#angeloaktree

Well, Dawson’s Creek was a teen show back in the 90s-early 2000s about a group of teenagers beginning high school and then continuing into college. The lead was Dawson (Archie) and his childhood best friend Joey (Betty), along with their fellow friend Pacey (Jughead). Pacey and Joey have met as children as well, presumably through Dawson, although they all seem to have gone to the same schools as kids (like with Archie-Betty-Jughead).  Now the story begins with Joey, a girl next door, who has developed feelings for her long time best friend, Dawson. Joey is smart, studious, passionate, sharp tongued but lacks world experience, because she never really knew anything past her hometown and its close knit realtionships, like Betty. Pacey is more of an outsider and, even though his story is not quite like Jughead’s (he is the youngest of four children, an academic underachiever, his family calls him “great disappointment” or “great embarrassment” and both of his parents frequently call him a loser right to his face, he seeks love badly from women and even has a fling with a teacher), they are similar to a lot of aspects in their character; he has an alcoholic dad, very low self-esteem, uses sarcarm and witty humor as an armor to the world and is a romantic at heart, exactly like Jughead. 

Now a lot of things went down at the beginning with Dawson and Joey (they started dating for a bit but Dawson was kind of an ass and always had his eyes on the new girl, Jen (Veronica), and Joey felt like she was loosing her identity and asked him to break up and there is an incident with her dad that makes Joey like hate Dawson and drama, you know) but when he finally rejects her at some point and Joey is a mess, Dawson asks for Pacey to keep an eye on her. And that’s when the beauty starts. Pacey begins to understand that he has feelings for Joey (there is a great story being told about how you know you are in love with someone when you can spend the entire night sitting in front of the fire watching them sleep, and at the end of that episode Pacey comes upon Joey asleep in front of the fire and he sits down to watch her, my heart) but he is conflicted to confess his feelings so he just stands there by her side, being her friend and helping her and protecting her (he puts a fight with a bully who vandalized a mural Joey paints for the school and even rents her a wall later for her to redo her mural!!). But he comes to a breaking point and he can’t handle it anymore and he kisses her and, although she is mad at him at the beginning, she understands that she has feelings for him too. They start a secret relationship but when Dawson finds out he is furious and he gives her an ultimatum- him or Pacey (did I mention that Dawson is an ass? yeah, I did but still he is an ass). Joey stupidly pulls back from Pacey in an effort to mend his and her friendship with Dawson but Dawson sees him as an enemy and tries to win her back. Eventually after some more drama, a beautiful romantic moment between Pacey and Joey, a grand gesture from Pacey once again (he was going to leave town and he wrote on the wall that he had rented for her “ask me to stay”) and finally Joey stops being stupid and understands that she is in love with him so she runs to him before he leaves and they spend the summer together sailing on Pacey’s boat, named True Love (I know it’s cheesy but, hey, it’s a 90s romcom :P). 

When they return they continue being this cute, lovey-dovey couple and they grow even stronger together and love each other so much but graduation is coming and Pacey starts to feel like he is holding her back, because she is a good student and can go to college and he is not, so he breaks up with her at prom and they go their seperate ways besides their strong feelings. There is some mess again with Joey and Dawson, meaning she goes to college and they reunite at some point and kiss and even have an one-night-stand, which she regrets immediately and breaks things off with him for good. Pacey becomes a stockbroker (don’t even ask) and Joey finishes college and they meet again and sparks fly and they talk and they admit that they miss each other. There is some making up and breaking up again and then they meet again back in their hometown where Pacey goes back to live when he loses his job. They confront each other and Pacey tells her that it’s ok, she is off the hook, and he explains to Joey that despite his endless love for her, he can’t hold her back anymore (because he is that guy, that marvelous guy). However, they end up kissing and she comes to terms with the fact that even though she loves Dawson, she acknowledges that he is tied to her childhood, a love that is pure and eternally innocent. But her love with Pacey makes her feel alive and gives her everything she wants to have in life. So they end up together and their last scene is the two of them cuddling in an apartment in New York, watching the episode finale of The Creek, Dawson’s tv series about their childhood.

Now, with all that being said, the similarities I spot between those two couples are to the extend that the background is literally the same and Jughead is extremely like Pacey. Plus, I can see Archie acting like a douche at some point and being bitter, even giving them both a hard time and urging Betty to pick sides. However, I don’t see Betty being a Joey at all. I mean maybe she and Archie will date at some point (which I dread but drama) but I’m sure her feelings for Jughead are way too stronger for her to continue being with Archie or keep coming back to him like Joey did. Joey was more of an indecisive character that put her personal trauma and bad life experiences as an excuse for the way she treated people. Betty is not like that. But the positive thing is that Pacey and Joey did end up together despite the mess with Dawson and the tiring love triangle so I’m assuming that Betty and Jughead, who have a much healthier relationship and she is not so glued to Archie and stuck in the past, will be just as fine! 

And for some additional feels, here are two of my all-time favorite Pacey Witter’s quotes that I can soooo picture Jughead saying to Betty at some point (and making me die from feels): 1)“Well, I should probably just start first by saying that you, Josephine Potter, have just wrecked me. In the best possible way, you have absolutely wrecked me. Because, you see, I fell in love with you knowing that there was never any possibility of being with you, knowing full well that a sizeable chunk of your heart would always be wrapped up in our friend Dawson. And that much was actually ok with me, right up until the point that you chose me. ‘Cause then you just turned everything on this head. Then I got everything that I wanted, and from that day forward I’ve just been a wreck.” 2) “It’s really important for me that you be happy. So I want you to be with someone, whether it be Dawson or New York guy or some man that you haven’t even met yet. But I want you to be with someone who can be a part of the life that you want for yourself. I want you to be with someone who makes you feel like I feel when I’m with you. So, I guess the point to this long run-on sentence that’s been the last 10 years of our lives… is just that the simple act of being in love with you is enough for me. So you’re off the hook.”

You see what I’m talking about?? Yes, Jughead is such a Pacey. And if Pacey did get the girl, mind you a girl that always worshipped the ground Dawson was walking on, then Jughead’s dream in the beginning of 1x07 has so many chances of coming true! <3