Staying In

Tonight, I will be attending the Dawson’s Creek panel at the Paley Center. It’s also a Wednesday, which means it’s time for another edition of WB Wednesday. I thought it be fitting then to do a list of my top 10 favorite Dawson’s Creek episodes.

Some are great episodes overall. Some have moments or storylines that make the episode special or memorable to me. The list is heavy on episodes from the first couple of seasons because my interest in the show started to wane around season 5. I should probably also mention that I was never a hardcore Joey/Pacey fan, even though I thought Joshua Jackson played the hell out of that storyline during seasons 3 and 4.

Note: The season 1 episodes have two titles because they were all originally titled after movies. The titles were later changed, most likely for legal reasons.

“Pilot”

This list would be remiss without the episode that started it all, including an unhealthy obsession that lasted through middle school and part of high school. When this episode aired, there was nothing like it on TV at the time. It was a new experience to see highly articulate teens frankly discussing their sex lives, but what made the pilot special was nothing new: teenage angst and the classic story of pining.

“The Breakfast Club” / “Detention” (Season 1, episode 7)

A riff on the famous Brat Pack movie, the episode trapped our favorite foursome and Abby Morgan in detention on a Saturday. Our first taste of Abby’s devious ways led to a game of truth or dare that forced everyone to reveal their hidden fears and desires. Say what you will about Dawson and Joey in the later seasons, but that kiss in detention made me clutch my pillow at the time. And let’s not forget Pacey’s hilariously meta reference to the Mighty Ducks series, which Joshua Jackson co-starred in.

“Pretty Woman” / “Beauty Contest” (Season 1, episode 12)

Joey enters a beauty pageant, but it’s for scholarship reasons. She’s not selling out! For the talent portion, she sings “On My Own.” It’s no Rachel Berry from Glee, but it does get Dawson to look at Joey in a new light. I kind of love Joey for calling Dawson out on only wanting her now that she’s dolled up. He just wants the fantasy.

“I want you to look at me and see the person you’ve always known and realize that what we have is so much more incredible than some passing physical attraction,” she says to him, “because you know what Dawson? This is just lipstick. And this is just hair spray. Tomorrow I’m going to wake up, and I’m going to be Joey. Just Joey. The too-tall girl from the wrong side of the creek.”

“Breaking Away” / “Decisions” (Season 1, episode 13)

Yes, Dawson and Joey finally kiss. Pacey and Joey even bond a little when he takes her to see her jailed dad in the middle of the night. That’s what leads to my favorite scene. Gripping fingers through the fence with her dad, Joey admits that she needs to hear him say he loves her “because I’m 15 years old and I go through everyday of my life thinking nobody loves me.” That little scene between a daughter and her estranged father broke my heart.

“Sex, She Wrote” (Season 2, episode 11)

When Chris (Jason Behr of Roswell) discovers a mysterious love note in class, he and Abby team up to find out which one of our three couples had sex: Dawson and Jen, Pacey and Andie or Jack and Joey? I really had no idea who it was until the end. After a clever bait and switch, we find out it was Pacey who wrote the note to Andie and that they had gone through with the deed. “Sex, She Wrote” was a fun mystery episode with a whodunit (in the sack) plot. It also gave us our first hint that something was up with Jack, which leads us to…

“To Be or Not to Be…” / “…That Is the Question” (Season 2, episodes 14 & 15)

Yes, I’m cheating a little by combining these two episodes as one entry, but they really are part of one journey, which leads to Jack’s coming out. Gracefully handled by the writers and exceptionally well-played by Kerr Smith, the episode was beautiful and featured two stand up and cheer moments. The first came when Pacey stood up for Jack and spit in their teacher’s face. In the second, which was even more surprising, Grams put Jen’s biblethumping boyfriend in his place after he made some stereotypical remarks about Jack’s sexuality. With friends like these…

“Reunited” (Season 2, episode 20)

Pacey didn’t end up with Andie, but damn if you didn’t root for them when Andie started seeing her dead brother and Pacey begged her through a closed bathroom door to choose him over Tim’s ghost. Joshua Jackson was absolutely terrific.

“The Longest Day” (Season 3, episode 20)

Everyone finds out about Pacey and Joey as the episode recounts the day’s events from three different POVs. The creek would never be the same again.

“True Love” (Season 3, episode 23)

For most fans of the show, this episode is all about Pacey and Joey sailing away together. But for me, it all comes down to one scene. Jack takes a risk and kisses Ethan (Adam Kaufman) — the first romantic male/male kiss on network television! — only to find out Ethan is already seeing someone. The rejection and anguish over being “different” leads Jack to break down in his father’s arms, the same father he never thought would accept him. Heartbreaking and touching.

“All Good Things…” / “…Must Come to an End” (Series finale)

I recently watched the extended cut and, I must say, it’s still incredibly satisfying. The two-part conclusion was everything you want from a series finale. It gave the viewer closure and resolution, while honoring its past. I loved the numerous nods to past episodes and events — hey everyone, remember that crazy lady Eve who acted like she had stepped out of Melrose Place? — and the multiple recreations of that iconic shot of Joey and Dawson in bed. I loved the reuse of music from the first season and Dawson’s incredibly autobiographical WB show, The Creek. I loved how even the posters for the fictional show replicated real-life posters for Dawson’s Creek. But most of all, I loved the scenes between Jack and Jen, my favorite soulmates on the show, and the surprisingly fantastic pairing of Jack and Doug. I would totally watch a show about those two raising Jen’s daughter. Oh wait, I think that’s already on TV with Kevin and Scotty on Brothers & Sisters. I’m sorry Jen had to die, but it tugged on your heartstrings in all the right ways.

Do you agree with my list? Feel I’ve made a glaring omission? Share your favorite episodes in the comments.