Bandbabe

Lately I've been watching DC episodes on TBS. Right now its up to season 3. I used to watch DC back in the day. Now I remember why I stopped watching after season 3:

Ridiculous character assasination.

It's obvious that at the beginning of season three the writers had getting Pacey and Joey together. There were only two obstacles, Andie and Dawson. I think Andie's character suffered the most because of it.

I think it made sense why Dawson and Joey weren't together at the beginning of season 3. (the drug bust at the end of last season) Pacey and Andie's breakup was quite manufactured.

Pacey and Andie had an incredible relationship. No one can argue against the fact that this relationship was greatly beneficial to Pacey and helped to shape him into the man he ultimately became. He started to believe in himself and that others could care about him. To put Pacey with Joey and have the audience be sympathetic to this new couple, the character of Andie would have to be sacraficed. To this end, first the writers had her cheat on Pacey off-screen. Then after they broke up, she falsely accused a guy of rape to get Pacey back and Joey lost her job in the process. (Bad Andie:2; Honorable Pacey: 2; Perfect Joey: 1). After that they made her cheat on the PSATs. All of this before episode 315! With Andie being such a mess and doing 'evil' things the writers could safely count on no one sympathizing with her and the masses wanting not Pacey/Andie together.

The writers also pulled out some dirty tricks to make Dawson look bad compared to Pacey in season 3. For example, the boat race. (ugh!) However, I'm really noticing the Andie assasination the second time around. Geez, almost every episode she was moping over Pacey and crying. No wonder Meredith left in season 4. The writers destroyed her character! She went from a sweet, good-natured, slightly high strung girl with family problems to an unstable, crying, evil-scheming witch--all to further the writers' agenda. *cough*P/J*cough*

I'm not anti-PJ. After all these years I really don't care anymore. (My biggest motivation for watching season three is seeing Jen/Henry developed. I always like that couple). But I think the writers could have gone about it another way then destroying to characters to make two other look like saints.

Any (respectful) thoughts on this?


-Bandbabe

Sugz

Well originally the end of season 3 was going to be Dawson and Joey together (I think it was the end of SHow Me Love that was changed) so the question is, if that wouldve happened would you still have been questioning the storylines earlier in the season? What would they have been blamed on had Pacey and Joey not gotten together as originally planned?

Secondly, its almost comforting to see this topic brought up again on this board, it hasnt been in so long but really the term "character assassination" in season 3 is pretty much opinion. I can make a lovely case that Andie cheating on Pacey while in a mental hospital after having a mental breakdown and finding someone who went through the same thing is perfectly believable regardless of the earlier relationship Pacey and Andie had when she was sane and that Dawsons past actually prove that his season 3 actions were in character. I suppose it really comes down to what you want to believe and if you liked P/A and D/J, who you want to blame your disapproval of season 3 on.

Cotton Candy

I totally concur, Bandbabe. The character deterioration that took place in Season 3 was just one of the many disillusionments that turned me off to the show post-Kevin Williamson.

Sugz, I repectfully disagree. It's not what Dawson and Andie actually did, but the way it was portrayed that irked many fans. You were obviously supposed to hate them. The writers left no room for identification of any kind with the characters, especially during the earlier part of the season.

If the major changes in Dawson and Andie's characters was just natural progression, why would the many Dawson and Andie fans have been so disappointed in their (IMHO dishonest) third season portrayal? If TPTB were really being true to their characters, we would have accepted their flaws just like we always did. There was obviously something else going on there and there was nothing natural about the alterations made in their characters.

(IMHO, it's not just Dawson and Andie's characters that were severly altered in Season 3, but since these two characters were brought up, I didn't mention anyone else.)

Bandbabe

Paul Stupin, who worked with Kevin Williamson and took over once he left the show, is obviously a fan of Pacey/Joey. I think that's want he wanted but the decision of Dawson/Joey or Pacey/Joey getting together was pretty much based on the fan response. The writers were heading towards P/J all season but if the majority of the audience wasn't feeling it for the sake of ratings they would have went back to Dawson/Joey at the end. However, a fanbase for P/J was growing and although not the majority at the time the DC fanbase was pretty much split on who they favored Joey with. So, the writers pushed forward with their agenda.

If Pacey and Joey hadn't gotten together in the end it still doesn't change the fact that during season three the writers were exploring that relationship. I would still be questioning the Andie's arc because I feel the writers wrote her the way they did to make certain characters look better. Say if they made Joey's character do the things Andie did in season three. It would have made supporting either P/J or D/J difficult. People would has been like, "Dawson stay away! Joey's a basketcase" or "Why does Pacey like her?".

I disagree that all of the things Dawson did in season three was consistent with his character. In season 1 & 2 it was established that he loved Joey. (first as a friend, then as a lover). He was also a guy who cared about his friends. Season 3 he was purposely distanced from Joey and Pacey and suddenly acted like a jerk when she decided to date Pacey. She dated A. J. and he didn't seem to care. For argument's sake, you could say he felt betrayed because Pacey was his friend. I can agree with that. What I don't agree with, is that Dawson was so blind that all season he could see something developing. Dawson was always a thickheaded guy. Especially when it came to Joey having feelings for him. But he was quite astute at recognizing relationships between other people. (season 1, PILOT - Dawson thinks his mom is sleeping with Bob because of the way she looks at him while their on the news)

-Bandbabe

Bandbabe

Thanks Nostalgic Journey. Good points. How can you identify with the 'evil' character? Answer: TPTB didn't want you to.

-Bandbabe

Cotton Candy

Why thank you

COOLCAT200

I totally feel it was character assassination on Dawson at the end of season 3. The show made him the villain clearly. To his credit I thought James did an incredible job at doing it but I don't think it had to be done like that. I will say I do think the show in season 4 did a good job at fixing the damage they did to his character.

Cotton Candy

As much as Dawson's character was damaged, Andie's was damaged ten times more. The feeling and the essence that her character exuded, especially during the earlier part of the season, was so completely out of character that I didn't even know who I was watching.

Princess67895

I think that both Dawson and Andie were victims of character assassination. But I have to agree with Nostalgic Journey that Andie's character was assassinated to a greater degree. I agree with all the points made by Bandbabe and Nostalgic Journey. Andie and Dawson portrayed in that way because they were plot driven and not character driven. The writers obviously intentionally tried to make these characters unlikeable just so that they could make way for a Joey and Pacey pairing.

Cotton Candy

ITA with you and it wasn't just that their characters were made to be unlikeable, but the essence that encompassed who those characters were had changed as soon as the season began, especially Andie's.

Jerry D

Great topic, Bandbabe. I completely agree that both Dawson and Andie were the victims of character assassination in Season Three, and some of the more negative aspects of their personalities were taken to ridiculous extremes to make them both look bad to facilitate a Pacey and Joey pairing. I also agree that Andie’s character assassination was even worse than Dawson’s, because she became so unpopular in that season that she was eventually written off the show.

In the beginning of Season Three, Andie became a lying, cheating, and calculating caricature of a character, and she also exhibited a propensity for cruelty and deception that made her character vilified and virtually unwatchable. Andie’s original ambitions for scholastic success as a way to cope with the tragedy in her life were twisted into a obsession, and she was shown using any means possible, legal or otherwise, to achieve her goals of perfection, even at the cost of her friendships and her relationships with the other students at Capeside High.

I thought that Dawson’s actions at the end of Season Three were not out of character for him, but rather reflected characteristics we had seen him exhibit in the past taken to an exaggerated degree, and they had Dawson act in ways that also made his character vilified and virtually unwatchable to such a degree that the “Dawson haters” went on and on for years about all the things that Dawson did and said in the final episodes of Season Three, from his ultimatum to Joey in The Longest Day, through to his staging the prom for Jack to get to Joey in The Anti-Prom, to his cutting off Pacey in the boat race in Show Me Love. I’ll always believe that Dawson’s character was purposely destroyed while Pacey’s character was purposely built up with that “Heart of a Hero” campaign to make Joey’s choice of Pacey in True Love the only choice, and I hated the writers for doing that, and as a result, I hated the Pacey and Joey pairing the first time around, although I liked it the second time around.

notsomuch

I think this applies to Andie, but not so much Dawson. At the beginning of season three we have Dawson sniffing after Eve and putting Joey on a shelf, just like the season one, only with Eve's sister. Being that he was older in season three, it makes sense that things were not as innocent with Eve as they were with Jen. I really didn't see anything Dawson did in season three that was so out of character, they may have been a liitle more extreme in season three, but not out of character.

coldwater1010

I have to agree that for the most part whether we see something as 'character assassination' for the most part seems to boil down to character and couple preference. I find it interesting that people who complain about the 'villification' of Dawson and the 'building up' of Pacey to ensure the PJ coupling in s3 apparently have no qualms buying into the reverse happening in s4 with the virtual sanctifying of Dawson playing out against Pacey's character down turn that was create the potential for a DJ reunion at the end of s4. They seem perfectly happy to use that as proof that PJ didn't belong together rather than questioning the writers' motivations.

TMoney

Yeah, my only beef abotu season 3 was the way the writers made Dawson look, did anything in the previous seasons of thr show that Dawson would react that way in Show Me Love. It was redicilous. I am not niave thinking that they would never put Pacey/Joey together, it was gogin to happen eventually. But the way they made Dawson look, I wouldnt of come back for season 4 personally. Because I always heard that James wanted to be left out of the whole triangle thing letting P/J together in s3. It was the writers who wanted it. Just makes me sick sometimes. Blah.

Sugz

I really think that its obvious that the "character assassination" that apparently went on in season 3 as well as the conspiracy of the writers against Dawson and Joey and the apparent out of the blue hatred of James and Dawson is simply an excuse for people who just didnt like the departure from the season 2 storylines. THe fact is with all tv shows taht things change, and Pacey and Joey were coming whether the showrunners changed or not, Kevin Williamson said as much himself.
Funny thing is I dnt see people shouting "character assasination" when Pacey embarrassed Joey and himself at the prom and Dawson swooped in to the recuse and I dont hear anyone saying that the showrunner was a blatant PJer when Dawson and Joey were chasing each other through airports in season 5.

Point being, things changed on this show so many times, characters changed, storylines changed and writers changed their mission being to please as many fans as possible, all the fans had to go through things they liked and didnt like, season 3 is no different. Sure, Andie never seemingly wouldve done the things she did in season 3 back in season 2, but could it be that the fact that she went crazy altered her personality? Is it crazy that her vulnerability would lead her to seek solace, physical and otherwise, with someone else while separated from Pacey? I think not and I thats just the route the writers went. And as for Dawson, is it possible that a guy who'd been in the past jealous and protective over JOey POtter to the point of physical violence would react the way he did in season 3 when she rejected him and he felt betrayed? Again, I dont see how anyone can dispute that Dawson was capable of that, and thats the route the writers decided to go.

These are just things we have to square with when we watch a TV show, some things happen that we like, some things happen that we dont like I dont think that making up excuses for the things we dont like and saying that the things we do like were "nautral progression" is very fair.