Alongside Dawson's Creek

Rev. 25-Feb-1998
Chaz Boston Baden, hazelweb@boston-baden.com

Warning! Contains spoilers! If you haven't seen every episode aired, this page will give away big chunks of character development. You Have Been Warned.

Conquering Virgins

Let's get back to the game of finding similarities and differences between the characters' relationships. How about Dawson 'n Jen, vs. Pacey 'n Tamara?

In Emotions in Motion both boys are virgins, and by the end of the episode each of them have their eye on a woman. Eventually, in Carnal Knowledge Dawson tries to push the envelope - to get to second base, so to speak - but Jen says slow down. Dawson respects Jen's boundaries, and doesn't try to rush her.

On the other hand, Pacey has been trying to get into Tamara's pants since day one, and hasn't taken no for an answer. In Prelude to a Kiss, he finally gets what he wants, after a scene in which Tamara realizes it's Pacey's first time they're talking about.

The Talk of the Town

In Look Who's Talking, Joey brings up an interesting point about her and Pacey having something in common. Pacey scoffs at the idea of Joey knowing what kind of experience he's having, with everyone at school talking about the rumor about Pacey and Miss Jacobs. But Joey's been there - everyone looking at her as some kind of unusual specimen, talking about her, etc. - because her mother died, her sister Bessie's pregnant out of wedlock by a black man, her father's in prison on drug charges... and Pacey begins to see her point.

We clearly saw everyone at school talking about Pacey; we haven't seen any kind of eyebrow-lifting in regards to Joey. (With the possible exception of Jen's Grandma.) That's no doubt because the "next big story" came along long ago, and the novelty of Joey's situation has worn off; but also, I wonder how much of this is Joey's perception of how people see/saw her.

Changing the subject for a moment because I want to stick this in somewhere, has anyone else noticed that Joey's Dad has been sent up for an indeterminate length of time? We haven't heard if it's 90 days, or 10 years to life, or what. My guess is that he'll turn up in town someday, when he gets out.

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