Copyright Screen Rant
Dawson's Creek ran for a six-season stretch from 1998 to 2003 and though it revitalized the teen drama genre, there's one episode that, despite being a fan-favorite, has become tough to watch. Throughout its time on The WB, Dawson's Creek proved one of the most formative and transformational TV shows of the early 2000s. With fast-talking teens and gut-wrenching drama, the series had a point of view. Following Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek) through his adolescent years and beyond, the series rounded out its cast with his close friends, Joey Potter (Katie Holmes), Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson), and Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams). With the group of teens finding their way through high school, then college, the biggest component of the show was the epic love triangle between Dawson, Joey, and Pacey. While Dawson and Joey, childhood best friends who struggled to find the balance in their relationship as their hormones started raging, were the more likely choice for the show to end up on, Pacey's eventual crush on Dawson's other best friend was tough to ignore. As the series wove through their relationships throughout the series, a stretch of episodes anchored by a fan-favorite changed everything. Dawson's Creek Season 6's "Castaways" Disrupted The Show's Original Romantic Plans The Show's Iconic Bottle Episode Helped Shift Creator Kevin Williamson's Perspective After seasons of drama, Dawson's Creek season 6 was announced to the show's final outing, with original series creator Kevin Williamson set to return to write the series finale. While Williamson had been privy to what was happening in Capeside, he'd left Dawson's Creek after its second season to pursue other opportunities. Hopeful that Dawson and Joey would be the show's end note, the series had other plans. Throughout Dawson's Creek season 6, Pacey and Joey find their way back into a romantic arc with one another as they grow closer after his split with Audrey Liddell (Busy Philipps). While Joey is hesitant to indulge in something with her ex again, the beginnings of their newfound attraction stems from, "Castaways," an episode where the former couple are trapped overnight in a K-Mart. As Pacey and Joey deal with the inconvenience of being stuck in the big box store, they're confronted with their lingering feelings for one another. The pair spark their intense chemistry and revisit their history while trapped together, and their renewed romantic interest continues over the course of the next several episodes. "Castaways" is a fan-favorite, often revisited for its ability to stand on its own. A hall-of-fame Pacey and Joey episode, "Castaways" made it clear to Williamson that his original plan to bring Dawson and Joey to the finish line wasn't the right call. The chemistry between Jackson and Holmes along with the intriguing layers of the characters' finding themselves in a better place for their relationship ultimately shifted the narrative to end with Pacey and Joey together. Despite Nostalgia, "Castaways" Is Hard To Revisit For Believability's Sake The Episode Is Full Of Nostalgic Undertones, But Is Hard To Revisit While the narrative of "Castaways" made it clear that Pacey and Joey were the relationship that should stand at the end of the series, the episode's tone has lost some of its luster in the years since airing. 22 years later, the idea of being trapped in a K-Mart is somewhat laughable, both because of the chain's non-existence and the inability to be "trapped" with modern technology. Dawson's Creek viewers still find themselves enamored with "Castaways" because of its intense attention to the relationship between Joey and Pacey, but viewing it through a modern lens, the episode invites more of a suspension of disbelief than ever before. Anchoring the show in its time, while some find Dawson's Creek's bottle episode comforting and nostalgia-filled, others find it to be dated.
