Decisions

And it's time to wind this season down to a close, with the season one finale! Is it any coincidence that "finale" sounds like "finally"? Sorry, that was pretty lame.

Joey climbs in Dawson's window as usual, and he acts all awkward about how he didn't think she was going to come so he didn't get any movies. He suggests they watch TV, and she grouses that she's tired of TV. It's too predictable, she says. He flips it on anyway, and excitedly announces that there's a really good cliffhanger on. "Cliffhanger? Come on, Dawson, you of all people should know that a cliffhanger is merely a manipulative TV standard designed to improve ratings," Joey says. Remember 1998, when this kind of meta was actually kind of clever? "The producers put the characters in some contrived situation hoping that the audience will think something's going to change, but you know what? It never does. It's back to the same way it was before your so-called cliffhanger. It's boring, Dawson." He posits that something might change in this one. Get it? Because, like, this is the finale? Okay, it was kind of clever when we were 12, anyway.

Credits! Since I'm rewatching the DVD sets, this is the last time I'll get to hear/have to endure Paula Cole's "I Don't Want To Wait" as the theme song, since Jann Arden's "Run Like Mad" replaced it in all subsequent releases. Fun fact: "Run Like Mad" was the theme song for the show when it originally aired in Canada. The more you know... Anyway, I'm going to need to savor this moment, or something.

We open at Grams', where she's telling comatose Gramps all about the church gossip. I forgot there's all that depressing stuff in this episode. Jen comes in to ask how he's doing, and just as she's leaving, he stirs, opening his eyes and saying, "Goodbye... Jen..." Only not like, "Goodbye, Jen, I'm going into the light," but rather "Goodbye, Jen, have a good day at school, and by the way you might want to bring a sweater because the weatherman said there might be a bit of a chill."

At school, Jen's on a high from Gramps' health resurgence, and asks Dawson to celebrate with her. He says he can't because of his plans with Joey, who walks up at that moment. She looks dazed, and informs them that she's been nominated to go spend a semester in France. "Dawson, isn't that amazing?" says Jen, meanwhile thinking "Mwahaha I get him all to myself!" Dawson looks crestfallen at the thought of Joey leaving. "I definitely think she should go, don't you?" Jen cajoles. Heh. I like to think this behavior is a preview of the Evil!Jen who's to come in season two.

At the Icehouse, Joey discusses the situation with Bessie. Bessie says she's proud, and that their dad will be proud when Joey tells him about it. Apparently they agreed to alternate visiting him on his birthday the whole time he's in prison, and Joey's number is up the next day. "You know what, Joey? He's still our father," Bessie snaps when Joey complains about having to go.

Pacey's riding his bike along Capeside's idyllic streets, when he gets pulled over by Deputy Doug. As it turns out, Pacey's not passing an awful lot of classes, and Papa Witter is pissed. Doug taunts him about being a failure for a bit. Aren't there crimes for you to solve, Deputy Doug? Lay off poor Pacey.

It's time for a field trip to prison! Dawson's agreed to accompany Joey, and they wait for their bus. She tells him the last time she saw her dad was two years ago, "About the same time I discovered he was trafficking marijuana while cheating on my dying mother with a bleached-blonde cocktail waitress." Dawson asks if she's decided what to do about France, and she asks what he'd do if she left. After joking that he'd probably kill himself (preferable), he says, "If Paris made you happy, then I'd be happy for you." Watch out, Joey, because that's the only selfless thing he'll likely ever say to you.

At Attica, Joey and Dawson find out they missed visiting hours. Isn't that the sort of thing you look up before taking a 4-hour bus ride to jail? In any case, they decide the best solution is to get a motel room and shack up 'til morning. Dawson makes some noise about this being the first time they've slept together in a bed other than their own. She seems fine with the idea, but he's super uncomfortable. Probably scared he'll whimper her name in his sleep now that he thinks she's hot and all that. As they're lying in bed, he pouts and tells her he'll miss her a lot if she goes to France. "I want to figure out where we are. What's going on between us," he says. She asks how, and he babbles for awhile about how he can't analyze himself. She's all "whatever" and turns over, while he lies awake and broods, presumably only to cry himself to sleep hours later.

At Capeside General Hospital, Grams tells Jen all about how prayer's what brought Gramps back to them. They argue about religion for entirely too long, and that's that.

Back to Attica. Joey insists Dawson stay while she visits with her dad. He comes out in his jumpsuit and sits across a bare table from the pair. "Joey, you're beautiful," he marvels. "No, I'm not," she grits out through her teeth. Homegirl is not enjoying this visit. She answers his questions bitterly and says she doesn't want to talk about anything. Papa Potter says he misses his family, and she spitefully tells him she's going to Europe and that their family is over before storming off. Mr. Potter begs Dawson to stay and tell him about his daughter, even as Joey goes to wander the prison yard alone. "She's smart, she's beautiful, she's funny..." he begins. Blah blah blah, Joey's awesome, blah blah blah, he needs her, blah blah blah. "She's my best friend, you know. She's more than that. Sh-- she's everything," he says, eyes glassy and unfocused. It's the epiphany we've been waiting for, I suppose.

Back in Capeside, Joey accuses Dawson of brooding as they walk along the dock. He tells her she shouldn't have left. She rants about how she can't forgive her dad, and Dawson says she should tell him that, if nothing else, because he's her father. Blah blah blah, daddy issues. Joey says she's decided to go to Paris. "Running away is not the answer, Joey," he mumbles. "Give me one non-analytical, off the top of your head reason why I should stay!" she demands, and of course, for dramatic tension, he can't and/or doesn't, so she rows off, leaving him to look constipated in her wake. You're a moron, Dawson.

Back at the hospital, we find out Gramps had another stroke. Grams tells Jen it's God's plan, and that they should pray. "How can you have so much faith in prayer? Just because you pray doesn't mean it can change God," Jen says through tears. "Prayer doesn't change God. Prayer changes me," corrects Grams. Which still won't bring Gramps back to life, but I digress.

The Icehouse! Joey's working alone and Pacey shows up, hands in pockets, sad sack look on his face. "When was it that I got designated the town loser?" he asks her. She tries to reassure him that his family doesn't hate him, but mainly changes the subject to her own disaster of a family. He tells her a story about how his dad yelled at him once after losing a baseball game, and then told Doug, "At least I have you." Joey's advice is to talk to his dad, and he points out that she ought to take her own advice. So she decides to. Since the buses aren't running, she asks Pacey to drive her to the prison.

In Gramps' hospital room, Jen talks to him tearfully. Come back, I want you to get better, I miss you, etc. Does it make me a bad person that I think this plotline is boring?

At Attica, visiting hours are obviously long over-- it's like midnight. Pacey slips the guard a bribe, however, and he lets Joey in. $20 is all it takes to see a prisoner in the middle of the night? Good to know. Would a $50 let me bring in a cake with a file baked inside?

Jen crawls into Dawson's window, emotional, and tells him she misses him. "I blew it. But I'm going to stop blowing it." Well stopping is probably not the best way to win him back, Jen, if you know what I mean. Sorry. So, she asks if she can sleep there with him like Joey does. I get it, she's all sad about Gramps and all, but come on. Anyway, Sarah McLachlan starts to play on the soundtrack just in case we forgot we were watching a late-'90s WB drama, and Jen starts to cry. Dawson looks mega-uncomfortable.

Joey talks to Papa Potter through a chain link fence. She tells him that he messed up in a lot of ways, and that he doesn't know her. There's a lot of tears in this episode. "I'm going to be okay. No help from you," she tells him, before asking if he loves her. Now it's his turn to start to cry, as he tells her "Nah, not really." Just kidding. Of course he loves her. He says he thinks about her all day long, and misses her, and loves her. "And I'm not the only one. Dawson Leery, he loves you, Joey. He's never told you?" She says no. "He looks at you the same way your mother used to look at me," he says, then tells her to tell Dawson she loves him. More McLachlan plays, and Joey and her dad link hands through the fence. Okay, so I think that this scene was probably pretty emotionally powerful, if a little overwrought, but with all these years past and the entire run of the show behind me, it's hard to take anything seriously about this show. Alas.

Now we're treated to some Edwin McCain, as Joey rows her boat and runs toward Chez Leery. Jen wakes up sprawled on Dawson, and goes in for a kiss. Morning breath, Lindley! Of course, that's the moment Joey appears in the window. She's out like a light, and Dawson freaks out. "Are you in love with her, Dawson?" Jen asks accusatorily. No offense, Jen, but if you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it.

Joey's rowing her boat home, and Dawson's running all over town looking for her. Then she's walking on the dock, then sitting on a bench, Keanu-style. Dawson's not having much luck, and meanwhile, Jen gets a phone call telling her Gramps has died. While Dawson frantically calls Joey's name in the town square, Jen joins Grams in an empty church. She's wearing a ridiculous high-necked floral ankle-length dress, but I'll forgive it since her grandfather just died. Grams breaks down crying after asking God to keep her husband safe for her, and dude, this episode is just depressing. How am I expected to snark about this?

Dawson finds Joey in the most obvious of places-- his bedroom closet. He tries to explain, and she says there's no need, because they're just friends. "Joey, you know that's not true," he says. They argue back and forth about whether they're growing up or staying the same, changing or not. She says she came to tell him it's time to move on. He asks if she's going to France. Okay, let me just go ahead and register my opinion that NO SHIT she should be going to France. It's just a semester. JFC, Joey, don't be an idiot. Anyway, back to the vocabulary twins. She asks why she should stay, and once again he can't answer. She says she just wants to be honest with him, and he says he does too, and then they talk about honesty for way too long. This whole conversation could have been condensed into like three sentences. "Honesty is a big word, and it changes things, and complicates things," she says, then does that weird thing Katie Holmes does where her eyes flick back and forth really fast like an alien. He can't answer, again, so she starts to leave. At the last minute, he grabs her and kisses her, and she's totally into it. And then we pan out on a shot of the Leery house illuminated, their silhouetted embrace visible in his bedroom window.

BAM. Season one, over. In retrospect, I think Dawson is kind of an indecisive moron here. He basically couldn't make up his mind for the last two episodes (before which, he had no real interest in Joey, anyway), and then only goes for her because she says she's going to leave. The characterization of Dawson much later as only wanting her because he can't have her isn't just true of season 3 Dawson (and season 5 Dawson, and season 6 Dawson, for that matter), but is true for the entire series. He's such a lameass.

Anyway. Catch ya in season two! If I can handle it.