BUY FROM AMAZON: CLICK HERE!
STUDIO: Sony Pictures
MSRP: $119.95
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 948 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentary on the series finale
Scrapbook
Bonus CD
Deleted Scenes
Featurette

The Pitch

You remember when Indiana Jones told Marion to not look at the ghosts coming out of the Ark of the Covenant? I looked at them, people. I saw that crazy old Jewish ghost lady turn into a skeleton. I welcome the face melting.

The Humans

James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson, Kerr Smith

The Nutshell

Joey almost takes over the show in the final season. Dawson’s arc for the season involves him working for some asshole director and dating a hot actress. Pacey, Jen, Jack and the others spend their time chatting with Joey at the bar. She works, they bullshit about nothing. People grow, people go to rehab and there’s a future flash-forward. Then, the show finally dies.

The Lowdown

Joey Potter is such a half-assed character when you think about it. She goes from the girl next door trying to understand her role as a future sex object. While the show was supposed to belong to Dawson and his fascination with her, it is shat into something else. Joey has become the face of everything that didn’t work with Kevin Williamson’s television project. There is no grand plan about idealistic dreamers that find themselves among a band of friends. The entire show is about nothing more than a fucking girl who can’t make up her mind.

Dawson’s Creek takes on this truly fucked dimension when you watch the show from the pilot to the finale. Dawson is such a bit player in his own life that you can’t help but to despise him. He only discovers that he’s alive when his father dies. The desperate attempt to strangle maturity out of the early college experience makes one wonder what’s going on. That’s when Joey enters back into the picture.

From the first season to the last, she’s the ultimate succubus. She fucks up Dawson’s plans to be the successful Spielberg prototype. She drives a wedge between Pacey and Dawson that is never truly healed. Fuck, she even turns on her father and sends him to jail on a charge that she never directly witnessed. Joey Potter is this big raging rag of hate.

While everyone else tries to fight against Joey’s whirlpool of bitch, she never progresses. She becomes this creation of what she wanted but never attained. She’s educated but not a genius. She works in publishing, but she’s just another cog in the machine. If that wasn’t enough, you have to deal with her role in the finale. It’s almost as though Kevin Williamson wanted to drive the point home.

When the show advances five years into the future, we get a finale that is unearned. Jen is dying from something or another, while the gang reunites. There’s a wedding and the gay dude landed a guy. Dawson forces Joey to choose in a moment of unseen testicular fortitude. Joey goes off with Pacey to make his life miserable. Thus, we’re left with an older Dawson back at the start of his television life. Just another sad bastard staring into a creek and hoping for his life to suddenly match his dreams.

In
the
end, this show only succeeded in pissing me off. I could buy the downer ending if there was anything to suggest that it was earned. The series creator Kevin Williamson shows up to try and salvage the dying body of his creative body. Piecing together loose pieces of original theory after four years of shit does no favors. What have you is the bloated body of a pop culture footnote packaged together in a rather nice looking DVD release. I can’t say that I recommend buying it. But, if you have the time…rent it. The show takes on a new perspective once you realize that Joey is the villain of the piece.

The Package

The Complete Series Package actually contains real special features on a bonus disc. There’s a final page inset that includes some key recipes throughout the series. If that wasn’t enough, you get featurettes that take a look back at the show’s six years on the air. Plus, there are deleted scenes and the alternate ending to the original pilot. For the gamers, there’s a trivia game that works like a limp dick in the crumpled hand of Stephen Hawking.

The key inclusion is a bonus CD that contains five songs. If you actually care about what’s on there, it’s some Paula Cole and Shawn Colvin. There are other bands that were shat out of Adult Contemporary during the dying days of American Supremacy in the Western World. I don’t know what the point of the bonus CD was meant to be. Who the hell pops in a piece of physical media that only contains five songs. Am I supposed to wistfully remember the Discman era and forsake my IPOD? Will Steve Jobs allow that to happen?

After seventy plus hours of Dawson’s Creek, I don’t give a damn anymore. Teen melodrama works in cycles and it never ends. Love, lust, anger, regret, reconciliation and cancellation. It never ends. Actors grow older and new shows replace the old stock. Networks rise and fall. But, there’s always the latest fresh face cattle to mope and eye-fuck the audience into ratings gold.

BUY FROM AMAZON: CLICK HERE!
STUDIO: Sony Pictures
MSRP: $119.95
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 986 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Nothing

The Pitch

The Creek gang goes their own ways.

The Humans

James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson and Kerr Smith

The Nutshell

The gang has gone in five directions after High School ended. Pacey is a sailor or something. Dawson has gone to USC Film School to become another Valley douchebag. Jen and Jack are at Boston Bay College doing whatever you do there. Meanwhile, Joey is at Worthington College trying to impress tired college professors with her freshman wit. Cue the Paula Cole music, as the gang learns weekly lessons about life.

The Lowdown

Joey is are introduction into the new year and the new status quo. She’s having a harder time in college. Her new roommate Audrey isn’t helping things. So, what does our favorite brunette want more than anything else in the world? She wants the handsome English professor to fall deeply in love with her. Pacey seems to be long out of the picture.

Dawson’s Creek stumbles into its college years with a thud. The first couple of episodes are so split in their focus that it would scare off any new viewers. There’s a push to make Joey softer than she’s been since the first season, but it comes at a cost. Her roommate Audrey is made into every drunk college girl stereotype under the sun. Plus, you have to deal with Pacey secretly in Boston harbor. Everyone comes back together when Dawson’s dad dies, but it’s a little too late.

Dawson actually gets a moment to shine and reclaim his importance as the titular character. His anger and pain over his father’s death allows him to reconcile with his mom and her infidelity. The therapist subplot is shoe-horned, but it paves a path for Dawson to reunite with Jen. This eventually collapses, but Dawson gets to stay with Jen’s grandmother for free. So does the gay guy Jack, but his main role the season is to cram a fraternity angle into the season.

There’s some silly shit with Joey helping out a mugger that robbed her. If that wasn’t enough, you have to deal with new writers not knowing what to do with Pacey. He stumbles in and out of the restaurant business while taking the time to mack on Audrey. Hell, I haven’t even mentioned Busy Phillips. It’s fucking sad that she had to ride out on this show after Freaks and Geeks collapsed at NBC. That was such a better show. I should’ve been reviewing that.

When the fifth season ends, you know that the end is near. Everyone has been painted into a corner and they’ve got nowhere left to go. Dawson is going to reconcile with Pacey and Joey. Joey has to choose which dude she wants to bone for the rest of her life. Jen has to decide to grow up, while Jack has to keep filling the gay quota.

The Package

The Season 5 package doesn’t come with any special features. Hell, SONY gave up on giving a damn with this crapfest. The later special features on the bonus discs should make up for it, but I’ll throw that into the Season 6 coverage. How are you liking this so far? I bet you’re wondering why I’m not covering a better show. I’m wondering the same thing myself. I’ve got some cool BBC and Adult Swim stuff on deck. Give it a few days, it’ll get better.

BUY FROM AMAZON: CLICK HERE!
STUDIO: Sony Pictures
MSRP: $119.95
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 999 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Select Commentaries
Trivia Game

The Pitch

The gang gets ready to graduate High School.

The Humans

James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson and Kerr Smith

The Nutshell

Dawson realizes that he has officially lost Joey to Pacey. Jen loses her last boyfriend and decides to make Jack her big gay project. Andie realizes that she’s the only one with a brain and skips town. Pacey’s older sister returns to Capeside, while the gang is visited by a new asshole. Andy Griffith shows up for an episode. This leads me to believe that he has run out of that sweet TV Land payola.

The Lowdown

This year starts with some much-needed relationship building. Pacey and Joey grow closer together, as they learn to compliment each other’s imperfections. From there, they begin the slow road to college. Pacey is a little slow on the academic side, so he’ll probably not end up going to the Ivy League. Joey is very bright and has a future that will take her away from Dawson and his damn creek.

Dawson has hit a point in his dream to becoming a filmmaker that has left the young man feeling stuck in a rut. Calling upon an older mentor, the young Dawson learns that he knows nothing about his craft. Dawson also takes the time to put the moves on Pacey’s sister Gretchen. Gretchen gets to fill the role of Dawson’s latest arm candy while Dawson mopes to the latest ska and adult contemporary music of that era. Then, Andie leaves halfway through the year.

Dawson tries to get too serious this year and it is a shark jumping mistake. The collapse of the mentor arc leads Dawson into the whiny bastard arena where he is officially forgotten in lieu of Pacey and Joey’s relationship. Jen and Jack get their moments, but they barely show up in most of the episodes. We do get to see Jen’s father for the first time. But, there’s no character building moments there. It’s a trivial blip that is swept aside for more chances to see Pacey try to fuck Joey.

This was the end of the Capeside adventures for the Creek gang. Something is lost, as the kids forsake all that made them grounded. The mistakes made in trying to make a teen show more serious become very apparent at the half-way marker of the season. No one really develops into adults, but they start making that Al Gore serious face. They talk about outside concepts with failed Honors English vocabulary. Is there any impact? No. There’s just a bunch of vapid talking heads talking about the ennui that is keeping the show going.

At the end of season four, you are left with the promise of college. Can you name how many teen dramas fared well in college? Hell, can you name more than three shows that got that far? By doing this, I know that I’m tempting some Talkbacker to scour IMDB. Have fun with that, guys.

The Package

The
DVD
only
contains select commentaries and a trivia game. You should know the commentary game by now. Polite conversation only appears for two episodes and that’s it. The trivia game is fun for the first play. Hell, I couldn’t get over how long the game lasts. It’s just that after the first hour, the audio clips will start to piss you off.

BUY FROM AMAZON: CLICK HERE!
STUDIO: Sony Pictures
MSRP: $119.95
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 997 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Select episode commentaries
Interactive tour of Capeside

The Pitch

Dawson contemplates drowning Pacey in the Creek. Joey shrugs and watches from the shore.

The Humans

James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson, Kerr Smith

The Nutshell

Joey’s dad totally got busted for selling drugs. Then, Andie got sent to the Insane Asylum. Dawson went to Philly for a film program and then met a total whore named Eve. Pacey got close to Joey’s maidenhead, while Jack moved in with Jen. It’s cool because Jack likes weiner and Jen is a Feminist. All of this before the start of their junior year at Capeside High.

The Lowdown

Dawson and company spent their summers well. Jen and Jack are living together. Hell, what other show has the head cheerleader and a gay football player dominating the High School? Things are thrown for a while when Michael Pitt shows up as a freshman Football player that wants to put the moves on Jen. Dawson and his new lady Eve hit things off, but it quickly delves into forbidden fruit territory. Eve’s slightly older and more willing to bone the shit out of Dawson. This leads to a predictable conclusion.

The third season finds its strength straying away from this and returning back to Pacey, Andie and Joey. Andie is our vessel for approaching the truly scatter-brain third season. The love triangle element comes into play, but Andie realizes where she stands. She’s the odd chick out, as Pacey nuts up and goes in for the boner kill. Joey just stands there and takes it. She gets to moan a bit about her dad’s drug bust. But, that’s all she does for twenty episodes.

Nothing happens for the last couple of episodes. Sure, you get the quick last minute moments that lead to the next season. But, it feels so lame compared to the last two years. Calling something like this lame almost feels like a joke. How can one actively watch a bunch of teens moaning and growing about stupid bullshit. Sure, MTV has made a fortune off of it. What does this all mean for the average CHUD reader?

It means that there are things outside of your safety viewing circle. Melodrama being that weird phantom zone that occupies the hours between The Simpsons and 30 Rock. Girls watch this stuff like how we watch Ninja Warrior and they enjoy it for the same mindless entertainment factor. I just wish that we had the promise of more gross sexuality. The tease of having young Katie Holmes prancing around before us is almost too much. I just want to travel back in time and warn her about Tom Cruise. She can still be saved, I know it.

The third season ends with long-time viewers realizing that the WB won out. Kevin Williamson was long gone, along with most of the better writers. The soap opera staples were firmly established and the guest star carousel was beginning to spin. For all the good that came from Pacey and Joey finally getting together, we had to sacrifice so much quality. Eventually, the show would collapse under its melodramatic weight. But, we’ve still got three more seasons until that promised day.

The Package

The
DVD
only
contains two commentaries and an interactive tour of Capeside. The tour consists of short video clips showing where things were filmed. You can reflect on that for its five minute duration and then move onto the commentaries. The A/V Quality is much the same across the entire series. Decent transfers matched by rather flat Dolby 2.0 tracks.

BUY FROM AMAZON: CLICK HERE!
STUDIO: Sony Pictures
MSRP: $119.95
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 977 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Select Audio Commentaries

The Pitch

Dawson and the gang grow a little older. Hints of blossoming sexuality bloom.

The Humans

James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson, Kerr Smith

The Nutshell

Dawson and Joey totally kissed at the end of last season. To the modern kids, this might not seem like much. You guys have your sexting and colored bracelet sex games. But, there used to be a thing called sexual tension in the 1990s. Dawson wasn’t sure what to make of the hot piece of ass that was Joey. She had been a childhood friend, but now she had grown tits. The world was changing, as the second season began.

The Lowdown

Dawson and Joey freak out over the kiss and they spend a lot of time apart. Pacey has to deal with his nutbag dag treating him like a loser. Jen has to deal with being stuck in the middle of New England, while putting up with the bitch Abby. Abby is played by Monica Keena. You might know Monica Keena and her epic rack from such films as Freddy vs. Jason. She played the blonde chick with huge knockers that wasn’t killed by Sirs Krueger and Voorhees.

Dawson’s Creek also grew into new areas, by featuring gay football star Jack. Thrown together with his perky sister Andie, they bring a new dimension to Capeside. They’ve got a sad bastard back-story that involves a missing dad and a nutbag mother. While Andie loses her cool, she helps to bring out a new side of Pacey. Mainly, he stops being a pussy and starts to grab the world by the sack.

Dawson’s parents also start to fuck around. Dawson gets pissed about this, but nobody seems to give a damn. He also starts working on bigger movie projects. Rachel Leigh Cook shows up as a nude model, but it’s nothing to get excited about. The show aired on the WB, so you won’t get to find out of she is all that. One of the Roswell kids show up to put the moves on The Joker’s woman. That lasts a couple of episodes until they shoehorn in Scott Wolf.

This season
marked a subtle decline, as we lost interest in Dawson. Honestly, the
blonde Spielberg wannabe is the least fascinating member of the cast. We can’t really connect with him, since he doesn’t pine for Joey much. It’s all about the slow build of a starfucker that’s trying to escape Capeside. Pacey, Joey and Jen are all real kids that want to do normal kid shit. The only time that Dawson doesn’t get a weirdly stinted scene is when the show tries to find a way to out Jack.

As the second year concludes, one can see that the supporting cast is coming into their own. You can also stage a drinking game based around Katie Holmes and her three facial expressions. If she gives a lop-sided grin, take a shot. If she shrugs, take a shot. If she sighs and looks at the ceiling, have someone call 911. You will probably have gone into shock. When you recover, insert the first disc for Season Three. 

The Package

The second season only comes with two commentaries for two mid-season episodes. There’s not a whole lot going in those commentaries. Apparently, the cast was nice and the weather didn’t act up during most of the shoot. If given the chance, the episodes’ respective directors would’ve worked on the show again. Friendships were made, as we begin our move into the third season.

BUY FROM AMAZON: CLICK HERE!
STUDIO: Sony Pictures
MSRP: $119.95
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 570 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentaries
Featurette

The Pitch

Teenager wants to be Spielberg. Three buddies show up for misadventures.

The Humans

James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Michelle Williams and Kerr Smith

The Nutshell

Dawson Leary has been best friends with Joey Potter for the longest time. Now, they’re entering High School and feelings are changing. Friendships are made and promises of maidenheads being plucked weigh heavy on the future. Hell, they even take the time to give a gay kid the spotlight. Teen drama progressed so far in the late 1990s. Relive the magic today.

The Lowdown

Series creator Kevin Williamson really had something going on for the first four seasons. Then, Dawson’s Creek feel into the WB trap of melodramatic soap opera bullshit. What I want to reflect on is the show’s debut in the Winter of 1998. So much promise, so much Spielberg adoration and so much virginal promise in the young Katie Holmes. There was just so much that was in the future for these promising characters.

Dawson’s Creek opens with our introduction to Dawson and Joey. Joey’s got a crush on Dawson, but he has no idea what’s going on. Things get more complicated, as new arrival Jen shows up to take care of her grandmother. Joey is suspicious of Jen, but Dawson wants to bone her. The other main character Pacey was busy boning a female teacher.

When
The Breakfast Club homage episode shows up, Williamson finally feels in control. He’s playing against classic teen drama tropes and mixing it with honest emotion. Over the first half of the season, we learn more and more about the four leads. Connecting with characters such as these on an emotional level almost seems silly.

The first season isn’t the best showcase for Dawson’s Creek. But, it sets the pace for what will follow. Everyone who was of age at the time of its debut can’t help but to remember elements of the show. It became part of the cultural landscape. Sure, shows like Glee and Degrassi do the teen drama a tad better. But, celebrate Dawson’s Creek for what it was.

The Package

The
DVDs for the first season contains a look at the casting of the series. Plus, you get to see what lead the show to the WB and away from the major networks. Kevin Williamson and the other writers take the time to explain away the first thirteen episodes. The A/V Quality is pretty clean for a standard definition TV on DVD bow. Hopefully, more special features show up later in the release.