Decisions!

Mark here... Laurel and I have settled in for another bit of TV Night.  It's Holiday time and usually I host a brunch, but I wasn't together with it enough this year.  Instead we've made a holiday brunch for dinner.  Laurel made a bread pudding with spinach and ham topped with a hollandaise sauce and I made potato latkes with a chive and sour cream topping and smoked salmon.

So we've made it to the Season 1 finale, "Decisions", and...meh.  It's a really dramatic episode. Joey gets the opportunity to go to Paris for either summer or the next year, neither of us can remember.  In any case, this leads Dawson to realize he is in love with Joey.  This comes across  as totally unrealistic since he's spent the season being completely oblivious to Joey being in love with him.  All episode we are treated to talk of cliffhangers to remind us how self-aware this show is, and let us know what to expect...

Meanwhile Jen's grandfather, who has been in a coma all season, briefly revives, only to pass away by the end.  As dramatic as this sounds, its frankly more interesting than the Joey-Dawson drama.  I know that the Joey-Dawson love is supposed to be the big story, but the reality of the two of them comes across as so stilted and awkward. Also, Joey visits her jailbird Dad in the big house.  The only interesting part here is Pacey's role and how just being with Pacey manages to make Joey more interesting...

Laurel here..I agree that the brief parts of this episode with Pacey and Jen are somehow way more interesting than the stuff between Dawson and Joey which is supposed to be the big deal.  who cares?

Poor Jen really gets the short end of the stick this episode.  She loses Dawson to Joey AND her grandpa dies.  At one point we got really frustrated with her because she gives her grams sort of a lecture about how her religion is a crock while her grandpa is in the hospital and her grams is trying to be positive about her faith and the power of prayer (which Mark and I agreed we both believe is real, at least as a form of self reflection, regardless of which religion it's attached to).  But in the end Jen comes around and joins her grams at church at the end of the episode after they lose grandpa.

I really hope that Joey decides to go to Paris but I know that she won't because she is super boring and always seems to make the opposite choice of what you hope she will do.  I'm sort of dreading next season when I'm sure she and Dawson will talk us to death about being together the same way they talked us to death about their friendship this season....

Roasted Butternut Squash with Cider Vinagrette

This is a take on a Barefoot Contessa recipe, plus or minus a few ingredients:

• 
  
• 1 (1 1/2-pound) butternut squash, peeled and 3/4-inch) diced
• Good olive oil
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 4 ounces mixed baby greens
• 1/2 cup walnuts halves, toasted
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the butternut squash on a sheet pan. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, the maple syrup, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and toss. Roast the squash for 15 to 20 minutes, turning once, until tender. Add the cranberries to the pan for the last 5 minutes.  Pay particular attention to this, as it can be a pan-ruiner, or at least a real bitch to clean up.  The maple syrup makes the squash taste amazing, but can also burn or blacken the sheet pan, and because it can be sticky I would avoid using aluminum foil or paper on the sheet pan.  I think it probably requires more attention than I gave it with tossing around...

While the squash is roasting, combine the apple cider vinegar and shallots in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until reduced to about 1/4 cup. Off the heat, whisk in the mustard, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

Place the greens in a large salad bowl and add the roasted squash mixture, the walnuts, and the grated Parmesan. Spoon just enough vinaigrette over the salad to moisten and toss well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Beauty Contest

In this episode Joey enters the Miss Windjammer Beauty pageant!  I know it seems so unlike her, right?   But first place prize is $5000 and as we keep hearing over and over, she is so poor.  Jen volunteers to help her get ready for the pageant, and they finally get some lady time together where they are not exclusively talking about Dawson (although they do a little, how could they resist?).  The best thing about this episode..Joey finally admits that she has been a bitchy cunt to Jen ever since she got to Capeside.  Does this burst of honesty mean that they might finally become actual friends?  I will dare to dream.

Thankfully Pacey enters the pageant also and provides some much needed screen time relief from Joey looking at the ground and shrugging her shoulders in her "aw shucks I'll never be pretty enough to win this beauty contest" way.

Mark here... in this episode Dawson finally realizes his love for Joey, because she puts on a dress and sings a song.  And of course Jen can't handle this because women must always fight over a man. Really this writing is a little ridiculous.  I mean Jen broke up with Dawson and has been trying to make friends with Joey, yet for some reason the writers want us to believe she must still be harboring feelings for him. To me it really just seems like they don't know how to write women.  Jen and Dawson had zero chemistry, so this feels forced.  

Laurel here...I agree with Mark totally.  I can only hope that Joey and Jen become real friends and talk each other out of liking Dawson.  If they are gonna pretend not to fight over anyone it should be Pacey.

Double Date!

So I guess, according to Wikipedia, we watched this episode out of order, but it was the next on the DVD.  It makes sense though because it seems like it came first, because Dawson starts out complaining about Jen not seeing him and Dawson's parents are back to worrying about their relationship.
In any case this episode involves Jen and Cliff going on a date and Dawson deciding to make it a double date with a random girl who looks like she was plucked from the cast of Law & Order. Seriously, her wardrobe is sensible pantsuit...totally appropriate for high school.  I was expecting her to have a gun under her blazer. Dawson behaves like a little bitch, and I think he is the Brenda Walsh of the series..and I am generally a fan of Brenda, Dawson, not so much.
By far the more interesting plot line of the episode is Joey being stuck working on a science project with Pacey. Clearly there is much more chemistry between these two. Pacey manages to make Joey much more likeable.  Her bitchiness comes across as more fun.  It doesn't pan out at the end, but I think there's a future there...

Laurel here...this episode was pretty watchable, mainly because of the Joey/Pacey chemistry developing.  I hope they get together!  I personally don't get it why these gals are hemming and hawing over Dawson, Pacey is way better.  Also I could not believe what a jerk Dawson was to his poor SVU lady cop date in this episode.  He asks her out, but then takes her on a double date with his ex girlfriend that just broke up with him 2 weeks ago without giving her a heads up?  BOO!

Mark here... I would also like to note one more thing...we've seen "poor" Joey's house several times, and see it again this episode.  As far as I can tell, Joey's house is a huge property burdened with mismatched flower pots and patchwork sofas on the porch, as opposed to Dawson's perfect wicker deck furniture!

Scare!!

Next episode..."Scare"...this episode is clearly supposed to be a halloweeny episode. All the characters end up at Dawson's for a Seance on Friday the 13th.  Back tracking a little, Jen has brought her date, Cliff and Pacey and Dawson bring a random woman they meet at a convenience store who is clearly in an abusive relationship.  The whole episode has the feel of "tinkering" from either staff writers or producers who wish to remind us of plot lines. Otherwise, it works well as a scary episode.  The woman from the convenience store is being stalked by her boyfriend and this would have worked better if she was a teenager, but that would involve a teenager in an abusive relationship.  As it plays out, its ends up written for laughs and all works out well in the end, even though the cops probably should have been involved! There's a number of scares throughout and the segways to the characters relationships with each other come across as disjointed and out of place.  Then at the end everyone acts like nothing has happened in a sitcom-y way which seems forced.

Laurel here...again I am left wondering, where are the parents?  Dawson brings a bunch of his friends and a older lady who they pick up at a gas station back to his house at nighttime, and the parents are not around?  with no explanation?  I mean they still live there right?  Then the psycho abusive boyfriend comes over and breaks a bunch of windows...who wants to take bets that this will never be explained or even mentioned in the next episode?  Is Jen's grandma the only responsible adult in this crazy town?

Mark here...Also, I'd like to add that Jen's Grams likes this guy and claims he's from "good stock", yet from what we know about Jen's Grams, I think the nerdier guy would be more appealing than the hometown jock, no?

Roadtrip!

We're Back!  Tonight Laurel and I are enjoying a Polenta and Onion Jam dish that Laurel made and Ina Garten's Warm Butternut Squash with Cider Vinagrette that I made.  We're on to the next episode of Dawson's, "Roadtrip".  It opens in Dawson's room with Dawson baying at the moon over his break up with Jen...Joey in the background lurking of course.  Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply" is playing.  The episode is about the boys, Dawson, Pacey and Jen's douchey ex taking a trip to exotic Providence, RI while the girls deal with the school rumor mill back in Capeside.
On the ferry ride to Providence (there is no ferry ride to Providence, meanwhile), the boys notice some guys harassing an old lady in her car in one of the most ridiculously hilarious subplots...like really, there's nothing better for some 40-something men to do than shake an old lady's car?!?!  The boys plot an elaborate and totally unrealistic payback for these men, that, in reality, would have landed them in jail.  But, being TV, hilarity ensues!!
Back in Capeside, a school jock makes up a story about sleeping with Joey and she and Jen plot their own revenge with a competing rumor about Joey being pregnant. This leads to rumor on top of rumor in a scenario that should have played out in a week's time, yet we are lead to believe it all takes place in a day!  Once again, Joey responds to Jen's help by being a total bitch.  The writing of the show seems to be whenever these two are together they can't be friends.  Joey remains a bitch and all they can talk about is Dawson!
The boys end up at a bar with Dawson making time with a woman old enough to be his mom.  Yet she has a braid in her hair and a grungy scarf and leather jacket over her mom jeans to convince us she's down with the young folk.  Sort of like a hipper Andrea Zuckerman from 90210.  So it makes sense Dawson would hit on her...

Laurel here...favorite quote from this episode "She rejected romance, honesty, and respect" - Dawson on Joey breaking up with him.  GET OVER YOURSELF!!

This episode left a lot to be desired in terms of logic.  I know, I know, it's a teen soap opera...but there are basic minimums I feel a TV show should meet.  I'm not a tv snob at all but please help me try to get on board!!  For example...why would Pacey and Dawson go on a road trip with some douchebag (jen's ex) that they hate?   Why would Dawson and a 40 year old at the bar be interested in each other?  How did these guys even get into a bar?  How did the rumor about sleeping with Joey started by Jockface (played by eric balfour) and 3 distinct counter rumors only take one day to circulate (and prompt very elaborate locker retaliation jokes), and even catch the attention of a teacher when clearly it would have taken at least a few days, if not a week? How are we supposed to think that jock face actually wants to date Joey when he's just told the whole school that she's a slut?   Why, when a couple of douchebags are terrorizing an old lady on the ferry (which btw according to mark does not exist from cape cod to providence, but there is one from long island) are all the extras just casually walking by on deck??  And Jen is STILL being nice to bitchface Joey when she gets nothing back from her?  I usually give shows a lot of leeway in the making-sense department, but please, throw us a bone?!  At least meet us halfway?!