Related Interviews on TheCinemaSource:
James Van Der Beek on The Rules of Attraction & Dawson's Creek

Dawson's Creek: Season 1

If one thinks of the WB network as a high school, then the shows airing during the 1998 season were each like a different type of student you'd find wandering the halls (all of them attractive, of course "” this is the WB after all).

Buffy, which had premiered a year before, was the effortlessly cool girl who wore black nail polish and Doc Martens. Felicity, meanwhile, was the attractive but slightly nerdy overachiever headed off to a top-tier university in the fall. And that leaves us with Dawson's Creek, that cute but sort of annoying sophomore with the J. Crew wardrobe who scribbled her boyfriend's initials in hearts on her notebook and wrote with one of those fuzzy pink pens.

Annoying factor aside, the initial season of Dawson's Creek was probably the strongest; while later seasons got bogged down by increasingly ridiculous characters (Audrey, anyone?) this season primarily focuses on the main four. There's Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek), a Steven Spielberg obsessed aspiring filmmaker and 10th grade student at Capeside High School in the tiny, idyllic costal community of Capeside, Massachusetts. Dawson's best friend, Joey Potter (Katie Holmes) lives down the creek and is the town pariah – not only is her father in jail, but she lives with her unmarried, pregnant sister Bessie (Nina Repeta) and the father of the baby, Bodie (apparently the only black person in Capeside). Joey's feelings for Dawson are veering away from friendship into the romantic but are quickly stifled when Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams) moves next door to Dawson from New York, supposedly to help her Bible-thumping Grams (Mary Beth Peil) with her sick grandfather. Rounding out the group is Dawson's best (male) friend, the charming Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson), who is Capeside's resident screw up.

DISC ONE: "Pilot", "Dance", "Kiss", "Discovery"

In the first episode, we learn that, much to Dawson's chagrin, sex is beginning to creep in on the PG-rated movie world that he has been living in. His parents Mitch (John Wesley Shipp) and Gail (Mary-Margaret Humes) have an extreme sex life, despite Dawson's nagging suspicion his mom is sleeping with her co-worker. Not only that, but suddenly, sleeping in the same bed with Joey seems inappropriate now that hormones have entered the picture. Complicating matters is the arrival of Jen, who, with her blonde hair, squinty eyes and revealing-yet-innocent-sundress, immediately piques the interest of Dawson's aforementioned hormones.

Jen's arrival, aside from shaking both Dawson and Joey's overly articulated worlds, also unsettles Grams, who is upset to learn that her grand-daughter is an atheist who scorns religion and refuses to accompany her to church. Pacey, meanwhile, meets and falls for an older woman while working at the video store

(she asks for "The Graduate" in one of the series many irritating aren't-we-clever pop culture references). Unfortunately, Tamara Jacobs (Leann Hunley) turns out to be his English teacher, but that doesn't stop him from getting a forbidden kiss.

In "The Dance," Dawson tries to script the perfect movie-style kiss with Jen, but finds that he has some competition for her affections from jock Cliff (Scott Foley, who seems to be enjoying himself playing someone so different than his sensitive Felicity character). This plotline continues, in a painfully slow manner, in "The Kiss," while Joey distracts herself from Dawson drama with a boarding school preppie. While these episodes are unbearable in the Dawson/Jen plotline, they really allow the characters of Pacey and Joey to develop. Joey's interest in the rich kid and shame over her family's situation give her more depth than just the scowling, arm-crossing, Dawson-pining tomboy we have seen up until now, and reveal why her character, rather than Dawson, is made the focal point of the series in later seasons.

Pacey, meanwhile, manages to take a trite, clichéd plotline "” an affair with a teacher – and make it interesting by giving a performance that routinely switches from charmingly arrogant to vulnerable and self-conscious that is dead-on. Finishing the disc is "Discovery," when a number of things are, uh, discovered "” among them, Jen's less-than-innocent past, Dawson's mother's affair, and an interesting videotape starring Pacey and Miss Jacobs.

DISC TWO: "Hurricane", "Baby", "Detention", "Boyfriend", "Roadtrip"

Apparently the weather in Capeside is in accord with its inhabitants' emotions, as "Hurricane" is the blow-up following the revelations of "Discovery." As the storm rages outside, Jen, Grams, Joey, and Bessie take shelter at Dawson's house, while Pacey and his bordering-on-verbally-abusive police officer brother Dougie (Dylan Neal) find refuge at Miss Jacobs.' Over at Dawson's, the fallout from his mother's affair is coming to a head, and despite good acting from both Shipp and Humes, this plotline still seems forced to me. While some teen dramas such as My So Called Life or even The O.C. have successfully integrated parent plotlines, they have always seemed a bit awkward in Dawson's Creek (perhaps this accounts for Mitch's untimely demise in the fourth season). However, what bothered me the most in this episode was Dougie's possible repressed homosexuality "” at Miss Jacobs house, he gets so upset at Pacey's teasing that he pulls his gun on him. Despite protests from the characters that being gay is okay (and the fact that Jack, a gay character, is introduced in a later season and that Dawson's Creek creator Kevin Williamson is gay) this seems to be a bit irresponsible and almost offensive, especially since his sexuality is not actually dealt with in a serious way until the last episode of the series.

In "Baby," Bessie has her child at

Dawson's house (for reasons that still don't make too much sense to me) and Pacey's relationship with Miss Jacobs comes to an unfortunate "” if surprisingly emotional "” conclusion.

The last three episodes on the disc take a turn for the worse, beginning with "Detention." Each character is involved in a ridiculous scenario that places them in Saturday detention a la "The Breakfast Club." Also serving detention is new character Abbie (Monica Keena), whose main mission in life, it appears, is harassing Dawson & Co.
In "Boyfriend," Jen's ex from her shady past in New York, Billy, pulls up to Capeside in his red convertible (WB addicts may recognize as a hyena-possessed student in Buffy) and immediately stirs up trouble that continues in "Road Trip," where Dawson and Pacey head off to Providence with Billy while Jen and Joey begin a shaky alliance to take down a rumor-starting jock.

DISC THREE: "The Scare", "Double Date", "Beauty Contest", "Decisions"

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Scream was the self-aware dialogue: in between gruesome slashings, the gorgeous teens of the movie referenced the plots of other horror movies, leading to a funny, sharp style that has been copied many times since. The characters in Dawson's often do the same thing for the teen drama, referencing teen movies and verbosely commenting on teenage angst while simultaneously living it. Williamson's style, however, is a lot less effective on the small screen than it is in the large; while it may be clever in a 90-minute horror flick, it seems a bit pretentious in a weekly TV drama format. That said, Williamson is still good at what he does, and "The Scare," a Scream-influenced episode, had me thoroughly entertained. Joey and Pacey, meanwhile, prove themselves to be a dynamic pair in "Double Date" when they are paired together for an extra-credit science project, but unfortunately, Joey only has eyes for Dawson (until Season 3, at least).

In "Beauty Contest," two unlikely contestants enter Capeside's annual Miss Windjammer Contest. Joey, despite a squeaky, seemingly endless rendition of "On My Own," manages to finally attract Dawson's (and millions of horny teenage guys across the country's) romantic attentions away from Jen.

In "Decisions," the final episode of the season, Jen and especially Pacey are pushed to the sidelines as Joey and Dawson take the spotlight, as Joey ponders a semester in France while Dawson tries to sort his feelings out for her before she makes her decision.

For all the show's faults, there is a reason why Dawson's Creek lasted for six seasons while similar shows about clean-scrubbed, attractive teenagers fell by the wayside (remember Young Americans? Me neither.) For one thing, the North Carolina sets are absolutely gorgeous, and while this alone is obviously not a reason to watch the show, it certainly adds to the overall appeal. What really draws

people to this show, I think, is the level of acting from its young stars: each of the four main characters are given such heart by the actors that, by the end of "Decisions," you can't help but wonder what will happen to Pacey, Joey, Dawson, and Jen "” and you can't help but care. While Dawson's may not have the cool brilliance of Buffy or the well-structured plots and complex characters of Felicity, like that pink pen owning girl in high school, it does have its own charms.

The DVD is presented in full-screen format and unfortunately, the picture quality is occasionally a bit grainy. The special features include "From Day One," a semi-short featurette in which creator Kevin Williamson and producer Paul Stubin discuss the origins and production of the show. Van Der Beek, Williams, Holmes, and Jackson discuss their characters in "Season One Time Capsule," filmed in the beginning of the series.

The DVD also includes several trailers for movies starring the Dawson's Creek stars (unfortunately, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, in which Van Der Beek hilariously mocks his role in the Creek, is not included). Finally, Stubin and Williamson offer commentary for the first and last episodes, which is worth listening to simply for their amusing banter about the ever-changing gray streak in Grams' hair.

Show Grade: B

DVD Grade: B-

Overall Grade: B