Top 10 Dawson's Creek Moments That Make Us Yell At Our TVs

If there’s one thing we know about Joey Potter, it’s that that girl is going to get up on stage and sing. She might act all shy, but for a girl who ostensibly hates attention of any kind, Joey sure engages in a lot of impromptu singing. But the wildest thing about Joey’s love for public singing is that she’s really not all that good at it. From the first time Joey took the stage in a local beauty pageant and sang “On My Own,” we knew the girl probably wasn’t meant for a life onstage. What makes this performance worthy of screaming at our screen, however, is that everyone else seems to think Joey is great. Some of you should get your ears checked.

When Jack first came on the scene in the second season of “Dawson’s Creek,” we had no idea he would end up becoming the gay icon that he became. That’s because Jack’s first foray into romance was with one Joey Potter. And they got hot and heavy fast! In a scene that made our hearts race back in the day, Jack agrees to pose for Joey for an art project … in the nude. That’s right! Little miss sex-averse Joey Potter studies an extremely naked man and draws him in the buff. Don’t get us wrong. We’re not mad about this arrangement at all. In this case, the yelling was more from the fact that we could not believe our eyes.

No show is perfect, and “Dawson’s Creek” was no exception. And for as perfect as the teen drama’s third season is, it does have its weak spots. Namely, one Eve Whitman. Eve shows up as a none-too-subtle Biblical allegory at the beginning of season three, and things just get worse from there. She doesn’t have much depth, and mainly serves as a carrot to dangle in front of Dawson while simultaneously driving a wedge between him and Joey. Kevin Williamson, the creator of “Dawson’s Creek,” has opened up about disliking Eve’s storyline in recent years. We have to say, we agree!

By the end of “Dawson’s Creek,” Pacey was one of the show’s most beloved characters. That trajectory toward teen heartthrob started in earnest in season two when Pacey began dating new girl Andie. In a pre-Joey-and-Pacey world, Andie and Pacey were a wonderful couple. But in season three, paradise ended in a way that broke our hearts. While in a treatment center for her mental health, Andie cheats on Pacey with another patient who she becomes close with. It’s just a terrible situation for both parties to find themselves in. The look on Joshua Jackson’s face during the break up scene alone is enough to make us want to break our televisions.

Right from the start, “Dawson’s Creek” was intent on proving to the world it wasn’t like other teen dramas. How did it do that, you might ask? Why, a student-teacher affair, of course! And who better to set the tone than the horndog himself, Pacey Witter? The very first episode of the show ends with Pacey kissing his teacher Tamara, and later on in the season he loses his virginity to her. The kiss itself is shocking enough, but the show’s insistence on seeing the storyline through is something we still can’t quite believe.

Look. Sometimes, actors want to leave television shows. And in the case of John Wesley Shipp, we sort of get it! Shipp played Dawson’s dad, Mitch Leery, and by season five, Mitch just wasn’t a main priority on the show. We can argue whether he ever really was, but that’s a longer discussion. Unfortunately for Shipp, his decision to leave the show led to one of the silliest death sequences to ever grace our screens. When Mitch is eating an ice cream cone while driving, he accidentally drops it on the ground. His attempt to salvage the ice cream ends up leading to a car crash and hence, his death. It’s hard to believe the writers couldn’t think of something better than this.

From the moment “Dawson’s Creek” begins, it’s no secret that Joey has a complicated relationship with her father. He happens to be in prison for selling drugs, so that definitely doesn’t make things easier. But in season two, Joey’s father’s release and attempted rehabilitation coincides with Dawson and Joey making a real go at a romantic relationship. Unfortunately for Dawson, he is the one who learns that Joey’s dad is still selling. So he does what any good boyfriend would do: guilt trips his girlfriend into turning her own father in, which leads to her wearing a wire for the police. This whole situation is bonkers, but what’s even more scream-inducing is the fact that Dawson barely seems to understand why Joey might be angry.

When it comes to Joey and Pacey, prom has always been a place of deep conflict. But while their junior anti-prom was filled with yearning and angst, senior prom was a whole different animal. Leading up to senior prom, things haven’t been going well for our favorite couple, mostly due to Pacey’s sense of inadequacy as graduation looms closer. During prom, he lashes out at Joey, leading to one of the saddest break-ups in teen drama history. As Pacey spiraled further into an unrelenting cycle of guilt and anger, and Joey sunk deeper into despair, our television sets definitely got an earful from us.

For the most part, “Dawson’s Creek” handled the subject of Jack’s sexuality and his journey to self-acceptance with a lot of care. However, this is a teen drama from the 90s, and what would that be without a little forced coming out? In the middle of season two, Jack’s English teacher forces him to read a very revealing poem that he wrote out loud to the class. Jack, clearly not ready to reveal himself to his classmates, is left stunned, but the teacher won’t let up. Luckily, in this case, someone else felt like yelling just as loudly as we did. Pacey ends up literally spitting in the teacher’s face. But even that show of solidarity isn’t enough to make this moment less frustrating.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

I Remember Everything, “The Anti-Prom”
Screaming Because These Two Need to Just Love Each Other Already!

Dawson Films Jen, “Kiss”
Only Dawson Could Find Romance in Secretly Recording a Woman He’s Kissing

Joey Doesn’t Go to France, “The Kiss”
Here’s a Piece of Advice: Always Go to France!

Dawson Asks His Dad How to Kiss, “Dance”
It’s Hard to Believe Joey Still Had a Crush on Dawson After Watching This Interaction

Dawson & Andie Sing the Blues, “Be Careful What You Wish For”
We Wish We Could Erase This Karaoke Performance From Our Memories

The death of a character is not uncommon in a long-running series. But did the “Dawson’s Creek” writers have to choose Jen? At the end of the series, Jen is a single mom working at an art gallery. When a fatal heart condition takes hold of her, she suddenly passes away. Before she does she has an extremely emotional heart to heart with all of the other characters (we literally cannot get through the ones with Jack and Pacey). She also leaves a terribly emotionally wrought video message for her daughter. Jen got the short end of the stick through a lot of the series, so to have her be the one to die at the end just feels like a kick to the gut.

If we missed anything that caused you to break your screen back in the day, let us know in the comments below.