Dawson's Creek did the same thing as Scream. Only for teen dramas. It was self aware, and well aware of its flaws and stronger suits. Decisions is the first season finale, and as Joey pointed out at the start, in that required bedroom monologue between her and Dawson. There needed to be some big last second event, to have viewers come back next season. Only the quality of the episode alone, normally justified them being invested for more. Or not. Because when you think about it, what makes season one so good, is that it is built up like a mini-series. And even though you loved every bits of it, you could just end there, and dream up the rest. That's what made Dawson's Creek better than most fantasy free teen dramas of that time. Even if the ending was written in case the series wouldn't be picked up next year, it was done in a way that brought closure to what we've seen of the show so far, but also left the door wide open for more stories. They missed one big opportunity with that shot of Jen near the ghost face mask. Which should've been Michael Myers, as Michelle Williams was shooting H20 at the same time. But I digress. Like most reviewers said, it was a good tear jerker, with some stellar acting from Katie Holmes. Who seemed to have been recovering from her lethargy of previous episodes. I can't explain it though, but I thought Williams wasn't as convincing. Which is ironic, considering she's the one who is praised the most for her acting, these days... Grams bursting into tears in Jen's arms, however, did the trick. And those wonderful « Dawsonesque » mellow tunes, were there to enhance the emotions of each scenes. Pacey « the underdog » back when it wasn't the latest trend. Is there to help out, but don't really justify his presence in this finale. And Jen's indecision was anything but endearing. Dawson, as much as he can be the hero of the show, is just there and should've let Joey go to Paris. Maybe then they would've had their chance at a more sain relationship...
