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Dawson's Creek:
Season Three
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Picture to order this DVD
As Always, a review of
both The Show, and The DVD (extras)!
The Show:
By the end of season two of Dawson's Creek, series creator Kevin
Williamson was off to other projects. Yet the WB wasn't about to let their
flagship teen drama go without a fight, so as the poet once said, the show
must go on...if just barely. After all: the whole concept of the series
was to offer a semi-autobiographical tale of series creator Williamson's
own life as a teenager, in a sleepy little bayside town. Where was the
show to turn for new plot ideas, after he left?
Sadly, the answer would
be: fans. I say "sadly" because demographically
these fans were, on the most part, junior high schoolgirls. What did they
want? Simple: have real-life former lovebirds Katie Holmes and
Joshua Jackson become an "item" in the series. Such a concept
makes sense only to a 13 year old who feels that a cute couple must merely
be...cute. Well, yeah, Katie and Joshua dated in real life, and yes they
made a cute couple, but...their TV show characters hated each other.
How could Joey and Pacey ever become
an item? Only the stupidest of plot twists could explain this;
namely, the ones used this season.
For one thing, they had
to piffle away the romance between Pacey and then-girlfriend, Andie (Meredith
Monroe). Mind you; throughout season two, Pacey and Andie were arguably the cutest couple in all of teen dramas. Yet to explain away
Pacey's sudden desire to look elsewhere for love, Andie is suddenly
sleeping with someone else. Not only is this plot device brought in from
left field; it was never explained, nor was the character she
slept with ever seen again, except in one single cameo. Much like the entire
season, this made no real sense.
As for Joey and estranged
boyfriend Dawson (James Van Der Beek); they broke up as early as the
season premiere...and very ridiculously, I may add. Sure, in the
"real world," there was no
chemistry between the actors, and yet their characters were supposedly crazy
for each other. Then, suddenly...not! In a moment filled with unlikelihood, Joey flirtatiously
"gives" herself to Dawson, only to have him dump her cold.
Why? So Katie Holmes' and
Joshua Jackson's characters could get together:
that's why. I'm
sorry; did you want a better explanation? No such explanations were ever
given here.
So, suddenly, Pacey and Joey
are free agents. That means they'll fall for each other, right?
Um...right. I guess. Except for one little glaring reality check: their
characters hated each other.
Yet suddenly, this formerly believable, contemporary teen drama is reduced
into an old 1970's after-school special cliché, where "they were so
busy fighting, they never even knew they were falling in love!"
Oh...gag. Though hey; preteen girls were getting what they wanted.
Yippee.
Fans might retort
that the show had no choice. After all; for two seasons, Joey had been
pining for Dawson (James Van Der Beek) like a lovelorn puppy, and
quite frankly, the chemistry wasn't there. However, come on now:
Joey had a whole lot more choices than Pacey and Joey! What about
recurring guest stars? What about new
regulars, the same
way season two brought in Andie and her brother (Kerr Smith)? They could've had
new faces every season. No; they had to have Joey with Pacey, if just because it was
either him, or Dawson. If you
say so guys...
It's not that I didn't
mind the shift of protagonists here. I don't have anything
against Dawson being "the bad guy" (of sorts) this season.
The boy who Dawson was based on (series creator Williamson) was gone, so
why not have some fun, and make the series' namesake a villain? Some of the best characters
in all of nighttime dramas have been villains we love to hate:
from J.R. Ewing in Dallas, to Dr. Michael Mancini in Melrose
Place. However; call it bad acting, bad writing, or both, but Dawson
was not a villain; he was an imbecile this season. Consider the episode where Joey's art mural is
vandalized. A more devious pleasure like Melrose Place would've
written Dawson as the culprit, only to frame Pacey for the crime. No;
that's beyond the writing level of this season, which had all the depth of
an Archie's comic book. Who vandalized Joey's mural? Who cares, as
long as Pacey found the culprit. Awww!
This is all immaterial to
the fans of Pacey and Joey, who wanted them together. Yet much like a piece of
chewing gum, the flavor of this union got old pretty fast. To be more
specific: once they were together, what then? Not even the script writers
had any coherent answer (let's put it this way: don't expect reviews of
seasons 4 through 6 here anytime soon). Though, hey; for fans who simply
want to see a cute couple on screen, this season delivered. With cutie pies like these, who needs believability?
---Techtite
The
DVD: Fanboys can send me
letters asking how dare I say this or that about this season. However,
let's all be fair here: when executive producer Paul Stupin himself says
in an audio commentary, that "There are things that I just
look back at [in season three], and frankly I cringe a little bit," who am I to argue?
This is an intriguing
listen --the audio commentary-- although it's sad that only
Kerr Smith bothered to show up for any actors' commentary. No offense to Smith but what happened to Katie, Joshua, James,
and Michelle? Were their invitations lost in the mail or
something, or do these alleged "TV turned movie stars"
feel they are too above an audio commentary? Come on, guys. Offer an
individual audio commentary for your favorite episode,
at least.
This audio commentary
track, plus an
"interactive tour of Capeside," is all there is. Luckily: that's all that's needed, for the barrage of now-teenage,
then-prepubescent fans who merely wanted to see Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson on screen
together this season. Who
cares if they are on screen as Pacey and Joey, who if memory serves --and
no, I have not said this enough in this review-- did
not get along at all. The preteen fans had spoken: bring them
together...so together they became. Yippee.
Click Picture to order this
DVD
| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed products, are created by Techtite,
copyright 1999-2002; all rights reserved. Title picture of Birds
of Prey promotional poster taken from the official web site.
Both this photo, and screen captures of the program itself, are used only for the purpose of
review, and by no means represent any affiliation with Techtite
and the distributors of this entertainment product. For further "legalese"
& disclaimers, click here... |
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