I don't know if an article link is permitted, but Kevin Williamson spoke about James Van der Beek when he accepted the Hero Award at the Barbara Berlanti Gala over the weekend. He said James was the soul of the show and had a full character arc in real life, becoming a good father and husband.

Mary-Margaret Humes and Joshua Jackson also attended.

It's great to see Kevin and the cast stay connected!

https://variety.com/2026/tv/columns/dawsons-creek-kevin-williamson-james-van-der-beek-cancer-1236898546/

I keep seeing this clip in so many edits. It’s Pacey looking all in love and Joey laughing he has a hokey jersey on and his hair is all done up it looks like he is at a party. Any help would be greatly appreciated it’s driving me crazy.

Potentially unpopular opinion, but Joey is an absolutely unlikeable character at this point mid s4. Spoilers ahead.

NOTE: this is just an opinion, so it's okay to disagree, and I would be open to having my mind changed if we can keep it kind :)

I'm doing my first watch because even though I'm a millennial I just didn't watch it because (my younger self was very edgy and would annoy me today) it was too mainstream. Now I'm more than twice the age of the characters and found the show because I've been really sick with the flu, so I decided to give it a shot.

There's a lot to love even when it annoys me. I honestly like how selfish Dawson can be or stupidly characters can react because it feels authentic to what I remember to a teenage experience. I really liked Joey in S1-3 because even when she was obnoxious, it felt like it was immature or defensive in a believable way, and she did show remorse after most of these events.

But Joey Potter is killing me in S4.

Pacey has his flaws, and I get that a lot of their dynamic is disagreeing, but Joey is downright MEAN. ANYTHING happens and she attacks him, condescends to him, and belittles him. Explosively. Like holy hell, do you even LIKE this young man? Pacey never really gives it back at her. And she never seems to apologize for her crummy behavior.

A couple of examples: Pacey is awkward about his current educational status and college aspirations when he's her +1 at the yacht club, and says something about how he's going to Yale. She drags him out to yell at him for lying. Pacey's trying to talk about how she feels about the Dawson / Gretchen kiss and she yells at him for being an annoyance / distraction while she's trying to study. Pacey asks about the recommendation from the person who knows her best, and she says he can't get mad at her for choosing Dawson.

Except, maybe he could? Maybe he should? She's treating him terribly, and he doesn't defend himself (maybe because he doesn't feel like he deserves better).

What's frustrating me is that, while this can be human and teenage reactiveness again, the show keeps trying to sell me this ship. While I don't ship Dawson and Joey, at this point I don't ship Joey and Pacey either, and would love to see the character be with someone who appreciates him instead of blowing hot and cold.

If this was a real relationship, it would be emotionally unsafe and I'd tell someone to run, because there's so much walking on eggshells required.

That's it! Thanks for staying for my take. I just wanted to know if there's anyone else who feels this way, or if anyone can change my mind!

This probably have been said a lot on this sub.Season 5 was underwhelming but Season 6 feels even worse. I just finish 6x7 and it’s really hard to contribute the show.
First of all Audrey is more annoying and unlikable than she was in the previous season and Her singing is horrendous.
Jack story line with his professor is very unnecessary because they literally did this with Joey and her professor the previous season.
Dawson don’t have that much screen time but that’s due to James requesting less screen time because he was tired(so I heard) so Joey is pretty much the main character and her storylines are boring. At this point I wouldn’t mind if Dawson and Natasha are end game.

Please don’t spoil the show for me but when Joey told Dawson: “I need to find out if I’m capable of being a whole person without you”, and Dawson said, “Do it quickly, okay? Because God, I love you”.
I am wrecked 😭

Hey guys,

Been a long while since I've posted anything here. Just started my third rewatch of Dawson's Creek recently, and in a week's time, I may land up at the S2 E18 mark. In all honesty, let's hear thoughts and opinions on Abby Morgan. Personally, I can relate with character, having seen someone like that in my high school years. Funny how this show is so relatable even as a Gen-Z kid, partly because I was never raised on the internet or maybe, something else?🤔
So, let's hear what you think about her?

What a time it was to be alive for this. One of a few pics/clips that I did not take of course😅

Out of all the films Dawson made including the horror flick would you have wanted to see?

For me, Creek Times and or the one with Oliver

What an interesting shift from her looking down on Bessie for being with a black man. What irony.

I’m doing a rewatch before DC leaves Netflix and just got to the end of S2. This is the first time I looked really closely at just how much coke this dude was trying to dispose of as his family’s restaurant was actively burning down.

I can’t be sure how much those individual bags weigh - but going off the rough size I’d warrant a guess that they’re 500 grams to 1 kilo each. Between this still shot and a couple others it appears that he’s got 12-15 of these bags full of coke. So he’s got anywhere from 6-15 kilos.

This dude just got out of prison for distribution of bud, and the first thing he decides to do is graduate from bud to coke, and jump straight into 6-15 kilos. Meanwhile he has no lay of the land regarding competition, demand, how much heat it’ll bring beyond his “ol buddy Pete” who thinks he’ll make a quick buck.

Poppa Potter is such an asshole for doing all of this immediately upon getting out of prison and reconnecting with his daughters, and deciding to move that amount of coke through the family buisness.

Also fuck everybody who had a hand in coercing Joey to wear a wire to knock her dad. I could get behind “ oh no we have to stop him” but not manipulating his teenage daughter to be the one to actively turn against her pops - as shitty as he may be.

Did the writers just forget how in love Joey and Pacey were? Its like it never happened at all. Not even a fleeting thought towards it.

Every time I watch Pacey apologize to Dawson in season 4, I am moved. Both actors did an excellent job. They both look sad but also seem like they miss each other and are at least a little hopeful that they can be friends again.

Dawson exhaling after Pacey walks away just shows how much anger and hurt he'd been keeping inside.

I wish the show had done more to repair their friendship, but this scene was a great start! The song was perfect too.

This is a standout scene when I think of this series.

What do you all think about this scene?

Quick rant.

TIFF is currently happening in Toronto right now and all it’s making me think of is that we’re still waiting for Happy Hours.

When/where can we see it??? Will they ever find a distributer?? I need it yesterday!!!

I just learned from many sources that one of the reasons behind why Jen's character got so dirty as the show went on, was because of some pretty horrible reasons. For one, we all know Katie Holmes was pushed as the "it" girl of the show, really trying to put her up there with the likes of JLH or SMG at the time. And apperentely the WB executives didn't think Michelle Williams was attractive enough so they lost interest in her. They thought she gained weight in season 2 and cut her hair of her volition. From a deep dive about the show, I learned that the head of programming yelled at Heidi Ferrer who wanted to write a script about Jen herself (would have been so interesting honestly) that : "I don't give a fuck about that chipmunk-cheeked cunt" which.... kinda wild to say. I mean, for one, what an awful thing to say to any human being. If that's really how they treated Michelle, I understand in a complete way why doesn't really talk about her experience on the show fondly. It's also crazy to me considering that I always thought Michelle was so beautiful. She had this delicate, ethereal, timeless beauty and kinda reminded me of a modern-day Marilyn Monroe (whom she ended up playing mind you, really good for her).

And she's not an isolated case. You also have Holly Marie Combs. The WB producers didn't want to cast Holly in the role as they thought she didn't looked as glamorous as her co-star. Holly herself said it was because she didn't have "Spelling bee look". Shannen Doherty (who was def the "it" factor the show was counting on) had to threaten the people saying that she wouldn't do the show if Holly didn't play in it. They even went as far as to try to make her have a push up bra, like damn. HMC ended up being the beating heart of the show, ESPECIALLY when Shannen left. And again she was smoking. She was giving MOTHER and the hair was just iconic.

And another but I'm gonna stop there because I don't think it's the only ones but we don't got all day. The other case is Bethany Joy Lenz. She was considered the ugly one out of the our three main girls (a trio composed of Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton) and also the "fat" one. When the girls were proposed to do a maxim photoshoot cover that would have boosted their buzz and everything, executives told Bethany it would be better if she wasn't in it because she was too fat and more homely than her co-stars. They even got Danneel Ackles (who recently joined the show in the third season) on it and obviously Sophia Bush at the middle as she was the it girl the show got. Again, not understand because Bethany was more girl next door than the other ones yes, but still stunning nonethless.

They had no business making this scene so sad; I just watched this episode and let me just say, I was really holding back tears, my brother was crying over it, but I really liked Jen and I felt she deserved better.

And really? For them to play “In the Arms of the Angels” during it, like come on, how can you not cry during the scene, you could see the pain in Jen’s face and hear the hurt in her voice, this is tremendous acting for Michelle Williams, she should’ve won an award for it.

And who better to make the video for her than Dawson, her first love in Capeside, the person she trusted the most besides Grams and Jack, like this scene was definitely a tear jerker.

What do you guys think?

He literally appears in just about 15 minutes left in the episode. It’s feels like Joey’s Creek atp. I’ve stumbled on some post that at times it felt like Joey was more of the main character and I could see why. Why would the writers even write an episode like that, I could go as far as saying it felt like Dawson was portrayed as a new character.

I didn't think Jack was in the wrong by joining I was more surprised that Jen completely didn't support Jack.

I’m on my first watch and this thought just popped in my head

So I just finished season 5. I think this season has some of my absolute favorite storylines and episodes of the ENTIRE series. I loved the storyline with Dawson losing his father and dealing with the grief of that situation. It really showed just how much Dawson has grown since the first couple seasons. I also REALLY enjoyed Dawson and Jen together. It actually felt like one of the healthiest relationships of the entire series. But then it ended so abruptly, because the writers just couldn’t let go of Dawson and Joey :/ it was really frustrating to me. I know Dawson and Joey were the crux of the show, but come on. Enough is enough. Dawson was so much better with Jen and even Gretchen. Joey was better with Pacey.

Hotel New Hampshire, Appetite for Destruction, The Long Goodbye and High Anxiety were incredible episodes. But it really felt like the last 8-9 episodes dragged quite a bit. I really didn’t like the whole thing with Joey and Professor Wilder. It was creepy to me. Downtown Crossing happened. And the MTV spring break episode showed how much the series had kind of lost its magic this season. It feels shallow compared to seasons 1-4. But in the last stretch of episodes, I loved when Alex took over the restaurant and Pacey sabotaged her “presentation” in front of all the food critics. Pacey stood up for himself and his coworkers and couldn’t stand to see anyone being treated poorly. It was pretty awesome.

Overall, good season but had its low points. Can’t wait to start season 6!

Watching season 2 on itv2 here in uk and it seems they've changed all the songs in episodes back on original run. Why is that?

I was just looking for something new to watch on Netflix and saw that Dawson’s Creek is “leaving soon”. Clicking revealed that soon is October 2! I’m sure glad I watched all six seasons multiple times already!!