Re: When DC went downhill

Sharpe Fan wrote:

>>>I hated Dawson mainly because he was such a horrible friend. 

[snip]

>>On the other hand, couldn't you just argue that this was Dawson's
>>better nature coming out?  Maybe he was growing up? 
> 
> There was never any indication before season four that he had a better
> nature and very little evidence in later seasons either.

I see your point but I guess I don't see him in a quite so black and 
white way.  In other words, I can see his flaws but I don't hate the 
character.  I'm willing to allow for some character development. 
Anyway, he wasn't the only villain.  I think the way Joey treated him 
was pretty awful.  It probably doesn't need repeating but the way she 
dumped him to "find herself" (note to writers: identity crises are for 
middle-aged people, not 15-year-olds) then dumped him again out of what 
was really misdirected anger at her father for his crimes were not 
examples of stellar behavior.  I think she really just took it for 
granted that she could treat him any way she wanted and he'd be there 
for her in the end which, in fact, was true.  And yet, somehow, no 
matter how she behaved she ended up looking like the victim, or wanting 
to.  So as far as D-J go, the two of them have plenty to hold against 
each other.  As for Dawson and other characters, I couldn't be bothered 
tonight trying to analyze those relation****ps.

>>>I disagree that KW intended a D/J ending.  [snip]
>>
>>I'm pretty sure I heard in the DVD commentary that indeed it was a D-J
>>finale first but then he changed it.  I will check this again.  [snip]

Okay, I found one reference in the commentary over the reunion scene at 
the Ice House.  Paul Stupin says to Kevin Williamson that when KW was 
writing the first hour the plan was to have Dawson and Joey end up 
together and that part of the reason for bringing back Meredith Monroe 
was to serve as a "consolation prize" for Pacey who he felt needed some 
kind of romantic fulfillment.  KW says that ultimately he couldn't live 
with that kind of second best arrangement.  Interestingly, it was 
apparently of no concern that Dawson be shown getting any kind of 
emotional fulfillment.  Gail gets remarried, Jack gets Doug, Pacey gets 
Joey, and Dawson gets a meeting with Spielberg.  Doesn't quite measure 
up.  Now, of course, if you hate Dawson then nothing short a sentence to 
serve out his days as the sole inmate of a penal colony is appropriate. 
;-)

> They really had written themselves into a bind.  Without a lot of
> intervening writing - at least a half dozen episodes - it was hard to
match
> up Joey with either of them.

Agreed.  That's why the five-year interval was a bad choice from a 
technical standpoint so long as the finale had to stand alone 
chronologically.  That is, if they had wanted to resolve everything 
after five years then perhaps a better, if unorthodox, choice would have 
been to finish the college ****tion of S6 several episodes back and then 
finish the show with a series of episodes set in the future so that 
there could be some coherent explanation for Joey's ending up with 
either of them.  As things stood, I guess we were supposed to think that 
in the five years they hadn't seen each other at all (it felt that way 
to me) and thus there was no reason for the issue to come up.  Hence my 
feeling that the episode was rushed, not in terms of pacing alone but 
also in overall quality.


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