Dawson wins for sure! Not that Xander is great but he isn't as bad as Dawson especially since Dawson is like that every single episode I'm over here like what does Joey see in him?! It's too bad we didn't get much Pacey and Joey since they weren't planned she always went back to Dawson :(
Oh, but that's what makes what happens so amazing! I don't know if you watched the show in real time, or not, but Pacey/Joey were just supposed to be a bump in the road on the Dawson/Joey highway. The original creator, Kevin Williamson, left at the end of s2 and 100% was in the Dawson and Joey are soulmates camp. That was always his overarching vision for the show. Its foundation. Its impetus. Its anchor.
After the Jacey break-up at the end of s4, the writers tried to get the viewers to forget they had ever been together and focused back on Dawson/Joey. They lost a lot of viewers over the course of s5 and most of s6 (also because so much of those two seasons were ass, with a few exceptions) . Which is why I think they brought the Joey/Pacey romantic plotline back and did the Castaways episode, in a desperate attempt to bring viewers back.
And then the original creator was brought back to write the feature-length finale, and we all knew it was inevitable: of course he would have Joey choose Dawson, and lo, we despaired.
But then the most beautiful, unthinkable thing happened: she chose Pacey.
Notice that when Joey tells Dawson she's choosing Pacey in the finale, their conversation includes him declaring that it doesn't matter who ends up with who, because in some cosmic, indescribable way, they'll always be soulmates. That's Kevin Williamson honouring his original vision. (Though I always found it funny that Joey doesn't actually agree or say it back - I like to pretend she was just humouring him.)
BUT KW was not so wedded to his vision that he kept them together romantically.
In subsequent interviews, he made clear that before coming back and writing the finale he had watched the rest of the show and felt that he had to be true to the characters and their journeys - and Joey and Pacey, therefore, had to be together.
It was a huge victory. And put aftershocks through the writing world we still feel today.
When the HIMYM writers dropped the ball so spectacularly and so badly in their finale, viewers and critics bitterly bemoaned their adherence to their original plan. They also pointed to KW as someone who had been wise enough years before to recognise the original ending doesn't fit anymore and change what he had planned.
And that single decision has kept me going through the countless times since where the character has gotten together with who I firmly believe was the wrong person. And stopped me from becoming very bitter š š š
