Dawson's Creek

Dawson's Creek

Episode 7: Detention

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!

The movie “The Breakfast Club” was released in 1985. It was directed by John Hughes and was about five teenagers who had to spend all of Saturday in detention. They don't like each other at the beginning but they bond and become close friends by the end of the movie. It is considered a teen classic by many critics and audiences. This movie is relevant to this episode as it's a clear homage to that movie. The series even has Dawson point it out just in case there's any viewer who hasn't seen the Breakfast Club. That moment didn't just feel meta, but like something that Community would do with the character of Abed: pointing out what the show was doing. This is an episode that suck all the main teenage characters in detention along with a new character, Abby. The series gives her the perfect introduction: she arrives late to class and then in detention has Pacey and Dawson claiming that she's from hell.

The episode sets up the detention that is similar to the movie. The characters are supposed to remain in the library for eight hours and the teacher promptly disappears. The teenagers are left with no task, told to merely think about what they have done. While I was generally a good kid in high school, there were some detentions that I did attend and they were nothing like the ones portrayed on this show and on the movie. It's hard for me to believe that there are actual schools that have eight-hour detentions and where the people being punished aren't given a task. Since the characters are left to their own devices, they start to talk. This talking generally explored what the characters are feeling and Abby ensures that what each character is dealing comes out. There is Dawson's jealousy of Pacey and how he feels threatened by him. There is Joey's crush on Dawson which only keeps growing bigger and bigger. There is Pacey's feeling like a loser. There is also Jen who feels like no-one is welcoming her. Where she gets these feeling is unknown-she's shown to have the football jocks and Dawson being interested in her. The only person whose shown to not accept Jen's place in Capeside is Joey and one teacher. Jen sure likes being a victim of a manufactured problem.

What makes this episode be so entertaining is that these problems simply keep boiling up until they come out. Dawson manages to eventually realize that Pacey is not going to realize his girlfriend, but not before they have a whole bunch of arguments that skirt the real issue. When Pacey reveals that he got in detention because a teacher caught him masturbating in the bathroom, Dawson is forced to realize that Pacey might have had sex but he's not a stud. It's at this point that Dawson realizes that Pacey was never the problem but that he doesn't know if Jen is attracted to him. An idea that was planted into him by Joey in the beginning of the episode. Jen is able to convince Dawson that she likes him by using her feelings of not being welcomed into the town by a few people. She would be more convincing to the viewer if we actually saw the school reject her but that's besides the point. Joey almost admits her crush to Dawson but detention ends before she does. Dawson remains oblivious to what is known to every other character on the show-even by Jen, thanks to Abby.

One of the reasons this manages to work so well is Abby. She's a character who gets stuck in detention and is bored. She suggests that she's in detention because she had a drug-filled orgy in the boy's locker room. This was clearly a lie because the other members of the orgy aren't in detention. The characters buy this until the end when it's revealed that Abby merely had a lot of unexcused tardies. Abby's boredom in detention leads to her playing a game of truth and dare that had Joey kissing Dawson. A kiss that made Jen finally realize why Joey can't like her despite her best intentions. It's Abby who ensures that Dawson and Pacey deal with their issues. She doesn't do any of this because she's a good person but because she thinks it's entertaining. Abby ensures that the episode works because she's just like the viewer: she's watching this show to watch some good drama unfold. The only difference is she has to push the drama to come out.

Dawson's Creek manages to have a pretty good episode that's based on the movie. Jen might think the movie is terrible, but it does result in a strong and emotional episode. It's an episode that might be paying homage to a movie, but it does so in a way that manages to advance the plot. This is an episode that features a Dawson and Joey kiss-which is central to the love triangle in this episode. In essence, this is a solid and entertaining episode.