Dawson's Creek - Final Thoughts

 Here we are, folks. I've got to say goodnight and good bye for good to this show that I grew up with. What better way than to sum up my thoughts on the finale and the series as a whole. I think the first thing I want to touch on is how grateful I am that Kevin Williamson came back to do the finale. As wonky as it ended up being, it was a welcome ending to the series to finally have its voice back. I think that's what I missed the most in the later series but especially in season 6, the voice. It didn't feel overwrought or poetic anymore but bland and generic. People who didn't get the show always complained about the dialogue because "teens don't talk that way" but who cares? I loved the way they talked. I never had a hard time understanding them and it's a large part of the charm the series had. The fact that they had Joey narrating over season 6 like she's some kind of Disney Channel preteen felt so out of place. She didn't talk that way and it felt off. So, big shout out to Kevin for coming back and bringing that back plus a lot of the heart that was missing. That being said, I have some gripes.

Jack McPhee through the series

Ok, so first off I want to say that the MVPs of the episode are, hands down, Jack and Jen. They knocked it out of the park, their scenes were great and you bought them as friends. Shame on the show for not using them as much in the college years and practically writing Jack out in season 6. I wish they'd both gotten better endings. Jack fared a bit better what with being alive and all but he ends up with Doug which gives me very mixed feelings. I think we can say that he's changed a lot but man, something about that situation just doesn't sit right with me and it's largely due to Doug being closeted being treated as a joke for so long. It feels kind of like a mean stinger to be like, see Pacey called it and while that can happen, I don't know if the show really earned the right to that as an ending for him. Doug is barely used so we don't get to see a character progression. Jack ending up with him just feels like...we didn't feel like writing him a better or new relationship so he gets the cop who pointed a gun at his little brother and participated in or laughed off the little brother's abuse. That being said, Jack ending up as a teacher feels kind of cool. It seems fitting because a lot of times, students who struggle make the best teachers as they understand how to teach something difficult. 

Jen Lindley through the series

Jen is the biggest let down. I feel like they killed her off for the shock of it. To pull at our heartstrings and trick us into believing that this meant more than it really did. It's just a show ending and I know that this show has always explored the ups and downs of life but for a series finale, this felt like an unnecessary downer, a cynical ratings grab. Michelle knocked it out of the park, of course and I'm not too proud to admit that it succeeded in pulling at my heartstrings. I was a sobbing mess while watching this episode, I just feel like it's a little gross of a message overall. Especially with how the characters talk about Jen, even in this very finale. It comes across as punishing the "bad girl" and it just doesn't feel right. From day one I have always sympathized with Jen. She was the new girl, trying to fit in and find a place to belong. I often felt like an outsider even in my friend groups growing up. Like I just didn't quite belong there but they tolerated me (this is entirely my own weird insecure feelings and not on my friends). I just mean that I felt for her but the show always seemed to want me to hate her. I was supposed to believe she was the "bad girl" in much the same way they desperately wanted me to view Pacey as the "bad boy" but they weren't. I saw too extremely caring and empathetic individuals who always tried their best. Yet, the show just kept punishing my Jen. I thought the biggest insult for her was in season 5 when she had a boyfriend that only wanted to use her for sex, unbeknownst to her, to then have him actually fall for Joey and want to be good. That was messed up for really pushing the Madonna/Whore dynamic they always wanted us to see Joey/Jen as and it was gross but it was nothing compared to making her a single mother who is unceremoniously abandoned by the boyfriend who impregnated her (and it would be bad enough if it were CJ but I feel like I read somewhere that it was not and was just some random guy), and then the show kills her off. The way this show treated Jen as a character is, quite frankly, gross and very disappointing. She deserved so much better. She deserved to heal, find love, and a place to belong. 

Pacey Witter through the series

Pacey owning the Ice House is super cool. I really liked that part of the episode but I really didn't need to see that he was sleeping with a married woman. Kevin seems to like adding the occasional spicy moment but I really wish he'd grown enough to see that the whole Ms. Jacobs affair was gross and calling back to it was unnecessary. It also feels very wildly out of character for him considering his reaction to the David/Karen affair in season 5. Him still being in love with Joey seems very in character with him but I'll admit that I don't think Joey did enough to deserve it again after the Love Bites fiasco. I'm sure Kevin missed that bit but it is a bit hard to buy that he'd still be so into her and not have some hurt feelings there. I wish they'd had time to explore that a bit but I know, time constraints. There was a lot to cover here and this is another reason why the Jen dying plot seems so unnecessary. It monopolizes so much time that could have been better used to really explore and end each character's story with a little more detail than we got. 

Joey Potter through the series

Joey becoming an editor is fine, I guess. I really thought she'd study art history or something and explore her artistic side a lot more, building from season 2 and 3. It's kind of sad that they abandoned that. I understand that even at double episode length, there wasn't time to explore everything but her whole relationship with Christopher seemed superfluous. I get that they wanted another road block or a trick to keep us wondering if she would even end up having to choose but I feel like he just wasn't needed. He was in the opening scene and that was it. He could have easily been a roommate of hers for a bit of banter about her watching habits but as a boyfriend, he feels very unnecessary. I'm told there was a missing scene which explained that she was going to miss the wedding because she was going out of town with Christopher but then she finds an engagement ring and freaks out. It still doesn't explain why she would leave a presumably serious relationship so suddenly but it's something that explains why she was unexpected at the Creek wedding and maybe it wouldn't have made the Bessie break up scene seem so abrupt? 

Dawson Leery through the years

Dawson becoming a filmmaker was inevitable. Of course it was going to happen. He is Kevin and Kevin is a filmmaker, and a talented one at that. You can argue that Dawson becoming a showrunner at such a young age isn't realistic but it does happen. It's certainly rare but it happens. Does Dawson deserve it? Your mileage may vary. His version of Dawson's Creek is extremely watered down and of course it is, it's the fake in show version but I will say that Dawson already introducing, let alone, concluding the love story in his show's first season is not good story telling. I feel like a lot of my gripes with the subplot of Dawson's show is that Kevin was very clearly working through his own struggles in coming up with an ending for the show. So, you have to look more at Dawson's struggles as a meta commentary on Kevin's struggles to end his own show. And I think it does make the Dawson story somewhat more interesting, if unrealistic, because we're seeing Kevin show us how difficult it was to say goodbye to his characters and give us an ending we'd love. Of course, Dawson's struggles make way more sense viewed through the lens of a writer trying to end a series he created that had been running for 6 seasons, 4 of which he had very little to no involvement in, than it does as Dawson struggling to end his first season but you know, I'll allow it. Dawson showing that he's treating "Rebecca" much in the same way he treated Natasha was certainly a choice though and did not endear me to him, not that I was ever endeared to Dawson but this didn't help. I'm glad he didn't end up with Joey just because of that one off little comment. And we never heard about her again so screw her, I guess?

Speaking of the love triangle. Wow, do I have thoughts. You know, the first time I tuned in to watch the series finale, I really did have one thing on my mind that I cared about and it was who Joey would pick. I just needed to know, once and for all who it was. I was coming from their break up in season 4 and how unfair that was. People who suffered through the college years in the first run, well they were dealing with the heartache of being set up with Clean and Sober/Castaways and then let down by Love Bites. I bet they were even more invested in her finally picking Pacey. I'm honestly at a loss for how anyone would still be rooting for Dawson and Joey by this point though. I mean they thoroughly combusted multiple times over since season 2 and Dawson just does not have the charm that Pacey has but I know he has his supporters. So how well was this dynamic explored? Well, not great. 

I can remember clear as day my frustrations with the conversations Joey was having with Dawson and then Pacey. Each time she'd pop over to Dawson I'd be pissed as hell and then she'd go to Pacey and have amazing chemistry and hope would bubble up again. It was extremely frustrating to sit through and let me tell you, even though I knew the ending this time around, I still found it frustrating but for a different reason. The mystery of who she'd pick was gone so what I was watching was Kevin just continuously teasing us. I know the intent was to keep the surprise going but it honestly makes Joey look wishy washy. She's flipping between two guys, saying how much she loves them but dancing around who she wants to be with. Why is it so hard? After all these years, there was someone she wanted to be with and even she admits that she knows who but we're not let in until the very end. That final scene talking with Pacey in the kitchen was so frustrating. I wanted a conclusion in writing right there. Instead we get her also confessing to love Dawson where that seems final only to be revealed in a stinger scene that she chose Pacey after all. While I cheered at being right the first time around, I'll admit, it feels a bit lackluster. I wanted a grandiose reuniting scene. I wanted Joey to say that she hurt him in Love Bites and tell him that she ran from him because she was scared of how much she loved him. I wanted so badly for that scene to exist between the two of them where she declares her love to him and he has to decide to accept her but we didn't get that. We just get a cutaway scene where they're already together. It's disappointing to me, personally because of the build up I had in my head but I don't want to knock Kevin for not wanting to put everything so definitively. I get it, he was struggling to come up with an ending, he'd been gone from the show for years, he had a plan that he was intending to end with Dawson/Joey and they were filming a lot of the finale with that ending still in mind. The problem is, the show comes across as murky and undecided as a result and isn't all that satisfying as a conclusion for the triangle.

From my view there wasn't even a triangle,
more like a straight line from Joey to Pacey

I also have a bit of a gripe with Pacey lamenting that he was stuck in Capeside. The message that this show pushes, where you can't be a success if you stay in your hometown is weird. You could argue that it was a set up for the final scene, perhaps we were to infer that Pacey has now opened up a restaurant in New York, thus achieving his desire to move on from Capeside but all I could think was...that's sad. He built this whole life for himself in Capeside, rebuilt The Icehouse and seemingly made it a success, and had the backing of his family to do it. He really threw that all away to move to New York? I know the US has a hard on for New York or LA being like the places to be but man, I think I'd rather live in a beautiful coastal small town. Could Joey really not edit from anywhere? I mean, I guess this was pre-pandemic times so you probably had to be in the office at all times to be considered as working for that company but I feel like editing is one of those jobs that's much easier to do in the comfort of your own home. You're reading all day and I for sure wouldn't want to be doing that in an office chair all day but hey, what do I know about that industry? I'm just a lowly self pubbed author and blogger. 

It's so weird to watch the conclusion after all of these years and still be happy my couple got together while noticing all of the glaring negatives about it. Am I happy that Joey picked Pacey? Absolutely. Am I frustrated that Pacey had to give up everything while Joey never had to make any kind of amends for her behaviour? Abso-fucking-lutely. I think that this ending could have been so much stronger but it is what it is and what we got wasn't bad, per se. It tugged at my heartstrings, it made me laugh, it made me cry, but ultimately I don't know that I'm super happy with where all the characters ended up anymore. Jack is raising his friend's kid with an abusive cop, Jen died, Grams is all alone, Pacey gave up his restaurant, Joey has all the guys' adoration while doing nothing, and Dawson somehow gets fame and success and a meeting with Spielberg. Meh. I wish I could praise it more but as it is, it leaves me wanting more. That being said, please never reboot this. We don't need that. This show is of its time and its time has passed. I don't want to see these characters as adults and I don't want to follow their kids on adventures. This show exists as a time capsule of my youth, of all the fraught and angsty feelings I felt when I was a teen and everything felt bigger than it was and I think that's why it's loved so much. It captured something about what it was like to grow up in the late 90s/2000s in a fairly honest and dramatic way and its for that reason that I'll always treasure this show, no matter how it ended, and I think that speaks volumes more than whether or not I was happy with the finale. It gave me an ending, it closed the chapter on my youth and that's all it was meant to do. 

I think I wrote in the third season that while I loved the last half and the Pacephine realization, it wasn't necessarily the best season. I also think I said season 2 wasn't the best. I don't know what I was expecting to come after but man, I need to retract those opinions. 

Now that I've rewatched the entire series again, it's safe to say that the quality tanked after season 3. Even season 3 was a bit wonky, much as I loved me some Pacephine. The first season had Ms Jacobs, and way too much of it which keeps me from loving season 1, even if it is the perfect late 90s period piece. So without further ado, I think my ranking has to be the following from worst to best:

Season 6 - Do I need to explain why this one is the worst? Do I really? 

Season 4 - Dull, boring snooze fest and Pacey and Joey break up. 

Season 5 - More fun than I expected but falls apart at the end

Season 1 - Solid nostalgia but is hampered by gross teacher sexual abuse of a student

Season 3 - Starts off shaky, ends brilliantly with the best romance ever

Season 2 - Which leaves season 2 as the best, most solid season both for stories and balancing between all the characters for me.

To be honest though, the season I revisit the most is still season 3. What can I say? I'm a Pacephine shipper through and through and while season 6 really killed them for me, their love story in season 3 is my comfort food and I will always love that arc. I think it is some of the best romcom material out there and I'm always a sucker for love from afar and unspoken feelings drawing two people ever closer. I love it but I just couldn't put it above season 2 which honestly, has some of the best character development for the side characters. Plus we had Andie at her best, Abby causing fun drama, Pacey moving away from Ms. Jacobs and becoming the most charming character ever and the iconic Jack storyline. It's too good not to put first, much as I had my issues with it, it was probably also the most fun to recap. 

Best character is a tie between Jen and Pacey and I think we all know who the worst character is. It's amazing to me that this show managed to make their main character so damn unlikable. I don't think I've ever watched another show where I hated the main character that I was supposed to like more than Dawson Leary. They kept trying to course correct with him but the most they got out of me was tolerance. While I've liked James in other things, he's not the strongest actor and I do think that he's the main reason that Dawson is so unlikable, he just doesn't pull off hapless nerd well. 

We all knew Dawson would win worst without question, right?

That's it, folks. I'm done with Dawson's Creek, for this blog, at least. It's been a wild ride and while I started this journey thinking it would be fun to snark on my youth, I actually came away from this loving it even more. I appreciated certain stories more, I empathized with the characters and their situations more, and it was all around just a really fun experience.