Dawson's Creek: Season 04 (2000)

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Season four of Dawson's Creek finds teenagers Joey Potter (Katie Holmes) and Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson) still very much in love, albeit racked with guilt because of the pain they've inflicted upon their lifelong friend, budding filmmaker Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek). The couple's relationship intensifies when circumstances force Pacey to move into Joey's house. Even so, they still haven't had sex: Joey remains a virgin, and Pacey is just plain nervous. As for Dawson, he is startled to learn that his mother, Gail (Mary-Margaret Humes), divorced for over a year from his dad, Mitch (John Wesley Shipp), is pregnant again. Over at the McPhee household, Jack (Kerr Smith) continues to agonize over his homosexuality, while his sister Andie (Meredith Monroe) has attained early acceptance at Harvard University. Alas, Andie places her future in the gravest jeopardy when she overdoses on "ecstasy" at a rave party, a calamity for which Jack holds Andie's friend Jen (Michelle Williams) responsible. Elsewhere, Dawson and Pacey decide to patch up their differences and become friends again after Dawson rescues Pacey and Jen from a storm at sea, but this resolve is nearly dashed to bits when Pacey finds out that his older sister Gretchen (Sasha Alexander) has been smooching with Dawson. Also, Mark Matkevich joins the cast as natural-born troublemaker Drue Valentine, who moves in with Jen and her grandmother Evelyn (Mary Beth Piel). And halfway through the season, Pacey and Joey finally "do it"! The season finale is pepped up with a deus ex machina when Dawson unexpectedly receives a huge financial legacy from the late Arthur Brooks (Harve Presnell), a crotchety old movie director who had served as the subject of one of Dawson's class film projects. The money enables Dawson to enroll at USC, while Joey prepares for her freshman year at Worthington College. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi