Katie Holmes answers the million-dollar question about whether Dawson or Pacey was the better kisser

By Jen haupt

February 18, 2016

By Jen haupt

February 18, 2016

For those of us who spent our Wednesday nights in the late ’90s glued to The WB (or, if we had to work, made sure our VHS tapes were set up to record at 9/8 p.m. central), we all had a side chosen when it came to Dawson’s Creek. It was the question of a generation: Were you a Joey/Dawson fan? Or was your ship sailing firmly with the Joey/Pacey crowd?

But the real question on all our minds almost 20 years later is, if we’re being honest, who was the better kisser? And bless the heart of James Corden, because he’s just like us. In fact, he wants to know so much he actually asked IRL Joey Potter, Katie Holmes, who had more skills.

“It’s so awkward because with a first kiss in real life, if it doesn’t go well you’re kinda like, ‘Oh, I gotta get home,’ and never have to deal with that person,” Holmes said candidly last night on The Late Late Show with James Corden after revealing that her first onscreen kiss was actually on Dawson’s Creek—with guest star Ian Bowen as rich boy Anderson Crawford in season 1, which some of us are such Creek nerds we know without having to Google. “But on screen, you’re gonna have to have lunch, and probably have to work together tomorrow.”

But then Corden stops beating around the bush and asks the real question about whether Pacey or Dawson was the overall one to beat in the lip department.

“Who do you think!?” she asks between laughs, to which Corden replies, “I think Der Beek, ’cause I would get straight up in his grill.”

But luckily, Ryan Reynolds—who went to high school in Vancouver with Pacey himself, Joshua Jackson—is there to serve the make-out creds his former classmate.

“I went to high school with Josh, and I can tell you right now, he’s a terrific kisser,” Reynolds jokes.

“Well if he says so, I mean…you know,” Holmes responds, gesturing toward Reynolds and making all of us Pacey/Joey shippers squeal with delight and prompting Corden to say, “It’s affirmative: Pacey’s better than Dawson, I can’t believe it!”

It’s not a surprise, considering Holmes and Jackson dated for a while during the filming of the earlier seasons of the show. Personally, I’m glad Holmes is on the Pacey side of the tracks since most of my DC-loving friends and I were firmly Team Pacey, but I totally get where Corden is coming from, too: There was something about the sparks between Joey and Dawson in seasons 1 and 2 that were undeniable. Even the most dedicated P/J fans can admit that.