Season 2, Episode 4
Date of airing:
 October 28, 1998 (WB)
Nielsen ratings information: 5.96 million viewers, 4.4/7 in Households, 2.2/6 with Adults 18-49

Sometimes I'm looking a little too closely at the Nielsen ratings of various shows, and it's quite noticeable that DAWSON'S CREEK lost almost two million viewers in a week, between the previous episode and this one. One could say that it's the usual drop in viewership for any show after the premiere hype has ebbed down, but in the case of DAWSON'S CREEK, the reason for the viewership disappearance lies with FOX and the return of its soap opera drama BEVERLY HILLS, 90210, for the first head-to-head between these two shows in the 1998 television landscape. 90210 won with the majority of the audience, DAWSON'S CREEK won with teens. Only teens weren't the desired audience the WB wanted to tune to their network. Sometimes, it's just another young adult TV drama that takes the viewers away from a young adult TV drama. Anyway, so much for quick Nielsen history.

Because Andie likes Pacey! I must repeat, Andie likes Pacey! We are back in kindergarten, because it's what Dawson and I were thinking when Andie showed up at his place to enquire about Pacey's mind, asking some important questions about her current high school crush who is a self-obsessed narcissist sometimes. And while I was thinking that the return of Tamara Jacobs would be the instigator of a nice little high school romance between Pacey and Andie after the previous episode's ending, it turned out the writers weren't particularly interested in that story. In fact, Tamara kind of served as a stepping stone in Pacey's realization that somebody (his age) likes him, although nothing would have changed if Pacey had known half an episode earlier, because Tamara would have still been standing in front of Pacey and made a face like she just intentionally stumbled upon her greatest ex-lover. Well, at least Pacey went through something that can be considered a teen-life crisis in this episode, as he was dealing with the love he had for one woman, while the next girl was already lined up to take and then break his little heart.

Pacey is standing between the past and the present, between a woman and a girl, between sexual experience and awkwardness.

In hindsight, Tamara's appearance was sort of for nothing. Pacey stopped in his tracks for a bit and dealt with his past emotions, but was that necessary for his character arc? It didn't change at all the way his relationship with Andie, because he still would have had a chat with Dawson about Andie, and he still would have ended up with her at the cafe. What Pacey eventually went through during this hour is an episodic story arc that will most likely be forgotten as soon as the next episode begins and Pacey and Andie are officially flirting and trying to become a couple. And it didn't change the story of Tamara either, who came back to town, was a plot device for a few minutes, made out with a high school student again, and left, leaving Pacey to where he was when she came back to town to make business deals. Maybe things would have been more interesting if Tamara and Pacey had sex right there on the spot, to be discovered by the buyer of the place (which would have been Mitch)? After all, Pacey always thought that his relationship with Tamara only existed on the level it did because of the sex, so why not going the naughty distance with her again?

Meanwhile, I'm getting a tad bit annoyed about the Dawson/Joey relationship. The writers tried their hardest to make this romance the most irritating one, just so the viewers will sigh a breath of relief as soon as the inevitable breakup comes, and Dawson can get back together with Jen, and Joey can start thinking about if Jack might be her next boyfriend, since he was more considerate about her art project than Dawson ever could have been. The thing is just, I have no idea if the writers intended to make this relationship as bothersome as it is right now. Since they got together, they are always fighting over something, whether it be about Dawson reading her diary (which could not be a greater "get dumped" reason for any teenager) or Dawson being a prick about her interest in art which he can't share for narcissistic reasons. Plus, Joey gets mad repeatedly for Jen still being in Dawson's life, despite the fact that Jen rather wants to spend time with Abby these days. Joey and Dawson truly are teenagers stuck in the minds and bodies of characters trapped in a soap opera, and it's making me dizzy. Four episodes into this relationship, and there has always been a point of conflict in each episode. While that is the proper thing to do for a drama series, it's just going on my nerves at this stage. As I said way back, I have no idea what Joey sees in Dawson, and I see myself vindicated after the experience of seeing him as her boyfriend for four hours.

The man who could be Abby's father is hitting on grieving and heartbroken Jen.

Then there was the other story that slightly annoyed me with the horribleness that is Abigail Morgan. She was kind of a bitch in this episode, and not realizing what mistakes she had done, let alone being a real friend to Jen, makes her anything but an interesting character at this stage of the show. Not to mention Jen, who is currently only hanging out with Abby and probably still doesn't even know how she is supposed to feel right now after the loss of her grandfather (I doubt the grief is what is fueling her actions right now). Did the writers know at this point what Jen's character arc was? Yes, I still believe that Abby is a bad influence on her and she is whom Jen will stick with to find out what kind of character she really is, but what to do about it in the meantime?

Besides that, seeing Abby unsuccessfully throw herself at an older guy was cringeworthy as hell. This girl must be having some other issues to deal with to even think about going for an older guy she doesn't even know, and leading Jen down that path as well can only spell trouble, especially considering Jen's New York backstory? Unfortunately, that doesn't mean this is making Abby an intriguing character. She may be less annoying than Dawson right now, but she still grinds my teeth.

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