Dawson's Creek
WB, Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. EST
Okay, I admit it: I was sucked in by the commercials for this soap opera focusing on teenagers who live near water. A pair of best friends who are growing up and possibly apart; a side character who's having an affair with his teacher; a pretty new blonde girl in town who starts fights at school dances. It ain't "My So-Called Life," but it could be a contender. I could feel myself becoming riveted to the idea of this show.
THEN I got indignant that I was being manipulated by a good song ("I Don't Want to Wait" by Paula Cole was being played ad nauseum during the commercials for this thing) and decided I was way too old to get wrapped up in the lives of fictional 15 year-olds. Hmph.
But then the pilot episode, which I had purposefully ignored, was repeated. On a Monday night. I was weak. I was tired. I didn't want to watch that wispy "Ally McBeal." So I shamelessly watched the entire episode of "Dawson's Creek" while painting my toenails. I even cried at the end. Oh the humanity.
This show's soundtrack KICKS. At the end of the first episode (the part that made me cry), Joey (Dawson's best friend and a girl, FYI) is convinced that they can't talk about *everything* anymore and to prove her point, asks him a really personal question, which he doesn't answer. He looks at her, says "Goodbye," and she leaves. Then the song comes on. That song from "A Walk in the Clouds" with Keanu Reeves -- I'm pretty sure it's called "I'll Stand By You" by the Pretenders. It's killer.
Joey starts to cry. And me, sitting on my couch with red toenails, I start to cry as well. She's running away from the house when Dawson calls to her. "Usually in the morning!" he answers, "With Katie Couric!" The song reaches a crescendo as she bursts out laughing. Man. What a great scene. Television is so worth it sometimes.
Now, that's the good part about "Dawson's Creek." Along with the scandalous sub-plot of young boy Pacey getting a crush on his teacher, who appears to be returning the emotion. In the third episode it looks like he gets lucky -- ooo la la! Morals, schmorals -- this is one juicy soap! Sure, it's blatantly ripped off from "Summer of '42" and "The Graduate," but it works. Yum yum.
Oh, but on to what's stupid about the show, which is a lot: For one thing, none of these kids act like they're fifteen, really. And they have to keep reminding you throughout the show, like a hundred times, that they're REALLY fifteen. "You know, Ms. Teacher, I may only be fifteen..." Or later in the episode, "Dawson, we're fifteen now..." It gets ridiculous. Maybe they're not counting on people watching an entire episode, so they have to keep everyone posted as to what age group they're watching.
There's also lots of stupid dialogue and teenage angst that gets grating after a while. As television is wont to do, every character is a cliche, and almost every situation is trite. In both of the first two episodes, pretty much the same thing happens: Dawson ignores Joey while she pines for him and he pines for the new girl; Pacey meets Teacher on the dock and they end up kissing after she tells him how so uninterested she is in him and he insists that he's a very wise FIFTEEN; and the families of these children continue to be strangely bizarre and screwed up. Just to make things more interesting.
And yet, here I am, dedicating paragraphs to this show. So there must be something to it after all.
Or maybe it's just the awesome soundtrack.