Josephine "Joey" Lynn PotterSeason 6, Episode 1 - "The Kids Are Alright", Episode 2 "The Song Remains the Same" (born 1983)There is a continuity error in regards to Joey's birthday. In season 5, Bessie brings Joey her passport where her birth month is shown to be in May. However, in Season 6, Joey's birthday is celebrated at the beginning of the college semester, making her birthday sometime in August or September 1982. is a fictional character in the WB television drama Dawson's Creek, played by Katie Holmes. Joey is the only principal character to appear in all episodes of the series, which ran from 1998 to 2003.
Joey, created by Kevin Williamson based on a childhood friend, is a tomboyish teenager growing up in the fictional town of Capeside in Massachusetts. The series chronicles her journey from adolescence into adulthood, focusing in particular on her complex and evolving relationship with childhood friend Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek).
Background In an official companion book for the show, Joey Potter is described as "a headstrong, vibrant, wily, sultry, and determined go-getter. And yet, in a gloriously contradictory manner, in spite of her tough-as-nails exterior demeanor, Joey's also a frail, sometimes uncertain, emotionally sensitive, in-need-of-love person."Crosdale, Darren. Dawson's Creek: The Official Companion. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel, 1999. . 77–78.
Joey has been best friends with Dawson Leery since they were in third grade, and considers him "her family." She spent much of her early childhood at the Leery house, and Dawson was a constant comforting presence during traumatic events in her childhood. Joey's mother had died of breast cancer when Joey was thirteen and her father, Mike (Gareth Williams), was in prison for drug trafficking. Joey is raised by her unmarried and pregnant sister Bessie (Nina Repeta), who is about ten years older than Joey and runs the Ice House restaurant where Joey works as a waitress.
Dawson and Joey spend many nights bonding over films and TV shows in his bedroom, which Joey accesses via a ladder into his room. She has also known Pacey Witter her whole life, though they only tolerate each other due to their friendships with Dawson until high school.
Character arc
Season 1 In season one, Joey is the "girl next door." She is confused by her growth into a teenager and her developing feelings for her longtime best friend Dawson, who believes he is her soulmate.
She immediately becomes jealous when Jen Lindley arrives and steals Dawson's attention. She is intimidated by Jen, who grew up in New York, and feels competitive with her. She lives with her pregnant sister Bessie and works for her at the Ice House, the Potter family restaurant. She is frustrated with having to deal with work and taking care of her sister along with significant helpings of teenage angst. Nonetheless, Joey manages to be helpful with the birth of Bessie's son, Alexander, as does their critical neighbor, Evelyn Ryan (Mary Beth Peil). One day she is convinced to compete in a local beauty pageant so she can win the prize, which is a scholarship for college tuition. She ultimately does not win the pageant, but when she sings the song "On My Own" from Les Misérables on stage, Dawson finally sees past his "best friend" image of Joey and recognizes her romantic feelings towards him. At the end of the season, she receives the opportunity to spend her summer in Paris, but rejects it in favor of staying in Capeside with Dawson after she and Dawson kiss.
Season 2 At the start of the season, she and Dawson begin dating, but Joey struggles with figuring out her own identity outside of their relationship. During a full moon, her co-worker Jack McPhee kisses her. Dawson finds out during a school dance and punches Jack. Distraught, Joey seeks Dawson out to apologize, but also decides she needs to take a break from him to "find herself".
Joey immediately throws herself into a relationship with Jack, which becomes confusing when Jack is outed as gay. Joey begins to lean on Dawson for support as Jack struggles and eventually confirms his sexuality to Joey. Joey struggles with readjusting to single life. Joey's father is released from prison and comes back into her life. At first, this change is uneasy, but the two heal their rift.
After Dawson supports Joey through this uneasy period, she apologizes to him, thanks him for putting up with her, and kisses him. Their reignited relationship is put at risk, however, when Dawson finds out that Joey's father is dealing cocaine. After a fire at the restaurant which was started by rivals of Joey's father, Dawson tells his parents who advise him he needs to go to the police. He tells Joey first and convinces her to work with the police, and she eventually agrees and gets a confession from her father by wearing a wire.
Feeling guilt at betraying her father, she lashes out at Dawson. She breaks up with him and tells him she doesn't even want to know him and that she will never forgive him.
Season 3 After Dawson returns from visiting his mom over the summer, Joey regrets breaking up with him and offers herself to him. However, Dawson rejects her, fearing another blowout will wreck their friendship permanently. Dawson asks Pacey Witter to keep an eye on the dejected Joey.
Joey takes a job at a Logan's Marina, where she receives unwanted sexual advances from her supervisor, Rob Logan.
Joey struggles with Dawson keeping his distance from her and attempts to heal the rift in their shaky friendship. Meanwhile, she finds herself progressively spending more time with Pacey. Joey has a brief relationship with a college student, A.J. Moller (Robin Dunne). This relationship makes Pacey jealous, and after she breaks up with A.J., Pacey declares his feelings for Joey and kisses her. Though Joey is initially angry at Pacey for kissing her with no warning, she forgives him after he apologizes for potentially putting their friendship at risk.
Pacey joins Dawson, Joey, and Andie on a spring break trip to the home of Dawson's aunt, Gwen (Gail's sister). Blossoming tension between Pacey and Joey prompts Pacey to ask Joey whether she reciprocates his feelings. Joey admits she felt a spark after he kissed her, which leads Pacey to kiss her again. They are caught by Aunt Gwen, but she keeps their secret while also warning Joey not to be careless with Dawson's heart. Though Joey is fearful of hurting Dawson, she realizes she cannot fight her feelings and embraces Pacey in a kiss. The two begin a secret romantic relationship.
Joey grows more anxious the longer the relationship is kept secret. When Jen accidentally tells Dawson first, he reacts furiously. Dawson confronts her and Pacey, ends his friendship with Pacey, and gives Joey an ultimatum between dating Pacey and saving her friendship with him. Joey tearfully ends things with Pacey in an effort to preserve her lifelong friendship with Dawson, leaving all three of the friends alone and devastated.
Dawson and Joey begin to converse again; however, Joey is dismayed that Dawson considers his friendship with Pacey forever destroyed. Dawson decides to win Joey back by competing in a sailing race with Pacey and throwing an alternative prom with Joey as his date. However, when Dawson witnesses Joey and Pacey share a romantic dance, he leaves devastated.
In the season finale, Joey confesses to Dawson that whilst she considers their friendship her first priority, if she thought he might forgive her then she might have continued to pursue a romantic relationship with Pacey. Dawson eventually urges Joey to follow her heart, and Joey rushes off to tell Pacey that she is in love with him before he departs for a summer at sea on his boat. She joins Pacey aboard his boat, the True Love, and the two then sail off into the sunset.
Season 4 Joey returns to Capeside with Pacey from their summer at sea, madly in love but growing more and more preoccupied with thoughts of Dawson. Joey reaches out to Dawson with a symbolic present, and although it appears he is moving on from the coupling up of his two best friends, he appears disinterested in repairing their friendship and unsure if he wants Joey in his life at all, which leaves her devastated and determined to fix their lifelong friendship.
Joey discovers Pacey has returned to academic probation after irresponsibly skipping summer school, while Joey dreams of admittance to the fictional Worthington College in Boston. Joey and Pacey's relationship begins to become strained by Joey's determination to rebuild her friendship with Dawson and her prioritization of his feelings over their relationship. She struggles with watching Dawson move on romantically with Gretchen, Pacey's older sister. She is eventually relieved and delighted when Dawson starts to soften his stance and confiding in her again.
On a ski trip with the senior class, Joey finally gives in and sleeps with Pacey. She later runs into Dawson whilst walking through Capeside, and is delighted when he agrees to spend the night with her walking around Capeside and talking. Dawson eventually asks her if she has slept with Pacey, which Joey denies.
Gretchen discovers Joey's lie and confronts her over it, to which Joey reacts defensively and possessively. Gretchen also informs Pacey, which further strains his relationship with Joey.
Joey is admitted to the prestigious Worthington College but discovers she won't receive enough financial aid. When Dawson offers to front her a payment from Mr. Brooks' inheritance, she admits to Dawson she lied about having slept with Pacey. Dawson accepts her apology, reaffirming the survival and importance of their bond. She accepts the money from Dawson to attend Worthington.
After Joey returns from a trip to New York with Jen, she discovers from Gretchen that Pacey was arrested for public drunkenness. She also suspects she may be pregnant. Bessie learns about Joey's pregnancy scare and argues with her, claiming she is not ready to have a baby if she is pregnant and that she has an immature boyfriend. Joey defends herself by saying that whatever happens in her life will be different compared to Bessie's path to early motherhood. Joey learns from a pregnancy test that she is not pregnant, but the situation draws the sisters closer together. When Joey finally reaches Pacey on the phone, she doesn't tell him about the pregnancy scare, while he does not tell her about his arrest.
Pacey grows increasingly frustrated by the belief that he's holding Joey back from her ambitions, and grows more insecure over his perceived "worthlessness" in their relationship. After seeing Dawson and Joey dancing happily at prom, Pacey explodes at Joey in front of all their peers, leaving her crying and embarrassed. She and Pacey end their relationship. She seeks solace in her reignited friendship with Dawson, and is disappointed that Pacey leaves for the Caribbean as a crew member on a boat.
During the month after graduation, Joey starts to get over Pacey but becomes increasingly dismayed at Dawson's impending departure for California, where he will be attending film school. On Dawson's last night in Capeside, he and Joey both feel underwhelmed at their initial goodbye and seek each other out.
After watching E.T. and reminiscing about the highs and lows of the last four years, Joey tearfully confesses her appreciation for Dawson and their friendship; somehow their bond survived everything, including her failed relationship with Pacey. She declares him incredible, compares their friendship to magic, and asks him to stay. He gently reinforces his need to get out of Capeside and start living his life, and they share a goodbye kiss.
Season 5