Again With This: Beverly Hills, 90210

It’s Spring Break! And even though Joey is not sure she cares to present herself as prey for the goons who are going to be headed to Florida to try to get on MTV’s cameras, she lets Dawson talk her into going to spend the week in Audrey’s parents’ beach house, where no one’s really capable of having fun: Jack is keeping secrets, Jen is getting a cold, and both Pacey AND Audrey are keeping their guard up around each other rather than admit that they actually want to be boyfriend/girlfriend. They haven’t even really gotten close when suddenly a ghost appears from Audrey’s past: Chris, her high school boyfriend of two years; on top of being, as Audrey puts it, her “Dawson,” he’s also a movie star in the making AND still hung up on Audrey. Speaking of being hung up: Charlie, who ignores Joey’s flirtatious sort-of rejections to find his way to her and try to push past the barriers she’s put up against him. While this is all going on, Dawson — en route to New York to meet an agent who likes the (still untitled) mov

Dawson having Frankensteined Oliver’s still-untitled movie into some kind of barely viewable but still misshapen format, Oliver gets a great idea: to schedule a public screening on campus and invite a real film critic to come see it! Dawson didn’t know that part, which is how he manages to offend her within seconds of meeting her. Nearly everyone else who gets dragged into attending this nightmare is at a high emotional pitch: Joey is letting herself dream about getting something going with Charlie; Grams suddenly has a boyfriend; Oliver’s ready to pursue his crush on the now-single Jen; and Pacey has opened the door to investigating how many people Audrey slept with before him, getting answers he really doesn’t like. Only Jack escapes unscathed from our latest episode on “Cigarette Burns,” in which we welcome Sarah back to the co-host seat!JOIN THE AWT CLUB

Why would the singer quit Charlie's band RIGHT before a big-break upstate gig they're getting paid decent money for? To give Dawson's Creek a pretext for Katie Holmes to sing not one but THREE pop songs, of course! Sigh. Audrey goes along because she wants to, and Pacey is convinced to drive her and Joey because he wants to keep fooling around with Audrey, then regrets it as soon as Charlie shows up, having overslept and missed the van with the rest of the guys. Cue posturing from both alpha males that can only be defused with Audrey's timely, uh, intervention. The gig does give Joey an excuse to miss a trip back to Capeside for Lilly's first birthday party, but Grams, Jack, and Jen are required to go with him, getting a front-row seat to Dawson's heartbreak when he finds out Gale has made a single dad "friend" named Nathan. This is terrible timing for Jen, who had already announced to Jack before they left Boston that she was planning to break up with Dawson, but now doesn't want to add to his pain. Adam Gr

We're back from Joey's departure episode, and everyone has tons of plot to get through! Allegedly Joey's friends are taking turns babysitting her, though the only one we see her with is Dawson, which is how he gets a front-row seat to Joey's awkwardness around Wilder when she spots him on a date mere hours after he rejected her. Dawson is only on this platonic outing with Joey because Jen excused him from going with her to see a band she then has to interview for the radio station; she takes Audrey as her plus-one instead, which is convenient since Audrey needs a reason to keep her loins away from Pacey. And speaking of Pacey: he spends his evening with Jack at a bar that doesn't card, but that's not the only feature that sets it apart from Boston's many other watering holes; we don't know if it's a place where everybody knows Jack's name, but they probably have a pretty good idea of what he's into. Adam Grosswirth returns so that Tara will be a little less lonely discussing "In A Lonely Place"!JOIN THE AWT

Remember how triumphant Joey was when she pitched that very fake snowball at a T sign at the end of "Guerrilla Filmmaking"? Well, we hope she does, because her night gets a lot worse from there: she's accosted by a mugger, and losing all her liquid assets AND her coat is just the start of her ordeal. It's also just the start of OUR ordeal, because Joey can't just survive a violent assault by a stranger; she has to make him and his whole family fall in love with her, too. Adam Grosswirth is really going above and beyond sitting in for our episode of "Downtown Crossing"!JOIN THE AWT CLUB

All the excitement Dawson had about directing Oliver's movie has dissipated now that he's actually shooting it: Oliver is a terrible actor, the ending still doesn't work, and everyone has ideas that may or may not conflict with Dawson's vision. On top of that, learning lines is getting a little too Method for Audrey and Pacey, who's helping her; and Audrey's also getting caught up in the drama of her roommate Joey's entanglement with Wilder. Elsewhere, Jack is trying to get back into his frat brothers' good graces after the Civilization bar fight in the previous episode; Eric's overtures may not be something Jack can safely take at face value. Get ready to run and gun: Adam Grosswirth is back for our episode on "Guerrilla Filmmaking"!JOIN THE AWT CLUB

The time has finally come for Dawson to quit screwing around and enroll at a school in Boston -- "Viz Arts," as he is apparently determined to call it. Oliver from the New Hampshire film festival spots him on campus almost immediately and wastes no time almost literally throwing his insanely long new script at Dawson and asking him to direct it. Possibly in part because Dawson can tell how much their classmates hate Oliver, Dawson demurs...but remains exactly polite enough to irritate Jen as Oliver keeps stealing time away from her and Dawson. But considering that Jen's producers at the radio station are so sick of how shmoopy she is on mic lately, a little rage may be just what her relationship with Dawson needs right now. Elliot works up the courage to ask Joey out for dinner and a movie, and she accepts. Yay! But then Prof. Wilder swoops in with a closing dinner for everyone who worked on the Rose Lazar archive, and it's the SAME NIGHT as her date. Boo! The way you can tell that, despite her denials, Joey

Jen and Dawson have now been housemates nearly as long as they've been dating, and Jen is getting itchy: she's grossed out when Dawson wants to use her toothbrush (which he only has to because she commandeered his for makeup purposes) and violated when he starts going through her stuff in the bathroom. Jen channels these feelings into advice for the female students who call in asking for relationship tips, which is fine until Dawson tunes in just as she's saying that although you can delay it with sex, all men leave. Jack is finding out this is true in a sense at the frat house: as he moves in to a capacious single, upperclassman Blossom is moving into a shared room with Eric. Turns out Jack is right to be suspicious about how THAT arrangement came about. On the heels of Pacey's big promotion at [eye-roll] Civilization, Melanie returns with a thrilling offer: her uncle bought a bigger boat and he's taking it out to sail around the Greek Islands...in three days. What will Pacey do? And will his increased cont

Having said in the previous episode that she was relieved Jen was taking the responsibility of taking care of Dawson apparently doesn't preclude Joey from ALSO being jealous of them. And since the incredible grades she just got are worthy of celebration, she hits the club with Audrey and Pacey to take her mind off things. Running into Charlie should put her mind back ON Jen, but then he hits on her and gives her a devilish idea that Audrey and Pacey have to put their flirting on hold to witness. Meanwhile, Dawson brings Jen back to Capeside, where Gale is confronted by their new relationship status because her clod son didn't tell her about it in advance. When the plot conveniently removes him, Jen and Gale get serious about what Dawson should be doing with his life now and which of them should be the one to order him around. (Spoiler: not the one who's going to be paying for any school he enrolls in next.) Get wild about our episode on "Something Wild"!JOIN THE AWT CLUB

Remember in the weirdly rescheduled Halloween episode when Pacey promised to make dinner for everyone when Jen and Dawson came back from New Hampshire? It's time. On their way in, Dawson and Jen agree to keep things low-profile before proceeding to mack on the doorstep AND in the foyer, where their friends all immediately witness them doing. Cue the entrances and exits as Jack worries that Jen and Dawson are both too emotionally raw for what they're embarking on, everyone monitors Joey for signs of an imminent breakdown, and Pacey is alternately annoyed by and concerned about his diners failing to appreciate his food. We tell you where everyone leaves things, so we hope you brought an appetite for our episode on "Appetite For Destruction"!JOIN THE AWT CLUB

What better time to tell four scary stories than...right between Thanksgiving and Christmas? Here's the flimsy pretext: after coming home from a so-so horror movie, Joey, Jack, and Pacey make like a Treehouse Of Horror and tell their own stories. What happened to Joey in the library? Jack when he was alone in the frat house? Pacey on an improbable drive home with Karen? And what scarifying tale did Grams hear from Jen? We go through them all in our latest podcast episode, if you're not too much of a fraidy-cat to listen!JOIN THE AWT CLUB

On Dr. Weir's encouragement, Dawson decides he should go to the Hooksett, NH Film Festival and collect his prize for his documentary on Mr. Brooks. Since Jen is eager to get away from Charlie and Nora, Dawson suggests that she come...................as it were but NO SPOILERS. Jack invites Joey to be his date for the frat's winter formal, but when the call goes out at the house to hook unattached brothers up with girls who are goers, Jack admits that he might know one, and sets his brother Eric up with Audrey. What conflict ensues probably wouldn't if Eric were at all a decent conversationalist. Pacey decides to reframe the narrative with Karen by asking her out on a no-expectations, non-romantic date, but Pacey being Pacey, his best-laid plans...................okay, again, no spoilers. No need to hit the Granite State: our episode on "Hotel New Hampshire" is right here!JOIN THE AWT CLUB

With Jen's support, Dawson returns to Dr. Weir's office and finds out a lot: she thinks his panic attacks might be about more than just Mitch's death; he's entitled to be angry at Mitch even though he's dead; and, oh yeah, she's played by a pre-NCIS Pauley Perrette, looking just plain wrong as a blonde (yes, even with very dark roots). While Audrey gets a lovestruck film geek to help her with her audition tape for The Real World Ibiza, Joey gets deep into the Rose Lazar archive. You wouldn't think the two could have anything to do with each other but, preposterously, they do. And as the restaurant prepares to celebrate a big anniversary, Pacey tells Karen he knows, which only makes his job there more complicated. We've got your audiotape on "Text, Lies And Videotape"!JOIN THE AWT CLUB

Having ruled out any physical source of the periodic faintness Dawson's been feeling, Dawson's doctor recommends a therapist specializing in grief who works in Boston. Dawson doesn't tell anyone he has an appointment to see her, which may be why he only makes it as far as her waiting room before bailing to try to put on a brave face with his friends -- including Jack, who takes him straight to a frat party for some drinking games. This gets Dawson just wasted enough to say some really hurtful things to Joey when he sees her later that night. By that point, Joey has already been listening to hurtful things all night: Audrey's mother Kay (Brenda Strong!) has come to town to re-up all the food and body issues Audrey may have allowed to go dormant in her absence. Elsewhere, Jen is still moping about having spotted Charlie kissing another girl, but when Pacey points out that she can always get even with him, Jen decides to run with it. Don't be anxious: our episode on "High Anxiety" is right here -- and Adam Gros

Having apparently exhausted his usefulness at home, Gale sends him to Worthington to hang out with Joey for a couple of days. Given Dawson's lack of interest in her when she was home for the funeral, she is nervous as hell about how the visit's going to go. Once he gets there, he doesn't seem especially psyched to watch a movie on her tiny TV even before they get to a scene that too closely mirrors recent events in his life. When she mentions a party at Professor Wilder's house, he's eager to go...until he actually gets there and immediately feels trapped. What is happening to Dawson's emotions and why? (...We all know, but it's 2001; they hadn't heard of trauma yet back then.) Pacey's in the middle of telling Jen all about his amazing new mentor Danny and crush Karen when Jen happens to spot Charlie through the window of a restaurant: he told Jen he had a shift at the radio station that night, but here he is dining with ANOTHER GIRL?! While Jen comes to terms with Charlie's possible trampiness, Pacey starts

Mitch is dead, and everyone's stopped their lives to deal with it. All the Boston students, plus Grams and Pacey, come back for the funeral. (Evidently all Pacey's relatives -- including Gretchen, who lives less than a half-day's drive away -- had better things to do.) Jen doesn't know how to help Dawson, and says so to him. Joey thinks she does, and gets rebuffed. Dawson himself is handling as much of the preparations as he can because Gale has fully broken down, though when he does open up, it's to tell Joey he blames himself entirely for Mitch's death. This is such a relentlessly grim one that we better get at least three kooky ones to balance it out, but for now, say hello to our episode on "The Long Goodbye"! JOIN THE AWT CLUB

It turns out Danny's restaurant is quite a hot spot, which is how a scenester like Joey (sarcasm) happens to be there on one of Pacey's first nights working there. Jen readily confesses everything she knows about his time in Boston, including that THIS chance glimpse really did happen by chance, since Jen didn't know he worked there. Once Joey has heard that Pacey asked Jen not to tell Joey he was in town, Joey starts spinning out that he must not want to see her. Fortunately, Audrey is there to convince her to get over herself. Dawson is also still hanging out in Boston, dragging his feet on telling his parents that he wants to drop out of USC and move to Boston. When he finally does, Mitch is stern and judgmental to Dawson while admitting to Gale that he really did miss Dawson and wasn't upset to see him back. Neither parent thinks it's a great idea for him to change his college plan to spend more time with a girl he's not even dating, and they've obviously got a point. Jen starts overthinking her relations

We’re off this week but we bring you two Again With Again With This episodes from the club vault. AWAWT 172: Let's Watch Linda Gray AND Donna Mills In Ladies Of The '80s: A Divas Christmas! Life imitates art -- or maybe Lifetime imitates soaps -- as a bunch of daytime divas from an earlier age reunite for a special episode of their old show, and help a couple of young people out of their own way in the process. Call your mom -- she might be wondering which of her favorite stars from Knots Landing and Dallas are still alive! AWAWT 220: Let’s Watch Laura Leighton In Naked City: A Killer Christmas! The Naked City (1948) spawned a TV show in the fifties, AND two Showtime movies in the nineties; the second one stars Laura Leighton as an ambitious but ambivalent tabloid-newsmag anchor. It also stars Scott Glenn and Courtney B. Vance as cop partners, but are they (or Bogdanovich's direction) enough to save a corny script? JOIN THE AWT CLUB

Dawson having shown up in Boston as none of us particularly wanted him to, he's had a delightful weekend (offscreen) with Joey. That all changes on his last day when he finally thinks to call his USC dorm room for the one and only message on his answering machine: the one Joey left, while drunk at a frat party, telling him that SHE. Is OVER. HIM. Or something like that. Suddenly, Dawson is incensed, so it's a good thing Joey has an administrative task to handle: it's the last day she can drop Professor Wilder's Creative Writing class, so she's going to be standing in an hours-long line while Dawson has Audrey give him the campus tour and listen to his bitching about his lonely loser life in Los Angeles. (Which we already had a glimpse of with that nearly empty answering machine.) Pacey turns out not to be a lonely loser on the yacht: he's seeing a rich girl named Melanie (future House and Once Upon A Time star Jennifer Morrison!), this summer's boat babe, and this one will even sleep with him. Pacey has just

Joey is working hard to deserve her spot at Worthington -- not just studying but grade-grubbing, particularly with her creative writing instructor Professor Wilder (Ken Marino!), and getting a reputation as an enemy of fun with her free-spirited roommate Audrey (Busy Philipps!). Over at Boston Bay College, Jack is trying to stay faithful in his long-distance relationship with Tobey while trying to find a guy for Jen for the first time since Henry, yes really. A chance invitation to a frat party puts Jen in the path of Charlie (Chad Michael Murray!), the cute bass guitarist in the party band, and makes Joey realize she really might be stuck in the past. She could have been even FURTHER stuck there, however, since Dawson was supposed to visit this weekend until he got an internship starting immediately. But excited as he was to work under hotshot director Todd, the lessons Dawson learns are tougher than the Capeside wunderkind is used to. Park your arse in Harvard Yard (sorry) and enjoy our episode on "The Bost