Factual error: When Joey is driving the light blue pick-up truck, Doug pulls her over to tell her Pacey is leaving town. Right before she pulls over, in her close-up there is a sticker on the lower corner of the driver's side windshield, which looks like it could be the North Carolina State Safety Inspection sticker (small square decal with a yellow emblem in the center, and blue writing along the top and down both sides of the decal), as opposed to a Massachusetts inspection sticker (which would be on the passenger side). (00:07:25)
Revealing mistake: During this scene Joey is running from the wedding to find Pacey. There is a young couple dressed in light blue, standing on the left side of the scene. The man appears to turn his head and see Katie Holmes running towards them, and puts his arm around the woman next to him and directs her across the grass over to the right. They both sort of suddenly run over to the right in order to clear the way for Katie to keep running straight through the area. It's obvious they moved intentionally so as to get out of her way, knowing the actress was about to run by them. (00:34:20)
Plot hole: During this ending scene, Joey runs frantically to find Pacey and asks to go with him on his sailing trip all Summer. She is carrying absolutely nothing with her, not even a purse or wallet. Her pockets are completely flat, and she doesn't even appear to have ID. Joey's lack of luggage or clothing is explained in her dialogue, as she jokes about the next change of clothing. She probably assumed she could buy what she needed along the way, and was in a hurry not to miss Pacey's departure. But it doesn't seem logical that she would take off for an entire Summer without any type of purse, wallet, money, credit cards, ID, etc. as she would have no way to pay for anything. She would also need her ID in order to work the odd jobs she mentions in Season 4. (00:39:10)
Visible crew/equipment: When Joey is walking out to the pier to talk to Dawson, right after the wedding; the wind is blowing her dress back and you can see a prominent, solid line going up the front of her dress from about the waist up to the neck. I assume this is probably a microphone wire of some kind and not just a wrinkle, as the line is solid and protruding through the material.
Continuity mistake: At the very end of the episode, when Joey and Pacey are sailing out into the sunset the sky keeps changing between shots. When they are first setting off, it's earlier in the day with bright sun and a cloudless sky. The sun appears at a high angle. The next shot, as they sail further the sky is suddenly full of clouds and it's almost sunset, with the sun lower in the sky. The final shot after that, the sky is still cloudy and in sunset hues as the sun appears just over the horizon about to set. Obviously these shots were taken at different times of the day, although they appear to be right after each other in the show.
Factual error: In the opening credits of season 3 and season 4, when all of them are on the swing, you can see a palm tree in the background. If the show takes place in Massachusetts, why would there be a palm tree? Palm trees don't grow in Massachusetts.
Coming Home - S4-E1
Continuity mistake: When Joey and Pacey are on the boat Coming Home, look closely at Pacey's hair under the cap he is wearing. It is longer/thicker hair, and appears to be layered somewhat on the sides and back of the neck. A little later when Joey and Pacey have docked in Capeside and are getting off the boat, Pacey's hair is suddenly cut very short/close to the head, and does not look like it did under the cap on the boat. (00:00:50 - 00:05:05)
Coming Home - S4-E1
Visible crew/equipment: In the very beginning, when Joey and Pacey are on the boat Coming Home, there are a few closeups of Pacey that show a small microphone jutting out the material of his shirt, right under his collar. (00:01:05)
Coming Home - S4-E1
Continuity mistake: Gram's kitchen in previous Seasons had orange walls, and the cabinets were painted with avocado green and orange centers. (Except for the Pilot Presentation, where the cabinets were painted all green). However, in this scene the walls are still orange but the cabinets have been suddenly changed to avocado green and yellow centers. (00:15:35)
Coming Home - S4-E1
Deliberate mistake: This scene between Dawson and Jen in his 'dark room' was shot in a distinctive red light. However, in reality there was no red light during filming, the effect was added later during post-production. (00:19:25)
Coming Home - S4-E1
Revealing mistake: This scene of Dawson and Joey in the parking lot of the "Dive-In" was not really filmed in the same location. The show only had the location of the "Dive-In" for a limited time, and had to film all other related scenes in the parking lot of the studio in Wilmington, NC. Any scenes that don't show water in the background; and are just palm trees, lighting etc. were actually shot several weeks later in the parking lot, which was recreated to be part of the beach at the "Dive-In". (00:33:30)
Coming Home - S4-E1
Plot hole: This scene reveals that Joey has brought Dawson a special gift from her sailing trip with Pacey. It's a brick from the foundation of Ernest Hemingway's home in the Florida Keys, symbolic to 'build the foundation of a friendship' between her and Dawson. In reality, it's highly unlikely that anyone would have allowed Joey to damage a foundation wall by prying out a large-sized brick; and steal it from the premises of a famous, historic home and landmark. (00:36:15)
Coming Home - S4-E1
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Joey and Pacey have arrived back at Capeside, and are getting things ready to get off the "True Love," in one shot you can see the microphone clipped to the back of Joey's shorts.
Coming Home - S4-E1
Continuity mistake: When Joey and Pacey are talking on the dock just after arriving back in Capeside, Pacey has a bag over his left shoulder. In shots from in front the bag's strap is folded over itself, but in shots from behind it lies flat on his shoulder.
Coming Home - S4-E1
Plot hole: Dawson mentions to everyone on the beach, that he and Jack have to go paint their 'last home of the season', implying they have been earning money by painting homes around Capeside. However, when Dawson and Jack stop by the hardware store to get supplies, Dawson picks out a metal handle for the paint rollers. Paint and new rollers makes sense, but if they have indeed painted other houses that Summer, he probably wouldn't need a more substantial piece of equipment as the heavy duty metal paint roller handle. He would already have one.
Coming Home - S4-E1
Continuity mistake: Just before Jen gets up from the sun lounger, the cord from her sun hat goes instantly from falling off her shoulder to sitting by her neck.
Coming Home - S4-E1
Continuity mistake: When Joey and Pacey are talking on the dock just after arriving back in Capeside, Joey's hair changes instantly from being swept behind her right shoulder and behind her back, to sitting in front of both shoulders.
Coming Home - S4-E1
Plot hole: Dawson and Jen are in a small 'darkroom', developing photos and speaking at a normal level. This darkroom is located just behind the main stairs, and very close to the living room where Dawson's parents are 'getting busy'. Therefore, the parents normally would have heard their voices so close to them, and known they were in the house and not been so surprised by them.
Coming Home - S4-E1
Revealing mistake: In the first scene, Pacey says something like see I think we should probably drop anchor here, have a bite to eat (and other things)... As he's walking around the boat, the camera shifts over and you can see two ropes that indicate the boat is already anchored or docked to something.
Falling Down - S4-E2
Plot hole: When Dawson goes over to Joey's house to talk to her about Pacey's school problems, he mentions that Pacey had missed that entire day of school. Joey apparently didn't know this, as she is surprised at the news. Since Joey and Pacey are closely involved - wouldn't she have noticed his absence at school that day already? Surely she would have noticed Pacey missing for an entire day of school.
Answer: It's only explained once in the series. Jack says to Andie "I tried to start kindergarten without you", meaning Andie was smart enough to start school early.