nothing until they look a certain way to him. I'm sorry, I can't stop the irrational hate. Dawson goes on to say that he spent all his allowance on getting her anonymous gifts for a while which all the Witters knew he did and rightly mocked him for.
Pacey and Gretchen argue over who can stay with Doug. So, like Gretchen mocks him for being mad about being kicked out and then when he mocks her back she takes a dig at his maturity and like...he's a teenager who has just been kicked out and you both know how shitty your parents are to him. I don't think he's being immature here. She suggests he stay with Joey which is really presumptious of her and I really dislike Gretchen too. It's no wonder she ends up with Dawson. They suck.
Joey is visiting with Jen who is informing her about Henry being sent to some prestigious football academy school thing for the year so they are now in a long-distance relationship. I'm sure this won't go south at all. Even Grams is like, just dump the dude already. I love Grams. Jen quickly transitions to sexy talk and as much as I said I didn't talk about this stuff with my friends and wouldn't think of asking, this feels natural and I really like the friendship between these two. More of this from them, please. Joey says they're not talking about it which Jen takes to mean they definitely did. Joey sarcastically agrees that they did and had it a lot. Jen gets the hint and says it's none of her business.
Joey then asks about "everyone else" and Jen, being the awesome friend she sees right through it and tells her that "everyone" is fine but both of them mean Dawson. Jen then invites her to go to the dive-in with them. Joey is hesitant but Jen insists, it's sweet.
Andie is touring her French guys and the one compliments her which she likes. The other guy still refuses to talk which is super weird when you get to the conclusion of this story arc. Especially with the French guy translating for quiet French guy.
Dawson has a dark room now and is developing pictures. He's asking Jen how Joey looked. She tells him Joey looked great and Dawson gets pissy. Jen then reveals that she invited Joey to the dive-in and he gets even more pissy. Dawson asks if "what's his name" is going to be there. Excuse you, Dawson, that is Pacey Witter you are talking about.
*the greatest*
Jen says that he won't because they're taking the day off from each other. She says this way they can finally work things out and promise to be friends forever. Jen still feels responsible and Dawson, to his credit says she isn't responsible. So he's what? 1 for 1000000000000 on the being a good friend scale.
Mitch and Gail are back to being inappropriate with each other in front of Dawson's friends so we're back to their season 1 behaviour except this time Gail isn't secretly cheating on Mitch. That we know of...Nah, there's no more cheating between these two. They're pretty solid from here on out.
Pacey sneaks up behind Joey and tells her about being homeless but Joey is also stuck on the couch and the B&B is booked. They both feel like they're in bizarro It's a Wonderful Life where everyone's lives are better for them being gone. Pacey wants to hang out and be unwanted together but Joey admits she was invited to the dive-in and wants to go. Pacey is not happy with this turn of events because he knows that Dawson is going to be there. I can't blame him for wanting to avoid him. Pacey says she can go on her own but she offers him to come too. Pacey agrees to go for her but is understandably not stoked.
The night of the dive-in event (like a drive-in movie theatre but with boats). Andie meets up with the gang to discuss her progress with the French guys, er guy. She only likes the one that can speak English because quiet guy just stands around like a dolt. Then she's off to go see if French guy is single.
Pacey and Joey show up and Dawson is super pissed. He asks Jen why he's here and Jen says that he wasn't supposed to be here. Joey finally realizes that this was a bad idea and sends Pacey off to get drinks. Joey goes to talk to them and Dawson bails. Jack distracts Joey while Jen talks to Dawson.
Pacey sees Gretchen at the dive-in and they go take a walk. Pacey admits he's angry at her for stealing his bed and she says that she got her comeuppance because Doug is an annoying roommate. Gretchen is shocked that he got the girl but then says she's not surprised because she called it when they were younger. She says they're both lucky to have each other. Pacey asks why she's back suddenly but Gretchen sticks with the vague, taking a break, excuse.
Joey wants Jack to ask her a question so they look like they're talking until Dawson comes over. Jack asks that question, much to Joey's horror. Jen points out Joey's maneuver but Dawson is adamant that he will not go over. Jen kind of works him into going by telling him she knows it's hard. Reverse psychology really works on him. Jack bails so they can talk.
Dawson and Joey talk awkwardly together but he's smiling like a dolt so that when Pacey shows up, he sees them talking happily and gets mad. The whole thing is kind of hard to watch. Dawson waks away to have a brief cry over the fact that he still likes her. It's not said but it's what's implied.
Andie sees Pacey and wants to avoid him. She explains to French guys that he's her ex-boyfriend and segues into asking him if he has a girlfriend. He does and Andie is disappointed. French guy bails and leaves her with quiet guy and she vents about how disappointed she is, thinking this guy won't understand her. He then has the gall to call her a rude girl and she's embarrassed that he spent the day with her while understanding everything she said. Like sure, she should be mortified with all the things she said but like the dude kept silent ALL day for a joke so I think that's more on him than her.
Pacey finds Joey and says they are leaving. Joey is upset that he doesn't even ask and he says that if this is her having a good time then she didn't have a good time on the boat. Which, like I get he's looking out for her but I'm more on Joey's side here. She should have a say, even if she's miserable, if she still wants to stay, that should be up to her. Pacey gets mad because he thinks she wants to stay for Dawson and she admits that she wants to fix things with him.
They argue over the Dawson situation and it sucks to see. Joey calls him out for ordering her around and he calls her out for having Dawson on her mind way too much for his comfort.
Dawson comes across Joey who is upset and he offers her a ride home. She's super happy and accepts the ride.
Andie apologizes to the quiet guy who was a faking faker which somehow charms her instead of annoys her and they kiss. I don't get it. The guy's a douche but thankfully, I don't think he sticks around.
Joey asks Dawson about his new photography hobby and he goes on this spiel about not choosing what you love but it choosing you which is laying it on a bit thick. But right now, I'm about to get extremely mad over the next turn of events so bear with me.
Joey apologizes to Dawson. For everything she put him through. Because it was hard on him. I'm mad enough already but Dawson's response? Whining about how hard it was on him thinking about the two of them alone every night. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???
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| I'm going to need a minute to compose myself before I combust from rage flames |
I'm sorry but did they fire all the writers from season 3 and hire new ones for season 4? Because this narrative of Dawson being the put upon victim with manpain over Joey crushing his heart is complete and utter garbage. Hello??? Dawson was the villain last season. He blew a gasget when he found out his friends liked each other, gave an ultimatum to Joey to prevent her from getting with a person she cared about so that he could then manipulate her into falling for him again. He threw a whole anti-prom for her to parade her around to Pacey and prove that he'd won despite her telling him that all she wanted was friendship and then got mad that he couldn't will their feelings out of existence and made it her problem that the evening didn't go the way he wanted.
AND SHE APOLOGIZES TO HIM!?!?!?!?!?!?!
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| I hate him so much |
So after Dawson guilts her yet again, she rewards him with a present. A brick from Ernest Hemingway's home in the Keys. She offers it as an emblematic artifact representing the foundation of a new friendship. Which is just...wow. She's putting so much effort into this garbage friendship and he rewards her with guilting her further about how the gift isn't enough to repair their ruined friendship (which he and the show seems to be putting as Joey's fault???) and that he might not even want to repair it.
Oh, and to add insult to my many injuries that this episode has inflicted on me, she reveals the answer to the question everyone else but Dawson was asking. She did not sleep with Pacey. I don't know why this pisses me off so much but it does and I think it's the whole notion that they couldn't "ruin" Joey for Dawson by having her sleep with Pacey first. So, just keep picturing Lindsay Ellis in the above gif right now because it's all that's playing in my head as I watch this unfold before me.
Joey then goes to find Pacey at his boat and has a meta moment saying that she came to an epiphany in the last 45 minutes (get it? that's how long the episodes are). Joey admits that she thinks of him when she's upset and it makes her feel good. She's admitting this because she wants to score major brownie points with him and it works because he asks her to continue.
Joey explains that her need to repair things with Dawson isn't because of the four months that he was her boyfriend but because of the many years they were friends and she felt bad about hurting him deeply which made her feel bad. See my above feelings on this issue and insert another "Thanks, I hate it" gif right here. However, she apologizes for her mind not being all there the past week but says that her heart never left the boat or him. Pacey is won over by this and I'm happy because these two are cute. We end the episode with her asking if they could do that thing they do sometimes and that thing turns out to be reading The Little Mermaid to each other and while odd, it's pretty sweet and I'm here for this cuteness so thank god we close the episode on this to put me in a better mood.
Initial thoughts? Weak return to the Creek after the epicness that was the season 3 finale but it was serviceable and I get that they needed to address the whole Dawson thing but I really, really hate the way it was handled. They seem to be trying to undo the damage they did to Dawson last season by making it seem like he's the only victim in all this but like no, I was there. That's not what happened, THAT'S NOT HOW IT HAPPENED AT ALL!
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| HE WAS NOT THE COCKADOODIE VICTIM!! |
They also had my favourite couple fight like right off the bat and while off-screen it had been a couple of blissful months together over the break, we went straight from the good stuff to a fight in their first episode as an official couple and that kind of sucked. Their making up was cute though but I hope we can stray away from these fights for a little while. I really feel like they tried to make Pacey do an ultimatum type thing this episode to make Dawson look a little less dickish in comparison but sorry guys, that bridge was burnt a long time ago, you're not fooling me.
Stay tuned for the next recap, Falling Down. I remember nothing about it. Should be fun.
PACEPHINE FOREVAH. The gif of them running back for another kiss is so much good.
ReplyDeleteFuck Dawson and his manipulative "feelings"
If last season didn't cement it, this episode proved Dawson is the most insufferable person ever.
ReplyDelete