Was This Show Better Than We Remember? (Dawson’s Creek 2x16)

Season 2, Episode 16 said “let’s process emotions”… and somehow turned into one of the funniest episodes yet. We were not prepared to laugh this much.

In this episode, we break down the chaos (lovingly) as Dawson and Andie absolutely steal the show with moments that had us cackling. Truly—unexpected comedy duo?? Meanwhile, Pacey and Joey are doing their thing, but somehow even they get outdone this time, which is saying a lot.

Of course, underneath all the humor, there’s still plenty going on—Dawson and Joey continue trying to figure out what they even are, Pacey and Andie keep building something that feels both sweet and slightly chaotic, and the emotional undercurrents are still very much there… they’re just a lot funnier this week.

On a rewatch, this episode feels like a reminder that even in the middle of all the tension, this show knows how to have fun—and we definitely leaned into that. Expect a lot of laughing, a few unhinged moments, and us fully losing it more than once.

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Season two of Dawson’s Creek proves that even when emotions are messy, sometimes the best thing you can do is laugh—and this episode absolutely delivered.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Press Play Again. Two roommates, one remote. I don't know why I was about to say rewatch and it like hung up. It did. I already have had so many tongue twister moments tonight. I hope this doesn't go south. Okay. Here we go. Stupid giggle box is going to be turned over. Okay. Press play again. Two roommates, one remote. The rewatch podcast where we dive back into the shows and movies we couldn't stop talking about in college. We probably still can't. We're your host, Anna and Megan. Two roommates, one remote, ready to laugh, debate, and maybe get a little tunest outtick as we revisit the classics and discover a few new favorites along the way. So grab your popcorn, press play, and hang out with us as we rewind it all, episode by episode, movie by movie. I still get it. Okay, so uh the synopsis for episode 16. Be careful what you wish for. On Dawson's 16th birthday, he, Pacey, and Andy follow her therapist's advice and throw themselves into an unabashed night of recklessness, where both Dawson and Andy get drunk at the jazz club and end up on stage singing the blues. Meanwhile, at the Leary House, Joey is organizing a surprise party for Dawson. But the longer the guest of honor is a no-show, the more she is subject to surprises of her own. Abby and two of her girlfriends, who we've never seen before, crash the party and taunt Jack over his recent coming out. Jen and Ty finally face up to their potentially irreconcilable differences in which they break up for good. Also, Gail and Mitch come to decisions about how to raise their son in light of their divorce. This episode aired on March 3rd, 1999. It has a popularity rating of 15 out of 128 and an IMDB user rating of 23 out of 128. What was the first number though? 15. 15. Okay. I believe that. Pretty high-ranked episode. Well, there was a lot of funny moments. There were painful moments. So okay, but part of the painful ones were kind of they went together with the funny. Unhinged. Yeah, yeah. This one was all about Dawson's birthday, I will say. And Dawson was, he even, I mean, the whole episode started with him uh in a mood because everyone else, 16 years old, seems to be moving on with their lives or whatever. But okay. Cry me a river, Dawson. But I will say, have we not all had those thoughts before? I didn't have them at 16. I have them now more so at 16. But I get what he's saying. I can relate to that. Yeah, I mean that part, some of us that just never goes away. Yeah. Um not just birthdays that I have those thoughts and feelings. But it can be a day-to-day thing. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Again, an hour by hour thing too. Um, I just he puts too much pressure on himself. He also, and and I can be guilty of this, in in a moment where you're just so perplexed by what's what you are so fixated on, and that's him feeling like he's not making the same amount of progress as everyone around him is. That's a a headspace that can be hard to get out of. But he's I mean, look at the fact that he just filmed his second movie, and like there's so many big things that he's forgetting he's done in the name of comparison. And that is the biggest thief. We do that, and we all do that. Yeah, it's uh when you're in the middle of it, you can't see all of your own accomplishments or all of the own your own good things that are happening for you. Other people can see it because they're looking from the outside, but you're constantly comparing to other people around you. I have uh dealt with that a lot. I will say there was one year teaching at a not not at the school here in Alabama, but there was one teacher on my hallway that I just thought she was basically perfect. Obviously, I know she wasn't, but she was like the kindest human being. I literally the sweetest person, phenomenal teacher. Everybody loved her, the kids loved her. Now I knew like deep down, I knew that my kids loved me, and I can be really proud of that, right? But it's still it's like this once comparison gets its little foothold in there, yes, it's hard to get it out, and you just constantly, or I was not you, I was in a cycle of just like constantly comparing myself to this one other person, and like and she taught the grade below me, so it's like her kids would come to me next. So I it's like a cycle it never ended, and I I get what Dawson is saying, and how we can look at other people and how it seems like they have it all together, and and they've got this, and they're they're they seem to be moving on in this area while I'm still stuck here, but really it is a thief, like you like you said, because really what happens is that those people or or people we often compare ourselves to are looking at us and having some of the same thoughts. Right. It's it's tough. I mean, I I do remember being it was either late middle school or early high school at one of our winter retreats for the youth group, and I remember that being a topic that was discussed by the speaker, and I mean I felt plagued by some of those thoughts even back then. Um but I mean it it's still something I'm I deal with on a daily basis. Yeah, yeah, and it's hard, it gets even worse now. I feel like because of the fact that we have social media and so much stuff goes viral, and then that's like what everybody compares everything to. That's not the standard. And you know, we've all heard the whole like whatever's on social media is just somebody else's highlight reel, right? We know. Um you can know it, it still doesn't mean that you can fully make those other feelings relaxed. If you know you put your own best foot forward when you're making a post, I mean it it just it's all fluff. Even when you're putting the real raw version and I want people to see the real it's still curated, it's still what you are still wanting to show. Or that you're willing to put out there. Uh-huh. It's still curated for an audience. Right. But at the same time trying to remind yourself to not be totally paralyzed by comparison, that's a whole nother animal. Yeah. I did a Bible study with teenagers one time on comparison, combating comparison in the lives of the enemy. And it was um in Genesis with Rachel and Leah, the two sisters who compared each other and because Jacob wanted one and not the other, and and all of this, but the one he didn't want was actually the one who was giving him what he wanted. All the all all this, it's really great. It's very scandalous. The Bible is very scandalous. Oh, yes. But I'm doing this study as an adult with teenagers, and yet every every lesson was like, let me just tell y'all, I dealt with this today. Like it doesn't go away, it has no age limit whatsoever, and you don't ever arrive to where it goes away. It's not like a video game, you don't complete this level and then don't have to deal with it again. It and it it's it's not like a test in school, like some things, you know, you move on from that and you don't have to come back to it. It's not like that. It in many ways, life is a lot like math, and all the different variations of math just are mathing all the time. I love math. I do too, I do too. But anyway, but okay, so that's the serious nature of this episode a little bit, and like what Dawson's dealing with. Now let's move past that because the rest of it was hilarious. Some of it was cringy creepy for sure, for sure. Does not take away from that whatsoever. But before we move on, we laughed a lot in this one. We laughed a lot. I think this was one of the funniest ones overall. Dawson was at his peak funniest. Jay Zanderbeek, this was it. This was his this was his best performance, in my opinion, because I think acting drunk would be so hard. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Because you don't want to overdo it, right? But also, had he ever been drunk in real life? Like, how did he know how he should even be acting at that point? That's a good question. You know, so but it could even just be his pers her his perception of what he thinks. I have heard I have heard different actors talk about like how you should play it. And whenever you think you're going too big, you are going too big. You don't want to play drunk. You just kind of your body's a little looser and your speech is just a little slower. Like I've heard him talk about it. It would be so hard though, I think. And this was but this was perfect because it was over the top, but it's like because he was already in this mindset of like my life sucks and I'm turning 16 and all this. Yeah, it just made it that much better. Right. And then Andy on top of that. Okay, before we get to Andy, I gotta say, there were so many lines in this episode that I loved, but from the get-go, yes, when Dawson is telling PC everybody's moving forward, and he's naming all the people moving forward, and then he gets to Jen and he says, Jen, well, she's moving, not moving forward, but she's moving. She's making progress. It just was so funny. I know. I mean, I made a note, Dawson is pretty funny in the opening scene. Even when it could go to the it could go to the side of like, God, Dawson, get over it. We've gone over this before. It's or just shut up. It's funny. Even his crash out later in the episode, yeah. That was cringy, but it was funny. I was cracking. Oh, it that was a crash out. That was brutal to watch. It was, it was, and listen to. It was. I mean, that that was so unhinged. The the whole drunken words or sober thoughts, just totally unfiltered up at this. Because she works drunk too.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Yes. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

And she's embracing her whole moment of of a prescribed night of imperfection. Okay, we have to get to this point though. So it is Dawson's 16th birthday. He's whining and complaining because everybody's been for it. Okay, so finds out Joey's planning him a surprise party, and Pacey's gonna help get him out of the house so that she can get it set up. Pacey and Andy are in charge of taking him out to distract him. And Pacey's driving the police car. Okay. And when okay, and Andy goes to therapy, and her therapist does say you need a night of imperfection. Just do whatever you feel like doing in that moment. The therapist must be a local Wilmington actress because she's also in Montreal. Okay, cool. She's one of the basketball moms who's mean to Karen in the preseason. Yes, yes. Um, and she's been in other things, but yeah. So they're in the cop car, and when she pipes up and says, This is my first time in the backseat of a cop car. I've always wanted to ride in the backseat of a cop car. Have you ever been in the backseat of a cop car? Yeah. I mean, me too. Well, my dad was in law enforcement years ago for one thing. He picked us up a couple of times at school. So that's funny. Yeah. My friend's dad was a is a cop, and so he he picked us up at Walmart or something one time and we rode around in the backseat. It was it's so uncomfortable, actually. And oh yeah, no. It was just a regular patrol car. So yeah, been in the backseat. It was very innocent though. Never I've never been arrested and put in the backseat, though, I will say that.

unknown 13:31

No.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

But Andy is so funny. I I even said, like, how she's acting, you would have thought she like took an edible gummy or something beforehand because she was I need whatever she's on tonight because she was having the best night ever. Yes, she was just letting her inhibitions go. Yes. And Pacey is the one who's like, how did I get stuck between Goofy McGoose back here and Eeyore over here to my right in the passenger seat? Because Dawson is in a terrible mood. Yes, and complaining about being a third wheel to his best friend, his girlfriend on his 16th birthday. Oh boo who when Pacey continues to call her sweetie and dear, it cracks me up because it's not, it's it's not a an endearing name that he's using slightly condescending. You know, I mean, but she he's talking to he's talking to me. She's just rolling with it. And then she goes, Stop the car!

SPEAKER_02 14:42

He says, What did we get?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

I just saw something cool back there. I just yeah, cool place. So they run into the jazz place. Could your what did he what did he say? Could could your night of um oh uh impulsivity not kill us? Yes, yes. Oh, it's so funny. So they end up at the jazz club and Pacey um he he he compliments her on her little red dress and how pretty she looks. But all we can notice was her uh body glitter. Yes, it looked like she had just slathered herself in the Bath Body Works roll-on chunky glitter. Yes, yes, but there's no way that that was actually the roll-on glitter though, because some of those pieces were so big and and literally chunky that that would have never come out of the roller. That was like painted on glitter. It was so much done. Yes, it like you said when we were watching it, it's like you put it on in the wrong lighting. It's like whoa, yeah, yeah. I mean, she was dirty, like when the light hits the right way, she looked like she had dirt on her. Yeah, but she was feeling herself, you know, her little tight curls and her body litter. You know what, Andy? Hey, you do a good girlfriend. Yes, yes, we got you a cute happen. Honestly, we all need to like set aside some time and give ourselves a night or an opportunity to just fully let loose and just embrace the moment. I feel like everybody needs to be prescribed a night like that. Uh-huh. A prescription of body glitter and rum and cooks. Well, maybe the splash. Splash of no no shh. But oh my gosh, oh, that was good. That was really good. This was a good funny episode. It was like lighthearted, yes, while still like balancing the annoyance of Pacey with it. Yeah. And the series just Jack is still dealing with this, but it wasn't like heavy seriousness of Jack's situation. Right. There was still some comedy to that. There, there was. But I mean, let's just at least acknowledge really quickly, um, Dawson and Andy's freestyle on the open mic night. They have okay for the blues. To get them up there though, Pace goes to the bathroom, they sneak the he doesn't realize that they have now ordered alcohol from the bartender that we know does not check IDs because this happened in the last episode. But they get rum and coke. And so they have now had five at this point when they ask for another one. That's what they say, but but Pacey says And they're doubles. Yes. Pacey says, Y'all are drinking so many Coke, so much Coke tonight. How many are those are y'all gonna down? Uh-huh. They get up there for open mic night, and it is all hanging out. They are letting loose. Oh, and it starts with Dawson just airing out all the laundry in freestyle blues form, and it is uncomfortable, unhinged, and hilarious at all at the same time. And then Andy, who is awkwardly not rhythmically dancing in the background, she's like doing a mix of the Carlton and something too many things. It yeah, it's no, then it's her turn. Well, and he says something about she left me for a guy who comes out as gay, who happens to be gay, and then Andy says, and Andy says, The guy that turned out to be gay is my brother. Yes, yes, and she talks about then she has a brother who died, and her daddy left her. Yes, her daddy ran away. Her daddy ran away. Her boyfriend's name is Pacey, and her mom turned out to be crazy. Yes, like, whoa. I mean every time the camera flashes back to Pacey, he is mortified. Yes, he's embarrassed, he's mortified, and he's thinking, What the heck are we doing right now? And then Dawson drops the bomb that he knows there's a surprise party at his house for him, and they're gonna be showing up late. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. It is just really funny. It was. It it was it was very well done too. Like, that could have been, just to be honest, if that had not been done just right, that would have been a total flaw. Yeah. But it was done just right. Uh-huh. It really was. But that was that was hilarious. It was it was like a perfect mix of cringe and awkwardness, but hilariousness and too truthful. It was and it was it was funny. But what happens next is they try to order another drink with just a splash no shh of coke, and the the waitress asks for their ID, which she should have done, as Andy says, five drinks away ago. And she starts threatening the waitress and saying they're gonna get their liquor license taken away. Because her boyfriend's dad is the town sheriff. Right. Because they're 16. Yes. Oh my gosh. And Pacey is practically picking her up and taking her out of there. As he should. He's like, Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. Stop while you're ahead, please. Yeah. They head back to the house for the surprise party. And they go in, just still having them a blast. He walks in and says, Surprise. Well, they're late too. Yes. And then Joey comes out, like, what she asks Pacey, where have y'all been? What is and he he's exasperated at this point. Like he's done. He just he's ready to be done with it. We're here. Honestly, if if Pacey could have, he probably would have dropped him off and left. Yes. But he's not gonna do that to Andy. So he Joey looks at him and says, Are they trunk? And he says, Yeah. It just I everything between each of the characters, it really was funny to him. All the little things, and even um Pacey and Joey at the ice house when they're planning this together, and he even takes the time and he checks on her because of all the stuff with Jack. I thought it was sweet, it was just really good. It showed different aspects of all their friendships. But this is when Dawson crashes out. Oh gosh. Well, she tries to take him upstairs to get him out of the downstairs before his parents see him. Yeah, and to get him to drink some coffee. And they walk in on Jack and Abby, which we will go back to because my other favorite line was Jack at the Ice House to Abby. Oh yes. But Jack Abby this whole time has been just coming on to him aggressively. She's throwing her it's being On throwing herself at him. It's it's a bad look. Now that he's gay, she finds him attractive. Well he's also changed his look. Yes. Which I made a note if the Jack's. I know. That that was a little too far. But I I tried to draw the eyes emoji, Jack's new look. Um yeah, she's she's atrocious. She's she's just trying to see if she can get what she wants, basically. Right. And I I was conflicted, truthfully, about some of this because I feel Joey when she walks in and he's been dating her only to come out of the closet to then suddenly end up in Dawson's room smooching on Abby. I almost called her what he called her, and you know, it's I mean it's a big slap in the face. And that could have had its own set of mental complexes that would come along with it, that I wasn't good enough. Yeah. That you know what and we know that at the end of the episode the two of them end up talking, and he tells her that he's never been more sure than he is now. Which you still did it, yeah, you know what I mean? Like but and and I don't think that I would have these thoughts at 16, but now I'm looking at it going, Jack is just he's still just fighting it and struggling, and he just doesn't want to be the outcast, right? Yeah, but he I didn't appreciate though, and I may be jumping ahead. I did not appreciate his comment to Joey saying that whatever Abby was saying to him made him feel like he was normal or something like that. Like, what about her trying to convince you to be bi or to swing both ways? What about her telling you that you look better now that you're gay than you did when you were presumably straight? What about any of the things that she said to him were something more that he wanted that he wasn't getting somewhere else in a way that like she was so ugly and derogatory and too forward in a way that was really icky. So, what did you want? Did you want girls throwing themselves at you? Do you follow me at all? Like that to me was I I didn't I didn't appreciate that line. Well, in the beginning when they first come up at the at the ice house and she compliment she says you you look good or whatever she says, and he says, I'd take that as a compliment if it wasn't coming from Satan. Right. Hilarious. I loved it. Talking about Abby. But it's like, what changed? Why did she just wear you down? I don't know. It it I don't know. It's I think he just doesn't he still doesn't fully want to accept it. I think by the end of this episode he he does accept it more, but it's like he's just trying to do anything to see was this just a one-off thing, or do I really have these feelings? But that still feels like a slap in the face of Joey. It does. And you know, even his his whole little thing about you know that there was something you just said a second ago that made me think of Satan. No, no, that that is the training. I don't know. No, maybe I just lost my train of thought. But I just I don't know. I'm just wrestling with him and and the way oh, that when Joey, when they're having their conversation at the end, and she's like, so you know, you've got people that are accepting of you and supporting you. What you wanted people that weren't gonna support you or that you know basically completely cast you out because he says at some point that he basically identifies with Abby as being an outcast, yeah. And I I hate that because how can you they your little friend group here has never made you feel like an outcast on purpose. I mean his sister did more than anybody, right? Dawson and him, that's a whole other story, too. But I mean, Pacey has gone above and beyond, but but and I I think that it's not just that he feels like other people are making him, he truly feels because he's different, like those girls were saying at the ice house, I've never known anybody who's gay, right? So he just feels so different, he is the only one that is what the outcast part is, but she does tell him, like, don't take that for granted. We are here and we support you, and that's not nothing. No, correct. That's that's my point. Like, yeah, he's he's viewing all this from the completely wrong angle, in my opinion. Well, it's kind of like we were saying in the beginning with the comparison when you're in it, you can't see past I get it, but other people so like he can't see, he's looking at it from the perspective of I'm different, nobody, everybody's gonna look at me differently, nobody's gonna, but they're looking at it going, we're here, Jack, and we have not changed our opinion of you. Right. And I guess it because you can't see past them. They don't I guess in his perception of how they treat him, he doesn't like he himself identifies as an outcast and they don't make him feel that way. Uh-huh. So I guess that he's just looking for or has been in some twisted way needing or seeking that feeling to be validated on some level. Do you follow me at all? I don't know. It that that's getting a little too deep, I know, but it just that was the heaviest part of this episode was still dealing with Jack's stuff. Yeah. I mean, I feel like some of the Gail and Mitch stuff could be potentially a little bit heavy. It it's getting redundant, truly. It's such a complex. I'm just over like her buying him the car Dawson the car, Mitch didn't get a say in it. Well, Mitch, you didn't contribute any money. I'm sorry, but Dawson calls you out in his total crash out moment for just talking about getting a job and never getting a job. Dawson's crash out, while it's uncomfortable in ways, and the whole him, the thing with Joey was so uncomfortable. That was almost hatefully. Him, his crash out on Jack was funny. Yeah. When he said to his mom, oh disrespectful, like, yes, she did this, but we've moved past it. Why is it still the one thing that keeps being brought up against her? Right. Um, we don't need too many. Yeah, think of his dad. True, valid, yes, we're all thinking it. Too far when he came to Jen. Yes, but she kind of took it as a compliment. She did when he says, I want to party with you, and she's like, It's like she's just in the corner minding her business. Ryan, I I feel like she was just all eyes are on me, and I'm gonna try to make a better face than just yeah, poor Joey is now what he says to Pacey. I did not appreciate that either. Not at all, not at all. But we've seen this already with him. He does not deal well when when he is not the center of attention, or if he feels like his life is worse than somebody else. Again, comparison. It's like, have you ever seen the movie The Duff? No, but I know which one is it. Designated ugly fat friend. Okay, this is the same concept where you keep somebody in your life to feel better, enjoy them, and they can truly be your friend, but you still somewhere on some level know that you're better or you are superior in some way or another. And I do feel like that is what it is with Dawson and Pacey. It has been at least. Yes, I I hate it. I didn't it makes me think back to I think it's the the Breakfast Club episode where they end up in detention. And isn't that the one where the oompa loompa comment? Yes, and they get in the fight in through the basketball, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it it's that moment playing out in a different situation and or scenario. And I it it's a bad look on on Dawson. It is, and the fact that he truly feels that way instead of being proud of your friend, which I do think there is, I mean, he has said that he's proud of him. I I because what I'm learning within myself is that multiple emotions can coexist. So I do think that he is proud of his friend. Oh, sure. But he doesn't want what Pacey is doing to better himself to overshadow him, Dawson, him. And so, like, while he's proud of his friend, it's like, okay, but I need you to still stay in your box where I can just be proud of the one-off A that you get, or this one time that you do this. But when it becomes a constant thing and this is a whole transformation, as he says, that's where Dawson gets uncomfortable because he this is where he's starting. I mean, this is his whole crash out of the entire episode. It's like everybody is moving on to something different except for me. Well, Dawson, you he's looking at it that way because he's known since the time he left the womb and entered into the world what he wants to do and what his life's passion is. So it's starting to feel insignificant while all his friends are figuring it out. It's like just be proud of who you are. You you can all support each other. Right. There is a way to still feel like you're not moving in life as fast or as forward as you'd like to, and yet still championing your friends that are making really good, you know, progress in their own life. We each have respective friends who are married with children. We are not. We're not bitter and hateful to those friends, though. It it's a it's a whole deal with trying to come to a place of acceptance of yourself and who you are, even if it's just in that exact moment that you're sitting in. Yeah, the hour, the minute, the the whole just just right where you are in the present. If if you can find a place to just get comfortable enough to just accept it, you don't have to like it, you don't have to be happy about it, but just accept it. So that you aren't you know, uh like you said, bitter or wishing ill or just I don't know, that that's borderlines on a character flaw. Yeah. Well, this this ugly competition, yeah, this invisible competition, honestly, between the that Pacey hasn't even brought into the equation. It's Dawson who is. But this this competition has no place in a true friendship. No. Anyways, but I but I think this is just a crash out of Dawson because he doesn't know how to there's just a lot of things that he doesn't know how to he doesn't know how to he also doesn't know how to handle himself inebriated. No, well first time, first time, yes, and he is just putting it all out there. Yes, yes, he is, and he goes around the entire room. Andy's the only one that was spared, and that's just because she was in the same state as him. Yes, but I did get a little bit tickled at Pacey when when Dawson begins, Pacey kind of pulls her in like as if to just anchor her down, like don't even think about it. Yeah, yeah, uh-huh. Because she was like bouncing almost. Like she, if she could have she. She was there for this. Yes, she was. She was to love every second. Let's go. The moment that the the climate changed in the room is when he turns to Joey. Yes, and he comes up so close to her and is holding her face and it's like caressing her and calling her my Joey. Yes, it's gross. Um, and then he just forcefully kisses her. Yeah, and she pushes him and he falls face first into his driver's license cake. Yeah. And oh, it's so awkward. What led to all of this is that he told her that they are soulmates, that he wants to go back to the way things were, that he wants to be more than friends with her again. And he he's arguing, he's it's it's it's one thing to tell somebody I'm not over you, I will do whatever it takes, even if you're not ready yet. It's one thing to kind of say those things like I'm still here and I still want to be with you, and I'll wait for however long it takes, blah, blah, blah. It's another thing to do what he does. That's like, we're supposed to be together. And if we're not, then I don't know what I'm gonna do. And like, what you said you needed to find yourself, but you ran straight to him and hear what why not me? And she is, I love what she says when they're on the river walk, and she's like, Dawson, do you even remember why we broke up in the first place? It's never been about Jack. Yes, did she get into a new relationship? Yeah, but there was never any uh threat of that being anything, and I think she didn't know. Right, that that was not gonna be the happily ever after for the rest of her life. No, and everybody knew that, yeah. I mean, she makes it perfectly clear that her whole thing was it wasn't anything about it, wasn't Dawson and it wasn't Jack, it was her. It was that she needed to find herself to know that she could be a whole person on her own without him. And she even says that she it wasn't about looking for somebody better than Dawson, it was looking for somebody that just wasn't Dawson, yeah, because it it was somebody else that was not as close to her because she felt like with Dawson she didn't know where she began and where he ended because she says that she feels like he's kind of invented her, yeah. Which I mean, that's a lot to unpack. And I mean, I I made a couple different notes throughout this episode about you know, he's bringing up soulmates and you know, teenage first love is tricky, it's deep, it's it's a lot of things, yeah. And it it's almost like I wondered at times, is he it it it is definitely some former version of first love, yes, but at the same time, it's almost like he's wrestling with falling into familiar patterns or just what it feels like his backup plan or what he's just pictured his life would probably be um with just him and Joey. And a lot of that just comes from the fact that he's uh inexperienced in love and in life, so without knowing anything else, like that's all that that's all he sees for his future because that's all that he knows to see. Does that make sense? Now, right. I mean, I this is asking a lot of a teenage boy, but she has spent 15 years knowing that she loves him and wants to be with him. Yes, and as we've said before, now he sees it, and he cannot give her the the space and the time that she's asking for. No, because at the end, he tells her, she's saying that you know she's still gotta find herself. And I know his whole crash up there looking for Joey. Oh my god. Oh, I where's my Joey? Oh my god. I could have slapped him. Yeah, I could have slapped him in a few different plants, but anyway. Um, he tells her, could you please do it quickly? Mike, you're so selfish. Yeah. You are so selfish, dude. It is. Like she she spent 15. Y'all are 16. You got your whole whole lives ahead of you. But it's now that he's ready, everybody else should just be ready and on board. Well, you know what's funny? And and forgive me if you're a teenager and you're listening, but to think that you know, like 16, like I'm ready right now for big life. Okay, and not just real life, big life. I'm 30 marriage, I'm not ready. Kids and the whole thing, exactly. That's where I'm going to you think you're ready, but honey, the real world is coming and it ain't what you think it's gonna be. Just put your big girl breeches on, yeah, buckle up your shoes, and get ready. Yep. Or in the words of boy meets world, life is hard, get a helmet. Yeah, I mean, I Dawson lives in such a black and white world. Yes. I mean, Pacey even brings up like you you don't live in a movie, it's not you know the happy ending that you might anticipate all the time. But he lives in such a black and white world that it's like, but you but you did love me. I love you. Why can't we be together? There is no he he cannot understand the abstract, which really like that was the whole thing with her art, and that right, that was that whole conversation. He cannot, his brain does not work that way, which in turn his heart does not work that way. Correct. And at the same time, too, I I feel like Joey makes a couple of really strong statements throughout this episode about you know that you know, feeling like we're normal or like we've arrived or that we that we've it it when we get in these moments where we're just circling this whole vicious cycle of of feeling inadequate or like we've not accomplished as much as we need to, or just we're not happy with where we are. Do we ever really feel like we get there? I mean, yes, there's moments in life where we achieve things, but I know that even in those moments, I still fight the feeling of, well, I could have done that better. Basically, you like fighting that feeling of there's still always better that we could achieve or more we could do, or just whatever, you know, it it kind of comes back to this whole like, are you ever gonna feel like you really know who you are? Or like finding yourself that's a moving target. Yeah, I mean, I still feel like yeah, at our age it's a moving target it can be a moving target. That's the beauty though of and this really I mean, this is the journal, the the my book like we it we can change and we can rewrite, so to speak, yes, change our minds, decide something else, find not like change who we are, not that, but like we we are allowed to change our likes and our dislikes over time, also, which can include people, right? And sometimes reinventing ourselves is necessary, yes, yes, it's not fake, it is yeah, it is absolutely necessary sometimes for survival, correct. I mean, there's there's legitimate reasons to need to, um, but at the end of it, I just come back to the thought that what Joey can't fully see yet, or what I feel like Joey can't fully see yet, is that part of the reason that she feels this way is just because they're not supposed to be together. And she can't quite compute that because again, the only thing that they know is each other. Yeah, and that just comes with you haven't had a whole lot of life or love experience yet. And when you're I I think back to when I was in middle school and even high school, I thought that I was going to spend the rest of my life in that town. So, and even though Joey doesn't want to, she does deep down think that she's never getting out of Cape Side. Right. But you when you are confronted with the the the possibility that this person you have loved forever may not be the one you're supposed to be with. She's not fully ready to admit that yet, but I but that is what it is. You're you're right. It's scary of like, but who else then? Right. What else is there? Because when you think you're not you you have no idea what's coming. 16 is so not to sound like, oh, we've lived so many, we're we're so old and wise, but do you know how many lives I have lived in 34 years? Do you know how many lives I've lived in four years? And more lives than a cat. I have lived more lives in the in the how long have I lived here? In the four four four years? Oh my gosh. This summer is four years that I've lived here. I've lived more lives in the four years I've lived here than I did in the 30 years before that in Mississippi. I know. Like it's it's insane. Yes. What can happen. And that's not, I'm not saying things can't open up if you're in the same town you grew up in. That's not what I mean. I mean, you grew up in the Birmingham area and you live here. So I'm not saying that whatsoever. It's a it's a mindset change that happened in me. It could that could happen in me living in the same place I grew up. It could have happened in, you know, another country. Like it doesn't, it does not matter. What can change when you're just open to it? Right. But they have no idea. They they're not ready. Finding a place to be comfortable with not having all the answers. But you know what? When you don't have all the answers, how fun is it to just live and sit? I know, I know. Some of it's not. Some of it's not. For some people who like need a structure in a way of like knowing what's coming. It just depends on the situation, okay? Yeah. I'm I am a control freak. So I like to plan, but you throw me out there and like I'm open to whatever, but then let me make a plan for that. Right. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, oh, you're gonna move to um, you're gonna you're gonna move to Tennessee next year. Cool, cool, cool. Okay, okay. I'm open to that, but now let me make a plan for it. You know, or like let's figure out what this plan is, Laura. You know what I mean? Like, I don't want to just be, I'm not real good when God tells me, hey, go there right now. I haven't had time to prepare and see what the parking situation is. Right, right. You know, I'm one that's looking up the parking decks in the area. No, I get that. Or better than yet, I'm like, what time can I get there so that I can park on the street? Not have to pay to park. Avoid the street. We're see, I don't want to have to pay to park in the parking deck. But it doesn't mods.

SPEAKER_01 46:11

I get it.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

No, I I don't want to park on the street, you get broken into them. Well, that one time, but that that's a whole nother story. We turned that into a fun side note, but sorry. No, I mean it is a lesson to be learned, and it is a lesson even for us that we we're only 34. And while there are days where it's like, oh god, we're 34, yeah. Other days, like when you think about there's still so much left. Do you know what I mean? Like there is so there is no arrival is really what I think about. Like, there is no arrival because if I want to change what I'm doing at 45, I can. If I want to pick up and move at 55, I can. Will it look a little different? Probably, but I can still do that. I'm not also I'm in a different season, so I know like when you have a family, it it does look a little different. You still reserve the right to do that though, if it's what's best for your family. Exactly. I don't even want to harp on this storyline, but Jen and Ty, why in the world is he still in the picture? Because I really thought she's broken up with him for the past three episodes. I guess he just won't take no for an answer, though. No, he is he is reaching the point of like psycho creepy at this point. He is a textbook narcissist, though. Yes, but he's he is it had to be his idea. He's now the one who's breaking up with her, even though for the past three episodes she's been saying all of this to him. I know. Now it's his idea though. It's gotta be his idea before it before it even computes. Um yes, but like his whole I'm trying to find the words for this. When he's trying to talk to her about how like she turns him on and that it might get out of hand, and he's afraid of it getting out of hand. Oh, I mean, all this is just it makes my skin curl. And it's then he goes on to flat shame her. Yes, and here she is, and she says this at the end that like for once she was actually like looking forward to something pure or like that that wouldn't cross those lines. Innocent. Yes, just a kiss, being just a kiss. Now, granted, we also know that she's pushing lines and and trying to almost in the car, yeah, right. See how how far this is not my fault. Like you are on top of him, yeah. Yeah, no, but then he takes it too far and he's like, You are tempting me. Oh my god. Um, I'm sorry. I really think that if yes, she's tempting you, but if she wanted to tempt you, she'd go a lot harder if she wanted to. There's a lot worse that she could do. That she would have slapped him. Oh my gosh. It's like it's like it's that whole conversation of like a hat, but then well, what were you wearing? Yeah, you were asking for it. Oh disgusting. It there's so much that goes into that. I'm not trying to go down that route. No, because it's also that's not a black and white situation either. No, no, no, no. It's not what anyway, no, we're not going there. No, that's that's this is not an an episode of Law and Order SVU. Right. But I mean, his whole his whole comments on that it might get out of here, he wasn't being sweet. No, it was it was like giving serial killer vibes. He's been given that from the beginning. Yes, he has, yes. But it doesn't help. I've watched a couple of serial killer documentaries in the last week, so I'm like, and that that's not really my my vibe anyway, like to watch. I guess that's not my jam, but somehow I've found yourself on that side of Netflix, yes, but anyway, um just him on her porch, sitting there alone in the freezing coal, waiting on her, just to tell her that I don't think we need to be together. And she's like, Are you kidding me? I've already been saying this. That goes without saying, yeah, like this was not necessary.

SPEAKER_01 50:53

Yeah, uh, it just it it's gross.

SPEAKER_00 50:58

Like that's it's beyond stalker, yeah. It's just it's full-blown creep. Like, if we did not know from season one that the the creepy prank phone calls were cliffs, we would think it was this guy that we didn't even know yet. Like he would do something like that. Yeah. I hope, I hope this was it and he's gone. Because I've been thinking that for the past three episodes, honestly. And he keeps popping back in like they're in a full-blown relationship. Well, even when they tried to kiss a couple of times, like there's no chemistry there. And you know, I made the comment The way he talks about the church, he talks like it is a cult. Yes, he does. That's offensive to me. Well, I know there are cults, but you know, like but the way that he talks about it and even this is where he's I have problems with the way that he talks to her about her to her, yeah, you know, that it's we're different types of people. I'm I'm at church on Sunday morning. Yes. And then she finishes his sentence for him and says, and I'm a Saturday night slut. Anyway, it's just it it it's just not gonna work. Okay, it's not working out, it's not gonna work. You just need to hit the road. Like, okay, I'm glad that you are finally on the same page as me now. Bye bye. Go. You do you know um there was one movie? Did you catch it? I don't pay attention to that for some reason. I literally I will try, but it just doesn't it well. Well, this was also the 90s, so it does it is like you it's movies that we you know don't necessarily talk about on a daily basis or rewatch or no. I mean, I caught their comments about Ellen and some other stuff, but but when he's having his crash out on Jack and he's like the the movie is called In and Out, it's from 97, and he's like, he's in, he's out, he's in, he's out. Gotcha. That there's a movie called In and Out, apparently. I have no idea. Anyways, okay. Um, so I'm ready for my rating before we spin a wheel if you are. Yeah. I'm going a six. Okay. I would have given it a five, but because of how funny it was, I bumped it up. Well, I was gonna give it a six, but because of how funny it was, I decided to give it a seven. Is this the first time you've ever been higher than me? Yeah. Well, no, I feel like we've had one other one that I rated higher and you did not. I don't remember. I how funny it was definitely bumped it up. It was but I and I've five is just because it was like funny. Other than the funny aspects of it, it's just like nothing really was that it's like we're re it's it's a repetitive storyline with Jack, and I know like that's not gonna be solved in one episode. I appreciate that part that we don't wrap a bow on it. Right. But it's like okay, we've got the Dawson and Joey again, and uh who you know, who just cares anymore? Jen and the sneeuw boy, and I so it just was well with this one being a seven, I know that I gave the last episode a seven, yeah, but I liked this one better because this one had more jovial qualities than the last one for us and Dawson and everyone else is a little serious. No, I'm not talking about that, but I'm mainly I'm getting at the comedic relief, yeah. So in that regard, yeah, but do I struggled. I said this before we started, I struggle with an MVP moment because it's like there were some funny moments, but the character themselves don't necessarily deserve to be the most valuable, you know? Um, I mean, there's an arguable moment of saying that the MVP could be pacey where he's trying to just clean up damage control in the middle of the jazz bar. Um in a way, it could just be Andy McPhee being funny and letting it all loose. The body glitter. Yeah. Um in a way, it could be, you know, Joey for trying to organize this whole surprise birthday party. Yeah. Bessie's hair. I know. I mean, there were so many things in this episode that, you know, looking back, those were iconic. Yeah. But usually in the past few episodes, things have stood out and been like that is the moment right there for me. And we've had different ones, obviously, but sometimes it's been like a scene, sometimes it's been a character as a whole. But this one it's just like there's some different moments that are that stand out, but not to me. I mean, you definitely you could give an MVP to Dawson for just putting it all out there, but he's gonna regret it. Yeah. He's gonna regret it. I know. Um and of course, we didn't it's really not necessary to talk about the aftermath of the throwing up. Yeah, him and him and Andy in the back. They were so sweaty. I mean dripping sweaty. I was like, my god. Did y'all have food voicing too? I mean it was oh wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:37

Maybe James Vanderbeek's acting was my MVP. Like how he had his That's mainly what I mean. Yeah. Just the whole as a whole.

SPEAKER_00 56:47

Yes. A funny moment. Yes. Really playing into but not overboard. Yeah. This character. Mm-hmm. What I'm anxious for is like how it's almost like the Dawson Leary Apology Tour, like what's gonna happen in the next episode. Of like, is it gonna be one of those things where he just kind of pretends it didn't happen and we just all move on about our business? Or does he apologize specifically to people because he should? But Andy just gets away scot-free because she didn't say anything hurtful, but she wasn't wrong. She was she's having to deal with that on her own though. Yeah, throwing up and sweaty and her body glitter. I know that's what I was about to say, all that body glitter. Oh gosh, Gail's never getting that bathroom clean. No, okay, it's my turn to spin. Are you ready? We have four options. Okay. What will okay? It was almost reviews, but it is kill, keep, rewrite. I think once again. I would kill Ty. Oh, that was a good one. I was gonna say Abby once again, but Ty is a good one. Yeah. For sure. Ty gone. Um and then I would I would keep the whole just unraveling situation that went on throughout this episode. And I would rewrite. I don't know what I would rewrite. I think I would if I've killed Ty out of it. I think I would this episode specifically, I would rewrite the whole thing with Jack and Abby. And just all of that, that conversation. I mean, because that could be rewritten in a different way. If we're killing Ty, that could be rewritten. Yes. To where it still shows her true personality. Very good. Yeah. But yeah, and then keep, I would keep the entire open mic. Yes. Yes. From there to the birthday party. I would keep all of that. The full crash out, yeah. Yes. Cut before he forces his kiss on Joey. That was uncomfortable. Yeah. But yes, okay. There it is. I love it. So that's a wrap on today's episode. If you love hanging out with us, make sure you like and subscribe on YouTube where you can watch this full video and follow us on Spotify so you never miss a rewatch. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok for clips, behind-the-scenes moments, and all the nostalgia your heart can handle. Leave us a comment, rate the show, share the episode with a fellow women because it truly helps more than you know, and we love hearing from you. We'll be back every Tuesday and Thursday with more laughs, more nostalgia, and of course more rewatches. Until then, keep the remote close, the memories closer, and as always, be kind. Rewind and press play again. Bye Roomies. Bye. I overthought that one. I wasn't fully prepared and then I just I hesitate. I really thought there was a is she not going? I overthought that one. I did. I definitely. That's okay. Roll the credits. Press play again. Two roommates, one remote. It's fully DIY. Editing, us. Producing, also us. Recording, yep, still us. Posting it everywhere. Shockingly, us again. Two roommates, one remote, zero team. So please clap accordingly. Thank you very much.