Dawson's Creek - 521 - After Hours

 Original air date: May 1, 2002

When we last left off, Joey sent Charlie packing and Pacey got kissed by his new boss after trying to get Audrey's job back as a waitress. We didn't get to find out how Jack was doing after his complete mental breakdown so maybe they'll come back to that in this episode. Let's find out what happens.

We open on Jack studying in Pacey's apartment, (actually it's Brecher's apartment and Pacey is just squatting). Jack has already jumped from existential dread to trying to put his life back together which is why he's studying. He needs to ace his finals in order to pass and stay in school. So...I don't know how college works in the States but in our Universities, if you don't pass a class, you just flunk that class and don't get a credit. You just have to retake the class and pay again to get your credit. Unless he's there on a scholarship, he's kind of free to flunk as much as he wants because it just gives the University more money. Now here, if you take a college course, it's a lot more structured and yes, if you fail one class you have to make it up in order to pass and if you fail too many you are booted from the program because they are very competitive. But it's my understanding that they are in University and undergrads at that. They're basically just obtaining credit hours in order to decide where they want to major in, right? Like, you don't NEED advanced math if you're not going into a mathematic field, right? I could be wrong about how things work down there though.

Pacey says he's going to be at work so Jack is welcome to stay in the apartment to study but Jack wants to head back to Grams's house since she and Clifton must be done practicing their hymns by now. Pacey asks if he really believes that's what they're doing but Jack wants to keep that myth alive. Pacey then drops the bombshell that his boss propositioned him the other night. Pacey is weirdly averse to telling Audrey about it because he thinks she'd focus more on the sexual part of the harassment and I'm sorry, doesn't this just say everything about their relationship? I feel like if he can't tell her about something like this and have her utmost support, they shouldn't be in a relationship. If he tells Audrey and she equates it with cheating rather than seeing it for the harassment it is, then she's not worth having as a girlfriend. You catch my drift here? Jack seems to agree with Pacey and thinks he shouldn't tell but asks how hot Alex is. Pacey says he should ask her because they hath spoken and the devil hath arrived. Alex introduces herself to Jack who becomes a blubbering mess and then he tells Pacey he's in trouble. 

Yeah so...I'm gonna go and leave you with this trouble
because the plot says so. Cool?

I don't understand what they're trying to do or say with this storyline but I find it really gross that the two times Pacey has been sexually assaulted on this show by older women, once when he was underage and once as a technical adult by his boss, the show seems to be trying to get us to think this is all somehow Pacey's fault. It's more than gross, it's extremely fucked up. Just because he's a guy, doesn't mean he can't be assaulted and this might have been a great time to reinforce that if they really wanted to revisit the older woman storyline with him but instead, they seem to be doing it to push a "Pacey is weirdly attracted to older women, isn't that funny?" storyline and no thank you, please. Like age gaps can be fine but this is not it.

Alex apologizes to Pacey for coming onto him the other night and admits how unprofessional it was, also extremely gross, manipulative, and kind of evil but the show is trying to get us to buy that it was just a silly oopsie. She wants to make amends and offers Audrey her job back as well as promising to keep things professional from here on out, but like in a way that still feels inappropriate because she comments on how cute he looks in uniform. I don't like this. Pacey is happy though and then she makes a comment about the apartment being super nice. Pacey says that he's just squatting until Brecher finds someone to take over the lease. Alex thinks she should make an offer and let Pacey live rent-free for a while. She says they can work something out and when Pacey gets understandably uncomfortable, she tells him to lighten up. Ew. 

Joey is studying in a library with Dawson, who is watching a movie on his laptop. He's wearing headphones but is still being too loud for Joey who is stressed because she's fallen behind on her reading. She bemoans getting a life and it sounds an awful lot like they heard people saying that Joey is never concerned about her grades anymore since she started up with Charlie because she mentions singing in a bar being the last time she really focused on her studies. It amuses me. Anyway, she asks Dawson if he can be quiet and he says he can but then laughs at his movie and decides to check out the other movie he needs to watch that's playing in the cinema. 

Jack is also studying at home and Grams is right there being awesome and supportive by making him a special tea that I'm too dumb to spell. Gingko Biloba? Ohh, spellcheck accepts this. Nailed it first try. Anyway, Jack thinks he needs a miracle to pass it and I'm just wondering...why is Jack taking some sort of super advanced calculus as a freshman if he doesn't like math? I guess they want it to be believable that he's stressing but you can stress over English finals too if you've fallen behind to the point that getting high enough marks on your final determines if you pass or fail. Just saying. Grams decides he needs lots of black coffee instead and assures him he will get through it.

Dawson is coming out of the theatre when he runs into Meredith Salenger again! What was her name? Amy! Ok, so Amy was apparently on a date but the dude sucked on a Jordon almond? This must be an American thing. My guess is it's a chocolate covered almond and instead of eating it like normal, he sucks the chocolate off? That does sound gross. Anyway, she wants Dawson to come to her place to check out her favourite film by a new director. They banter a bit more about theatre snacks and how she keeps Junior mints in the freezer. I was unaware people were so passionate about how to eat and where to store their favourite snacks. 

It's nice to see her pop up again

At the restaurant, Audrey has her job back but is less than thrilled about it. She thinks Alex only gave her the job back because she likes Pacey because Audrey admits she's a shitty waitress. At least she's self aware? I can't perfectly articulate what I hate about this conversation but I'm going to try my best. This conversation feels very much like it was written by a guy who's only information about women comes from Pick Up Artists. There's the very fact that Alex is portrayed as a cougar/harpy/wench out to steal guys away from their girlfriends. There's also the weird way that Audrey's suspicion doesn't just come from the fairly reasonable deduction listed above but because "I know exactly who she is, and she knows exactly who I am. Believe me, women speak a shorthand with eachother." Boys. Guys. Fellas. Women are not robots wired to think exactly the same as each other. We do not speak coded language with each other. We're fucking humans, like you, and we speak the same fucking language as you do, whatever language it may be, English, French, German, Mandarin, Swahili, etc... Sometimes people can be good judges of character but that is not due to some hidden language but more to do with how perceptive someone is of another person's behaviours. Like, could I tell that Alex was going to be some type of Ms. Jacobs 2.0 from the moment she walked in? Yes. But that's more because the writers/director/producers cued me up to assume that with their not so subtle hints. I don't know what's going on here but I hate the way this show writes women a lot of the time.

Audrey doesn't believe Pacey and immediately puts two fingers to his throat and asks if she hit on him. Pacey lies through his teeth and Audrey says his pulse jumped but he says it's because she's holding her fingers to his jugular. I mean, it's weird but what does he think she's going to do with her fingers? Does he think she's Catwoman? They continue to argue when Alex comes in and tells them to keep things appropriate at work which is supposed to be a cue that she's "evil" but is actually pretty fucking standard. You're not being paid to flirt. Alex welcomes Audrey back and Pacey is all, see she totally cares! Audrey sees past the bullshit and Pacey doesn't understand what he's missing. I don't understand why Pacey is being so obtuse here? He knows that Alex is into him, he knows that Audrey is insecure about Alex and suspects her of liking him. So, why is he lying to her face about this and pretending like Alex has no ulterior motives? He knows she does, she already tried to kiss him and she basically propositioned him about the apartment already. Why is he being so dumb and acting like he doesn't get why Audrey is upset? Either he's extremely stupid or he's intentionally gaslighting Audrey's worries about Alex right now and I know Pacey isn't stupid so I have to go with the more disappointing one and I hate it. Pacey and Audrey don't fit well together at all.

Next, we find Dawson in Amy's apartment where they are talking about first movies made by new directors. Aparently, Say Anything was a first time thing? I love it but it feels weird to have Dawson talk about it only because an article compared Dawson to Lloyd and no. He could never. I actually take offense to that because Lloyd is not an absolute trash heap of a person and I really think people are misremembering a lot of that movie. Anyway, perhaps that's an article for another time. Amy is very into Dawson's film speak and she kisses him. They skip watching a movie and jump right to the actual definition of "Netflix and Chill". 

After a break, we come back to them after having done the deed where Dawson makes a meta commentary about how characters only ask about how the sex was in media and Amy agrees saying it's an expositional device to clue the readers in on what happened when they weren't allowed to see. I actually kind of love it when the show does stuff like this. It's cute. Dawson stumbles across a VHS tape labelled as The Marjorie Game by Amy Lloyd. She gets very defensive and practically rips it out of his hand. Dawson condescendingly laughs about how she was a film major when he had her pegged for critical studies and like...Dawson where do you think film critics get their knowledge? Of course a lot of them went to film school. People become film critics because they love movies and maybe even had dreams of being a filmmaker too. Dawson is such a dick. Like he has this attitude that he is the "one true film lover" and no one else can possibly be as genuine as he is and it's tiresome. After mocking her, he acts a bit indignant that she refuses to let him watch it. I also took a bit of film and yeah, I sucked at it and I hope none of my projects end up anywhere online. I never made a full movie but definitely made a few shorts and they were terrible. I did not have the touch. I know that and don't need anyone else to tell me that so I get why Amy is like absolutely no one shall ever see this. 

Audrey finds Joey in the library and I just realized, in recapping this episode that Joey has basically no plot this episode and I wonder if it's because the show got guff for focusing too much on Joey for practically the whole season and they're now trying to rectify this by shoving her in the library to worry about her studies this episode. Audrey tells Joey that she thinks Pacey is cheating and Joey agrees with me that Pacey doesn't cheat. He really, really doesn't. That's never been his character. He's actually pretty fucking monogamous and it annoys me that the show keeps trying to portray him otherwise. Audrey is sure he's hiding something from her and Joey suggests he's planning her a party. Bad move because now if he isn't, he looks bad. Also, he isn't planning her a party and he is hiding Alex but no, he didn't cheat, he was sexually harassed and this storyline is exhaustingly problematic. Joey and Audrey then study together after Audrey teases her a bit by pretending not to know about finals.

It's now night time and Pacey and Alex are now the last two people in the restaurant. Pacey offers to stay late with her but she says he should go home because her place is right around the corner. Pacey tells her the neighbourhood looks artsy and safe during the day but isn't really at night and actually brings up Joey's mugging again. Alex says she can't go home because she'd have to carry all of her books but Pacey insists that she does because he'll carry them for her. Pacey is a really stand up guy and I know he'd do this for most people but I don't know why he's going out of his way to do this for her when he already knows that she's going to take it the wrong way. She instantly flirts with him which Pacey tries to play off as him just walking her home but he's playing with fire right now. If I were in his shoes, I'd be avoiding her like the plague and probably looking for a new job.

Jack shows up at the frat house to ask them for their notes on the math stuff but they all act like they have no idea what he's talking about. I know this is here to show us how bad the frat is but like, what was Jack expecting? Like, yes the frat sucks but I don't understand why Jack would think they'd be helpful at all. Eric comes out to see what's going on but stays silent and Jack has to leave with his tail behind his legs as he hopefully finally realizes that these guys are only friends with you if you are in their club. Jack makes a shocked Pikachu face.

You mean the guys that only allow certain people into their club
only help out people in their club??

Dawson asks Amy about her movie and she admits that it really stinks. He asks her why she doesn't make another one. She tells him she loves movies and now she gets paid to watch them and people want to hear her thoughts on them so she moved on.  I think that's super fair and she seems really happy doing what she does. Not everyone who wanted to or loves movies has to make a movie to express that love. I express my love of pop culture on this very blog and I write, I still do creative things but sometimes we try things and find that it's not actually what we want to do. It's ok to fail at something you wanted to do, at least you tried and now you know. But both Dawson and Amy think it's sad she had to move on. I guess it is, but I also think where she's ended up is cool. 

Pacey walks Alex to her hotel as they chat about stuff that I'm not really paying attention to. Pacey thinks that she should consider taking over his apartment and she says she will consider it. He then invites her to check it out and damn, Pacey. You are being exceptionally obtuse this episode. She's happy to have him as a friend and they say goodnight to each other after a way too long hug.

Joey is trying to study while Audrey is trying to figure out what surprise Pacey could be conjuring up for her. Joey gets super annoyed and basically tells Audrey to get lost as the library stares at her outburst. Audrey says she's going to go bug Pacey while I wonder how far behind Joey got that she's freaking out about being kicked out of school. Didn't she get perfect all A's last we heard? Just as Audrey leaves, Jack sits down next to her and asks about multivariable calculus as Joey looks annoyed.

Dawson and Amy are chatting about their dating life and eventually they get to his break up with Jen. Amy is surprised to hear they are still great friends because she threw a cuisinart at her ex when they broke up. Please don't encourage a guy to be violent during a break up, no one should be violent during a break up. Amy thinks there was nothing special about Jen if he isn't that broken up about it and that's just another notch on the show shitting on Jen post. Who Dawson is really hung up on, is Joey. Amy asks why he's not with her and Dawson says it's because she's moved on. Amy asks how he knows that and he says she spent a night with another guy. Amy laughs at him and points out that he spent a night with another girl and obviously hasn't moved on from her. People really need to stop encouraging Dawson to go after Joey. Seriously.

A dejected Jack makes it home to find Grams waiting for him. She shows him into the dining room where Eric is waiting for him with books out. He's here to help Jack study in a really rushed redemption arc for Eric. 

Pacey is showering when the doorbell to his place rings. Surprise! It's Alex, already taking him up on the offer to view the place in the most inappropriate time possible. She plays the oops, I misread and I'm so terrible card so that Pacey will assure her that it's all fine and says she can look at the apartment now. She commends him for not acting on the heat they feel between each other and says she felt it when they hugged just now and when they kissed. Of course, this is when Audrey enters the scene and is rightfully pissed. She storms out and Pacey chases after her. 

They argue in the street while Audrey rightly points out that it is exactly what it looked like and that he lied to her about Alex both not being into him and that nothing happened. Pacey says he didn't want to tell Audrey because he didn't think she'd take it well and didn't want to embarrass Alex. So, two things, 1, Audrey used that logic on Pacey already and it pissed Pacey off so why was it ok for him to do the same thing to her? 2, why does he care at all about his boss's feelings and even more, why does he care more about Alex's than Audrey's feelings? Like, this is essentially the fight they had last episode before declaring themself serious boyfriend/girlfriend and this is the shit they're pulling right after? And I, as a viewer, am asked to care about this relationship? Because I feel bad for Audrey but I'm not shocked they broke up, they're terrible together. Audrey points out his flawed logic too and that if he really wanted to stop her hitting on him, he had numerous options, one of which is to quit which angers Pacey because he needs the job and basically throws her class in her face. I get it, she's rich and he's from a poorer family but he knows she has a rocky relationship with her parents so this is a low blow. Audrey storms off and Pacey walks back inside.

Alex is still there and very amused by the whole thing. Pacey is upset but she just laughs it off because he's too young to settle down. She then comes onto him even stronger and says that because everyone now thinks he did it, he should just do it. To my horror and anger, Pacey gives in and makes out with her. In a twist, they don't go all the way because Alex stops it. She says that she's satisfied just knowing she could have him and peaces out, leaving Pacey a shambled mess of hormones and confusions. That is fantastically evil and we're not going to get a satisfying explanation for why she does this. She's just here to be evil and twirl her moustache after ruining someone's life.

Mmm, yes! Your blue balls are my elixir.
Mua hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa!

There's a short vignette where Joey realizes two people are making out at the table where she's trying to study and asks them to get a room. They act like she's the crazy one but she's right. It's really weird when people just make out anywhere like that. There was a couple that would make out in front of their locker, which was also where my friend's locker was and she always had to ask them to move. It was so awkward. Don't make out in front of lockers or in libraries, please. 

Jack asks Eric why he is helping him out and it's very obvious to us that Eric has a little crush, even if he was weirdly homophobic and super in the closet. Eric offers the explanation that Jack helped him and he's returning the favour. 

Back with Amy and Dawson, she hands him a movie but it's an old Woody Allen movie so we're just going to skip over the glorifying of that monster, if that's ok with you. Dawson wants to keep in touch with her and she says she'd like that too but it's very obvious that this is probably the last time we will see her. 

We get a montage, Joey studying, Jack and Eric studying together, and Pacey attempting to call Audrey but she refuses to answer. I don't blame her. We next cut to Joey asleep at the library while Dawson looks on creepily. He cannot pull off the looking tenderly on as his love sleeps thing the way Pacey could. She wakes up and he offers her coffee. He asks how her day was and she launches into this whole thing about how stressful it was and Dawson falls asleep. She calls his name and he wakes up to ask if she likes his shoes (Amy had told him that she liked him based on his shoes and it was a whole ridiculous thing). Joey tells him she does and asks why and he says he was just wondering and the episode fades to black. I think this was supposed to be cute but feels really not that. I mean, Joey was trying to confide in him and he just fell asleep and then asked about his shoes. I feel bad for Joey, everyone shit on her this episode and the minute she gets a chance to vent, she's ignored.

Pacey's whole story felt very abrupt. He'd just established a relationship with Audrey and it's already undone an episode later. This didn't have the dramatic impact they were hoping for because there was no time to get invested in this. Andie cheating on Pacey was gut wrenching because they'd been in a loving and committed relationship for an entire season before. These two argued about whether or not to get together or about how together they were for a few episodes and now Pacey cheats on her. To me, this relationship should be dead now. On top of that, they seem to think that making Alex super manipulative and evil absolves Pacey of guilt and no. I want to be clear, Alex is very in the wrong, a terrible boss who should never be put in positions of power over people because she treats them like playthings and is a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen. She is awful. However, Pacey was kind of complicit.

He is absolutely a victim but at the same time, his protestations always seemed to be in jest because he was also attracted to her. If he was so uncomfortable, he could have avoided her as much as possible. Like, why insist on walking her home? I know Pacey is a good person but come on, he had to know that was a bad idea. He had to know telling her to check out the apartment was a bad idea, mainly because it's Brecher's job to sell it. He had to know that allowing her in and not sending her away was a bad idea. They really seemed to be trying to write it in a way that Pacey was put upon but he kind of invited it too and I hate writing that because I feel like I'm victim blaming but seriously. Pacey had so many opportunities to distance himself and he already knew Audrey was uncomfortable with Alex. I don't know what the writers were hoping to achieve with this story but in every sense of the word, they failed. 

We only have two episodes left and like a week left of December but I'm determined to get season 5 done this year. Stay tuned, the last two recaps are coming. I can't promise a specific day but they will be here. It's The Abby next where we get a surprise visit from a familiar character!