While teen dramas are meant to be pretty realistic since the characters are handling problems and ups and downs that everyone faces in high school, these shows involve some disbelief. After all, the teens often look much older than their age (with the exception of Degrassi), and they definitely don't always act in a realistic manner.
One of the most loved teen shows is Dawson's Creek, which ran for six seasons on The WB from 1998 until 2003. The story of best friends Joey Potter (Katie Holmes) and Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek) is always charming, and fans are always happy to return to the world of Capeside and see what the rest of the characters are up to (even if they've seen each episode countless times). But even though this is a solid teen drama, there are still many confusing things about it. Here are 10 things about Dawson's Creek that make no sense.
10. How Grams Treats Jen In Season One
The relationship that Jen Lindley (Michelle Williams) and her Grams (Mary Beth Peil) share is so sweet. While many teen dramas feature moms and dads who leave behind empty houses that are perfect for big parties, it was nice to see a different kind of family unit.
But something that doesn't make sense is how Grams treats Jen in the first season of Dawson's Creek. She's so incredibly rigid and strict and doesn't seem to understand that while she's religious, Jen doesn't share her beliefs. Instead of understanding that Jen feels abandoned by her parents, who literally shipped her off to Capeside so they didn't have to raise her, Grams expects Jen to act just like her. Sure, every relationship has its rocky moments, but Grams acts pretty mean in the beginning.
9. Dawson Being So Oblivious To Joey's Love For Him
Even someone who has never seen a single episode of Dawson's Creek knows that Joey and Dawson are soulmates and star-crossed lovers. Some might call their relationship melodramatic and others would just it call it romantic. But regardless of how much of a hopeless romantic you are, you can tell that from the pilot, Joey is madly in love with Dawson.
It doesn't make any sense that Dawson has no idea that Joey feels this way about him. It's not until the season one finale, "Decisions," that he realizes she has a crush on him and he feels the same way. Even when Dawson is dating Jen in those early episodes and Joey is acting like a jerk because she's so envious, Dawson still seems so clueless.
8. Joey And Dawson Always Blame Each Other When Things Go Wrong
Between Dawson spilling that Joey's dad is dealing drugs at the end of season one and Joey finding out that his mom, Gail (Mary-Margaret Humes), is sleeping with her coworker, these characters always blame each other for the things that are wrong in their lives.
They definitely don't believe in the whole "don't kill the messenger" thing because they get upset with each other a lot. Instead of understanding that it's hard to tell your friend something like this, they act in such a silly way.
7. Dawson And Joey Act Immaturely About Intimacy
Dawson's Creek fans knew that eventually, Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson) and Joey would sleep together. But while it totally makes sense for a couple on a teen drama to be intimate, it doesn't make sense that Dawson and Joey would act in such an immature manner about it.
After the season four episode "A Winter's Tale," Joey can't possibly tell Dawson that she and Pacey had sex, so she lies. That's pretty weird, especially because it seems like they would either be close enough that she would just be honest... or he would understand that they don't need to share those types of things. Later, when Dawson wants to give Joey some money to pay for college, Joey wants to tell him about having sex with Pacey... but why would that be connected? It's just confusing.
6. Jen And Pacey Sleep Together In Season 3
While Jen and Pacey only sleep together once (thankfully realizing that this was the worst idea ever), it's really strange to remember this storyline.
Many loyal Dawson's Creek fans can't even think about Jen and Dawson dating (twice) because they ship Joey and Dawson so hard, so it's impossible to imagine Jen and Pacey ever being a real couple. This plotline was a mistake, that's for sure.
5. Andie's Therapist's Idea
In the season two episode, "Be Careful What You Wish For," Andie's (Meredith Monroe) therapist tells her to have a wild night, so that's what she and Dawson do.
It seems hard to believe that a therapist would tell someone this... especially a teenage girl. It's just not realistic. It's also unrealistic that Andie, who likes to follow the rules, would even be interested in this.
4. Jack Joins A Frat
Everyone loves Jack McPhee (Kerr Smith) because he's got a heart of gold and is such a good friend to Jen. But a frat boy he isn't.
While it's true that not every frat member deserves a bad reputation, the frat on Dawson's Creek proves that stereotypes can be true. The other guys aren't very nice and so it makes no sense that Jack would join a frat. It makes even less sense that he and Jen start to drift away from each other once they move to Boston together.
3. Dawson's Bad Attitude About Filmmaking
From the start of the show, it's super clear that Dawson is going to be a director someday. It's his biggest dream and if it wasn't obvious by how much he talks about movies, he has Spielberg posters plastered on his bedroom walls.
But Dawson has a bad attitude about filmmaking and film school. As soon as he heads off to college, he's cocky and acts like he's so much better than everyone else. He drops out and moves to Boston, but it seems like anytime he gets a bit of success in the field he supposedly wants to work in, he messes things up. Whenever he's working on a movie, he's at odds with the other people on set.
2. Joey's Mugging Storyline
In the fifth season episode "Downtown Crossing," Joey is mugged outside of a bank and she has to give the man money. This is pretty scary to watch, but instead of going home after, she goes to the hospital, learns about the man's life story, and forgives him.
Since Joey is so compassionate, she meets the man's daughter, realizes that he was poor, and then he passes away. This is a very strange storyline and doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would someone want to know that much about the person who stole from them, especially in such a terrifying way?
1. The Show's Two Major Deaths Are Unrealistic And Illogical
In the fifth season episode "Capeside Revisited," Mitch is driving and literally tries to rescue his ice cream that has fallen on the floor of his car (yes, the ice cream itself, not the cone... not that would make it any better). He crashes and dies. This is so hard to think about, even all of these years later, as it was quite possibly the most unrealistic TV death ever. And fans will recall that in the series finale, Jen reveals that she has a heart problem and she passes away.
These two deaths are unrealistic and don't make any sense at all. Mitch would never put his life in danger that way, would he? Doesn't it seem crazy to imagine? And Jen would definitely know that she had a medical condition. Both of these deaths truly come out of nowhere, and they're just two things about this popular teen drama that don't seem very logical at all.