DAWSON'S CREEK: FOUR STORIES (TV)
Summary
One in this series about the romantic exploits of Dawson Leery and his friends in coastal Massachusetts. In this episode, the Capeside High School students depart the lodge after the ski trip, although Joey and Pacey covertly stay behind. Jack and Jen discuss their drunken encounter and are both glad they stopped themselves, but Jen is dismayed to learn she will be punished for getting caught with alcohol. The story then splits into four separate narratives: in the first, “About Last Night,” Pacey and Joey share a vending machine breakfast and discuss the previous night, during which Joey lost her virginity to Pacey. He asks if he told Bessie or Gretchen over the phone, and she says she did not. He then asks about his “prowess,” but she avoids answering, and is made more uncomfortable when he asks about her experience. She admits she was worried about “measuring up” to his former girlfriends, and also says she does not want to tell Dawson, although he thinks it would be the mature thing to do. Finally she admits that despite her anxiety, he made her feel “safe” with his kindness and she is glad that it happened and would like it to happen again.
In “The Big Picture,” Dawson and Gretchen return home from Mr. Brooks’ funeral and find Grams looking through his old movie memorabilia, which she debates donating. Dawson is upset that so few people acknowledge Brooks’ death, and Grams suggests that he needs closure. Looking through his things, he and Gretchen act out an old-timey screenplay written by Brooks, and they kiss. Dawson worries that his future will be similarly lonely and forgotten by the world, but Gretchen praises Brooks’ accomplishments and says he brought her together with Dawson. As he spends a moment alone with Brooks’ belongings, a representative from Brooks’ estate comes by and tells Dawson that he wants to meet with him about the will. When asked, Dawson genially describes Brooks as “a pain in the ass” who was his friend.
In “Excess Baggage,” Jen attends a therapy session required by school because of her drinking incident. She states that she does not need to be there and offers a rambling explanation of her actions and her friendship with Jack, soon becoming defensive when the doctor asks probing questions about her life. She starts to leave, saying the sessions will not work out, but then hesitantly asks if she is “totally screwed up.” The doctor suggests that she is masking some deep-seated insecurities rooted in her issues with her parents and offers to help her work through them, and she ends up staying, telling him all about her friends and her life.
In “Seems Like Old Times,” Joey and Dawson have a run-in at a movie theatre. Joey expresses her condolences about Brooks and says Dawson missed nothing interesting on the ski trip. He tells her that Brooks left him a great deal of money in his will to “do something great,” and he debates using it for college tuition or to make a film. He notes that she “seems different” in a good way, but she only says that she has made “big decisions” lately and feels that she has neglected their friendship, but he assures her otherwise. They spend a pleasant evening together, and at the end, he asks directly if she slept with Pacey, acknowledging that it is a personal question and revealing that he has not been intimate with Gretchen. After a hesitation, she says that in the past she would have thought that Dawson would be her first, not Pacey, but then lies and says that nothing happened, and Dawson seems relieved. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: WB
- DATE: February 14, 2001 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:44:01
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:69788
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Teenagers
- SERIES RUN: WB - TV series, 1998-2003
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Paul Stupin … Executive Producer
- Greg Berlanti … Executive Producer
- Jeffrey Stepakoff … Supervising Producer
- Greg Prange … Executive Producer
- Tom Kapinos … Supervising Producer, Writer
- Janice Cooke-Leonard … Producer
- David Blake Hartley … Producer
- Gina Fattore … Co-Producer
- Cynthia Stegner … Associate Producer
- Dale Williams … Associate Producer
- Alan Cross … Consulting Producer
- David Petrarca … Director
- Kevin Williamson … Created by
- Adam Fields … Music by
- Paula Cole … Theme Music by
- James Van Der Beek … Cast, Dawson Leery
- Katie Holmes … Cast, Joey Potter
- Joshua Jackson … Cast, Pacey Witter
- Michelle Williams … Cast, Jen Lindley
- Kerr Smith … Cast, Jack McPhee
- Meredith Monroe … Cast, Andie McPhee
- Mary-Margaret Humes … Cast, Gail Leery
- John Wesley Shipp … Cast, Mitch Leery
- Mary Beth Peil … Cast, Evelyn 'Grams' Ryan
- Nina Repeta … Cast, Bessie Potter
- Sasha Alexander … Cast, Gretchen Witter
- Mark Matkevich … Cast, Drue Valentine
- Rob Nagle … Cast, Dr. Tom Frost
- Arian Ash … Cast, Kissing Girl
- David Downs … Cast, Mr. Kasdan
- Aaron Guilmette … Cast, Kissing Guy
- Andrew Masset … Cast, Patrick Felker