Dawson’s Creek finale (spoilers)
Spoilers, in case you haven’t watched it yet. Come back later.
I predicted this one. All you have to do is go back to the very first scene of the first episode of DAWSON’S CREEK — now available on DVD — and you can see the only direction the finale could have gone. Dawson and Joey said they’d be friends forever and nothing would get in the way of that. Thus, Joey ends up with Pacey. …and nobody watching the show is happy.
Didn’t we just invest five and a half seasons of television viewing to the notion that these two star-crossed lovers were meant for each other? Wasn’t the Pacey thing just an invention of some later writing stuff desperately in search of new material? Wasn’t that just the start of every character sleeping with each other?
Ah, well. Even with that said, I have to say that I did enjoy the final episodes. I watched the final three regular episodes plus the final two-part ending show all this afternoon. It worked for me in a way the show hasn’t worked for me in a long time. It’s probably because the characters were all together again in Capeside. The show only had the spark when all of its main characters were together on the same stage. When Dawson was in California and Pacey in Boston and Joey at one school with Jack and Jenn in another one, it didn’t feel like the same show, anyway. The show never survived the inevitable post-high school breakup.
The final did a couple of things right. Jenn’s death bed might have been a bit over the top, but it did what it had to do. It gave Kevin Williamson the chance to come back and write the ultimately politically correct ending with Jenn’s baby being raised by two daddies. The opening gag with Jack kissing Doug was hilarious, though.
The inner Creek Geek in me, though, really wanted to see Dawson tell Jenn that Eve was her sister. Instead, they did away with the whole Eve thing in a simple throwaway line of dialogue that took that whole plot about as seriously as it deserved to be taken. And how many of us are left who even remember that trivial fact about Eve?
I thought, like many others, that we’d see Andie McFee (Meredith Monroe) in the final episode. I’m very surprised she didn’t show up.
I liked the movie poster with A.I. Brooks’ directorial credit showing up in Dawson’s room. That was a very nice touch.
All in all, I think the show went out on a high note. But I’m more than happy to be done with it. With it goes about the last remaining link to my college years, really. It feels odd. My five year reunion is coming up in a couple of weeks. One of the last vestiges of college life was the Dawson’s Creek regularity. I’m not sure there’s anything else left.
Dawson’s Creek is a show that’s been horribly misunderstood by far too many for far too long. Those who simply dismiss it with a sneer because “the characters don’t talk like teenagers” miss the point completely. They mistake a strength of the show for its weakness, and sneer at it with contempt. It wasn’t always high art and there were times when the entertainment level was off. However, I think it was a smart show for its time and one deserving of a heck of a lot of respect than its gotten. It will live on in syndication and cable for a long time. And that’s all any show can ask for, I think.
May 19th, 2003 at 12:17 am
Augie, you summed up almost all of my feelings very well. The things I liked (Andie), the things I didn’t (Eve). I also agree that the last 4 episodes worked in ways the last couple of seasons hadn’t, and I was enjoying like I hadn’t until they went to college.
Agreed, Jen’s death was dragged on a bit too long, but there was a degree of sincerety with all the “life messages” they were trying tto get across with it.
But, like you, I felt extremely cheated by the ending. In a way, I feel like Joey didn’t have to make a real choice – she got them both – her “soulmate”, and her lover. She never had to make a decision!
I didn’t agree with the decision to put her with Pacey AT ALL, as I’m sure you know. And I actually won’t be buying the DVD sets as a result. I felt like everything that I had watched Dawson & Joey go through for the last 5/6 years was all for nothing – in my mind, they were supposed to be a part for a little while, so they could finally be together as relatively mature adults. Obviously, that didn’t happen. As I ranted over on my LJ page, I don’t understand how Joey could “always” know she was supposed to be with Pacey. He was the second guy! He came AFTER Dawson! How can the after guy be the always guy???
But that’s one of the many strengths of the show – making us care so much about these characters who don’t always behave the ways we wished they should. Like you, I’ll be nostalgic for the show, but I won’t ever me able to speak of the ending as satisfying.
May 19th, 2003 at 9:16 am
Hey Patricia,
The answer to this is all so very simple: Buy the first season boxed set only. You get one complete story, and Joey and Dawson are together at the end.
End of story.
I think it’s what I might just be doing. There were some great bits in the next two or three seasons (I loved the A.I. Brooks storyline), but I think the first season is enough to remember the series by. Plus, it’ll save me a couple hundred bucks this way. =)
I have to go visit your LJ page now, too, to see your full writeup. I did a really good job about shielding myself from spoilers last week until I saw the ep on Saturday. Now I can go looking for what everyone else thought.
-Augie
May 19th, 2003 at 9:49 am
That’s actually an excellent suggestion. :) The series could have ended after just one season, and we could have gotten a complete, satisfying story arc that wrapped everything up. :)
And the cost savings is definitely a valid point as well.
May 19th, 2003 at 11:01 am
That’s the same way they handled BUFFY. They both started at the same time with 13 episode commitments. Both Williamson and Joss Whedon were smart enough to structure their shows in such a way that if they were never renewed, they still told one larger story.
Of course, they both turned out to be fairly popular for the demographic, and here we are today. Both shows ending more-or-less together.
-Augie
May 19th, 2003 at 3:00 pm
“Those who simply dismiss it with a sneer because “the characters don’t talk like teenagers” miss the point completely.”
I’ve never seen an episode, but I always understood the dialogue to be a deliberate stylistic choice – that is, Williamson wasn’t trying to suggest that teenagers are that erudite, but very cleverly used the medium to let them be, thereby allowing them to really describe their emotional states.
But, like I said, I’ve never seen it.
May 15th, 2004 at 10:00 pm
Okay, I never got to see the finale and i hope to see it on tv in 2004 ! DSo u know when it will bwe on tv again? Anyhow I love that Joey and Pacey got together. Being the fact that Joey and Dawson have been friends thier whole life And everytime they get together it usually screws up! I wish that Joey and Pacey would have got married in the finale!! They are cute together and they’re my favorite caracters . Okay if you cantell me a little summary of the finale or tell me when it will be on tv in2004 email asap our as many times as u would like ! Bye!! Shelby