Dawson's Creek Season Four

It's that time again; the release of season four of Dawson's Creek provides all you jaded college students yearning for the simpler days of teen angst and melodrama. You may have grown up and moved on to bigger and better obsessions like The O.C., but admit it, you still harbor a deep fondness for the over-articulate creeksters. And now you can indulge your nostalgia with this four disc set (999 minutes!).

Yet there's that nagging question: was season four ever really that good to begin with? It was the precursor to the downhill slide that was 'the college years' and when you think back and try to remember what happened, what big events and life-shattering moments took place during Pacey, Jen, Jack, Dawson and Joey's senior year do you end up just kinda drawing a blank? When I tried to psyche myself up for the Dawson's marathon, I have to admit, I wasn't too psyched; all I remembered about this season was Joey and Pacey not having sex and that crotchety old guy that Dawson befriends. And the fact of the matter is, it's true, not too much happens during this season; the big 'issues' are nowhere near as life-altering as they were in seasons one two and three where the friendship/love/hate swings of Joey and Dawson were caramel-gooey-good. This season Joey's 'big dilemma' isn't Pacey vs. Dawson or even Dawson vs. Sanity, it's 'will I have sex with Pacey' which is absurd for a variety of reasons (Do I recall a certain memorable black-bra offering of herself to Dawson in last season? And didn't she and Pacey spend the entire summer together? Alone? On a boat? I rest my case) Joey's sudden embrace of her inner prudishness is both contrived and boring. And the will she/won't she theme gets old fast. As does Pacey's descent from sweet boyfriend to unreasonable turd and Dawson's rise to the heights of saccharine.

That said, as our fab three get more and more intolerable, the rest of the cast gets more and more interesting. In this season especially, Jen seems to have found a persona that sticks, Jack's wary coming to terms with his sexuality is rendered with surprising subtlety and Andy leaves just early enough to in the season to avoid getting annoying. Furthermore this season introduces us to Drew Valentine by far the most enjoyable 'guest star' in the show's history. Far more deliciously evil then Abby and wonderfully creepier then Henry, Drew is reason enough to rent this DVD; all the handy special features let you skip right to the scenes he's in and fast-forward whenever Grams comes into the scene.

But even without Drew season four would be worth it. While not as action-packed as season three, there are far less 'dud episodes,' the producers don't try as hard to be hip or coy

with painful Blair Witch spoofs, and the writers have all resigned themselves to not trying to aspire to Kevin William's wittily self-aware, utterly unrealistic dialogue. By season four the show merely aspires to be an above-average teenage soap-opera, and in that it succeeds hands down, even managing to surprise us with some genuinely witty or surprisingly real moments. So with that said, let's get to it; here's your step by step guide to the brilliant, the brutal and the unwatchable.

Disc one

1. Coming Home
Pacey and Joey sail into Capeside Harbor after spending a (chaste?!?!) three months together on "True Love." While Joey agonizes about confronting Dawson, Pacey catches up with his brother Doug (did I mention I love Doug?) and finds out his sister Gretchen has dropped out of college and moved back to Capeside. Even though we have never seen nor heard of this sister she is important because, one: she was Dawson's first crush and two: she is incredibly hot. You can almost hear Joshua Jackson thinking "why couldn't the girl with the huge rack play Joey" as he gives her his 'welcome back big sis' hug.

2. Falling Down
Pacey finds out he failed his junior year and has to make up all his classes. This event prefigures the gradual descent of his life into the shitter. It's an amazing phenomenon; you can chart his fall by the growth of his hair; the longer it gets the worse off he becomes. Jen too gets a shocker when Henry tries to break up with her via Jack. Michael Pitt had, by then, moved on to bigger and better things, namely seducing Hedwig and being fondled by Bertolucci, good for him, not so good for Jen. In this episode we also meet teeth-knashingly smarmy Drue and his ice-bitch mother.

3. Two Gentleman of Capeside
Bring on the Shakespeare references. It's never too early in the season for a few non-too-subtle references to the Bard himself so all those high school sophomores can bask in their literary prowess. This essay is also notable for some really bad computer-generated waves and some of the most groan-worthy lines of the season (so early, I know!) example:
Jen: "But Pacey, who will know we're there?"
Pacey: "DAWSON. Dawson will know!"
And
Pacey: "I'm not leaving my boat!"
Dawson: "I'm not leaving you!"
Ahh sweet melodrama.

4. Future Tense
A bulb lights up in the writing room at Dawson's headquarters:
'Wait a minute, aren't these kids seniors, shouldn't we do an episode about college, hell shouldn't the whole season be about college?'
'I like your thinking'
Drue throws Jen a party even though it's not her birthday and gives her ecstasy which is somehow construed to be symbolic of her 'wild-bad-girl-days.' Katie Holmes is also surprisingly good at acting drunk. Hmmmmmm

5. A Family Way
Sex Sex Sex. With the amount of time spent agonizing, debating and pontificating

on the deep emotional gravity of sex, you have to wonder: did these writers ever actually attend college? Is the show being partially funded by some covert abstinence movement? Pacey seems to have the patience of a saint while Joey hems and haws. Dawson finds out his mom is pregnant and Jack stresses about his college essay. Absurd; Jack's whole life is one golden college essay waiting to happen.

6. Great Xpecatations
Notice the clever pun of the title (no I did not make that up). The conservative slant of this show becomes even more apparent when the creeksters attend a big scary rave. The rave itself is hysterically rendered, with jagged, hand-held shots with swirling colors and foreboding techno music. There are some actual "ravesters" featured, with their crazy hair and wild, shiny glow stick halos. Off course all our main characters look ridiculously out-of-place and I couldn't help but wonder what exactly the 'look' costumes was going for. Joey in some orange-batik number, Andy in leather pants and a cardigan"¦.good god why?

Because Raves are bad and drugs are even worse, inevitably badness ensues and Jen's birthday present from Drue comes into play in the most contrived of ways. This episode really rubbed me the wrong way because it was so preachy and hackneyed. Moreover, as a wise friend of mine noted, they show Joey drinking sans dire consequence and public shunning, yet drugs are depicted as something deeply wrong. Sort of a mixed and ill-conceived message, no?

Disc Two

7. You Had Me At Goodbye
Andy's swan song; she gets into Harvard and then decides to go to Italy instead of finishing her senior year. Andy's father, by the way, has morphed into Mr. Understanding whereas Jack is full of judgments. He's not speaking to Jen; neither are Grams, and Joey or Pacey and Dawson. But Andy manages to assemble the gang together at the Capeside version of "The Peach Pit," i.e., Mitch and Gail's restaurant "Leary's Fresh Fish" (updated for a new era of pretension and Atkins diets) Her tearful goodbye speech goes on too long, but it tugs on the ol' heartstrings nonetheless.

8. The Unusual Suspects
So this is season four's equivalent of the infamous Blair Witch Project-inspired debacle in season three. This one's more tolerable, but barely. You'll have figured out the ending by the middle of the damn thing, and will be completely sick of the over-the-top 'interrogation' scenes. But it's not a throwaway episode; no episode where Dreu is given major screen time is a throwaway episode. Besides it's nice to see some male bonding to remind us of the pervasive homoerotic undertones of the earlier seasons (what with Dawson and Pacey being all mad at each other, their sexual tension was practically nil)

9. Kiss Bang Bans
The beginning of the sub-plot that just won't die (literally); Dawson discovers that the curmudgeonly old man whose

house he was working on was actually some Orson Welles-esque famous director names A.I. Brooks and audiences everywhere groan because the last thing this show needs is more old people (really, who do they think the target audience is?) Joey stresses about college and gets irrationally angry at Pacey; Dawson kisses Gretchen for all the world, including Pacey and Joey to see. Much more juicy, much more enjoyable.

10. Self-Reliance
Jack goes bowling-GAY BOWLING. In an attempt to bring him to terms with his gayness Jen and he have joined a LGBT alliance of sorts and Jack meets Toby, so cute and so very out. His brashness freaks out Jack, but Jen loves him and tries to get Jack to play along. Joey, distracted by her own all-consuming Joey-problems bombs a test and Pacey plays "best boyfriend ever." (And he's still not getting laid)

11. The Tao of Dawson
Drue and Joey get locked in a closet together. Pacey takes Gretchen back to College to pick up her car and tries to hook her up with her old cad of a boyfriend. Apparently College literally equals kegs. Unfortunately Grams and Mr. Brooks have developed an affinity for each other, but this contrived plot twist leads to a priceless 'ohh gross' moment when Dawson catches sight of a dolled up Grams and gets all hot and bothered.

12. The Te of Pacey
Pacey's life is fast going down the tubes. It's his birthday and his family thinks he's a joke, he gets rejected from the one college he thought he might get into, he walks in on Dawson and Gretchen making out and Joey thinks it would be a keen idea to help his mom throw him a party. The Witter household is actually hilariously awful, especially the weird sister who doesn't seem to do anything but eat, stare and produce hyperactive children. How come she's not a regular guest on the show?

Disc Three

13. Hopeless
Notable only for Dawson's cringe-worthy date with Gretchen and her friends. The rest of the episode is kinda a dud, especially the whole bizarrely contrived Pacey/Joey and Drue/random girl double-date setup.

14. A Winter's Tale
Hands down the best episode of the season. Everyone but Dawson, who's busy watching Mr. Brooks die goes on the senior ski trip. Brilliance ensues: Pacey and Jen have sex (finally) Jack and Jen hook up (totally hot) and both are rendered in such gauzy, soft-core porn lighting that their worth watching and re-watching just for their sheer hilarity.

15. Four Stories
Jen starts going to therapy and there's something oddly refreshing about hearing what Ms. Lindley, often the most underwritten, but always the most engaging member of the cast has to say. Joey and Pacey, now having had sex are still incapable of not over-analyzing and stressing out over sex. In a brilliant move, Joey lies about having had sex to Dawson who, despite ostensibly being

head-over-heels for Gretchen, is still hoping against hope to be her first time.

16. Mind Games
Jen starts stalking her therapist and Gretchen finds out Joey lied to Dawson about not having had sex with her little bro. Pacey kicks out Gretchen to have a night alone with Joey. Dawson stresses about sex with Gretchen. Memorable lines:
Dawson, admitting to Gretchen: "I've never had sex"
Gretchen: Well I've never been to the Middle East but I do have feelings on the topic" Otherwise, not-so-memorable episode.

17. Admissions
Oh the double-entrendre of the title"¦.clever, clever. Joey gets into Worthington (prestigious Cantabridgian Ivy-but it's NOT Harvard"¦.right) Dawson gets rejected from New York Film Academy, but the tables are turned when Joey realizes how much it's going to cost and Dawson gets into USC Film School. Pacey tries to come to terms with his glee in Joey's misfortune and Dawson makes Joey an offer she can't refuse, but she has to come clean with him first to wipe that smudge of her cute little conscience.

18. Eastern Standard Time
It's Senior Ditch Day and everyone's out of school but Pacey and Drue. Dawson and Gretchen go on an ill-fated road-trip and Jennifer and Joey go to New York. New York is portrayed with the same jagged, rapid-fire shots as the rave, and is seemingly just as dangerous. New Yorkers will get a kick out of the "authentic" scenes of St. Marks St. ("look it's Kim's Video") sans the crazy homeless flasher and the girls with pink hair and track marks. In this episode we learn much about Jen's deep dark past, most disturbing factoid: She was "the princess of soho" and she has a friend named Typo. Not kidding. We also get to meet her brilliantly sleazy scum-bag of a father. Priceless episode, almost up there with "A Winter's Tale."

Disc Four

19. Late
Dawson's mom Gail is hugely pregnant but can't seem to have the baby and Joey is (cue ominous drum roll) LATE. That's what she gets for having sex. Pacey is out of the picture, on a "camping trip" with Doug who's trying to knock some sense into him after he and Drue got in a little trouble at a bar. Too bad we don't get to see too much of that, I miss Doug when he's not around.

20. Promicide
By far the most painful episode. The cringing begins when Pacey just can't seem to get anything, the corsages, the limo or the dress right. He's starting to resent his little-miss-perfect girlfriend who's still tense after the baby scare. Gretchen frets about being too old to be at another senior prom (she is, like 35 after all) and Jen decides to deal with all the painful memories New York drudged up by drowning herself in mini liquor bottles. On the upside, Jack gets conned into asking Toby to be his date, but ends up

getting up the balls to admit his feelings. Jen and Drue begin to patch their differences (mostly because she's drunk the whole night) and Joey and Pacey have a huge blow-out fight.

21. Separation Anxiety
After all the turmoil and chaos of the last episode, not much happens here. Jen freaks out when Gram decides to sell the house to pay for her tuition, and asks her to move with her and Jack to Boston, ensuring that we will have those intolerable Grams-speeches in many episodes to come. Joey and Pacey are on the outs and Joey and Dawson just keep having those 'isn't our friendship wonderful?' speeches. Wonder where this is going"¦"¦

22. The Graduate
Pacey's graduation rests on a test he walks out of because the teacher insulted him. The impulsive-angry-male thing has just gotten a little ridiculous by now. Luckily this show has no relation to reality so when the teacher shows up at his house, test in hand we breath a sigh of relief in spite of ourselves. More importantly, this episode features a gay male fantasy carwash scene featuring Jack and Toby and seemingly completely devoid of any irony. (Which brilliant writer was able to sneak that one in under the producer's radar?) Everyone gets all teary when Joey makes her little speech and no one seems to notice that Pacey's not around.

23. Coda
So Pacey's working as a deck-hand, docked in some exotic Jamaican locale that looks suspiciously like Capeside with a few extra Black people (the majority of them in bright prints and weaving baskets) thrown in. Apparently the show has just stopped trying to be politically correct. Gretchen's gone and Dawson and Joey are on their own, exchanging their prolonged, emotion-filled goodbyes. You'd think this stuff would get old, but the build-up to their inevitable window scene is manipulatively good. You know where it's going to go, you knew where it was going to go from the beginning of the season, but somehow that doesn't lessen the pure enjoyment of watching it happen. And as the camera pans away from the silhouettes in the window we all sit, with baited breath, awaiting the release of Season Five.

Season Four Grade: B

DVD Grade: A

Overall Grade: A-