Cut to the attic. Dawson and Joey are sitting on the bed, watching ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’. On the screen, Harrison Ford is having a scene with Sean Connery.
INDY: You remember the last time we had a quiet drink, hmm? I had a milkshake.
HENRY: Hmm? What did we talk about?
INDY: We didn’t talk. We never talked.
HENRY: Do I detect a rebuke?
INDY: A regret. It was just the two of us , dad. It was a lonely way to grow up. For you, too. If you’d been an ordinary average father like the other guy’s dads, you’d have understood that.
HENRY: Actually, I was a wonderful father.
INDY: When?
Henry looks at him seriously.
HENRY: Did I ever tell you to eat up? Go to bed? Wash your ears? Do your homework? No. I respected your privacy. And I taught you…self-reliance.
Indy looks him in the eyes.
INDY: What you taught me was that I was less important to you than people who have been dead for 500 years in another country. And I learned so well that we’ve hardly spoken for twenty years.
HENRY: You left just when you were becoming interesting!
INDY: Unbelievable! Dad, how can you…?
HENRY: Very well. I’m here now. What do you want to talk about. Hmm…?
Henry stares at him, waiting. Indy laughs, trying to think of something.
INDY: I can’t think of anything.
HENRY: Then what are you complaining about? Look we have work to do…
On the bed, Joey looks over at Dawson.
JOEY: Where’d Pacey run off to, again?
DAWSON: He’s at the school with Andie. They’re making some last-minute preparations. Filming starts tomorrow.
JOEY: Mmmm.
They continue watching.
DAWSON: Ok, now this was brilliant casting. I remember the interview. The only person they could possibly think of to be Indiana Jones’ father was James Bond. Absolutely brilliant.
Joey smirks.
JOEY: And here I was starting to think you idolizing of Mr. Spielberg faded with old age.
DAWSON: Oh, make no mistake, it hasn’t.
Joey sighs.
DAWSON: I think this is my favourite of the three. Notice how the leading lady was reduced to a bit part? They wanted the focus of the film to be on the father and son angle. The two of them bonding on some grand adventure.
JOEY: Yeah, if you want to go for the idealistic approach.
Dawson looks at her.
DAWSON: Do I detect little Miss cynic returning?
Joey shrugs.
JOEY: Old habits die hard, I guess.
DAWSON: Ok, then…give me your best shot.
Joey smiles.
JOEY: Maybe I have this forever negative view of the parent-child relationship because of past experiences, but it seems to me they’re never as idyllic as you see on TV. Come on…name one person we know who’s always gotten along with their dad. Even you and Mitch butted heads on more than one occasion, right?
DAWSON: You’ve got me there.
JOEY: Audrey’s dad is ‘all business’. Jen’s threw her out of the house. Jack’s dad took forever to accept him for who he is. And I don’t need to remind you of Pacey’s unfortunate parental situation
DAWSON: I’ve got it covered. There may be something to what you say, Jo. I don’t deny that. But I think the child’s partially at fault, too.
Joey crosses her arms, not buying it.
JOEY: So you’re saying it’s Pacey’s fault his dad hates him?
DAWSON: No, but I don’t think he hates him either. I think we all have something of our parents in us. At some point in our lives, we start to see them as human. Their mistakes are more noticeable, and we’re scared to death that we’ll end up the same way. And they…well…maybe they are, too? Hence, they try too hard so that we end up different.
Joey scoffs.
JOEY: Yeah, right Dawson!
DAWSON: Evidence to the contrary, I think if me and dad had stopped trying to outdo the other, we’d have realized just how much we had in common.
Joey raises an eyebrow.
JOEY: Nah, you take after your mom.
DAWSON: Excuse me?
JOEY: The camera doesn’t lie, Dawson.
Dawson rolls his eyes.