Monday, February 28, 2022

RW468 - Dawson's Creek S05E05-06 - Disillusion High


In this weeks episode of The Dawson's Creek Rewatch, Cory and Tom are catching you out but not stressing about it as they discuss season 5 episodes 5 & 6, "Use Your Disillusion" and "High Anxiety."

Use You Disillusion:

Written by: Rina Mimoun

Directed by: Perry Lang

Original airdate: November 7, 2001


Synopsis: 

As Dawson takes care of various chores around the house, Gail assures him that she has things under control, emotional wise and otherwise, and tells him to go and see Joey and his friends.


Joey talks with Audrey, explaining she has an itinerary ready for when Dawson comes to visit because she wants to be prepared for their conversations, worried that she will mess up any future she might have with him. 


Professor Wilder invites Joey to be in his team that is set to start cataloging the lost works of Rose Lazare and offers her to join the whole team for a celebratory party at his house.


Danny, teaching Pacey a special dish, makes a comment about Pacey’s boat and asks to borrow it for an evening with his wife to which Pacey agrees, later telling Jen that he thinks Danny could very well be his mentor in life, given how much he reminds him of himself.


At the frat house, Jack is playing pool with his fellow rushes and they try to figure out what some of the tasks are that they have to do for initiation. Tobey shows up unexpectedly, with Jack very happy at first but then conflicted as he realizes he has a lot of hazing activities to do this week. 


Dawson arrives at Joey’s and things start off a bit awkward as she gets nervous and hands him a book dealing with the death of a parent before they decide to watch some movies that she rented. Unfortunately as they watch a comedy, a car crash happens in the one scene causing Joey to get flustered and to quickly turn it off. Dawson suggests that maybe they go out, leaving Joey to mention that Wilder had invited her to his place for a party with the new team she is a part of. 


Meanwhile, Pacey walks with Jen to go see the play she needs to attend for her class, and on the way see Charlie in a restaurant with a girl, holding her hand. It comes as a shock to Jen as Charlie had said he was working and wasn’t available to go to the play, Pacey calms her down enough to go to the play but once there, she can’t contain herself and they head back to the restaurant, witnessing the girl feeding Charlie. She rushes in and pours a drink and whip cream over him before Charlie can explain that his shift got moved at the radio station and that the girl is his sister, here to show off her new engagement ring. Jen apologizes, and Charlie tells her that she needs to learn how to trust him.


Meanwhile, Tobey returns to Grams after Jack doesn’t show up for their date and Jen tries to explain that Jack has changed since joining the frat but Tobey tries to excuse Jack’s actions away, remaining hopeful. Even after the two eventually meet and have dinner, things are stilted as they bicker with each other before Jack receives a phone call and is called away for more initiation rites. When Jack returns it’s much later than he had expected and he and Tobey have an argument about priorities, with Tobey explaining that he is always making Jack a priority and always thinking about him while Jack explains that he feels for the first time ever that he can be “just Jack” and not “Andie’s brother Jack”, or “Joey’s boyfriend Jack”, or “gay football player Jack”. 


As Joey and Dawson enter Wilder’s home, Dawson excuses himself to the kitchen and starts having a panic attack and quickly tells Joey they have to leave. He reveals that he’s been having moments like this of a loss of control and can’t explain it. Together they decide to go back to the dorms. 


The next morning at the restaurant, Pacey begins prepping while they wait for Danny to show up. Danny’s wife shows up with his wallet which he left at home and comments that she has had a bad cold all last night. When Danny comes in later, he thanks Pacey for the use of his boat and that his wife loved it, leaving Pacey to realize that his boss may not be the man he thought he was.


Tobey prepares to head home with Jen bidding him a goodbye, lamenting that Jack isn’t there. Later when Jack does get home, fully dressed in full frat suit regalia, she expresses disappointment at how he broke Tobey’s heart. Jack however is nonplussed, explaining he wants to meet new people and have new experiences, reasoning that they’re all growing up and apart now, suggesting he feels the same way not just about Tobey but Jen as well.


As Dawson starts to head out, he and Joey say their goodbyes, with Dawson telling her that he does feel better as he leaves, promising to call her soon, but also leaving behind the book she had gotten him, perhaps accidentally but Joey is not sure. As an introspective Dawson drives home, Audrey reads the inscription Joey made in the book that was left behind, a note to let Dawson know that she loves him and will be there for him always. 

Dawson's Trivia:

Brady was played by Bourke Floyd, who had a long run of small bit parts and uncredited parts up until around the 2000’s where he became a supporting actor in several movies, such as Beast of Burden (a series of abductions that mysteriously stopped when an FBI agent shows up to investigate, but still haunt his memory 10 years later because the case went cold and was never solved), False Face (man’s gambling debt gets him mixed up with a shady gang who lends him money with simple rules to follow. Unfortunately the rules get broken and his life is turned upside down), Peach Cobbler (after being quarantined for three months at home four couples that have been friends since childhood embark on a resort vacation together), and Faded Memories (Army vet Frank Mason has dementia and his son signs him up for a clinical trial of the military's latest drug for mental acuity in combat. But, no one can fathom the drug's side effect--turning people into homicidal maniacs.) He was a lead in Sour (a down on his luck detective moves into what appears to be a haunted house with his niece but their creepy landlord displays abusive behavior that might prove the bad things people say about him are true), Victoria’s Secret (no description but looks to be a horror series of some sort, woman standing against a wall, back to the viewer, blood running down the wall), Beans (a TV movie with no description), and Placebo (Shane Canning, a lost twenty-something, struggles with the effects of alcohol on his family and friends, ultimately leading to a discovery that their alcohol related behaviors are not what they seem).


Melissa Claire Egan played Ilyse Todd. She starred in a Hallmark movie called Holiday for Heroes, and was a supporting actress in a few other movies. Her biggest claim to fame is being a soap opera actress, with 976 episodes of The Young and the Restless and 715 episodes of All My Children. She will return as a waitress in a later episode. 


Joey gives Dawson a copy of “How To Deal With Your Parents Death” by R.E. Waldrop. Richard Waldrop worked as a prop master on Dawson’s Creek.

High Anxiety:

Written by: Allison Robinson & Joshua Krist

Directed by: Jason Moore

Original airdate: November 14, 2001


Synopsis: 

Dawson gets advice from his doctor to see a specialist in Boston to help him with his anxiety attacks, and makes plans to get in touch with Joey when he arrives. However when he gets to the doctor’s office, he decides to not go through with the appointment and takes off to find Jen at Grams house. The two talk for a few minutes before Jack shows up with Jen giving him the cold shoulder and leaving. Jack invites Dawson to go with him to the frat house to which Dawson happily accepts.


Elsewhere in Boston, Audrey enlists Joey into helping her clean the dorm to prepare for her mothers arrival. Later when Joey returns to the dorm, she sees Audrey being weighed by her mother, Kay, to see if she gained any weight. Kay fawns over Joey and comments on her beauty and figure, making Audrey feel bad. Kay invites Joey to join them for dinner and while Joey starts to decline due to Dawson coming into town, Audrey convinces her to go so she won’t have to be alone with her mother.


Elsewhere Jen commiserates with Pacey about her situation with Charlie and Pacey tells her she has two options, to get angry or to get even. Jen concocts a plan to go to Charlie’s unexpectedly and barges into the room, going so far as to offer to get naked with him. Charlie declines and Jen starts to leave but says she just wants to get her sweater she left there last time, when all of a sudden another girl comes out of the other room. Both girls are shocked and start to question what is going on, and Charlie starts to explain that he met both of them on the same night and likes them both, and since everyone likes each other here, they should just all like each other together. Jen and the other girl, Nora, decide to take him up on his offer, suggesting he start off by getting naked first. Charlie protests about beginning first but his other brain takes over and gives in. The two girls tell him to close his eyes and they will undress, but instead they slowly push him out of the dorm room and then lock him out in the hallway, start naked. Outside the dorm room, Nora and Jen reveal they both took some of Charlie’s favorite things (cd’s, shirts, etc) and they toss them in the trash, promising to hang out soon.


Meanwhile Dawson is going all-in on the campus frat party lifestyle and gets himself properly wasted as Joey hangs out at dinner with Audrey and Kay. Throughout the dinner Kay keeps cutting down her daughter until Joey decides to stop it and stands up for her friend, pointing out Audrey’s best qualities and calling Kay out on being jealous of not being young anymore. Together, Joey takes Audrey out of the restaurant and they head to a party being held at Pacey’s boat.


While there, Jack and his brothers show up with Dawson in tow, with Joey asking why Dawson didn’t call like he said he would when he got there. Dawson apologizes and in his drunken stupor says he will call right now and leave a message, which he does, but while doing so, he inadvertently says some things about how if she hadn’t called him and left a drunken message a few weeks ago, he probably would still be in LA and his father wouldn’t have died. As Joey stands there shocked, Dawson, unaware, returns to partying. 


The next morning, Pacey wakes Dawson up with a hangover cure and the news that he definitely did say some regrettable things to Joey last night but that Joey is very likely to forgive him before he forgives himself. 


Kay returns to see Audrey before she leaves and the two talk but Kay falls short of an apology which Audrey calls her out on. Eventually Kay does say she’s sorry and the two leave with a better understanding of each other. Back inside the room, Audrey thanks Joey for defending her honor.


At the restaurant, Pacey talks with Karen who he notices is wearing a necklace that he returned to Danny who confirmed it belonged to his wife. Pacey asks Karen about it and she tells him it’s very special to her, coming from her grandmother, further confirming that not only is Danny cheating on his wife but that he’s cheating on her with Karen.


Dawson says goodbye to Joey, apologizing for his behavior, and how he actually came here to see a shrink but he flaked. He explains that when he decided to drop out, all he could do was daydream about being with Joey and kissing her but ever since his dad died, he hasn’t felt that way, and is worried that he will never feel that way again. Joey promises to keep dreaming for the both of them until he finds his way back to that feeling.

Dawson's Trivia:

The duo of writers on this episode don’t really have a lot of credits, and this is the only episode of Dawson’s either are credited on.

Alisson Robinson has 6 acting credits from 1987-1995, the recognisable things being La Bamba with Lou Diamond Phillips where she played Girl at Party, a Golden Girls episode where she was Actress, and Billy Madison where she played Newswoman. Before writing Dawson's, she wrote 2 episodes of Time of Your Life which starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jennifer Garner, and afterwards she wrote the script for the movie The Prince & Me 2: The Royal Wedding.

Joshua Krist came from the production staff of the series Action starring Jay Mohr, before writing an episode of My Wife and Kids which starred Damon Wayans. After writing this episode of Dawson’s, he was a creative consultant on 2 episodes of the animated series Drawn Together with Adam Corolla (the other guy from The Man Show who isn’t Jimmy Kimmel), and 3 episodes of Bollywood Hero, where Chris Kattan (as himself) goes to India to try and break into Bollywood. The last thing he did was in 2017, where he was a story editor on 10 episodes of the animated series Legends of Chamberlain Heights, about 3 high school basketball benchwarmers who are legends in their own minds.

Andrea C. Pearson played Nora. She’s made various guest appearances in shows, the most notable ones being 7 episodes of 7th Heaven, 4 episodes of Las Vegas, and 59 episodes of General Hospital.

Brenda Strong played Kay. She was the slutty nurse in Spaceballs. She also played Sue Ellen in a handful of Seinfeld episodes (she was the girl who wore a bra as an outfit). She’s had a huge amount of top roles though, appearing most recently as Lillian Luther in the CW’s Supergirl. Before that she was in 13 Reasons Why, Fear the Walking Dead, Blood Relatives, The Dallas Reboot, all of Desperate Housewives as “the voice from beyond the grave”, Everwood, The Help series, 7th Heaven, Sports Night (with Sliders star Sabrina Lloyd), and Party of Five, among many others. She even had four episodes playing Jones in Twin Peaks.

Katie’s comment on Jack: I HATE JACk GRRR GRRR BARK BARK 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡 GRRRRRR 😠 😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤

Essential Playlist:


Classic Creek Critiques:

David/Amicus22 says: Jack was way wrong in the way he dumped Tobey.


Brandonsamburu replies: he was also way rude to jen...ive never been more pissed at him


Dawn says: Yeah. I could take the Tobey crap, but Jen? I wanted to slap him.


marci says: doesn't she have the most beautiful sad eyes?


Dawn responds: Yes she does. It just makes me want to kick Jack *and* that cheatin' ass Charlie in the nuts.


marci responds: charlie kind of reminds me of leo decraprio when he played the [mentally handicapped] kid in gilbert grape. swift kick to the nuts. that's what jack needs. although i think he's going to regret it when those frat boys stomp a mud hole on his ass and no wone is around to be his friend anymore, not even grams


Gigi5423 says: oh my god...Arnie Grape, I had never thought of that but now that you mentoin it...


*


David/Amicus22 asks: Where Were Dawson's Manners? He ought to have politely excused himself from Joey's prof's get-together and told her to stay.


Wrenn...@hotmail.com says [edited]: I guess I missed that portion avoiding the interactions, but I'm thoroughly bored with all the grieving and Joey's snivelling inconsistencies anyway. I think their relationship will get about as far as the series will continue. They're already introducing new characters in what appears to me like an attempt to recapture a portion of the discerning audience that have already abandoned it for the reasons I just stated.


BRUSTROM replies: He's still recovering from his father's death and is still in shock. I know after my dad died, I was not what you could call pleasant to many people. Different people grieve in different ways.


*


Alberich says: Well, I've been reading the posts on the spoilers section of Dawson's Creek bulletin bouards and the posts are very unified around one thing. Karen sucks! She is horrible and I don't understand why the producers are putting him next to that woman at all. I've noticed that she's only seen eliptically onscreen. You never get a clear shot of her on camera as if they don't want you to form an opinion of her long enough to form likes or dislikes. She's always seen from the side. Why is that? If this is the Karen the writers and producers are doing a horrible job.


But they may be listening. Because in this episode I noticed that the one woman who handed Pacey the wallet is much nicer, and she's the "wife" of Pacey's boss. Sounds like trouble. Looks like they're listening to all the complaints...hopefully and give us a swerve...Pacey having an affair with a married woman, now THAT would be a dicey proposition enough for Pacey. 


And the posters are saying overwhelmingly that they don't understand this Karen character at all. She's a whiny, horrible person for someone like Pacey. For God's sake, let Paeey have Jen. She's the right one for him and Pacey is the right one for Jen.


Of course, in a perfect world I'd like to see Pacey get Joey back. But that's too much to ask for.


Oh, yeah...I forgot. Jen Lindley's character is leaving this season. I hear she's leaving around February sweeps. Too bad. So it's only Pacey, Dawson, Joey and Jack. These "others" are merely interlopers. Message to Dawson's Creek producers: get rid of this Karen character immediately. She's horrible for Pacey. Either recast the role or drop her altogether


wrenn...@hotmail.com (with an edit from me again due to a homophobic slur and racial prejudices) says: Great summations, but it's fairly simple. He's a White man, she's a brown woman, and miscegenation is the name of the game! Tolerance of interracial unions and amoral activity is what television is all about! That's why it's termed "programming".


However, with Pacy's propensity for older women, I too detected a hint of possibility in his disdain for an adulterous boss. In fact, I don't think he'll be working there for too much longer, which (with any luck) should dispel the subject of your post.

 

Alberich responds: I have nothing against interracial romances. Heck, I wish I had one myself (I'm white) but right now money is tight so I have to watch what I spend. So, to be clear, I have nothing against women of other races or cultures...my problem with this Karen thing is that I don't see how she's for Pacey at all. 


As I mentioned in the post...we never get a still shot of her onscreen. We never get the chance to see "why" she's so "great" for Pacey. She's always seen from the distance and from sideway angles. And that's very odd...especially since the producers before this seasons started mentioned a Karen for Pacey.


However, I'm beginning to see some hints they're rethinking this. It's now been revealed her character is not set in stone..meaning if feedback about the character tanks so will the actress portraying this "Karen". 


My feelings are clear. She's horrible and has no chemistry with Pacey whatsover. My charitable contribution, if the producers would bother to read these postings either here or elsewhere on the web is to get another actress for the part, or ditch her altogether. But based on that episode I saw where a woman "the wife" of the restaurant owner handed Pacey the wallet...I can see possibilities here. She's alot nicer and we get a still shot of her...something they've yet to do with this mysterious but high pitched whiner Karen.


KevinS replies: I agree. What happened to his last girlfriend played by the beautiful Jennifer Morrison?

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