"Rest In Peace, Abby Morgan" marks the return of the tortured Jen Lindley, the one seen in the season premiere, who then disappeared around episode six or seven in exchange for a more stable yet still promiscuous Jen Lindley. Dawson saved this incarnation of Jen Lindley outside of a beach house seconds after he interrupted a near-threeway. Jen transformed into a cool girl who hung out with Dawson and made out with him and suggested he cut loose post-Joey. Dawson made her a film producer, and Jen transformed into a mid-30s type career woman, who had detail production schedules and such. The film brought her and her Grams closer together to the point they were giggling together over an adulterous male with a terrific male who wanted to court Grams whenever his wife wasn't sick. The latest characterization of Jen was pleasant until she got bored in last week's episode and Abby Morgan died.
Abby Morgan's death turns Jen into a loathsome character. The problems began in "A Perfect Wedding" when Jen randomly decided she needed to hang out with Abby. Several episodes ago, Jen pretty much told Abby she didn't deserve to breathe after her 'Which couple had sex?' investigation because of the pain Abby caused for Pacey and Andie. Abby and Jen barely spoke during the one episode devoted to the production of Dawson's film. Abby disappeared for a stretch of time, resurfaced at Dawson's surprise birthday party to make out with Jack in an attempt to prove he's straight, disappeared again while Jen broke up with Ty, only to resurface when Jen needed a girls night out. Remember, she felt dissed by not being included in the catering wait staff. Jen and Abby got drunk, crashed a wedding, were kicked out, and sat on a dock where Abby then dropped a bottle of wine, hit her head, and plummeted into the water below.
Jen's varying identities seem natural for the portrayal of a teenage girl. Teenagers, in general, don't really know who they are. Some teenagers are a collection of the latest trends and fads and going with the flow. Jen's separate from the other characters by her lack of definition. She's friends with three people who've known each other their entire lives and lived in the same town. Jen's sense of ostracization and separation is enhanced by the feeling of truly being an outsider as she was exiled from Manhattan because she couldn't behave. Episodes 9-17 depicted a stable and healthy Jen, though. Dawson and she became friends again; Joey and Jen worked out their issues; Grams supported her when Ty revealed his bigotry and prejudices and disrespected her integrity. The leap from #217 to #218 for Jen doesn't work. The Tyson break-up wasn't devastating or hurtful. The writers didn't portray Jen as resentful towards her friends for ignoring her break-up because she never told them about it, so they more or less chose to pair Jen with Abby because she had nothing else to do, and "Rest In Peace, Abby Morgan" needed some dramatic turns for not only Jen but the other Capeside characters that would ripple until season's conclusion.
The dramatic turns for the characters begins with Jen, naturally enough, who's first seen crying and shaking in Dawson's bedroom. News of Abby's death spreads quickly throughout Capeside High. The next morning Jen is stared and gawked at because she was present when Abby died. Grief counselors are brought in to help the students cope with the shocking tragedy of their peer. Jen's angry and resentful. She's angry at God, at Andie, and resentful towards her fellow students who've decided to canonize Abby because she died. Jen sees a school populated by hypocrites, scores of students who hated Abby Morgan the day before but now love her because she passed away. One wonders if Williamson watched Heathers in the weeks before the break for the episode, and whether or not he latched onto the line spoken by Winona Ryder about what death did for Heather. Heathers is possibly referenced once more when Dawson compares post-Abby Capeside High to life for the munchkins in the wizard of Oz after Dorothy kills the wicked witch. Veronica compares killing Heather to killing the wicked witch. Anyway, Jen can't stand to watch people re-write Abby's character because she's dead. Abby, Jen tells Andie, was a bitch and dedicated to exposing the truth behind people's lives, which usually involved making people miserable. Andie and the others steer clear of Jen who's on a path of destruction and a bad look away from spewing toxic words at someone. Grams is a sympathetic person though, but her sympathies aren't appreciated by her granddaughter. Jen questions God and the world he created and wonders what it says about God that he made a person like Abby in his own image. Grams stresses the plan God has for all. Jen verbally 3Ds Grams' comforting words through a table. At the funeral, Jen briefly eulogizes Abby. During the 2 minute speech, she stresses how unlikable Abby was and insults God in a holy place of worship. Grams storms out. Abby's mother is inconsolable. Jen sits in the pew with a spiteful expression fixed on her face, but, later, she softens. Abby's burial is finished by the time Jen settles down and admits to Andie the truth for her behavior; Jen believes she's responsible for Abby's death because she got her drunk and took her to the docks and froze when she saw Abby's body in the water. Andie consoles Jen. Jen returns home contrite; however, Grams wants her out of the house. And that's the dramatic turn for Jen, aside from the blaming oneself for Abby's death, which basically disappears next episode.
Andie's the other character most affected by Abby's death after the mother requests Andie eulogize her daughter. Andie struggles to think of good words to say about the girl who tried to ruin her life more than once, but she manages to highlight Abby's ability to challenge people. Pacey worries Andie will return to the bad place she was after her brother Tim died. Andie's okay until she returns to Abby's room late in the episode to retrieve her diary before her mother discovers it. Andie notices Abby in the left corner of the mirror. She turns around, but Abby's gone. Earlier this season, Andie took her prescription medicine while looking at herself in the mirror, and I promised someone would be looking back at her very soon. Abby's not that person. Andie's vision portends a dark stretch for her before the season ends. Usually, writers won't kill a character off unless the character's death significantly changes a character or his or her circumstances. The death needs to mean something. Jen's kicked out of her house, and Andie's seeing the dead girl reflected in a mirror.
Joey, though, doesn't specifically react to Abby's death. The death of her mother is still an open wound for her, so it is her mom she thinks about in light of Abby's death. Joey admits she hasn't visited the cemetery since her mom passed. Her father tries to engage her daughter in pleasant memories of her mom, but Joey's not ready. Dawson doesn't understand why Joey hasn't been to her mother's grave in three years. Joey's reluctant to attend Abby's funeral because she hasn't been to one since her mother died. I think Joey's arc in "Rest In Peace, Abby Morgan" is the best part of the episode, from a writing stand point and acting stand point, though Michelle Williams isn't at all bad in her portrayal of a wildly grieving Jen. Sometimes, though, people react most strongly to the parts of a story that those people relate to most. For me, I relate to Joey's feelings about her deceased parent, especially when she tells Dawson about how she wishes God would realize the cosmic error he made in taking her mom from her, correcting it, and bringing her back like He brought her dad back. Dawson, the therapeutic 1 that he is, tells Joey her wish is a child's false hope. Joey's quiet for a moment, acknowledges that is but doesn't want to let go and won't explain why because Dawson doesn't know what the experience of losing a parent is like. I wanted to travel back in time to 1998 and jump into a fictional world to hug Joey Potter and tell her that I get it and that dickface Dawson doesn't know what the heck he's talking about. Missing one's parent and wishing he or she were still alive isn't a child's false hope, it's mourning, and no matter how much time passes, a son or daughter will really, really miss their parents, and dickheads like Dawson are the reasons we can't talk about it the way we'd really like to.
The worst moment of the episode involves my favorite scene of the episode when Joey visits her mom's grave and places a flower on her headstone. Beforehand, Dawson admits he's glad he and Joey can make out again. Joey barely responds, which causes Dawson to speak more about how he'll screw up if she doesn't respond, so she kisses him and tells him she's happy too. Seriously, Dawson, you're not the focal point. Joey's several feet from her mother's grave. She hasn't visited it since the day of the burial and all Dawson thinks about is how glad he is to be kissing soul mates again as opposed to platonic soul mates. Joey tearfully stares down at the headstone. Dawson walks over, embraces his girlfriend, kisses her on the forehead, and assures Joey of her mother's happiness knowing she's looking down on her beautiful daughter. The moment would've been brilliant if KW remembered the back story and simply had Dawson hold Joey's hand because he knew she didn't need him to say anything, that no words would be right in the situation. The scene should've been silent. Anyway, Joey's dramatic turn, her little journey from the kitchen where she struggled to think of going to the grave to going to the grave, was well worth the nonsense of the Jen Lindley story; and, well, for the nonsense of the Andie story, too.
"Rest In Peace, Abby Morgan" is an emotional way to set storylines up for the final three episodes. Killing a character off to set such storylines up is a bit clumsy and lazy, especially with the knowledge that future writing staffs will try and fail to re-create Abby Morgan every season. There is the white preppy racist student from season three who will get a certain African-American principal fired followed by Drue Valentine who introduces the gang to ecstasy and has a bitch mother who treats Joey like shit followed by Chad Michael Murray in season five and then any tertiary character in season six, with the blue ribbon reserved for Jensen Ackles' piece of shit character. Many horribly and uninteresting antagonistic characters could've been avoided if Abby lived. Unfortunately, with three episodes left, Pacey's pretty much arcless. The direction of the final three episodes isn't entirely clear, but three main storylines are: Joey/Dawson together again, Crazy Andie, and Homeless Jen.
Other Thoughts:
-Dawson's Creek had an obsession with 80s movies. The Heathers thing didn't become clear until moments before I began writing the post. I was all set to compliment Williamson and staff on how the Abby-is-dead-and-now-considered-a-saint thing was handled until I realized Heathers did the story much, much better.
-Gail told Dawson of an offer she received for a news anchor position in Philadelphia. Dawson hoped Mitch would fly back into his wife's arms and convince her to stay. Mitch is content to let his wife leave. Dawson was dismayed. So, this, too, is something to remember for the final three.
-Mike White wrote the episode. David Semel directed it.
UP NEXT: "Reunited"--Dawson and Joey celebrate their first month together, but Mitch and Ms. Kennedy have reservations at the same place, and somehow they all share dinner together; Andie's emotional reactions to memories of her brother scare Pacey; Jen moves in with the Leerys. Watch the episode on Netflix, Streampix, or YouTube.
THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK
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