Four friends in a small coastal town help each other cope with adolescence.
So apparently this tv show was 'all the rage' on the WB when it first came out. Honestly, I don't know why. This show is just a bunch of teens awkwardly talking about sex, then they debate about having it (with each other no less) and then actually do it.
First of all, I think it's great that all these people find comfort in each other and stay close as a group but they didn't need to take it to the next level. Jen moves to Capeside, MA from NYC to live with her grandmother because her parents sent her away. At first you feel bad for the girl because you want to pity the kid that gets no love from her parents but then you find out why she moved...she was having sex, doing drugs and pretty much an alcoholic at the age of 15. As sad as that is, she made those choices and I understand why her parents threw her out.
So back to my original point, thank god Jen didn't get any kind of STD because she could have started a mini epidemic in Capeside. She kissed/dated/slept with the whole town! First it was Jen and Dawson, then Jen and Abby, then Jen and Dru...the list goes on and on. Keep it in your pants woman!
But to backtrack a bit...the show starts off with three best friends: Dawson, the movie-freak, Pacey, the side-kick and Joey, the girl who wants out. Joey has been climbing into Dawson's room just about every night for years. They watch movies and sleep in the same bed. No one thinks anything of this by the way...
Pacey mostly keeps to himself. He is the main underdog of the series because he can't do anything right. He gets a girlfriend...turns out it's his new English teacher at school. He gets a good grade...it's undermined by his family's general dislike of him. Poor guy can't catch a break. Until he starts dating Joey.
Little Joey Potter (as she's referred to countless times, even by herself!) lives down the creek and thinks she's in love with Dawson. He's to slow to act on any feelings so she dates Pacey (after dating Jack the gay kid for a brief period). This flip flop from Dawson to Pacey to random guy and back again is what keeps the series going.
Granted, there are a few episodes that I did like, but mostly it is just teen angst on top of more teen angst. There isn't any substance to this show. They ask the general "What is love?" and "Should I have sex?" questions over and over again until the answer is beaten into the viewer's brain.
Season 1 was pretty straight forward, it set up the conflict between Joey, Dawson, Pacey and Jen. Season 2 introduced Andi and Jack into the mix, but after that nothing really happens. Season 3 was almost unbearable until you get to season 4. Then you wish you were watching season 3...and the show just went downhill from there.
Finally the series finale. THAT was good. So those 6 seasons of loyal fandomship was finally worth it? I would say yes. For all the ragging I just did on this show it was watchable (not really my taste, but I made it through). The last episode takes place 5 years after the end of season 6, so all the characters are out in the real world living their dreams. Joey is an editor, Dawson is the director of a tv show called 'The Creek' (really creative writers there) and Pacey is the chef and owner of a restaurant. But the absolute best part of this ending was that Jen was a nobody and already had a kid. SEX HAS CONSEQUENCES PEOPLE!!!
Everytime the characters had sex on this show (which was a lot) whether or not they had a condom, or if anyone was on the pill, no one ever got an STD or pregnant. Ever.
So when Jen ended up with a kid I smiled so big I thought my lips would fall off my face. Then you find out...*SPOILER ALERT*
Jen has a terminal illness. C'mon man! The greatest moment as a viewer of this show and you had to ruin it ten minutes later because Jen's gonna die?
Now I successfully feel awful about being happy she has a kid and is going nowhere fast. Everyone cries about Jen but she wants her hospital visit to be a happy one so everyone has to put on a fake face when they see her. It was one of the most awkward scenes in the whole series (and that's saying something when you watch Katie Holmes act for 6 straight seasons).
As you might have guessed, Jen dies and gives her baby to Jack because who better to raise your daughter than a gay BFF? Good job Jen!
Overall this tv show was a disaster and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I liked. Or even disliked. No one should have to watch this pathetically long and redundant turn of events of their own free will. All the great ratings it got set me up to really appreciate this show but it failed miserably.
So Little Joey Potter and her final lover, Pacey (she really does pick him in the end...WHY?!?!?!) can go ride off into the sunset and frankly I don't give a damn. 1 star.
Update: this show is now regularly airing on ABC Family during the ever-popular lunch hour time slot. I try to save money by eating lunch at home (being a broke college student and all that) so I have been re-watching the early seasons and to be honest, they're not as bad as I remember them. Yes the drama is still overbearing and the characters have a very strong sense of right and wrong, it's almost ridiculous, but the overall season arc is not horrible...for season 1 at least. I do standby my earlier statements that as the series progresses the seasons get more and more bogged down with needless relationship drama. But I will revise my earlier review by saying season 1 is a lovable teen angsty drama that will at the very least be nostalgic to 90's kids. And for the first time in my tv-watching experience commercials are wonderful things. Looking back, I really didn't like this show because I watched it online, commercial free, all in a row. Watching 6 years worth of tv in a matter of weeks was too much drama for me to take. It was for shows like this that they invented tv hiatuses. I can see why this show got such high ratings for its time but I can really only recommend this show for those who have a pathological need to understand every tv reference out there. If this does not apply to you, then I would skip it.
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