7:14: Farewell, My Pet
2 Comments Published by Alexandria on Friday, February 16, 2007 at 4:27 p.m..
This week's episode was called "Farewell, My Pet" in reference to the death of one of Michel's dogs.
Show summary: Chin Chin, one of Michel's beloved dogs dies and he wants to host a funeral for his pet at the Dragonfly Inn. Lorelai and Sookie are roped in via guilt to co-ordinate the funeral, complete with flowers, food and programs.
Paris tells Rory that the two of them have "broken" their respective men, that they no longer spook their horses and that Doyle and Logan have changed because of them -- aka they have whipped their men.
Rory meets Tucker Culberston, the new TA filling in for her grandfather's economics class at Yale. She is immediately attracted to him and finds herself flushed and blushing at their first encounter and later at the bookstore. Feeling guilty and confused about the attraction, Rory tells Logan who tells her that being attracted to the opposite sex is normal and that he completely trusts her.
Christopher, who has been staying at his mother's with Gigi since the fight with Lorelai, shows up at the inn to explain to Lorelai that he didn't get her phone messages about Richard because he was still mad from the fight and turned off his cellphone. But that as soon as he heard the messages, he got to the hospital as soon as he could. Lorelai explains that she didn't call Luke nor did she ask him to bring food, he just did because he is her friend. Lorelai tells Christopher that she's too busy to talk at the time and tells him that they'll talk later.
Lorelai has a talk with Sookie about her marriage. She tells Sookie that she wants for her marriage to work and that with all the tension between Christopher and Luke she has pointedly stayed away from Luke. Sookie pointedly asks Lorelai that if there were no Luke, Would Christopher still be the one?
Michel and Lorelai run errands for Chin Chin's funeral. Their first stop is at the music store to find sheet music for Zach to play. Michel tells him that it should be Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," which Zach balks at. While finding the sheet music for it, Lorelai comes across a series of songs with the word "heart" in it and says as a joke "My heart is confused." Michel then tells Lorelai that he wants to stop by Luke's Diner for a burger. He explains that once on a bad day he went to Luke's and bought a burger but by the time he took it home his better senses got to him and he threw the burger out but Chin Chin got into the garbage and ate all of it. So in honour of Chin Chin he will eat an entire burger. While Michel goes into the diner, Lorelai says she will go to the printer's to approve the programs. Outside of Luke's, Lorelai sees Luke at the counter who also notices her outside. She waves at him and he waves back.
At Chin Chin's funeral, hearing Zach play "My Heart Will Go On" Lorelai is looking wistful.
At home, Christopher is waiting for her. They have a talk about the state of their marriage. Christopher tells her that they rushed, that he pushed her and Lorelai says that she jumped. She tells him: You're the man I want to want. The show ends with Christopher holding Lorelai's hand and Lorelai crying.
My commentary: The first half of this show was a major cheese-fest, especially those parts that were directly about Chin Chin but were symbolic of the impending end of Lorelai and Christopher's marriage. Like all those songs about the "heart" and then the choice of "My Heart Will Go On" as a broader, deeper meaning that Lorelai will be okay after she and Christopher break up; her heart will go on ... with Luke. (Insert rolling eyes emoticon here.) And Michel's public and obvious grief for Chin Chin as a symbol of Lorelai's internal grief over the realization that she doesn't really love Christopher.
The story about Michel wanting to go to Luke's to buy a burger in honour of Chin Chin was as contrived as they come and made it clear that the writers don't know Michel's character at all. Michel's character has always been someone who has been conscientious about his weight, someone who watches his carbs and doesn't eat junk food. There is one scene from a previous season where he counts the exact number of blueberries Sookie can put in his pancakes. This is not a man who would ever have bought a burger in the first place, no matter how weak a moment he was having. If he was having a weak moment he would've bought a French pastry or something like that, not a burger. And if he was going to go anywhere, it would never have been Luke's Diner. Michel has always despised Luke. While Luke and Lorelai were together, Michel barely tolerated him. And earlier this season with Luke out of the way, Michel mocked Luke's choice of apparel. The only reason the Michel wants to buy a burger moment existed was so that Lorelai could stop in front of Luke's Diner for the first time this season and saw Luke at the counter and waved at him when he saw her. It was the set up for the eventual Luke and Lorelai reunion, and another reminder to Lorelai of what she could have if only Christopher weren't in her life.
Lorelai and Christopher talk, part 1: So Christopher shows up at the Inn to talk to Lorelai and to explain why he wasn't at the hospital immediately. After Lorelai had spent the entire day of Richard's heart attacking trying to call her MIA husband, when he does show up and wants to talk, she suddenly has no time for him. She tells him that she has a lot of things to do around the Inn. Since when was Inn business more important than saving her marriage? This makes Lorelai come off as a hypocrite. The day of Richard's heart attack she wanted Christopher at her side immediately. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, he should have dropped it all to be with her at the hospital because he was her husband. Well here was her husband standing in front of her and he wanted to talk and instead she wanted to work.
Lorelai and Christopher talk, part 2: The BIG talk. I am actually impressed at how the writers handled this talk. Before this episode, I would've sworn that the writers were going to throw Christopher in front of the bus. They were going to have him throw a major hissy fit at Lorelai and act like an immature prat. But they didn't. Surprisingly. They allowed both Christopher and Lorelai to accept responsibility for their rushed relationship. Christopher said he pushed Lorelai. Lorelai said she jumped. It wasn't all Christopher's fault as some would have you believe. He isn't the devil incarnate afterall who forced Lorelai to have sex with him when she showed up at his place in "Partings," who forced Lorelai to marry him (at gunpoint if you asked some), and basically forced his entire life onto Lorelai's, bad Christmas stockings and flat screen TV and all.
The bittersweet moment came when Lorelai, through tears and with Christopher holding her hand, told him: You're the man I want to want. It was a line designed to make Christopher feel like he wasn't coming second to Luke; that in another universe where "the diner guy" didn't exist, Christopher would be everything she would want in a husband. As nice as the line sounds, it still hurts. It would certainly sting me if I heard that line. You're the girl I want to want ... Okay, so why don't you want me again? But as a BB fan, I'm used to being on the underdog's team, and as such, I'm grateful for the small favour that Christopher was left with some shred of dignity and pride and that he wasn't coming in second to his nemesis.
This is not to say that I am happy about this talk even if I am impressed by how the writers handled it. If I had my way, this talk would've happened but not as the talk leading to the end of their marriage. They would've had this talk to clear the air -- like any two mature adults in a committed marriage -- and they would've used it to learn to communicate better and continue on with their marriage. It would've been a clean slate for them to start fresh.
And what was with Sookie's friendly advice to Lorelai anyway? Maybe on its own her question was valid: Without a Luke would Christopher still be the one? But it seems to me that Sookie's advice was coming from a "Team Luke" fan. She pointed out that Lorelai couldn't avoid Luke forever because they lived in the same town (true enough) but then she also added something about him "being Luke" meaning what? That Lorelai can't exist without Luke because he's Luke? How well does Sookie know Christopher anyways to be making judgement calls about him or his marriage to Lorelai? She has met Christopher a handful of times: At her wedding (during which she was probably too preoccupied anyways) and at the town knit-a-thon. Any other comments she's basing her assessment about Christopher on is based on what Lorelai's told her, which is slanted because Lorelai is confused. And as mentioned at my GG forum, as Lorelai's friend, once Lorelai said that she wanted to fight for her marriage, Sookie's role wasn't to question the strength of the marriage but to support Lorelai's desire to fight for it.
Although I am unhappy with the end of the Lorelai and Christopher marriage before it was given a fair chance, I do think that Lauren Graham and David Sutcliffe did an amazing job in this episode. The last ten minutes of the episode were very intense and both actors played the scene to the hilt with such heart and such genuineness. I hope that they get some recognition for their work in this episode.
I am too spent to comment on the Rory/crush thing other than to say that it was a weak point to try to throw a curve ball in the Rory and Logan relationship.
Show summary: Chin Chin, one of Michel's beloved dogs dies and he wants to host a funeral for his pet at the Dragonfly Inn. Lorelai and Sookie are roped in via guilt to co-ordinate the funeral, complete with flowers, food and programs.
Paris tells Rory that the two of them have "broken" their respective men, that they no longer spook their horses and that Doyle and Logan have changed because of them -- aka they have whipped their men.
Rory meets Tucker Culberston, the new TA filling in for her grandfather's economics class at Yale. She is immediately attracted to him and finds herself flushed and blushing at their first encounter and later at the bookstore. Feeling guilty and confused about the attraction, Rory tells Logan who tells her that being attracted to the opposite sex is normal and that he completely trusts her.
Christopher, who has been staying at his mother's with Gigi since the fight with Lorelai, shows up at the inn to explain to Lorelai that he didn't get her phone messages about Richard because he was still mad from the fight and turned off his cellphone. But that as soon as he heard the messages, he got to the hospital as soon as he could. Lorelai explains that she didn't call Luke nor did she ask him to bring food, he just did because he is her friend. Lorelai tells Christopher that she's too busy to talk at the time and tells him that they'll talk later.
Lorelai has a talk with Sookie about her marriage. She tells Sookie that she wants for her marriage to work and that with all the tension between Christopher and Luke she has pointedly stayed away from Luke. Sookie pointedly asks Lorelai that if there were no Luke, Would Christopher still be the one?
Michel and Lorelai run errands for Chin Chin's funeral. Their first stop is at the music store to find sheet music for Zach to play. Michel tells him that it should be Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," which Zach balks at. While finding the sheet music for it, Lorelai comes across a series of songs with the word "heart" in it and says as a joke "My heart is confused." Michel then tells Lorelai that he wants to stop by Luke's Diner for a burger. He explains that once on a bad day he went to Luke's and bought a burger but by the time he took it home his better senses got to him and he threw the burger out but Chin Chin got into the garbage and ate all of it. So in honour of Chin Chin he will eat an entire burger. While Michel goes into the diner, Lorelai says she will go to the printer's to approve the programs. Outside of Luke's, Lorelai sees Luke at the counter who also notices her outside. She waves at him and he waves back.
At Chin Chin's funeral, hearing Zach play "My Heart Will Go On" Lorelai is looking wistful.
At home, Christopher is waiting for her. They have a talk about the state of their marriage. Christopher tells her that they rushed, that he pushed her and Lorelai says that she jumped. She tells him: You're the man I want to want. The show ends with Christopher holding Lorelai's hand and Lorelai crying.
My commentary: The first half of this show was a major cheese-fest, especially those parts that were directly about Chin Chin but were symbolic of the impending end of Lorelai and Christopher's marriage. Like all those songs about the "heart" and then the choice of "My Heart Will Go On" as a broader, deeper meaning that Lorelai will be okay after she and Christopher break up; her heart will go on ... with Luke. (Insert rolling eyes emoticon here.) And Michel's public and obvious grief for Chin Chin as a symbol of Lorelai's internal grief over the realization that she doesn't really love Christopher.
The story about Michel wanting to go to Luke's to buy a burger in honour of Chin Chin was as contrived as they come and made it clear that the writers don't know Michel's character at all. Michel's character has always been someone who has been conscientious about his weight, someone who watches his carbs and doesn't eat junk food. There is one scene from a previous season where he counts the exact number of blueberries Sookie can put in his pancakes. This is not a man who would ever have bought a burger in the first place, no matter how weak a moment he was having. If he was having a weak moment he would've bought a French pastry or something like that, not a burger. And if he was going to go anywhere, it would never have been Luke's Diner. Michel has always despised Luke. While Luke and Lorelai were together, Michel barely tolerated him. And earlier this season with Luke out of the way, Michel mocked Luke's choice of apparel. The only reason the Michel wants to buy a burger moment existed was so that Lorelai could stop in front of Luke's Diner for the first time this season and saw Luke at the counter and waved at him when he saw her. It was the set up for the eventual Luke and Lorelai reunion, and another reminder to Lorelai of what she could have if only Christopher weren't in her life.
Lorelai and Christopher talk, part 1: So Christopher shows up at the Inn to talk to Lorelai and to explain why he wasn't at the hospital immediately. After Lorelai had spent the entire day of Richard's heart attacking trying to call her MIA husband, when he does show up and wants to talk, she suddenly has no time for him. She tells him that she has a lot of things to do around the Inn. Since when was Inn business more important than saving her marriage? This makes Lorelai come off as a hypocrite. The day of Richard's heart attack she wanted Christopher at her side immediately. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, he should have dropped it all to be with her at the hospital because he was her husband. Well here was her husband standing in front of her and he wanted to talk and instead she wanted to work.
Lorelai and Christopher talk, part 2: The BIG talk. I am actually impressed at how the writers handled this talk. Before this episode, I would've sworn that the writers were going to throw Christopher in front of the bus. They were going to have him throw a major hissy fit at Lorelai and act like an immature prat. But they didn't. Surprisingly. They allowed both Christopher and Lorelai to accept responsibility for their rushed relationship. Christopher said he pushed Lorelai. Lorelai said she jumped. It wasn't all Christopher's fault as some would have you believe. He isn't the devil incarnate afterall who forced Lorelai to have sex with him when she showed up at his place in "Partings," who forced Lorelai to marry him (at gunpoint if you asked some), and basically forced his entire life onto Lorelai's, bad Christmas stockings and flat screen TV and all.
The bittersweet moment came when Lorelai, through tears and with Christopher holding her hand, told him: You're the man I want to want. It was a line designed to make Christopher feel like he wasn't coming second to Luke; that in another universe where "the diner guy" didn't exist, Christopher would be everything she would want in a husband. As nice as the line sounds, it still hurts. It would certainly sting me if I heard that line. You're the girl I want to want ... Okay, so why don't you want me again? But as a BB fan, I'm used to being on the underdog's team, and as such, I'm grateful for the small favour that Christopher was left with some shred of dignity and pride and that he wasn't coming in second to his nemesis.
This is not to say that I am happy about this talk even if I am impressed by how the writers handled it. If I had my way, this talk would've happened but not as the talk leading to the end of their marriage. They would've had this talk to clear the air -- like any two mature adults in a committed marriage -- and they would've used it to learn to communicate better and continue on with their marriage. It would've been a clean slate for them to start fresh.
And what was with Sookie's friendly advice to Lorelai anyway? Maybe on its own her question was valid: Without a Luke would Christopher still be the one? But it seems to me that Sookie's advice was coming from a "Team Luke" fan. She pointed out that Lorelai couldn't avoid Luke forever because they lived in the same town (true enough) but then she also added something about him "being Luke" meaning what? That Lorelai can't exist without Luke because he's Luke? How well does Sookie know Christopher anyways to be making judgement calls about him or his marriage to Lorelai? She has met Christopher a handful of times: At her wedding (during which she was probably too preoccupied anyways) and at the town knit-a-thon. Any other comments she's basing her assessment about Christopher on is based on what Lorelai's told her, which is slanted because Lorelai is confused. And as mentioned at my GG forum, as Lorelai's friend, once Lorelai said that she wanted to fight for her marriage, Sookie's role wasn't to question the strength of the marriage but to support Lorelai's desire to fight for it.
Although I am unhappy with the end of the Lorelai and Christopher marriage before it was given a fair chance, I do think that Lauren Graham and David Sutcliffe did an amazing job in this episode. The last ten minutes of the episode were very intense and both actors played the scene to the hilt with such heart and such genuineness. I hope that they get some recognition for their work in this episode.
I am too spent to comment on the Rory/crush thing other than to say that it was a weak point to try to throw a curve ball in the Rory and Logan relationship.
Labels: Gilmore Girls
The last scene in the episode was very touching, and to be honest, I didn't expect the end of Lorelai/Christopher to be otherwise. Lauren Graham and David Sutcliffe clearly like each other a lot. And throughout the season, it's been written all over their faces that they're happy to be working together--you can feel that there's a real friendship there, something more there than just acting. So I would have been surprised if they hadn't poured a lot of emotion into the end of their on-screen relationship.
That being said, one touching scene does not a believable storyline make! Of course they had to realize that they weren't "meant to be"--given that a Luke and Lorelai reunion was inevitable. But the scene has to be taken in context, and the writers seem to be quite poor at fitting their scenes together to make a believable overall storyline. They're married, not just dating! Who ends a marriage because their husband just isn't "the one"? And furthermore, how did we get from the mature couple in the Great Stink, to an insanely jealous Christopher and a secret-keeping Lorelai?
I'm a BB fan too and I still think this whole storyline was handled badly. Effective individual scenes just don't add up to a credible storyline. No matter how eloquent their breakup, it just wasn't justified in my mind.
Hi,
Thanks for posting a reply to my commentary on the last episode of GG. I think you make a good point about the friendship between Lauren Graham and David Sutcliffe and how they poured their heart and soul into that last scene. Regarding individual scenes not making an entire, believable storyline -- I totally agree -- and I think that on top of that, the writers are fortunate to have the two actors they did handling that scene. I think it could have been less than what it was had it been handled by other actors.
I am disappointed about how this storyline was handled, too. Had they needed Christopher to be an obstacle in the Luke and Lorelai relationship, I think that would have been fine. But to allow Christopher and Lorelai to get married treats marriage flippantly, and doesn't instill much faith in me that if Luke and Lorelai were to get married she would take it any more seriously. The storyline could have played out without much change if Lorelai and Christopher had just dated or, if they felt that they needed to up the ante, they could have had the two of them engaged. Breaking off an engagement is one thing, but breaking off a marriage is something else altogether.
Whomever you are, I hope you'll come back and share more of your thoughts as the season unfolds. It will be interesting to see how the writers handle the rest of this season and the inevitable Luke and Lorelai storyline. I hope it isn't contrived and rushed.
Alexandria