Dawson's Creek
The Te of Pacey
TV Flash files “The Te of Pacey” as hour 70 of 128 in the TV Flash guide — Dawson's Creek (1998–2003) on The WB, season 4, episode 12, aired 2001-01-17, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E12: listed hour 70 of 128 in the Dawson's Creek guide, hour 12 of 23 in season 4. It aired 2001-01-17 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Tao of Dawson” (S04E11). Next is “Hopeless” (S04E13).

Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Joey decides to help throw a surprise birthday party for Pacey with his mother, not knowing about Pacey's 'birthday curse'. The party goes haywire as Pacey's family makes everyone feel uncomfortable, and Pacey a loser. Dawson becomes upset when he feels that Gretchen doesn't want anyone to know about their relationship and postpones their first real date to go to the party.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Te of Pacey sit in the Dawson's Creek guide?
S04E12 is listed hour 70 of 128 — hour 12 of 23 in season 4, season 4 episode 12.
When did Dawson's Creek S04E12 air?
The Te of Pacey aired 2001-01-17 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Who are the main four?
Dawson (James Van Der Beek), Joey (Katie Holmes), Pacey (Joshua Jackson), and Jen (Michelle Williams) — the creek's gravitational square.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Capeside teens who talk like grad seminars: Dawson, Joey, Pacey, and Jen negotiating love triangles while the soundtrack does half the crying. Kevin Williamson's WB flagship made frank sex-and-feelings talk a network brand. Van Der Beek, Holmes, Jackson, Williams — late-1990s faces of a creek that launched a channel.
Flash: January 20, 1998, The WB, Capeside, teens talking like a grad seminar while the soundtrack does half the crying. Dawson, Joey, Pacey, Jen navigate friendship triangles, parental wreckage, and dialogue dense enough to leak. Kevin Williamson made teen TV frank about sex and feelings and called it a network brand. James Van Der Beek, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Michelle Williams — late-1990s faces of a creek that launched a channel. Someone already called Dawson the worst. **The group chat was not…
Filed against
- James Van Der Beek as Dawson Leery
James Van Der Beek’s Dawson Leery talked Dawson's Creek like a grad seminar with a camcorder — Capeside love triangles, Kevin Williamson frankness, the WB flagship that made sex-and-feelings talk a network brand. Late-1990s face as a…
- Katie Holmes as Joey Potter
Katie Holmes made Joey Potter the still center of Dawson's Creek — Capeside teens talking like grad seminars, WB frankness as a network brand, soundtrack doing half the crying. Love triangles with homework in the dialogue. TV Flash files…
- Joshua Jackson as Pacey Witter
Joshua Jackson’s Pacey Witter made Dawson’s Creek the triangle you actually rooted for — Capeside teens talking like grad seminars, Dawson, Joey, Pacey, and Jen negotiating love while the soundtrack did half the crying. Kevin Williamson’s…
- Michelle Williams as Jen Lindley
Michelle Williams’s Jen Lindley talked like a grad seminar on Dawson’s Creek — Capeside triangles, soundtrack crying, WB frankness as a brand — then turned a terminal diagnosis into Dying for Sex’s funny, horny selfhood. Late-1990s face;…
- Busy Philipps as Audrey Liddell
Busy Philipps’s Audrey Liddell needled Dawson’s Creek like a Capeside grenade — 1990s catalog WB seminar-talk, then Freaks and Geeks’ Kim Kelly proving the same voltage could do a real lunch period. TV Flash files her as the friend who…