Jen Lindley
Jennifer "Jen" Lindley (born May 1983) is a fictional character and one of the lead roles from the WB television drama Dawson's Creek, portrayed by Michelle Williams.[1]
| Jen Lindley | |
|---|---|
| Dawson's Creek character | |
 Michelle Williams as Jen Lindley | |
| First appearance | "Pilot" (episode 1.01) |
| Last appearance | "...Must Come to an End" (episode 6.24) |
| Created by | Kevin Williamson |
| Portrayed by | Michelle Williams |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Jennifer Lindley |
| Nickname | Jen, Jennie, Lindley |
| Occupation | Professional :
Curator at Soho Art Gallery in New York City (formerly) Academic : New York University (formerly; graduated)Boston Bay College (formerly; during freshman and sophomore years) Capeside High School (formerly; graduated) |
| Family | Amy Lindley (daughter) Evelyn Ryan (maternal grandmother) Mr. Ryan (maternal grandfather) Eve Whitman (maternal half-sister) Helen Ryan (mother) Theodore Lindley (father) |
| Significant other | Love interests :
Unnamed father of her daughter (formerly) Dawson Wade Leery (best friend) Andrea McPhee (best friend) Joey Potter (best friend) Pacey Witter (best friend) Audrey Liddell (close friend) |
| Hometown | New York City, New York |
| Residence | New York City, New York Formerly: Capeside, Massachusetts |
Fictional biography
Background
Jen grew up in New York. At the age of 15, her parents sent her to live with her conservative Christian grandmother (whom she calls "Grams") in Capeside. They often clash, as Jen's views on the world are very different. As the series progresses, Grams loosens up and becomes more tolerant and loving. Jen is introduced in the pilot when she arrives from New York City and quickly becomes friends with Dawson and Pacey. She has a more complicated relationship with Joey, but through the course of the series they become friends.
Season 1
The only child of Theodore Lindley and Helen Ryan, Jen was introduced to the show in the first episode when she arrived from New York City to live with her grandmother, Evelyn "Grams" Ryan, after her parents realized just how out of control she was. Jen initially provided a love interest for Dawson Leery, and the two dated throughout the first season, which caused tension between Jen and Joey Potter. Jen was the girl who grew up too fast and Joey was the girl who wondered what it would be like to do the things that Jen had done, so Joey was immediately threatened by the "City Girl". Jen and Dawson broke up when Jen's ex-boyfriend Billy came to Capeside to win her back. Billy caused immediate tension between Dawson and Jen, as Jen's past was coming back to haunt her and Dawson. Dawson in the heat of the moment basically called Jen a "Slut", and she broke up with him because, she had never been made to feel so cheap by anyone. By the end of the season she was regretting her decision to break up with him, and wanted Dawson back, especially as her sick grandfather died.[2]
Season 2
After the Jen and Dawson breakup Jen became isolated from the rest of the main characters for much of the second season, especially with Joey as Jen's attempts to win back Dawson were stepping on Joey's toes. Jen became friends with Abby Morgan, the girl everybody hated, as she was seen as the Devil incarnate, and Jen and Abby often drank together. They both were intrigued by a sailor who was docked at Capeside and they both made moves on him; he liked Jen and this caused Abby's and Jen's short friendship to break up. Jen was caught with the sailor in her home by Grams. During her sophomore year Jen briefly dated a conservative Christian, but broke up with him after he was revealed as a homophobe; this came out while gay rumors were circulating about Jack McPhee. While Dawson was writing his script, she served as a mentor to him, in getting his inner youth out of him, and she was also a shoulder to cry on while his parents were going through their marriage troubles. She also again befriended the abrasive Abby Morgan, who died after falling off a pier while drunk. After Jen gave a brutally honest speech at Abby's funeral, Grams kicked Jen out of the house as Jen clearly showed a lack of respect, even though Grams had done everything she could to help her. Jen briefly stayed with the Leery's before she attempted a reconciliation with her parents, but they again rejected her. So Jen then went to live with Jack McPhee, as Andie and his father left for Providence to get Andie some help. But eventually they decided that they could not afford to live in the house by themselves, and so Jack and Jen moved back in with Grams and became close.
Season 3
In the third season, although Jack moved out to live with Andie again, his relationship with Jen remained close - not unlike a sibling relationship. Jen attends the cheer leader tryouts purely to denounce the extremely unpleasant head cheerleader. This take an unwelcome turn when the cheer leaders who have become very discontented with their head, elect Jen as head cheerleader instead. Even more disconcertingly she is elected homecoming queen.
Jen was aggressively courted by Capeside High's star freshman quarterback, Henry Parker (Michael Pitt). The two dated throughout most of Jen's junior year.
After Pacey is deemed the failure again by his family, he pursues a purely sexual relationship with Jen; both agree that there will be no emotion involved whatsoever. While trapped on Witch Island with Joey, Dawson and Jack, the two proceed to make out in the condemned church, which seems to be haunted by the spirits of thirteen girls who were burned alive there in the 1600s.
Pacey and Jen are nearly caught having sex in Dawson's room after he returns home from a dentist appointment. He finds Pacey on his bedroom floor apparently playing a video game, while Jen is gone. Dawson finds a condom on his bedroom floor and gets suspicions about who Pacey is seeing. Meanwhile, Pacey and Joey start to take dancing lessons to win a scholarship. Dawson and Jen later join Joey and Pacey in ballroom dancing, and Dawson automatically assumes that Pacey is sleeping with Joey. When he and Joey find Pacey and Jen making out in the coat closet of the ballroom studio, everyone is shocked. Joey overreacts and Jen suspects she likes Pacey. Pacey tells her that there is nothing going on between Joey and him, but still they decide that the fling is not working and they are better off as friends.
Jen's mother, Helen, unexpectedly shows up at Grams' house for Thanksgiving dinner. Although Grams tries to warn Jen, she finds out too late, walking in on Helen, who is dressed up and wearing pearls---just as Jen remembers her being before she was sent to Capeside. Dawson, unsure of whether or not to tell Jen, confronts Helen about the visit of Eve Whitman, Jen's half-sister. Helen finally opens up to jen about her half sister, and jen says she will keep her secret.
Season 4
Jen's senior year comprised much of the fourth season. Though the third season had ended with Jen's unreserved (and public) commitment to Henry, Michael Pitt who had played Henry felt the role to be artistically undemanding. Henry we learn in the first episode had accepted a football scholarship to a private school, broke up with Jen through Jack, devastating her. She became closer with Jack after the break-up and the two almost shared a drunken sexual encounter on the school ski trip. One of Jen's old acquaintances from her days on the New York party scene, Drue Valentine, moved to Capeside to live with his mother, and brought an unhappy reminder of her past. The only child of Yacht Club owner, the Cruella de Vil-like Mrs. Valentine (and Joey's boss in seasons 3-4), Drue offered her ecstacy, which Jen accepted from him, but never took. But after an in-depth conversation with an obviously disturbed Andie McPhee, Jen's friend took the ecstacy, which mixed with her medication caused her to gain a high fever, and could have killed her. This caused a massive rift between Jen and the rest of her friends, which was only healed after Andie told them that she was leaving for Italy. While her friends were all applying to colleges, Jen was reluctant to do so; Jack, with Grams' help, eventually applied to several schools for her, using previous school work for the essays. Though she considers returning to New York for school, she decides to go to Boston instead to attend the fictional Boston Bay College with Jack. During a read-aloud of her shrink's favorite author, Jen meets Toby, an admittedly gay teen whom Jack finds strongly unattractive. However, Jen gets along with Toby and soon learns that he has a "thing" for Jack. After he makes it perfectly clear that he does not wish to take Toby to the gang's senior prom, Jen goes against Jack's wishes and tells Toby that Jack wants to ask him out. Jack gets even by setting Jen up with her old drug buddy, Drue as her prom date. While Jen and Drue seemingly reunite, Jen confesses to her old friend that she has changed her mind about attending college in New York.
In the season finale, Grams sells the house and decides to move to Boston with Jen and Jack.
Season 5
The fifth season, which spanned Jen's freshman year in college, was somewhat tumultuous. Grams moved to Boston with Jen and Jack and the three lived together until Jack joined a fraternity, which (coupled with the alcohol abuse and academic decline it coincided with) created a rift in his relationship with Jen. While at Boston Bay Jen briefly dated musician Charlie and ran a school radio show, However she found out that Charlie was cheating on her and she comically made him confess---with the help of Charlie's other girlfriend Nora, Jen convinces Charlie to "shut-up and get naked" just before locking him out of his dorm room in a hallway full of students. After the death of Mitch Leery, Dawson invites Jen to attend the Hookset Film Festival in New Hampshire after he learns that his father entered him in the competition, using his film about now-deceased-director A.I. Brooks. Dawson wins first place, and jokingly thanks "his girlfriend Jen Lindley". After losing his virginity to her, Dawson dives into a serious fast-paced relationship with Jen, but she breaks it off after realizing that it was the wrong thing to do.
During the gang's spring break trip to Florida, Jen finds Joey spending some quality time with her ex-boyfriend Charlie Todd. In trying to warn her, Jen's advice goes unheeded by Joey. In the meantime, Jen tries to have a serious conversation with Jack about his drinking problem.
At the end of the season, Jack relays to Jen that he has passed all of his classes, and the two friends prepare to take a vacation to Costa Rica. However, an unexpected phone call from Jen's parents in New York, ruin their plans. At first, Jen decides to spend the summer with her best friend, but when everyone collides at the airport in the finale, Dawson convinces Jen to go see her parents. She takes the next flight out to New York as Grams sneaks to Vegas with her boyfriend, Cliffton Smalls. Jen runs into Damage Ink director, Todd Carr, on the plane; the same director who fired Dawson from his internship at USC.
Season 6
During the sixth season, Jen embarked on a relationship with C.J. who she met at a campus cafe. Jack convinced her to call the helpline where C.J. worked to invite him to a Halloween party, but she forgot to mention to him that it was a costume party after he and his friend, David, show up in casual dress.
Joey's roommate Audrey, ends up sleeping with C.J. when she gets drunk before a gig with Emma's band at Hell's Kitchen. Jen learns of C.J.'s sexual misadventures only after he tells her that he no longer dates. Upset, Jen leaves the situation, while C.J. gets into a fist fight with Pacey during a No Doubt concert.
In the meantime, Grams is diagnosed with breast cancer and decides not to tell Jen. When Grams gives in and tells Jen of her illness, Jen retaliates by dumping C.J. before they have to host a Loveliness Questionairre with Drew Pinsky and Adam Carolla. When the pressure gets to be too much, Jen gives the hosting job to an ecstatic Audrey. Towards the end of the season, Jen calls on her mother Helen to talk things out with Grams, and initially so Grams can tell her own daughter about the cancer. Eventually, Grams' boyfriend, Bill Braxton (also C.J.'s uncle) breaks the ice and tells Grams that she cannot give up the fight. Grams, Jen, and Jack decide to move to New York to live with Jen's mother while Grams undergoes treatment.
Series finale
In the two-part series finale, set in 2008, the gang learns of Jen's fatal heart condition, pulmonary congestion, after she faints during Gale Leery's second wedding. Jen, now the single mother of a one-year-old daughter, Amy, ends up hospitalized and reveals to Jack, her best friend, that there is nothing to be done to save her. Leaving Amy in Jack's care, Jen dies with Grams at her side on May 14, 2008.
Reception
First introduced as the outsider coming to the small town and shaking Dawson and Joey's relationship, Jen becomes one of the most compelling and strong characters in the show. Creator Kevin Williamson said about Williams. "I remember when Michelle Williams walked in and auditioned for Jen. I had always envisioned her as the girl from the wrong side of the creek who at 15 comes to the creek with a checkered past and disrupts its flow. When she came in — she auditioned with when Jen goes in and sees her grandfather laying in the bed — she got really quiet and just sat there for a really long time as if this grandfather was sitting in front of her. She played it as if she were really broken. I saw Jen as this fallen angel, a broken bird, and Michelle tapped into that. She transformed herself into this broken child who just needed to be fixed. I knew I'd found Jen Lindley." [3] The Guardian said "She was enigmatic, but also damaged and vulnerable."[4]
There is a lot of criticism surrounding Jen's death on the series finale.[5] Jen was regularly slut shamed through the course of the series, especially by Dawson who mistreats her after he learns she is no longer a virgin. Finally, she is killed off in the last episode leaving a baby daughter to her best friend, Jack, to raise. Many considered it a tragic ending to a character who was mistreated during the entire run of the series. Vulture said "we’re repeatedly told via slut-shaming dialogue that Jen is a seductress or a 'barracuda,' but she walks like she's been on horseback for three days, in concrete panties — and the writers never did quite figure out what to do with the character, sending Jen on a series of downward-spiral arcs that landed like wet toilet paper."[6]
In Grazia's article "Dawson's Creek, Jen Lindley, And The Betrayal Of The Noughties Bad Girl" it is discussed the misogynist aspect of her arc, saying "Are you a woman in Noughties television? Do you like to party? Enjoy a drink? Use recreational drugs? Like to rattle the headboard on occasion? You must be punished. While your male peers can screw up constantly, and the girl-next-door in your peer group can wander through life doe-eyed and unharmed, you're pretty much doomed. Jen was never going to survive Dawson's Creek. Even becoming a mother couldn't save her." Williamson comments on the decision saying "she always felt like the outsider, the misfit" and "she was always the person who didn’t feel like she fit in. And I thought what a beautiful way to let her be the catalyst for everyone’s turning events." Her death mostly serves to Dawson to grow up and to Pacey and Joey to finally declare their love for each other.[7]
Williams, who was a 16-year-old teenager when Dawson's Creek started, had her first major role in the series. Vulture said "you can see glimmers of Williams’s potential". To The New York Times she was an earnest performer at the age of 16.[8] She received two nominations to the YoungStar Award for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama TV Series.[9]
Williams' thoughts on Dawson's Creek
In 2018, Entertainment Weekly organized a Dawson's Creek reunion with the original cast to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the series.[10] In the occasion, Williams appeared on two covers of the magazine, one with Katie Holmes, James Van Der Beek and Joshua Jackson her fellow lead actors and the other with Busy Philipps, her best friend whom she met on the set of the show. Williams' declared "I loved that we were able to get in there in those formative years for people. That’s why people, I think, are so connected to it. When something affects you while you were growing up, it kind of stays in there forever. When you’re so permeable and open and trying to figure out who you are and what’s going on, whatever reaches you in those moments really becomes part of you." She also spoke about the fact people still talk to her about how Jen and Jack are a huge cultural reference on best friends.[11]
In 2019, during a Variety's Actors on Actors interview with Patricia Clarkson while promoting her first television work in years, Fosse/Verdon, Williams said about her experience in Dawson's Creek "It was a very different kind of television. We did 22 episodes a year, you’d be getting scripts sort of at the last minute and you had like zero input" and "That was hard, it was a little bit like a factory job. It was formulaic."[12]
References
- "'Dawson's Creek". IMDb. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
- "20 years ago, Dawson's Creek introduced a love triangle that changed teen soaps forever". Vox. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- "'Dawson's Creek' Turns 20: Kevin Williamson Reveals the Teen Drama's Deepest Secrets". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
- "'Cheers for tears! How Dawson's Creek helped teen TV get emotional". The Guardian. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
- "The 'Dawson's Creek' Creator Just Weighed In On The Possibility Of A Revival". Bustle. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
- "How Does Dawson's Creek Hold Up?". Vulture. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- "Dawson's Creek, Jen Lindley, And The Betrayal Of The Noughties Bad Girl". Grazia. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
- "TELEVISION REVIEW; Young, Handsome and Clueless in Peyton Place". The New York Times. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- "Dawson's Creek awards". IMDb. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
- "Dawson's Creek: See EW's exclusive reunion photos". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- "Dawson's Creek cast reunites for its 20th anniversary on this week's EW cover". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- "Michelle Williams Says Being on Dawson's Creek Was Like Working a Factory Job: 'It Was Formulaic'". People. Retrieved December 2, 2020.