Dawson Leery Uses Criminal Minds to Become James Van Der Beek

Originally Published February 6, 2007

I have a confession to make. I am often late to work because I need to watch the first few moments each morning of Dawson's Creek

on TBS.

I have also never watched Criminal Minds. But when I heard that James Van Der Beek would be guest starring as a serial killer, I had to watch. I sat down on my couch with my sister (an avid Criminal Minds viewer) and I smugly said to her, "I don't care if he's a serial killer. He'll always be Dawson Leery."

Boy was I wrong.

Ten minutes into the episode I realized I was screaming because Van Der Beek was literally scaring the sh*t out of me. I should have had more faith.

Here's the thing. James Van Der Beek became known for his role as Dawson Leery, the overly sophisticated, hopeless romantic on Dawson's Creek. In 1999 he played a football player in the movie Varsity Blues. Sure he wasn't his sweet self in the movie, but the role wasn't too much of a departure from his Dawson's character. In 2002 he played Sean Bateman in Rules of Attraction. Granted he was creepy there, but he was still a student, and as good of an acting job as he did, he was still Dawson Leery to me.

Then came Sunday night's Criminal Minds. That's when Dawson Leery transformed before my eyes into the actor James Van Der Beek. He was incredible playing Raphael and Tobias, a serial killer who uses religion to justify his killings. (Or at least that's what I think. I'll find out more during part two on Wednesday.) And yes, he plays Raphael and Tobias, because Van Der Beek is such a freaking good actor that he's able to play two roles in one show. That's what's even cooler. From the beginning of the episode you're pretty sure that Raphael and Tobias are one person. Yet the voices are so dissimilar that you can't convince yourself they're both coming from the same actor's mouth, until we actually see Van Der Beek voicing both parts. He's that good.