History YMMV / DawsonsCreek

* MemeticMutation: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLgI-qbrWVo Dawson weeping]] over 90s FirstWorldProblems.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Will Krudski. His character was brought onto the show for three episodes to generate interest in the show's spinoff, Young Americans. While that show only lasted 8 episodes and has mostly faded into obscurity, Will himself is beloved by fans, primarily Pacey/Joey shippers. He's often considered a better potential friend for Pacey than Dawson and will frequently make appearances in P/J fanfiction.

* CoolLoser:
** Pacey is considered by everyone (including himself) an overall failure, despite being attractive, charming to girls, passionate, funny and with a witty sense of humor.
** Early on, especially in season 1, Joey is depicted as stereotypically unpopular, despite being beautiful and intelligent. Joey becomes more approachable and popular later on in the series; she even begins to become a [[ChickMagnet Dude Magnet]], especially after she grows out of her tomboy phase and embraces her femininity.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Knowing it would be the final season, the writers of Season 6 supposedly wrote a final episode centered on Dawson and Pacey repairing their friendship and Jen and Joey separatedly leaving Capeside for a bright future. Kevin Williamson was brought back, however, and wrote his own final episode, discarding the previous one. Source: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/01/dawsons-creek-20th-anniversary-writers-room.
** And even there, things could have gone differently: Williamson initially wanted to end the show with [[spoiler: Joey and Dawson]] together, and [[spoiler: Andie]] returning as a sort of 'consolation prize' for [[spoiler: Pacey]]. He finally settled on making the FanPreferredCouple happen.

** Early on, especially in season 1. She's depicted as being stereotypically unpopular, despite being beautiful and intelligent. Joey becomes more approachable and popular later on in the series; she even begins to become a [[ChickMagnet Dude Magnet]], especially after she grows out of her tomboy phase and embraces her femininity.

* CoolLoser: Pacey is considered by everyone (including himself) an overall failure, despite being attractive, charming to girls, passionate, funny and with a witty sense of humor.

* CreatorsPet: Joey, who went from being the EnsembleDarkhorse to a CreatorsPet in some fans' eyes as the show progressed. She lost a lot of the traits that made her popular with fans in the first place, becoming a more standard leading lady as her prominence increased. In spite of that, similar to Dawson's problem, her flaws went unacknowledged and characters continued to go and go about how amazing she was and that she had "It!" (mentioned on the main page).
* DesignatedHero: Dawson. Despite being the title character, he frequently acts like a spoilt, [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] JerkAss, especially in Season 3. He's furious when Joey - who he previously rejected - falls in love with Pacey, and forces her to choose between her new relationship and their friendship. He then alienates Pacey and tries to win Joey back in an increasingly manipulative and underhand way. Even worse when you remember the situation Joey and Pacey are in. Dawson ''knows'' that his parents are a surrogate family to the virtually orphaned Joey. In forcing an ultimatum, he's cutting off the only stable family she's ever known. ''And'' he's aware that Pacey suffers emotional abuse from his father and has crippling self-esteem issues. He's desperately searching for love and support, but Dawson does his best to tear him and Joey apart because he can't get over himself.

** Despicable though she was, Abby's death is quite sad - both the immediate scene where it's revealed that she didn't survive her fall from the pier (the previous scene is the rest of the cast having fun at a wedding; it then cuts to Jen wrapped in a police blanket, watching in tears as they zip up the body bag) and her funeral scene, where her mother realises that absolutely no one has anything nice to say about Abby.

** Everything around [[spoiler: Jen's death in the finale, particularly her video to Amy and the moment where Grams realises that Jen has died]].

** An attempt at TheCastShowOff in the first season has Joey singing "On My Own" from ''Theatre/LesMiserables''. It goes poorly; Katie Holmes, at the time, lacked the experience, vocal range and lung capacity to really sell the song. In later seasons Joey joins a rock band and pulls it off a lot better, if for no other reason than that the repertoire ("I Want You To Want Me", "I Hate Myself For Loving You") actually suits her voice.

** While Mitch's death in a car accident was PlayedForDrama (and effectively so), the death itself is contrived and difficult to take seriously. To get Mitch to take his eyes off the road for a few seconds, they had him... knock the ice cream scoops out of his cone and onto the floor. And then bend over to try and pick them up. The idea that someone would be willing to risk their life to pick up ice cream from a dirty floor, ''bare-handed'', is simply unbelievable.

* ShipMates: Dawson/Jen were a decent ship mate to Pacey/Joey but the finale [[ShipSinking killed that]] [[spoiler: ([[DroppedABridgeOnHim and her]])]]. Gretchen is the next best choice for Dawson, especially since that's who he was dating when Pacey and Joey were together in Season 4, but after the finale the main BetaCouple to Pacey/Joey seems to be [[spoiler: Jack/Doug...]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Both Andie [=McPhee=] (GenkiGirl SixthRanger) and Eve Whitman (HotterAndSexier older LoveInterest for Dawson) were considered failures by the writing staff. Both were written out about a third of the way into Seasons 4 and 3, respectively; both were replaced, a season after the original's departure, by Joey's roommate Audrey Liddell and Pacey's older sister Gretchen Witter, who served the same roles but were much more successful in establishing their places in the cast (and the appreciation of the fans). Whether by coincidence or not, both of the replacements also never flirted with unethical behaviors (a FalseRapeAccusation by Andie, general "IHaveBoobsYouMustObey" behavior from Eve).

* AuthorsSavingThrow: both Andie [=McPhee=] (GenkiGirl SixthRanger) and Eve Whitman (HotterAndSexier older LoveInterest for Dawson) were considered failures by the writing staff. Both were written out about a third of the way into Seasons 4 and 3, respectively; both were replaced, a season after the original's departure, by Joey's roommate Audrey Liddell and Pacey's older sister Gretchen Witter, who served the same roles but were much more successful in establishing their places in the cast (and the appreciation of the fans). Whether by coincidence or not, both of the replacements also never flirted with unethical behaviors (a FalseRapeAccusation by Andie, general "IHaveBoobsYouMustObey" behavior from Eve).

** A pre-''Series/TheWalkingDead'' Creator/MelissaMcBride appeared as Nina in Season 1 (and then [[YouLookFamiliar as a different character]] in the series finale). Also, Creator/EricBalfour (before ''Series/TwentyFour'' and ''Series/SixFeetUnder'') appeared as a JerkJock who harassed Joey in the same episode.

** Dawson's parents are called Micth and Gail, just as {{Series/Baywatch}} protagonist Mitch Buchannon and his ex-wife, Gail. [[spoiler: They even get divorced, too!]]

* FairForItsDay: ''Dawson's Creek'' was ahead of its time in portraying a gay male and having him actually get a happy ending(Which was almost unheard of for gay people on TV back then?)not to mention the very first male-on-male kiss on network TV.