what staying at home has done to me... op. 5 no. 173

ok, i've been watching dawson's creek. even though i now have cable. i'm also watching the u.s. open, but that only just started.

today's episode - season 2, ep. 215, "... that is the question." i think i watched part of the previous episode as well, which, naturally, was "to be or not to be ..." if you've forgotten your dawson's creek plotlines, this is where jack is dating joey and finally faces up to the fact that he is gay. he denied it up until the last part of the episode. prior to, the whole school begins to suspect and harass jack because of the poem he wrote and is forced to read aloud in class. pacey stands up for jack, rails on their teacher, and spits in his face. he later gets suspended for this, and andie doesn't understand so they don't speak for awhile. jen is starting to date a guy named ty, whom jen's grandmother believes is a lovely, straight-laced christian fellow. he attends bible study 3 times a week. his other recreational activities include drinking martinis at the nearby blues club where he's a regular. for this, jen finds him fun. jack's (and andie's) dad is called in to straighten out (literally) jack's problems at school. jack has to bail on romantic dinner for 2 with joey to go to dinner with dad and andie. joey goes with dawson, jen, and ty to the blues club. as joey and dawson dance and talk, ty comments that they make a good couple and doesn't understand why joey is dating "that fruitfly." jen defends jack while ty protests, "what looks like a duck and quacks like a duck must be a duck... and the duck could choose not to quack if he wanted to." when jen and ty return to grams's place, the discussion continues. jen doesn't think it's a choice, and can't understand how ty can be so intolerant. ty asks grams for the passage in the bible where homosexuality is condemned; she begins to answer but jen tells grams to stay out of it. she won't let the two of them form a "moral majority" against her. ty continues to tell jen that he thinks homosexuality is a choice, a problem, and wrong according to god. grams steps in here... jen still thinks she's going to speak out against her view, but instead she says her comment is not for jen but for ty:

"if jack is gay -- he doesn't need your judgment, young man. the lord above will be the one to judge him as he will judge all of us. what he needs from you and me and everyone else in this world is love and tolerance. if anything, that boy must feel scared and alone and it will take the understanding of his fellow man to help him through. let's save judgment for someone much more experienced than you."

that shut ty up. thank you grams. later, ty tells jen he's open to learning from her. jack tells his dad he's always treated him differently than tim (jack and andie's deceased brother) - "his real son" - and he was too tired of trying to please his dad by trying to deny his homosexuality. pacey and andie apologize to each other and make up. jack tells joey he's gay. joey then goes running to dawson's room where she cries as dawson holds her in his bed.

nice story. i guess i'm starting to get really bored here.