I Heart Pacey 4-eva!

Okay, look at that picture. How could anyone have ever preferred Dawson to Pacey?? The only thing missing from that photo is my kitchen in the background.

But, there was a time not so long ago when I feared that Pacey--okay, okay, Joshua Jackson--was spiraling towards being known only as Diane Krueger's arm candy. Following his stellar turn as the well-meaning screw-up bad boy with a heart of gold who gets the girl in the end in Dawson's Creek, Josh took a few weirdo supporting roles (who can forget the weird blonde dye job he sported as the gay friend in Cruel Intentions for 3 seconds?) and seemed to disappear.

But never fear, Pacey Girls, he's back cashing checks! First, it was in the film Shutter, a remake of a Thai horror film. Yes, it was predictable, but yes, Joshua Jackson was as good as he could possibly be, considering what he was given to work with.

And now, he's playing the chameleon son of a brilliant but crazy scientist on the new Fox show Fringe. If you loved Pacey, you'll love Peter Bishop, his new character. He's the same sarcastic and charming con artist he played on the Creek, but now he's sort of grown into the kind of very adult observations he was credited with as Pacey. And he's still got his charming, disarming smile.

Fringe itself is actually a really good show--or at least, the first two episodes have been good. It focuses on shady government dealings (the FBI, CIA and a mysterious company called Massive Dynamic--what do we do? what don't we do!) and the field of fringe science. Fringe science is basically the attempt to extend some kind of scientific mastery over occult practices, such as mind reading and teleportation--crazy psychic stuff. It focuses on an FBI agent, Olivia, who is forced to work with an institutionalized scientist, Dr. Bishop, in order to save her lover, who bites it in the first episode, drawing her into the mysterious pattern being investigated by the CIA, FBI and Massive Dynamic. Or is it? Jackson plays Peter Bishop, Dr. Bishop's son who is extraordinarily intelligent and has managed to con his way through life. Peter is angry with his father for losing his mind and being institutionalized, and thus abandoning him, when he was a young boy, but, as his only living relative, he must be present as Dr. Bishop's guardian if Olivia is to keep working with him.

The show has pretty much everything you could possibly want--weird science, a crazy scientist, a reluctant heroine, a cow, and lots of sexual tension between Olivia and Peter. And best of all, it has Joshua Jackson's smile. Swoon!