Joey and Dawson in Beauty Contest
I adored this episode and I have some comments about it. First off, I loved how Jen worked to make a friendship with Joey, because female relationships these days are not nearly as valued as they should be. It's all about getting a boyfriend. But Jen and Joey both knew that having a female friend was worth a lot. So I loved how Jen helped Joey through the process of entering the Pageant.
I also adored how when Joey overheard the upper class rich girls trashing her and her name that Dawson stopped her and made her believe she could win. Dawson had been acting so stupid through the episode I was glad he got it together for his best friend at that point. Another thing was that it was Joey who loved Dawson and he didn't love her back yet somehow even though she was the one wanting him to return her feelings, she made him look like the dumb one instead of her being kinda dumb because she was chasing a guy who didn't like her back. Joey's honesty is incredible and I've never seen that in real life.
And last but not least, I adored how at the very end when Dawson was looking at Joey as a beautiful young woman instead of the girl across the creek with bandaids on her knees, Joey didn't get swept up in the moment and just enjoy his complements. She was smarter than that. She pointed out to him that it was just makeup, just her hair done up, this wasn't who she was and this wasn't who she wanted him to love. And again she made him look like the immature one out of the both of them. Damn she was good.
"When people look at you they think wow, what a babe. When they look at me they think, gee, she's really tall." (Joey to Jen)