Again With This: Beverly Hills, 90210

The worst storm in 30 years is on its way to Capeside, and no one seems to know but Grams and the editors of the Farmer's Almanac. Drue's obnoxious behavior in English class having doomed himself, Joey, and Dawson to have a three-way Two Gentlemen Of Verona debate for class the next day, prep is underway during Joey's Yacht Club shift. (Why are the future debate adversaries preparing together? It's more convenient for the plot that way, of course!) Presumably Joey's only getting away with all this slacking because Mrs. Valentine is an alumna of one of Andie's safety schools, and is busy interviewing Andie as a prospective applicant; their conversation quickly becomes an investigation of Andie's mental health. Since Joey couldn't join him, Pacey is celebrating his first-ever A by going sailing with Jen, which is why they're on the water -- with a dead radio -- when the storm starts to kick up. Once it gets too dangerous for Pacey to try to return to shore, he decides to head for a cove so secret he doesn't eve

School is back in session for the gang's senior year. Joey is excited to get through this to what's next, and Pacey's just excited to be around her. That only lasts until the end of the first day, when new temporary guidance counselor Mitch -- apparently on leave from his job as general manager of the restaurant -- calls Pacey in to tell him that instead of on the True Love he should have been in town making up the three junior classes he failed in summer school. Mitch alerts Dawson that Pacey's in big trouble, and though Dawson is a bitch about it, he does hear it when Mitch suggests that he pass the news on to someone who does care if Pacey lives or dies. Speaking of whom: Joey needs a job, and Andie recommends that she apply to wait tables at the yacht club, which is full of cute rich boys and big tips...here at the end of the tourist season. Never mind: Joey takes Andie's advice and lies about connections to big wigs on the club board, getting her hired on the spot, and putting her in the path of "Owen Ro

After three months at sea, Joey and Pacey are finally returning to Capeside just in time for their senior year of high school, and a lot has changed in their absence. Dawson's taken up photography. Dawson and Jack have started a house painting business. Jen is trying a long-distance relationship with Henry, who got recruited from football camp to a fancy private school. Doug and Pacey's sister Gretchen (Sasha Alexander, the future Isles of Rizzoli & Isles!) has taken a year off from college, and taken Pacey's spot on Doug's couch. Bessie has made the B&B profitable, perhaps in part by renting out her sister's room. Here's what hasn't changed: Dawson still sucks. Pacey and Joey decide how best to strategize about their reunion with Dawson (and boy, THAT'S probably something they didn't miss doing all summer) with an assist from Jen, trying to salve her guilt over her part in how Dawson found out about Joey and Pacey in the first place by easing Joey and Dawson back into each other's proximity. Does Daw

After all the heightened emotion of Season 3, we thought we should take a breath...to take your calls! Get ready to hear us -- and your fellow listeners -- muse about such topics as what sorts of local violence might have been visited upon Dawson during his summer in Philadelphia, how best to support friends and loved ones who loved Dawson when the show was first on, what it was like to work at a Dawson's-affiliated retailer at the turn of the millennium, and much much more! (Don't think YOU'RE getting off the hook, Sugarman.) Climb onto the nearest sailboat and listen! JOIN THE AWT CLUB

Since Gale and Mitch's second marriage is, let's face it, fake, they've thrown a ceremony together in a matter of days. They're also throwing Dawson and Joey together, because Gale -- (a) an adult woman who (b) works with one of Dawson's other very close friends -- has asked Joey to be her Maid Of Honor, meaning she and Best Man Dawson keep seeing each other on various nuptial errands. Even Dawson, however, is having an increasingly difficult time pretending that Joey wouldn't rather be elsewhere, particularly once she finds out about Pacey's plan to spend the summer sailing to Key West on the True Love. She's still so oppressed by her supposedly beautiful friendship with Dawson that she won't admit what she really wants. Will Pacey's choice to paint "ASK ME TO STAY" on the wall he rented for her change her mind? Jen is still pouting so much about Henry daring to go to football camp that Grams gets sick of it, throws Jen in the car with the McPhees, and hits the road to try to run down his bus so Jen can get

It's the penultimate episode of the season on a high school show, so of course it's time for the big dance! Dawson dredges up some long-ago pact that if he and Joey were both single, they'd go together as friends, and she agrees to honor it even though she clearly knows friendship is the last thing on his mind. Andie pretends to be entertaining several invitations to save face with Pacey. After making a huge production about how retrograde the prom concept is, Jen invites Henry. And Jack is planning to bring Ethan, until the ticket-selling troll tells him it's not allowed. Andie and Joey are ready to boycott the event, but then Dawson gets the idea that they throw a competing dance for the two gay guys and everyone else who'd rather be on their side. When Pacey does finally invite Andie, the stage is set for Dawson to rub Pacey's face in Dawson's continuing ability to control Joey. Oh and also Gale and Mitch are fooling around again, but we're trying so, so hard not to acknowledge them at all. Even though mos

The summer tourist season is kicking off in Capeside with a regatta. This might have been a low-key race for new sailor Pacey and the True Love, the little boat that could, if it were happening a couple of weeks earlier. Unfortunately, we're in the post-discovery era, so Dawson has to Dawson all over it. Leery's Fresh Fish is sponsoring the True Love? Fine: Dawson will just enter Joseph McPhee's boat, the Carpe Diem; THEN ask the McPhee siblings if he may use it; THEN pay the sponsorship fee himself but sail on behalf of the Potter B&B. When will he have time to learn the rules of sailing? Great question: he won't, and that's going to be a problem. In the far background, Jen has been giving Henry the silent treatment ever since he tried to fool around with her when Grams wasn't home, so he's been holding a silent vigil everywhere she goes, holding up a sign asking her to forgive him. No one is sufficiently annoyed by this behavior, least of all Jen. Show US love by listening to our episode on "Show Me Lov

Production Note: This version fixed issues with Sarah's audio. It seems as though, once Joey broke the seal in the last episode and initiated a kiss with Pacey, they basically have not stopped kissing since. And that's a problem, because the longer they wait, the worse it's going to be when Dawson finds out. The plan is for Pacey to tell him. But then Joey stops him and says SHE should be the one to tell him. But then Dawson interrupts and it kind of seems like NO ONE has to tell him...but how could that be? It turns out that this day was unusually eventful, so we see the events from Pacey's, then Joey's, and then Dawson's perspectives, as Capeside's biggest secret is finally told. This may not be our shortest episode, because it's about "The Longest Day"! JOIN THE AWT CLUB

It's spring break, but of course Capeside's biggest nerds aren't going to Fort Lauderdale: they're heading to Vermont for what is apparently their traditional visit with Dawson's Aunt Gwen (Julie Bowen!). Pacey wasn't going to come, but the kids' old and previously never-mentioned friend Will Krudski (Rodney Scott) made a surprise visit to pull a Jake Hanson-- er, tell us all his deal as a working-class ne'er-do-well with daddy issues and a heart of gold and then leave for his own show (spoiler?), and since there's nothing to do in Capeside, they're going to an even smaller and duller town. Also joining is Andie, because someone has to have a crush on Will to make us think he's a viable leading man. Will Dawson stop thinking about his own reinvention long enough to notice all the eye-fucking Pacey and Joey are doing? Apparently not before their first night at Gwen's, because the sleeping arrangements end up putting Joey and Pacey in the one bed together for It Happened One Night high jinks. Back in Capeside,

Our joy at Pacey and Joey FINALLY having a good kiss is ruined by...well, Joey, acting like she didn't like it and isn't interested, so that Pacey, embarrassed, decides to pretend he didn't mean it. Bessie tells Joey to talk about it with a friend, since nothing Bessie is saying is what Joey seems to want to hear (okay advice); Doug tells Pacey to take Dawson somewhere nostalgic to remind him about their long and meaningful friendship, then tell him what's going on (great advice?). Unfortunately -- for all of us, really -- Buzz and two of his little buddies somehow track Pacey and Dawson to their old fort in the woods and crash their camping trip. And a girls' night out for Joey is complicated by the presence of Andie, who still doesn't seem to be totally over Pacey. It's also complicated for Jen, who seems like she mostly agrees to the hang because she's hurt that Henry didn't ask her to his birthday party, then gets a big surprise when she and the girls hit up the roller rink. Jack is trying to have a TOTAL

AJ's about to be the youngest person in his department at Unnamed College to something something no one cares, and Joey's going back to Boston to be his date for a night of listening to him read his writing and then do some ballroom dancing. Pacey warns her not to get too caught up in the fantasy, tamping down her excitement before she's even gotten on the train. It's just as well, since AJ's so caught up in prep for the event that he sends his lifelong best friend Morgan -- a GIRL Morgan -- to retrieve Joey and unintentionally show off all the history AJ and Morgan share. (She even knows his actual first name!) Pacey has his own annoying boy to deal with: Buzz (Jonathan Lipnicki!), his new mentee. Making Buzz help with boat refurbishment leads to a conversation about whom the True Love was named for and whether Pacey has even kissed her yet -- something that seems to strike a resonant chord in Pacey, such that by the end of the episode, everything's changed. Way off in a whole other part of town, Dawson is s

When Principal Green expelled him in the last episode, Matt Caufield warned him that his father was going to come after Principal Green with everything he had, and he wasn't lying: the episode opens with outraged parents screaming through an emergency meeting about this supposed attack on a boy who was just playing a prank. Also outraged: Gale, when she sees that her former intern Sherry, now a field reporter, is on the scene filing the first of several obviously biased pieces about the situation. Pacey suggests to a fired-up Joey that she should organize a protest -- something she doesn't quite hear until AJ tells her the same thing. When Gale complains to Dawson about Sherry's uninformed reporting, Dawson convinces her that the two of them could put together their own one-camera shoot telling the true story. But not everyone is on the right side of history: a concerned citizen vaguely threatening Bessie's business has her too stressed to join Joey's revolution. Listen to our podcast on "To Green, With Love,

The school board and PTA have selected several student artists to create murals on the walls of Capeside High School, and Joey -- who recently remembered art was something she used to be into -- is one of them! Her concept involves a Chinese hanzi even though she's not Chinese herself, as far as we know; nevertheless, it is still sad when her work ends up getting vandalized. Pacey takes a break from tormenting his new roommate, Deputy Doug, to go on the case of who ruined Joey's work and ends up...well, exactly where you'd probably expect after a new rich jerk was just introduced in the last episode. Principal Green is thrilled to tell Andie that her PSAT scores put her in the top 50,000 students and on track for a National Merit Scholarship. This shakes something loose in her; quitting the disciplinary committee is just the beginning. You'll only be punishing yourself if you skip our episode on "Crime & Punishment"! JOIN THE AWT CLUB

Joey does NOT have Valentine's Day plans with "college boy," so what will the gang be doing for the Hallmarkiest of holidays? Attending an ANTI-Valentine's Day party thrown by Matt Caulfield, some rich jerk from school we've never heard of before -- and since the event is very secret and exclusive so it doesn't get raided by cops, finding it requires a little tradecraft. Everyone should be motivated to figure out where to go, since they have a visitor to impress: Kate (Alexandra Breckenridge!), Jack's ex-girlfriend from Rhode Island. She's fresh off a breakup, so Pacey decides the best way to get her through it is for Dawson to try to hook up with her -- and you KNOW Joey is as judgy about that as she was about the party itself until she actually showed up for it. Elsewhere, it's finally time for the date Henry and Jen have been talking about for several episodes. Henry got the meal comped, but still wants to arrive with a gift, and the best way he can think of to make some quick cash is not to do more odd jo

It's time for the play! Andie's stressed as hell, and that's BEFORE Mr. Broderick has a medical emergency that requires her to take over for him entirely! Even though Joey's been helping Pacey run his lines, he still isn't off-book and NEEDS her to be there opening night! But...she can't, because she has a date with AJ to attend a northern lights party with a bunch of old nerds! The play is also Jen's excuse for postponing her big dinner out with Henry, but when he calls her bluff, she has no reason to say why he shouldn't attend the show with her! As for Dawson: he's still in such crisis about his true purpose in life that he's DROPPED FILM CLASS!!! Find somewhere comfortable to watch the skies: we're here to tell you all about "Northern Lights"! JOIN THE AWT CLUB

Joey and Bessie's new bed & breakfast has finally opened, but since they spent every cent on the construction and left nothing for promotion, they don't actually have any guests. (They can't even ask their old friend Gale to do a puff piece on the opening, since she's been crapping out at every network she's applied to for a new job in journalism.) Pacey takes it upon himself to track down Fred Fricke, the biggest tastemaker in B&Bs, to come review the place for the New York Times travel section -- which would be a good idea maybe a month in when Bessie and Joey have worked out some of the kinks, but maybe not right now when there's still a room under construction and there aren't any guests. Pacey then tries to fix the fix by asking all their loved ones to come fill up the place for Fricke's benefit, and since Mitch brings Gale, that sends Dawson into a tailspin. Sharing accommodations isn't something Jack and Andie have done lately, as she keeps reminding him -- on, he assumes, their father's orders

Remember Ethan, the gay prep school kid Jack met on the train back from Boston? He's returned home again for Capefest, an ill-defined free music festival that seems to be mainly about camping on the beach. Though Jack is apparently not a fan of popular music, he is easily convinced to come hang out, making Jen come as backup. Also attending? Henry, a veggie burger-grilling, Bruce Springsteen-covering renaissance man who has absolutely no interest in Jen and her inconsistent attempts at platonic friendship. Nikki has embedded herself in the Capeside High film department, getting the extremely offscreen Mr. Jordan to break all the rules of equipment loans so she can use it to work on her latest project. When Dawson decides to take his righteous indignation to her house, it backfires into an invitation for dinner from the adorably proud Principal Green, and exposure to her bedroom and values causes Dawson to experience a crisis of...well, interior design. Andie has decided to volunteer as Assistant Director on t

Four Capesiders give Boston the old college try.

Pacey's got problems all over his life. His FWB arrangement with Jen still hasn't led to any actual sex because they've never quite recaptured the magic of their one good kiss on Witch Island. He's failing most of his classes, so he needs Joey's help to get him through midterms, and the cost for the latter is partnering her in a ballroom class so that she can try to win the dance school's college scholarship. AND his asking her advice about his hypothetical no-strings sex friend is a big mistake, since there are only so many possible candidates. Plus, after sneaking in to Dawson's room to attempt sex, Pacey left a condom on the floor, and Dawson's on the hunt to find out what's going on. Since he starred in Gale's human interest story, Jack has started getting emails, including from another gay kid who only lives two towns over. Andie hectors him until he sets up a date, but is he actually ready? Put on your swishiest skirt and listen to our episode on "Four To Tango"! JOIN THE AWT CLUB

It's Thanksgiving, and the plan is for everyone to gather at Grams's house -- even Pacey, since his family eats later, presumably because everyone hopes his dad gets drunk enough to sleep through it? Gale is living in the Leery guest room while she, and somehow not Mitch, looks for an apartment; Dawson is suspicious of how pleasantly they're getting along. Joey is missing her poor dead mom today more than usual. Andie's plan is to make dinner for Jack and her dad, but then Joseph gets stuck in Chicago so they have to come to Grams's too so that Andie can be weird around Pacey. Only Jen is really having a great day and looking forward to fooling around with Pacey later, per their new FWB arrangement...so it's too bad for her when she opens her bedroom door and sees her mother Helen (Mel Harris!) standing there. What does Dawson do with his secret knowledge of Helen's past? How much does Joey bum everyone out with her orphan-osity? Do Jen and Pacey ever manage to bone??? We hope YOU will be our guest for our ep