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THE CHARLIE TODD DEPARTURE

what Jen Lindley and Charlie Todd could’ve been.

I think a lot about how season 5 of Dawson’s Creek would be more interesting if instead of giving us Jen-Dawson as couple again, and whatever it was that Charlie-Joey had, they gave us a better development of Charlie & Jen!

Ok hear me out for a second: I know he was a jerk! But if he became a better, redeemable guy and wanted to be substantial for Joey, they might as well have written that he did it for Jen. If the writers didn’t have a vendetta against Jennifer Lindley!

I wish we got multiple scenes of Charlie Todd having a great redemption arc, and apologizing for real, and making it up to Jen Lindley. There would be AGNST, and PINING, and Charlie being ridiculously down bad for her, and then JEN’S HOLDING THE CARDS, SHE HAS LEVERAGE.

And then: She wants to forgive him! She doesn’t know if she should! But he proves that he loves her and that he would be a great boyfriend!

Charlie and Jen falling deeply in love with each other until he has to go on tour! He wants to stay for HER! She knows better, she lets go of him because she doesn’t want him to give up on his biggest dream. He would’ve stayed if it was up to him. TIS’ THE DAMN SEASON! I WONT ASK YOU TO WAIT IF YOU DONT ASK ME TO STAY. Downfall! They break up!

On season 6 he could’ve come back from tour. They missed each other tremendously, and they would be together again until inevitably realizing they might love each other, but they just won’t work. He wants to be on the road, touring, she wants to be in Boston and finish college and live with Grams. It would be a great love story. He could be her Dorothea. [hey Dorothea do you ever stop and think about me?] because of the implication that Dorothea from Taylor Swift’s song “dorothea” became famous. And she would be his tis’ the damn season.

It also would’ve been nice change because Jen’s love interests tend to choose Joey Potter over her. Dawson Leery did it on season 1, 2 and the finale of 5. Pacey Witter did it on season 3. So it would be a change in the whole “guy wants to haves fun with Jen and be in a serious relationship with joey potter”

When it comes to Dawson and Pacey, Jen was used as plot device to lead them to Joey. And then there was charlie, and Jen was the “girl before” joey AGAIN.

So I wish we got a full season o Charlie and Jen instead.

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JEN LINDLEY IS AROACE - a deep dive.

jen lindley from Dawson’s Creek is asexual and aromantic

disclaimer: I’m not claiming this is canon. I just think Jen can be interpreted as aroace.

#1: “Attracted to? What do you mean attracted to?”

On DETENTION (1x07) the kids are playing truth or dare, and there’s this dialogue

Joey: “out of all the guys in Capeside is Dawson the one you’re most attracted to?”

Jen: “Do I like Dawson the most? Yeah, of course”

Joey: “No, I didn’t ask if you like him the best, I asked you if he’s the one you’re most attracted to”

Jen: “what do you mean ‘attracted to?’”

Jen can’t comprehend the concept of attraction in the context joey brought it up (sexual attraction).

She’s pressured by everyone to answer it and that makes her very uncomfortable and annoyed.

Joey says “Do you LUST for him?”

Jen says “it’s a stupid question.”

Jen is further pressured by her peers, and then she says “it’s a stupid question because the answer is yes! Obviously the answer is yes. I lust for Dawson. I’m hot for Dawson. Maybe if you spent less time dwelling on me and Dawson you might’ve a boyfriend of your own”

By her tone it’s possible to tell that she’s just saying that she’s sexually attracted to Dawson just to get out of the situation she was put in.

It’s also an asexual experience to not understand sexual attraction.

#2: casual sex as a form of validation and coping mechanism

During season 2 Jen is an extremely vulnerable situation. This explains why she chased Dawson after their breakup, it was because she was lonely and sad and vulnerable, not out of love for him.

She’d just lost her grandfather, she’s grieving. And she also doesn’t have the support of people she considered to be her friends.

Pacey is caught up in Andie. Dawson and Joey are always caught up in their own little drama. She doesn’t have parents. Her grandmother doesn’t understand her.

On THE ALL NIGHTER (2X07) Chris Wolfe is persistently chasing her.

Dawson comes into the picture and tells him not to take advantage of Jen’s current vulnerability. He also “warns” Jen about it, and Jen tells him she’s aware of Chris Wolfe’s intentions and that it doesn’t mean she has to go along with it.

But considering she was rejecting him previously on the episode and that after they had sex, jen was clearly unhappy, this was a coping mechanism.

This is recurring on season 2.

#3: Henry Parker

Jen Lindley did NOT want to be in a relationship with Henry Parker. He basically harassed her. And Jack and Grams kept telling her that she should go out with him.

She did it because that’s what she was expect to. Not out of feelings for him.

On THE TWO GENTLEMAN OF CAPESIDE (4X03) Jen tells Pacey she regrets the fact that she’s never been in love. To what Pacey says “what about Henry?”. Jen answers “That wasn’t love. Couldn’t be”

Jen had been in other relationships besides Henry (including Dawson Leery) but she canonically wasn’t in love with anyone!

#4: Kissing Jack

On WINTER’S TALE (4X14) both Jen and Jack are feeling sad and lonely, and they’re drunk and then they kiss.

It’s brought up by her therapist that she pursues relationships that are doomed to fail as a sort of self-sabotage.

But this doesn’t necessarily it’s only about her mental health. It’s common for aroace people to pursue unattainable people, (or to think they have feeling for said people) because subconsciously they don’t really want to be with them romantically or sexually.

#5: sleeping with Dawson to prove a point.

On HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE (5X08) Jen and Dawson are talkings about the reason why they didn’t workout on season one.

Dawson says he knows why they didn’t work out

Jen asks why

Dawson: You weren’t physically attracted to me

Jen: is that what you think?

then she kisses him and they have sex. It’s so clear that she’s doing it to prove a point. Not because she’s actually sexually attracted to him.

During a lot of season one (especially DETENTION, this topic is continuously brought up by Dawson, he fully believes she’s not attracted to him and bitches about the fact that she doesn’t want to have sex with him yet while simultaneously slut-shaming her for her past - important reminder that jen was frequently sexually assaulted as child, and Dawson being the trash he is made her out to be a villain for it)

#6: “you belong to me”

Jen has never loved anyone romantically. Especially not as much as she loved her platonic soulmate Jack McPhee

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the ending of witter & lindley as class couple candidates of 2001

“jen: no matter what we do it’s not gonna work out between us.

pacey: no, it’s not, is it?

jen: no… are you disappointed?

pacey: yeah, I’m disappointed… and at the same time, I think I’m also a little relieved.

jen: Me too… I’m gonna go.. see you, Pacey

…

jen: you know what, Pacey? thanks for nothing”

- FOUR TO TANGO (3X09)

I Know it’s for the better…

Know it’s for the better…

Know it’s for the better…

Know it’s for the better…

Know it’s for the better…

Know it’s for the better…

Know it’s for the better…

Know it’s for the better…

Know it’s for the better…

Know it’s for the better…

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Maybe one of my biggest flaws is that I think Pacey and Jen should’ve dated. It’s been too long and now I’m not afraid to admit it.

the script was very inconsistent and messy, but I think they were being hinted at during season one.

Especially, during DETENTION (1X07).

It’s not only that they kissed (as a dare). But also, Dawson and Joey did kiss on this episode as a dare and ended up together on the season finale.

It’s about how flirty they were being…

and how they glanced at each other

They were also sort of insane for cozying up next to each other when Jen’s date was right there.

So many cute moments on Season 3, which is considered the jacey season.

But I think these two could’ve been something great.

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Dawson Leery: The Worst Character Ever Written

From a young age, Dawson Leery has been fed everything on a silver platter aside from his basic necessities of; education, housing, and food, anything Dawson wants, he gets with ease. His room is filled from head to toe with expensive film equipment that he rarely uses. Dawson Leery is an aspiring filmmaker, weird career choice but we can ignore that, someone who looks up to someone as famous as Steven Spielberg should and would be making movies nonstop, correct? Yes, that’s what I thought as well, but once you finish watching Dawson’s Creek you realize that Dawson has only made around 2-3 movies before miraculously landing an assistant director job at an important movie. And how did Dawson get this job? Because he yelled off Todd Carr once, yeah perfect white boy moment. If anyone who did not suffer from main character syndrome or you know, being white, were to do or say what Dawson did to Todd they would have been blacklisted from Hollywood altogether, but Dawson gets off with a pat on his back and an assistant director job who later becomes director! Back to the point of Dawson getting what he wants whenever he wants, two words, Joey. Potter. Whenever Dawson has finished his round of meaningless relationships or sex, he always runs back to Joey, she’s his second choice always, but he victimizes himself and villanizes Joey so much that she is blinded by her naiveness and falls back into his arms. Joey is a story for another day but it just goes to show that from the start of Dawson’s Creek up until the end, Dawson always tries to end up with Joey, whether he fails or succeeds he finds himself back to her. Some may call it love, but I call it a longing for childhood. Joey represents everything Dawson loves, she is the creek and Capeside to him and without her, he feels empty and incomplete. If we ignore the fact that Jen was killed off so that ‘Dawson could grow up and Joey would get a grip and be with Pacey’, Dawson’s inner child never healed and never will. It will never sit right with me that Jen had to be sacrificed for Dawson to grow up, when Joey is an embodiment of Dawson’s childhood, they slept over, played together, they watched movies, Jen only became a part of their lives at 15, but her sacrifice makes Dawson grow up? And ironically it doesn’t do that, it does the exact opposite. By sacrificing Jen for Dawson to grow up, it means Dawson abandoning the creek and Capeside, which he cannot do, and he instead writes ‘The Creek’. If you have more than two brain cells you can immediately tell what ‘The Creek’ is about. Surprise surprise, teen romance! And who’s teen romance? Joey and Dawson’s. Jen’s sacrifice at this point is completely redundant, because not only does her sacrifice drive Dawson to return to his childhood but he profits from it? It makes more sense for Joey to be killed. off so that Dawson would get a grip and act like the adult he is. Let’s circle back to Dawson’s privilege. He drops out of film school. And not just any film school, he drops out of USC. It is clear at this point that Dawson does not understand just how much is handed to him, his movies are crap, he never had or ever will have clear ambitions, and pines after Joey everywhere she goes. Any other person would kill to study film at USC, but Dawson decided to move to Boston, away from the state of Hollywood, and surprise surprise, where Joey happens to be in college. Dawson is the type of person to insinuate that anyone who does not have blonde hair and blue eyes does not deserve anything, he has the ‘nice guy’ persona up so that no one can suspect a thing. He stays a virgin because he wants it to be ‘true love’ and is applauded for doing something as simple as keeping it in his pants. To sum up, before I slam my head into a knife, Dawson Leery is a horrible person who has never treated anyone in his life with the respect they deserve, he is undeserving of everything he receives in his idiotic small-town life and shall die alone.

jacey supremacy jen shouldnt have died (wrote this at 2am in the summer of 2021 i was pissed offfff)