I see Joey Potter as a young woman who has had to deal with an undue amount of tragedy in her life, and the way she has largely coped with all this tragedy is to put up a series of defensive walls that no one can penetrate, except, ON OCCASION, her best friend and erstwhile boyfriend Dawson Leery, and more recently, her second boyfriend, Jack McPhee. Joey, at a very early age, had to face the loss of her mother to cancer, and the betrayal of her mother and their family by her father, and finally, the loss of her father through drug dealing and imprisonment, not once, but twice. She has also had to witness the humiliation of her family name and had to struggle to survive, working every available hour at her family’s business, at an age when she should still be able to be safe in the embrace of a loving family, and only have to face the type of problems that other teenagers face. The only constants in her life are her sister, Bessie, who has been largely occupied with running the family business, and taking care of her child as a single mother, and Dawson Leery, who has provided her with friendship, and more recently, love. Dawson’s parents, and especially Dawson’s mother, have also provided a type of surrogate family to Joey, but there is no substitution for a real family, and so I don’t think that Joey ever felt completely "at home" with the Leery’s. I think that at the heart of Joey’s character is an all enveloping sense of vulnerability and insecurity, and a deep rooted fear to let anyone get too close. Therefore, she often does and says things that can be interpreted as harsh or cruel, to keep the world at bay, and not allow anyone to hurt her ever again. We got to see the vulnerability underneath her tough exterior when her father returned home, and she finally admitted to Dawson her fear of losing everything she held dear once again.
I think that Joey needs to be able to learn to trust people, and also realize the hurt that she herself can inflict by attempting to not allow herself to be hurt. I feel that Joey is very often an emotional powder keg, ready to explode at the one person who has always been there for her, Dawson Leery. In her own way, Joey can be as self absorbed and heedless of the consequences of her actions as Dawson is, although the reasons behind her actions are entirely different from his, and perhaps more justifiable. But let’s face it, Dawson and Joey are still teenagers, despite their penchant for analyzing every aspect of their lives using words that make many of us run for the dictionary during the show, and they both need to gain a more mature outlook on life and be mindful that certain words and actions can, and do, hurt. I hope that in the upcoming season, Joey Potter is allowed to find some measure of happiness and sense of self worth, either with Dawson or with someone else, or maybe just on her own. I think that Joey, at heart, is a good person, and that if she allows herself to accept the love and friendship of others, she will be able to achieve the happiness and security she so richly deserves.
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