[i never learn]

amen to this thread! i can't even get through the last couple of the eps of this season. i just HATE it. eve didn't even bother me that much because i ff'd her ass, but watching pacey be such a bully is driving me mad. even if dawson and andie are acting like a couple of babies, i literally can't stand watching josh yell and yell and yell. he played pacey to such an unlikable degree. "DON'T TALK ABOUT DAWSON!" waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! and, OH, SURE, I'LL BUY THE WRITERS TELLING ME THAT PACEY KNOWS ABOUT JOEY'S MOM! because, hello, dawson was THE ONLY PERSON THERE FOR JOEY when she was dying, NOT PACEY! but let me just sit here and eat up all this oocness. sure! /ends

[lasha4god]

I was a little surprised to see this thread. I guess I'll be the third party objective, because even not having been a Pacey and Joey fan, I found some rather strong storytelling to come out of the triangle and find "The Longest Day" to be one of the finest episodes of the series post-season one.

But I can still relate, because there were more frustrations with season three than I can count. Between Andie, the character destruction of Dawson, all the BS with Eve, the drop off of Pacey and Jen's budding sexual tension!, etc.

In the end though the stronger storytelling always seemed to be at the expense of characters, at the expense of established context from the first two seasons - so perhaps it is fair to regard it as one of the worst. But surely better than every season there after.

[Forwood4Bamon]

I didn't like how they ruined Andie. I will never get over that.

[JJH85]

I have a feeling that whoever started this Thread is not a Pacey fan because this was such a good season for him. The only part about S3 that I didn't like was the whole Eve storyline. That got tiresome really fast.

[Ankatje]

I didn't like Eve at all. I think she probably was the character I wish hadn't been on the show. She wasn't even fun to hate, she was just annoying and unimportant imo.

[JJH85]

I totally agree.

[TL22]

Before I start I would like to say that the viewers per episode dropped 1.4 million between seasons 2 and 3.

At the end of season two all the writers, except for one quit. Even Kevin Williamson was gone.

To understand the rest you have to realize that not all episodes are shot sequentially.

Season three started and the new writing team was floundering, the actors were unhappy and they actually shut down production.

Out of this mess came the aborted story lines of Eve, Jen the cheerleader/homecoming Queen, Pacey and Jen's so called Friends with Benefits relationship. And I think Henry was part of the screwed up story lines. They even wanted to film a scene where Pacey and Jen had sex in a bathroom stall at school. Both actors refused to do the scene.

Production was shut down and the writers were floundering when Greg Berlanti came up with the idea Let's have Pacey kiss Joey. During season one KW mentioned that a Pacey/Joey relationship was a possability. Which I believe he put aside when he brought Andie to the show season two.

The original premise of the show was the triangle between Jen/Dawson/Joey. Who would the boy wonder of Capeside succumb to; the girl next door or the glamorous newcomer.

Pacey was the loyal friend to Dawson and in other words the "B" plot.

Season two KW brings in Meredith Monroe (Andie) and Kerr Smith (Jack). Andie to be the girlfriend of Pacey and Jack to be a rival to Dawson for Joey.

Kw then wrote this wonderful romance between Pacey and Andie, he may have a plan to break them up somewhere down the line, but not the total character assassination done by the season three writers. KW wrote Pacey and Andie to be endgame, which was evidenced by his calling of Meredith Monroe to come back to the show after she had been gone for 2.5 years, when he wrote the last two episodes. Unfortunately she could go only give him 1 day instead of the two or three weeks he needed her for. If she was able to make it you would have had a different ending to the show.

Kw also made a mistake when he made Jack gay, which effectively took him out of just about all "A" plot story lines. Effectively Jack became the "C" plot

So while the show was shut down and the writers were in a panic Greg Berlanti comes up with Let's have Pacey Kiss Joey. At first he was met with a lot of resistance, but eventually he wore down the opposition. This was the decision that was hailed as brilliant actually started the downfall of the show. (my opinion)

Problem they had lots of footage already shot and a wonderful well written romance between Pacey and Andie. There is no way in hell the girl who went off to the hospital at the end of season two would ever even dream of cheating on her boyfriend. She worshiped the ground he walked on.

So they decided to assassinate Andie's character and they did it brutally with very poor writing. They were also stuck with a lot of footage they had to use, thus the aborted stupid story lines.

As I said earlier the fans revolted and the viewers per episode dropped 1.4 million per episode.

So now we were treat with episodes of Andie acting totally out of character, Pacey becoming a tool by wooing Joey behind his best friends back. All he had to do was say. "Hey you're broken up with her. I like her." And Joey a character I liked season one was now a complete lying bitch.

So season three ends with Pacey and Joey sailing off into the sunset (GAG)

Season four starts with Pacey and Joey and all they did was fighting, Joey running off to Dawson at every sign of trouble and Joey lying to everyone. At the end of season four they took that relationship out of it's misery and they had the explosive breakup at Promicide which no couple could ever recover from.

For all practical purposes Pacey and Joey was dead and over.

The writers sensing that season four may be the last season go to great trouble to get Meredith Monroe to come back. (They really had to kiss her butt) Her and Pacey made nice and he admits to her that she was the best thing in his life. Dawson and Joey kiss and the universe is right.

Unfortunately we got seasons five and six. (to me un-watchable).

They bring in Kevin Williamson to write the last two episodes and the first thing he does is call Meredith Monroe (KW was and still is very fond of Meredith and her character Andie and never really understood the destruction of her character)

Ironically Meredith Monroe was filming a movie and could only give him one day instead of the two or three weeks he needed her for to develop the story he wanted to write.

He did film a couple of great scenes with her. One of them in the cafeteria where Pacey and Andie almost word for word repeat there conversation from season four.

At the very last minute KW changes his ending from Dawson/Joey to Pacey/Joey.

His original last scene was to be Pacey and Andie going off to dinner.

In my opinion the decision P/J was made because of the limited screen time Pacey and Andie had and the network was most likely pushing him to end it Pacey and Joey as the CW had spent the last two seasons making the show Joey's Creek and trying to make Katie Holmes the next "It girl"

So if Meredith Monroe had more time you would have had a different ending.

And think about the ending we got. A girl who is almost engaged waltzes into town and goes to a guy she has had basically nothing to with for seven years except for a one night stand, where she immediatley dumped him goes I choose you and he drops his life and goes off to New York City with her.

Pretty screwed up isn't it

I got my information from the following sources

1. The book Billion Dollar Kiss.

2. Commentary on the DVD's

3. Many interviews and articles I have read over the years.

4. I have tried to note when I was interjecting my own opinion.

Season three was the beginning of the end.

[JJH85]

That was quite a mouthful you shared there. A lot of valid points, but there were some points that could be debated. One is the whole triangle dynamic - Although some DC fans may not have liked the PJo relationship, I thought it was the best love triangle in the whole series.

The Jen/Dawson/Joey triangle was hard to watch because Joey was so hateful to Jen and Dawson was so oblivious of everything around him except his own personal feelings.

The Jack/Joey/Dawson triangle was a little predictable and after seeing Joey be so love sick for Dawson and then poof after such a short time with him say, no this isn't what I want - well that just seemed funny in a "the grass is always greener" kind of way.

The Eve/Dawson/Joey triangle (if you can even call it a triangle) was just painful.

I could go into a whole diatribe about why I feel the Pacey/Joey/Dawson was the better triangle, but I'm not going to which I'm sure would relieve some folks.

Some of the details about why Joey ended up with Pacey are a little mixed, so I don't really have a lot to debate here because that could go on way too long, but I do remember KW mentioning that the majority of the fans would be happy with the ending and Katie said the exact same thing and even Josh said it as well on The Graham Norton Show.

It would be hard to measure who was more popular with the female fans, Dawson or Pacey, but there is so much on the internet about Pacey and hardly anything at all about Dawson, that it makes you think that perhaps Pacey was the more popular of the two. I have absolutely no proof of this, I am simply going by what appears to be the case. It's either that or the Pacey fans are just more diehard than the Dawson fans.

Sorry for the length of my comments, I generally don't go on so much. Thanks

[Forwood4Bamon]

PJo had some nice moments in season 3. But I hate how they had to ruin every character to put this pairing together.

[taubman]

Originally Posted by Jerry D (View Post) Boy, this is the thread for me! I hated Season Three, from its preposterous beginning with the Eve storyline, to its heartbreaking and friendship shattering end when Pacey and Joey sailed off together, leaving a brokenhearted Dawson behind. I hated the way that Pacey and Andie's beautiful relationship was destroyed and I feel that the "writers" purposely destroyed Andie and Dawson’s characters to facilitate a Pacey and Joey pairing, and I hated, hated, hated the way that Pacey and Joey were brought together. Just about everything about this season was bad, and I never felt the same way about Dawson’s Creek or the characters after it was over.

Couldn't of said it better! They destroyed Dawson and Andie's character..they forgot the show is "Dawsons Creek" not Pacey & Joey's Creek!

Really annoyed what they did with Andie as well she deserved more! Don't get me started what they did with Dawson in season 3..at least they let Dawson grow more in season 4..but lots of the damage was done and some of the actors didn't care as much from then on..I know JVDB didn't..

[taubman]

Originally Posted by TL22 (View Post) Before I start I would like to say that the viewers per episode dropped 1.4 million between seasons 2 and 3. At the end of season two all the writers, except for one quit. Even Kevin Williamson was gone. To understand the rest you have to realize that not all episodes are shot sequentially. Season three started and the new writing team was floundering, the actors were unhappy and they actually shut down production. Out of this mess came the aborted story lines of Eve, Jen the cheerleader/homecoming Queen, Pacey and Jen's so called Friends with Benefits relationship. And I think Henry was part of the screwed up story lines. They even wanted to film a scene where Pacey and Jen had sex in a bathroom stall at school. Both actors refused to do the scene. Production was shut down and the writers were floundering when Greg Berlanti came up with the idea Let's have Pacey kiss Joey. During season one KW mentioned that a Pacey/Joey relationship was a possability. Which I believe he put aside when he brought Andie to the show season two. The original premise of the show was the triangle between Jen/Dawson/Joey. Who would the boy wonder of Capeside succumb to; the girl next door or the glamorous newcomer. Pacey was the loyal friend to Dawson and in other words the "B" plot. Season two KW brings in Meredith Monroe (Andie) and Kerr Smith (Jack). Andie to be the girlfriend of Pacey and Jack to be a rival to Dawson for Joey. Kw then wrote this wonderful romance between Pacey and Andie, he may have a plan to break them up somewhere down the line, but not the total character assassination done by the season three writers. KW wrote Pacey and Andie to be endgame, which was evidenced by his calling of Meredith Monroe to come back to the show after she had been gone for 2.5 years, when he wrote the last two episodes. Unfortunately she could go only give him 1 day instead of the two or three weeks he needed her for. If she was able to make it you would have had a different ending to the show. Kw also made a mistake when he made Jack gay, which effectively took him out of just about all "A" plot story lines. Effectively Jack became the "C" plot So while the show was shut down and the writers were in a panic Greg Berlanti comes up with Let's have Pacey Kiss Joey. At first he was met with a lot of resistance, but eventually he wore down the opposition. This was the decision that was hailed as brilliant actually started the downfall of the show. (my opinion) Problem they had lots of footage already shot and a wonderful well written romance between Pacey and Andie. There is no way in hell the girl who went off to the hospital at the end of season two would ever even dream of cheating on her boyfriend. She worshiped the ground he walked on. So they decided to assassinate Andie's character and they did it brutally with very poor writing. They were also stuck with a lot of footage they had to use, thus the aborted stupid story lines. As I said earlier the fans revolted and the viewers per episode dropped 1.4 million per episode. So now we were treat with episodes of Andie acting totally out of character, Pacey becoming a tool by wooing Joey behind his best friends back. All he had to do was say. "Hey you're broken up with her. I like her." And Joey a character I liked season one was now a complete lying bitch. So season three ends with Pacey and Joey sailing off into the sunset (GAG) Season four starts with Pacey and Joey and all they did was fighting, Joey running off to Dawson at every sign of trouble and Joey lying to everyone. At the end of season four they took that relationship out of it's misery and they had the explosive breakup at Promicide which no couple could ever recover from. For all practical purposes Pacey and Joey was dead and over. The writers sensing that season four may be the last season go to great trouble to get Meredith Monroe to come back. (They really had to kiss her butt) Her and Pacey made nice and he admits to her that she was the best thing in his life. Dawson and Joey kiss and the universe is right. Unfortunately we got seasons five and six. (to me un-watchable). They bring in Kevin Williamson to write the last two episodes and the first thing he does is call Meredith Monroe (KW was and still is very fond of Meredith and her character Andie and never really understood the destruction of her character) Ironically Meredith Monroe was filming a movie and could only give him one day instead of the two or three weeks he needed her for to develop the story he wanted to write. He did film a couple of great scenes with her. One of them in the cafeteria where Pacey and Andie almost word for word repeat there conversation from season four. At the very last minute KW changes his ending from Dawson/Joey to Pacey/Joey. His original last scene was to be Pacey and Andie going off to dinner. In my opinion the decision P/J was made because of the limited screen time Pacey and Andie had and the network was most likely pushing him to end it Pacey and Joey as the CW had spent the last two seasons making the show Joey's Creek and trying to make Katie Holmes the next "It girl" So if Meredith Monroe had more time you would have had a different ending. And think about the ending we got. A girl who is almost engaged waltzes into town and goes to a guy she has had basically nothing to with for seven years except for a one night stand, where she immediatley dumped him goes I choose you and he drops his life and goes off to New York City with her. Pretty screwed up isn't it I got my information from the following sources 1. The book Billion Dollar Kiss. 2. Commentary on the DVD's 3. Many interviews and articles I have read over the years. 4. I have tried to note when I was interjecting my own opinion. Season three was the beginning of the end.

AMEN! Exactly how I feel..and agree with all the sources! Couldn't of said it better! Writing was the end game of Dawson's creek..I remember reading the original script that was leaked at the time..had Dawson and Joey attending wedding for Pacey and Andie.

We still got some good scenes but as you said it was really the beginning of the end! very one sided affair since season 3..too much focus on joey!

[Forwood4Bamon]

word Tony!

[falling slowly]

Originally Posted by Ankatje (View Post) I didn't like Eve at all. I think she probably was the character I wish hadn't been on the show. She wasn't even fun to hate, she was just annoying and unimportant imo.

I didn't like Eve either, if they wanted Dawson to have a new love interest it could have been someone slightly more wholesome instead of this woman who really IMO came off as some kind of con artist.

[Forwood4Bamon]

yeah Eve was random.

[JJH85]

Pacey was the loyal friend to Dawson and in other words the "B" plot.

Pacey should never be referenced as a "B" plot. But then that my bias kicking in.

They did have a lot of misses in S3, but I also feel there was a lot of good qualities to it too.

The Eve arc was a mess, so was the Rob arc and I personally hated the Henry storyline. Henry and Jen just didn't mesh with me at all.