Dawson's Creek - Season 6 Wrap Up

Audrey made it into the full cast shot!

And just like that, the final season of Dawson's Creek is done. This is it in this timeline. No more college shenanigans, crazy storylines, drama filled relationships. It's the end of an era. I have so many mixed emotions about this because on the one hand, as bad as season 6 has been, I'm sad to see it be done. On the other hand, I'm immensely proud that I've finished a thing. A thing that has been years in the making for me. I had never intended it to take so long to do these recaps but life always has a way of stealing my time away from things I enjoy. I'm going to miss this little show and all of the characters. Except Dawson. 

So, what did we learn in this season about our characters? Surprisingly little. The development this season is pretty garbage for everyone. I'm not even sure how to order this list because everyone felt like side characters in Joey's story, including Dawson. Weirdly, Pacey gets more screentime than Dawson but somehow still no development. This is the fanfic season with Joey Potter as the author insert who always gets her way unless it's tragically, dramatically sad. I'm going to do the season breakdown by character as I've always done it but I'm not sure there's much to talk about. 

Jack McPhee

I'm starting with Jack and it breaks my heart but he's bumped to the bottom again because he received even less development this season than Audrey. He started off this season wanting to do better in school, great build off from the whole fall out of the frat house and almost flunking out of college. Jack is wanting to turn over a new leaf and work hard. This could have led to some great drama. Instead, what we get is yet another student/teacher relationship. That makes what, 3 times this show has done this now? I'm just so tired of it and it was not compelling at all. Jack really deserved a more interesting and developed storyline. Instead, they almost can't decide if Jack is being threatened by this teacher or if they really do like each other and want to date. I mean, it could have been interesting had they leaned into the teacher harassment situation. That is a real thing that students have encountered and it's shocking to me that no show tackles it and only paints these pairings as romantic and desired. I bet you anything most students find it overwhelming and creepy and maybe there should be a story that speaks to them and shows them that they can get help? As it is, we get Jack with a new guy even after he ignored him to flirt with his teacher. David is nice, he's very nice and very chill but he's a bit of a nothing too. I'm not saying nice characters can't work, I loved Oz and he was very much a nice and chill guy but I think what worked with Oz and doesn't quite work for me with David is that his niceness was developed as something for Willow to strive to. I don't get the impression that Jack appreciates the niceness or wants to do better for him. I just feel like Jack is hanging out with David so he has someone to hang out with which may have been the point, since David breaks up with him for this very reason but it fell flat because we barely saw them. They didn't really do anything together onscreen for us to latch onto. And that's it. Jack disappears for a large chunk of this season and really only shows up to be Jen's moral support by the end. It's nice that he goes to New York with her but kind of sad that he doesn't have anything really defining him as a character to strive towards. 

Audrey Liddell

Oh Audrey, how dirty you were done. Remember when I said the singing arc should have been hers? Well, I think a lot of people felt that way and the writers sort of listened and said fine, here it is. Except...they gave her a singing arc mixed with her spiraling into alcoholism. I don't really know what they were trying to say with this one other than, be really dramatic. I feel like her depression kind of came out of nowhere and the fault was put a bit on Pacey which doesn't seem fair. I get that a break up can be hard but she was spiraling before that and I feel like it was the reason he was pulling away. She was too much for him in LA, she was already starting to skip classes. But the writers really wanted us to think Pacey drove her to it. He was not the best boyfriend to her this season, but to blame him for her alcoholism seems a bit much. We could say it was her parents but she was dealing with that last season and I feel like that was when they maybe should have planted the plot seeds for the alcoholism. Instead, they hinted more at the fact that she was softer than she let on and way less sexed up than we thought. The way this storyline played out, it seemed like they wanted her to be Abby, the group bitch, but also keep her as a friend and we get this confused mess where she treats everyone like shit and they all, for some reason, just forgive her for it? Her resolution is that she comes back and complains about having to take summer school, then she has to play Ms. Jacobs, and ends her run on the show by hooking up with skeevy Todd. Woof. Poor Audrey.

Jen Lindley

No one was done more dirty in this show that Jen. (Ok maybe Andie too but she at least got to have a happy ending off screen). I thought at the very start of this season, that she was going to have one of her best boyfriends ever. I did not see this season as a whole when it first aired. I missed large chunks and back then, unless you recorded with your VCR, you missed it and you were out of luck. Then in reruns, I either wasn't paying attention or just thought Jensen was cute? I know I saw Spiderwebs in the reruns, I remember the fight but for some reason, didn't quite get what had happened and re-watching this now, yikes. Jen deserved better than to end up with this guy. And unfortunately, this was really her only development this season. Obsess over CJ, get rejected by CJ, find out he slept with drunk Audrey, for some reason get together with CJ, then move to New York. I'm sad they got rid of her music angle, that was super cool and felt right for her. The helpline was weak. It might have played out better had it lead to her confronting more of her past demons but it just...added nothing. It only served to get her and CJ together. The subplot with her Grams being diagnosed with cancer was acted superbly by Michelle and Mary Beth but it came so late and they made Grams so harsh at first that it felt a bit awkward and then rushed. Also, the fact that our beautiful Jen went from gorgeous wavy locks to a helmet head was a crime against all of humanity. I don't know why she did that to herself. Complete downgrade. I'm so sorry if Michelle really wanted that hair cut but it did not suit her because whoever gave her the cut butchered it. Short hair looks stunning on Michelle but that cut in particular was...wrong. I wish I had more to say but the only nice thing about her development in this timeline, was that she finished the season on a relatively happy note. Moving back to New York, made amends with her mother, steady boyfriend who is also headed to New York, her best friend in tow, and her Grams going to get the best treatment available. I hated the season finale but I wish this was the end Jen got.

Dawson Leary

Yep, I bumped him down a peg because he really doesn't factor in much this season. In fairness, it's because James asked to not be included as much this season because he was basically done with this show and dealing with a lot of personal problems. That's fine, I can respect it, but that doesn't mean I'm above taking some satisfaction that the OG main character was basically written out this season. He starts off trying to rekindle his love with Joey and they finally do the deed with each other but then everything blows up when Joey finds out he's been dating another girl and essentially cheated on her with Joey. I've already made it clear that I think Joey overreacted with this one and that the larger victim in Dawson's shenanigans was Natasha, I don't care how awful they tried to make her. We get some glimpses of Dawson dating Natasha and then the writers just kind of break them up because they didn't actually love each other. After Dawson is done with the film, which failed to get a release due to being terrible, tries to sell his movie only to decide to make it himself. He urges Pacey to invest his money and double it but like...that doesn't happen quickly unless you get really lucky. This is all to paint him as the victim and Pacey as the villain though so we like Dawson at the end. Jokes on the writers though, I never liked Dawson and I never will. Ok, I liked him ok when he dated Jen briefly in season 5 but that's it. Watching everyone bend over backwards to help Dawson film his stupid Joey break up story again while ignoring any of the pain or stuggle the other characters are going through is just infuriating though. Dawson says he doesn't believe in friendship because of how mean Pacey was to him but in reality, he's the worst friend of all by far and the others should have left him twisting in the winds at his mom's restaurant. he doesn't care about his friends and claims he doesn't have any when everyone has always stood by him. He started out being boring and he ended this season being boring and entitled. He only begrudgingly forgives Pacey in the end when it really should be him seeking Pacey's forgiveness. Dawson didn't change at all in the 6 seasons of development. I thought maybe he got marginally better in the college years but nope, still the same old rage filled, spoiled only child he always was and he gets everything he wants.

Pacey Witter

My boy, Pacey had it rough this season. Not only is he no longer a chef, but he's striving to become a stock bro. There was some interesting things to explore in his desire for money, that's for sure but I'm not sure they did the story justice. I really thought they were building up to a bit more with this story though. He rises in the ranks really fast and gets a fishy promotion. He meets with Ray Wise who we know, is a villain or the devil himself always but that went absolutely nowhere. I don't get it. They wasted their Ray Wise. The writers really wanted to beat Pacey down this season because he's riding high with his money making, then he gets a second chance with Joey and thinks this could be it. Unfortunately, she rejects him fully for Eddie and then he loses everything, his money, his job, his apartment. Why? Did he need to learn some lesson? It seems like it was all designed to make Dawson seem like the good guy again but I'm not having that because Dawson was just as dumb for investing everything he had and expecting a quick turnaround. So why did they do this? Why did they make him fail and return to living with his brother in Capeside? His only redemption is paying Dawson back? Honestly, I could have been happy with the season finale we got except for this travesty of leaving Pacey completely unfinished. Maybe we're supposed to assume he'll date Krissy, just like he always wanted to but meh. Maybe we were to assume he'd get a job at the restaurant he was chatting with but really, everything felt so unfinished for him and it sucked. He got nothing in the end and for a fan favourite, that's just bizarre. The only thing the writers seemed to care about was giving Joey and Dawson everything. Speaking of.

Joey Potter

Joey has become the main character and as such, she was very much Dawson-ed this season. By which I mean that she sucks. Her snark is gone, she's perpetually perfect and right in every scenario, and she acts like she's tough and fierce but she lets everyone walk all over her. I ragged on her attitude in season 1, because I felt that she was overly angry to people who didn't always deserve it but she was sooo much more interesting and likable back then than she is now. She's milquetoast now. A shadow of her former self. Her whole arc this season was mooning over a guy who was the absolute worst to her. Season 1 Joey would have never let a guy condescend to her the way Eddie did and worse, she just kept changing and shifting her boundaries to meet his needs. She wanted him to meet her family but he wasn't ready so she quickly says that they'll take it slow and then he dumps her without a word anyways. She takes him back after he abandoned her, dumping Pacey in the process, and then they fight and he bails on her again. Were we supposed to root for this? Were we supposed to root for her? I sure as hell wasn't by the end and while I can kind of get behind the ending of the series with her not ending up with either guy and going off to explore the world, it felt cheap at this point. I wish she'd just gone last season. The one time when I feel like we could have gotten a real conflict for her this season was when she missed her test and I feel like the writers blew it by just never really acknowledging it beyond that. Was it really not a big deal? That's anti-climactic. It feels like they tried to make her have consequences but chickened out because the theme this season, is Joey gets everything. Guys love her, grades come easy, school and work always work out, she gets to go to Paris. It's boring. I think I have to chuck this season in the garbage and just focus on the two part finale to even root for her and her and Pacey getting back together at all. I mean, at least 5 years have passed, right? You can forget and forgive a lot of shit in 5 years...maybe. 

I don't think a single character had a solid arc this season and that's impressive. Usually there is some through line I can grab hold of and examine but there's just nothing here for our gang this season. Things just happened. Not only that but the tone felt really off. Especially, and jarringly so, in the first episode back where they have Joey talk like a Disney channel teen. Everything is treated as a goofy caper and I'm not saying goofy moments never existed in this show, just that the sitcom-y vibes were dialed up this season and the drama wasn't nearly as good. What happened to this show, man? Like the beginning of season 5 had so much promise. It was good! Then the second half happened and it just careened into the toilet and somehow this season managed to get worse from there. If you're interested I know exactly which episode is the worst and which is the best this season, based entirely on my personal taste and feelings. Lovelines is the absolute worst this show ever committed to film. Hands down. I think it's the worst of the whole series for me. Say what you want about any other episode, at least I didn't have to stare at Adam fucking Corolla during those ones and there was probably way better drama and plots going on. The best is, no question, Castaways. It is the saving grace of this season, the only episode anyone should revisit. You might enjoy Clean and Sober too but beyond those two, everything else feels like a waste. It was a chore to get through this season, even though I love this show to bits. Now that I'm effectively done recapping this show, I don't think I will ever revisit season 6 again, but for Castaways. 

And that's it...for now Dear Readers. I have to prepare myself for the very last episodes of this show set five years into their future. It's so funny to think that the first time we watched this we were getting a glimpse at a time that didn't exist yet and now, it's just like meh, yeah they jumped five years into 2008, what's the big deal? It was a novel concept for a show like this though and I'm excited to see what my thoughts will be now that so many years have gone by since I last watched it. Will I feel the same way about how everything goes down? I know I'm still going to be mad about Jen but we'll get to that in the next recap. Until then, folks!