Dawson was actually really likeable in Season 4

Yeah, in season 4 it was Pacey who became annoying. I think Whiny Joey just has that effect on guys. They turn into the worst versions of themselves with her around.

With Andie, Pacey was doing better in school, and she brought out the best in him. With Joey, he was flunking out and had no motivation, and he just turned into an insecure, annoying man baby.

Dawson was bearable whenever he wasn't going on and on about Joey as well.

Yep. I started watching the show in season 4 and I couldn't figure out why fans hated Dawson so much. He was a totally normal good dude (albeit with lousy long hair) the whole season.

This is so true. Dawson was on my nerves most of the time while Pacey was one of my favorites. Pacey was always making me laugh with his snarky comments. In season 4, I was pleasantly surprised with how different Dawson was! But I missed old Pacey!!!!

Thank God for the very existence of this thread! For a while there I really thought that it was just me who thought this about Dawson's character in season 4; he really, truly shined in that season & was at his very best.

I agree with that one poster who said that Joey brings out the worst in Dawson & Pacey. It's ironic because a lot of the reason why Dawson's character gets so much hate is because a majority of those fans are PJers, yet Pacey is at his very worst when he's with Joey :p.

I know that I've already posted in this thread, but I just wanted to make another one because I just love season 4 Dawson so very much!

One of my all-time most favorite scenes in the entire series is in the season 4 premiere episode when Joey returns to Capeside, enters the Leery house, expects everything to be the same (a.k.a. Dawson to still be stuck in the web of the triangle drama from last year) and yet...she sees the complete & total opposite of that. Everything is not like Joey had expected it to be, Dawson is not in his room like Joey had expected him to be. He is out somewhere in Capeside genuinely happy & hanging out with one of his closest friends in entire world: Jack. Joey knows this (not that he's hanging out specifically with Jack, but that he's somewhere in the world right now hanging out with him and/or with him, Jen, & Andie) because when she enters his room all she sees are photos of the trio (Jack, Jen, & Andie). In addition to seeing all of these black & white photos (which lets Joey & the audience know all about Dawson's newfound love & interest in photography) Joey sees a totally different room all together, one that she is not very familiar with at all. It's a scene without dialogue at all, yet it speaks volumes and I absolutely love it! It also "spoke" to us all about the new, mature Dawson that we were going to see in season 4, and thank God that the writers had never floundered and/or failed at all when it came to writing this new, mature Dawson in season 4; they consistently kept his character that way all throughout the whole season.

It's like for a good chunk of that episode Joey & Pacey had thought that the world had revolved around them, yet Capeside had moved on just fine. To borrow a quote from the episode:

Pacey: Is it just me, or are you starting to get the distinct feeling that this town really didn't miss us all that much?

Joey: It's like the reverse of it's a wonderful life. Everyone's better off without us.

Granted of course Dawson had still naturally cared about Joey, but at the same time he had also genuinely moved on from that drama & genuinely had a life (a happy one at that) that didn't revolve around Joey. Dawson said it himself, the Tao of Dawson (at least for that season anyway) was to do nothing & to let the universe take care of things. If the universe had wanted him & Joey to be together romantically then he was going to be fine, if the universe had wanted them to just remain friends then he was going to be fine, if the universe didn't want them to be in each other's lives at all anymore then he was going to be fine. No matter what the future had held for him Dawson was going to be fine either way. Dawson had matured greatly over that summer, learned how to live without Joey in his life, & learned how to have happiness without her.

One of the best examples of Dawson being okay either way I think was in the final episode of the season "Coda" when he was going to leave for film school early. Yes, he loves Joey so much that he would wait for the fall & spend the entire summer with her, but either way he was going to genuinely be okay. It was Joey who had the problem with it, and Joey who (at the very last minute) wanted Dawson to unpack & stay (which had mildly annoyed Dawson).

I could go on & on about season 4 Dawson, but I think that I'll just end it by saying that I had loved his character in literally every scene that he was in in that season. Whether he was on his own, or with Gretchen, or with Mr. Brooks, or maturely interacting with Joey and/or Pacey, or hanging out with his family and/or friends, Dawson had shined in every scene that he was in in that season.

I actually mentioned something to this in another post talking about relationships between characters haha. Dawson in season four was actually really good, probably the best Dawson in the series. I do think a huge part of that was not being around Joey as, looking at the episodes as the series continued, she seemed to bring out the worse in the people. The main example of that is her relationship with Pacey. Pacey went from a being a character a generally liked to someone I wanted to strangle with all of his moping and self-loathing. Plus, I REALLY liked the friendship that Dawson had with Jen, Jack, and Andie. I never believed for a second that Andie "ran out of story", I just think they wanted to put more focus on Joey.

Dawson was far more likable when he wasn't with Joey, pining for Joey, or whining about Joey. I still found his character to be self righteous and annoying but overall he was much more likable in seasons 4-6. Season 3 he acted like a petulant child who needed a serious ass whooping.

I said a similar thing recently. Dawson was at his best in Season 4. He was more chill, laid back, and had a funny dry sense of humor. The later seasons 5 and 6 as well. He grew up.