Line #94 Series/DawsonsCreek


1	%%You should check out Administrivia/HowToWriteAnExample before editing.
2	[[quoteright:383:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dawsons-creek-cast-shot-c10038492.jpg]]
3	[[caption-width-right:383:The core cast of Seasons 2-4: from left: Jen, Dawson, Pacey, Joey (sitting), Andie, Jack]]
4	-> ''"I don't want to wait... for our lives to be over!\
5	I want to know, right now, what will it be...\
6	I don't want to wait... for our lives to be over!\
7	Will it be yes or will it be... sorry?"''
8	-->- "'''I Don't Want to Wait'''", written and sung by Music/PaulaCole
9
10	The reigning TeenDrama of the late 90's/early 00's. Revolved around a bunch of teenagers who live in the small fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts.
11
12	The eponymous Dawson Leery (Creator/JamesVanDerBeek) is TheIdealist and TheMovieBuff with a long-standing [[JustFriends platonic]] friendship with TheCynic Josephine "Joey" Potter (Creator/KatieHolmes), the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, whose DisappearedDad and MissingMom have left her and her older sister Bessie (Creator/NinaRepeta) running a restaurant by themselves. When not attending high school, Dawson works in a video-rental store with BookDumb BromanticFoil Pacey Witter (Creator/JoshuaJackson). When the elderly Evelyn Ryan (Creator/MaryBethPeil) ends up hosting her granddaughter, Jen Lindley (Creator/MichelleWilliams), a New York HardDrinkingPartyGirl who ReallyGetsAround and was sent away to break her of her habits, Dawson's life gets thrown for a spin. Add to this the shaky marriage between his parents Mitch (Creator/JohnWesleyShipp) and Gail (Creator/MaryMargaretHumes), and we have all the ingredients for a ComingOfAgeStory. Later additions to the starring cast include TallDarkAndHandsome NaiveNewcomer Jack [=McPhee=] (Creator/KerrSmith), his CuteBookworm sister Andie (Creator/MeredithMonroe), and GenkiGirl Audrey Liddell (Creator/BusyPhilipps).
13
14	Its gimmick was to show teenagers as well-spoken individuals with [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness vocabularies]] that would make [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] dizzy, rather than resort to the usual TV [[TotallyRadical teenspeak]]. Fans of the show praised its respectful portrayal of how teens talk and think. Others were less enthralled by the characters' habit of twisting every minor thing into [[ContemplateOurNavels a soliloquy on life's mysteries]]. It was also accused, especially at the time, of being ''obsessed'' with sex, though it's [[FairForItsDay fairly tame]] today (which may or may not prove aforementioned accusers correct).
15
16	Everybody can agree on one thing, though. No other works of man, past or present, can ever top the [[{{Melodrama}} maudlin madness]] of ''Dawson's Creek''. The show inspired such passionate feelings that it indirectly spawned Website/TelevisionWithoutPity, which was originally named "Dawson's Wrap".
17
18	Famous both for its actors being [[DawsonCasting much older than their on-screen counterparts]] and the infamous Dawson/Joey [[WillTheyOrWontThey will-they-won't-they]] storyline. Also a notable example of the [[FanPreferredCouple fan preferred couple]] getting together in the end.
19
20	Also has the distinction of being the final thing to ever be aired on Creator/TheWB before the launch of Creator/TheCW. The end credits for the pilot, in particular, were literally the last thing to be seen on The WB, not even a promo or The WB's standard CreditsPushback.
21
22	----
23	!!''I don't wanna wait, for these troooopes to be oveeer'':
24	* AbortedArc: The entire first half of Season 3 was disregarded, [[LampshadeHanging getting only a passing mention]] in the finale.
25	* ActorAllusion:
26	** In the Season 1 episode "Detention," they're discussing the movie ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'', and Pacey (played by Joshua Jackson, one of whose earliest roles was as Charlie Conway in ''Film/TheMightyDucks'') disagrees with the others that Emilio Estevez is languishing in TV obscurity.
27	-->'''Pacey''': No way! Emilio Estevez, he was in [[Film/TheMightyDucks those Duck movies]], remember? God, those were classic. So funny!\
28	(Pacey laughs to himself, while the others look at him blankly.)
29	** Creator/HarryShearer, who voices Seymour Skinner ([[ManOfAThousandVoices among others]]) in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', makes a guest appearance as the school principal after Green leaves.
30	** In "The Longest Day," Jen says she watched Film/AllThePresidentsMen and that Henry thought it needed more cute teenage girls. {{Film/Dick}} was about the Watergate scandal with two cute teenage girls, Creator/MichelleWilliams and Creator/KirstenDunst.
31	* AesopAmnesia: At the end of the Season 3 finale, Dawson [[spoiler: gives Joey and Pacey his blessing after angrily keeping them apart for the past few episodes]]. Once Season 4 begins, however, he seems to have forgotten about this moment of forgiveness, as he acts frosty toward Joey and flat-out shuns Pacey for much of the season.
32	* AlphaBitch:
33	** [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]: Abby Morgan acts like a stereotypical Libby... except she isn't popular at all and has no friends whatsoever aside from her on-again, off-again friendship with Jen. Strangely enough she's briefly seen with a GirlPosse in "Be Careful What You Wish For" but later in the same episode Abby herself admits being an outcast and that no one likes her.
34	** A straight example was Nellie Oleson, but even she wasn't as bitchy as the typical example (she explicitly had nothing against Dawson) and disappeared after the first few episodes.
35	* AmbiguouslyGay: Deputy Doug is treated this way.
36	* ArtifactTitle: At one point the gang ends high school and move on to study elsewhere, and the action moves largely to Boston, with very few scenes back in Capeside. The title "Dawson's Creek" was kept anyway.
37	* AscendedExtra:
38	** It's believed that Jack and Andie were not meant to last past the second season originally.
39	** In later seasons, Audrey is introduced in Season 5 and added to the opening credits the following season.
40	* AsHimself: Season 6 features Jack Osbourne (''Series/TheOsbournes'') in three episodes, and ''Radio/{{Loveline}}'' hosts Drew Pinsky and Creator/AdamCarolla in another.
41	* AuthorAvatar: Dawson and Joey's initial friendship was based off the (platonic) relationship Kevin Williamson and a female friend had as children. Their personalities are derived from them in part as well.
42	* BackdoorPilot: three of the last four episodes of Season 3 serve as one for ''Series/YoungAmericans'', with lead character Will Krudski dropping in.
43	* BackForTheFinale: Andie, though the scenes were cut in the original broadcast.
44	* BeautifulAllAlong: Played With, towards Joey. While you would be hard pressed to call Katie Holmes "ugly", here problem lies more in her introverted, abrasive personality. Season 1's episode 'Beauty Contest' expoores this: here, Joey does indeed [[SheCleansUpNicely clean up nicely]], but she also shows herself as it is and her vulnerability, making her much more pleasant and attractive for the rest of the characters.
45	* BelligerentSexualTension: Revealed when the bickering Joey and Pacey attempt to take a ballroom-dancing class together. [[ObliviousToLove Both deny it]]. (Attention is drawn to [[WorkingWithTheEx Dawson and Jen]], who are able to dance together because they trust each other despite their history.)
46	* BetterThanSex: Audrey once says that the one thing she misses the most about having a boyfriend is snuggling, which is, in her view, better than sex.
47	* BettyAndVeronica: Dawson between Joey and Jen is the most straight example.
48	* BigApplesauce: Where Jen hails from.
49	* BigScrewedUpFamily: They're not that big, but the [=McPhee=] family otherwise fit this perfectly.
50	* BookDumb: Pacey.
51	* BottleEpisode: Season 5’s “Appetite for Destruction” takes place entirely inside (and on the front steps of) Grams’ Boston house.
52	* CharacterBlog: One of the first shows to feature character diaries on the show's official site. This allowed the fans to find out what the characters were doing during the Summer breaks. Occasionally the writers would use the diaries to hint at upcoming characters or storylines for the Fall season. During the Fall season, fans could also access e-mail conversations and online chats between the characters.
53	* CharacterTic: When Joey speaks she's usually shaking her head, especially at dramatic moments.
54	* ClosetKey: [[spoiler: Jack for Doug, although he had to, y'know, actually reach ''adulthood'' first]].
55	* ComingOutStory: a MultiPartEpisode VerySpecialEpisode where Jack confronts -- and admits -- his sexuality, after being all-but-forced to admit it publicly by a SadistTeacher.
56	* CoolOldGuy: Mr. Brooks, a crotchety Yacht Club member who befriends Dawson ([[GrumpyOldMan sort of]]) after he steals Brooks' boat.
57	* CoolOldLady : Evelyn "Grams" Ryan.
58	* DatingDoSiDo: Joey dated all three of the main male characters, Dawson dated Jen and Joey twice each (and would have hooked up with Andie per WordOfGod), Pacey dated all four girls that were in the main cast (if his friends-with-benefits deal with Jen counts), and they were trying to hook up Jack and Jen in early Season 2 before he went for Joey.
59	* DeadpanSnarker: Mostly Pacey. Joey has her moments too.
60	** Abby Morgan as well, she's arguably the biggest snarker.
61	* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler: Dawson]]
62	* DidTheyOrDidntThey: The show gets an ''entire episode'' out of this, the second half of a Season 2 two-parter in which all six mains end the first episode in situations that mandate a SexyDiscretionShot. In the following episode, AlphaBitch Abby Morgan and local hunk Chris Wolfe find a [[PassingNotesInClass dropped note]] confirming that sex did, in fact, ensue, and Abby sets out to discover [[DrivingQuestion whodunnit]].
63	* DistantFinale: The finale took place in 2008, five years after the previous episode.
64	* DoggedNiceGuy: Dawson perceives himself to be this.
65	* DumbAndDrummer: Over [[ICantHearYou the noise of a pool bar]], Pacey approaches a blonde and tells her, "I'm drummer for Music/PearlJam." She replies, "You're [[FreudianSlip dumber]] than ''who''?" He slinks away.
66	* EgocentricallyReligious: Barbara Johns.
67	* EngineeredPublicConfession
68	* EnsembleCast: the show focuses on the PowerTrio of Dawson, Pacey and Joey, with an IncitingIncident when HotterAndSexier BrokenBird Jen arrives in town. Dawson, despite being the title character, was never truly ''the'' protagonist, making it a bit easier for the show to shift Joey into the central role when Dawson moves to Los Angeles for college and everyone else stays in Massachusetts.
69	* EnterStageWindow: Joey's primary means of entering Dawson's bedroom was by scaling a ladder which was left leaning against the first-floor roof for that express purpose, and then ducking in through the always-open window. (She was not the only one -- in one episode Dawson enters his room and finds ''Abby'' there, having picked the location to spy.)
70	* FagHag: Jen for Jack.
71	* FamilyOfChoice: Jack is taken in by Jen's grandmother when he needs a place to live, even though she barely knows him. She and Jen treat him like family for the rest of the series.
72	* FalseRapeAccusation: [[spoiler:Andie]] puts one on a RomanticFalseLead as part of her OperationJealousy attempt to get back together with [[spoiler:Pacey]].
73	* FastForwardToReunion: How the series ends.
74	* FellAsleepDriving: Discussed to an almost ridiculous degree in the episode where Dawson's father died. Pacey, in his attempt to make his best friend feel better and alleviate his feelings of guilt, concocts an outlandish scenario about [[TheScapegoat some unknown workaholic man causing the accident that killed his father due to his preexisting tiredness.]] The truth is much simpler, albeit more embarrassing; Mitch died due to [[TooDumbToLive picking up his fallen ice cream while driving.]]
75	* FemmeFatale : Eve, annoyingly so.
76	* FourGirlEnsemble: Season 2 has TheIngenue Andie, snarky tomboy Joey, boy-crazy AlphaBitch Abby, and wise, experienced Jen.
77	* FreudianTrio: The main trio of the show: HotBlooded and impulsive Pacey (Id), SmartGirl Joey (Superego) and Dawson who has aspects of both opposites sides (Ego) had this dynamic in the earlier seasons. More later as the LoveTriangle progresses, wise Dawson became the Superego in constrast with the passionate Pacey (the Id) and Joey became the Ego stucked in the middle as mediator and love interest of both.
78	* FriendsWithBenefits: Pacey and Jen at some point, or at least they tried.
79	* GenkiGirl: Andie, and in later seasons Audrey.
80	* GirlNextDoor: {{Zigzagged}}. Though the BettyAndVeronica dichotomy definitely placed Jen on the wild side and Joey with the Girl Next Door personality, Jen was factually Dawson's next-door neighbor.
81	* GoodBadGirl: Jen.
82	* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: {{Zigzagged}}. [[spoiler:Though Gail is initially determined to terminate her pregnancy in the 4th season on grounds of "We need money to send Dawson to college" and "We're founding our own business" and "I'm in my 40s," and the show makes it clear that she has a right to do this, she and Mitch eventually decide to keep it.]] In the very same episode, we learn that another character has faced the same issue: [[spoiler:Gretchen Witter, Dawson's first crush and LoveInterest for the season. While she had a ConvenientMiscarriage the next week, she still reveals what her intentions were, and Dawson -- and, by implication, the show -- does not judge her for them.]]
83	* GymBunny: Jack, in the later seasons.
84	* {{Herald}}: a character whose role was to issue the CallToAdventure to the main cast and throw off the status quo showed up every year. Season 3's was Eve the stripper; the fourth had Drue Valentine and Gretchen Witter; and in the fifth and sixth seasons there started to be a bunch because every character would have their own.[[note]]In Season 5, Jack had Eric, his closeted fraternity brother; Jen had Charlie; Pacey had Danny the chef and Alex the executive; Dawson had Todd the director and fellow auteur Oliver; Joey had Professor Wilder, Charlie and Audrey.[[/note]] But Season 2's characters were PromotedToOpeningTitles: Andie and, to a much greater extent, Jack. And Season 1's? Jen Lindley.
85	* HeteroNormativeCrusader: Barbara Johns, Capeside High's resident battleaxe.
86	* HiddenDepths: Mr. Brooks, the GrumpyOldMan, gets new respect from Dawson when the latter discovers that the former is actually a retired Hollywood director. He becomes a bit of a {{mentor}} to Dawson for a while.
87	* HollywoodAtheist: Subverted as Jen is a genuinely nice person.
88	* HotterAndSexier: as mentioned above, the show had a reputation for being preoccupied with sex: in addition to the WillTheyOrWontThey between Dawson and Joey, Jen explicitly lost her virginity at 14, Pacey wanted a TeacherStudentRomance, Bessie was pregnant out of wedlock from an interracial relationship, and Dawson's parents were recovering from Gail cheating on Mitch. And that's just the first season! Having said that, the show, for all intents and purposes, {{deconstructed}} these things: Dawson's waffling between Jen and Joey causes him no end of trouble, Jen's use of SexForSolace shows her insecurities, Pacey's relationship with Tamara Jacobs led to completely predictable repercussions, Bessie and Bodie face scorn, and Mr. and Mrs. Leery spend more than a season wrestling with their marriage. Besides, high-schoolers caring about sex is merely TruthInTelevision. The public objection to ''Dawson's Creek'' wasn't so much that it admitted to teen sexuality, but rather that it refused to ''glamorize'' it.
89	* IJustWantToBeNormal: Poor Jack has trouble coming to terms with being gay. Though his various boyfriends make it abundantly clear that he's got it comparatively easy.
90	* INeverSaidItWasPoison: In Season 3, Joey is one of several students to paint murals illustrating important facets of life at Capeside High. When it is unveiled, someone has defaced it by covering it with so much black paint that nobody can tell what it was supposed to be. The culprit's alibi falls apart when he protests that he's never been near "that stupid Chinese mural" -- which draws the attention of both Dawson and the principal, since even ''they'' didn't know what Joey had painted.
91	* InformedAbility: Dawson's directing skills. Although many of the show's plotlines revolve around Dawson's genius directing ability, what the audience primarily sees are rough or rejected projects. Proof of his talent comes from [[OffscreenMomentofAwesome an unseen breakout film]] which lands him an award and a gig as a TV series director.
92	* InformedAttribute: Joey's "It": beginning with the college years, Joey went from merely being seen as very pretty to the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman whom no heterosexual male could resist falling in love with.
93	* IronicEcho: Joey's first breakup speech with Dawson and Gail's explanation of her affair to Mitch.
94	* JerkJock: Averted with Jen's boyfriends Cliff (Season 1) and Henry (Season 3), and with Jack himself when he joined the school football team.
95	* LampshadeHanging:
96	** Early in Season 4, the central six are preoccupied with applying to university. BookDumb Pacey is convinced he won't be admitted anywhere, and concerned that the gang will break up, but Joey counters with the "CaliforniaUniversity" trope and correctly predicting the future of the show:
97	--> "I mean, you know, maybe I'll just go to one of those fictional colleges. You know, like on those lame high school TV shows that go on for way too long, and then just in time to save the franchise, all of sudden it turns out that there's this amazing world-class college just right around the corner where all the principal characters are accepted."
98	** This is done in a subtle and tragic way in the finale. [[spoiler: A dying]] Jen tells Jack that she felt like she never really fit in, encapsulating her own role in the first season:
99	--> "From the moment I stepped out of that cab and onto the creek, I was the instigator. The one who caused problems, rocked the creek and disrupted the delicate emotional balance of Capeside. And I don't want [her daughter] Amy to be that person. I want her to belong. I feel that I never really did."
100	* LastNameBasis: Pacey towards his girlfriends ([=McPhee=] and Potter).
101	* LoveTriangle: Many, naturally—including one of the most famous in teen drama history, between Dawson, Joey, and Pacey.
102	* MasterOfTheMixedMessage: Dawson and Joey (to each other as well as their rebound dates).
103	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: in 'Escape from Witch Island' the gang are subjected to a spectacular and inexplicable light show when leaving the supposedly cursed 'Witch Island'. When reviewing the video footage a pair of people in ancient dress are revealed standing on the dock, probably the tour guides to the island having fun at their expense but perhaps not...?
104	* MissingMom: Jack and Andie's mother made appearances early in the second season, but was later sent to live with relatives due to her mental instability and was seldom mentioned again.
105	** Joey and Bessie's mom died of cancer before the series began. (Coincidence: her name was Lilly Potter, one letter off from [[Franchise/HarryPotter Harry]]'s.)
106	** Jen's mother appears in two episodes, three seasons apart, played by different actresses.
107	* MockMillionaire: In the episode "Kiss", Joey pretends to be wealthy to avoid looking like a small-town girl when she pursues a handsome stranger named Anderson.
108	* MonochromeCasting: Aside from a few minority extras, pretty much the only important black characters were Principal Green, who was the subject of a StoryArc in the third season (that got him PutOnABus), Bessie's boyfriend Bodie, whose appearances are sporadic for budgeting reasons, and Karen, with whom Pacey has a brief fling in Season 5.
109	* MoralLuck: When Joey's school-hallway mural is defaced, Pacey pins the blame on local RichBitch Matt Caulfield primarily because one of the episode's extras suggested it. Nobody has ''any'' evidence aside from the fact Caulfield happens to be a jerk, and Pacey would've come out looking like a KnightTemplar if Caulfield hadn't [[INeverSaidItWasPoison accidentally implicated himself]].
110	* MostWritersAreAdults: On purpose.
111	* MostWritersAreMale: [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Jen in The Longest Day.
112	* MultipleChoicePast: While they're dating, Audrey and Pacey stumble headlong into the "how many people have ''you'' slept with?" minefield. Audrey at first refuses to answer. ("That many?") She then says it's 27 (SurpriseCarCrash). She ''then'' says it's ''57'' (SpitTake). Finally she says it's 5, and admits it was all a SecretTestOfCharacter. Pacey, for whom it's 6, passes the test.
113	* MyGirlIsASlut: Dawson's philandering mom. His father, Mitch, proposes an open marriage as the solution. Well, this ''is'' The WB.
114	* MyGirlIsNotASlut: Dawson had a hard time reconciling his near-angelic view of Jen with what he knew of her past in New York, which ultimately led to their breakup.
115	* NewTransferStudent: ''three'' in the first two seasons alone (Jen at the start of Season 1, Jack and Andie at the start of Season 2). This would probably be less noteworthy if both seasons didn't take place during a single school year.
116	* OddFriendship: Joey and Audrey.
117	* OnceMoreWithClarity: Done in the first 3 quarters of "The Longest Day." The events of the day are shown from Pacey's perspective, then Casey's, then Dawson's. The final act of the episode covers the aftermath.
118	* OutOfFocus:
119	** Jen's role in the series was diminished in the later seasons, with Michelle Williams even going from second to third billing as of Season 2.
120	** A semi-lethal version occurred with Andie during Season 4. She, Jen and Joey worked as a TheThreeFacesOfEve trio (Andie as TheIngenue, Jen HotterAndSexier, and Joey as the pragmatic BrainyBrunette), which helped create balance in earlier seasons. But the theme of Season 4 is "stable, healthy relationships," rendering Andie's optimism unnecessary. Her less-than-popular conduct in prior seasons didn't help either. As a result, she's PutOnABus and comes back in only two more episodes -- the climax of Season 4, and GrandFinale scenes that didn't even make it into the episode -- to give her character the minimum necessary closure.
121	** The show's title -- "Dawson's Creek" -- references the fact that the Leery and Potter houses are on the banks of a small river in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. When the CastHerd moves to Boston for college in Season 5, it became an ArtifactTitle. ''The same thing happens to Dawson:'' the heart of relocated social circle is ''Joey'', and Katie Holmes is the only actor to appear in every episode of the show.
122	* PaintingTheFourthWall: during the series finale, Pacey shows Jen a VHS tape of film Dawson took of them when they were 15. The footage is the Season 1 credits. As a MythologyGag, the footage is dubbed over with Music/AlanisMorissette's "Hand In My Pocket," which was creator Kevin Williamson's original choice for the show's theme song.
123	* ParentalAbandonment : At the beginning of the series, Joey's mother was dead and her father was in prison, leaving [[ParentalSubstitute her sister Bessie]] as her primary caretaker.
124	* PlatonicLifePartners: Jack and Jen.
125	* PlotParallel: The writers loved doing this, specially on Season 3:
126	** For a short time, Joey dates AJ Moller, an University student who, it turns ut, is actually in love with his childhood friend Morgan. This of course parallels Joey and Dawson's situation at the start of the series ─AJ & Morgan even resemble them, with him being a Literature Major (thus being a creator of stories), and her being an art major in France's Sorbonne (just as Joey wishes to be!). It's a double PlotParallel, since it's the situation Joey is with [[spoiler: Pacey]] right at the same time she meets Morgan, with her being tremendously ObliviousToLove towards him. The episode "Cinderella Story" even ends with both set of couples ackonwledging their mutual feelings!
127	** A short time later, on "The Longest Day", Dawson's watching Film/TheLastPictureShow, whose plot is tremendously similar to the situation between [[spoiler: Pacey, Joey]] and him. This is [[LampshadeHanging intended by him]], since he apparently wants her to confess of being dating the other guy.
128	* PopularIsDumb: Chris Wolfe, the resident BigManOnCampus.
129	* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Jack, Andie, Audrey.
130	* PutOnABus:
131	** Andie is written out of the show halfway through Season 4, and only returns for one episode near the end of the season, and in a few (cut) scenes in the SeriesFinale.
132	** Andie and Jack's father is simply never mentioned again after that same episode, due to actor David Dukes' death.
133	** At the end of Season 4, the primary characters graduate from Capeside High School and move to Boston for university, with only Grams coming with them. As a result, three quarters of the parental characters (Bessie Potter, Mitch Leery and Gail Leery) are DemotedToExtra, removed from the opening credits and appearing only when the kids happen to visit home. (Which, in Mitch's case, [[BackForTheDead went pretty badly]].)
134	** Audrey doesn't appear in the finale despite being a major character since Season 5. Her absence is {{Handwave}}d as her having a demanding career singing backup for Music/JohnMayer.
135	* ReallyGetsAround: Jen Lindley. A bit of an InformedAbility, as we only see Jen sleep with a few characters over the course of six seasons; that said, there is her past to consider, much of which remains undocumented.
136	** Audrey is a more straightforward, and shameless, example.
137	* RelationshipUpgrade: The love triangle, square, [[LoveDodecahedron dodecahedron]]... whatever one chooses to call it, persists right up until the series finale. Only then is the matter finally settled: [[spoiler: Joey chooses Pacey over Dawson, citing that Dawson will always be her "soulmate" and best friend, but not her romantic partner. Jack and Doug likewise get together, although their relationship only existed in the finale itself and not the previous seasons]].
138	* RememberTheNewGirl: "Remember the New Guy and Girl?" in this case.
139	** Will Krudski, Pacey's childhood friend, uses some of the final episodes of Season 3 as a BackdoorPilot for ''Series/YoungAmericans''.
140	** Gretchen, Pacey's sister that we've never heard of, shows up in Season 4. While Pacey admits in the first season to having "three menstrually diverse sisters," no names are given, which is curious because Gretchen is Dawson's first crush.
141	* {{Retcon}}: On Season 1, it is stated several times that Dawson's dad, Micth, dreams of opening a seafood restaurant. Forward back to Season 3, and it's ''Gail'' the one who wants to open a restuarant, and some episodes show her and Dawson working on it.
142	* SecretRelationship: Joey and Pacey during "The Longest Day." [[spoiler: Jack and Doug for most of the finale]].
143	* SelfParody: The TimeSkip finale shows Dawson grudgingly at work on an overwrought teen drama entitled (wait for it) ''The Creek'', based on his own life. The credits font ("Created By: Dawson Leery") is the same that the show itself uses.
144	* SecondYearProtagonist: Joey explicitly states in the pilot that she and Dawson are starting high school, and Dawson is classified as a freshman by Mr. Gold, and yet they are also stated to be fifteen and in 10th Grade. Granted, graduation didn't come until the end of Season Four, but that was only because Seasons One and Two covered one school year; Season One's finale states very clearly that it had only been three months since the pilot, and Season Two picks about about 30 seconds from where Season One left off.
145	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: As mentioned in the introduction. the main characters were very articulate for... anyone. This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] often, most clearly in "High Risk Behavior."
146	-->'''Pacey''': What's with all the psycho-babble insight? How many kids do you know that talk like that? (in reference to Dawson's film script)
147	* SimultaneousArcs: "The Longest Day" features four of them as Joey and Pacey discuss their SecretRelationship and figure out how to tell Dawson about it.
148	* ShooOutTheNewGuy: Each season introduced new characters (love interests, old friends, antagonists etc) who would be involved with the main cast, only to disappear and never be seen again by season's end. Notable examples include Nikki Green, Drue Valentine, Gretchen Witter, and Charlie Todd. And, of course, the infamous Eve.
149	** Drue was essentially being setup to return for a another season (as evidenced by the fact that he even told Jen that they were going to the same college after graduation). Unfortunately for Drue, The WB forced Chad Michael Murray onto the show after failing to find a starring project for him (this was right after his "Lone Ranger" pilot failed) which meant Drue was out and Drue-clone Charlie Todd was in.
150	* SlapSlapKiss: Pacey had this dynamic with Andie when they first met. Also, in the long run, Pacey and Joey.
151	* StraightGay: Jack is very specific with his Season 4 LoveInterest that part of Jack's (original) lack of attraction to him is that he is so "out" -- not flamboyant or camp, but confident enough in his sexuality to run the local Gay-Straight Alliance. It also doesn't help that said Love Interest originally pigeon-holed Jack as a LovableJock, and wasn't precisely inaccurate.
152	%% * TakeThat: in one episode, a textbook [[BrattyHalfPint Bratty And]] AnnoyingYoungerSibling keeps asking Pacey to get him some ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' cards. By the end of the episode, Pacey has already told him off. Keep in mind the show was produced by Sony. Yeah, the same company behind the Platform/PlayStation. In another episode, one character was playing - end enjoying - a ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' game. So... UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars, much? %%
153	* TakeThat: A number of them in the finale (written by Kevin Williamson, the show's creator who left after the second season):
154	** Dawson's semi-autobiographical show, The Creek, is used to poke fun at the overwrought, overly verbose melodrama the main show often indulged in.
155	** Several plotlines and characters from the later seasons are mocked, including Dawson's rejection of Joey at the start of the third season and Eve. Audrey, the only regular character that Williamson didn't create, is also absent from the finale outside of a passing mention [[spoiler: despite the fact that a good friend of hers is ''dying'']].
156	** A pretty unsubtle one at Kerr Smith, who never really hid how uncomfortable he was with playing a gay character - Dawson's secretary reminds him that he still needs to tell one of his actors that his character is going to come out, and warns that he's going to hit the roof.
157	** The last regular episode before the finale gets in on the act. Not only is there ''another'' dig at Eve, but Jen's mother's response to Jack reminding her they met at a Thanksgiving Dinner once is that no-one wants to remember that day. (The episode was not well-liked by the producers.)
158	* TeacherStudentRomance: Pacey and his English teacher Ms. Jacobs. Joey and Jack also attempted this with their college professors, though neither went any further.
159	* TheirFirstTime: Joey losing her virginity to Pacey was such a beautiful scene that it caused girls everywhere to get wildly unrealistic expectations.
160	** Although the next episode, "Four Stories," reveals that it wasn't ''entirely'' perfect--it's implied that Joey didn't enjoy herself as much as she might have--but she's still glad it happened and eager to do it again.
161	** Dawson has his own first time with Jen a season later. Neither of them seems entirely repulsed by the experience.
162	** Dawson and Joey's first time ''together'' comes at the beginning of the last season. It's also their ''only'' time together (give or take the strong possibility of seconds the next morning): Things self-destruct pretty soon afterwards.
163	* TonightSomeoneDies: used for the series finale. In fairness, it was only the fourth character killed off over the course of six seasons.
164	* TooDumbToLive: [[spoiler: Mitch, who takes his eyes off the road for a good 5 seconds, while driving at night, approaching what is later revealed to be a relatively sharp bend. Why does he do this? To pick up his dropped ice-cream. His death is blamed on the fact that the driver of the other car was asleep at the wheel, but honestly, he kinda had it coming.]]
165	** [[spoiler: Abby Morgan, who decides to climb to the top of a tower overlooking the harbour while paralytically drunk on champagne. Guess what happens next.]]
166	* TomboyishName: Josephine "Joey" Potter
167	* TheUnfairSex: Averted--Gail was having an extra-marital affair in the first season, but was not especially sympathetic, and the excuse she told Joey when she was discovered was treated as just that.
168	* TheUnfavourite: Pacey, to his family. He's BookDumb and not particularly competent at anything. This very much becomes a plot point in later seasons, as Pacey confronts his own limitations and begins to resent the well-meaning but ultimately harmful way his friends (and especially Joey) accept his failures, instead of [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre encouraging him to grow past them]].
169	* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: [[spoiler: Dawson himself]]
170	* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: It's sometimes easy to forget that most of the first season had Joey pining over Dawson, since for much of the rest of the series it's the other way around. (The most prominent switch back is in mid-Season 5, when Dawson is back dating Jen and a whole episode is taken up with Joey finding out and getting upset.)
171	* UptownGirl: This is how Pacey views Joey, though it's mostly in his head. Its also ironic considering that as the son of the chief of police, Pacey is significantly more 'uptown' than Joey whose comes from a broken home with significant money troubles.
172	* WaxingLyrical:
173	** In the Season 3 premiere, Jen tries out for the cheerleading squad, and we get an establishing shot of a fellow auditionee chanting, "I don't want to wait for this cheer to be over!" (That's as far as she gets before she's disqualified.)
174	** In the finale, a character in Dawson's show-within-a-show says to her love interest "I don't wanna wait for our lives to be over! I want to know right now, what will it be?"
175	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
176	** Andrea [=McPhee=], mother to Andie and Jack, is introduced in the second season as a StepfordSmiler undergoing something of a psychotic break [[spoiler:due to her eldest son Tim's death]]. She's packaged off to a mental institution and never heard from again.
177	** Joseph [=McPhee=], father to Andie and Jack, is simply never mentioned again after the episode when Andie herself is PutOnABus. The {{Doylist}} motivation was the untimely death of David Dukes, who played him. That said, Andie's departure, and Mr. [=McPhee's=] acceptance of his son's homosexuality, meant that the character's existing arcs had been resolved, allowing the show to pretend he is just carrying on BehindTheBlack with no {{Watsonian}} need to appear in person. He is last mentioned in the Season 6 Christmas episode, vacationing in Europe with his children, happily outliving his actor.
178	** Late in Season 4, Dawson and Gretchen go on a road trip that is derailed when Dawson's Jeep develops a flat tire. It's a PlotPoint that Dawson doesn't have any real idea of how to fix it, and the episode ends with them still stranded. By the next episode, they're back in Capeside, and the car is driveable again.
179	** Season 6 drops a DramaBomb near the end with the news that someone has a medical condition: specifically, [[spoiler:Grams has breast cancer]]. The GrandFinale, which takes place after a TimeSkip of five years, does not have that character mention anything about it whatsoever.
180	* WillTheyOrWontThey: Again, Dawson/Joey and later Pacey/Joey. [[spoiler:Both did, though Joey ended up with Pacey for good in the finale]].
181	* WomanScorned: Jen does this after being cheated on by [[spoiler:Charlie in Season 5]]. For extra style points, she ''joins forces'' with the other woman and the two stage a sting operation.

Context Series / DawsonsCreek