TV #36 of 2021:
Dawson’s Creek, season 2
Sophomore year on this soapy 90s teen drama offers a fantastic character arc for sidekick Pacey Witter (and an acting tour-de-force for Joshua Jackson, growing into the mix of heartfelt emotion and snarky charm that he’d later use to good effect on Fringe). Seriously, I love nearly everything about his corner of the narrative here, from the prickly sniping that blossoms into tender romance to the ways in which his new girlfriend challenges him to be a better student and person to how he finally stands up against his abusive father. Jealous best friend Dawson has it exactly wrong when he complains that Pacey is a boring saint now — the sheriff’s son is practically the only thing worth watching in Creekside this season.
It’s certainly not our title figure himself, who is even worse of an insufferably pretentious Nice Guy than ever, passive-aggressively lashing out at anyone who doesn’t reciprocate his feelings or recognize his self-identified talents in filmmaking. I’m not saying that Joey is particularly well-defined as a protagonist at this point — in fact, she seems exceptionally jerked around by the demands of the plot, as though the writers are panicking to rush her from lover to ex before that new relationship from the previous finale can even begin to define itself — but her choice to dump the nominal hero proves wise many times over amid the ensuing angst.
It’s a shame that her subsequent rebound with a coworker and then short-lived decision to get back with Dawson are so poorly motivated, as the series needs more people who see the Leery boy with clear eyes just as it needs to work on agentive roles for its female leads. But Jen spends much of this run floundering away from the group, and Joey shows little of those fun sparks of anger that used to drive her. Andie at least gets a stronger throughline with her overachieving and mental health struggles, although her status as a special guest star is a blinking reminder to viewers each episode that her time among us will likely be limited. But for the most part, while it’s great that the program has figured out how to use one of its core cast members so effectively, the rest of the ensemble is in dire want of retooling.
[Content warning for drowning, ableism, suicide, and homophobia including slurs.]
★★★☆☆
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 