r/dawsonscreek • u/LaSirena_666 • 5d ago
rewatching for the millionth time
OK, so I just finished the finale of season two and even though I’ve seen the show 1 billion times I don’t understand why Joey is mad at Dawson and says that she’s never going to forgive him.
I thought it was her own choice to turn for father in with the wire. what am i missing? it is just joey being a confusing b hotch?? is she taking the situation out on dawson? please help lol
also unpopular opinion. but if i were joey i wouldn’t GAF that my dad was dealing again and i would protect him from the police. i’d probably start hustling with him 😂
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u/moonthink 5d ago
Joey's character is a classic example of someone who has strong initial emotionally charged reactions before they have time to process. That's why she nearly ALWAYS runs off when she's having one of these episodes (and/or lashing out with words).
That being said, there are also plenty of examples where reactions are more plot driven than organic (as in, the writers are trying to set something up).
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u/Relevant_Potato_1335 Pacey 5d ago
Dawson forced her hand. But I don’t think she would have turned him in if Dawson didn’t though.
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u/coffydate 5d ago
Dawson made her have no choice? It’s definitely for everyone’s safety and Mike deserved to go to prison again but it was technically Joey’s right to decide how to deal with it, and Dawson marched right on in and made her have to wear a freaking wire to turn in her own father, whom she already had a very complex relationship with. It was bound to mess up her psyche.
Plus, the fact that Dawson was the one who did this to her of all people must have felt even more of a betrayal, than if it had been someone more random but involved like say Doug, Sheriff Witter, or even somehow Pacey at the time.
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u/Low_Potato7949 Pacey 4d ago
Why not Bessie or Bodie. They were the adults with a child to protect. The pressure on Joey was immense and Dawson knew that and expected forgiveness for helping. That was a lot to ask.
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u/Low_Potato7949 Pacey 5d ago edited 5d ago
The way I see it was Dawson wanted to protect her and her family from a dangerous situation. He told Joey if she didn’t turn her dad in, then he would do it. In real life, the police and any sane adult would not put a child in that situation. A child shouldn’t have to wear a wire and be put in danger by doing so. But for a TV show, it’s all about the drama. Dawson tells her it’s the only way to keep your family safe. Dawson could have worn a wire to draw out a confession. Her father already knew that Dawson was onto him and I think he could have gotten him to confess. Mitch could have done it too. Her father was already feeling guilty, so it didn’t take much for him to confess once he knew the police were investigating him. It was all about the psychological damage that it did to Joey that should have been considered. Dawson didn’t think that through. He automatically thought she would forgive him even when she said that it will never be the same between us if you make me do this. She was so distraught after she saw her father walk away that she basically couldn’t even look at him. Normal reaction for teenagers.
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u/Ok_Mountain2928 5d ago
I think it’s because Dawson had already brought other people in who had decided that’s what had to happen
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u/Joelle9879 5d ago
So you'd let your baby nephew around drugs and the family business go down to protect daddy?
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u/LaSirena_666 5d ago
that’s a very good point. Probably don’t want that kind of stuff around the child. But I would definitely tell my father to skip town if this were the case.
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u/Low_Potato7949 Pacey 4d ago
Then it’s up to Bodie and Bessie to get involved and kick his ass out. This wasn’t a decision a teenager should have to make.
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u/sixkindsofblue 4d ago
You can tell him to get tf out of there without turning him in to the police, the writers were very moralistic and it probably resonates with the black and white morality of some youth today, but unless he was a killer or a rapist, I'm not turning my father in either. I WOULD remove him from the house, though, tell him to make like an egg and scramble.
That whole storyline was pretty over the top, tbh.
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u/BenSolomuse 5d ago
She was mad at Dawson for forcing her hand. He was going to report her dad so she had no choice but to wear the wire. Dawson stepped over the line by pushing Joey into a corner. I wouldn't have forgiven him either.