15 Ridiculous Pieces Of Relationship Advice From 'Dawson's Creek'
Calling all 90s kids. You have to admit that you were a huge fan of Dawson's Creek back in the day. You couldn't help it, right? Once a week you sat on your couch and watched The WB, desperate for another dose of teen drama. Sure, you knew that the show was kind of cheesy and corny, but you were okay with that. After all, you had grown up watching episode after episode of Full House. You could deal with that. Touchy-feely characters and dialogue and storylines just make for better TV sometimes. But now that you're older and you've had some experience in the romance department, you have to wonder just how realistic your favorite teen drama really was. You may have had boyfriends and crushes and dashed hopes and broken hearts, but you can say that you haven't exactly dealt with the kinds of things that happen on this show.
Here are 15 ridiculous pieces of relationship advice from Dawson's Creek.
15 Date Your Best Friend
Okay. You get that the whole point of Dawson's Creek is that Dawson and Joey are best friends. They grew up across the creek from each other. They enjoy movie nights on a regular basis. He was even there for her when her mom died from cancer when they were kids. It's a sweet story and it seems like they are totally star-crossed lovers from the very first scene that you ever saw. But when Joey and Dawson attempt to date each other in the first season, suddenly one thing becomes clear: they should never, ever have done that. Sure, Joey has been in love with him since forever (and maybe even before that) and to her, it's a dream come true to finally be with the object of her affection. But they are so mismatched it's not even funny. They really don't seem to have much chemistry (or at least not when you compare their relationship to Joey and Pacey's -- it's like night and day). Thankfully, they don't end up together and they realize that they're best left as friends. Phew.
14 Sail Away For The Entire Summer With Your Boyfriend
Maybe you thought that it was super romantic when Joey and Pacey take off the summer before their senior year of high school… as in take off in a boat. Chances are, back when you were a teenager watching this show, you swooned quite a bit. You thought that there was nothing better than having a real adventure with the person that you love more than anyone else. But really, was this a good idea? That would be a no. Now that you're older, you can't imagine sailing an entire summer with your boyfriend. You can't even imagine traveling the whole summer with your BF. You have your own life and you would never just leave everything behind and run away. Sure, maybe Joey would have just had a boring summer in Capeside and it was a good idea for her to see some part of the world. But why couldn't they have gone on a shorter trip and still had a normal summer? Why did they have to do something so dramatic?
13 Ignore Your Feelings
Think about the early days of the show. It was actually crazy obvious that Joey had a big time crush on Pacey, even though she really had no idea. That's because if you know anything about romance (and especially romance novels and movies and stories), it's that when you love someone but don't want to admit it, you act like they drive you absolutely crazy. You think they are so annoying, you don't understand why they have wormed their way into your head and heart, and their every move makes you insane. So what does Joey do? Tell Pacey how she really feels about him? No, of course not. That would be way too easy. She continues to insult him and the two of them keep bickering so much, the chemistry and romantic tension is pretty much off the charts. Sure, eventually they figure it out and they end up together (and they even find their way back to each other so many years after high school). But for a while there, it was getting pretty lame.
12 Keep Your New Love A Secret
So when Joey and Pacey start dating, do they announce it publicly? Do they walk down the halls of Capeside High School, holding hands and stealing kisses and giving each other lovey-dovey looks? No way. Instead, they keep their love a secret. They don't even tell Dawson. Such a good idea (not). You definitely remember the super awkward moment when Dawson found out about the two of them in the season three episode called "The Longest Day." Needless to say, he was absolutely devastated and miserable. Poor Dawson. No wonder there are so many memes and gifs out there of him crying and looking like he hates his life. That's kind of how he spent most of the series. If you want a really bad piece of relationship advice, then always keep your new love story a secret. You should especially keep it a secret from the people that need to know the most. On a serious note, do the opposite of that and you should be totally fine.
11 Be As Dramatic As Possible
Are these characters dramatic or what?! Sure, it's not fair to act like they are any more dramatic than other characters on similar teen dramas. They're all pretty dramatic. But Dawson really does take the cake when he falls for Jen in the first season of the show. He honestly can't control his raging hormones and his developing emotions. He spends every single waking moment figuring out how to make sure that his romance with Jen goes as smoothly as humanly possible. When he gets it into his head that they not only have to share their first kiss ASAP but it has to be a perfect moment, that's when the trouble really starts for him. If you want to think of some really ridiculous relationship advice, then just remember that being as dramatic is always a really good idea. Okay, don't do that. You're only going to get as hurt as Dawson ends up.
10 Copy The Movies
Saying that Dawson is into movies is like the understatement of the century. The boy loves cinema and he wants every moment of his life to be like the movies. In the early seasons, the first one, in particular, Joey is always telling Dawson to stop doing this. She knows that he's only setting himself up for failure and that he should be more realistic in terms of what's going to happen in his life and his love life. Oh, Joey. You always know exactly what to say (even if your delivery is a bit harsh but that's okay, you're young). You should definitely forget the movies when you think about your own love life. If you think that your boyfriend is going to act like the actor in your fave romantic comedy, you should probably think again. He's only going to think that you don't appreciate the normal, everyday things that he does for you and he's going to wonder why all you seem to care about is fancy dinners and expensive gifts. Think about reality, not the movies.
9 Go Back To An Ex
As a loyal fan, you probably could tell that eventually, Joey and Dawson would find their way back to each other. It was pretty much written in the stars for them. At the beginning of the sixth season, Joey and Dawson get back together. Well, almost. Well, kind of. They spend one night together and then when she realizes that he has been dating someone else, she freaks out and they go their separate ways. Talk about star-crossed lovers. You already know better than Joey: it's the worst idea in the world to go back to your ex-boyfriend. Yes, even for one night. Yes, even if you're best friends with him like Joey and Dawson are. The thing is that the past is often best left in the past because if things were going to work out, then they already would have. That can be a tough truth to realize but it's something that you learn as you get older.
8 Take A Risk
Okay, okay. So sometimes it's a good idea to take a risk in your life. If you didn't leap before looking sometimes, as the saying goes, you would never really accomplish anything. But when you think about the romantic risks that the characters on Dawson's Creek take, you have to admit that sometimes, playing it safe is best. Or at least making sure that the risk that you're taking isn't actually going to make you fall flat on your face. One example was when Joey decides that she can take a risk and date her teacher during the college years of the series. She's on her way to her prof's house when, tragically, she gets mugged while getting money out of her bank account. She ends up in the hospital, the mugger is injured as well, and she meets his family. Suddenly she's part of this super sad story and decides to lie to his wife and kid and act like, no, he didn't mug her, he was actually a good guy. Still think that you should take a risk with your heart?
7 Age Is Just A Number
Ha. This is a popular saying but it's a really bad one at that. Think about when Dawson dates Pacey's older sister Gretchen. At first, it seems like their age difference is truly no big deal. Sure, he's a bit embarrassed by the fact that he's still in high school and he wants her to think that he's super cool and sophisticated and all that jazz. But eventually, she leaves Capeside altogether, breaking his heart into a million tiny pieces in the process. Dawson is truly too young for her in more ways than one. It turns out that she came back home for a good reason: she left college temporarily because she had a miscarriage. Yup, that's way too adult for Dawson, even though he thinks that he can act a lot older than he actually is. The truth is that age is not just a number. It's not a good idea to date someone who is crazy older than you because you're both at different stages in your life and that is going to come back to haunt you sooner rather than later.
6 Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover
Remember Charlie (aka Chad Michael Murray)? Yeah, he ends up cheating on Jen… and she definitely shows him who's boss when she and the other girl team up to teach him a lesson. It's a super epic and awesome moment, that's for sure. But the lesson here is that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover and sometimes, at least when it comes to matters of the heart, doing that might be the best thing ever. Think about it this way: Jen wasn't turned off by Charlie's attractiveness and seemingly player ways. She was drawn in and thought it was fine. Joey, on the other hand, knew that he was bad news and finds it hard to return his affections when he starts hitting on her during the college years. When it comes to bad boys, you should absolutely judge them because, at the end of the day, you're only going to be hurt.
5 Changing A Guy Is Possible
OMG. It's hard to think about the episodes when Joey dates Eddie. Sure, he's hot, he's a brooding writer type, and he seems pretty dreamy. But he's a bad boy, he's bad news, and you knew from the moment he showed up on the screen that he wasn't a good boyfriend for her. Joey seems to think that changing a guy is totally possible. Or at least that's what you can tell from her scenes with him. She pursues a serious romantic relationship with him even when she gets the feeling that he has a lot of secrets that are pretty difficult for him to deal with. When you can tell that a guy in your life has some things that are haunting him, it's a really good idea to run far away and never look back. It's just never going to work out for you because the guy is not going to change for you or for anyone else. It has to be his idea and his alone.
4 Hide Your True Self
Remember Andie? She's Jack's sister and she has a really hard time before graduating high school early and leaving Capeside behind. She and Pacey fall hard for each other but she doesn't tell him anything that's going on in her life or in her mind. She doesn't want him to know that she's been struggling with her mental health for pretty much her entire life and that her mom has not been able to cope with Andie and Jack's brother's Tim's death. Instead of coming clean and admitting that she's having a rough time and that she needs some emotional support from him, Andie keeps everything a total and complete secret. This advice -- that you should hide your true self and the bad parts of your life and past -- is not that great. You should absolutely be with someone who knows everything about you and who is okay with the fact that you're not perfect and that you've gone through some struggles.
3 Be Self-Deprecating Every Step Of The Way
If there's one character trait that everyone on this show shares, it would be self-depreciation. OMG do these people think that they are not worthy of love or happiness or success or anything else that is good. When she's with Pacey the first time around, Joey has a few low self-esteem moments where she wonders why he's not kissing her enough or making enough moves (which seems kind of silly since all you see is them making out). When he's with Jen the first (and second) time around, Dawson feels like all it would take is one wrong step and she's going to dump him and never, ever talk to him again. It's not great to feel this way. If you do, you should probably think twice about dating this particular person. You're supposed to enjoy being in a relationship. If you spend every waking moment wondering when it's all going to come crashing down, then why even date this guy or girl in the first place? It doesn't make much sense and it's something that you don't want to take to heart.
2 Move In ASAP
In the college years, Jen and Dawson find their way back to each other and give their love story a second shot. One really strange twist? They end up moving in together. What's even crazier? She's still living in the Boston townhouse with Grams which means that the three of them are living together. Sure, it's sweet and cute and charming… but it proves that moving in with your boyfriend as soon as possible is a really bad idea. Don't do it. Definitely don't do it. There is literally no good reason and you could never really understand why the two of them did this. To this day, you're still unable to wrap your head around it. Why couldn't Dawson just get his own apartment? Couldn't he live with Pacey? Jack? Ugh. You can't get over this. Whatever you take away from the show, you definitely know that you should never move in with your BF when you haven't had a chance to really be together and see if your romance is meant to last.
1 Create Problems Where They Don't Exist
The crown jewel of bad relationship advice on Dawson's Creek? That would be when Pacey creates problems in his relationship with Joey. He freaks out on her at their senior prom of all places and basically dumps her on the spot. She is totally and completely blindsided and devastated. She can't even handle the news and can't believe that he would do this to her. It's heartbreaking as a fan and viewer to watch this scene as well and you probably don't have super fond memories of it. Pacey honestly has to get over himself. He may think that he's not good enough for Joey or for anyone else but he needs to gain some confidence, get his act together, and become a real person. Thankfully, he figures it out and becomes a worthy boyfriend for Joey, but for a while, he keeps acting like there's a million reasons why they can't be together when there are honestly no reasons at all. Oh Pacey.
