Dawson's Creek - 421 - Separation Anxiety

 Original air date: May 9, 2001

I have been derelict in my posting duties and for that, I apologize. I've been wrapped up in stress, NaNoWriMo word counts, and just generally needing to consume content that brings me joy (see Santa Girl among others). Anyway, I thought I really should get back to this because we left off on some really tragic and yet surprisingly compelling storylines. Guys, the sinking of our good ship S.S. Pacephine was a nautical disaster akin to The Poseidon Adventure and well, the tragic loss of True Love this very season. It was messy and mean and heartbreaking and I'm very sorry I didn't recap this one sooner because it at least gives us something nice. Let's try to get to that morning after shall we?

We start the episode with Jen begging Jack for details of his dating life since she's tragically alone. I'm not being dramatic, Jen is usually tragically alone and it's a crime. This show shits on her so much, like yes Michelle Williams is an amazingly good actress who is very good at sad scenes but like, can we just let Jen have some happiness? Please? *spoiler alert* She will not get that. 

Anyway, Drew comes up with yearbooks because he's nice now or something but I'm not buying it. You'll have to do more than rescue Jen from falling off a prom boat before you're rid of your comical monocle and moustache, Drew. I mean, I would hope you're not inhuman enough to want to save someone from falling off a boat while drunk, it still doesn't erase how awful you are though. Anyway, he tells them to turn to a page in the book for a moment of silence, it's the class couple picture of Pacey and Joey. Ouch. See, he's still being a dick. Jen and Jack chatter amongst themselves about how they thought they'd have gotten back together already but they haven't spoken and how Dawson and Gretchen haven't spoken either. Drew is bored and wants to turn this thing into action. Betting action that is. I want to hate Drew for this but both Jen and Jack get in on this action but then hide the fact that they did it when Dawson and Joey walk in. So, I guess they're no better. I still hate Drew only though. 

I know we've seen this before but I'm just now noticing how stalkery the picture looks?
Did Dawson just sneak up on them and snap the pic without their consent? 

After the credits, we see Dawson in his room going over his documentary series that he did with Mr. Brooks. Apparently he wants to get into the summer program for USC and has to send stuff out by tomorrow. Gail comes in and asks how he's doing after his big break up. Oof. She encourages him to try to make amends but Dawson says he'll handle it when he handles it. Gail goes to leave but then admits to him that Gretchen has quit the bar and is moving away tomorrow so if he wants to make amends, it has to be quick. 

Pacey is fixing up Gretchen's car for her trip and she comes outside to talk to him. They talk about their ex significant others and how they're still not talking. They both want to make amends but they're not sure they're ready to do it and instead opt to stay at their house and hide. 

Jen walks in the door to her house to find three strangers walking around, two of them discussing the changes they want to make to it, specifically her room. Jen is like hold up, what's going on here? The couple leave and the woman explains she's a realtor and is here to sell Grams' house. Jen is not pleased. 

Joey is at work when she runs into the prestigious university guy that threw the party a few episodes ago, Mr. Kubelik. He asks if she's coming to his next party and if she'll be bringing Pacey. Joey awkwards for a bit before admitting that they broke up. Mr. Kublik expresses his condolences but thinks they've split on good terms and not having the heart to say otherwise, Joey agrees that they are. Mr. Kubelik tells her that he and the Dean of Admissions have a pressing matter they want to discuss with Pacey and you can see Joey get super excited when she assures him that he'll be there. 

Jen demands to know why Grams is selling the house but she plays mostly coy. Jen thinks it has to do with sending her to college so Grams admits that the money from the house will primarily go towards her tuition but that she wants to move on with her life like Jen is doing so she's moving to a retirement home. Jen is not pleased to hear this because Grams is far too young and hip for this. Grams accuses her of being ageist but Jen denies she is and wants to go see the place for herself so she knows Grams is moving somewhere actually nice.

Dawson goes to the Leery Fish place whatever it's called, I hate the name anyway, and gives Gretchen his yearbook to sign even though he told his mom that idea was lame. It's supposed to be funny but I'm biased and thus think it makes Dawson out to be a douche. You know what you're signing up for when you read this blog. #sorrynotsorry Anyway, he asks if she was really just going to leave town without saying goodbye and Gretchen says that's exactly what she was going to do so Dawson takes his yearbook back and tries to leave which is pretty fair. Gretchen then admits that she's been trying to think of a way to say goodbye all week so he stays. They chat a bit and she reveals she's going back to college to finish her degree so that more jobs she really wants won't turn her down. 

Can I just take a moment to have a frustrating aside here? It really sucks when jobs are like "wow, you are a great candidate for this job and competent at it but you didn't spend thousands of dollars on a piece of paper to say you can do the job so we're not going to hire you" and then when you have that paper the excuse will be "But we want 5 years experience too!" and when you get that experience on top of your degree they then drop this bomb "Ok, so it pays minimum wage and you have to work your way up." Bitch, don't require that people go in debt and then find shit jobs only to be paid minimum wage. Any job that requires college/university degrees should damn well be ponying up $20+ dollars an hour. Minimum wage is for the jobs that don't require additional expensive education. Get out of here with this bullshit you greedy corporate hacks. /end rant.

Anywho, they agree to try to hang out for her last day and she asks to take his yearbook because she does want to sign it. She wants some time to work on it too and Dawson jokes that the longer she has it, the less acceptable 'have a bitchin summer' will be. I chuckled. You got me, Dawson.

Joey is at Pacey's house, trying to get up the courage to knock. Honestly, the fact that she's this excited for him and wants to do this when he treated her like absolute crap at the prom is pretty surprising. It's nice, don't get me wrong but I don't think I'd be as noble if I were in her shoes. Sorry, Pacey. I love you but your behaviour was trash last episode. She finally knocks and he answers. After a bit of awkwardness, she launches into her spiel about the Worthington Prep guy and his pressing matter he wants to discuss with Pacey. Pacey ignores this and says he misses her. She admits she missed him too and Pacey launches into how much he hated how he treated her at prom. I'm glad he's being contrite and recognized that he was awful but Joey is not ready to hear it and just asks him again if he'll go to the party with her. He agrees and they agree to meet up and go together. 

The magic of Joshua Jackson is that he can make you feel sympathetic
for his character in spite of the fact that he was the cause of his own misery.

Pacey is helping Gretchen stock up on snack foods for her trip while trying to change the subject of their conversation. Gretchen won't let him though and insists he not go to the party with Joey. She thinks they should take some more time apart to figure out what went wrong but Pacey doesn't think taking advice from someone leaving town to get over a break up is a good idea. I'm on the fence here, they both have a point. Pacey explains that even if it's a longshot, he has to go because he wants a sign. Gretchen asks what he's looking for and Pacey says he wants to know that they're meant to be together. It just breaks my heart, he thinks he's not good enough for her and is holding out hope that he can join her in her world so they can be together. Ugh. Sadness. They say their goodbyes to each other now since Pacey wants to walk home to think things over and she's leaving way too early that he likely won't be up.

Jen and Grams are at the retirement community, La Brea Park and a crusty old security guard won't let them in without a pass. Jen makes a joke about just gunning it since the lady probably won't catch them. They don't but the woman is bitchy to poor Grams and I won't hear of this. Neither will Jen.

Dawson is viewing his movie for Mitch to get an "unbiased" opinion but we all know that Mitch is terrified of upsetting the Great Dawson and praises him. Dawson makes a comment about how Mr. Brooks had a huge ego and Mitch sneaks in a little dig about how he reminded Mitch of Dawson. Sick burn. When Dawson is angered and asks him to clarify, Mitch spins a tale about how Mr. Brooks was a dreamer and impulsive for running off to California with a girl he met in a diner and says that very few people see moments like that. Dawson is placated...for now. *cue sinister music*

Satisfactory response, Father, but I'm watching you

Pacey has gone to pick up Joey and finds her waiting outside her house for him. He tells her he would have rang the bell for her but Joey has been ready for an hour which is too much time to look in the mirror and, I guess, second guess her style choices? She walks down the steps and leans in to give him a kiss before realizing that she is falling into old habits and the whole prom thing happened and stops herself. I don't want to downplay this little moment, it's fine but I think the stronger choice to convey this troublesome state of their relationship would be for Pacey to fall into the old habit and then Joey to pull back uncomfortably because *gestures at the whole prom debacle*. It doesn't quite make sense to me that she'd forget something like that went down and so easily want to slip back into boyfriend/girlfriend mode but then again, I like that Pacey didn't do that after pulling the crap he did so I guess this is fine. I'm just being nitpicky. 

Jen and Grams arrive home and Jen is not happy with La Brea Park. She refuses to let Grams move there for her. Grams assures her that she's not sacrificing anything, she wants to do this as a gift but Jen does not want her gift if it means she has to live in that hellhole with the cranky gate lady. Jen is being very selfless here but at the same time, she really should have been saving for college herself. This is the kind of thing that teen shows get so wrong. None of them ever seem to work (Except Joey because she's so poooooorrrr!!!) but like, I too was a middle class white person and everyone I knew had jobs in order to do stuff and save for their own college tuitions. Very few of us had parents that were well off enough to just give us a free ride to college. Jen, you spent too much time flip flopping about wanting to date Dawson and cheerleading and dating Henry, you should have been working just a bit. At least Pacey and Dawson used to work at a video store but I think that's long over now. I guess she had been banking on her parents money and they were already shown to be super well off but damn, maybe she shouldn't have turned that money down? Accept the money and then cut them off and hate them, girl. Yes, I'm advocating for her cutting her parents out of her life, they suck but that doesn't mean she shouldn't make her own life easier in the process. This was a thing that always drove me nuts about Gilmore Girls too, like girl, you do not have financial problems, you have a family with a mansion and hired help. Sure, both Lorelai and Jen are trying to be independent and better people and they feel that taking their money will sully them in some way but still, it just rubs me the wrong way for some reason.

Joey and Pacey are greeted by Mr. Kubelik at the party where they make a bit of small talk before he ushers Joey towards the fireplace where the other students are taking a Freshman year picture? Kay. I've never been to rich made up Universities before so maybe this is a thing that's done, I don't know. It could just be a plot device to have Joey go away with a future college colleague and Pacey to be left with Kubelik so they can finally talk about the unnamed thing they want to discuss with him. Just kidding, we don't find that out yet because we cut to the next scene.

Dawson finds Gretchen, getting ready by her car and asks her if she's leaving already. She's not but she's packing up so she's ready to go first thing. She wonders what he's doing there and he reveals that he wants to go with her on her trip. She thinks he's crazy and asks about graduation but he's not interested in that long and boring spectacle where you wait in a sweaty church because their air conditioner broke after the power went out so it gets delayed an hour and then when everything gets going, it takes another 3 hours to end. Oh wait, that was my high school graduation but toh-may-toh / toh-mah-toh, right? He is inspired by Mr. Brooks and what his father said and wants to take a chance, see where their relationship goes before he goes to film school. She readily agrees and they hug happily.

Dawson is at home again and he's trying to write a goodbye note to his parents when his mom walks in with Lilian and asks him to watch her while she does a business at her restaurant. She asks if he worked things out with Gretchen and he tells her she's coming by tonight. Gail is happy for him and leaves. Then Dawson tries to justify his lie as a lie by omission to a baby. He can't quite do it though and he can't quite write his goodbye note either. 

We finally get back to Pacey, Kubelik, and the Dean of Admissions but oop, they just want to talk to him about sailing because the Dean wants to take a trip to the Caribbean. They offer him a job as a deck hand and the fact that they want him to give up his summer to help them sail and these rich bitches preface it by saying that "the pay isn't the greatest" makes me want to take both of their heads and smash them together like the Stooges they are. Seriously, you guys are hiring him, you're in charge of the pay and you're saying this like it's out of your hands. Also, they tell him the experience will be great so...we're not paying you in the thing that can help you survive but oh man, the stories you'll have. I hate these fictional rich people way more than I should but it's just that they are so often like this in real life too and I hate it. PAY HIM A DECENT WAGE YOU FUCKING GOLD HOARDING DRAGONS!! 

Literally every 1%er: No, I can't spend it all but you can't have any!! My shiny!

Sorry for that tangent. Pacey is a bit crushed, especially when he sees Joey off in her own world, fitting in with her peers that he now fully knows he'll never be part of because he's just seen as hired help. It's gutting really. He thanks them and says he'll think about it.

Jen is breaking the news to Jack that she is absolutely not going to college for the sake of her grandmother and Jack is supportive but also calls her out on being just a bit relieved to have such a great excuse to not go. Jack admits he's scared to go to college without her so Jen admits that she's afraid to leave her Grams. Jack is completely understanding and tells her she knows what she has to do.

Pacey breaks the news to Joey about the job offer rather than the long shot going to Worthington offer and Joey immediately wants to go because she's awesome and supportive. Why did you treat her so shittily last ep, Pacey? He wants to go but he thinks she should stay because this is where she belongs and he admits that he wishes that things were the same and that she needed him and he could be her saviour but she's grown so much and doesn't need him anymore. He does state that it's good that she's grown and is more confident now but I like how aware he is that he is pretty addicted to being the knight in shining armour for his girlfriends. Joey won't take his pity bait. She takes him by the arm and leads him out because she can't enjoy the party without him.

Gretchen arrives at Dawson's house pretty pumped and ready to go but Dawson is talking all poetic about his little sister and how he wonders if she and Alexander (Bessie's kid) will be best friends and Gretchen realizes what's up pretty quick. She asks him about the letter to his parents and Dawson still hasn't finished it. She tells him if he thinks that one's hard, imagine the one he'll have to write to Joey. Dawson won't look at her so she tells him it's ok and she kinda knew he would flake on her. They say their goodbyes and she leaves.

Pacey and Joey are at the Potter B&B where he's dropping her off. She thanks him for coming with her to the party and he thanks her for inviting him. She apologizes for how things turned out but he cuts her off because she has nothing to apologize for. She doesn't let him finish because she asks to stay the night at his place where they can just sleep and he agrees.

Grams anxiously asks Jen if she talked to Jack and if he managed to talk her back into going to college. Jen plays ignorant for a bit before coming right out and asking Grams to move to Boston with her. Grams is incredulous but Jen insists and that she's asking her because she wants her to be there because it would make going to college a little less scary. Grams relents after a bit and I'm so pumped for the college years, you guys. They are so, so bad but gloriously entertaining.

These two are pretty much the best part of the college years

It's morning now and Joey finds Pacey by the docks. One of my big complaints about this episode so far is that it really doesn't feel like their dynamic makes sense given what happened last episode. Like, the writer for this ep just got a prompt saying they broke up and wrote accordingly without realizing that the person in charge of breaking them up made it messy and mean as fuck. None of this is playing out how I'd expect and I remember it being jarring and not making much sense but I'm about to forgive that because this scene kind of makes up for the heartbreak of last episode. And also, clearly they did know but just sucked at writing that dynamic because they wanted to save this stuff for the end of the episode. Anyway, Joey apologizes because clearly she thinks she's made him feel the way he told her she made him feel again but he stops her and tells her that they didn't break up because of her. Joey's confused because that's not what he said at the party and we get this:

Pacey: I know what I said. And I know how I said it, and it makes me sick to my stomach every time I think about it. Blaming you for my insecurities and... then making you feel guilty for all the things that you've accomplished, when you should feel nothing but proud. And I'm so proud of you. 

Joey: I know you are. 

Pacey: But I didn't show you that. Instead--Instead, I decided to become a stereotypical guy who can't handle it when his girlfriend gets a better job than he does. I hate that guy.

Oh my god, thank you! That's the Pacey we all know and love. The one who is not cruel and mean but insightful and supportive and all around wonderful. I'm so happy he's back and realizes just how awful he was to her. It doesn't fully make up for the whole debacle but this, at least gives us a much nicer closure to their relationship. I appreciate that they took the time to give them this send off and not just have them hate each other. 

Both he and Pacey were hoping that Kubelik's offer would have been a sign for them to stay together and Pacey thinks it was, just not the one they or any of us shippers at home wanted. I can deal with that. Pacey even says that they at least got a better ending and I couldn't agree more.

It's bittersweet but I'll take it.

We cut to Dawson finding his yearbook where he has a really nice goodbye note from Gretchen, where she encourages him to give a proper goodbye to his old life before he starts his new one and hold onto the smaller moments because they pass us by quickly. Word. She also ends the note with "have a bitchin summer" which is a cute nod to Dawson's remark earlier. See, I can be nice to Dawson storylines sometimes. Sometimes. Anyway, he runs into Joey who asks him what he'll be doing for the summer and Dawson smiles and just says "this" and we fade to black.

I wasn't overly wowed by this episode but I did love that this introduces Grams being in the next season and that it gave us a much nicer end to the Pacephine relationship. Seeing it end in such a jarringly cruel way was just too much. I get that they like to shake things up in dramas and they want them to go off to college single and ready to mingle but it's nice that they gave them this much more grounded and nice send off. Stay tuned because The Graduate is next and we're now two episodes away from the stupidly funny college years.