One of my all time favorite TV couples comes from a show I never watched when it aired. It was a show for teens and I thought I was too old for that at the time. Besides it sounded stupid and the lead had a freakishly big forehead. It took another show years later called Fringe and an appealing actor named Joshua Jackson to change that. Suddenly, I had a pressing need to see more with him and this was it. I was surprised by how much I actually like the show and how much I enjoy the romance between him and Katie Holmes' character Joey. These two had a slow burn build of a relationship. It wasn't until season 3 that you finally saw them come together but only after much trial and error, angst, anger, misunderstanding and back and forth. Season 4 they were a happy couple until the end, when they broke up in spectacular fashion, due to Pacey being a complete jerk and shattering Joey's heart. But somehow, you knew it wasn't the end. It would never quite be over between them. As Pacey said "we could live for a thousand years and we would never finish this." They were just meant to be. Season 5 the writers, in their infinite wisdom, saw fit to basically act like Pacey and Joey never existed as a couple and it wasn't until Season 6 that all our shipper dreams came true. That season saw some truly special moments, Castaways anyone? With a few false starts it seemed our two would be together again before the show came to an end but it didn't happen until the two-part series finale. At that point it was meant to be unsure whether Joey would pick her childhood sweetheart Dawson or the man who taught her passion, pushed her boundaries, allowed her to grow, inspired her to be more than she was, made her laugh and made her cry. Feelings so real to her that she fought it and always ran away from it but she wanted it so badly at the same time. No one could even come close to Pacey, it was destiny.
The finale takes place 5 years after the last episode of Season 6. So Pacey and Joey had not been a couple for about 7 years. It takes a wedding to bring everybody back together, Joey leaving her boyfriend in New York when she finds out he was getting ready to propose. The moment they lay eyes on each other again you can see that Pacey is not over her (and never was) and she is just a little too happy to see him again. But the wedding was just the beginning and one of this group of friends collapses and in the course of the episode dies. This causes a lot of soul searching amongst the group and Pacey confronts Joey about what he is feeling, has always felt, for her.
Joey: What's going on in that head of yours.
Pacey: You're off the hook.
Joey: What? (smiling, a little confused)
Pacey: You're off the hook. I never really put much faith in all that "if you love someone set them free" crap, as evidenced by everything I've done in my life up to this very moment... but I am determined to be happy, Joey. Happy in this life... And I love you, I mean, I always, I have always, always loved you. But our timing has just never been right... and the way I figure it, time is no man's friend. So I have to get right with that and be happy, now. Because this is it, I mean, this is all that we get. If there is one thing I've learned from losing Jen, that's what I've learned.
Joey: Pacey, I—
Pacey: Actually, um, hold on. I'm not done yet. Because I also want for you to be happy. It's really important for me that you be happy. So I want you to be with someone, whether it be Dawson or New York guy or some man that you haven't even met yet. But I want you to be with someone who can be a part of the life that you want for yourself. I want you to be with someone who makes you feel like I feel when I'm with you. So, I guess the point to this long run-on sentence that's been the last 10 years of our lives... is just that the simple act of being in love with you is enough for me. So you're off the hook.
Joey: You know, for the record I, I don't wanna be let off the hook. Cause everything in my life that I've done has led me here, right now. And the last thing I want, need or deserve is to be let off somebody's hook.
Pacey: Please don't miss my point here...
Joey: And don't miss mine. Pacey, I love you, you know that. And it's very real. It's so real that it's kept me moving, mostly running from it, never ready for it… and I love Dawson, he's my soul mate. He's tied to my childhood... and it's a love that is pure and eternally innocent. I can't be let off the hook because I just might get the notion that it's OK to keep running.
Pacey: So then what exactly are you saying here? (you can see the hope and fear vying for placement in his face.)
At this point they are interrupted and I proceeded to yell at the TV, I don't think they heard though. He said this to her not expecting anything, but always I think he was hoping that she felt the same and they would be able to work it out. And it's all good because our two lovely characters end up together. Just the way it was meant to be. This could of been a separation of 7 years or 14 years or 21 years. They would have found a way back to each other, it was inevitable. For her part, even though he broke her heart, she forgave him and could love him again, despite the fear that kept her running and that is true love. BIG all-encompassing love. That just does not come around every day. Except in TV and movies of course, else I wouldn't have much of a countdown.
This link is actually a fan video and not the actual scene as such, but it has so many moments that capture their relationship perfectly so I had to use it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQy44x39joA
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