Dawson's Creek "Boyfriend" (formerly "Escape from New York") - Season 1
Theresa - Two Cents Reviewer
theresa@thetwocentscorp.com
Dawson is engaging in an age-old pastime - trying to make out what's on the scrambled adult channels - when a sleep-deprived Joey comes through the window. Her new nephew's sleeping/crying schedule is taking its toll on her, so she needs to crash at Dawson's. He laments the loss of classy guys like Gary Cooper; she falls asleep. One of the less verbose episode intros.
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Dawson's Creek
ReplyDelete"Boyfriend" (formerly "Escape from New York") - Season 1
Theresa - Two Cents Reviewer
theresa@thetwocentscorp.com
Dawson is engaging in an age-old pastime - trying to make out what's on the scrambled adult channels - when a sleep-deprived Joey comes through the window. Her new nephew's sleeping/crying schedule is taking its toll on her, so she needs to crash at Dawson's. He laments the loss of classy guys like Gary Cooper; she falls asleep. One of the less verbose episode intros.
While waiting on the bus stop, Pacey meets an obnoxious driver who asks for directions to Capeside High. It turns out to be Jen's ex-boyfriend Billy from New York, and she is none too pleased to see him walk in. She tries to hide it from Dawson, but he sees her skip school to go for a ride with Billy. Right on the heels of that, Quarterback Cliff comes by to invite Jen to a barbecue via Dawson. No wonder he's insecure.
Billy insists on crashing for the night even though Jen wants him to leave, so she asks Dawson to let Billy stay at his house. She also drops the bomb that he's the one she got caught with in her parents' bedroom that led to her excommunication from NYC. Billy taunts Dawson with hints of what Jen was like in New York, so Dawson freaks that he's too boring for Jen and vents to Joey. Jen admits that Billy does still have feelings for her, but it's complicated because Billy was the only guy from back home who ever treated her with respect. Even though we've barely seen Jen talk to Billy, we're supposed to somehow, 17 minutes into the episode, understand Jen's conflict about who to choose.
Joey and Pacey discuss Jen's situation, but Pacey would rather get on Joey's case about her obsession with Dawson and his love life. He comes by the Ice House later to invite her to Cliff's barbecue, which she reluctantly agrees to because she needs to have some fun. When Dawson comes, he invites Joey to leave with him, but he abandons her when Jen shows up after giving Billy his kiss goodbye. So, Joey gets drunk with a creepy guy who Pacey is forced to punch out. Of course, passed-out Joey doesn't notice that part, and calls Dawson her hero instead.
Billy shows up and throws the goodbye kiss in Dawson's face, and demands an answer from Jen about her feelings. Jen ends up leaving them both on the beach. Dawson and Pacey take drunken Joey home, where she kisses Dawson before passing out, but he tries to laugh it off. Dawson seems to go between knowing his and Joey's relationship is complicated, and being completely oblivious to her feelings, even within this episode. It's maddening.
After seeing Billy off, Dawson meets Jen on the dock. He thinks everything's fine now, but that's not the case. Jen realizes she's never been without a relationship or a guy to use as a crutch, and she needs to change that. Dawson begs her to reconsider, but Jen says that even though she'll probably regret it, she needs to do this for herself. Dawson gets the last bitter word, because back in the first season, the show was still about him and not Joey, and walks off.
Billy doesn't leave forever - he appears in the next episode, "Road Trip", but I'll be skipping over both that and "The Scare" and going right to "Modern Romance", the first Pacey and Joey episode. Leave your Two Cents about this episode in the comments.