Dawson's Creek
Highway to Hell
TV Flash files “Highway to Hell” as hour 98 of 128 in the TV Flash guide — Dawson's Creek (1998–2003) on The WB, season 5, episode 17, aired 2002-04-03, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E17: listed hour 98 of 128 in the Dawson's Creek guide, hour 17 of 23 in season 5. It aired 2002-04-03 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “In a Lonely Place” (S05E16). Next is “Cigarette Burns” (S05E18).

Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Charlie asks Joey to sing with his band at a distant club, which requires Pacey to give them a ride. Pacey and Charlie hate each other, and it takes a patient Audrey to keep them from going at each other's throats. Joey is nervous and isn't well received by the audience, until Charlie helps her with a duet. Still, he doesn't give up putting his moves on her. Audrey and Pacey, on the other hand, seem to be more and more in synchrony. Meanwhile, Dawson, Jen, Jack and Grams drive up to Capeside for Lily's 1st birthday, and Dawson finds out his mother has a significant other. Meanwhile, Jen confesses to Jack that she wants to break up with Dawson, while he is conflicted with the possibility of loving Joey again.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Highway to Hell sit in the Dawson's Creek guide?
S05E17 is listed hour 98 of 128 — hour 17 of 23 in season 5, season 5 episode 17.
When did Dawson's Creek S05E17 air?
Highway to Hell aired 2002-04-03 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…