Dawson's Creek (TV Series) Beauty Contest (1998) User Reviews

Goddess in Black

[ttapola · 8/10 · 13 November 2010]

Another winner from the early days of Dawson's Creek. Also another winner for Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson - the former delivering (including, but not limited to) a heartbreaking subtext in her character's talent act scene, and the latter once again stealing scenes with his character's dry wit and hilarious talent act (every American beauty contest has a talent act, right?). Scriptwise, against these two, James Van Der Beek and Michelle Williams are in a lose-lose situation, but they do manage to deliver some of their best scenes in the first dozen of Dawson's Creek episodes.

There's also meat in the script, exposing beauty contests as what they really are: shallow and superficial. The sarcastically (I hope) clichéd talent acts of characters other than Joey and Pacey hit their target. Sadly, true classic status eludes this episode as writers come up with yet anew, improbable angle for the Jen-Dawson-Joey love triangle, changing Dawson from The Dumbest Guy Alive™ to... what? I don't know what to call him at this point. Yes, no viewer probably wasn't surprised at the end of the episode and the writers were under pressure to keep the series ticking, especially as these were just the days of the first season, but TV shows that have come after Dawson's Creek in TV history have proved that you don't *need* to prolong the inevitable if you're a *great* writer (or a particularly brave one). Still, 8/10 greatness.

Hmm..

[savinainenpihla · 8/10 · 24 June 2021]

While I love how this episode exposed beauty contests for being superficial, this one just felt slow. I loved the bit where Joey sang, but that's my only proper highlight, and literally everything Pacey did, I love the direction his character is taking.

The One With The Beauty Contest...

[taylorkingston · 7/10 · 26 May 2015]

I enjoyed this episode. It's not of my all-time favorites from the series, and honestly, it's not in my Top 5 for Season 1. But it's still pretty good.

In this episode, Joey decides to try and win some extra money by entering in a beauty contest. She asks Jen for help because Joey has no idea what to do. Pacey decides he also wants to enter, which isn't allowed at first, since it's girls only. But after he points out that it says no where in the rule book that a man can't enter, he is allowed to participate. But he gets very upset when he learns that the judges will never give him a fair chance since he's a guy.

Overall, I give this episode a 7 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Great.

This one brings back great memories.

[m-47826 · 6/10 · 8 September 2021]

It is one of my favorite episodes of season 1. Only the way Joey was portrayed there, made her look foolish. Not only did she appear too surely, but also misinformed. Which didn't help making her look sympathetic. Then, the pity party writers seemed to have her dwell on, was very off putting. Which also prevented you from genuinely rooting for her to get the crown. And wasn't it the point, of that beauty contest plot? Her powerful tiny monologue to Dawson. Where she loosens her hair, and washes her lipstick, with the back of her hand. Was unnecessarily dramatic, and corny too. Pacey on the hand, was a joy. He was exactly the strong willed character I remembered of fondly, and his retorts were witty and hysterical. Much can't be said about Dawson and Jen, who seem to be there just for the sake of it. And were given storylines in that regard. On a different note, I really appreciated how the script didn't indulge in some misplaced political agendas, with an unbelievable « result », like we see too often on TV these days. Eve 6, Amanda Marshall and Chantal Kreviazuk songs used for the soundtrack, as well as the hauntingly beautiful score pieces, and the cute way Katie Holmes, belted out « on my own » twice. Helped making Beauty Contest, a better episode than expected. One I usually watch right after « The Scare », like I did for years.

Classic with some puzzlingly bad lines

[leedscelta · 7/10 · 24 September 2021]

Good idea for an episode in terms of increasing the platonic/non-platonic relationship between Dawson and Joey, and excellent performances by the cast--particularly Katie Holmes--carry the episode.

There are few terrible lines early in the episode that suddenly try to make Joey into a radical feminist that flop badly and will make you cringe; for example, there is promotion of the debunked 'gender gap' in the dialogue, and of the thoroughly debunked 'men are conditioned to be attracted to a certain kind of woman' (Dr. Randy Thornhill and other top evolutionary biologists have absolutely crushed this weak perspective).

Thankfully those superficial and ill-informed lines mostly die out, and the episode is another solid one in a classic opening season.