The BEST Episodes of Dawson's Creek
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Apr 1, 2020
Network: The WB
Dawson, Joey, and Pacey are life long friends, whose lives start to rapidly change when a new girl, Jen, moves in next door to Dawson Leery and the foursome start high school. Along the way they are joined by two other newcomers to Capeside: Jack and Andie and, when they go to college, by Audrey.
#1 - ...Must Come to an End (2)
Season 6 - Episode 24 - Aired May 14, 2003
(Part 2 of 2) Five years have passed and everyone is reunited in Capeside for a special wedding. Dawson has been living in Los Angeles producing his autobiographical television series 'The Creek' but has never forgotten the love of his life, Joey is a successful book editor living in New York with her boyfriend but comes home to realize she still loves her childhood sweethearts, Pacey is the owner of the new Ice House and still carries a torch for Joey, Jen is a single mom living with Grams and managing an art gallery in Soho, and Jack is a teacher at Capeside High and has fallen in love with Deputy Doug. Together all the secrets come out as tragedy and love becomes clear.
8.94 
#2 - Cinderella Story
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired Mar 1, 2000
When Joey turns to Pacey for rescuing after she flees Boston halfway through her visit with A.J., the two old friends may finally confront their growing feelings for each other. Meanwhile, to avoid suspension, Pacey becomes a mentor to a young boy and must contend with a little version of himself with a big attitude; and behind Gale's back, Dawson asks Mitch to help with the opening of her new restaurant.
8.50 
#3 - Detention
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired Mar 3, 1998
In what is said to be one of the best episodes, the gang, after committing various violations at school, gets stuck together for an 8 hour Saturday detention, where Dawson and Pacey turn against each another; and Joey offers a tearful partial explanation for her anger toward Jen.
8.32 
#4 - True Love
Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired May 24, 2000
After an emotional day filled with love, tears and wedding vows, Joey ultimately must choose between her love for Dawson and her new feelings for Pacey. Across town, Grams talks about love and regret with Jen, while Jack and Andie make a decision to drive all night so that Jen can see Henry one last time.
8.27 
#5 - All Good Things... (1)
Season 6 - Episode 23 - Aired May 14, 2003
(Part 1 of 2) Five years have passed and everyone is reunited in Capeside for a special wedding. Dawson has been living in Los Angeles producing his autobiographical television series 'The Creek' but has never forgotten the love of his life, Joey is a successful book editor living in New York with her boyfriend but comes home to realize she still loves her childhood sweethearts, Pacey is the owner of the new Ice House and still carries a torch for Joey, Jen is a single mom living with Grams and managing an art gallery in Soho, and Jack is a teacher at Capeside High and has fallen in love with Deputy Doug. Together all the secrets come out as tragedy and love becomes clear.
8.14 
#6 - Double Date
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired Apr 28, 1998
A double date finds Jen and Cliff joined by Dawson and a savvy sidekick who calls him on a plot to make Jen jealous. But it's Dawson turn to turn green when Pacey grows close to Joey working on a project.
8.12 
#7 - Decisions
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired May 19, 1998
In the season finale, Dawson and Joey confront their true feelings. Joey, visits her father in prison, and debates leaving to go to France.
8.08 
#8 - Stolen Kisses
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired Apr 26, 2000
Dawson invites Joey, Andie and Pacey to spend Spring Break in the mountains at his aunt's home, but the trip is filled with tension as Joey and Pacey continue to battle about their feelings for each other and Andie becomes intrigued with the gang's childhood friend Will who is visiting. Meanwhile, back in town, Jen becomes surprisingly territorial when another woman flirts with Henry.
8.07 
#9 - Kiss
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired Feb 3, 1998
While working on the film class's movies, team player Dawson has a hard time being stuck in the background. Meanwhile as he plots to give Jen the "perfect kiss", Joey is swept away by a handsome stranger and Pacey tries to graduate to manhood.
8.04 
#10 - To Green, With Love
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired Feb 16, 2000
Joey relies on the support of Pacey and A.J. to rally the students in protest against the school superintendent after he forces Principal Green to resign for expelling the student who destroyed Joey's mural. Meanwhile, Dawson and Gale both go back to their respective places in back and in front of the camera to produce a piece about the ongoing school protest which ruffles more than a few feathers of the school board hierarchy.
8.03 
#11 - Coming Home
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired Oct 4, 2000
Pacey and Joey return from their summer vacation on "True Love". Now they have to deal with Dawson's feelings, who has been deeply hurt for the past months. At first, he doesn't want to talk with neither one of them, but Jen convinces him to talk to Joey. Meanwhile, Pacey's older sister, Gretchen, arrives in Capeside and moves in with Doug, making Pacey homeless. But he won't live with his parents anymore, and so he asks Joey to let him crash at her house for a while. Dawson tells Jack about Gretchen, for whom he had a secret crush a few years ago. Andie meets 2 foreign guys, and she is attracted to them. Dawson and Joey talk, and he says he'll be ok, but it takes one day at a time. Everybody is wondering if Pacey and Joey did it while on the trip, and they don't confirm or deny. But Joey secretly tells Dawson nothing really happened.
8.03 
#12 - Escape from Witch Island
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired Nov 17, 1999
In a bone-chilling installment, Dawson recruits Joey, Pacey and Jen to be his guerrilla crew on a documentary for history class about Witch Island, a local spot shrouded in mystery for its reputation for being haunted by witches. They are haunted by tall tales of witches and love lost that has Dawson and Joey questioning their own romance and Jen and Pacey considering a new kind of friendship. Back at school, Andie takes her job on the school disciplinary committee a little too seriously when she tries taking back the halls of Capeside.
8.03 
#13 - The Longest Day
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired May 3, 2000
In a story that replays the same day's activities from three different perspectives (as in the 1999 movie "Go"), Joey and Pacey vacillate on the ways to tell Dawson about their feelings for each other. But when the truth does come out, Dawson's reaction is the one they hoped they wouldn't get. Meanwhile, Andie, who thought she was over Pacey enough to date, accepts a date with Capeside visitor Will, but their first date is ruined when she also learns about Joey and Pacey.
7.99 
#14 - Castaways
Season 6 - Episode 15 - Aired Feb 12, 2003
After agreeing to pose as Pacey's sister at a business party, Joey demands to be taken home. When Pacey makes a quick stop at a local K-Mart they are accidentally locked inside the store. They're forced to spend the night there and talk about their friendship and relationship, both past and future. After the night is over they are both left to ponder what the future has in store for them.
7.98 
#15 - Beauty Contest
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired May 12, 1998
Joey and Pacey enter a beauty competition; Jen regrets her breakup with Dawson.
7.94 
#16 - Hurricane
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired Feb 17, 1998
When a major hurricane moves inland, all take refuge in the Leery home, where Dawson rages at Jen about her past, and Mitch storms out after learning of Gale's affair. That leaves a tormented Dawson to deal with their fallout. Meanwhile, Pacey ruins his brother's chances to get with Tamara at her beach house.
7.92 
#17 - Pilot
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired Jan 20, 1998
Film-buff Dawson finds his best friend, Joey, growing jealous of his attraction to a neighbor's granddaughter. Meanwhile, pal Pacey falls in love with a mystery woman, who is really a teacher at Capeside.
7.90 
#18 - A Weekend in the Country
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired Jan 19, 2000
Joey's friends and their families work together to make sure that the opening of Potter's Bed & Breakfast is a success and that she and Bessie don't lose everything they have after Pacey surprises them with a visit from a prestigious travel critic. Throughout the weekend, Jen admits her concerns to Grams about getting close to Henry; Jack considers moving back home after hearing Andie's loving plea; and Dawson tries to understand the connection between his parents even after their divorce.
7.90 
#19 - Neverland
Season 3 - Episode 18 - Aired Mar 5, 2000
Pacey hopes taking Dawson to their favorite childhood camping spot will help ease the pain when he tells Dawson about his new feelings for Joey. Meanwhile, Joey deals with the emotional fallout from her kiss with Pacey by spending girls' night out with Jen and Andie, but to Jen's surprise they stumble upon a birthday party for Henry that she wasn't invited to.
7.89 
#20 - High Risk Behavior
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired Jan 13, 1999
"Horrifically epic" tryouts for his movie prompt a steamy dialogue between Dawson and Jen that could recast her role in his love life. Jack poses nude for Joey, who feels herself drawn towards intimacy. Pacey sets out to fulfill Andie's dream date and his own.
7.88 
#21 - ... That Is the Question (2)
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired Feb 17, 1999
On Dawson's advice, Joey attempts to heal the wounds of her new romance with Jack left shattered by rumor and innuendo, but when Jack confronts his innermost secrets, their lives and everyone's close to them will never be the same again. Meanwhile, for the first time in his life, Pacey stands up for what he believes in when he takes on an abusive teacher, but the consequences of his convictions are more than he could have imagined.
7.88 
#22 - Road Trip
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired Mar 17, 1998
Hoping to get over Jen, Dawson agrees to join Pacey and Billy in a boys night out and finds what he is looking for in another woman. Meanwhile Jen handles damage control after Joey becomes the subject of a rumor at school.
7.86 
#23 - Great Xpectations
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired Nov 8, 2000
Andie gets accepted into Harvard in advance, but accomplishing what should be the biggest thing in her life doesn't exactly makes her happy. She decides to explore different paths in her life by going to a rave. In the party, Drue gives Jen drugs, and she gives it to Andie. She tries ecstasy, which has a reaction with her anti-depressives and makes a disastrous combination, which almost leads her to death. Mitch and Gail decide to keep their baby, and things get awkward during the celebration when Gretchen brings Pacey and Joey with her.
7.81 
#24 - A Winter's Tale
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired Feb 7, 2001
While the rest of the class is on the ski trip, Dawson stays behind to care for a near-death Mr. Brooks, but he's overwhelmed when he's asked to make an impossibly hard decision. Dawson is given the responsibility to decide whether to cut off Brooks' life support. Meanwhile, there's a lot more than skiing going on when the senior trip doesn't go exactly as planned. The evening takes an unexpectedly romantic turn for best friends Jack and Jen... After spraining her ankle Jen gets drunk and nearly sleeps with Jack. while Pacey and Joey find their own ways to keep warm on the cold, snowy night, taking their relationship to the next level.
7.78 
#25 - The Anti-Prom
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired May 17, 2000
Dawson, Joey and Andie prepare their own unique prom when they learn that the committee has scrutinized Jack's selected date. Dawson, who has invited Joey to be his date, uses the special evening to try to win her back and make Pacey jealous; Andie persuades Pacey to be her escort but her evening ends by consoling him about his love life uncertainties; Jen becomes outraged with Henry when he reveals he is leaving Capeside for the summer; and Gale and Mitch celebrate their new found romance.
7.77