Dawson's Creek
Episode 6: Baby
By: Carlos Uribe
Dawson's
Creek is a show about teenagers growing up. It ran from 1998-2003 and
was created by Kevin Williamson (creator of the Vampire Diaries and
the Secret Circle).
Spoilers
Ahoy!
What
I like about Baby is how it builds up to an extremely good climax.
The episode begins with Pacey accidentally starting a rumor that he
and Tamara are having sex. This rumor spreads like wildfire and
quickly leads to an emergency school board meeting. At the meeting,
Pacey denies that the rumor is true. This entire situation does
eventually lead to Tamara deciding to leave Capeside, knowing that
her name will never be able to recover. She has one final scene with
Pacey and it appears that she has left the show. The entire plotline
has now been resolved, with an ending that shockingly doesn't end up
with Tamara in jail. The plotline has been interesting to see develop
and it certainly felt realistic until now. I'm not sure if the school
board would dismiss the rumors this quickly. They might not have had
any proof, but it certainly makes sense that the kid would deny the
rumors. It simply felt too television and not as organic, but I'm not
sure how they would have resolved it with the same ending otherwise.
It'll be interesting to see what Pacey is given to do next and if
this means he'll be more involved in the main storylines.
While
Pacey is dealing with losing his forbidden fruit, Joey's sister,
Bessie, dominates the rest of the climax. She's been pregnant since
the pilot, and it's this episode where she decides to give birth.
Capeside is a small town, which means they only have one hospital and
one ambulance. Circumstances lead to Bessie having her baby at
Dawson's house. The problem is that Dawson's parents are away for the
weekend and her boyfriend is unavailable, which leaves just two high
school teenagers at the house. The only solution is one that Bessie
is against: having Jen's grandmother deliver the baby. Grams used to
be a nurse and she's medically capable of delivering it. The only
issue that Bessie has is that Grams doesn't approve of Bessie's
lifestyle or how the baby was conceived. Grams is more than willing
to put these judgements aside to ensure that the baby is born, and
she instantly takes over the scene to ensure a successful birth.
There was no doubt that she was in charge of the scene, even as other
characters tried to be in the center.
While
there was a birthing situation going on, it also led way to many
characters pondering the meaning of life and religion. Jen and Grams
argued over their beliefs, neither being able to truly respect the
other. Jen might claim to respect those who believe in God, but that
she gets so agitated by her grandmother clearly shows otherwise. The
episode doesn't really take a side, letting both characters having
their opinions. Grams might be judgmental, but she's more willing to
understand than her exterior lets on. Joey took her sister's birth as
a time to remember her mom's cancer, with the shouts of pain bringing
back unpleasant memories. She eventually realizes that she has to be
there for her sister, but this flashback to her past was not pleasant
for her. This entire drama could have dragged down the episode, but
the strong writing and good acting made them work. That these
arguments were often happening as the show hinted at the possibility
of the birth going wrong made them even stronger and even more relevant.
The birth doesn't actually go wrong, which is a relief.
This
is all to state that Dawson's Creek had a pretty solid episode. It
closed down one story and used another to explore religion. It didn't
focus on Dawson, sending him to the sidelines. It appears that the
series doesn't need his love triangle to be good, which is a sign
that there is a good writing team behind the show. While this episode
wasn't perfect, the birthing scene was exceptionally well-done. It
was nice knowing you Tamara.
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