I feel a bit weird in celebrating the end of season 1, because it feels like we literally just started it and now it's over. Still, at the very least we should celebrate getting past Joey's awful rendition of On My Own, so let's have a dance party!
Yeah yeah, I know that's technically a spoiler because it's from season 2. But I feel like that's exactly how Dawson, Joey and Pacey would react to our celebratory dance, so it seemed appropriate to use it.
Democracy Diva: Totally appropriate. I approve.
K: ANYWAY. On with the rankings!
Shrine O'Spielberg. Joey is climbing in the window, as per their usual movie-watching routine, but Dawson didn't expect her to show up after their awkward post-beauty-pageant encounter. He didn't even rent any movies! For shame. Now that she knows Dawson's being weird about this, she decides to also be weird, saying that she came by to say she ... can't come by. Then she word-vomits about how the television metaphor for their relationship is getting old, and every night they just do the same old things in Dawson's "Spielberg-ized bedroom." Dawson broods in response, and turns on the television. Joey rants about cliffhangers and how manipulative they are; Dawson thinks they keep people guessing, but Joey says they're just proof that nothing ever really changes.
It's finally here!! The episode that every Dawson's Creek viewer - casual or devoted - remembers from season 1. NGL, I *may* have bribed Diva to let me do the first recap solely so that this episode fell to me...
Democracy Diva: And I may have agreed begrudgingly because THIS EPISODE, YOU GUYS. IT IS THE BEST/WORST/EVERYTHING-EST.
Democracy Diva: And I may have agreed begrudgingly because THIS EPISODE, YOU GUYS. IT IS THE BEST/WORST/EVERYTHING-EST.
Shrine O'Spielberg Horror Movie Marathon. Dawson and Joey are watching I Know What You Did Last Summer (except I totally thought that it was Scream until Kirsti corrected me, because all these movies are the same) and it's the scene with Sarah Michelle Gellar, so I'm counting this as Buffy crossover magic.
Kirsti: Totally counts. Except that Buffy would never run away screaming.
Kirsti: Totally counts. Except that Buffy would never run away screaming.
Shrine o' Spielberg. Dawson mopes about the fact that Jen doesn't want to hang out any more now that they're exes and all. Because apparently when you dump someone, you should hang out with them all the time? IDEK. Joey "Voice of Reason" Potter informs him that it sounds like he doesn't want to admit it's over. She tells him there are three main areas to focus on in getting over Jen: 1. Public perception, 2. Prepare himself for Jen to date other people, 3. Having the inevitable "can we still be friends?" conversation with Jen. She asks what he'll say in regards to #3, and he has no idea. He wants to be friends, but he also doesn't because "how could you simply be friends with someone when every time you look at them, all you think about is how much more you really want them." Joey, inner pain poked with a stick, says that she thinks it can be done.
The episode begins with the opening chords to Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply," so I am already entirely incapable of taking any of this seriously.
Kirsti: Riiiiiiiiiiiiight there with you. Also, I have had that fucking song stuck in my head for DAYS thanks to this episode. Even reading my "Bahahaha, Dawson's moping to Savage Garden!" notes was enough to get it stuck in my head again.
Kirsti: Riiiiiiiiiiiiight there with you. Also, I have had that fucking song stuck in my head for DAYS thanks to this episode. Even reading my "Bahahaha, Dawson's moping to Savage Garden!" notes was enough to get it stuck in my head again.
Shrine o' Spielberg. Dawson talks to himself as he flips through the TV stations. He pauses briefly on scrambled porn before settling on classic movies. Convenient, really, because it means that when Joey climbs in the window a second later, she doesn't find him bonding with Little Dawson. (D: Except Joey would call it "walking his dog," because she's the worst.) (K: TRUE.) Joey, who's borrowed Faith's coma make up complains about sleep deprivation courtesy of her shiny new nephew and says her GPA is dropping as a result.
Dawson tells her to just stay over, which she rapidly agrees to. She judges him for his choice of movies and he starts to defend Gary Cooper, pining for the days when the nerd could easily get the girl.
Dawson tells her to just stay over, which she rapidly agrees to. She judges him for his choice of movies and he starts to defend Gary Cooper, pining for the days when the nerd could easily get the girl.
Shrine O'Spielberg. Dawson and Joey are watching yet another movie together, but he gets frustrated with it and shuts it off just before the end. He finds it unbelievable that a girl would decide which guy she wants to be with based on a drag race. Joey wisely points out that someone whose favorite movie is E.T. should not have such a problem with unrealistic films, but like everything else on this show, this is really about SEX.
Kirsti: Also, whose favourite movie is E.T.?! I was terrified of it when I was six, and I'm still terrified of it. Don't let that thing in your house, Elliott.
Kirsti: Also, whose favourite movie is E.T.?! I was terrified of it when I was six, and I'm still terrified of it. Don't let that thing in your house, Elliott.
We open in Dawson's Shrine o' Spielberg. A black and white movie comes to an end on the TV, and Joey's all "Cool, BYE." She claims it's because her sister's baby is due like NOW and she needs to help out. Dawson whines that they never watch just one movie on movie night, and she replies that there's a first time for everything. Like, for instance, Third Wheel Jen being there. Poor Jen - the actual girlfriend - looks hella awkward and is perched on a chair next to the bed, further proving that Dawson Leery is a douchebag. DUDE. Make some room on the bed for her.
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Democracy Diva: I am so glad the seating arrangements bothered you as much as they bothered me. If any two people are sharing the bed, shouldn't it be the people actually dating?
Shrine O'Spielberg. Dawson and Joey are having a disaster movie marathon because there's a hurricane a-blowin'. Gail and her not-so-secret lover Bob are covering the storm on TV, and are overtly flirting with each other during the broadcast because they're bad at secrets. Dawson's parents still don't know that he knows about the affair, and he's too tired to deal with feelings, so he asks Joey, "You mind if I sack?" Is this an actual thing that humans say? (K: Maybe it was in the 90s??) Anyway, Joey basically tells him to deal with his shit instead of hiding out in the storm. Instead, he broods and watches his mother and her mastress (man-mistress? Guys, it's so sexist that there isn't a word for this!) on the news.
We open in Dawson's Shrine o' Spielberg. He's watching his footage back (read: creepily talking about how perfect Jen is) while Joey sasses about how Jen's future is sooooooooo predictable - she'll go to a small liberal arts college, major in art history, move back to Manhattan, marry a stockbroker, move to the suburbs and raise neurotically perfect children. Dawson changes the subject to what he should get his parents for their wedding anniversary, and um, NOTHING??? Unless buying your parents an anniversary present is a thing in America and I'm not aware of it?!
Democracy Diva: Yeah, definitely have never done that. I think maybe I gave them a card when we had a big dinner for their 30th anniversary, but in general, this is not a thing in my circles.
Democracy Diva: Yeah, definitely have never done that. I think maybe I gave them a card when we had a big dinner for their 30th anniversary, but in general, this is not a thing in my circles.
The episode begins with Dawson and Joey watching an old movie starring Deborah Kerr about people making out on the beach uber-passionately. Did this show make it clear that Dawson loves movies? Because you guys, DAWSON LOVES MOVIES. And obsessing over what his first kiss with Jen should be like.
Kirsti: OMG, REALLY? Shit. I had no idea. They should have made that more obvious.
Diva: Joey mostly thinks he should shut up and, in the immortal words of Sebastian the Crab, kiss de girl, but Dawson thinks this perfect, life-altering moment needs to be storyboarded, because he's a bit of a nut job.
Kirsti: OMG, REALLY? Shit. I had no idea. They should have made that more obvious.
Diva: Joey mostly thinks he should shut up and, in the immortal words of Sebastian the Crab, kiss de girl, but Dawson thinks this perfect, life-altering moment needs to be storyboarded, because he's a bit of a nut job.
Remember that time like two years ago that Lor and Sweeney covered a bunch of pilot episodes and one of them was Dawson's Creek? SURPRISE! We're going to cover the rest of it. I was a Dawson's Creek fan from basically the minute it aired in Australia, although I stopped watching sometime around the point where they all went off to college because it was the contrivance-iest contrivance ever that they would all end up in Boston. But whatever. I revisited the series a couple of years ago, and re-established the fact that I will always and forever be on Team Pacey.
Democracy Diva: I wasn't particularly interested in Dawson's Creek when it was new, but I developed a mid-aughts interest in it and have seen the first few seasons.
Democracy Diva: I wasn't particularly interested in Dawson's Creek when it was new, but I developed a mid-aughts interest in it and have seen the first few seasons.
Welcome to Back to School week on SnarkSquad.com. We’ll be recapping the pilot episodes of a few high-school-themed shows- ones that teach us super valuable life lessons. Lorraine: We’re...