It's a new season
and a new semester for the Capeside friends. With the pressures of
high school increasing and senior year around the corner,
Dawson (James Van Der Beek), Joey (Katie Holmes) and the rest of
the gang have a lot of planning to do. Along with pals Pacey
(Joshua Jackson), Jennifer (Michelle Williams) and Jack (Kerr Smith), they deal with sex, ethics, jealousy and more.
CRITIQUE
In my review of
Season 2 I said way too much. Some of my words spoiled plot and
character events, and some pointed out the obvious. Well, for this
season I'm just going to be brief. The major
characters move on to different things as the new school semester
begins; two find new love (I'm not going to spoil who they are) while others explore different paths,
Dawson is romanced by the mysterious Eve, Jen goes out with a
freshman, Andie (Meredith Monroe) cheats on a test, Jack joins the
football team and finds an interested guy, Pacey takes the stage
in a school play, Dawson shoots a lame documentary and meets a
female film buff at a film festival, Joey takes up painting, and the list
of events goes on.
Dawson's Creek
is still all drama, but there's some limited humor as well. Most
of the humor, however, comes from Pacey. The
"main" characters remain mostly interesting throughout the season,
though some of the situations they get into can get
boring. Andie gets more annoying this season, and sometimes I just
couldn't stand watching her on screen. It's not Meredith Monroe's
fault, she just doesn't have much to work with. On the other hand,
Joshua Jackson does a really good job with Pacey, he's perhaps the
show's most fun and versatile actor. Katie Holmes is also very
good, not to mention sexy, while Michelle Williams and James Van
Der Beek sort of go through the motions, yet they do fine. Kerr
Smith makes a good impression as well.
The quality of the writing
is down a bit from last season as several episodes are actually
quite weak, such as the Thanksgiving episode Guess Who's Coming
to Dinner. Part of this may be due to creator Kevin Williamson
leaving the show halfway through the season, or because the pace
and the continuation of the stories and the characters from last
season moves a bit too slow, plus a few subplots aren't really
that interesting. Also, I'm still irked
by the fact of having noticeably older actors playing teenagers,
but such a practice is not something to hold a grudge
against.
On the other hand,
there are some quality shows among the 23 episodes, such as
Barefoot in Capeside, True Love, The Anti-Prom,
and The Longest Day (thanks, Keith). The development of the
new romance between two major characters is written well, as are
the consequences that follow. In short, the third
season of Dawson's Creek shows some life but it also shows
some sleep, and therefore I am forced to rate it 6.5, a half point
lower than last season.
THE VIDEO
Columbia presents Dawson's
Creek in its original 1.33:1 fullscreen format. The print
image is in good condition; there are no scratches, only a few
specks and grain in the darker scenes. Also appearing in dark
scenes are small compression artifacts, yet I did not spot
edge enhancement. On the positive side, sharpness appears in
good condition, and detail looks quite nice, too. Colors are bright
and generally well-saturated, but some episodes/images appear soft,
but I think that is mostly intentional. The video quality isn't
great, but a step up from the first season DVD set.
Optional subtitles
include Spanish and Portuguese. Closed Captions are also
available.
THE AUDIO
Columbia presents Dawson's
Creek in English 2.0 Dolby Surround Sound. This
season features brand-new music (or replaced music) selected by the show's executive
producer for every episode. This is obviously due to licensing issues,
and the most drastic change is the replacement of the show's
theme song. It's no longer "I Don't Want To Wait" by Paula Cole,
but instead a kind of boring song (that's my opinion anyway)
called "Run Like Mad" by Jann Arden. In terms of the audio
presentation itself, the music comes across effectively and
clear. Dialogue is easy to understand without any discernable
distractions. Sound
effects sound just fine, and there's decent positional audio and
mild bass. Overall, a
perfectly fine presentation.
THE EXTRAS
There is
commentary by producer Paul Stupin and actor Kerr Smith on 2
episodes (First Encounters of the Close Kind and
True Love). Both chat it up throughout the duration, and
their comments are thankfully not limited to scene-specific
stuff. Stupin leads the tracks and brings up some interesting
topics, while Smith adds some decent info.
Next is an
Interactive Map of Capeside where you can select a variety
of place/locations of the town by clicking on the images with
your remote. The map then zooms in to show a more detailed map
of a selected area. A brief video clip accompanies the detailed
maps, though some might contain spoilers. The images themselves
look pretty good and quite detailed, kind of like satellite
imagery.
Rounding out the
extras are four trailers that run about eight minutes
total. They are: trailer for Dawson's Creek, 50 First
Dates, Contemporary TV, and Original Programming.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This time I'm going to
say "rent it" instead of recommending it. Parts of the third
season were just too boring for me to sit through, however, there are
a handful of good episodes. Fans might as well go ahead with a
purchase, but those following the show on DVD might just as well rent it this
time around.
