Dawson's Creek: Be Careful What You Wish For (2.16)

It's always been an overriding problem with Dawson's Creek, but I'm still not entirely used to characters bending their emotions and switching priorities in such a short amount of time -- and it's usually confined to the annoying Dawson/Joey relationship, which is all crazy flirtation and longing gazes one week and then angsty resentment the next. They're "on" this week, with Dawson determined to win her back since her relationship with Jack went down the gay tubes last episode. But it's a problem that's especially horrible, since the constantly conflicting emotions that appear and disappear in equal measure can only mean that you wind up a little bored of the characters themselves, since any internal consistency flies away.

Be Careful What You Wish For is a strained 'comedy' episode, the centerpiece being Dawson and Andie getting hammered. Naturally for a WB drama, drinking is bad-bad-bad, so the two of them get embarrassing at a karaoke bar, barf all over the place, and finish the night with Dawson being obnoxious at his birthday party. Blah. It's all a little routine and obvious. The only thing that really grabbed my attention was that sudden realization that up until this week Dawson was fifteen. God, they all look like they're pushing thirty at this point.

Elsewhere, weird continuity issues plague Jen. Despite his homophobic awfulness last week, Jen is still dating Ty. The horrible element arrives when she finally dumps him after she learns of his stance on pre-marital sex. Because Jen is such a huge, sex-crazed wingnut that sex dictates the length of her relationships, not the fact that she's dating a neo-con asshole. Ugh. I generally love Jen, but she's always given these randomly alienating subplots.

This episode is all sort of a wash. Abby's attempts to seduce Jack are nonsensical, and Dawson and Joey wind up circling through the same arguments they always have. Only Pacey survives with some dignity intact. C-

Credits
Guest stars Meredith Monroe (Andie McPhee); Monica Keena (Abby Morgan); Kerr Smith (Jack McPhee); Eddie Mills (Tyson Hicks)
Writer Heidi Ferrer Director David Semel