June 28, 2011
Dawson’s Creek 2.15, …That is the Question: You Don’t Know Jack
Insert your own joke about flaming things
Summary: Pacey watches Jerry Maguire in Dawson’s room (sadly, Joey isn’t there); he’s been hiding out there during his suspension. He also hasn’t talked to Andie in a week. Dawson tells him that Jerry isn’t the best role model to have right now since he had to grovel to get what he wanted. At school, Dawson sees Jen and Ty kissing and notes that they’re progressing well. She invites him to hang out with them that night.
Jack is still the talk of the school, and Joey’s sick of it. He suggests having sex in front of everyone to really prove he’s straight. Dawson invites Joey to whatever club Jen and Ty are going to, but she and Jack are studying together. He suggests that they both come, then advises her to plan something romantic for the two of them.
Pacey’s suspension is over, so he returns to the scene of the crime, Mr. Peterson’s class. He turns in all the assignments given while he was gone. He also learns that Mr. Peterson gave him an F on his poem but won’t explain why. Pacey’s day gets worse when Andie ignores him at lunch. Joey plans a special dinner for Jack and implies that there will be a deflowering afterward. Pacey finally goes to talk to Andie, but all they do is fight. Andie and Jack are then called to the guidance office, where they find their father, Joseph.
Jack has to cancel his dinner with Joey to spend time with his father, so she will remain a virgin for at least one more day. She decides to go out with Dawson, Jen, and Ty instead. They go back to the jazz club Ty and Jen went to before, and Dawson and Joey opt for something nonalcoholic to drink. While Ty plays the piano, Jen, Dawson, and Joey laugh over their weird relationships. Pacey hangs out alone, researching teaching regulations.
Andie’s happy to be with Mr. McPhee again, but Jack would rather be anywhere than with him. Mr. McPhee complains that the guidance counselor called him down from Providence and disrupted his life because of the whole poem debacle. He asks if Jack is gay and Jack asks if it would matter. Mr. McPhee remarks that Jack’s the only living McPhee son, and people notice him now. If he’s gay, the “problem” needs to “be resolved immediately.” Jack and Andie are both stunned by his attitude.
Dawson and Joey dance at the club, both admitting that they’re having a better time than expected. Joey thinks Dawson believes Jack’s gay; he notes that she knows Jack better than he does. He also confirms that Joey doesn’t know Jack as well as she knows Dawson. Joey guesses correctly that Dawson’s comfortable with the two of them being there together as friends. Meanwhile, Ty wonders why Joey would want to be with a “fruit fly.” He’s sure Jack’s gay. Ty and Jen argue over whether or not sexuality is a choice (he says yes, she says no).
Andie lets Jack know that she’s not on Mr. McPhee’s side, but she does feel bad for him because he hasn’t had it easy. She also would welcome him coming home since they need help with their mother. Jack disagrees, reminding her that he abandoned the family. Andie says that if Jack keeps refusing to love Mr. McPhee, he’ll never love Jack back. Jack replies that he can’t be like Andie, constantly looking for their father’s approval. Andie wants Mr. McPhee to be proud of her, but Jack wonders if she’s ever thought about whether she’s proud of him.
Back at Jen’s, she brings up the choice/non-choice discussion again, and Ty brings Grams into it. Ty says he doesn’t judge Jack (uh-huh, I bet), but God will, and one day Jack will have to answer for his actions. He also thinks gay people are “damaging to the world at large.” This comment makes Grams tense up. Ty goes on about the topic until Grams steps in and tells him that if Jack is gay, he doesn’t need Ty’s judgment. Instead, he needs tolerance and love. Jen’s pretty gleeful about this development.
Dawson walks Joey home and she asks him if she’s “sexual.” She knows Jack isn’t gay, but she thinks he must have picked her because she’s “safe.” Dawson assures her that she’s definitely sexual. She points out that he fell for Jen the “sex machine.” He gives a monologue about how awesome Joey is, then wonders why she chose Jack over him. (Maybe because he’s able to have a conversation without giving a monologue?)
Pacey meets with the principal and lets her know that his research proves Mr. Peterson is in violation of a number of bylaws. He also got more than 20 testimonies from other students about Mr. Peterson’s behavior and plans to present them to the school board. The principal says she hopes Pacey knows what he’s doing.
Mr. McPhee tells Andie he’s going back to Providence and will be back in a few weeks, but Jack tells him not to bother coming back since he obviously doesn’t want to. He asks why Mr. McPhee bothers to support a family he doesn’t care about. Jack prevents his father from leaving, saying Mr. McPhee never talks about what their family’s going through, but they’re going to talk about Jack right now. He tells Mr. McPhee to ask him again if he’s gay. “You are not gay,” Mr. McPhee says firmly. “Yes, I am!” Jack replies.
Jack knows that Mr. McPhee preferred Tim because he was the “real son” while Jack was different. He’s tried harder than Mr. McPhee to ignore it and keep his secret from his family. Crying, Jack says he can’t try anymore. He apologizes to Mr. McPhee and Andie, saying he doesn’t want to be going through this. Andie starts crying as well and goes to comfort her brother, but Mr. McPhee tells them both to stop crying. He tells Andie that it’s between him and Jack, but Andie says it’s not anymore and kicks him out.
At school, Jack asks Joey if they can have their special dinner that night. Mr. Peterson’s class learns that he’s not in school, and Jack thanks Pacey for standing up for him. Pacey finds Mr. Peterson in his classroom and discovers that he’s leaving. Mr. Peterson says there’s no way he would have met with the school board to learn everything he’s done wrong in his career. He was going to retire at the end of the year anyway, so Pacey’s actions just gave him an excuse to leave early.
Pacey apologizes to Mr. Peterson, but the teacher replies that their confrontation was one of the most admirable moments of Pacey’s life, so he shouldn’t “ruin it with an apology.” He continues that Pacey came here to learn from him. Pacey replies that he learned that respect is best earned through compassion, not fear. “Should I respect you?” Mr. Peterson asks, noting that Pacey’s responsible for ending his career. “Where’s the compassion in that?” (Compassion for what, jerkwad? Making a student cry?)
Ty and Jen make peace, but he’s not sure why they’re not allowed to disagree. He asks Jen to show him a different view if she thinks his are wrong. He wants to be open-minded and hopes she does, too. Jen’s won over by his charm. Pacey finds Andie outside the school and they race to be the first to apologize. She says that she molded Pacey into who she wanted him to be, the same thing she did with her father. She really just wants to be with someone who loves her for who she is.
That night, Jack meets Joey for dinner and prepares to tell her the truth. They’re both a little confused, but when she asks again if he’s gay, he says he is. The poem he wrote made something inside of him click, and he realized that his feelings aren’t going to go away. He cares about Joey and doesn’t want to lose her, but he doesn’t want to hurt her. She thanks Jack for being honest, but she’s obviously not happy with the news. Jack goes home to Andie while Joey heads through Dawson’s window and cries on his shoulder.
Thoughts: How fitting that I watched this right after the gay-marriage vote in New York.
If Joey had walked in while Pacey was watching Jerry Maguire, I would have laughed until my stomach hurt.
I see we’ve completely moved on from the holier-than-thou Grams. Let’s forget she was ever racist, shall we?
What’s up with Pacey and English teachers, anyway?
I’m pretty sure that when Ty says, “Show me another way,” he really means, “I want to get in your pants.”
June 27, 2011
BSC Super Special #12, Here Come the Bridesmaids!: “I Do” Times Two
I didn't know 13-year-old girls could marry each other in California
Summary: Dawn’s dad is getting married, so Mary Anne, Claudia, and Kristy fly out to California to help with the wedding. Well, Claudia helps with the wedding. Kristy basically does nothing the entire book. Back in Stoneybrook, Mrs. Barrett is getting married, Stacey’s a bridesmaid, and Mallory and Shannon are hired to watch the kids at the wedding. Hijinks ensue.
- Dawn thinks Mary Anne‘s going to be her fellow bridesmaid in the wedding, despite the fact that she never asked her dad or Carol about it. She buys her a dress and everything. When Mary Anne finds out that Dawn assumed she would be in the wedding, they get in a fight, but it doesn’t last long, like most of their lame fights. Dawn’s also adjusting to having Carol around all the time, and there’s some brief stuff about her having to make sure her grades are good before she goes back to Connecticut.
- Mallory and Ben Hobart make tentative plans to take a bunch of kids Christmas caroling (oh, yeah, the book takes place right around Christmas), but she has to cancel them, and they get into an equally lame fight. Then they make up. Yeah, like you really care about Mallory. She also does a disastrous job looking after four of the Barrett/DeWitt kids at the wedding, which is pretty much what you would expect if you put a pre-teen in charge of four rowdy kids.
- Jessi is enlisted to play Santa at the mall. Yes, Jessi. Apparently no one cares that she’s a) 11, b) a girl, and c) not white.
- Claudia helps out a bunch with the wedding, taking photographs and styling hair and being dumb about flowers.
- Kristy hijacks the We ♥ Kids Club’s goodbye party for Dawn, because we all know how flakey and unstructured they are, and how awesome and organized Kristy is. She should have stayed in Stoneybrook. Not only would she have had the kids in line at the wedding, she would have arranged a big project for them involving homemade wedding presents.
- Shannon is also in this book.
- Jeff worries that Mr. Schafer’s housekeeper, Mrs. Bruen, will be fired after Carol moves in, I guess because women are always so good at cooking and cleaning and all that stuff. But then he learns that Mrs. Bruen is actually going to be working more hours. Whatever, Mrs. Bruen, get in the kitchen and make Jeff a sandwich.
- Suzi Barrett is worried that Santa won’t be able to find her house, since the families are moving. Inspired by two stories she heard in school – Hansel and Gretel and Theseus in the Labyrinth – she leaves a trail of cookie crumbs from the old house to the new one, which is both adorable and brilliant.
This also marks the end of Dawn’s six months (or whatever) in California and her return to Stoneybrook, which means we’ll barely hear about Shannon from here on out. Fortunately, we won’t be saddled with Dawn for too much longer.
Thoughts: The Vista Hills Mall has a health-food snack bar called Health’s Angels. Har har.
Why does Dawn have to pay for her bridesmaid’s dress?
Mallory once gave Claire a hole-puncher for Christmas. First of all, you suck, Mallory. Second of all, what’s a kid that age going to do with a hole-puncher, other than make a big mess?
They could have solved the whole Suzi problem by telling her Santa would find them through magic. Kids accept magic as a valid answer to any question. I guess Suzi’s smarter than everyone else in this book.
Why in the world would you arrange for movers to come the same night you get married? I guess the ghostwriter couldn’t have Carol move in with the Schafers before the wedding. That would be WRONG.
And why would you expect your future stepmother to ask her fiancé’s ex-wife’s stepdaughter to be her bridesmaid? Especially when they’ve only met once before? Also, why does Mary Anne think she deserves to be a bridesmaid when she hears she isn’t going to be one? These people mean nothing to her!
Trivia: Jessi’s dad is six-two.
The Schafers only serve health food while Kristy, Claudia, and Mary Anne are visiting, but then serve duck at the wedding. So not only are they rude, they’re also hypocrites.
Logan, why are you in this book?
Dawn: “I even loved every morsel of that cake, despite the fact that it was made with way too much refined sugar.” That cake had your face on it and was made by an 8-YEAR-OLD, you UNGRATEFUL WITCH. Urge to kill, rising….
“Franklin wears red pajamas every single night.” Uh…how do you know that, Suzi?
I would laugh more at Mallory, but I have my own horrible-sitting-job-at-a-wedding-story. Well, it’s actually a horrible-sitting-job-at-a-wedding-reception story. When I was in high school, my best friend and I were hired to watch four kids at a reception in D.C. (about ten miles from our hometown). There were two brother/sister pairs, all between the ages of four and eight. We didn’t know these kids or their families (they were out-of-town guests), and the kids barely knew each other. (I think they were distant cousins.)
We were put in a room with the kids, a TV, some videos, and some toys. The kids weren’t happy to be away from their parents, and they especially weren’t happy to be stuck in a room with two teenaged girls they didn’t know when there was a big party right down the hall. A big party with cake. So the kids kept trying to escape the room, every five minutes for about three hours. They wouldn’t listen to me or my friend, they kept whining and complaining, and they were rude to us and each other. The fact that the food brought to us wasn’t great didn’t help.
Finally, the reception was winding down, so one of the fathers came to relieve me and my friend and pay us. He was totally drunk (I remember him standing partway down the hall, just staring at me, looking like he would fall over if he took a step), and he handed me a couple of 20s, telling me it was for both me and my friend. Two sitters + four demons kids + three or so hours + horrible accommodations = $20 each, which works out to about $7 an hour. I can’t remember how much I usually made for babysitting back then (this would have been 1999), but it was probably closer to $10 an hour.
But wait, it gets better. He added that that had to cover our cab fare back home, because no one had arranged a ride for us. Cab fare from D.C. back home would have eaten up half our fee, at least. Fortunately, someone heard about the payment and gave us some extra money. We also got a ride back home from a couple of women (who hadn’t been drinking) going the same way. I believe that was when I told my friend that if she ever needed someone to babysit with her again, she should NOT call me.
June 26, 2011
BH90210 1.10, Isn’t It Romantic?: I Want Your Sex
Yeah, Buffy and Angel were in this same position...right before she killed him
Summary: Brenda and Dylan flirt with each other while he’s over helping Brandon work on his car. Jim questions how Dylan got the money for his own car, a Porsche. Dylan goes in to take a shower, for some reason leaving the bathroom door open, so of course Brenda walks in on him. They start talking about movies, and he asks her to see one with him and Brandon that night. Afterward they go to Dylan’s house, where he’s been living since his dad closed the hotel suite.
At school Brenda tries to convince Kelly that she and Dylan didn’t go on a date. (I don’t think it’s considered a date when your brother’s there.) She argues that she isn’t even Dylan’s type. The two girls complain about health class; the sex-ed portion of the curriculum is coming up in a couple weeks. Brenda and Dylan end up going out alone since Brandon has a cold. Jim isn’t happy about this since Dylan’s father is known as unethical and he doesn’t think Dylan’s much different.
Brenda and Dylan plan to see another movie but go back to his place instead. They’re surprised to find Dylan’s father Jack there doing something business-related. He and Dylan have a big fight and Dylan storms out with Brenda. He’s so angry that she doesn’t want him to drive her home, but he refuses to let her take a cab. He smashes a flowerpot and Brenda runs off, but Dylan chases her and won’t let her leave. He starts crying and she comforts him. Then they make out.
After Dylan calms down, he drives Brenda home, asking her not to tell Brandon about his freak-out. Then they make out some more. Now Kelly has more evidence to support her theory that Brenda and Dylan are dating. In health class Scott tells David that his mom will never sign the consent form to let him take sex ed; she’ll think he’s getting the wrong message at school. David points out that she has six kids, so she might not be the best judge.
Brandon hears for the first time that Dylan and Brenda didn’t go to a movie, but they decline to tell him what they did instead. At home, Brenda and Brandon encourage their parents to go away for the weekend. Jim learns that Brenda has plans with Dylan and says he doesn’t want her getting involved with him. Brenda asks Brandon for some help, but he keeps quiet. She’s upset but says she’ll cancel her plans with Dylan. Cindy’s upset with Jim’s behavior since she likes Dylan. Jim tells Brandon to warn Dylan to “watch his step.”
Brenda gets Cindy to sign her consent form for sex ed, remarking that the textbook doesn’t cover how you feel when you’re ready to have sex. She thinks Cindy’s on Jim’s side about Dylan not being right for her. Cindy talks to her about commitment and respect being important in a relationship. Kelly tells Brenda to keep her date with Dylan and gives her some condoms. At school, Brandon uncomfortably watches Brenda and Dylan wrestle with each other. Scott is still consent-less.
Brandon asks Dylan to help him with his car again that weekend. Dylan says he can’t since Jack is back in town. Brandon warns him to treat Brenda right, especially since she’s a virgin. Kelly and Donna help Brenda get ready for her date with Dylan, then take her to the movie theater to meet him…only he doesn’t show up. The next day Brenda tells Brandon that she called Dylan’s house and someone told her he didn’t want to talk to her. She admits that she was ready to have sex with him. She’s determined to find out what happened.
Brandon confronts Dylan at school, saying that he knows Dylan moved and didn’t leave a forwarding address. Dylan tells him he was just obeying Brandon’s orders not to hurt Brenda. He says something came up but won’t tell Brandon what it was, only that it had nothing to do with Brenda. The health teacher, who was supposed to pick up the guest speaker for sex ed, has car trouble, so Steve offers to pick up the speaker, Stacy, for him. He pretends to be the teacher, Mr. Kravitz, and asks Stacy out. She declines.
Dylan stops by the Walshes’, where Brenda blasts him for standing her up. He tells her he had to help Jack pack because he had to “disappear.” He’s about to be indicted for securities fraud, and he decided to skip the country and go into hiding. Dylan assures Brenda that he still cares about her. He also reveals that he never heard that she called his house looking for him. Brenda asks what Dylan wants her to feel for him. He doesn’t answer, but he does make out with her on the couch.
When Jim comes home, Brenda rushes Dylan out, but Jim is sure they were up to something. He chastises Jack for skipping town and being a bad role model. Brenda complains that every guy out there just wants sex, so the nice guys Jim wants her to date aren’t that nice. She’s also upset that Jim only talked to Brandon about birth control, but with Brenda, he’s worried about her values. Brenda just wants to get to know Dylan. Jim admits that he’s not sure Brenda’s ready for sex, or if he’s ready for her to be ready. She asks him to trust her to know when the time is right.
David tries to convince Scott to skip study hall and sneak into the sex-ed assembly even though he didn’t get his consent form signed. Dylan apologizes to Brandon for everything that’s happened, and Brandon apologizes for interfering. Steve immediately gets busted for not being Mr. Kravitz, but he doesn’t seem to care. He tells Dylan and Brandon that he went to Stacy’s hotel room.
Stacy tells the students at the assembly that she turned down a cute guy recently because she has AIDS. Scotty, showing up late: “What’d I miss?” Stacy talks to the now-subdued students about the dangers of unprotected sex. She also reveals that the man who gave her AIDS died last year. She used to worry about petty things, but now her health is her main focus. Afterward Steve approaches her and says he’s sorry. Stacy just wants to make sure he heard what she had to say.
Dylan comes to pick Brenda up for a date and Jim is actually nice to him. Dylan says he’s never liked being Jack’s son, especially since they’ve never known each other very well. He thinks Brandon and Brenda are lucky to have such good parents. Dylan takes Brenda to an overlook with a nice view, but she’s unable to enjoy it because she’s worried that Dylan’s had unprotected sex. He admits that he has, but not lately. He agrees to get tested, not just for her but also for himself. Brenda tells him that she needs them to slow down because she’s scared. Dylan’s okay with that.
Thoughts: Aaaaaand Jim’s annoying again. That was quick.
Kelly is amazingly smart and mature about sex, telling Brenda, “Never rely on the guy,” and warning that when she’s in the moment, she won’t be using her brain very much. She’s not the airhead she was in the first couple of episodes.
Not to be gross, but how does Brandon know Brenda’s a virgin?
BRENDA. YOUR BROTHER DOES NOT WANT TO HEAR THAT YOU WERE GOING TO HAVE SEX.
Steve is a moron for, among other things, not realizing that Stacy would bust him for lying as soon as she met the real Mr. Kravitz. And also for trying to get her to commit statutory rape.
June 25, 2011
Dawson’s Creek 2.14, To Be or Not to Be…: Hunting Gay Elephants
Note: This elephant may or may not be gay. We'll have to get him to write a poem so we can find out
Summary: Jack has made a model city for Dawson’s movie, and Dawson and Pacey are really impressed with it. After Pacey leaves to study, Dawson tells Jack that Andie has had a huge positive influence on Pacey. He adds that he really appreciates all of Jack’s help on the film. The two guys are apparently past their issues now. Jack asks for some advice on writing, and Dawson tells him to just listen to himself.
At school Pacey learns that he’s made two A’s and three B’s. He celebrates with some PDA with Andie. Jack wants to have his own PDA with Joey, who resists. Dawson and Jack make plans to film together, and Joey thinks Dawson’s only being nice because Jack’s helping with the movie. Ty approaches Jen, wondering why she hasn’t returned his numerous calls. He figures out that the Bible study turned her off. She confirms this, telling him his religiousness will keep them apart. He disagrees.
Pacey gets publicly ridiculed for turning in a messy poem, so he challenges the teacher, Mr. Peterson’s, grading policy. Jack is called out for agreeing with Pacey, and Mr. Peterson makes him read his poem to the class. Jack begs not to have to do it, but Mr. Peterson won’t take no for an answer. The poem, called “Today,” is something of a love poem, but it’s not about Joey, it’s about a guy. Jack gets so emotional that he runs out, and Pacey tries to go after him but Mr. Peterson forces him to stay.
In the computer lab/library (hard to tell), Joey and Dawson overhear some guys talking about Jack and what happened in class. The guys laugh over Jack being gay. Later Dawson visits Joey at the Icehouse and asks if she’s talked to Jack yet. She hasn’t, but she doesn’t think the rumors swirling around school are serious anyway. In fact, she thinks Dawson’s making a big deal out of the situation so she and Jack will fight and break up.
Andie and Pacey study together, and conversation turns to Jack. Andie thinks he shouldn’t have written a poem about a subject he didn’t want to discuss, especially when Mr. Peterson would be involved. Pacey thinks Andie should talk to her brother about his sexuality. Andie says there’s no way Jack is gay – he likes girls, he loves Joey, and he hates Madonna. Pacey asks how she would feel if her brother were gay. “I guess I’d be disappointed,” she replies. Ty keeps calling Jen and asking her for another date until she finally gives in.
Jack and Joey finally wind up in the same place at the same time, the Icehouse, and Bessie tells Joey to ask Jack what’s wrong. He tells Joey to ask him right out if there’s something she wants to know. He doesn’t think he needs to explain his poem, though Joey points out that she’s his girlfriend and should probably be informed if he likes guys.
Jack tells Joey that he struggled to write a poem, and one of the images that came to him was masculine, but not necessarily homosexual. Joey points out that he started crying when he read the poem. He’s not sure what that was about, but thinks it was because of all of his family angst. Jack assures her that he likes her, and if he were to write a love poem, it would be about her. Ty takes Jen to a jazz club, showing her that he likes music and sometimes drinks. At school, someone posts copies of Jack’s poems all over the halls. Pacey angrily pulls some of them down.
Mr. Peterson tells Jack he has to read the rest of the poem if he wants a complete grade. Pacey steps in and takes the poem, reading it for Jack. Mr. Peterson sends him to the principal, and before he leaves, Pacey calls him out for being a bully. Mr. Peterson threatens to fail him, even though he’s made A’s and B’s in class all years. He tells Pacey that he’s a failure and always will be one. Trying to teach him is like spitting in the face of the educational system. In response, Pacey spits in his face.
In a meeting with Mr. Peterson, the principal, and another teacher, Pacey refuses to apologize. The other teacher points out that Mr. Peterson isn’t completely innocent here. The principal warns Pacey that he’s in danger of being suspended. Jack chastises Pacey for stepping in for him. Jen remarks to Ty that he seems to have two different personalities. He tells her that just because he’s religious doesn’t mean he’s perfect. He asks her out again, pointing out that Grams likes him. She notes that Grams doesn’t know everything about him, not that Jen’s planning to clue her in.
Pacey tells Andie that he’d rather accept the suspension than apologize to Mr. Peterson. Dawson and Andie both think Pacey’s making a bad decision. Jack shows Joey the so-you-think-you-might-be-gay pamphlets he’s been given as Andie tells Pacey that being suspended will erase all the hard work he’s done. He tells her she’s helped him develop better instincts, which were what told him Mr. Peterson was doing something wrong.
Suddenly they notice that someone has spray-painted “fag” on Jack’s locker. Joey and Jack see it next, but Jack pretends to ignore it. Joey kisses him to try to prove a point to everyone watching them (and probably herself). At home Andie apologizes to Jack for being unfair to him. She admits that when she first heard about the incident with Mr. Peterson, she resented Jack for bringing more hardship on their family. Andie has since read the poem and thinks it’s beautiful. She doesn’t know if it means Jack’s gay, but she doesn’t care. She just knows Jack is as scared as she is.
Joey goes through Dawson’s window and apologizes to him for accusing him of trying to break up her and Jack. She’s starting to think that Jack really is gay. She doesn’t want to bring it up to Jack because then he’ll think she suspects he’s gay, and there will always be that elephant in the room. “Of course, in your case, it’s a gay elephant,” Dawson says. He encourages Joey to be honest with Jack if she wants to save their relationship. “Go hunt an elephant,” he tells her.
As Pacey waits to hear his fate from the principal, Dawson admits that he wouldn’t have stood up to Mr. Peterson the way Pacey did. Pacey asks if Dawson will be ashamed if he doesn’t apologize. Dawson assures Pacey that he’ll never be ashamed of him. Pacey winds up telling Mr. Peterson and the principal and he’s ashamed of his actions, but he’s not sorry for its intentions. The students never question what they’re told to do because they’re supposed to believe that what the adults are doing is right. Mr. Peterson was in no way right to ridicule Jack in front of the class, and Pacey can never respect him.
That night Andie tracks down Pacey, who’s been suspended for a week. He’s also upset that Andie didn’t support his decision not to apologize. She points out that she can’t support everything he does. She’s angry that she challenged one of his actions and he’s throwing it in her face. Andie notes that Jack is an innocent party in this, but Pacey knew what he was doing. Pacey’s upset that Mr. Peterson went after Jack, knowing that he couldn’t get the best of Pacey. If Pacey hadn’t accelerated things, they wouldn’t have ended up this way. He tells Andie that some messes can’t be cleaned up, they just have to be lived with.
Joey finds Jack at the Icehouse and asks straight-out (heh) if he’s gay. He says he’s not, and she’s relieved. Joey babbles, so Jack kisses her to shut her up. He agrees not to write any more poems. Things seem to be okay between them, or at least she thinks they are, but it’s clear that Jack is still struggling with something…
Thoughts: I could’ve sworn Jack and Joey had sex in this episode. I guess my memory’s playing tricks on me.
So Pacey’s the most sympathetic to Jack when he’s the one always shooting gay slurs at his own brother? Huh?
Hootie and the Blowfish! Wow, memories.
June 24, 2011
SVH Super Thriller, Murder on the Line: Jessica Wakefield, Eavesdropper Extraordinaire
Awww, he just wants to give her a high five, that's all!
Summary: It’s summer, and we all know what that means: The twins are interning at the Sweet Valley News. Seth, who they worked with the first time around, is still there, and there’s a new news editor named Bill, who Jessica thinks is hot. The phones are all screwed up, and Jessica quickly learns that she can listen in on other people’s conversations, so of course she spends a ton of time doing that instead of working. She also spends time fantasizing about a guy named Ben who works in the next building.
One of the conversations Jessica overhears on the phone is between people using coded language and names (Greenback, Rock). She suspects that Greenback is ordering someone’s murder, but Elizabeth things she’s letting her imagination get away from her. Another conversation has Greenback mentioning getting rid of a girl, and though Jessica thinks things are really getting serious, Elizabeth still thinks nothing’s going on. But then a teenaged girl’s body turns up, and Jessica thinks she was the girl Greenback wanted killed.
Jessica finally goes to the police, telling a detective named Jason about Greenback. He tells her he thinks her information may be helpful, but she shouldn’t share it with anyone else. (To her credit, she only tells her family.) Jessica starts getting hang-up calls at home and wonders if someone knows that she knows something dangerous. She takes some time out of worrying to go on a date with Ben – this is some alternate universe where Sam doesn’t exist – but he’s too boring for her tastes (he’d be better suited to Elizabeth).
Seth and Elizabeth investigate the dead girl, Tracy, to find out what she was up to before she died. They learn that she’s a runaway and was found with cocaine on her body. Jessica thinks that Greenback is part of a drug ring that Tracy must have been involved in. Elizabeth sees a picture of Tracy and thinks she’s seen her before, but she can’t remember where. Bill assigns Jessica to take over for the receptionist, who’s just quit, then takes away her office phone so she can’t waste time anymore. Jessica has the (amazingly, for her) smart idea to dial into her extension and tape Greenback’s conversations. This is how she learns that a) there’s an undercover cop around somewhere and b) there’s a dirty cop at the SVPD.
Jessica worries that Jason is the dirty cop, so she decides not to tell him about Greenback’s recent conversations. She’s also suspicious of Seth, who seems to have a lot of money for a journalist. She also recognizes the sound of his telex machine as something she heard in the background of Greenback’s calls, so she thinks Seth is Greenback. Meanwhile, Elizabeth meets with a guy who saw Tracy a few times before her death, and he gives her a sketch of a guy he saw her talking to. Jessica thinks the guy is Seth.
Elizabeth then remembers that she saw Tracy at the building where the newspaper offices are located. The twins sneak a peek at the visitors’ log and see that she signed in for just ten minutes with the intention of talking to Seth. They go to Seth’s office that night to look for clues, and Bill catches them, though they’re able to cover for themselves. He gives Jessica the cassette with her recordings of Greenback’s calls, saying he mistook it for one of his. The twins head home, but someone follows them.
Jessica decides to tell Bill what she’s found out about Seth and Greenback. He agrees that Seth is a bad guy and tells her the two of them will go to the police that night. Jessica realizes that Bill must be the undercover cop. Elizabeth, however, thinks Seth deserves the benefit of the doubt, so she tells him what she and Jess have found out. He tells her he never talked to Tracy the day she came to see him, though he was supposed to meet with a girl who wanted to talk to him. Seth tells Liz that they’ll meet up again that night (what’s with these girls going off alone with adult men?). On her way home, Elizabeth runs into the former receptionist, who tells her she didn’t quit, Bill fired her.
Jessica meets up with Bill and soon realizes that something weird is going on with him. That would be because he’s on coke. Jessica tries to run off, but he grabs her and drags her to the roof of the building. Seth shows Elizabeth a bunch of articles about murders and drug rings in other cities, all places where Bill has lived. He thinks Bill is Greenback. Elizabeth calls the cops, but the officer she talks to isn’t convinced that Jessica is actually in danger. It turns out he’s Detective Jason.
Seth and Elizabeth run off to save Jessica themselves and encounter Ben, who tells them Jessica and Bill are on the roof. Oh, and he’s the undercover cop. Bill puts coke in Jessica’s pocket, planning to push her over the edge and make it look like she killed herself. Ben saves her, and Bill winds up falling off the roof. So, to summarize: Bill was a drug lord, Jason was a rat, Ben was a cop, and Seth has a lot of money because he got an advance on some books. Jessica suggests he write about her, and he tells her he’ll call the book Jessica Wakefield, Eavesdropper Extraordinaire. Well, at least she’s good at something.
Thoughts: This book was a little boring, but the mystery wasn’t too bad. I liked that there were a number of suspects, so it wasn’t completely obvious who was bad and who wasn’t.
This better be the last freaking time I read about the Sweet Valley News.
Any reporter who gives Jessica something to proofread is insane.
I appreciate the fact that Jessica passes out when she sees Tracy’s body. There are so many books, movies, and TV shows where people see a corpse and just gasp and stare. Jessica’s reaction is more realistic.
Elizabeth’s sympathy for Tracy: “That poor, stupid girl.” How lovely.
Why do they keep bringing Steven’s friend Adam back? He never does anything. Heck, why do they keep bringing STEVEN back?
Jessica wonders how Seth can afford a new car and condo on a reporter’s salary, but she knows he writes books. Does she really not see a connection there?
Lila: “You’ve been acting very weird ever since that day we went to Castle Cove and saw the dead body.” Yeah, Lila, it’s called having human emotions. You should try it sometime.
So Bill does cocaine, but he’s also able to head up a drug ring and work as a news editor. He must be the highest-functioning drug addict ever. (Heh. “Highest.”)
June 21, 2011
BH90210 1.9, The Gentle Art of Listening: In Which Brenda is Finally Good for Something
Remember when phones had cords?
Summary: It’s Grudge Week, which means the students of West Beverly face off against students from Beverly High. Brandon and his ridiculous hat seem to have the hots for a cheerleader, while a freshman has the hots for Brandon (and hopefully not his ridiculous hat). Kelly and Donna take Brenda shopping since they’re bored by a pep rally, but she comes home in a bad mood and complains to Brandon that all her friends do is shop. She wanted to try out for the cheerleading squad when they first moved to California, but now she wants to do something meaningful. Brandon suggests that she volunteer with Andrea at a teen hotline.
Brenda’s reluctant to spend time with Andrea, but she asks her about the “rap line” anyway. Andrea tells her she has to go through three months of training before she can answer the phones. She’ll also have to give up a lot of her social life. Brenda’s still willing to give it a try. She listens as the other volunteers take calls, then gets one from Kelly. Nat gets a massage at the Peach Pit and Brandon learns about acupressure. Brenda doesn’t seem too thrilled with the rap line, but she agrees to come back another time.
While waiting for Kelly to pick her up, Brenda takes a call from a girl who was raped. When Kelly finally arrives, Brenda tells her about the call, which she thinks she’ll get in trouble for taking. She thinks the girl’s voice was familiar, but she can’t place it. At home, Cindy tells Brenda that she and Jim are proud of her for volunteering at the rap line. At school the next day, Brandon tells Steve about Nina, the acupressurist. Steve thinks she was coming on to him. Brandon remarks that she’s in her 20s, so she’s too old for him. Steve just thinks he blew a great chance.
Brenda tries to tell Andrea about her call, but Andrea thinks she’s trying to back out of volunteering. Nina visits the Peach Pit again and tells Brandon about the exciting world of sensory deprivation. Nat tells Brandon that he’s not the only person Nina flirts with. Brenda returns to the rap line, shocking Andrea. Nina wants to give Brandon an herbal wrap at her place; this isn’t a euphemism, but Brandon sure thinks it is.
Andrea takes a call from Brenda’s caller and confronts Brenda for answering the phone. The woman who runs the rap line decides that Brenda should continue her conversation with the girl, who was assaulted again. Brenda figures out that the girl goes to either Beverly or West Beverly. At school the next day, Andrea tells Brenda she was impressed with how she handled the call. Brenda admits that she keeps trying to figure out who the caller is.
Scott tries to talk to Brandon’s freshman stalker, Lucy, but she runs off. Brandon tells Dylan that he’s close to hooking up with Nina. Since Dylan has allegedly had sex with an older woman, Brandon wants advice. He asks if Nina will expect him to spend the night, and how he’ll be able to get that past Cindy. He also wants to know what he’s supposed to say to Nina when they wake up in the morning.
Brandon tells Cindy that he’s going to be studying at the library late, then getting up early to go surfing with Dylan, so he probably won’t see her. She buys it. At the rap line, Brenda waits for the girl to call back, but she doesn’t. After all of the other volunteers leave, Brenda convinces Andrea to go back into the building with her in case the girl calls late again. Brandon goes to Nina’s place and quickly learns that she’s not single. (By the way, she’s not into younger guys; her boyfriend is clearly older than her.) All Brandon gets out of the experience is The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Andrea tries to get Brenda to go home, admitting that she’s glad they came back, even if nothing happened. The phone rings just before they leave, and it’s the girl. She was raped again, this time by the same rapist as before plus one of his friends. Brenda urges her to stand up to the guys so they won’t hurt her anymore. The girl hears Brenda talking to Andrea and gets mad. Brenda thinks she’s finally placed the girl’s voice.
At school the next day, Brenda tracks down a cheerleader named Bonnie and reveals that she knows she’s the caller. Bonnie downplays what happened to her, not wanting to talk to Brenda face-to-face. Brenda tries to empathize with her, but Bonnie says she’s jealous because she’s a nobody. Brenda tells Andrea that she talked to her caller but can’t reveal who she is.
That night West Beverly wins a tug-of-war competition against Beverly, and two of the football players who helped win head off to do something skeezy. Bonnie tries to get a friend to walk her to her car, but has to head out in the dark by herself. The skeezes find her and start to force her into her car. Before they can, the police arrive and arrest the skeezes. Andrea tells Brandon that Brenda figured out the attacks must have all happened after Grudge Week events.
At school the next day Brandon tells Steve that he and Nina are just friends. Steve thinks he’s too hung up on people’s ages. Brandon admits he might be, then introduces himself to Lucy and tells her she has a nice smile. In turn, she says hi to an ecstatic Scott.
Thoughts: What’s up with teen-hotline plots in books and TV shows? SVH had one, this show had one, and I remember Saved by the Bell had one. I guess they’re easy ways to inject some conflict.
Grudge Week seems like both a good and bad idea. On the one hand, it fosters school spirit and healthy competition. On the other hand, there’s always someone who takes that sort of competition too hard, and then it’s all fun and games until someone gets duct-taped to a flagpole. Which reminds me, I haven’t watched Veronica Mars in a really long time.
If I were Brenda, I’d be less concerned with identifying the caller and more concerned with identifying who raped her.
I have to ask, when Dylan supposedly had sex with this mythical older woman, was he wearing overalls?
Steve: “You just blew it.” Brandon: “Nothing was blown.” Me: “That joke just wrote itself.”
June 19, 2011
Dawson’s Creek 2.13, His Leading Lady: Lights, Camera, Very Little Action
Can I stalk you? ...Sketch you! I meant sketch you!
Summary: Movie night has been reinstated at Dawson’s, and he and Joey are happy to be past all of their relationship drama. Dawson’s still looking for someone to play Sammy, the female lead in his movie. Joey tells him to stop thinking about the character as her, and he’ll stop looking for an actress who’s just like her. She seems almost disappointed that he’s moving on from her so easily. Later, Dawson interrupts Joey during an art class (where students are sketching a nude Rachael Leigh Cook – yes, you read that right) so he can give her a revised script.
Pacey spots an empty Xanax bottle in Andie’s trash can at home but doesn’t say anything to her about it. At the college library, Dawson runs into the nude model, Devon, and learns that she’s a drama major. She thinks it’s adorable that he’s making his first movie (not realizing he’s already made a film that won an award). He tells her he’s still casting and asks her to read the script. A guy named Ty helps Grams take her groceries home and volunteers to help out with the movie however Jen can use him.
Pacey talks to Dawson about the pill bottle, not wanting to say anything to Andie because she’s already under enough stress. He doesn’t want to pry, but he does want to help her. Dawson tells him to just make sure that any time they spend together is as stressless as possible. Devon arrives and tells Dawson the script is angsty, overanalytical, and heavy-handed. He thinks she’s not interested in playing Sammy, but she’s just offering constructive criticism. Dawson invites her to audition and they do a scene that he obviously lifted from “Beauty Contest.” He’s impressed by her performance.
Jack tells Joey that Jen invited him to help out at the film shoot. She’s concerned about how Dawson will feel about that. Devon goes to the Icehouse for a combination meal/attempt to get into character by imitating everything Joey does. She asks Jack to tell her everything he knows about Joey. Pacey finally tells Andie that he saw the pill bottle and asks if she wants to talk about it. She tells him it was her mother’s but he doesn’t buy it. She tells him she started taking Xanax to help her mood swings after her brother died, but now her doctor wants her to just go to therapy.
Abby’s late for a rehearsal, so Jen basically plays herself while Abby plays Joey and Chris plays Dawson. Chris interprets the scene as Sammy being interested in him, and Dawson says he’s not supposed to know that yet. He introduces Joey to Devon, who asks for any insights Joey might have into her character. Devon thinks Sammy and Wade (the Dawson character) are soulmates. Dawson and his surprisingly large film crew shoot a scene at school that gets interrupted by an equipment mishap. Ty blames himself, saying he’s flustered by being around Jen.
Joey promises Jack that Dawson’s obviously over her, though he’s not so sure. Ty gives Jen a neck rub and she asks him out. Dawson tries to direct Chris on how to respond to the news that Sammy has cheated on his character. Chris can’t relate because he’s never had that experience, so Dawson gives him some melodramatic things to think about. However, he also shows that he can see the situation from Joey’s perspective.
Devon asks Joey (calling her Sammy) to show her how to be angry, trying to rile her up by remarking that she thinks Joey’s still in love with Dawson. Jack pops in and Devon asks him how it feels to be a transition guy. Joey calls her on “masquerad[ing] bi%$#iness as research.” Andie (the prop master) then goes after Devon over a missing barrette. Pacey’s concerned and feels like Andie’s not helping him help her. Then he’s mad when Andie tries to make him the bad guy. She decides that he’s causing her too much stress, and since she can’t get rid of her family, she’ll have to get rid of Pacey.
Joey angrily watches Devon and Chris film the confrontation scene from “The Dance,” then pulls Dawson aside to yell at him for reliving a horrible time in their lives. She knows that he’s past their problems, but she’s not. She finds the movie “self-indulgent and unfair.” Dawson points out that Joey dumped him and started dating someone else. His movie is the only thing he has left, and it’s the only thing keeping him going since, actually, he hasn’t moved on from Joey.
At the end of the day, Grams, who’s been hanging out at the film shoot, tells Jen that she liked seeing all of the participants working together. She was especially impressed by how Jen took charge and accomplished so much. She notes that when she was younger, women didn’t have many options, but Jen can do whatever she wants whether or not she’s single. Jen thinks she’s in for a lecture on her date with Ty, but Grams just tells her to have a nice time because she deserves it.
Pacey tells Dawson that he and Andie seem to be over. Dawson tells him to let her go, not just pretend he has. Pacey replies that he knows he wants to be with Andie, and he knows she needs him, so there’s no way he’s going to let her go. Ty takes Jen to his friend’s house for what she thinks is a party but what is actually a Bible study. Pacey goes to Andie’s and climbs up the trellis on the side of the house when she won’t let him inside. He promises that he can help her, telling her he loves her.
Devon tells Dawson that she’s impressed with him – he worked hard to make his script match what really happened, then changed the ending. After she leaves, Joey apologizes to Dawson for her blow-up. She’s had a hard time dealing with watching her life be reenacted in front of so many people. Dawson tells her that he thought the movie would help him put the past behind him. He’s spent the past few months figuring out how to be without Joey, but all he’s wanted to do is talk to her about everything. Joey replies that she’s had just as hard a time. Their lives are “destined to be intertwined,” but they need to move on.
Thoughts: It’s no surprise that Dawson likes Devon – she’s basically a combination of Jen and Joey.
How do I get myself a Grams?
Ty’s kind of a jerk for taking Jen to a Bible study without telling her that’s what it was. Oh, no, do I have to be mad at Grams, too?
“Destined to be intertwined”? Who talks like that?? I can’t believe it wasn’t a line from Dawson’s script.
June 18, 2011
BH90210 1.8, The 17-Year Itch: A Family Affair
Look how pretty Cindy is!
Summary: Cindy’s sad that she and Jim will be celebrating their 17th anniversary away from home, though he notes that Beverly Hills is their home now. Cindy also isn’t happy about how much Jim’s been working. Brenda has sensed her parents’ tension and reminds Brandon that they never used to be this cranky. David considers trying out to become the new school DJ (why do they have a DJ anyway?) and Steve tells him they’ll be competing against each other. A teacher invites Brandon and Brenda to participate in a paid twin study. Brandon teases that he’d like to do one where Brenda gets sent far away.
Out at a nursery, Anna notices someone taking pictures of her and Cindy. The photographer is Glen, a former boyfriend of Cindy’s who’s also living in California. She invites him to dinner at the house, where he tells the family stories of his travels (he takes photos for National Geographic). Glen reveals to Brandon and Brenda that he was the one who introduced Jim and Cindy. He’s surprised that Jim wound up as an accountant since he had potential when they were working at a magazine together. Glen tells Brandon and Brenda that he’d like to photograph them.
Brenda tells Brandon that she thinks Glen has the hots for Cindy. Brandon, ever clueless, thinks she’s nuts. Cindy and Glen stay up late talking, and when Jim wakes up alone in the middle of the night, he finds them still chatting. Glen tells Cindy he’s going to show her his L.A. Brenda and Brandon head to a college for the twin study, discussing their parents’ relationship and how different they are. Brenda also saw Cindy and Glen up in the middle of the night.
Glen takes Cindy around L.A., then takes some photos of her. He also remarks on the differences between Cindy and Jim. Brandon and Brenda prove not to have any psychic abilities (shocking, I know). Glen invites Cindy to an opening the next day. At home, she raves about Glen to Jim, who’s not as impressed with the guy. Brenda invites Kelly to Glen’s opening, telling Kelly that she thinks he wants to have an affair with Cindy. She’s concerned that Cindy’s been acting like a teenager.
Brandon tells Cindy that according to the twin study, Brenda’s good at “quantitative analysis.” Brenda replies that Brandon’s good at English. Jim has to work late and can’t make the opening, but Cindy’s not exactly broken up about it. Brenda’s concerned about what this might mean. Brandon, Brenda, Kelly, and Donna attend the opening with Cindy, who goes off alone with Glen. He tells her she’s more successful than he is because she has a family and stability. He adds that she’s the one who got away. They make out, but afterward, Cindy doesn’t feel good about it.
Back at home, Brenda asks Kelly for signs of impending divorce. Two of them are a mother who acts younger and a father who works late. Kelly tells Brenda that if Jim and Cindy split up, she’ll be a leftover. Jim comes home and tells Cindy that in a couple of weeks things will be easier at work. She notes that he’s been saying that for ages and she doesn’t think he really wants to spend time with her. She’s also angry that he hasn’t asked how her day went. Cindy overhears Kelly telling Brenda that another divorce warning sign is lack of sex.
The woman running the twin study tries to get Brandon and Brenda to tell her about their home life. Brenda thinks something’s really wrong, while Brandon thinks it’s no big deal. She wants to get her parents back on the right track, but Brandon thinks they need to stay out of it. He thinks she’s like Cindy and she thinks he’s like Jim. Brenda’s really worried about their parents not working things out. Brandon assures her that no matter what happens to the family, the two of them will stay close.
Glen keeps calling Cindy, who won’t return his calls. Brenda and Brandon try to come up with Parent Trap-ish ideas to rekindle their parents’ romance. They wind up making them dinner, but Jim and Cindy don’t really enjoy their time alone together. Cindy admits to feeling lonely and tells Jim to slow down at work. She thinks he’s hiding behind his work. Jim says that since he brought the family out to Beverly Hills, he doesn’t want to let them down. He adds that Cindy hasn’t been home much lately either.
With dinner over early, Cindy goes to Glen’s and tells him that she hasn’t been acting like herself. He gives her the photos he took of her, which he thinks really show who she is. He announces that he’s falling in love with her, noting that they’re having an emotional affair. He wants to have sex. Brenda and Brandon arrive for their photo shoot with Glen and see Cindy running out. They’re sure that this means Cindy and Glen are having an affair and their parents’ marriage is over.
The next morning Jim rereads a piece he wrote on “The Road Not Taken” for the literary journal back in college. Cindy remembers what things were like between them back then. Brenda starts to confront Cindy about her supposed affair, but instead throws her some veiled barbs. Brandon tells her there’s nothing left they can do to help their parents. Before leaving for the day, Jim tells Cindy that he really loves her.
Jim heads to Glen’s and says that he settled down quickly once he found Cindy and they had children. Glen remarks that he took the risks Jim didn’t. Jim confronts Glen for trying to make the family like him, telling him to grow up and get his own family. Donna gives a disastrous audition for school DJ, followed by one from Steve, who freezes up when he realizes people are watching him. David jumps in to take over, and though he’s incredibly dorky and white bread, his DJing is obviously well-liked by the other students.
Brandon and Brenda’s teacher tells them that the person running the study got a lot of good information from them. She urges them to appreciate each other’s strengths and continue to consider their family as important as they do. Cindy and Glen meet up and she tells him their emotional affair made her feel special. She likes Glen, but she loves Jim. He tells her that his conscience helped him see the light.
Brenda and Brandon see Glen leaving their house and decide to confront him. He tells them their family works well together. Jim comes home from work way earlier than usual and takes Cindy away for the night to celebrate their anniversary. She tries to tell him that something happened, but he just needs to know that she loves him. Brenda finds that one moment more romantic than any movie or play she’s seen.
Thoughts: This is the first time I’ve actually liked Jim. Points to him for manning up and giving Glen a much-needed smackdown.
Cindy, please don’t tell people that your children are like an old married couple. It’s gross.
Cindy and Glen dated in college but never had sex? Really?
Donna, Scott, and Steve really served no purpose in the early stages of the series, huh?
BSC Mystery #18, Stacey and the Mystery at the Empty House: The Dog Ate My Plotline
Dang, the Johanssens have a nice house
Summary: Stacey takes care of the Johanssens’ dog, Carrot, while they’re out of the country, and quickly begins to notice weird things around the house. Carrot chews up some paper, empty garbage cans are no longer empty, and a vase is broken. First Stacey thinks she’s just being forgetful, but after she hears about an escaped prisoner who may be in the area, she starts freaking out. She also finds a hairbrush with red hairs in it (none of the Johanssens has red hair), which is a good indication that she’s not just imagining things.
The BSC girls decide that one of them needs to go over to the Johanssens’ every time Stacey’s there. But they don’t call the police to tell them someone may have broken into the house, because that would just be foolish. Jessi remembers that you can see the Johanssens’ house from her place, so the BSC girls have a sleepover there to keep an eye on the house. They also use some special feature on the answering machine to listen to what’s going on in the house. Their semi-stakeout doesn’t turn anything up, though.
The next morning, Stacey and Claudia go to the house to walk Carrot and see a phone number written on a notepad. Stacey calls the number, which is for the train station. The girls go to the station and spot a guy with red hair. Moments later, the Johanssens get off the train and greet the man. It turns out he’s a friend of theirs who has an open invitation to stay at their house whenever he’s in town, even if the Johanssens aren’t there. He left Stacey a note to let her know he was around, but she figures out that it was the paper Carrot chewed up. The guy was also out until late every day and up early every morning, which is why Stacey never saw him. Mystery solved!
Meanwhile, it’s almost Christmas, and Kristy wants to do something cool for all the BSC’s charges. The girls are supposed to go on a sleigh ride, and Kristy decides to take all the kids. But she makes the mistake of telling a couple of the kids about it, even though it can only happen if it snows. So all the BSC’s charges are really excited about something that might not happen, and Kristy’s freaking out about the possibility of no snow. Fortunately for her, it snows. The kids also give the BSC girls presents perfectly suited to their personalities and interests.
Thoughts: Once the mystery is explained, it’s a pretty big letdown. Also, Stacey’s dumb for not telling an adult that there could be an escaped criminal hiding out in the house she keeps going to.
I’m surprised the Johanssens don’t call home at all to check on Carrot or the house. But, of course, that would mean they would mention the houseguest to Stacey and ruin the mystery.
Robert keeps making fun of Carrot’s name, calling him Celery and Rutabaga, which is pretty funny, because really, who names a dog after a vegetable? Also, the word “rutabaga” is just funny in and of itself.
I love that Stacey thinks a schnauzer will protect her from an escaped prisoner.
Stacey wears a silk teddy. The ghostwriter must not know what a teddy is. And she wears it under a bunch of other clothes, for the sleigh ride, which makes no sense. How would that help keep her warm? Maybe the writer meant she was wearing it as a camisole under an itchy shirt?
The kids give Claudia a big basket of junk food, Mallory a sketchbook, and Logan…a painted rock (which they call a paperweight). Do they hate him?
June 17, 2011
Dawson’s Creek 2.12, Uncharted Waters: How Not to Be a Parent
Pacey needs a hug - any volunteers?
Summary: Pacey and Dawson are planning a fishing trip with their fathers (part of a fly-fishing competition), and Pacey isn’t looking forward to it. For his part, Dawson also expects disaster. It turns out that Sheriff Witter is more fatherly toward Dawson than he is toward Pacey. At school, Dawson tells Joey that Jen’s a natural at movie producing; Joey is totally not in any way jealous, and how dare you even think that.
Jen tells Joey that she promised Gail she’d help her with a news report about teen girls. She asks Joey to participate by being interviewed. Dawson learns just before he, Pacey, Mitch, and Sheriff Witter leave on their fishing trip that Jack has been invited. Speaking of being invited places, Abby and Andie both show up for Gail’s interviews.
Jack tells Dawson that he didn’t realize he’d be on the trip. Dawson taunts that Jack’s pretty confident to leave Joey alone for the weekend, since some artsy guy could come along and steal her away. Not that he would know what that’s like or anything. Gail’s interviews go horribly, since none of the girls will answer the questions. Jen tells her that everyone’s uncomfortable over being in the same room. Gail decides that they all need to bond first.
Out on the boat, Sheriff Witter gives everyone responsibilities except Pacey. Pacey complains and his father says he’s just preparing him for all the disappointments he’ll face in life. Abby organizes a field trip to Dawson’s room so the girls can snoop. Jack tells Dawson they don’t have to be friends, then says flat out that he didn’t steal Joey from him. Dawson replies that Jack’s crazy if he thinks things are over between him and Joey. Jack points out that he and Joey have something. Abby looks through Dawson’s closet (Joey and Jen try to lock her in) while Andie discovers that Dawson has a porno in his room.
Pacey catches a fish but Sheriff Witter loses it (in more than one way) while reeling it in. He blasts Pacey for not using a new pole, saying that Pacey’s hopeless if he can’t follow even the simplest directions. Dawson asks Pacey why he invited Jack along. Pacey says he did it partly for Andie and partly because Jack doesn’t know any other guys in town. Dawson’s upset that Pacey didn’t warn him ahead of time. Pacey utters a “screw you,” saying he’s just trying to get through the day without totally screwing up.
The girls watch Dawson’s porno (Good Will Humping), thoroughly entertained, and are caught by Gail. Andie tries to cover up what they’re doing, but Abby spills the beans, saying she won’t lie because she has morals. Jen decides this is a good time to ask Joey why she’s still acting like Jen stole Dawson from her. Joey tells her that if she wants to be friends, Jen needs to stop encroaching on her life. She’s mad that Jen’s become Dawson’s go-to girl and won’t “own up to [her] motives.” She thinks Jen still wants Dawson back.
The guys head to a bar, where Dawson complains to Pacey about Mitch’s midlife crisis activities. Pacey’s jealous that Dawson can talk to his dad about his feelings. Jack butts in, informing Dawson that Sheriff Witter’s put him on a pedestal and made him something Pacey can’t live up to. Gail conducts the interviews again, and Abby takes them over by talking about how insecure the other girls are. Gail announces that Abby’s done and kicks her out.
Dawson asks Mitch what he’s planning to do in terms of his restaurant and, you know, his whole life. Mitch clearly doesn’t have anything planned. Dawson’s surprised that he took time off to go fishing. Mitch knows there has to be something out there for him to put his passion behind, and he’s not going to stop looking until he finds it. A drunken Sheriff Witter plays darts against Pacey, getting a little aggressive and challenging Pacey to beat one of his good shots. Pacey throws the competition so his father will win.
Jen admits that Abby was right about the girls’ insecurities, and she, Joey, and Andie start opening up about them. Andie thinks she tries so hard to get good grades because she doesn’t want people to see that she’s a fraud who doesn’t know what she’s doing. Jen feels like she has less to prove in Capeside than she did in New York, but she still has the same reputation. Joey gets defensive when people with different experiences come along because she can’t live up to them. Her only identity is that of a small-town girl. She doesn’t want people threatening the little she has.
Jack confesses to Dawson that he’s been seasick the whole time they’ve been on the boat, but he didn’t want to admit it. He also spills that his father left the family. He doesn’t want Dawson to feel abandoned by Mitch since Mitch didn’t go that far. Pacey conducts his own father/son talk, since a barely conscious Sheriff Witter won’t participate in one. He wishes his father would see that he’s special the way Andie does. Pacey gets emotional, wondering why his father gave up on him so early in his life and why he won’t support his son. “I can’t do this by myself,” he says. The next day, Pacey catches a huge fish, spending a brief bonding moment with Sheriff Witter when they reel it in together.
Gail tells Joey that when the girls were talking about their fears and dreams, she started feeling a little sorry for herself. She’s always wanted a daughter and feels maternal toward Joey, who she’s very proud of. Joey’s very pleased to hear this from her. Andie finds Abby outside the house, where she’s been sitting all night. Abby says she’s a crucial member of the group (punching bag), but no one notices. “Being sweet is boring,” she says, admitting that she creates drama because her life is so uninteresting. Andie wishes she had an uninteresting life, and the girls laugh a little over wanting each other’s lives.
Joey apologizes to Jen for being so competitive with her. Jen thinks Dawson has room in his life for both of them. Joey announces that she respects Jen and who she is, which Jen is glad to hear. Back on land, Pacey collects a trophy for his big fish, then talks to Sheriff Witter about how good to felt to catch it. Sheriff Witter tells him to enjoy the moment because he won’t have many more of them. Pacey can’t believe he set himself up for another disappointment. Dawson reminds him that other people in his life respect him, including Andie.
Mitch takes Dawson home, telling him he’s trying to be the best father he can. Dawson thanks him for never making him feel like a failure even when he makes mistakes. He’s recently realized how lucky he is to have Mitch as a father. Mitch starts to go inside the house, then remembers he doesn’t live there anymore.
Thoughts: I just found out that Meredith Monroe was 31 when she was on the show. Yet she looked younger than any of the others. I must find out her secret.
Actually, the secret may be her wardrobe. Plaid jumper and pink barrettes, anyone?
Pacey to Jack: “Put your hand on the rod.” That’s what she said. Or he, knowing when we know about Jack.
