Dawson’s Creek 5.14, Guerilla Filmmaking: It’s In His Kiss

June 23, 2012

Dawson’s Creek 5.14, Guerilla Filmmaking: It’s In His Kiss

Okay, calm down, Dawson

Summary: Audrey and Oliver are drinking and making out, but it’s only for his movie. She stops the scene, complaining to Dawson that her character’s actions don’t make sense. He tells her to work through the subtext. Pacey’s putting in time with a boom mic, and Jen is way too excited to be some sort of production assistant.

Joey’s in class, where Professor Wilder is talking about how conflict makes stories intense. He asks for a real-life example and Joey starts to give one about a guy, but doesn’t get through it before the class ends. She tells him afterward that class was uncomfortable, though it seems to me she could solve that problem by dropping the class. He tells her that whenever she’s ready, he’d like to prove to her that he’s not creepy. (Good luck there.)

Audrey goes to the restaurant and wonders if Pacey, who’s already in the kitchen, spend the night there. (He did, with some one-night fling named Rina.) Jack’s uncomfortable at the frat house, and Eric tells him to stop stressing over it. Dawson watches dailies in his attic room and complains to Jen that something isn’t right with the movie. The ending doesn’t work, but they only have 12 hours to rewrite it because they have to return their rented lights soon. Oh, and Oliver can’t act.

Dawson tries to break this to Oliver gently when he arrives, and though Oliver disagrees, he wants Dawson to have final say on everything as the director. He notes that they only have a day to recast the role. They need someone hot, sexy, and charismatic. Jen laughs, thinking of Charlie, and Dawson sends her to get him.

Joey tries to talk to Audrey about Wilder, but Audrey thinks they’re talking about Pacey. Joey doesn’t want to become a Wilder groupie, though Audrey and I agree that the ship has already sailed on that. He’s definitely no longer just the mentor Joey used to think he was. She considers dropping Wilder’s class, since the alternative is obsessing over a guy she can’t be with. Audrey tells her to appreciate how alive her emotions are making her feel.

Jack and Eric end up alone at the frat house, drinking and playing video games. Jen runs lines with Charlie for his audition; she’s clearly uncomfortable but he’s good. Oliver asks Dawson if he’s okay with working with his girlfriend’s ex. Dawson’s more concerned with rewriting the ending of the movie. Eric and Jack talk about Jack’s sexuality, as well as their differing opinions over the movie Notting Hill. Eric mentions his admiration for Jack’s openness, and things turn uncomfortable.

Wilder spots Joey talking to herself outside her house; she’s been trying to figure out what to say to him. She starts with, “I’m sorry you kissed me.” She doesn’t want an apology from him, though. She wants them to shake hands and part ways, then avoid each other forever. Wilder isn’t disappointed to hear that Joey’s dropping his class, which she finds insulting. He tells her he just means that she’ll be fine with or without his class. Now she doesn’t want to leave.

Pacey helps Audrey run lines in her room, though she’s not so much reciting as trying to seduce him. They start making out, but Audrey quickly puts the brakes on and says going further would be wrong. “Do you have any notes?” she asks. The filming begins again, but Audrey has a problem with Charlie’s kissing. (Pacey has a problem with it, too, but in a different way.) Audrey finally blurts that the setting is unprofessional, it’s too much with Pacey there, and he’s horrible with the boom.

Joey and Wilder hang out awkwardly in his house, discussing how inappropriate the situation is. She thinks this is the perfect example of an internal conflict that would serve a story well. They almost kiss again, but they’re interrupted when Joey gets a phone call summoning her. She starts to leave, but comes back to kiss Wilder.

At the frat house, a couple of Jack’s brothers tell him they know what happened: Eric said Jack tried to kiss him. Jack’s offended that they would accuse him of something he would never do. He knows the brothers won’t believe him no matter what he says anyway. He announces that he’s moving out. Pacey tells Dawson that Audrey’s having a rough time because the two of them kissed. Charlie makes things worse by trying to offer up script notes. Jen flips out.

Joey arrives, and Dawson sends her and Pacey to get Audrey from her hiding place in the bathroom. Then he asks Jen to leave since her fury at Charlie is getting in the way. Jen’s sad that she can’t stay to clap the marker. Pacey admits his and Audrey’s kiss to Joey, who would rather see the two of them get together than hook up with randoms. She tells both of them she wants them to be happy, and a relationship might be a good idea.

Jack packs up to leave the frat house (apparently he only has a bagful of belongings), first telling Eric that they both know what really happened, and he hopes Eric gets help to deal with whatever’s going on with him. The film shoot moves outside as Joey tells Dawson she’s fixed his latest crisis. She asks if the movie has a happy ending. (It doesn’t: The protagonist kills his love interest.)

Dawson wishes he could still be his old “embarrassing romantic” self and bring some hope to the movie. Joey shares that she once read the words “hope dies last” on a bus station bench. She thinks she might be the sign Dawson’s waiting for that things will be okay. Jen sees Jack sitting on a bench downtown and is shocked that he’s taken up smoking. She asks what’s happened to him. He can barely remember when they were friends. But there’s hope: She loved Notting Hill.

Oliver finally agrees that the end of the movie sucks. Dawson tells Audrey to forget everything she’s done up until now and make her character as honest as she’s ever been. He plans to shoot the final scene in one shot. He’s so proud of himself that he can’t stop giggling. In the movie, Charlie’s character arrives to kill Audrey’s. She apologizes, saying she had no choice but to act the way she did. The current moment is the best because she’s with him.

Audrey continues blathering bad dialogue (seriously, Oliver, you suck as a writer, too) about how you need to enjoy the current moment, and how you can’t win or lose in life. Suddenly it starts snowing, which makes Audrey start laughing. Dawson keeps filming, and the scene ends with Audrey and Charlie walking off together happily.

Later, Pacey and Audrey try to talk about where they stand. She tells him he’s not her type, then kisses him. He’s confused, so she explains that she was trying to convince herself that they’re not right for each other. It’s obviously not working. Joey walks home alone, pausing to use a snowball to pretend she’s a baseball pitcher. To be continued…

Thoughts: I bet Wilder’s students are thrilled that they’re paying thousands of dollars to have him tell them their writing needs conflict. Shut up, Wilder.

Suddenly Joe’s this amazing writer? Uh, okay.

Yeah, Wilder, Joey’s instincts are really top-notch. Stop encouraging her.

I’m so glad I don’t live in a world where I have to make sure Joey Potter approves of all my relationships, or where I feel the need to apologize when I kiss a guy she used to be involved with.

I know the next episode picks up where this one left off (and is also really dumb), but I don’t think the “to be continued” is really necessary.

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