Season 5

Complete listed story — includes the ending

1. The Bostonians

Dawson is a freshman film student in Los Angeles and about to begin an internship at a studio under director Todd Carr ( Hal Ozsan ), while Joey is settling in at Worthington College in Boston. Instead of focusing on their new lives, they find themselves distracted by the distance between them and their unsettling last kiss. Joey is out of her depth, dealing with promiscuous roommate Audrey Liddell and a demanding creative writing professor, David Wilder ( Ken Marino ), who gives her story -- based on her kiss with Dawson -- a C. Jen and Jack try to settle in at (the fictional) Boston Bay College, with Jack taking the chance to tease Jen about her lack of love life: he points out that in the last year, both of them have only kissed one man, and the man Jen kissed was him. Jen visits the harbor, where Pacey has moved in secret, a caretaker to Kubelik's yacht. Joey, Jack and Jen, with Audrey tagging along, attend a frat party; there, Audrey admits to Joey that she too has a romantic attachment from high school she left behind; Jack begins to bond with the members of the fraternity; and Jen finds a romantic spark with Charlie Todd ( Chad Michael Murray ), whose band was hired for the party. Joey leaves an emotional voicemail message to Dawson that it's time for them to go their separate ways; the next morning, he arrives at her dorm room, having been fired from his internship, and doubting his future in LA.

2. The Lost Weekend

Dawson is packing to return to LA after spending the weekend with Joey when he receives the voicemail she left him the previous Friday. The two are unable to hash out their differences as Joey spends the day trying to get permission to drop her writing class and get the form through Worthington bureaucracy. At the behest of his brother, Pacey reluctantly gets a dish-washer job at Civilization, a restaurant run by an ambitious chef, Danny Brecher ( Ian Kahn ), and meets a waitress named Karen ( Lourdes Benedicto ). Although Karen has a boyfriend, that doesn't stop Pacey from feeling attracted to her. Audrey gives Dawson a tour of the campus while Joey is busy, and Jen helps Charlie at the radio station, then secures a job as his co-host. She also winds up in bed with him.

3. Capeside Revisited

Joey, Audrey and Jen go out to dinner at Civilization, where Joey is perturbed to see Pacey working in the back; she is shocked to learn from Jen that he's been here for more than three weeks and has made no attempt to contact her. Jack is offered a bid by the Sigma Epsilon fraternity; he tells them that he is gay, but they say diversity is part of their mandate, so he accepts. Dawson heads home to Capeside, having made the decision to drop out of university and move to Boston. While Gail is understanding, Mitch is not. Jen, disturbed that her connection to Charlie is primarily sexual, spends the day trying to learn something about him. Dawson and his father have a heated argument about Dawson's future. Mitch thinks Dawson is making a mistake, but adds that he loves his son unconditionally. Joey visits Pacey, and they rekindle their friendship. After Dawson has left, Mitch runs out to the store to get milk for Lilly; he takes his eyes off the road and is killed in a crash.

4. The Long Goodbye

The main characters assemble in Capeside to bury Mitch Leery. Dawson and Gail are devastated that Lilly will never remember her father. Dawson is convinced that he is at fault, as his father would have been driving him to the airport instead of going to the store if he had taken Mitch's advice about film school. Pacey takes him to the scene of the accident and shows him how the other driver - who had worked a double shift - was at fault. But Dawson does not allow himself to cry until he visits the store for milk and speaks to the proprietor -- the last person to see Mitch alive -- and is reminded how much his father loved him. Finally, the episode is littered with flashbacks in which the characters (played by their present-day actors) remember moments with Mitch: Dawson, on his 12th birthday, receiving his first video camera; Joey watching Mitch put up the ladder that she used to get into Dawson's room; Pacey, being taught to drive by him; and Gail, in 1983, agreeing they'll teach their soon-to-be-born son Dawson to become a good man.

5. Use Your Disillusion

Dawson takes Joey up on her invitation to spend a weekend in Boston, but the two have difficulty talking, and later Dawson has a panic attack. Joey is asked by Professor Wilder to join a small team of students cataloguing the estate of recently-deceased author, Worthington alumni Rose Lazare. Jack is surprised when his boyfriend Tobey shows up unexpectedly, forcing Jack to choose between his fraternity's hell week and spending time with Tobey. Jack keeps leaving Tobey when his frat brothers call and Jen is left to pick up the pieces. Later, Jack tells Jen he wants to meet new people, but she says he should have been honest with Tobey, rather than avoid seeing him. The two stop speaking. Pacey is asked by Chef Danny if he (Danny) can borrow Pacey's boat for a romantic evening with his wife; Pacey agrees. Jen, on her way to a production of Othello, sees Charlie in a coffee shop touching a woman's hand; she storms in and throws iced coffee at his lap. But the woman is his sister, who had been showing off her engagement ring. Jen apologises but later sees him kissing another woman outside his dorm room.

6. High Anxiety

Dawson is having trouble with anxiety attacks so his doctor refers him to a grief therapist in Boston. Outside the office Dawson changes his mind and instead embarks on a night of debauchery with Jack and his frat brothers, which ends with a drunken Dawson citing his kiss with Joey as being the reason Dawson dropped out of USC, and therefore of Mitch's death. Jen, conferring with Pacey on the issue of Charlie's cheating, finds a locket; Pacey passes it to Danny for his wife. Jen finds the other woman, Nora (Andrea C. Pearson), hiding in Charlie's wardrobe. Charlie suggests they all continue dating and Jen pretends to go along with this, but conspires with Nora to leave him naked and locked out of his dorm room, and short of several prized possessions. Audrey seeks emotional support from Joey when her critical mother Kay ( Brenda Strong ) visits. And Pacey recognises the lost locket around Karen's neck...

7. Text, Lies and Videotape

Jen helps Dawson go to the grief counselor ( Pauley Perrette ) he ran away from the week before. Dawson finds the idea of sharing his thoughts with a complete stranger uncomfortable, but he is surprised with how much he learns from it. Back in Capeside, Dawson and Gail run into problems handling Mitch's will: he never signed an updated version that includes Lily. Meanwhile, Joey helps Professor Wilder's hand-picked team sift through Rose Lazare's letters; they are frank and detailed, leading to the hypothesis that Lazar had a secret lesbian lover. Joey, with the help of Audrey's audition tape for a (fictional) season of The Real World set in Ibiza, realizes that the letters were Lazare's diary entries, writing to herself. Pacey confronts Karen about the risks she is taking by having an affair with Danny; his point is underlined when Danny's wife Emily shows up unannounced at a party hosted by the restaurant and Danny must abandon Karen to keep up appearances. Absent: Kerr Smith

8. Hotel New Hampshire

Nora approaches Jen at the radio station and asks if Charlie has also been writing Jen lovesick letters begging her to take him back (he hasn't). To break her out of her funk, Dawson takes her on a road trip to a small film festival in Hooksett, New Hampshire, where his documentary about Mr. Brooks, submitted by Mitch on Dawson's behalf, has won the grand prize. His main competition is Oliver Chirchick ( Jordan Bridges ), who has won the festival three years running and who starts off assuming Dawson a "Hollywood slickster;" however, over the course of the festival, the two come to appreciate each other's work, and Oliver informs Dawson of a Visual Arts College in Boston which he (Oliver) attends and which Dawson could enroll in. Jack brings Joey and Audrey to a frat party under false pretenses, believing Audrey promiscuous enough to help his brother get laid; he apologizes the next day. Pacey takes Karen on a non-romantic date, but it culminates in the two of them having sex — which Pacey realizes was actually Karen's way of getting back at Danny for "abandoning" her for his wife. Karen quits her job at the restaurant and heads off for a new start. Finally, Dawson and Jen are amused to have been assigned the honeymoon suite at the Hooksett hotel, but Dawson ends up losing his virginity to Jen, and they decide to continue seeing one another.

9. Four Scary Stories

After watching scary movies, Joey, Pacey and Jack talk about their creepiest experiences and urban legends. Joey shares her story of how she was almost attacked by the librarian on Halloween and saved by the creepy man she was running from. Jack describes helping to clean the frat house basement and finding a pledge gagged and bound in a closet in what is believed to be a hazing ritual; however, the pledge is implied to be the ghost of a closeted gay man who committed suicide in the 60s. Pacey reveals that he was chased by a black car while giving Karen a ride home; after some dodging and driving, they managed to run it off the road, but discovered that there was nobody driving the car. The fourth story is delivered by Grams, who tells the second-hand tale of a time when Jen, working late at the radio station, managed to accidentally lock herself out. Absent: James Van Der Beek

10. Appetite for Destruction

To encourage the gang to actually hold one of the weekly dinners they've been planning since the start of the semester, Pacey offers to cook the meal; he, Joey, Jack and Audrey discuss the fact that Dawson and Jen stayed an extra night in New Hampshire after the film festival, making them a little late to dinner. Jen and Dawson, arriving, decide to keep their re-kindled relationship to themselves, but are caught by everyone kissing at the door. The resulting tense atmosphere derails dinner, with Joey's feelings at the forefront of everyone's minds. She reluctantly accepts Dawson's new status with Jen, but is wounded when Dawson tells her that he needs to move on and away from a past which no longer contains his father, which he could not do if he dated her. Charlie also drops by, causing some tension between Dawson and Jen; he admits that Nora has rejected him, but Jen is adamant that she's already taken. Joey talks to Pacey about her real feelings about Dawson and Jen.

11. Something Wild

Joey, Audrey and Pacey go out to celebrate at a nightclub: Pacey has been promoted to chef, Audrey has been hired as a waitress at Civilization (primarily on her ability to put Pacey in his place), and Joey has achieved a perfect GPA for her first semester at Worthington. Audrey suggests to Joey that they should both kiss some boys but Joey is reluctant to do so. Charlie's band is playing, and Charlie hits on Joey, though he gives up when Joey confirms that she knows what he did to Jen. Still, he challenges her to do something wild. This culminates in Joey taking the stage to sing " I Want You To Want Me," and planting a spontaneous kiss on Charlie backstage. Dawson and Jen go back to Capeside to visit Gail and Lilly, where they have their first fight over what Dawson will do with his life. Gail formally releases him from his responsibilities to the Leery household, and all three agree that Dawson should move to Boston, enroll in the Visual Arts College, and live with Jen and Grams. Absent: Kerr Smith

12. Sleeping Arrangements

Dawson and Jen see that living together is tricky. Between ruined toothbrushes and bathroom overcrowding, they get on each other's nerves. Jen faces a new challenge at work after her regular show turns into an advice show. She mainly gives advice to girls with relationship problems, and makes statements on men that hurt Dawson's feelings, but Dawson surprises her by saying he won't ever treat her badly; meanwhile, the producers offer her another show as an advice expert. Meanwhile, Melanie ( Jennifer Morrison ), who spent the summer with Pacey, shows up. Her father has sold the yacht Pacey is caretaking and bought a new one. He wants Pacey aboard as a deckhand for a Caribbean cruise that leaves in three days. After a lot of thinking, Pacey decides not to go, since he has made a successful life in Boston. Jack moves into the fraternity house and gets his own room, but he becomes uneasy when he discovers an older guy moved out to share with a freshman who was supposed to share with Jack. The freshman, Eric ( Ryan Bittle ), felt uncomfortable sharing a room with a gay man.

13. Something Wilder

Dawson attends the Visual Arts College. Oliver wastes no time in asking Dawson to direct a movie he wrote. Dawson is impressed with the script, but refuses the directing job due to fear of the inevitable lows that follow any sort of emotional highs. Oliver reminds him that this is a terrible way to live life, and Dawson accepts the directorship. Oliver plans to play the starring role. Meanwhile, Jen's new radio show gets terrible reviews: her blissful relationship with Dawson has transformed her from the sarcastic Jen preferred by listeners to someone bubbly and sappy. This problem is solved by Oliver: he intrudes on Dawson's attempts to dine with Jen, obsessed with getting Dawson's feedback on the script, and his casual nerd misogyny infuriates her. Elsewhere, Jack is on academic probation. Irritated, he goes out and has a few too many drinks at Civilization, which results in a fight with his fraternity brothers. Pacey breaks up the fight, concerned for Jack. Finally, Joey is pursued by Elliot ( Ned Brower ), a somewhat uninspiring freshman, 'a nice guy', and agrees to go on a date with him, but lies to him and cancels when Prof. Wilder takes his students out to celebrate the close of their project. Joey confesses that she doesn't get that "butterflies in her stomach" feeling from Elliot, and instead gets it from the wrong people, such as Professor Wilder. They kiss at the end of the night before they both draw back.

14. Guerilla Filmmaking

Directing Oliver's movie is not an easy task. Audrey, playing opposite Oliver, has problems with the star's kissing skills, and Dawson discovers that Oliver is a deficient thespian, leading to a re-casting of Charlie in the role. This puts the film under additional pressure: the final scene must be shot by the end of the day, as the lights are only rented for that long, and Dawson wants to change it as he feels it lacking. Audrey, practicing lines with Pacey, kisses him in a moment of passion; later, she locks herself in the bathroom out of guilt for making a move on her roommate's ex, but Joey, called in by Dawson, gives the two of them her blessing. Joey was called away from Professor Wilder's house, where she has made the decision to quit his writing seminar, thereby allowing them to date. Meanwhile, Jack and Eric bond over the former's coming-out experience, and Eric's body language suggests a regard deeper than friendship; however, Eric then goes to the fraternity's leadership and claims that Jack kissed him without consent. Jack, seeing that he has been pre-judged, quits the fraternity, stopping only to wish Eric clarity and greater self-acceptance. Dawson and Audrey improvise a successful ending in one long take, and Joey heads back to Professor Wilder's house through a snowy, late-night Boston. To be continued...

15. Downtown Crossing

Joey stops at an ATM at the eponymous Downtown Crossing shopping district. There, she is held up at gunpoint by a mugger (Sam Ball) who demands her mobile phone and drains her bank account; he explains that he needs to get back into the good graces of his estranged wife. He demands Joey's coat for use as a gift. As he crosses the street he is struck by a moving car. Joey retrieves her possessions and, despite the criminal's protests, calls an ambulance. She faints and is taken to hospital too. Joey takes custody of a lost girl, Sammy (Olivia Milo Pence), and finds her mother, Grace ( Mercedes McNab ). They are at the hospital because Sammy's dad is sick. Grace and Joey bond until Grace realizes that her husband is Joey's assailant; wishing her husband good riddance, she leaves. Later Joey agrees to visit the mugger, knowing the man and her own father turned to drug dealing blue-collar crime despite having a wife and child/ren. She hopes to finds answers to why... The man says he can't help himself and explains how he stole his daughter's day care money. He appears to be dying and asks if Joey still loves her father despite all the ways he disappointed her. Joey admits that she does, and the mugger dies. Joey runs into Grace and Sammy. Sammy asks if her father did a bad thing to Joey, and she lies saying he pushed Joey out of the way of an oncoming vehicle. Absent: James Van Der Beek, Joshua Jackson, Michelle Williams, Kerr Smith, Mary Beth Peil

16. In a Lonely Place

Joey visits Prof. Wilder to explain why she failed to turn up at his house, but he does not allow her to speak and suggests she had avoided him for good reasons. Dawson invites her to watch In A Lonely Place with him. They see Prof. Wilder with an unknown woman and Joey is uneasy. Later, Wilder kisses the woman and leaves the screening early. Joey follows him to the foyer. He explains he sometimes meets the woman although they are wrong for one another (preserving the idea that he hasn't been deceiving Joey), and then waffles about wistful endings in books and life. This makes Joey feel content with their affair never fully becoming an affair. Meantime, Jen is interviewing Steve (Drew Wood) and Wynn (Nick Cornish), members of a rock band, on behalf of the radio station, and brings Audrey along. This leaves Pacey at a loose end, so he goes with Jack to a bar that does not check its patrons' ages — Later, Pacey realises it's a gay bar. He bonds with a food critic who had previously published a critical review of Civilization. Jack points out that the critic is so attentive because he is flirting with Pacey. Pacey takes refuge by claiming that he and Jack are a couple. The critic says in the event that they break up, here's his card and number — and gives it to Jack. Audrey's focus on Wynn is derailed when he reveals he has a girlfriend. Steve runs into similar problems with Jen, but she is reluctant to turn him down.

17. Highway to Hell

Charlie learns that the lead singer of his band has quit; he begs Joey to take over, as the band have a paying gig the next day. Pacey agrees to drive her and Audrey the six hours. Charlie, who overslept and missed his ride with the rest of the band, turns up needing a ride. Pacey dislikes Charlie as the latter has wronged Jen. The drive is fraught with arguments and sniping from Charlie. Meanwhile, Dawson, Jen, Jack and Grams return to Capeside for Lily's first birthday party, and Dawson is uncomfortable with his mother's friendship with Nathan (Scott Stevens), who also has a young child. Jen confesses to Jack that she wants to break up with Dawson, missing the freedom of getting to make her own choices and be spontaneous. Dawson and Jen argue. Having talked to his mother, Dawson accepts that she is interested in a man again after her husband died. Joey wows the crowd, though she requires some duet assistance from Charlie to do so. Audrey and Pacey's relationship is back on and Pacey doesn't want to drive home yet. The four of them take two rooms in a motel. Joey hands out by the pool and Charlie says he's going to bed and gives her a key to the room. Joey later goes to the room and lies down on the bed, fully clothed, with Charlie.

18. Cigarette Burns

Oliver tells Dawson he has arranged a screening for their movie, which is yet to be finished. Dawson freaks out, but Joey comforts him saying the movie is brilliant. At the screening, Dawson meets an attractive woman, and after exchanging insults she reveals herself to be Amy Lloyd ( Meredith Salenger ), movie critic for the Boston Weekly, whom Oliver secretly invited. She storms out, but Dawson convinces her to watch the movie after a heart-to-heart talk — and, after Amy glimpses her boyfriend, who just dumped her, a decoy kiss. Meanwhile, Joey is scared about her feelings towards Charlie and goes to Jen for advice. Jen, recently reunited with Jack, struggles to deal with the fact that Grams has a new boyfriend, Clifton Smalls ( Afemo Omilami ), an African-American Baptist. Pacey asks Audrey how many men she's slept with, and she tests his reactions by saying 27, then 57, when it was really only five.

19. 100 Light Years from Home

It is Spring Break and the group goes to Miami to party. Audrey and Pacey go through their first relationship test when Chris Hartford (Tac Fitzgerald), Audrey's high school boyfriend and first love, shows up with tickets for the M2M concert at an MTV event. She is torn with the memories of the past, and eventually kisses Chris. Pacey stays cool about it and asks Audrey to be his official girlfriend after she confesses she loves him. Meanwhile, Dawson and Oliver drive to New York to meet a film agent who is interested in their movie; to pass the time, Dawson tells Oliver the (long and convoluted) story about his past with Joey. Oliver convinces him to turn the car south and make his case to her. But when he gets there, all he finds is a drunk and depressed Jack (who is flunking out of college) and Pacey, who tells him his story with Joey is over: Charlie has showed up, and he and Joey end up spending the night chatting in a tent.

20. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)

Charlie's band lands a deal for a tour. He asks Joey to go with him, but she doesn't want to leave college in the middle of the semester. Charlie then decides to quit the band and stay with her; Joey begins to panic, as she feels like the relationship is moving too fast. She breaks up with him so he can go with his band on tour. Meanwhile, Oliver and Dawson finally get to NY to meet with an agent (Jack Plotnik), but Oliver ruins the meeting with his awkwardness. Dawson smooths it over by remaining behind to beg for another chance. Pacey meets the nasty new manager of Civilization, Alex Pearl ( Sherilyn Fenn ), who has bought the restaurant from Danny. She promotes Pacey to head chef but fires Audrey. Pacey tries to get Audrey her job back, but all he gets is a kiss from Alex. Absent: Michelle Williams, Kerr Smith

21. After Hours

Dawson, at the theatre to watch a movie for class, runs into Amy Lloyd, who is fleeing a disastrous date. The two end up having a one-night stand, with Amy declaring she makes judgments about impulsive sexual liaisons partially based on her date's shoes. He admits that he still harbors feelings for Joey. Dawson is stung by Amy's review of his and Oliver's picture, which she called "at times imitative, derivative, and full of unexplored potential," but Amy gives him a copy of a film which she describes the same way: Woody Allen's directorial debut, What's Up, Tiger Lily? Jack attempts to cram an entire semester's worth of advanced calculus into his head in preparation for finals, resorting to a visit back to the frat house to ask for help and/or notes; his ex-brothers turn him down, but Eric smuggles the notes out of the house and lends a hand. Audrey is offered her job back, but suspects romantic tension between Alex and Pacey, and rejects the offer; later, she drops by at Pacey's apartment and discovers him talking with Alex about their kiss. She storms out in anger, leaving the future of their relationship unknown while Pacey struggles with the growing attraction he feels for Alex. All of these people continually intrude on Joey, who is in the Worthington library attempting to study. Dawson arrives the next morning to find her asleep in an armchair. She vents about the constant interruptions preventing her from living her dream... but all Dawson wants to know is whether Joey likes his shoes. Absent: Michelle Williams

22. The Abby

Civilization's new investors show up and Alex, a control freak, begins insulting and firing people; Pacey leads a coup d'etat against her, and both are fired. Dawson and Joey return to Capeside, and Audrey accompanies them to avoid her parents; she learns that Dawson and Oliver have been invited to summer in LA, where a famous director wishes to mentor them. Joey receives a surprise visit from Prof. Wilder, who included her story from the start of the year (about her kiss with Dawson from the Season 4 finale) in the Worthington Literary Review. At home, she decides to see her father for the first time since his latest incarceration, only to learn that he has been paroled and didn't tell his family. Jack and Jen decide to travel to Costa Rica for a summer adventure, with Jen declining an invitation from her parents to stay with them. Dawson admits he came to Florida during Spring Break to tell Joey he loves her, and finally pays a visit to his father's grave before heading out to his future.

23. Swan Song

Dawson, Audrey, Jack and Jen await flights at Logan International Airport. Grams is also awaiting a flight; she's taking a 'on the sly' weekend jaunt to Las Vegas with Clifton Smalls. Dawson runs into Todd Carr, the director who fired him at the beginning of the year; Carr invites Dawson to look him up in LA. Only Joey and Pacey plan to stay in Capeside; Joey to resume her hostess job at the Yacht Club; Pacey as security guard there. Pacey runs into Danny Brecher, who reaffirms his bond with Pacey: the food industry, he claims, fits them perfectly, because they never have to grow up. Pacey looks skeptical. Joey receives a letter from Dawson, and suggests Pacey come with her to the airport so the two of them can re-unite with their respective paramours. Pacey bribes the airport's public address system worker in order to beg Audrey to forgive him. She does and the two decide to roadtrip to California together. Meanwhile, Jen decides to summer with her parents after all, and Jack is distracted by Eric, who has returned to Boston after failing to come out of the closet to his parents. Joey catches Dawson as he boards, kisses him, tells him she loves him too, but sends him to LA, promising that their futures will include each other no matter what. Finally, Joey is alone at the airport, with her passport and the ticket she bought to Paris as an excuse to get to the departure gate... but the episode closes as a grin grows across her face, suggesting she might go to Paris.