TV #11 of 2021:
Dawson’s Creek, season 1
I think I was too young when this show first aired to watch it then or hold any nostalgic attachment now, and I’m old enough at this point that I still don’t have an easy identification with the teenage protagonists. Both in the age of the cast and the era when it was made, I’m rather on the outside here — which renders it a curious cultural artifact, but rarely one that moves me. Even the problematic elements like a teacher-student love affair (in which the latter partner is painted as the predatory one), abusive police behavior, or the occasional transphobic remark feel less disappointing than they likely would in a contemporary project.
It is fun to see actors I know from later work looking so youthful and figuring out their craft, and the plot is starting to sporadically catch at my attention as actual character arcs are introduced, even if that’s mostly tied up in romances so far. (To the extent that I care, I’m shipping Joey and Pacey, whose dynamic reminds me of other pairings I’ve enjoyed like Logan and Veronica on Veronica Mars or Barney and Robin on How I Met Your Mother — relationships that seem as though they arise once the writers understand their characters and how they click on-screen, rather than being decided more arbitrarily in advance.)
High school drama is not my favorite genre of television, and a lot of this one’s debut season comes off as fairly generic to me. But I’m interested enough to stick with the story for at least a little while longer, and that excellent Friday the 13th episode proves that the series has some potential spark to it. Let’s see if it gets any sharper after this.
★★★☆☆
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