Dawson's Creek: Promicide (4.20)

So it happened. Joey and Pacey are no more, the event that had been quietly building for the last couple of weeks finally occurred, and a ton of angst paints the walls as a result. Like most of Dawson's Creek, I'm unsure if it totally worked or not. I remember commenting at the very start of the year that the writers would inevitably break these two up and have Joey run back into Dawson's arms, and it's debatable whether they did a great job of depicting it. While the tension has been growing for a while, it still felt like a phony leap to see Pacey treat Joey so horribly, claiming that her positivity and ambition only makes him seem more a failure. Both actors are unsurprisingly strong, but struggle to paper over all the holes.

I can understand that it would hurt Pacey to see his girlfriend flourish like she has over the last couple of months. While she's blossoming in the world, he's never been in a worse position, both emotionally and in terms of his future prospects. He's becoming the very thing that everybody sort of expected he'd become, and all the work he did to improve himself as a person hasn't been replicated when it came to his educational existence, leaving him potentially unable to graduate and with zero opportunities, all while his best friends move on with their lives. It sucks, and I can buy his inner trauma.

But there was something about his casual cruelty here that didn't ring totally true. Pacey has always been somebody pretty insular as a person, allowing his tension and anger to explode within him instead of being loud and opinionated about it. It's something that makes him so different to Dawson and Joey, both of whom are crazy with the volatility. But, I don't know, it felt like a stretch to have him attack Joey like he did, unless he was trying to push her away the best he can...

Dawson and Gretchen's break-up was handled better, with Gretchen acknowledging that he's still in high school and still has the mindset of somebody his age, with the romantic feuding and the teenage drama. She also vowed to get her life back on track, especially when she's turned down for the magazine job due to her lack of experience and lack of a college degree. Despite Dawson looking all wounded, this was a classy way to go for Gretchen, who let him down gently and with a lot of respect. I've stated it a bunch already, but I liked Gretchen a ton. I just hope Dawson doesn't humiliate her next episode...

Despite all the break-ups this week, prom actually created some romance, too, Jack and Tobey finally getting together after bantering all about being out and proud and crushing on Ted Danson. They're cute together, admittedly, and their kiss was groundbreaking, went on for a while and was treated just as much a non-event as it should have been. It's all sort of muted because of Jack's impending departure from Capeside, but I like that he's finally starting to come into his own as a gay man, particularly with college right around the corner.

Promicide is all pretty angsty as an episode, with a sense of impending doom right from the start, but the actors all brought their A-game here. I'm not sure it all totally worked from a character motivation stand-point, but I didn't hate the break-up like I had presumed I would. B

Credits
Guest stars Sasha Alexander (Gretchen Witter); Mark Matkevich (Drue Valentine); David Monahan (Tobey Barret)
Writer Maggie Friedman Director Jason Moore