The Shift from Dawson's Creek to Joey's Creek
“Dawson’s Creek” really should’ve been called “Joey’s Creek.” I know I’m not the first person to have this thought, but it’s one worth examining nonetheless.
In our 2009 interview for the original TeenDramaWhore, executive producer Paul Stupin explained the show’s origins to me, detailing how creator Kevin Williamson “pitched to me a bunch of characters living on the same creek” and “pitched to me the characters of Dawson and Joey and Jen and how that triangle would work.” But by calling the series “Dawson’s Creek,” it was implied that Dawson was our way into this world and that he was our protagonist. The first promotional posters for the show made that clear too.
Not only was Dawson front and center among the cast portraits, but he was also pictured literally holding court over the creek. The pilot also established the three other main characters in relation to him: the female best friend (Joey), the male best friend (Pacey), and the new girl living next door (Jen). But the pilot also made an interesting choice: The episode didn’t end on Dawson. It ended with Joey, floating away on the creek. Perhaps that was our first hint of who our true protagonist would turn out to be.
Next consider the central dilemma in season 1’s finale: Will Joey leave Capeside and go to France? It’s not Dawson with the decision to make; it’s Joey. In the season 2 finale, Joey’s in control there as well — it’s she who ends their relationship after Dawson pressures her to turn her father into the police. And what’s the crux of the season 3 finale? It’s whether Joey will ask Pacey to stay or whether she’ll embark on a summer with Dawson. Are you sensing a pattern? It’s Joey, Joey, Joey.
Now let’s skip ahead to season 5. Episode 5.15, “Downtown Crossing,” features no other main character besides Joey. That means Katie Holmes is the only cast member to appear in every single episode of the series — all 128 of them. And the episode is effectively a deep character study drawing on Joey’s past with her father and the woman she has grown to be in spite of him. Season 5, of course, also deals with Dawson and the passing of his father, but it’s a storyline that’s shared among the characters, unlike this one-episode Joey / Katie tour de force.
What’s more is the series begins featuring Dawson less and less. In addition to James Van Der Beek being MIA from the aforementioned episode, he’s also absent from episode 5.09. Then in season 6, he doesn’t appear in episodes 6.07, 6.12, 6.15, or 6.19. So much for Dawson being the main character!
But perhaps there’s no greater evidence of the series’ evolution than the penultimate episode, “Joey Potter and the Capeside Redemption.” The title alone makes clear this is Joey’s story, not Dawson’s, as does the all-important ending. We finally see Joey in France and the episode ends with a voiceover monologue in which she reflects on her journey and that of her friends. It’s not Dawson bringing the series to a close (before the finale’s five-year time jump), but Joey.
“I can’t swear this is exactly how it happened,” Joey tells us, “but this is how it felt.” In other words, this is Joey’s life we’ve been bearing witness to all this time — not Dawson’s. In our 2010 interview, co-producer Gina Fattore even told me that this episode was originally “intended” to be the series’ last, and that they wanted the installment to work as a closer even if no one saw the final two hours that Williamson returned to write.
As I noted above, I’m not the first person to realize that “Dawson’s Creek” is really the saga of Joey Potter and not of Dawson Leery, the character whose name is in the show’s title. But it’s worth pointing out that the evidence of this isn’t only in the actual text of the episodes as I’ve laid out above, but also in fan reaction. While Dawson was designed to be the series’ male lead (and, again, the main protagonist), the amount of viewers who are utterly turned off by him seems to grow exponentially each year.
In 2014, a BuzzFeed contributor put together a list titled, “19 Times Dawson Leery Was The Most Annoying Part Of His Own Show.” And just days before the series’ 20th anniversary in 2018, a Vox article deemed Dawson “insufferable,” and pointed out, “If you google ‘Dawson Leery,’ you will quickly learn that people love to hate Dawson Leery.” That same year, Insider included Dawson in a roundup of “20 of the most unlikable and annoying main characters on TV,” writing:
“When a show is called ‘Dawson’s Creek,’ you’d expect its writers to find a way to make audiences give a darn about Dawson or his creek. But that’s really not the case with Dawson Leery, who is easily one of the most unlikable protagonists in TV history.”
Furthermore, as someone who keeps an eye on tweets about the show, I can tell you not a month goes by without someone posting about how much they despise the character.
This is different, of course, from being an entertaining villain. It’s also different than being an anti-hero, one of the most popular television archetypes of the 21st century. It’s viewers openly rejecting the show’s supposed protagonist. Sure, Joey has her critics and haters too. She’s flawed in her own ways. But when looking at the totality of “Dawson’s Creek,” it’s clear who this creek really belonged to: one Miss Josephine Potter.
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Dawson is a Creator Insert. Kevin Williamson based the character of Dawson on himself, but straight, and Joey on his childhood friend. It always seemed like a "If I'd been straight we'd have been soulmates" when in reality they still wouldn't have been a good pairing.
Too often characters who shouldn't have cared about Dawson's feelings did. Joey's sister being all "how will this affect Dawson" If we had just started it out as Joey's story then things like Pacey realizing he liked Joey before Dawson even knew she was a girl would have been treated with more weight.
Instead in season 3 Joey finally seeing Pacey the way he sees her is treated like a betrayal of Dawson when in reality Dawson betrayed Pacey by never consulting Pacey about the fact his own feelings changed.
Which cool he didn't have to but to then act like Pacey who already had said "I like Joey" betrayed him? Or his "how did two people who couldn't stand each other end up dating" attitude? Joey and Pacey had been friends since season 1 when they bonded during the Snail project.
The entire show should have been about Pacey and Joey finding each other.
I just recently started rewatching Dawson's Creek, after a ten year break (it was constantly in syndication here back then), and all the while, my opinion hasn't changed about the show. The only 'new' observation I'm making, is that for a show created around the turn of the century, it has aged well enough to be considered a classic.
You are indeed correct in observing that the show's real central character is Joey. From a writer's/actor's standpoint, I believe it became that way because of Katie Holmes lending the character real credibility. To a large extent, she doesn't play her, she *is* her. Just rewatched Episode 1 of Season 3, the season, which, to me, essentially became the show's defining one. Her reaction to Dawson rejecting her sexual advances by slipping into what I call the characteristic 'Joey Passive Aggressive Defense Mechanism' to hide her vulnerability at the drop of a hat is something writers can write, but it takes an actress truly understanding her character to do it so naturally and effortlessly. That's what I think made the show's audience react to her - minus the usual contingent of detractors - in the way we did.
As for Dawson, I've always had an ambivalent opinion of the character...
As a person with ASD who also lives and works in the creative arts, I recognise a lot of traits I used to have as a teenager in the teenage Dawson : his single mindedness about his career ambitions and his continued drive to work through his experiences and emotions through his creative medium (mine being music). Now, this isn't uncommon in creative people. To make the obvious analogy : a lot, if not most of Spielberg's movies come from the same place, not least his last one, which for all intents and purposes could be considered his feature length take on his own Dawson's Creek, if you will.
That single mindedness takes on a darker turn in to obsession when it comes to romantic relationships : in Dawson's mind, there is no other option than Joey being his one true love, in spite of anything and everything, even Joey's own feelings. Unfortunately, this is something I have been guilty of myself at that age (16 - 20+) and watching a TV show character do the same simultaneously held up a mirror and made me cringe, but also allowed me to look at what it must have been like for the people who were subjected to that kind of behaviour and deeply regret it, even if I know that I had no tools or help to deal with these things differently because I was undiagnosed and I had no support whatsoever. When the show first aired, I was pushing 30, so by that time, I had lived and learned a bit. But it was awkward to see my younger self in Dawson, a character that because of that trait becomes unsympathetic and at times even pathetic. It does make me think that, intentionally or not, Williamson wrote Dawson as a kid on the spectrum, possibly because he's on there himself.
But why do I consider Dawson pathetic at times? Several reasons : one being that he can't get over himself and would rather blame others for misfortunes which he brought upon himself. The other main gripe I have is that in spite of this, just about everyone caters to his ambitions and feelings without even questioning whether they're right or wrong, especially Mitch and Gail, who for some reasons seem to want to forgive almost anything in that regard. Anything, that is, until he actually starts to behave like a teenager, for which he's punished by having to help his mother building up the fish restaurant. Apparently, attending an illegal rave - while sober - is worse than having a house full of strippers pay for the damage you cause to your father's boat and a pier. They remain blatantly absent during his unreasonable behaviour of Pacey and even support him in his vengeful boat race. There's a saying in my country : soft healers make for festering wounds. Dawson could have done with a serious dose of 'pull your head out of your arse, son' but never gets it. No, he is the 'gifted son', the 'silent hero he always is'. You'd develop a god complex for less accolades than that.
Derek Wheeler correctly observes that Dawson never informed Pacey about his changed feelings for Joey, whereas he did so just about every time he had a change of heart in the past. At least Pacey tried to come clean beforehand, failed due to the circumstances and then understandably can't resist his unabating feelings, especially since it's palpable that Joey feels the same, but hesitates because it would 'devastate Dawson'. Would it, though? And besides, why, when she isn't even aware of his changed feelings, would she take that in to consideration when going for Pacey when she just tried to make a go of a college student, where this didn't seem to pose a problem at all? Huh?
The list of people accomodating Dawson to an unbelievable extent and willing to cast Pacey into the role of betrayer is, frankly, stunning and I took issue with is all through the latter half of Season 3. The one off character Aunt Gwen is one of the worst : immediately coming down on Pacey from when she first lays eyes on him, to berating him and Joey when she catches them in a private moment, leaving no doubt about her negative feelings for Pacey when it takes two to tango. She launches into this half assed diatribe to Joey about not caring if she wants to be with Pacey, but Dawson's feelings! They must at all times be considered! Even when they're just friends! And then proceeds to usher Dawson to embrace his Dark Side, sorry, his resurging feelings for Joey by giving him her schmalzy painting of them. Yeah, no conflict of interest there, Gwen, the liberated woman who herself chose for her true loves a now dead painter and a life of liberty and leasure, but has no qualms in steering others towards the outcome she prefers. What hypocrisy.
Same thing goes for Bessy, who has every reason to be grateful to Pacey for actually giving her the idea to start a business which ultimately becomes a thriving business at that. Just about all the adults in Dawson's Creek during Season 3 (and Mitch and Gail in the previous two) are willing to buy into the Cult Of Dawson at the expense of his best friend, which they all willingly cast into the role of villain and loser. It's bad writing, in my book, simply directed at creating tension, but in the most cheap way possible.
Now, I have to admit I've always had a weak spot for Pacey, not least because, in spite of the things I have in common with the Dawson character, the circumstances in which I grew up line up with Pacey's. The proverbial black sheep of the family everyone looks down on and, hearing it on a daily basis, starting to believe he's actually that and acting upon that premise, making life more dfifficult for himself than it should've been. Because, understandably though it may be, Pacey isn't blameless : he's willing to buy into that image and doubt and second guess himself and his worth throughout the series, in spite of the 'devil may care' shield he holds up in defense. Well, until the series finale anyway. Even his knight in shining armour shtick comes from from his negative self image. But at least, that is a much more sympathetic character arc than what the writers bestowed on Dawson, and it makes for another more relatable character that you can root for and are happy for that he does end up with Joey because they bring out the best in each other. Whereas whenever Dawson and Joey are together within a romantic situation, it invariably results in negative tension. It was the case in Season 1 and it continued until Season 6. As friends, soul mates, they are unbeatable. As partners in a relationship? Not at all. It begs the question why Dawson continues to think he and Joey belong together in that way and the only thing that makes sense is the aforementioned autistic single mindedness : irrespective of reality (inasmuch as a TV scenario is real, of course), her own feelings and the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, he and Joey belong together.
I can't speak for Kevin Williamson, of course, but it's possible that he took all these things into consideration when writing the series finale, which may have informed Joey's speech to Dawson when they were sitting together in his old back yard in the penultimate scene. With a few sentences, Williamson rights several wrongs and misconceptions about what it means to be soul mates. In the plus column for the Dawson character, the series finale finally shows that he has indeed grown up and grown out of his teenage self obsession (while, of course, still relentlessly hanging onto his film/TV making ambitions), allowing everyone in that particular triangle to move on and have the lives they desire. And, if I may, in that sense, the show was indeed about Joey and Pacey finding each other, from the snail project to that final phone call. It's not uncommon even in real life that people have to move out of each other's periphery for several years and walk their own path for a while, only to find they belong together after all. I've certainly known a few couples where this was the case.