Dawson's Creek: Season 2 DVD

Stars: and three quarters

Oh lord people, I went and bought season 2. Now before we begin, I just want to get the controversial matter of the soundtrack changes out of the way, and quick. Apparently, due to licensing or some cash-based legal style complication, some of the mincing pop ditties from the original eps were swapped out, much to the gnashing and wailing of semi-literate fan posters on Amazon.com. Now, I've never really seen most of these episodes myself, so I didn't really know the difference, except that some very soppy, mincing b-list songs seemed to blare out conspicuously during key moments in the episodes. So take note.

But back to this review. One day while home with a sore throat, headache, and the burning fever of career anomie and depression, I watched approximately 100 episodes from this disc, or anyway, at least 13. I hardly moved the whole time, and thus was steeped in a contiguous and unrelenting dose of dawsonian season 2 dramatics for the day. The verdict is this: in season 2, Dawson debuts the signature delusion and narcissism that paves the way for his unbroken plummet to the basement floor of fan regard in seasons 3-6. For some reason, the writers thought it would make sense to have the lead character, at 15, create an autobiographical film about his life thus far, which consisted mostly of a fight with a girlfriend he'd had for three weeks. This was not framed as a mentally unhinged or even questionable activity for the boy; you almost got the impression that the series' creator was somehow proud of Dawson's humorless brand of pluck. Frankly the whole thing was creepy.

One cannot conclude any review of this set without also mentioning that Dawson sings, in an episode that is sure to cause at least one person in the room to crawl under the table, overwhelmed by feelings of embarrassment for this moment having been digitally etched in time.

ANYway, throw in a sub-plot about second season replacement characters Jack I'm Just A Normal Guy McPhee coming crankily out of the closet, and his sister Andie channeling multiple personalities with a mach 10 motor mouth, and it makes for a hit and miss season all around. I think we're just biding time for season 3 at this point, when Pacey pulls out all the studly stops and steals Joey from that huffy wanker, Dawson. Stay tuned.

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