THE DAWSON FILES SEASON 3
Score: 7.9 / 10 
20: The Dawson's Creek Players Do 'Groundhog Day'
Starring Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek) as Kid Flash/Mr Tosser/Dunstan, Joey Potter (Katie Holmes) as Ah Joey, Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams) as Chipmunk Face, Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson) as The Paceman, Jack McPhee (Kerr Smith) as Gay Jack, Andie McPhee (Meredith Monroe) as Crazy Andy and Grams (Mary Beth Peil) as herself. For more information on these people and more, consult the scorecard
Well, well, well. Just when you think it could get no better, it up and bloody well does.
We begin with The Paceman and Ah Joey just pashing their little brains out. Everybody's outside waiting for The Paceman to christen his stupid boat - the I Want To Bonk Ah Joey. He comes out and does so. Then Paceman and Ah Joey flip a coin to see who gets to destroy Dawson. Paceman wins and off he trots. But he can't find him... so Ah Joey says 'time's up, Paceman. It's my turn.' And she goes off to destroy Dawson. But she doesn't do so either. She comes out to Paceman and they say 'well, who's going to do it?' and they squabble and bicker and Dawson overhears them and comes out and says 'What's going on?'
We then had an ad break. This may not seem critical but it was, because I took an opportunity during the ad break to duck off and compose a haiku about how wonderful Dawson's Creek was. I came back and missed the first two seconds of the return. It was a crucial miss because it was there that they revealed that they were going to replay the day again and add a bit more detail. Which was fine, except for the fact that if you didn't know they were doing this, everything seemed awfully, awfully repetitive.
"It's the same technique that made Groundhog Day a smash around the world ..."
Which it was. What I like most about this bloody brilliant show is how if they run short of a plot, the writers don't panic. They just adapt to the situation. Here we had enough plot for say, half an hour worth of show. So the writers simply repeated bits over and over, adding new bits each time. It's the same technique that made Groundhog Day a smash around the world and which ensured that The Proclaimers had two number one hits with essentially the same song.
So repeat the first paragraph a few times adding the following extra tidbits - it was Chipmunk Face who told Kid Flash about his friends and their tonsil duties, Crazy Andy still loves Paceman (in one absolutely brilliant scene she told Paceman off, saying 'Paceman, he's her first love, you're never going to be able to beat that', which may have been fine advice except for the fact that her date for the evening was standing right beside her. She might as well have just added 'Do you think that this horny young doofus here has a hope in hell of being more interesting to me than you? Look at him!'), Gay Jack did nothing (again), Chipmunk boy behaved like a prat (again) and then Ah Joey dumped Paceman so that the Flash Kiddie would calm down and stop crying.
That's all. Next week: Paceman and Kid Flash have a boat race to see who wins Ah Joey's heart. Naturally, it all ends in tragedy (I think the ghost of Abby (the one who drowned last year) rises from the dead and tries to seduce Gay Jack again).
THE DAWSON'S CREEK HAIKU
Ah Joey's so
cute,
Does not look like a chipmunk
Dawson lacks penis
Begone,
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