Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Dawson's Creek


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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