Again With This: Beverly Hills, 90210

Having apparently exhausted his usefulness at home, Gale sends him to Worthington to hang out with Joey for a couple of days. Given Dawson's lack of interest in her when she was home for the funeral, she is nervous as hell about how the visit's going to go. Once he gets there, he doesn't seem especially psyched to watch a movie on her tiny TV even before they get to a scene that too closely mirrors recent events in his life. When she mentions a party at Professor Wilder's house, he's eager to go...until he actually gets there and immediately feels trapped. What is happening to Dawson's emotions and why? (...We all know, but it's 2001; they hadn't heard of trauma yet back then.) Pacey's in the middle of telling Jen all about his amazing new mentor Danny and crush Karen when Jen happens to spot Charlie through the window of a restaurant: he told Jen he had a shift at the radio station that night, but here he is dining with ANOTHER GIRL?! While Jen comes to terms with Charlie's possible trampiness, Pacey starts

Mitch is dead, and everyone's stopped their lives to deal with it. All the Boston students, plus Grams and Pacey, come back for the funeral. (Evidently all Pacey's relatives -- including Gretchen, who lives less than a half-day's drive away -- had better things to do.) Jen doesn't know how to help Dawson, and says so to him. Joey thinks she does, and gets rebuffed. Dawson himself is handling as much of the preparations as he can because Gale has fully broken down, though when he does open up, it's to tell Joey he blames himself entirely for Mitch's death. This is such a relentlessly grim one that we better get at least three kooky ones to balance it out, but for now, say hello to our episode on "The Long Goodbye"! JOIN THE AWT CLUB

It turns out Danny's restaurant is quite a hot spot, which is how a scenester like Joey (sarcasm) happens to be there on one of Pacey's first nights working there. Jen readily confesses everything she knows about his time in Boston, including that THIS chance glimpse really did happen by chance, since Jen didn't know he worked there. Once Joey has heard that Pacey asked Jen not to tell Joey he was in town, Joey starts spinning out that he must not want to see her. Fortunately, Audrey is there to convince her to get over herself. Dawson is also still hanging out in Boston, dragging his feet on telling his parents that he wants to drop out of USC and move to Boston. When he finally does, Mitch is stern and judgmental to Dawson while admitting to Gale that he really did miss Dawson and wasn't upset to see him back. Neither parent thinks it's a great idea for him to change his college plan to spend more time with a girl he's not even dating, and they've obviously got a point. Jen starts overthinking her relations

We’re off this week but we bring you two Again With Again With This episodes from the club vault. AWAWT 172: Let's Watch Linda Gray AND Donna Mills In Ladies Of The '80s: A Divas Christmas! Life imitates art -- or maybe Lifetime imitates soaps -- as a bunch of daytime divas from an earlier age reunite for a special episode of their old show, and help a couple of young people out of their own way in the process. Call your mom -- she might be wondering which of her favorite stars from Knots Landing and Dallas are still alive! AWAWT 220: Let’s Watch Laura Leighton In Naked City: A Killer Christmas! The Naked City (1948) spawned a TV show in the fifties, AND two Showtime movies in the nineties; the second one stars Laura Leighton as an ambitious but ambivalent tabloid-newsmag anchor. It also stars Scott Glenn and Courtney B. Vance as cop partners, but are they (or Bogdanovich's direction) enough to save a corny script? JOIN THE AWT CLUB

Dawson having shown up in Boston as none of us particularly wanted him to, he's had a delightful weekend (offscreen) with Joey. That all changes on his last day when he finally thinks to call his USC dorm room for the one and only message on his answering machine: the one Joey left, while drunk at a frat party, telling him that SHE. Is OVER. HIM. Or something like that. Suddenly, Dawson is incensed, so it's a good thing Joey has an administrative task to handle: it's the last day she can drop Professor Wilder's Creative Writing class, so she's going to be standing in an hours-long line while Dawson has Audrey give him the campus tour and listen to his bitching about his lonely loser life in Los Angeles. (Which we already had a glimpse of with that nearly empty answering machine.) Pacey turns out not to be a lonely loser on the yacht: he's seeing a rich girl named Melanie (future House and Once Upon A Time star Jennifer Morrison!), this summer's boat babe, and this one will even sleep with him. Pacey has just

Joey is working hard to deserve her spot at Worthington -- not just studying but grade-grubbing, particularly with her creative writing instructor Professor Wilder (Ken Marino!), and getting a reputation as an enemy of fun with her free-spirited roommate Audrey (Busy Philipps!). Over at Boston Bay College, Jack is trying to stay faithful in his long-distance relationship with Tobey while trying to find a guy for Jen for the first time since Henry, yes really. A chance invitation to a frat party puts Jen in the path of Charlie (Chad Michael Murray!), the cute bass guitarist in the party band, and makes Joey realize she really might be stuck in the past. She could have been even FURTHER stuck there, however, since Dawson was supposed to visit this weekend until he got an internship starting immediately. But excited as he was to work under hotshot director Todd, the lessons Dawson learns are tougher than the Capeside wunderkind is used to. Park your arse in Harvard Yard (sorry) and enjoy our episode on "The Bost

Dawson, naturally, got into the USC summer program, so we join him on his last day in Capeside. It's hard! His father is being very bossy about what kind of laptop Dawson should get and with whom he should be spending his last dinner before college. His ex-girlfriends Jen and Joey keep bringing up stuff they talked about three seasons ago. His absent best friend Pacey is phoning from "paradise" to say how much their friendship means to him. Not that he knows it, but Jen is giving Joey the idea that if Joey just asked Dawson to stay, he would. And maybe she's right -- Dawson still hasn't even packed yet! It's also Grams and Jen's last day in Capeside, but no one seems to care about that nearly as much. Maybe the Led Zeppelin album Coda announced, "I Can't Quit You Baby," but we CAN quit Season 4 in our latest episode! JOIN THE AWT CLUB

We’re off this week but we bring you two Again With Again With This episodes from the club vault. AWAWT 217: Let's Watch Emma Caulfield Ford In A Thanksgiving Episode Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer! When Joyce goes out of town for Thanksgiving, Buffy (the character) decides to put on a Thanksgiving dinner, and Buffy (the show) stays on theme not just by making the monster of the week the ghost of a Chumash warrior, but also by, thusly, biting off a lot more than it can chew. AWAWT 223: Let's Watch Alyssa Milano And Cameron Bancroft In To Brave Alaska! Cameron Bancroft and Alyssa Milano play would-be gold miners in Alaska's dangerously isolated Surprise Bay. Surprise! It doesn't go well for them. JOIN THE AWT CLUB

What comes after the episode after the prom? Graduation, of course! Joey is stressed about the speech she'll have to give as winner of the Pinnacle Award; it's a good thing Bessie had a premortem letter from their poor dead mom to hand off and inspire her. Pacey is stressed about passing enough exams to graduate with his friends, and while he's not as big a monster about it as David Silver was whenever HE got stressed on Beverly Hills, 90210, he doesn't exactly cover himself in glory either; it's a good thing Mr. Kasdan is very patient and generous. Drue is stressed about his terrible parents; it's a good thing Jen and Grams love taking in strays. Principal Peskin is stressed that someone's going to prank the graduation ceremony. Tobey is stressed about asking Jack why he isn't calling Tobey his boyfriend. Jack is stressed about getting to the airport on time to pick up Andie. Lily is...probably stressed about when she's going to be old enough to see color? Don't stress: our episode on "The Graduate" is right

After the high emotion of "Promicide," couldn't we all use a little breather? (Also, let's be real: in a 23-episode season, you can't go straight from prom to commencement anyway.) Dawson is very slowly getting used to the idea of having lost Gretchen when Gale announces that she's leaving town, so he better try to get what closure he can in a hurry. Joey's moping around her Yacht Club shift when good old Mr. Kubelik from Worthington asks her to bring that charming boyfriend of hers to an imminent freshmen's mixer because Mr. Kubelik wants to introduce Pacey to the Dean of Admissions. Pacey, dying of shame, agrees to go, maybe even letting himself get as hopeful as Joey about what this invitation could mean. Jen comes home to a realtor showing Grams's house to prospective buyers, which is how she learns that Grams plans to use the proceeds to send Jen to college and live on what's left at an apparently not very nice retirement community. Jen immediately decides she's not going to go, so it falls to Jack to ta

We've dealt with everyone hearing back from colleges, and you know what that means: it's time for prom! Joey's going with Pacey, even though he seems to have lost interest in kissing or looking at her. Jen and Jack are supposed to go as friends, but Jen is pretty determined to set Jack up with Tobey. And Dawson's going with Gretchen, who can't help remembering that...she's already done all this. Everyone politely goes through the motions in the lead-up to the big event, saving their biggest meltdowns for when all their classmates can turn off the stereo and watch. You just have to turn UP your headphones (to a safe level, of course) and LISTEN as we tell you all about "Promicide"! JOIN THE AWT CLUB

It's tough to be pregnant on TV! If your supposed loved ones aren't making snarky comments about how big you got to GROW A HUMAN PERSON INSIDE YOU, you're the butt of the "joke" of at least one and maybe several bouts of false labor. Ha ha ha? But not really. Poor Gale. Anyway: the Leery baby is two weeks overdue and it's an issue. When he's not hovering around Gale, however, Dawson has time to hover around Gretchen. Does she want to have sex...now? What about......now? And what does it mean that she's suddenly got an interview for a job in Boston when HE is about to go to college in CALIFORNIA?! Pacey, meanwhile, is out of town, which seems to be making Joey antsy. Is she so codependent or horny that she can't amuse herself for a couple of days while he goes fishing with Doug, or is there, perhaps, another reason she needs to get hold of him rather urgently? HMMM. Jack, it turns out, has hung in with the tutoring program, and in the time he and Tobey have been offscreen, they have apparently forged a comfort

It's Ditch Day for the seniors of Capeside High, but the ones we're watching are hardly enjoying carefree time off from school. Jen gets Joey to come with her for an interview with an admissions guy at the University of New York. Joey is excited to see all the sights on her list during her first-ever trip to the city, but she can tell Jen isn't doing so well and abandons her plans to look after her. Sure enough, the admissions meeting is just a cover story for Jen's long-delayed reckoning with her father. After Gretchen tells Dawson about the spontaneous road trip she took on HER Ditch Day, Dawson spontaneously decides to copy her, basically. If he'd thought about it just a little longer, he might have remembered that he no longer has a spare tire. Pacey still has junior classes to make up that he can't miss, but soon decides he can afford a Ditch Half-Day with Drue, who takes him to his favorite bar that doesn't card. If this seems like a bad idea for a kid whose dad is the local sheriff, you're way ahead of

It's April, which means envelopes fat and thin are arriving in Capeside. Joey is jealous of the pile of acceptances Jack secured for himself and Jen, but doesn't need to be for long: she finds out she's been admitted to Worthington at the very same moment Dawson hears he's been rejected by NYU Film School. While Gretchen bucks Dawson up by reminding him that Mr. Brooks never went to film school, and that Dawson could be inspired by real life and use his inheritance to make movies, everyone else is celebrating the first Potter to get into college. That abruptly stops when Joey finds out her financial aid package will still require her or her family to kick in $15,000 a year, and in this world -- where a high school guidance counselor doesn't tell a student about APPEALING HER FINANCIAL AID, A THING YOU CAN DO -- that means Worthington is off the table completely. While Joey tries (not very hard) to keep this disappointment a secret, Jen is having a hard time articulating to Jack or Tom why she doesn't want to

We're firmly in the last third of the episodes set in our cast's senior year of high school, which means it's time to reveal the winners of the senior poll. Somehow, Drue has weaseled his way into a position of moderate authority on the yearbook staff, apparently just to rig it so that the Class Couple is Joey...and Dawson?! Joey then has to downshift from acting like she doesn't care but is worried that Dawson will be upset (he's not) to finding out that Pacey's asking Gretchen to give him the house for the whole night accidentally tipped her that he and Joey are now Doing Sex, meaning Joey has to make sure Gretchen's not going to blab to Dawson. Gretchen and Dawson COULD be having their own perfectly nice night maybe doing sex themselves in his parents' empty house, but instead he has to go on and on about how great he thinks it is that when he asked Joey if she and Pacey are boning, she said no, and Gretchen simply has no poker face and just has to flee into the night rather than break Pacey's confidence.

After the events of the last episode, someone evidently decided the viewer needed to zoom in on various small groups of characters for some very intimate time. When Drue tricks Mr. Kasdan into leaving Joey and Pacey at the lodge, they discuss their night together, but Pacey's compliment-fishing puts Joey off. After Mr. Brooks's poorly attended offscreen funeral, Gretchen and Grams have to tag-team their efforts to keep Dawson from falling into despondency over the likelihood that his end will be the same as his friend's. Ordered into therapy after getting caught on the ski trip with liquor bottles, Jen puts on her brattiest manner to meet Dr. Tom Frost (Rob Nagle). And a chance run-in outside a showing of His Girl Friday sets up what could be the next big crisis in Joey and Dawson's friendship. We've got many words to say about "Four Stories"! JOIN THE AWT CLUB

That senior ski trip Joey debased herself for in the previous episode: it's here! Pacey's trying to be breezy about it, given the uncomfortable sex conversation he and Joey had about it last week, but Joey's making that difficult. Sharing a hotel room with a longtime boyfriend who loves you and wants to have undoubtedly very gentle sex with you? Joey, some people have real problems. Like, for instance, Jen, who can't stop slipping on ice and injuring herself, requiring herroommate Jack to look after her. The close quarters and liberated mini-bar lead them to some unexpected places. Back in Capeside, Mr. Brooks -- having ODed on his hoarded pills -- is in a coma. His doctor (Tony "Buster Bluth" Hale!) has to be the one to tell him the content of the "lawyer talk" on the paperwork Dawson signed in the last episode: Dawson is Mr. Brooks's health care proxy, so how long the hospital staff keeps Mr. Brooks technically alive is up to Dawson. He seeks counsel from everyone he knows, but it's one surprise visitor who

Dawson is wrapping up his work on the A.I. Brooks documentary just as A.I. Brooks is wrapping up his affairs on earth, furtively hiding pills and getting Dawson to sign paperwork without giving him time to read it. Dawson might not have taken the time anyway, since he's focused on a big milestone with Gretchen: meeting her friends. Going out to a show with a couple of Gretchen's college friends throws their age difference into stark relief, as does Gretchen talking about him like he's less of a boyfriend and more of a boyfriend-shaped body pillow. Meanwhile, Joey is trying to barter a couple of precious weekend nights off work at the Yacht Club by making Drue's date with Anna, daughter to the Club board president, a double. Mrs. Valentine makes it clear she'll only grant the time off if Drue's date Anna has a great time, so both Joey and Pacey have to run interference to draw attention away from Drue's stank attitude. Tobey tries to take Jen's advice by being friends with Jack, suggesting that Jack join him t

Turning 18 puts a person through changes. For example, Pacey's decided HIS 18th birthday should be at a completely different time of year than his 16th. But never mind! He complains to Joey that his birthday is cursed, so all he wants to do this year is chill out at home with her, and she promises they will, and we all know that means she's implicated in his surprise party. The event -- to be held at the Witter family home -- coincides with what was to have been Gretchen and Dawson's first date, and Gretchen may be a little too eager to bag that plan in favor of her family obligation; she also makes it clear that although she's bringing him to the party, she doesn't want Joey or Pacey or anyone in her family to know she and Dawson are dating, if they even are, which Dawson obviously takes as a slight. While the birthday boy doesn't die of an accidental gunshot as happened at Scott Scanlon's birthday party, this one is...almost as bad. And Joey doesn't help by trying to ignore Pacey's dark mood and unhelpfully

We’re off this week but we bring you two Again With Again With This episodes chock full of drawl. AWAWT 226: Let's Watch James Van Der Beek And Ali Larter In Varsity Blues! In a small Texas town, high school football is everything. But when a golden Florida State-bound quarterback (Paul Walker) suffers a career-ending injury, can his Vonnegut-reading understudy (James Van Der Beek) save the season?! Also features Ali Larter and an unorthodox use of whipped cream. AWAWT 230: Let’s Watch Luke Perry And Linden Ashby In 8 Seconds! It seemed like every single interview with Luke Perry in the early ’90s talked about 8 Seconds, the bio-pic about rodeo star Lane Frost starring Perry and directed by Rocky helmer John G. Avildsen. But is all the ancillary intel around the movie more interesting than the movie itself? Shirtless Dylan, a lesser Baldwin, Shelley Tambo from Northern Exposure, Melrose‘s boring-est leading man, and an almost famous “buckle bunny” are all part of the conversation, so throw on some turquoi