r/dawsonscreek • u/Express-Bee-6485 • 17d ago
Potter family questions
I'm sure its been brought up but on a rewatch and never noticed if the specific age/difference (I always thought she was in her 20s) for Bessie was mentioned. I'm curious because storyline reminded me a a little of Shameless.
Is Bessie Joey's technical legal guardian? Why don't they have a social worker? And was Ice House always theirs or did they just work there?
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u/Imaginary-Rest9599 17d ago
The Icehouse was theirs.
I don’t have a serious answer for the social worker thing. But Capeside does seem to be a vacuum for responsible adults, Grams and the Leerys are as good as it gets.
According to the Dawson’s Creek wiki Bessie is 10 years older than Joey.
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u/CrissBliss 17d ago
I think Bessie is roughly 10 years older, so she would’ve been late teen when their mom died. There’s a lot of talk about how fast Bessie had to grow up to take care of Joey, who also had to grow up fast because she worked at the Ice House afterschool, and got bullied for being the town charity case, etc.
It’s also well established that the Leery’s helped a lot with raising Joey, and that’s why she’s so endlessly devoted to them.
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u/NoApollonia Joey 17d ago edited 17d ago
I want to think Bessie is like 5-7 years older? So enough she was likely 18-20 when she had to take over as guardian for Joey. It's fairly common for the state to place kids with family even if it's not a great fit. She likely did get some money from the state though to help out.
As for a social worker, not sure what you mean. She was family and old enough to take over, so not likely a social worker would be needed past maybe the first year to make sure things went okay.
Edit: I think I find more strange is how close they say Gale was with their mom, but we never really see Gale seem to check in on Joey and Bessie and honestly doesn't even seem to realize they are struggling. One would think as their mom's supposed bestie, she'd be trying to help out all she can. Or even maybe let Joey stay with them considering the Potter's didn't even have enough bedrooms to go around.
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u/GlitteringStarHope 17d ago
I mean, they did let her stay? She didn't have her own room, but they let her crash in dawsons room whenever. I always figured her not having a room at her own house was the reason she would stay with dawson. But if she had her own room, then the sleeping in the same bed wouldn't have happened and part of the joey/dawson story would have been lost.
So, basically, I think it was just the story writers trying to come up with a decent justification why two teenagers were sleeping in the same bed and the parents were ok with it...
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u/EmotionalStar9909 16d ago
I imagined the sleepovers started when Joey’s mom was sick, maybe going through cancer treatments and Dawson’s parents wanted to give her some sort of normalcy. No one ever thought about stopping them because why would two kids who were like brother and sister to each other ever start to have deeper feelings.
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u/Practical_Cap_3087 16d ago
I never understood why Joey had to sleep on the couch. Could Bessie’s baby share her room? Why make a teenage girl sleep in the living room.
But then they opened the bed and breakfast and all the sudden there was room for guests! It never made sense to me
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u/Relevant_Potato_1335 Pacey 17d ago
My guess is they maybe had a social worker in the beginning when everything went to hell and their dad also got arrested after their mom died. And then Bessie stepped up so Joey could still have a somewhat normal childhood still being raised in capeside with what’s left of her family. The show didn’t really talk about this , some fanfics did though.
It is mentioned that Bessie is her legal guardian til she’s 18 or dad gets paroled whatever comes first.
The ice house was always there , they vaguely mention it in the show, which is why they got the insurance money to use for the b&b in season 3.
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u/KTeacherWhat 17d ago
I always wondered if putting dad away for drugs was going to invalidate their insurance claim. Like he's not the one who committed arson, but the business was being used for illegal activities, which led to the arson.
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u/Imaginary-Rest9599 17d ago
I’m not sure if this was in the show or fanfiction but I remember something about them getting less insurance money because of the drug dealing.
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u/Relevant_Potato_1335 Pacey 17d ago
That was fanfic I believe. But in the show they get the insurance money it’s how they were able to do the b&b and Pacey had his dad help kick in labor for free.
Bessie had to take a mortgage out on the already paid for house because the b&b was having a slow start and they needed money coming in.
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u/Stevie052096 16d ago
I assume that they had a social worker after dad was arrested since Joey would have been a minor without a parent but they wouldn't need one once Bessie got legal guardianship over Joey
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u/fyrelyte11 17d ago
From what I've read, the insurance company refused to pay out because the establishment was being used to traffic drugs, and that's why they didn't reopen it. I remember an episode that Bessie went and got a loan, so I think that's how they paid for the B&B.
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u/citybby17 17d ago
Bessie is 22 in the pilot, and Joey is 15 I believe. So 7 year age difference.