If you’re heading back to Capeside for a comfort-watch (or you “don’t want to wade” through all 128 episodes), this the RUSSH Editors' curated cheat sheet to the best Dawson's Creek episodes worth rewatching.

With the news of James Van Der Beek’s passing today, it feels like the right moment to revisit the show that defined an era of teen melodrama and made Dawson Leery a pop-culture fixture.

We’re pulling from the series at its best: bottle episodes that trap characters together, big swings in structure, romantic yearning, emotional gut-punches, and the moments that basically built the blueprint for modern teen TV. And yes – there’s plenty of Pacey/Joey moments in there too...

1. Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1)

The one that started it all. Within minutes, we understand Capeside, the codependent mythology of Dawson and Joey, and the disruptive force of Jen Lindley arriving from New York. It’s earnest, hyper-verbal, and impossibly sincere in that late-90s way – but it also quietly lays the groundwork for every romantic triangle and friendship fracture that follows.

2. Detention (Season 1, Episode 7)

A Breakfast Club-style pressure cooker that forces the core group to drop the personas and actually talk. Between truth-or-dare tension, jealous sparks, and those long makeout beats that ripple through the friend group, it’s an early episode that proves the show can deliver real character messiness in one room.

3. Castaways (Season 6, Episode 15)

Just Joey and Pacey, locked in a store overnight, with nowhere to hide from their history. It’s funny (yes, the K-Mart detour for condoms), but the real payoff is how it corners Pacey into admitting what’s been obvious for years: he never fully stopped loving her.

4. A Weekend in the Country (Season 3, Episode 12)

Everyone crammed into the Potter B&B under one roof is peak ensemble chaos – parents, Grams, friends, romantic landmines, all of it. This is the episode where Pacey’s feelings for Joey become impossible to ignore, and Grams’ quiet “true love” observation lands like a prophecy.

5. Sex, She Wrote (Season 2, Episode 11)

Abby Morgan weaponises gossip like it’s an Olympic sport, turning the gang’s love lives into a full-on whodunit. It’s classic Creek horniness with a smart emotional core – especially Pacey’s pivot from jokes to sincerity when he tells Andie he’s falling in love.

6. To Be or Not to Be / ...That Is the Question (Season 2, Episodes 14–15)

The show takes a major, risky swing by forcing Jack’s coming-out story into the open via a cruel classroom situation. It’s painful and groundbreaking in equal measure, and it uses Capeside’s small-town scrutiny to show how quickly “rumour” becomes real stakes.

7. Stolen Kisses (Season 3)

Spring break, forced proximity, and a shared bed – Dawson’s Creek knew exactly what it was doing here. The tension is in Joey’s denial, Pacey’s honesty, and the way the episode finally lets Joey choose the boy who makes her feel alive.

8. The Longest Day (Season 3, Episode 20)

A Rashomon-style retelling that tracks how the secret of Joey and Pacey spreads – and how every point of view changes the emotional temperature. It’s a structural flex that makes the fallout feel inevitable, especially once Dawson’s hurt turns into an ultimatum.

9. The Anti-Prom (Season 3, Episode 22)

The “anti-prom” exists because Jack isn’t allowed to bring a guy to prom, and that indignity hangs over everything like a bruise. Then the episode detonates with romantic specificity – Pacey clocking Joey’s Mom’s bracelet and whispering, “I remember everything,” which is basically the thesis statement of why he gets her.

10. True Love (Season 3, Episode 23)

A finale built on grand gestures: Joey’s decision, Jen’s dash, Jack’s milestone kiss, and Dawson’s now-immortal breakdown. It’s not just the meme – this is the episode where the show commits to consequences and lets love actually change the map of everyone’s lives.

11. Cinderella Story (Season 3, Episode 17)

The episode where Pacey stops circling his feelings and finally makes the move. It’s also a great Joey episode because her shock is real: she’s realising the person who’s always been there is suddenly the one she can’t ignore.

12. A Winter’s Tale (Season 4, Episode 14)

The show treats the pressure around sex with unusual patience: Pacey is gentle, Joey takes her time, and their first time feels like a culmination of trust, not a plot checkbox. Meanwhile, Dawson’s life-and-death decision with Mr. Brooks adds a darker, older emotional weight running parallel.

13. The Graduate (Season 4, Episode 22)

Graduation episodes can be corny – this one isn’t, because it’s about uneven momentum. Pacey’s relief at simply making it through, Joey’s complicated family grief, and Andie’s return all lock into an ending that feels earned.

14. Coda (Season 4, Episode 23)

A quiet, closing-the-book episode that matters because it ties off high school without pretending it was simple. Pacey and Dawson’s phone call (“I’m proud of you”) is the emotional spine, and Joey and Dawson’s goodbye kiss works because it’s about history – not destiny.

15. The Long Goodbye (Season 5, Episode 4)

The show can be messy, but it’s brutally effective when it plays grief straight – and this is the clearest example. Dawson trying to be everyone’s rock until he finally cracks makes Mitch’s death feel like a real turning point.

16. Parental Discretion Advised (Season 2 Finale)

A finale that hits multiple pressure points at once: Joey’s family crisis, Dawson being forced into an impossible moral corner, and Pacey’s rage at how his dad talks about Andie’s mental health.

17. The Two Gentlemen of Capeside (Season 4, Episode 3)

A storm-at-sea episode that doubles as a relationship stress test: Pacey’s pride, Jen’s fear, Dawson’s instinct to rescue, Joey’s refusal to be sidelined. The physical danger matters, but the real story is the fragile attempt at rebuilding trust between Dawson and Pacey.

18. All Good Things... / ...Must Come to an End (Season 6 Finale)

The five-years-later jump gives the show room to breathe – and then it squeezes everyone back into Capeside when Jen gets sick. Joey’s final choice lands, but the episode’s lasting power is the Jen/Jack material: their friendship is treated as a lifelong love story, and it’s devastating precisely because it’s so specific.