Date of airing: March 10, 1998 (WB)
Nielsen ratings information: 7.50 million viewers, 5.1/8 in Households
I would love to know what kind of episode this was. Billy was supposed to be the ex-boyfriend of a 16-year-old girl, but he looked like he was close to his thirties, ready to take part in a gang war with his shotgun hidden in his leather jacket and his Harley Davidson oiled and ready to get ridden. That made his past sexual relationship with Jen somewhat weird, but it’s nothing new for DAWSON’S CREEK to cast people who can’t pass as teenagers because they look too much like adults who just started smoking and drinking a lot.
However, that wasn’t the only problem I had with this story. For some reason, Jen made the mistake to blow the entire thing out of proportion and making Billy feel like he belonged in Capeside and actually had a reason to believe that Jen would come back with him to New York. For everything that happened with her emotionally, she is kind of to blame all the way through, even if the ultimate outcome – her break-up with Dawson – excites me, because now I don’t have to continue watching this relationship unfold, since there wasn’t a lot of noticeable chemistry. She couldn’t give a damn about Dawson’s feelings (her relationship with him was only about her), because she correctly assumed that she had to live life by herself first before she can find out what she wants for other people. But the way the story progressed over these 43 minutes was awkward and weird. In comes the ex-boyfriend from the city and everybody believes that a 16-year-old girl can be swept away from Capeside and brought back to New York City without the consent of her parents or her grandmother, without a single thought of re-enrolling into a New York high school and having to deal with transferring your records again. Was Jen really thinking about returning to New York with this man-boy? If she was, she wasn’t smart about it, because her family wouldn’t have allowed it and she would have caused a whole lot more trouble with everyone. And was Billy thinking he would be successful in getting Jen back? If he was, he thought he would make himself look like the romantic hero, completely forgetting that he was in a relationship with Jen that consisted of sex, drugs, and alcohol. So, I guess he came to Capeside to pick up Jen because he was missing that goth lifestyle – which is problematic all on its own.
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| So this is where the enemy sleeps. |
This entire Billy/Jen/Dawson was weird as heck, and I just wanted to get through it and get done with it, not think about it any longer, and forget that it ever happened. That’s not how characters were supposed to act in such a story, but I guess the writers needed such a story if their only goal was to break up Jen and Dawson. Jen just making out with a random Capeside High School student, which could freak Dawson into a jealous rage, wasn’t good enough for the scribes?
I also found it weird that Billy was staying in Dawson’s room for a day or two. Not only did Dawson not have a serious problem with a stranger sleeping in his bedroom, but Dawson’s parents also seemed to have no issue with it. Maybe because they were thinking about and dealing with other things, like trying to keep their marriage alive, but the notion of a stranger from New York living in their house (or my own) would give me the creeps. As a family living in Smalltown, USA, playing host to a guy from the big city who is known for partying hard, my alarm bells would be ringing constantly and I would not trust this man-child for a single second. All I could think of was how Billy was close to sacking in all the jewelry and all the other expensive-looking stuff in the Leery house – that’s how major my paranoia was, seeing Billy making himself comfortable in Dawson’s bed while having a conversation with him.
At least Joey’s story was somewhat fun, because finally some alcohol was at play and one of the characters got drunk, albeit weirdly and conveniently. However, I was surprised that Joey was the first one to get drunk, but it does make sense, considering the awful week she had, not to mention the awful wave of emotions she has been suffering from lately (Alexander’s birth, Jen knowing about her feelings for Dawson, the general hate for all men except Dawson). She is in love with Dawson, but has to look at him with a blonde girl in his arms, so of course, she allows herself to bathe in her self-pity and do whatever she felt like she could do. Which in this episode was to get drunk with a random dude and a hairdo that made him look like a Swede from the 80s, ready to hard-rock on a stage. That long hair. The chin beard (ugh, I had the same as a teen – how did I not just chop it off immediately?). His way of putting his lips on drunken Joey’s neck. I also wanted to punch him in the face, so naturally, I was cheering for Pacey to be Joey’s knight in shining armor, even if Joey hated every second of it – and probably won’t remember any of it the next morning. It’s almost like Pacey had a bit of a crush on Joey here and hoped to be in better standing with her at the end of the party, if it hadn’t been for Dawson inadvertently causing mayhem within Joey, and the weird long-haired dude.
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| The sleazy guy gets Joey drunk to make out with her. Off with his head! |
Was this episode essentially a way to tell its target audience that alcohol is bad? It certainly looks that way, because alcohol made this episode look somewhat bad. One can only hope that folks have learned not to drink and party at the beach with long-haired dudes, and now that Dawson and Jen are apart from each other, the way for Dawson and Joey has been paved, if not for a post-breakup drama storyline that could turn the two characters (and, to an extent, Joey) into insufferable people. For which I will need my own stash of alcohol, just to get through this drama emotionally unharmed. Yes, this really was not one of my favorite episodes. I may even consider this one of the worst hours of DAWSON’S CREEK so far. I will get back to that after the series finale, as long as I haven’t successfully forgotten all about this hour.
