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STUDIO: Sony Pictures
MSRP: $119.95
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 997 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Select episode commentaries
Interactive tour of Capeside
The Pitch
Dawson contemplates drowning Pacey in the Creek. Joey shrugs and watches from the shore.
The Humans
James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson, Kerr Smith
The Nutshell
Joey’s dad totally got busted for selling drugs. Then, Andie got sent to the Insane Asylum. Dawson went to Philly for a film program and then met a total whore named Eve. Pacey got close to Joey’s maidenhead, while Jack moved in with Jen. It’s cool because Jack likes weiner and Jen is a Feminist. All of this before the start of their junior year at Capeside High.
The Lowdown
Dawson and company spent their summers well. Jen and Jack are living together. Hell, what other show has the head cheerleader and a gay football player dominating the High School? Things are thrown for a while when Michael Pitt shows up as a freshman Football player that wants to put the moves on Jen. Dawson and his new lady Eve hit things off, but it quickly delves into forbidden fruit territory. Eve’s slightly older and more willing to bone the shit out of Dawson. This leads to a predictable conclusion.
The third season finds its strength straying away from this and returning back to Pacey, Andie and Joey. Andie is our vessel for approaching the truly scatter-brain third season. The love triangle element comes into play, but Andie realizes where she stands. She’s the odd chick out, as Pacey nuts up and goes in for the boner kill. Joey just stands there and takes it. She gets to moan a bit about her dad’s drug bust. But, that’s all she does for twenty episodes.
Nothing happens for the last couple of episodes. Sure, you get the quick last minute moments that lead to the next season. But, it feels so lame compared to the last two years. Calling something like this lame almost feels like a joke. How can one actively watch a bunch of teens moaning and growing about stupid bullshit. Sure, MTV has made a fortune off of it. What does this all mean for the average CHUD reader?
It means that there are things outside of your safety viewing circle. Melodrama being that weird phantom zone that occupies the hours between The Simpsons and 30 Rock. Girls watch this stuff like how we watch Ninja Warrior and they enjoy it for the same mindless entertainment factor. I just wish that we had the promise of more gross sexuality. The tease of having young Katie Holmes prancing around before us is almost too much. I just want to travel back in time and warn her about Tom Cruise. She can still be saved, I know it.
The third season ends with long-time viewers realizing that the WB won out. Kevin Williamson was long gone, along with most of the better writers. The soap opera staples were firmly established and the guest star carousel was beginning to spin. For all the good that came from Pacey and Joey finally getting together, we had to sacrifice so much quality. Eventually, the show would collapse under its melodramatic weight. But, we’ve still got three more seasons until that promised day.
The Package
The
DVD
only
contains two commentaries and an interactive tour of Capeside. The tour consists of short video clips showing where things were filmed. You can reflect on that for its five minute duration and then move onto the commentaries. The A/V Quality is much the same across the entire series. Decent transfers matched by rather flat Dolby 2.0 tracks.