The 2011 Summer Re-Watch: Dawson's Creek "The Dance" Review

Dawson and Joey break up in "The Dance." The relationship lasted all of six episodes. On the commentary track of the premiere, Williamson and Stupin explained why the soul mates had a short relationship. Essentially, the two apart created more drama than the two together. People loved the Taylors marriage in Friday Night Lights because of the healthy and functional portrayal the union. The writers proved, through the Taylors marriage, that happy couples don't produce boring television; however, they're the exception. So, Williamson and Stupin broke up the destined-to-be couple in time for sweeps. Of course, TV writers can't break-up couples willy-nilly because that'd piss the audience off. There must be a reason regardless of how half-assed and forced the reason is.

Kevin Williamson, Jon Harmon Feldman and the rest of the writers never knew how to handle Dawson and Joey as a couple. The writer's room probably embraced the choice to bring the best friends together in the finale because that never happened on television. The Sam-and-Dianes of TV took several seasons to get together whereas Dawson's Creek waited thirteen episodes. However, if the creative team can't sustain the romance, they failed. If the writers create conflict out of nowhere for the sake of drama, they failed immensely. The signs were clear that the writers felt clueless about Dawson and Joey's direction. In #202, Dawson starts a massive fight because he read her diary and found an insulting paragraph about his crappy horror film. By #205, Joey's complaining about her identity before her and Jack share a kiss under a full moon. By February sweeps, Jack's the central figure in an intense arc about his homosexuality but not before he dated Joey for several episodes so that she and Dawson have more drama between them. When professional writers' job is to tell stories and they massively botch the story, I get annoyed.

Joey's reasons for ending the relationship relates to her issues with identity. She explains that Dawson's who she'll want in the future once she figures out who she is. The line's complete non-sense but her entire motivation's forced and non-sensical. She explains that her pursuit of Dawson sacrificed her own identity. I'll argue that Joey was the most complete character in the first season and that she knew exactly who she was. As the series progressed, the writers lost Joey Potter's voice. In season one, Joey knew exactly what she wanted and who she was. The girl had insecurities but she's fifteen years old. Joey's explanation's in "The Dance" is a cop-out and inconsistent with the series. Even worse, the second season continued where the first left off.

During the break-up scene, Van Der Beek flared the nostrils, swept his hands through his hair incredulously and threw props around the room. The actor never portrayed Dawson with any nuance--the performance was always loud and deliberate. Dawson's an even worse character following the episode. The break-up fills him with a sense of self-righteousness that never disappears. The writers canonized their protagonist and they vilified Joey for her non-Dawson romantic choices. Williamson always said that Dawson's Creek was about sweaty palms and adolescence. Unfortunately, "The Dance" marked the shift from the sweaty palms theme to something else--the destiny of the soul mates.

Dawson and Joey were never good together. Van Der Beek and Holmes didn't have chemistry. The characters had less in common as the series progressed yet Dawson and Joey belonged together. The direction of the series might've been different if Williamson remained with the show. Other show runners seemingly had little clue about what worked and what didn't. The panic button had the name 'Dawson and Joey' because the writers returned to that coupling each May or sweeps period. I don't know why the writers couldn't admit that the central relationship didn't work. Williamson, at least, understood the truth and put Pacey and Joey together in the series finale, as if to apologize for the years of nonsense that resulted from "The Dance."

The show goes into toilet following the second season (well, the Pacey-Joey stuff and early Jen Lindley saves the season from the toilet--I love Michelle Williams in the show after season one). The second season's decent television. One could argue that Dawson's Creek began its run in the toilet but I'd disagree. I like the first two seasons. The drama between the soul mates during season two's not as insufferable as the drama in seasons three, four and five. In fact, the minimal drama between two enhanced the quality of the season. The writing staff wrote their characters with a ton of life in the first two seasons. For example, the banter between Pacey and Andie's wonderful. Michelle Williams became more comfortable with Jen. My favorite stretch of Lindley in season two is mid-season when she hangs with Dawson--it's much, much cooler than their dull season one romance. The season's relatively fun with episodes like "Full Moon Rising," "The All-Nighter," the Rachel Leigh Cooke episode and "Be Careful What You Wish For."

"The Dance," by the way, is one of my favorite episodes. Sure I spent several paragraphs ripping the writers for their handling of Dawson and Joey but that was justified. The episode's ideal to conclude the re-watch with because the A story drama sets-up the rest of the series. The sub-C story sets up the great Jen and Jack friendship. The B and C stories continue throughout the season and I don't have any interest in writing about them. Like many of the stories to follow, there's a lot of sense with little substance.

Dawson Creek's a complete joke now. The GIF of Van Der Beek's crying face is more popular than the series now. Joshua Jackson has some fun with his role of Pacey now and again. Katie Holmes went insane and married Tom Cruise. Michelle Williams flourished after breaking free from the show. I won't argue that Dawson's Creek matters in the world of pop culture because it doesn't. I just have an irrational affinity for the series, so I wrote about 15 episodes as I waited for Fall TV season to begin. That's all.

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