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Dawson's Creek - General Discussion


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So I was watching S4 on ABC Family before they decided to deep-six it for the time being, but luckily Pop (formerly TV Guide Channel) was in the midst of S3, so i've picked up on S4 again.  

 

This is the season where we get to meet another Witter sibling, who magically falls for Dawson so we can have an either more awkward situation in the fractured Dawson/Joey/Pacey triangle.

 

Why did they make Gretchen seem like some wise person who can share her own advice with the teenagers from Capeside High when it is so obvious she is much more fucked up than our group.  I mean yeah she is older, but just by a few years and has already screwed up her life and now comes back trying to reclaim her youth so to speak.  I hated the pairing of Dawson and Gretchen, it was just ugh...

 

I did love how in the first episode of S4 we see that Pacey has this need to be controlling over Joey outside of their summer sailing love fest.  He tries to drag her away just b/c he doesn't want to deal w/ anybody anymore so he tries to keep her to himself and nobody else.  I never thought they made a good pairing, and this just showed how bad they were together.

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I did love how in the first episode of S4 we see that Pacey has this need to be controlling over Joey outside of their summer sailing love fest.  He tries to drag her away just b/c he doesn't want to deal w/ anybody anymore so he tries to keep her to himself and nobody else.  I never thought they made a good pairing, and this just showed how bad they were together.

To be fair though.....who in the world would want to deal with Dawson. Ever?

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I found it extremely very far fetched a beautiful traveled woman in he 20's would fall for provincial, sheltered, whiny Dawson.

Joey was so Mary Sued at this pt it was ridic.

I do agree Dawson was whiny, but felt Gretchen chose him because he was a security blanket. He was the total opposite of the ex-boyfriend who knocked her up, Nick. It was not mean to last though as the age gap ended up being too much for Gretchen. 

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So S4 wrapped up on Pop, and here are some of my thoughts on the last few episodes.

 

Promicide...so all of a sudden we find out Pacey has been hating Joey and how she makes him feel, which is insignificant b/c he messed up and might not graduate or be able to get into a college.  This is one of the few times that I really felt bad for Joey b/c she was ambushed and everything Pacey said on that boat wasn't true.  I of course never cared for the Pacey/Joey pairing, but why did they feel the need to rewrite their relationship post sailing trip?  Was it just to set up the Dawson/Joey rekindling?  Was the show on the bubble and possibly not going to be renewed for the college years?

 

The Jen confronting her father storyline was a bore, as was the therapist story arc.  You can tell that Jen had father issues by her stalking and somewhat adoration of the therapist, were they really going to go w/ a romantic storyline for the two of them?

 

So how did Jen expect to afford college w/o applying for loans or scholarships?  There was not reason that her parents couldn't have paid for her schooling, regardless of her feelings about their past relationship.  If anything Grams should have been telling her daughter to fork over the money.

 

I know it was somewhat rushed, but the pairing of Dawson/Joey for the final episode of the season just felt awkward.  Joey is still in love w/ Pacey at this point, and vice versa...but she is ready to ask Dawson to stay so they can figure out their relationship.  

 

Ah well...onto S5 and the downfall of this show.

Edited by CMH1981
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S5 started this week on Pop, and watching the first episode again I have to wonder why they didn't just rename the show Joey's Creek at this point.  It is so strange how the focus of the show went from Dawson to Joey and her college adventures.

 

The scene of Joey jogging all over Boston was ridiculous.  That outfit was skimpy, and the phone would have been pulling those shorts down, nevermind the fact we have never seen Joey work out in her life.

 

I do think that having Pacey relocated to Boston was such a ludicrous idea.  His storylines from this point on were boring and tedious to get through.  If anything he should have stuck around in Capeside as a way to tie the characters back to home and bring everything around full circle.

 

I wonder how much Grams got for her house to be able to afford that swanky pad she now has.

 

It's funny seeing all these old styles of cellphones compared to what we have today.  Just a stupid observation I guess.

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Well PopTV started playing the final season, and I remember this was the season that I stopped watching the series during it's original airing.  It really seemed like for this season that everyone was pretty much checked out of the series and was ready for it all to be over.  

 

They really split Dawson off from the rest of the gang, he hardly interacted w/ the group anymore.  Was there some schism that happened that was the reason for this? I remember reading/hearing somewhere that JVDB was pissed that the Joey character had become the focus of the series pretty much, so I wonder if that was what part of the issue was. 

 

I just watched the episode where Joey misses her test b/c she decides to throw her "sex rules" out the window for Eddie.  Wow, she comes off like a huge c-you-next-tuesday in the whole aftermath of that scenario w/ the professor by going to his house after leaving multiple messages begging to be able to take the test again like he owed her b/c she is a special snowflake or something.  I was totally on his side when he said he had to set an example for the class as a whole and not just for her.  Joey always came off like she was an entitled spoiled rich kid who in reality wasn't.

 

Audrey has a drinking problem all of a sudden and likes to be abusive to her boyfriends.  Jen has bangs and doesn't get any storyline outside of pining after a guy w/ high moral standards except for sleeping w/ Audrey when wasted.  I really am glad that Michelle Williams escaped this show intact and is able to prove her acting chops.  Jack has a run-in w/a closeted professor and then starts dating a pocket-gay.  

 

In the Christmas episode Joey's dad suddenly reappears after we found out he wanted nothing to do w/the family after he was released from prison...again.  WTF?!  He interacts w/ Audrey like he's know her since he helped move her into the dorms in freshman year.

 

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.

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So finishing off the series on PopTV we get the horrible Jen w/ bangs part deux now w/ horrible chop cut haircut.  I don't know who Michelle Williams pissed off in the hair dept but that style was just bad.  Jack disappears for what seems like a six episodes w/ nary a mention.  Grams gets cancer and Audrey leaves then comes back. The worse offender was the writers deciding to recreate Pacey and Joey's post college characters by making them regress to their high school-selves but now in a mentor like roll to their high school equivalents.  

 

I think the writers pushed too hard to make Pacey and Joey a couple again, it was too cutesy.  The locked in a store overnight and Joey as Pacey's assistant were just bad.  Joey of course is a total bitch as Pacey's assistant, b/c god-forbid she do her job and be his assistant.  She has to act like she is above this and question all he asks her to do as well as spilling coffee on the reporter intentionally.  I can't figure out why Joey decided to turn her back on her burgeoning relationship w/ Pacey just b/c Eddie came back.  That made no sense writers, no sense at all.

 

That 'Loveline' episode is just awful.  Joey would never allow her personal grievances to be played out for a public forum.

 

Lest we forget the Joey Potter Eiffel Tower/Paris green-screen scene that was just awful.

 

This show just went off the rails during the college years, and looking back at it now the glue that would have kept them all together was Andie, b/c that was her character and when she left everyone just went their own ways.

 

The series finale was okay, but they made a mistake killing Jen off imo.

Edited by CMH1981
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Yeah, I've always thought Dawson got a raw deal on S3. I've been watching daily on Pop (RIP TVGuide) and now that it's 15 years later, I see this a little differently.

 

They made Dawson out to be the biggest asshole in the world for standing in the way of Pacey and Joey's love for one another. Don't get me wrong: Dawson didn't handle it well. He was very immature. He was obnoxious. Snotty. You name it. But I think they ramped up Dawson's bullshit to 11 to make Pacey and Joey make more sense than they did, and to make them seem bold against all adversity

 

I've always wondered what Joey expected Dawson to do when he found out about them. I mean, that's kind of why she pushed Pacey away at first, and why they didn't tell Dawson. Was he just supposed to give them his blessing and then look the other way? Joey broke up with Dawson twice, kinda sorta for bullshit non-reasons, and she acted jealous every time he showed interest in another chick. So when Dawson said on "The Longest Day" that it was either Pacey or their friendship, well...world-class douche that he was, that's...kind of was what it was.

 

And I never liked the show turning Pacey into this great guy who Dawson wasn't just because he was "misunderstood". Pacey was charismatic, funny, and kind, but he was lazy, insecure, and had quite the Captain Saveahoe complex. He gleaned a lot of his self-worth from "being there" for women in distress. That's why I think he lashed out at Joey at the prom because he said he felt he was nothing...because Joey didn't care about his screw-ups. Whatever, Pacey.

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I never felt bad for Dawson at all. He was a willing participant in that relationship with Joey and gave as good as he got. I always wondered if Joey wouldn't have liked Dawson so much, wouldn't have placed so much value on his approval, if they hadn't been friends when her mom died. Her mom had this slow awful death, her father stepped out on her mother and then got sent to prison, the whole town treated them badly because of it and then her mom died. Gale stepped in as surrogate and Joey was informally adopted by the Leery's. That's...no small thing. There was a huge sense of loyalty there on Joey's part and a huge emotional codependency that I always figured was left over from childhood. She idealized what being with Dawson would be like and I get that, even though I think it's kind of sad, because it's the perfect story and the safest and best option in her 16 year old mind. Which, to bring this back to my earlier point, is basically what Dawson said himself several times in the back half of this season. "Our history," "you can't beat history" blah blah destiny. Dawson loved the story as well but for entirely different reasons.

 

Besides, I remember him asking her for advice or something when he was trying to date another girl (maybe Eve?) after he rejected her so he earned some heat from her. I don't think him rejecting her advances was a bad thing, he wasn't ready and it would have been disastrous for their friendship, but maybe don't go to the girl for advice and then turn around and get mad at her for moving on? Dawson really expected that she would come back to him and that he could have all the fun he wanted in the meantime. Never occurred to him that she would find someone better.

 

I didn't see Joey as a bitch at all this season, though she did a few things I didn't care for (like planning on going on a date with AJ instead of attending opening night for Pacey's play. He helped build your house and business, he mopped floors and ran his butt of getting that place off the ground! Take a raincheck with AJ and go support your friend!) Or as incapable of doing any wrong since the show clearly took the position that she was wanting to have her cake and eat it too several times and the show had other characters call her out. 

 

But there's no excusing the assassination of Andie or the horrible false rape accusation and I hate so much that the show went there. WTH was Kevin Williamson thinking? I mean, that her relationship with Pacey ended rang true to me for a numbers of reasons, but instead of exploring those valid reasons that made Andie in an asshole. Why not explore how different her life was from Pacey's and what that would mean for them in the future? Or the fact that Andie, as she once pointed out herself, saw herself as making Pacey into a better guy when she didn't. He was always that guy, he just lacked belief in his own self-worth - an abusive father will do that. So there's was always this slight condescending element to their relationship where she felt responsible for his good choices, and while his feelings for her certainly inspired him to mature, he made the choice and did the work. Also she cheated on him and then had the nerve to act like he was the one giving up on their relationship which actually seemed believable to me. But everything else they did with her that season fell flat. I think part of the reason they went all soap opera villain with her is because they simply didn't know what to do with her character. She's not someone the other characters naturally gravitated toward and never really clicked with their group. I don't think they knew how to organically include her with the main characters after they broke her and Pacey up.

 

I think they had that some problem with Jen off and on, too. She didn't have that childhood connection like Joey, Pacey, and Dawson did and she and Pacey/Joey never became really close. Jen wasn't bestie to any of them, dated one on and off, and flirted with becoming friends with benefits with another but that's it. Becoming besties with Jack, while just cliche-ridden as all hell, let them ground her character and form this second little group on the show that worked. I don't think they wrote Jen and Andie the way they did to service Joey because to me that makes no sense. Nothing they did with either girl was necessary to accomplish what they wanted to do with Joey. I just think they really had no idea what to do with either girl once the show became triangle-centered.

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I'm pretty sure the DVDs have the non-original music (I have them all, but I haven't watched them in a million years so I don't remember for sure) based on the complaint/reviews from Amazon. They definitely don't have the original music within episodes, but I can't remember if the theme is "I Don't Wanna Wait" or if it's that other one that you're talking about. I think it's the other one. Which is annoying. 

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My goodness. I'm wondering how I should collect it now or how I can watch it with the original song. They say on Netflix, before it was cancelled that it didn't have the original song. But I swear I remember it having ''I Don't Wanna Wait.'' That song to me defined Dawson's Creek and much of the late 90s. In fact I barely ever watched Dawson's Creek as a kid. But the one thing I remember is the song. Can you check your Dvd? I'm surprised that it might not have the song. I would have thought the dvds came out before the lawsuit. I'm gonna go check if it's on VHS. If that's the only way watch it naturally, then so be it.

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First, a disclaimer - I look back rather fondly on "Dawson's Creek".  I'm sure it wouldn't hold up if I did a full rewatch of it now, but it was a pivotal series in my TV watching life in HS and college and I remember enjoying it non-ironically at the time.

Moving on...memories!  Although I had totally forgotten about Jen's horny church boy love interest, I do recall that Jack showed up at this party with (GASP!) gel in his hair and everyone made such a big deal.  Also, Abby was such a bitch, I loved her.

I totally agree that Dawson and Andie should have had more scenes.  In fact, in general, they should have mixed up this "group of friends" more.  And that suggestion reminded me of another "Dawson's Creek" drinking plotline I enjoyed.  Picture it, it's season four.  Drue Valentine's in town and threw a rager he falsely claimed was for Jen's birthday.  Joey got tipsy (I don't remember what her drama was) and she, Andie, and Jen actually had a cute conversation about their futures that made them feel like real friends for once.

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Holy guacamole, this post made me really, really miss the Dawson's Wrap/TWOP recaps. Now that it's streaming on hulu, I'm rewatching the series (for what might be the 8th time)(only God can judge me) and I would love to be able to read them as I went along. Are the archives accessible anywhere?

One of the best running gags (no pun intended) from the recaps were things to which Dawson's hair was compared. My personal favorite involved "a rabid croissant" mating with something I cannot remember, but was probably hilarious. Good times, good times.

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The sad thing is, you could find Dawson's haircut on more than a few guys in the late 90s. I just guess it fit the shape of their forehead's a lot better than it did James.

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I used to call this obnoxious face, which we saw constantly, the stare-'n'-flare.

Is this the Dawson version of the Brandon Bray?

Edited by AndySmith
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Pacey should not have asked Dawson's for permission to go after Joey in Double Date. Dawson refused up until that point to even acknowledge he liked Joey romantically and the guy was on a date with one girl while pursuing another. Give Dawson the opportunity to essentially 'option' a third girl? No way!

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On 8/29/2016 at 5:11 AM, Living Dead said:

I read that the DVD from 2003 for Seasons 1 and 2 have the original song '' I Don't Wanna Wait.'' Is that true?

It is true. Both on the individual season 1 and 2 dvds and on the complete series. At least it was back in 2009. 

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I loved this show when I was younger - to my parent's horror.

Pacey was always my favourite - but on retrospect the teacher storyline is gross.

I also loved Joey to start with - I wanted to relate with someone no one ever looked at. Except I didn't look like Katie Holmes so nowadays that falls apart....

I really do appreciate Jen now, and dislike the slut shaming this show was so very good at. And they needed someone better than Kerr Smith (or less afraid of the gay)

Like many other shows it should have ended before college because it completely got away from the writers and they either didn't know, or knew and didn't care about how awful Dawson was coming across

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Was joey's singing supposed to be good in the beauty pageant episode? I thought she sounded horrendous.

Same. Even back then with Joey-coloured glasses I thought Pacey should have won it. And a boy from my hometown clearly watched it because a few years later he entered a similar competition - and half-won!

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Joey's crooked smile is the most annoying part of the show . Actually I lied . The fact that every sentence and story line on this show ends up to be about Joey is the most annoying part .  Pacey will be talking about potato chips and someone will be like , " you're thinking about Joey aren't you ?" The girl wasn't that cute , was extremely self centered , and was boring as sin . You're expecting me to believe everyone was obsessed with her ?

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it felt like so many plot holes were not resolve by the end of season 5 and season 6 for example the way dawson treated Joey at his Dad's Funeral i never felt like that was never resolve on camera all we got was dawson saying sorry for the way he made her feel at his dad's funeral but seems like their should of been something bigger to resolve that issue

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5 minutes ago, Froippi said:

it felt like so many plot holes were not resolve by the end of season 5 and season 6 for example the way dawson treated Joey at his Dad's Funeral i never felt like that was never resolve on camera all we got was dawson saying sorry for the way he made her feel at his dad's funeral but seems like their should of been something bigger to resolve that issue

I don't think we were ever supposed to get a resolution on that. Just that people grieve in different ways and I think Joey thought because she had dealt with her mothers loss she could help and also she and Dawson had been on the cusp of a romantic relationship again and she assumed she would be his shoulder to cry on. 

What I didn't like in season 5 was that Jen and Dawson were perfectly happy and then they weren't.. for reasons? All because they needed to get Joey and Dawson together again. 

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23 hours ago, WhosThatGirl said:

I don't think we were ever supposed to get a resolution on that. Just that people grieve in different ways and I think Joey thought because she had dealt with her mothers loss she could help and also she and Dawson had been on the cusp of a romantic relationship again and she assumed she would be his shoulder to cry on. 

What I didn't like in season 5 was that Jen and Dawson were perfectly happy and then they weren't.. for reasons? All because they needed to get Joey and Dawson together again. 

hmm i never thought Jen and Dawson was a great couple Dawson was safe and i always felt Jen was the wild Woman and she didn't seem to like him being so safe 

 

but i guess since they knew each other for so long and so well its like a automatic that she would forgive him anyways maybe that is why it didn't need to be resolve on camera

Edited by Froippi
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I've been re-reading the TWOP recaps of this show recently. Surprisingly, the number of references to 10-10-321 long distance ads during commercial breaks has been the most nostalgic part so far.

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Season 4 absolutely sucked.  I feel like the series is divided in half.  Seasons 1, 2, and 3 were all perfectly good and then seasons 4, 5, and 6 were terrible with 5 and 6 seeming like a completely different show.

I hated how they used all of season 3 to build  up Joey and Pacey only to have their entire relationship in season 4 be nothing but drama. I can't think of a single episode where Joey didn't get pissed at Pacey for something or fight with him about Dawson.  Drew had the ability to be a good addition but rather than really spend time focusing on his and Jen's very complicated relationship, they spent their time on Joey and Pacey.  Just when you thought that they were really going to do something with Drew, they'd screw it up.  Oh, and had him be yet another male on this show who was into Joey at one time or another.  I'm shocked that at the end of season 3, we didn't find out that Ethan didn't want to be with Jack not because he was back with his old boyfriend, but because he decided to try girls after spending time with Joey.  But I digress.

Dawson and Gretchen had its moments, but I really didn't care for her character.  She talked down to everyone and acted like she was so much better than them all while conveniently forgetting that she had completely flamed out in life and was back home licking her wounds.  Dawson and Mr. Brooks had an interesting arc, though, and it was fun seeing Grams and Mr. Brooks in a relationship.

Andie tripping on X in the moon bounce was actually pretty funny but I hated how everyone got so pissed at Jen. Jack I can almost understand because he was close to Jen and needed to lash out after worrying his sister was going to die.  But Dawson, Pacey, and Joey blaming Jen?  She didn't give them to Andie.  Andie stole them. Plus, Jen got them from Drew who everyone already hated.  Makes much more sense that they all would have blamed him. Jen seemed to get the short end of the stick a lot, though.

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On 5/4/2017 at 0:24 PM, BlancheDevoreaux said:

Season 4 absolutely sucked.  I feel like the series is divided in half.  Seasons 1, 2, and 3 were all perfectly good and then seasons 4, 5, and 6 were terrible with 5 and 6 seeming like a completely different show.

I hated how they used all of season 3 to build  up Joey and Pacey only to have their entire relationship in season 4 be nothing but drama. I can't think of a single episode where Joey didn't get pissed at Pacey for something or fight with him about Dawson.  Drew had the ability to be a good addition but rather than really spend time focusing on his and Jen's very complicated relationship, they spent their time on Joey and Pacey.  Just when you thought that they were really going to do something with Drew, they'd screw it up.  Oh, and had him be yet another male on this show who was into Joey at one time or another.  I'm shocked that at the end of season 3, we didn't find out that Ethan didn't want to be with Jack not because he was back with his old boyfriend, but because he decided to try girls after spending time with Joey.  But I digress.

Dawson and Gretchen had its moments, but I really didn't care for her character.  She talked down to everyone and acted like she was so much better than them all while conveniently forgetting that she had completely flamed out in life and was back home licking her wounds.  Dawson and Mr. Brooks had an interesting arc, though, and it was fun seeing Grams and Mr. Brooks in a relationship.

Andie tripping on X in the moon bounce was actually pretty funny but I hated how everyone got so pissed at Jen. Jack I can almost understand because he was close to Jen and needed to lash out after worrying his sister was going to die.  But Dawson, Pacey, and Joey blaming Jen?  She didn't give them to Andie.  Andie stole them. Plus, Jen got them from Drew who everyone already hated.  Makes much more sense that they all would have blamed him. Jen seemed to get the short end of the stick a lot, though.

It is a very unpopular opinion, but I liked season 5 and 6 other than the fact that the writers had amnesia about Joey and Pacey dating. I liked that Joey's character finally wasn't stuck up and selfish which for me, she had been in seasons 1-3. The characters finally started having a little fun other than moping around capeside acting like 85 year olds who just reflect on their lives all day every day. Dawson and Joey were so tiresome for me. I was able to deal with all of the character much more in the college years.

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(edited)

Been rewatching on Hulu. Season 1 is my absolute favorite.  The show kind of lost some of its magic after it was over. I don't remember shipping Joey and Dawson that much the first time around, but I'm really enjoying their relationship this time.  I'm going to be so sad, come season 2 :(

I'm liking Jen more than I remember liking her before. I love that she's an Atheist, but I hate that the show makes her find comfort in religion in her times of need.  Sorry, but there ARE Atheist in foxholes, show-writers!

Edited by Zima
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I have been searching for a song from Season 2, Episode 5 "Full moon rising". It's during the scene where Jen and Vincent are kissing on her kitchen table before getting busted by Jens grandmother. Does anyone know the band and song name?

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It's either Secret Smile by SemiSonic or Bootyliscious by John Lardieri depending on what version you're watching (I thought they only started changing the songs on the Season 3 DVDs, but I guess it started in Season 2...)

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