Remember the kid who had film posters arranged on his wall in order of box office gross? The kid who believed that the answers to all life’s questions could be found in a Spielberg film and that it was possible to find From Here To Eternity kind of love. That 15 year old hopeless romantic who shot horror movies on his camcorder and said that “edge is fleeting, heart lasts forever”. Well he’s officially dead.

The boy I’m talking about is Dawson Leery, the title character of Dawson’s Creek,who was played by James Van Der Beek until the show’s final episode in May 2003.

Now, Mr. Van Der Beek is back on TV (on the modern equivalent of his old network for that matter, and opposite his former “Creek” co-star Chad Michael Murray) and playing Dixon, another filmmaker. Only this time he’s a coke head. He’s a megalomaniacal self-indulgent sell-out who re-appeared in tonight’s episode of One Tree Hill to manipulate his way into the coveted director’s chair for Lucas’ movie.

Forget the “heart” that Dawson believed would last forever, this new incarnation is nothing but soulless edge.