TV Romance
‘Dawson’s Creek’: A Full Joey & Pacey Episode Guide to Their First Kiss, Reunion and More
Dawson’s Creek remains a watershed moment for a certain era of millennials who spent their formative years glued to The WB. But more than 20 years later, the series continues to find a new audience (it’s out on Netflix as of October 3) who gravitate toward the heart on its sleeve and its dramatic (and memeable) moments. Audiences also continue to fall in love with the relationship that came to define the series, and it doesn’t involve its titular aspiring filmmaker, Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek). No, the cornerstone romance of the Capeside-set series was the pioneering frenemies-to-lovers story between Joey (Katie Holmes) and Pacey (Joshua Jackson).
Initially introduced as the best friends of Dawson’s who bickered like siblings, Pacey and Joey orbited each other for the first two seasons before falling headlong into a romance that some diehard fans have been trying to replicate in real life ever since.
As the series heads to Netflix again — and rides high on the nostalgia of its Class Reunion charity event — it’s the perfect time to look back on the relationship that cemented legendary status for the Creek. After all, who could deny Holmes and Jackson’s chemistry? They certainly couldn’t, and still can’t, as they recently reunited onscreen for a trilogy of movies called Happy Hours, with Holmes behind the camera as well.
So when and how did Pacey and Joey fall in and out and back in love, and where can you find these moments? We’ve got you covered below with our complete Dawson’s Creek episode guide to Joey and Pacey’s relationship.
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When do Joey and Pacey meet?
Season 1, Episode 1
This is a bit of a cheat, but we have to start at the beginning of the series because we never see Pacey and Joey’s first meeting. They met as kids, connected by their mutual friendship with Dawson, so it wasn’t exactly love at first sight. In fact, if we go to where we meet them on screen together, it is as reluctant costars in Dawson’s homemade monster movie in the pilot. A few episodes later, the issue of a kiss they are supposed to share for the film turns into an all-out fight, and Jen (Michelle Williams) ends up stepping in to smooch Pacey, meaning fans will have to wait quite some time before they get the real deal between Pacey and Joey.
When is Joey and Pacey first kiss?
Season 1, Episode 10
Joey and Pacey didn’t exactly have a series-spanning love story, so the first few crumbs of chemistry and romantic tension took time to manifest. But if we are talking about formative moments, few are as important as “Double Date,” the tenth episode of the first season when Joey and Pacey are partnered on a lab project to observe the mating habits of snails. It begins as best as you might expect with these two. To quote Joey, “You never fail to disappoint.” When things go further awry, they have to take a road trip to procure some new test subjects, ending with them waist deep in water, stripping off their clothes and continuing to bicker. But the barbs back and forth become less friendly fire and more flirtatious jabs as they get to know each other, maybe for the first time.
By the end, Pacey kisses Joey in the hopes it could be the first sparks in their slow-burn relationship. She rebuffs him because she still has feelings for Dawson. But Pacey was right. It did light the fire for these two. It would just take a while to really ignite.
Columbia TriStar Television / Netflix
When do Joey and Pacey get together?
Season 3, Episodes 17 to 23
We realize this is a big batch of episodes, but it is the turning point when Dawson’s Creek became the Joey and Pacey show — at least on the romance side of things. A big thorn in the side of Joey and Pacey actually being together was always Dawson, who was so hesitant to see that he and Joey weren’t meant for each other. In Episode 17 of Season 3, Joey and Pacey share their first real kiss, something she again rebukes, this time out of more fear than anger. She doesn’t know how to let herself love Pacey.
But she eventually gives in, and by Episode 20, “The Longest Day,” they have to tell their friends. It doesn’t go well with Dawson or Andie (Meredith Monroe), Pacey’s ex. It’s so disastrous, they even put the brakes on their relationship. But by the Episode 22, a seminal prom moment known as “The Anti-Prom,” Pacey asks Joey to dance and, frankly, the rest is history. In the Season 3 finale, the infamous declaration of “Ask Me To Stay,” along with Dawson’s long-awaited relinquishing of his angst, gives Joey the courage to tell Pacey she loves him. The road isn’t over, but the sigh of relief we let out at the end of this stretch of episodes in the spring of 2000 is still unmatched.
Columbia TriStar Television / Netflix
When do Joey and Pacey first have sex?
Season 4, Episode 14
The anticipation of the first time Joey and Pacey would sex always hung over the early days of their relationship. He had experience, she did not. She was worried he would compare her to other women, he did not (at least not consciously). They also spent three months on a boat together, so they knew and respected each other’s boundaries.
The fact that it was on Joey’s terms, in a ski lodge no less, when it finally happened in Season 4’s “A Winter’s Tale” was important. And according to her, it was “nice.” That’s the word she used, which offended Pacey and led to their umpteenth fight about everything and nothing at all. They reconcile, but this was the beginning of the end of their relationship for the time being.
When (and why) do Joey and Pacey break up?
Season 4, Episode 20
As senior year comes to a close, tensions are running high in Joey and Pacey’s relationship. She is looking forward to college, and he is barely scraping by to graduate. By the time prom rolls around, the very event that brought them together a year prior, Pacey is riddled with self-esteem issues and he’s taking it out on Joey, whom he feels treats him like a charity case.
After a fiery exchange in front of everyone and touching heart-to-heart about how they are two different people on two different paths, Joey and Pacey break up, shattering the hearts of fans who came to see them as the centerpiece of the show. But what is a teen drama without a few on-again, off-again storylines?
Columbia TriStar Television / Netflix
When do Joey and Pacey get back together?
Season 6, Episode 15
This is also a bit of a cop out, but bear with us. When do Joey and Pacey actually get back together? That’s in the series finale. and we will talk about that is just a second. But if anything paved the way for it, or at least a conversation about their feelings and futures, it was Season 6’s “Castaways,” when they are trapped in a KMart overnight.
Among the most unabashedly fun episodes the show ever had, the overnight stay allows the two to be silly and flirty again for the first time since high school. He lets her shave off his goatee, which was a merciful act for all mankind. But it also saw them kiss and talk about the boat again. It rekindled something fans thought the show might never return to, and it matters that it happened, even if it is not the official reunion.
Columbia TriStar Television / Netflix
Do Joey and Pacey end up together?
Season 6, Episode 24
Among the many things — both heartbreaking and heartwarming — that happen in the series finale, titled “…Must Come to an End,” of Dawson’s Creek is the long-awaited resolution to the will-they-won’t-they saga of Joey and Pacey. The short answer is, yes, they finally end up together in the flash forward to 2008.
They even move in together in Joey’s apartment in New York City. But it isn’t without a lot of talking and tears. Pacey is back in Capeside, while she is in New York. They even agree to let each other go. But then, the flash forward shows they were able to finally make it work — for the moment.
Will it last? We chose to believe it did because we need something to not cry over in this finale!
Dawson’s Creek, All Seasons, Streaming Now, Netflix
