Factual error: In the second segment of this episode, there is a scene where Joey bumps into Dawson on a street corner after she has just left the library. As they are talking, there suddenly appears in front of them a large square stone monument which describes the 'North Carolina' battleship. The 'North Carolina' is a large battleship that is permanently stationed at the pier in Wilmington, NC where the show is really filmed. They had to shoot around this large ship constantly, being careful not to let it show as they are supposed to be in Capeside, MA. However in this scene, they accidentally filmed right in front of the large square monument which shows several lines of writing. On screen you can read: "On the west side of the river a little south of the causeway was Beery's Shipyard, where the Confederate ironclad North Carolina." This is apparently in reference to the battle ship 'North Carolina' which is stationed nearby in their location of Wilmington, NC not MA. Oops. (00:16:25)
Continuity mistake: When Andie is doing sit-ups in the morning and practicing for the PSAT, she is listening to the news on TV. The news anchor mentions the author of the popular book "Cracking the PSAT". She says 'PSAT' not 'SAT'. But Andie immediately says something like "Way ahead of you", and holds up her copy of the book. On the cover, it says "Cracking the SAT", not 'PSAT'.
Revealing mistake: When Joey and Pacey are talking in the car as Pacey drives them to the Train Station, you can see at least 3 lanes full of cars and a great deal of traffic behind them. But when Pacey suddenly turns right, off the main road and into the entrance to the Train Station; you can see that suddenly the main road he has just turned off of is almost completely empty of any traffic in either direction, except a truck that drives by at the last minute. It also appears to be a smaller road. Apparently the scenes with their dialogue in the car were shot with background video that wasn't the actual location.
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)
A Weekend in the Country - S3-E12
Plot hole: The morning after everyone stayed at the Potter B&B, there is a fun kitchen scene showing all the kids dancing together preparing breakfast. Andie seems to be making pancakes. Yet later at breakfast, Joey finds out that Bodie has come back and is the reason the pancakes taste so good. Apparently he was the chef that morning, but he is nowhere in sight during the breakfast-making scene. So if all the kids are cooking - where is Bodie? Wasn't he supposed to make the pancakes?
Suggested correction: Bodie didn't make the pancakes (at least not all of them) it was his recipe.
Plot hole: When Dawson and Eve are in the PSAT room After Hours, looking for the test, a security guard suddenly comes in. They both have time to duck under a desk and avoid being seen, but as soon as the guard passes them, they start talking in rather loud whispers. The guard is still very close to them, as he quickly returns to walk past them going the other way. It seems reckless for them to be talking like that with the security guard so close at hand who would normally hear them, and so soon after he walks by them.
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: When Dawson suddenly shows up at Joey's workplace, Joey is inside asleep at the desk and Pacey is awake sitting outside. As Pacey and Dawson start fighting verbally, their voices escalate loudly but Joey still doesn't wake up even though she's sitting right inside. It isn't until they start throwing punches at each other and fighting physically that Joey suddenly comes running out to see what is going on. It doesn't seem realistic that Joey would be able to sleep through their loud arguing, and not wake up until they are hitting each other. If she had woken up before that, she would have definitely come outside to see what Dawson and Pacey were up to.
First Encounters of the Close Kind - S3-E10
Plot hole: Joey tells AJ that her Mother used to read "Little Women" to her, and in fact named her 'Josephine' because "Little Women" was her favorite book. But in a previous episode when Joey and Dawson visit her Mother's grave, the gravestone has printed 'Lillian Josephine Potter', meaning her Mother already had Josephine as her middle name. So naming Joey 'Josephine' wasn't only because of the book "Little Women"; her Mother more likely named her that because it was her middle name.
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: Not only are the Northern Lights the wrong color, they also move far, far too fast. They look like they've been sped up. Northern Lights move slowly.
Continuity mistake: At the end of the episode, Joey and Pacey are repainting over the ruined mural with light blue paint. Joey starts to paint a small section of the wall with her roller. Dawson then comes out of a room, and glances down the hallway to see them both painting. But Joey's patch of light blue paint at this point is suddenly much larger. It doesn't seem realistic that Joey would have been able to paint that much more of the wall, in the short amount of time elapsed.
Plot hole: At the beginning of the episode, when Joey and Pacey are kissing in the boathouse on the dock; he lifts her up and puts her on a counter right in front of a window. This window appears to look directly out over the nearby boats and dock, meaning they would have been in full view of all their friends waiting to christen Pacey's boat. Not very logical to be kissing on the sly, right in front of a window where everyone could see them.
Continuity mistake: This episode shows a full day's events repeatedly in 4 separate segments, and it appears they reused the same scenes and dialogues. But there are noticable differences between Act 3 and Act 4. At the end of Act 3, when Dawson confronts Joey and Pacey about their relationship; he says to William and Andie, "Better yet, ask Joey. Ask her how long [she's] been lying to me and to you." During this same scene in Act 4, Dawsons varies it slightly: "Better yet, Ask Joey. Ask her how long [the two of them] have been lying to you and to me." He also switches 'you and me' interchangeably. Act 3, Dawson further says, "Go ahead ask them, because I can't [stand to look at them]." But in Act 4, he changes it to "Go ahead ask them, because I can't [even stand to look at them anymore]." The way these two scenes were shot varies also. During Act 3, when Dawson is finished talking he storms back into his house, and makes it inside the inner front door alone. But in Act 4, Dawson starts running back into his house with Joey following close behind him, so that she is in the frame when he reaches the inner front door.
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)
Continuity mistake: When Aunt Gwen is talking to Dawson and Joey in the store, just after she says, "General all around cuddliness between the two of you"; Joey is facing her and Dawson is turned the other way, with his back to her. But the next shot of Dawson is a close-up, and he is suddenly facing Aunt Gwen as he says, "OK, I'll tell you the long soap opera short". The transition was too fast to be realistic, or to have given Dawson enough time to turn completely around to face Aunt Gwen.
Escape from Witch Island - S3-E7
Plot hole: When Dawson, Joey, Jen and Pacey are stuck on Witch Island after dark-they are suddenly shown using strong flashlights to see their way. But they had never originally intended to be on Witch Island after dark, which was made clear when someone suggested leaving because 'it was starting to get dark'. They were only carrying light daypacks for their day trip, and Pacey even joked about how no-one had bothered packing any snacks. Therefore since no-one intended to be on the Island after dark, and they packed very light day packs without even food, why would they suddenly be carrying large flashlights? It's unlikely they would have bought them at the Witch Island Gift Store, as it wasn't shown and no-one seemed to pay for anything from there.
A Weekend in the Country - S3-E12
Audio problem: During the scene where the group (including Mr Fricke) are all having breakfast together, Pacey says 'this is for you, Mr Fricke' and hands the B&B critic a plate. A few moments later, when Joey is in the kitchen area talking to Bessie (away from the group in the dining area), the exact same dialogue can be heard from Pacey as background noise to Joey and Bessie's conversation. The laughter and general chatter is also the same, showing that the entire audio was lifted from the breakfast table scene and placed over the kitchen conversation scene.
Continuity mistake: When Andie and Jack are discussing Ethan's visit while sitting outside eating breakfast, Andie pours milk over her cereal, puts down the milk, takes her spoon in her right hand, then into her left hand. The immediate next camera angle shows Andie holding the milk again, closing it and putting it down, again. (00:06:22)
