Last night was finally a new episode of Gilmore Girls, after a five week hiatus, during which time there were re-runs being aired in the U.S. on the CW Network, but here in Canada, Global was running other shows. Bah humbug to this! Last night's episode was entitled "Hay Bale Maze," a nod to the maze of hay bales that Taylor builds in lieu of the town's annual Spring Fling. The maze takes up the entire town, blocking Luke's Diner, and even the town gazebo is removed.
I will go straight to my commentary on this one since not much happened in the show plot wise.
I don’t know what to make of this episode exactly.
On the one hand I liked that the townies were back in full swing. Miss Patty with her little dancers dressed up as bulbs to perform the dance of the daffodils was cute, Babbette and Morrie’s salty nuts stand, Gypsy wanting to know when she would have a booth so that she could start squeezing her lemons, Taylor having spent all of the budget on the maze and then later complaining about hay fever season, Kirk dressed up as whatever creature then walking on stilts to man the maze, Michele and Sookie fighting over where to place the programme for Spring Fling, the troubador being back, plus Paris and Doyle’s argument about whether or not he was lactose intolerant and the reasons why Paris has 6 types of milk in the fridge, etc., there was a lot going on with the townies, which I always like.
We also learn the name of Zach and Lane’s twins in this episode, but in a very offhand, casual manner. There was no mention of how the names (Steve and Juan — or maybe it was Kwon, which is a more Korean name and would make sense) came to be. I am also disappointed in the names. I expected more of rebel Lane and her laxadaisical husband to choose more offbeat or musically inclined names for their kids. Or to take a page out of Sookie and Jackson’s book and decide to give their second child (who was supposed to be their last), all of the names they liked so that she has like 10 names that belong to both boys and girls. I have a friend who comes from a very conservative Chinese family. But even still her older sister just named her first daughter (and the family’s first grandchild/niece) Bowie, for David Bowie, because she and her husband are that big of fans. I expected something like that from Lane, to name at least one of her sons after a member of The Ramones. Not something run of the mill like Steve.
But on the other hand there was something not right with the “rhythm” of the show. It made me think of when I first started learning to drive a standard vehicle — lots of jerky movements, lots of stop and go that didn’t lead to anywhere particularly.
This was especially true of the relationship between Lorelai and Rory, which has always been the focal point of the show. Last night it felt off. I can’t pinpoint if it was just that it had been about 5 weeks since the last episode or if it was the bad writing, though. Like when Lorelai told Sookie that she didn’t feel like it was her place anymore to intervene in Rory’s relationship with Logan. Maybe this would be true in another show that a mother wouldn’t intervene or offer up her opinon about her grown up daughter’s relationship, but certainly not on GG. The crux of this show has always been that Lorelai and Rory tell each other everything and are first best friends then mother/daughter. Lorelai even says this in an episode to her mom when she wonders why they can’t have the same kind of relationship. Then the awkwardness of Lorelai coming home to find Logan cooking in her kitchen — it looked and felt like Lorelai was a stranger in her own home. Not to mention when Lorelai made separate beds for them in her room — this from the mom who knows that Rory had sex for the first time with Dean in that bed and who surely isn’t stupid enough to think that while at Yale the most Logan and Rory do is “make out.”
Then there is the Lorelai/Luke relationship. So we see the awkwardness of Luke and Lorelai when they run into each other at the town meeting. Okay, so clearly the writers are committed to continuing to slowly get the couple back together. Fair enough. But then fast forward to their run in in the maze and from that awkward moment at the town meeting to a few days later Lorelai’s suddenly apologizing in five words or less for sleeping with Christopher? It seems to be a bit of a leap for me.
Where I found the Palladinos writing to be subtle, I find the writers this season do one of two things: They either hit you over the head of the obviousness of things or they put something in that apparently should be obvious but isn’t. The maze thing to me was the former. It was clear that the maze wasn’t just some fun Stars Hollow thing, but that it was supposed to symbolize the maze of feelings and obstacles Luke and Lorelai went through from the beginning of their relationship and at the end when Lorelai apologizes and then Luke gives her directions out of the maze, that the “maze” of their love was over and that they could finally walk a straight line together.
And on another level, the maze symbolized Logan coming out from his family’s thumb and finding hiw own way, and making his own path.
After last night’s episode, I hope that this will be the last season. Especially with this lot of writers. More episodes like this and I will stop watching my beloved show, which is now a ghost of its former self. (This is something I never thought I’d say! But the hiatus really hurt it and then the bad writing didn’t make things better or remind me anymore why I like the show so much.)
Labels: Gilmore Girls
7:17 - Gilmore Girls Only
0 Comments Published by Alexandria on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 6:10 p.m..
So I am know that I am very late with this update and commentary from last Tuesday’s episode, entitled “Gilmore Girls Only.”
Show summary: Lorelai, Rory and Emily go on a road trip for Mia’s wedding. Emily intends to go with them but to head to the spa while Lorelai and Rory are at the wedding, but upon hearing that Emily is with them, Mia invites Emily to the wedding, too, which is at her home.
During the roadtrip, Emily becomes increasingly annoyed at hearing about the good times Lorelai and Rory had with Mia. At the wedding Emily is rude to the guests and Mia can sense Emily’s animosity to her.
Logan, having returned from his Vegas trip with Finn and Colin, is avoiding the office. Mitchum shows up at Logan’s apartment where he demands that Logan meet up with the legal department to sort out the business with the failed internet venture. Frustrated with Logan’s child-like behaviour, Rory decides to go to Mia’s wedding with her mom. At the wedding, Logan shows up but Rory refuses to talk with him. At the end, she goes outside to see him, where he has been waiting the entire time. He tells her that he’s quit his family business.
With Lane about to give birth any day, Zach becomes increasingly nervous about fatherhood and turns to Luke for advice, but Luke doesn’t want to be a father-figure to Zach. Ultimately Luke tells Zach that he’ll figure out fatherhood just as Luke did not so long ago.
Lane and Zach invite Luke over for dinner where they ask him to be the godfather to their twin sons.
At the end of the show Rory gets a phone call from Zach that Lane has had her sons.
Emily admits a fondness for Will Smith.
My commentary: When were Lane, Zach and Luke so close that they would ask him to be the godfather to their first born sons? Wouldn’t Gil or Brian have made a more logical choice? At least Gil since he’s a dad—and a dad for a lot longer than Luke.
Emily was obviously uncomfortable with all the mentions of Mia, yet why did she go on the roadtrip then? She knew that the point of the roadtrip was to go to Mia’s wedding, so naturally Lorelai and Rory would talk about her or at least have some comments referring to Mia. And then later, when Mia invites Emily to the wedding, Rory accepts on her grandmother’s behalf. Wasn’t Rory the very one who told her mom to “dial back the Mia talk” to be more sensitive to her grandmother? And here she is being rather presumptuous by accepting an invite to Mia’s wedding on her grandmother’s behalf. Firstly, she knew that her grandmother had those spa treatments planned and secondly, she knew that her grandmother wasn’t thrilled with all the Mia talk so why would she want to be in the same room as Mia, celebrating the happiest day of her life?
Despite Emily’s rude behaviour at the wedding (eg. checking her watch, asking a guest for a glass of water), Mia’s doesn’t let any of it bother her and instead sees through to the reasons for Emily’s behaviour (her insecurities about being a mom and having missed out on being a part of so much of Lorelai and Rory’s life). Instead, Mia says to Emily that moms don’t want to think that their kids don’t need them anymore. Even if Lorelai was an embarassment to her mom because she was 16 and pregnant, Emily still wanted to be part of her daughter’s life.
Emily, for all of her steeliness and disapproval, is at heart very proud of what her daughter and granddaughter have achieved. She lists to Mia all of Rory’s accomplishments at Chilton and at Yale, as if to say that while Mia may be able to list Lorelai’s accomplishments during those years where she was a parental figure to Lorelai, in the interim years, Emily can list all of Rory’s accomplishments back to Mia, which Mia was not a part of.
At the end of the episode, Lorelai acknowledges to Emily that it must have been hard for Emily to have “lost” her all those years, but that she wasn’t really lost. I think that this was a big moment for mother and daughter, but as Emily and Lorelai’s strained relationship has shown over the years, one step forward inevitably means two steps back soon enough.
Logan deciding to quit his family business and walking out on Mitchum in a way is a parallel to Lorelai walking out on her family at 16. Like Logan, Lorelai was expected to carry on the Gilmore name in all of its lustre. Yet she became pregnant, didn’t go to an ivy league school and then abruptly left the Gilmore home with an infant Rory. In much the same manner that no one walks out on Mitchum, no one walks out on Emily either.
Some funny moments:
When Richard enters his office in a track suit while Lorelai is helping Emily sort out some tax stuff, she asks him: “Are you having lunch with Tony Soprano?”
When Emily uses the childlock on Lorelai for rolling the windows up and down and up and down again.
When Mia finds out that Emily is with them, Lorelai says: “We picked her up on the side of the road hitchhiking her way to a rock concert.”
Good old Luke was evident as can be when he said to Zach: “I don’t like to talk this early in the morning” when Zach showed up before his shift to help Luke set up the diner. Then Zach kept yammering on about music and Luke let out a big sigh.
“No salt but some Splenda” — okay, I can’t remember who said this at Mia’s house, but it was funny!
“The sooner we’re married, the sooner we eat cake.” —Howard to Mia
“My mother doesn’t play well with others.” —Lorelai to Mia about her mom’s rude behaviour during the wedding
My sole BB gripe about this episode: At the beginning of the episode, when Rory is trying on interview clothes and Lorelai brings up the trip, Rory asks her mother why she planned the trip in the first place. Lorelai says that she originally planned the trip as a getaway for her and Christopher (here is where Lorelai trails off) but since the marriage is over she doesn’t want to go alone so she wants Rory to go with her. Here comes the venting part: I just don’t get why they needed to bring Christopher up at all. It seems clear to me that the writers are throwing in these references so that it’s clear to the viewers that out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind in regards to the Christopher and Lorelai marriage. But to me it seems like throwing salt in the wounds and won’t make the inevitable Java Junkie reunion less of a jolt (which will take place April 17 apparently). Lorelai seems pretty free and clear of Christopher and the actual signing of the divorce papers is only a formality now, so why this reference to him or last week’s reference to him by Miss Patty?
Show summary: Lorelai, Rory and Emily go on a road trip for Mia’s wedding. Emily intends to go with them but to head to the spa while Lorelai and Rory are at the wedding, but upon hearing that Emily is with them, Mia invites Emily to the wedding, too, which is at her home.
During the roadtrip, Emily becomes increasingly annoyed at hearing about the good times Lorelai and Rory had with Mia. At the wedding Emily is rude to the guests and Mia can sense Emily’s animosity to her.
Logan, having returned from his Vegas trip with Finn and Colin, is avoiding the office. Mitchum shows up at Logan’s apartment where he demands that Logan meet up with the legal department to sort out the business with the failed internet venture. Frustrated with Logan’s child-like behaviour, Rory decides to go to Mia’s wedding with her mom. At the wedding, Logan shows up but Rory refuses to talk with him. At the end, she goes outside to see him, where he has been waiting the entire time. He tells her that he’s quit his family business.
With Lane about to give birth any day, Zach becomes increasingly nervous about fatherhood and turns to Luke for advice, but Luke doesn’t want to be a father-figure to Zach. Ultimately Luke tells Zach that he’ll figure out fatherhood just as Luke did not so long ago.
Lane and Zach invite Luke over for dinner where they ask him to be the godfather to their twin sons.
At the end of the show Rory gets a phone call from Zach that Lane has had her sons.
Emily admits a fondness for Will Smith.
My commentary: When were Lane, Zach and Luke so close that they would ask him to be the godfather to their first born sons? Wouldn’t Gil or Brian have made a more logical choice? At least Gil since he’s a dad—and a dad for a lot longer than Luke.
Emily was obviously uncomfortable with all the mentions of Mia, yet why did she go on the roadtrip then? She knew that the point of the roadtrip was to go to Mia’s wedding, so naturally Lorelai and Rory would talk about her or at least have some comments referring to Mia. And then later, when Mia invites Emily to the wedding, Rory accepts on her grandmother’s behalf. Wasn’t Rory the very one who told her mom to “dial back the Mia talk” to be more sensitive to her grandmother? And here she is being rather presumptuous by accepting an invite to Mia’s wedding on her grandmother’s behalf. Firstly, she knew that her grandmother had those spa treatments planned and secondly, she knew that her grandmother wasn’t thrilled with all the Mia talk so why would she want to be in the same room as Mia, celebrating the happiest day of her life?
Despite Emily’s rude behaviour at the wedding (eg. checking her watch, asking a guest for a glass of water), Mia’s doesn’t let any of it bother her and instead sees through to the reasons for Emily’s behaviour (her insecurities about being a mom and having missed out on being a part of so much of Lorelai and Rory’s life). Instead, Mia says to Emily that moms don’t want to think that their kids don’t need them anymore. Even if Lorelai was an embarassment to her mom because she was 16 and pregnant, Emily still wanted to be part of her daughter’s life.
Emily, for all of her steeliness and disapproval, is at heart very proud of what her daughter and granddaughter have achieved. She lists to Mia all of Rory’s accomplishments at Chilton and at Yale, as if to say that while Mia may be able to list Lorelai’s accomplishments during those years where she was a parental figure to Lorelai, in the interim years, Emily can list all of Rory’s accomplishments back to Mia, which Mia was not a part of.
At the end of the episode, Lorelai acknowledges to Emily that it must have been hard for Emily to have “lost” her all those years, but that she wasn’t really lost. I think that this was a big moment for mother and daughter, but as Emily and Lorelai’s strained relationship has shown over the years, one step forward inevitably means two steps back soon enough.
Logan deciding to quit his family business and walking out on Mitchum in a way is a parallel to Lorelai walking out on her family at 16. Like Logan, Lorelai was expected to carry on the Gilmore name in all of its lustre. Yet she became pregnant, didn’t go to an ivy league school and then abruptly left the Gilmore home with an infant Rory. In much the same manner that no one walks out on Mitchum, no one walks out on Emily either.
Some funny moments:
When Richard enters his office in a track suit while Lorelai is helping Emily sort out some tax stuff, she asks him: “Are you having lunch with Tony Soprano?”
When Emily uses the childlock on Lorelai for rolling the windows up and down and up and down again.
When Mia finds out that Emily is with them, Lorelai says: “We picked her up on the side of the road hitchhiking her way to a rock concert.”
Good old Luke was evident as can be when he said to Zach: “I don’t like to talk this early in the morning” when Zach showed up before his shift to help Luke set up the diner. Then Zach kept yammering on about music and Luke let out a big sigh.
“No salt but some Splenda” — okay, I can’t remember who said this at Mia’s house, but it was funny!
“The sooner we’re married, the sooner we eat cake.” —Howard to Mia
“My mother doesn’t play well with others.” —Lorelai to Mia about her mom’s rude behaviour during the wedding
My sole BB gripe about this episode: At the beginning of the episode, when Rory is trying on interview clothes and Lorelai brings up the trip, Rory asks her mother why she planned the trip in the first place. Lorelai says that she originally planned the trip as a getaway for her and Christopher (here is where Lorelai trails off) but since the marriage is over she doesn’t want to go alone so she wants Rory to go with her. Here comes the venting part: I just don’t get why they needed to bring Christopher up at all. It seems clear to me that the writers are throwing in these references so that it’s clear to the viewers that out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind in regards to the Christopher and Lorelai marriage. But to me it seems like throwing salt in the wounds and won’t make the inevitable Java Junkie reunion less of a jolt (which will take place April 17 apparently). Lorelai seems pretty free and clear of Christopher and the actual signing of the divorce papers is only a formality now, so why this reference to him or last week’s reference to him by Miss Patty?
Labels: Gilmore Girls
7:16 - Will You By Lorelai Gilmore?
0 Comments Published by Alexandria on Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 7:43 p.m..
This week’s episode was entitled “Will You Be My Lorelai Gilmore?,” a question Lane poses to Rory, to be an adult that her twins can go to when they need an escape, as Lorelai was to Lane while she was growing up.
Show summary: Lorelai and Rory are in charge of throwing a baby shower for Lane. Lane and her mom however have had a fight about how various things, such as what her kids — twin boys apparently — will and will not eat (like fried shrimp) and whether they will attend church and Sunday school regularly. Lorelai acts as an intermediary, negotiating the conditions of Lane and Zach’s sons’ upbringing between mother and daughter.
Liz and TJ put Luke’s boat up for sale, unbeknownst to him, to turn their garage into a studio for Liz’s jewellery making. When Luke goes to claim it, Liz tells him that the boat is holding him back like it held their dad (it was their dad’s boat, which Luke refinished in an earlier season). She tells him that their dad was stuck and afraid to do anything else in life and that Luke. Luke sells the boat to Kirk — who names it the SS Lurk for him and Luke — and ends up buying a bigger boat.
Luke also calls April in New Mexico, trying to make plans for the summer with her. He wants to take her to Disneyworld. But April tells him that that’s not his thing and that she’s happy to spend the summer filling up salt shakers.
Rory meets up with an editor from the New York Times to talk about possible journalism opportunities following graduation.
Logan tells Rory about his failed internet deal and how he’s lost his money, his dad’s money and the money of their investors. He later skips Lane’s baby shower to go to Vegas with Colin and Finn.
My commentary: The townies are back! The townies are back! How I have missed seeing Babette, Miss Patty, Kirk, Gypsy, Mrs. Kim, Lane, Zach and the whole gang all together. No Taylor, but I got nearly everyone else, so I am a happy gal!
This episode was also hilarious. There were some great lines in it.
Like at the beginning when Lorelai was decorating her place for the shower (where it was originally supposed to be held before it was moved to Miss Patty’s dance studio), Sookie was reading an old issue of In Touch magazine. She commented on what was going on with Britney [Spears] and Kevin [Federline] and then about Britney driving a car with her baby on her lap. Lorelai told her that it was an old issue and that Britney and Kevin were now getting divorced and that “Surprisingly, he turned out to be a stabilizing force in her life.” I wonder if that line was slipped because of Britney’s latest antics with shaving her head and checking herself in and out of rehab?
Or Kirk declaring himself amongst literary notables such as Dickens and Hemingway because he penned a classified ad for a dining set that his mom wanted him to sell.
Or later when Kirk enters Luke’s Diner:
Kirk: Word on the street is you want to sell your boat.
Luke: I called you.
Kirk: But I was on the street when you called me.
And after that, Kirk and Luke’s “negotiation” of the sale of the boat. Luke wants $600 for it. Kirk’s counter offer: $590. When they finally settle on $595, Kirk mutters “sucker” under his breath to Luke.
Or Mrs. Kim in reply to Lorelai’s inquiry about whether business at Kim’s Antiques was going well: “People die, they go bankrupt. There is always furniture to sell.”
Or when Lorelai is trying to talk to Mrs. Kim about the Bible, she references the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
The selling of Luke’s boat served two purposes. On the one hand it provided very funny material. Like Kirk naming it the SS Lurk and then asking Lorelai if she wanted to be Ginger to Lulu’s Mary Anne and then Rory asking if Kirk even had a driver’s licence.
On a more serious note, the boat represented the change in Luke’s personality, to reassure audiences I guess that the Luke of last season who shut Lorelai out of his life and was uncommunicative, is a thing of the past. He was letting go of the things that were holding him back in his life — presumably so that he could move on (soon!) with Lorelai. While I am not crazy about this eventual reunion, I am glad that the writers had some respect for the personalities of the charactes from the last six seasons and that when Luke mentioned he had sold his dad’s boat and bought a new one in the span of an afternoon, Lorelai notes that it used to take him a week to buy a shirt. Luke’s reply is that “things change.” (But does a giraffe really change its spots?)
But even though some things may change, others apparently do not. Like Luke not really knowing his daughter. It seemed out of place that Luke would want to take April to Disneyworld for the summer. Not that he isn’t a good father, but it seems like a stereotypical family holiday and April certainly isn’t a stereotypical 12/13 year old. This is a girl who found her dad by doing a DNA test of his hair for her sciene fair project. She asked for a rock polisher for Christmas. Is this a girl who would be happy and excited to shake hands with Mickey Mouse? Certainly Disneyworld is not Luke’s cup of tea, no matter how much he loves his daughter. And even April knew that it was a stretch for Luke since she told him that she would be happy to spend the summer filling up salt shakers at the diner.
And obviously Liz’s point that the boat was held their boat back was a broader illusion about Luke and how he’s being held back from living his life fully.
The irony of Lane’s kids possibly wanting to go to church and to have religion as an aspect of their life is hilarious! Lane’s kids mad for religion and hiding the Bible and Christian music in the floorboards of their bedroom as Lane hid rock music in hers — hilarious!
Did the time skip a few weeks in Stars Hollow since the last episode ended with Logan’s birthday? Because in this episode Logan tells Rory about the failed internet venture and that he’s known for a few weeks now. When he got the phone call at the end of last week’s episode it seemed a surprise to him, yet in this episode he comes home drunk (presumably because he’s been drowning his sorrows over the failed deal).
And as there is a time jump, I guess this would also mean that Lorelai and Christopher have at least been separated for a few weeks, so that it wouldn’t be as if Lorelai went from ending her marriage to Christopher straight to Luke in a matter of a month or so. ... And speaking of Christopher, at the baby shower the Miss Patty asks her how things are since her marriage to Christopher ended and Lorelai looks wistful and says that she’s okay. At least they depicted Lorelai looking remorseful (or I wonder if that was something Lauren Graham injected?) rather than doing a happy dance and a beaming smile.
Melissa McCartney, who plays Sookie, also looked really good in this episode. Her hair was great and the outfit she wore to the baby shower was lovely. Pregnancy obviously agrees with her.
Show summary: Lorelai and Rory are in charge of throwing a baby shower for Lane. Lane and her mom however have had a fight about how various things, such as what her kids — twin boys apparently — will and will not eat (like fried shrimp) and whether they will attend church and Sunday school regularly. Lorelai acts as an intermediary, negotiating the conditions of Lane and Zach’s sons’ upbringing between mother and daughter.
Liz and TJ put Luke’s boat up for sale, unbeknownst to him, to turn their garage into a studio for Liz’s jewellery making. When Luke goes to claim it, Liz tells him that the boat is holding him back like it held their dad (it was their dad’s boat, which Luke refinished in an earlier season). She tells him that their dad was stuck and afraid to do anything else in life and that Luke. Luke sells the boat to Kirk — who names it the SS Lurk for him and Luke — and ends up buying a bigger boat.
Luke also calls April in New Mexico, trying to make plans for the summer with her. He wants to take her to Disneyworld. But April tells him that that’s not his thing and that she’s happy to spend the summer filling up salt shakers.
Rory meets up with an editor from the New York Times to talk about possible journalism opportunities following graduation.
Logan tells Rory about his failed internet deal and how he’s lost his money, his dad’s money and the money of their investors. He later skips Lane’s baby shower to go to Vegas with Colin and Finn.
My commentary: The townies are back! The townies are back! How I have missed seeing Babette, Miss Patty, Kirk, Gypsy, Mrs. Kim, Lane, Zach and the whole gang all together. No Taylor, but I got nearly everyone else, so I am a happy gal!
This episode was also hilarious. There were some great lines in it.
Like at the beginning when Lorelai was decorating her place for the shower (where it was originally supposed to be held before it was moved to Miss Patty’s dance studio), Sookie was reading an old issue of In Touch magazine. She commented on what was going on with Britney [Spears] and Kevin [Federline] and then about Britney driving a car with her baby on her lap. Lorelai told her that it was an old issue and that Britney and Kevin were now getting divorced and that “Surprisingly, he turned out to be a stabilizing force in her life.” I wonder if that line was slipped because of Britney’s latest antics with shaving her head and checking herself in and out of rehab?
Or Kirk declaring himself amongst literary notables such as Dickens and Hemingway because he penned a classified ad for a dining set that his mom wanted him to sell.
Or later when Kirk enters Luke’s Diner:
Kirk: Word on the street is you want to sell your boat.
Luke: I called you.
Kirk: But I was on the street when you called me.
And after that, Kirk and Luke’s “negotiation” of the sale of the boat. Luke wants $600 for it. Kirk’s counter offer: $590. When they finally settle on $595, Kirk mutters “sucker” under his breath to Luke.
Or Mrs. Kim in reply to Lorelai’s inquiry about whether business at Kim’s Antiques was going well: “People die, they go bankrupt. There is always furniture to sell.”
Or when Lorelai is trying to talk to Mrs. Kim about the Bible, she references the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
The selling of Luke’s boat served two purposes. On the one hand it provided very funny material. Like Kirk naming it the SS Lurk and then asking Lorelai if she wanted to be Ginger to Lulu’s Mary Anne and then Rory asking if Kirk even had a driver’s licence.
On a more serious note, the boat represented the change in Luke’s personality, to reassure audiences I guess that the Luke of last season who shut Lorelai out of his life and was uncommunicative, is a thing of the past. He was letting go of the things that were holding him back in his life — presumably so that he could move on (soon!) with Lorelai. While I am not crazy about this eventual reunion, I am glad that the writers had some respect for the personalities of the charactes from the last six seasons and that when Luke mentioned he had sold his dad’s boat and bought a new one in the span of an afternoon, Lorelai notes that it used to take him a week to buy a shirt. Luke’s reply is that “things change.” (But does a giraffe really change its spots?)
But even though some things may change, others apparently do not. Like Luke not really knowing his daughter. It seemed out of place that Luke would want to take April to Disneyworld for the summer. Not that he isn’t a good father, but it seems like a stereotypical family holiday and April certainly isn’t a stereotypical 12/13 year old. This is a girl who found her dad by doing a DNA test of his hair for her sciene fair project. She asked for a rock polisher for Christmas. Is this a girl who would be happy and excited to shake hands with Mickey Mouse? Certainly Disneyworld is not Luke’s cup of tea, no matter how much he loves his daughter. And even April knew that it was a stretch for Luke since she told him that she would be happy to spend the summer filling up salt shakers at the diner.
And obviously Liz’s point that the boat was held their boat back was a broader illusion about Luke and how he’s being held back from living his life fully.
The irony of Lane’s kids possibly wanting to go to church and to have religion as an aspect of their life is hilarious! Lane’s kids mad for religion and hiding the Bible and Christian music in the floorboards of their bedroom as Lane hid rock music in hers — hilarious!
Did the time skip a few weeks in Stars Hollow since the last episode ended with Logan’s birthday? Because in this episode Logan tells Rory about the failed internet venture and that he’s known for a few weeks now. When he got the phone call at the end of last week’s episode it seemed a surprise to him, yet in this episode he comes home drunk (presumably because he’s been drowning his sorrows over the failed deal).
And as there is a time jump, I guess this would also mean that Lorelai and Christopher have at least been separated for a few weeks, so that it wouldn’t be as if Lorelai went from ending her marriage to Christopher straight to Luke in a matter of a month or so. ... And speaking of Christopher, at the baby shower the Miss Patty asks her how things are since her marriage to Christopher ended and Lorelai looks wistful and says that she’s okay. At least they depicted Lorelai looking remorseful (or I wonder if that was something Lauren Graham injected?) rather than doing a happy dance and a beaming smile.
Melissa McCartney, who plays Sookie, also looked really good in this episode. Her hair was great and the outfit she wore to the baby shower was lovely. Pregnancy obviously agrees with her.
Labels: Gilmore Girls
7:15 - I'm a Kayak, Hear Me Roar
0 Comments Published by Alexandria on Saturday, February 24, 2007 at 10:23 p.m..
This week's episode was called "I'm a Kayak, Hear Me Roar," based on an analogy Emily makes.
Show summary: Lorelai drives to Yale to tell Rory that she and Christopher have broken up. There, she runs into Paris and Doyle doing yoga -- the only humerous part of the opening sequence.
So Lorelai and Rory go for a drive during which Lorelai tells Rory that her marriage to Rory's father has ended after only a few short months. Rory's reaction? Not only is she not surprised, she apparently "knew" that her parents weren't right for each other. The car runs out of gas and Lorelai and Rory have to walk to the gas station.
At Friday night dinner, Lorelai is supposed to tell her parents that she and Christopher have split up but when she and Rory arrive at the Gilmore house, there is already tension because Richard doesn't want to come down for dinner as he's watching an important golf game. The house is now also dry because Richard can't drink alcohol so Emily has removed all the alcohol from the home and is serving mocktails, which only frustrates Lorelai. During dinner, Lorelai fails to find the right time to tell her parents of her marital breakup. Rory encourages her mom to tell Emily and Richard before Emily proceeds further with the wedding celebrations, telling her mom "Save the cornish game hens" (the 400 or so birds that were apparently to be served at the reception).
At Luke's Diner, Babette and Miss Patty are having an encrypted conversation about the breakup of Lorelai and Christopher's marriage, using the analogy of a hen/beagle/rooster/peguin/ostrich. Kirk overhears and takes offence to a rooster and a penguin getting together and mating.
The following day, Emily calls Lorelai at home because the pharmacy will not deliver Richard's medication and she wants Lorelai to pick up the prescription. Upon arriving at the Gilmore house, Lorelai finds everything in chaos. The maid Aurora is in hiding and the chef has quit because he is fed up with the challenges of cooking to Richard's dietary needs and Richard failing to eat the food he's cooked. Lorelai stays and helps at the house, which includes sorting out some of her dad's finances.
In Richard's office, Emily finds some alcohol and proceeds to pour herself and Lorelai each a drink. Lorelai tells her mom about her marital breakup, to which Emily says, "I hardly know what to say."
Emily makes the analogy that she is like a canoe: She and Richard are in the canoe and they have to work together to steer the canoe. She takes care of the house so that he can earn a living and take care of her. While Lorelai is like a kayak: She steers the kayak herself and doesn't need anyone to help her, even a man. Lorelai's reply is "I'm a kayak, hear me roar." It seems like mother and daughter have bonded when the following day things return to normal: Emily takes a jab at Lorelai for only getting 60% of her deposit back for the wedding reception.
Rory meanwhile decorates Logan's New York apartment based on all the themes of her childhood birthdays because he missed out on such birthdays. But Logan comes home and announces that his dad wants to take them out to dinner. At dinner, while Logan is away from the table, Mitchum asks Rory what she thinks the next step in Logan's life should be. Then he implies that together he and Rory have been plotting Logan's life for him and that he is currently a success because of the two of them. Back at the apartment, when Rory tells Logan about the talk, Logan shirks it off, telling her that she's been "Huntzbergered."
Logan then gets a phone call from a colleague saying that their new internet investment has fallen through, and that essentially Logan has lost his $3 million trust fund.
Luke's sister Liz arrives with TJ and baby Doula in tow. Their place is being fumigated and they need to bunk at Luke's place for a few days. While staying there, Liz asks Luke if he's contacted Lorelai since Richard's heart attack. This starts a conversation about Lorelai. TJ doesn't think that Luke should get back together with her because he thinks that she's all about drama while Liz thinks that Luke should call her, even if only under the guise of how her father is doing as a concerned friend. Later, lying in April's bed, he can overhear Liz and TJ discussing him and Lorelai.
My commentary: Firstly, I was really bothered by Rory's reaction to the news of her parents breaking up. How did Rory know exactly that her parents weren't meant for each other? She was hardly at home during the brief length of her parents marriage since she was either away at school or in London with Logan over the Christmas holidays. And when she was around, she was the one questioning why her mom was keeping secrets from her dad (like writing the character reference for Luke), and advising her that "honesty was the best policy." Not to mention that Lorelai wasn't exactly forthcoming about the details of her and Christopher's marriage, how much did Rory actually know about her parents' marriage? And since Rory was the one advocating such a policy while Lorelai was insistent on keeping such things a secret, why did she not once ask about how Christopher was doing or where he was? Whether you're a Christopher fan or a Luke fan it should be pretty clear that Christopher was head over heels in love with Lorelai and that when they broke up, he must have been heartbroken even if he "understood" the reasons why. Rory had to have known that her dad was heartbroken over the marriage, yet she didn't give a second thought to her father and how he was doing. The only emotion Rory seemed to show regarding the end of her parents' marriage was during Friday night dinner when she advocated her mom to "Save the cornish game hens."
I also found Alexis Bledel's performance in the opening sequence during the car drive rather unconvincing. She didn't seem particularly consoling of Lorelai regarding the break up, even if her words were.
As for Emily's reaction, maybe part of it can be blamed by the booze, but I don't think all of it can be. Twice this season alone we have seen Emily lecture/advise her daughter about marriage being hard work and how she thinks that Christopher is the best for Lorelai even if he sometimes does things Emily does not approve of. Yet her daughter announces that after only two months her marriage is breaking up and Emily has not a single word? Emily who always has a word about everything even when she's not asked has nothing to say when her daughter announces that her first marriage is breaking up?
And even Emily does not ask how Christopher is or where he is. Emily and Richard have both always liked Christopher; the Gilmore and Hayden families go back for decades and the Haydens are important social ties for the Gilmores. And as appearances are so important to Emily you'd think that if she didn't care about the marriage breaking up, she might care about how the marriage break up might look to her DAR friends.
The next day it seems that things are back to normal with Emily reading the newspaper when Lorelai arrives for breakfast and the only thing Emily says is that she can only get 60% of her deposit back. But that doesn't justify the lack of reaction to the marriage breaking up.
The canoe/kayak analogy is an interesting one, and to some extent I think it's true. But on a practical level, I think there must be something in between. It's not good to be completely in Emily's position and to not know how to do things for yourself should you need to, but it's also not good to be completely in Lorelai's position and to be so independent that you do so much for yourself that you don't need others. In relationships people like to feel needed.
It seems to me that now that the writers have Christopher out of the picture, they are trying to rush things along to get Lorelai and Luke back together as soon as they can. Now that Christopher is out of the picture they don't want to waste a single minute dwelling on him so they are cutting him out altogether, including his relationship with Rory. Yes, there were no scenes between the two of them in this episode, but certainly Luke's longing look as he lay in April's bed by himself is a sign that he's thinking of Lorelai.
The broader strokes of this storyline have also not been dwelled on by the writers. This storyline isn't just about the end of a marriage between two people. Rory and Gigi are also a part of this equation, as are Richard and Emily and Francine (Christopher's mom, even though we never see her) are, too. Gigi moved into Lorelai and Rory's home. For a brief time Lorelai was her step-mother and the only mother figure she's had in a few years. That's significant for a four year old. And Lorelai's words at the beginning about Christopher and Gigi always being in Rory's life felt hollow because clearly they won't be, not on the same level.
This also affects Christopher and Rory's relationship. They've come a long way since the first season and Rory unequivically siding with her mom on the end of the marriage means that she'll never see her dad in the same way.
And so this episode marks the beginning of my David Sutcliffe withdrawal. It was such a treat to see him every week, and now that he's gone, I'll miss the spark he added to the show and the chemistry he and Lauren Graham shared. Someone at my GG forum has mentioned that he is in negotiations to do three more episodes. I presume that one of them will be when Christopher comes back for Rory's graduation from Yale. I guess Lorelai and Luke will be back together by then, too. I will need to drink when that inevitable reunion airs.
Show summary: Lorelai drives to Yale to tell Rory that she and Christopher have broken up. There, she runs into Paris and Doyle doing yoga -- the only humerous part of the opening sequence.
So Lorelai and Rory go for a drive during which Lorelai tells Rory that her marriage to Rory's father has ended after only a few short months. Rory's reaction? Not only is she not surprised, she apparently "knew" that her parents weren't right for each other. The car runs out of gas and Lorelai and Rory have to walk to the gas station.
At Friday night dinner, Lorelai is supposed to tell her parents that she and Christopher have split up but when she and Rory arrive at the Gilmore house, there is already tension because Richard doesn't want to come down for dinner as he's watching an important golf game. The house is now also dry because Richard can't drink alcohol so Emily has removed all the alcohol from the home and is serving mocktails, which only frustrates Lorelai. During dinner, Lorelai fails to find the right time to tell her parents of her marital breakup. Rory encourages her mom to tell Emily and Richard before Emily proceeds further with the wedding celebrations, telling her mom "Save the cornish game hens" (the 400 or so birds that were apparently to be served at the reception).
At Luke's Diner, Babette and Miss Patty are having an encrypted conversation about the breakup of Lorelai and Christopher's marriage, using the analogy of a hen/beagle/rooster/peguin/ostrich. Kirk overhears and takes offence to a rooster and a penguin getting together and mating.
The following day, Emily calls Lorelai at home because the pharmacy will not deliver Richard's medication and she wants Lorelai to pick up the prescription. Upon arriving at the Gilmore house, Lorelai finds everything in chaos. The maid Aurora is in hiding and the chef has quit because he is fed up with the challenges of cooking to Richard's dietary needs and Richard failing to eat the food he's cooked. Lorelai stays and helps at the house, which includes sorting out some of her dad's finances.
In Richard's office, Emily finds some alcohol and proceeds to pour herself and Lorelai each a drink. Lorelai tells her mom about her marital breakup, to which Emily says, "I hardly know what to say."
Emily makes the analogy that she is like a canoe: She and Richard are in the canoe and they have to work together to steer the canoe. She takes care of the house so that he can earn a living and take care of her. While Lorelai is like a kayak: She steers the kayak herself and doesn't need anyone to help her, even a man. Lorelai's reply is "I'm a kayak, hear me roar." It seems like mother and daughter have bonded when the following day things return to normal: Emily takes a jab at Lorelai for only getting 60% of her deposit back for the wedding reception.
Rory meanwhile decorates Logan's New York apartment based on all the themes of her childhood birthdays because he missed out on such birthdays. But Logan comes home and announces that his dad wants to take them out to dinner. At dinner, while Logan is away from the table, Mitchum asks Rory what she thinks the next step in Logan's life should be. Then he implies that together he and Rory have been plotting Logan's life for him and that he is currently a success because of the two of them. Back at the apartment, when Rory tells Logan about the talk, Logan shirks it off, telling her that she's been "Huntzbergered."
Logan then gets a phone call from a colleague saying that their new internet investment has fallen through, and that essentially Logan has lost his $3 million trust fund.
Luke's sister Liz arrives with TJ and baby Doula in tow. Their place is being fumigated and they need to bunk at Luke's place for a few days. While staying there, Liz asks Luke if he's contacted Lorelai since Richard's heart attack. This starts a conversation about Lorelai. TJ doesn't think that Luke should get back together with her because he thinks that she's all about drama while Liz thinks that Luke should call her, even if only under the guise of how her father is doing as a concerned friend. Later, lying in April's bed, he can overhear Liz and TJ discussing him and Lorelai.
My commentary: Firstly, I was really bothered by Rory's reaction to the news of her parents breaking up. How did Rory know exactly that her parents weren't meant for each other? She was hardly at home during the brief length of her parents marriage since she was either away at school or in London with Logan over the Christmas holidays. And when she was around, she was the one questioning why her mom was keeping secrets from her dad (like writing the character reference for Luke), and advising her that "honesty was the best policy." Not to mention that Lorelai wasn't exactly forthcoming about the details of her and Christopher's marriage, how much did Rory actually know about her parents' marriage? And since Rory was the one advocating such a policy while Lorelai was insistent on keeping such things a secret, why did she not once ask about how Christopher was doing or where he was? Whether you're a Christopher fan or a Luke fan it should be pretty clear that Christopher was head over heels in love with Lorelai and that when they broke up, he must have been heartbroken even if he "understood" the reasons why. Rory had to have known that her dad was heartbroken over the marriage, yet she didn't give a second thought to her father and how he was doing. The only emotion Rory seemed to show regarding the end of her parents' marriage was during Friday night dinner when she advocated her mom to "Save the cornish game hens."
I also found Alexis Bledel's performance in the opening sequence during the car drive rather unconvincing. She didn't seem particularly consoling of Lorelai regarding the break up, even if her words were.
As for Emily's reaction, maybe part of it can be blamed by the booze, but I don't think all of it can be. Twice this season alone we have seen Emily lecture/advise her daughter about marriage being hard work and how she thinks that Christopher is the best for Lorelai even if he sometimes does things Emily does not approve of. Yet her daughter announces that after only two months her marriage is breaking up and Emily has not a single word? Emily who always has a word about everything even when she's not asked has nothing to say when her daughter announces that her first marriage is breaking up?
And even Emily does not ask how Christopher is or where he is. Emily and Richard have both always liked Christopher; the Gilmore and Hayden families go back for decades and the Haydens are important social ties for the Gilmores. And as appearances are so important to Emily you'd think that if she didn't care about the marriage breaking up, she might care about how the marriage break up might look to her DAR friends.
The next day it seems that things are back to normal with Emily reading the newspaper when Lorelai arrives for breakfast and the only thing Emily says is that she can only get 60% of her deposit back. But that doesn't justify the lack of reaction to the marriage breaking up.
The canoe/kayak analogy is an interesting one, and to some extent I think it's true. But on a practical level, I think there must be something in between. It's not good to be completely in Emily's position and to not know how to do things for yourself should you need to, but it's also not good to be completely in Lorelai's position and to be so independent that you do so much for yourself that you don't need others. In relationships people like to feel needed.
It seems to me that now that the writers have Christopher out of the picture, they are trying to rush things along to get Lorelai and Luke back together as soon as they can. Now that Christopher is out of the picture they don't want to waste a single minute dwelling on him so they are cutting him out altogether, including his relationship with Rory. Yes, there were no scenes between the two of them in this episode, but certainly Luke's longing look as he lay in April's bed by himself is a sign that he's thinking of Lorelai.
The broader strokes of this storyline have also not been dwelled on by the writers. This storyline isn't just about the end of a marriage between two people. Rory and Gigi are also a part of this equation, as are Richard and Emily and Francine (Christopher's mom, even though we never see her) are, too. Gigi moved into Lorelai and Rory's home. For a brief time Lorelai was her step-mother and the only mother figure she's had in a few years. That's significant for a four year old. And Lorelai's words at the beginning about Christopher and Gigi always being in Rory's life felt hollow because clearly they won't be, not on the same level.
This also affects Christopher and Rory's relationship. They've come a long way since the first season and Rory unequivically siding with her mom on the end of the marriage means that she'll never see her dad in the same way.
And so this episode marks the beginning of my David Sutcliffe withdrawal. It was such a treat to see him every week, and now that he's gone, I'll miss the spark he added to the show and the chemistry he and Lauren Graham shared. Someone at my GG forum has mentioned that he is in negotiations to do three more episodes. I presume that one of them will be when Christopher comes back for Rory's graduation from Yale. I guess Lorelai and Luke will be back together by then, too. I will need to drink when that inevitable reunion airs.
Labels: Gilmore Girls
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
7:13 - I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia
0 Comments Published by Alexandria on Wednesday, February 7, 2007 at 8:27 p.m..
Last night's episode was entitled "I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia," a line Richard utters while in the hospital about other places he'd be rather than hooked up to the machines.
Show summary: Richard is in the hospital having suffered a heart attack. A coronary bypass is later required because of blockage to the arteries. Fortunately Richard recovers from the heart attack and from the surgery.
Emily's reaction to the news is at first stoic and even indifferent. She came directly from the club in her track suit. At first she railed on and on about how the people who worked at the club had a combined IQ of a grapefruit, she complained about having to pay for meals despite the steep club dues, then she remembered an article she read about how eating a lot of fish lowers your chances of a heart attack so she ordered lots of fish to be delivered to the home. Then while having dinner in the cafeteria, Emily called the family lawyer to get Richard's will and his DNR orders. Lorelai was upset over this and stormed out of the cafeteria. Later in the hospital gift shop, Emily broke down and said that she had been Richard's wife for more than 40 years, which was two-thirds of her life and she didn't know what she would do without him. She said that after his first attack (during the first season), they had developed a plan about what to do in such a case and that she was simply carrying out the plan because that is what she did. She told Lorelai about all the little things she did for Richard as his wife such as finding his glasses, whispering names he had forgotten to him, planning and packing his trips, etc.
Logan flies in on a helicopter when he hears of Richard's heart attack. He sits next to Rory like a dutiful boyfriend. They later go to the Gilmore house and get things to make Richard comfortable during his stay at the hospital, such as his record player and some of his favourite albums.
Lorelai tries reaching Christopher to no avail. Christopher has been missing since the previous evening when he stormed out on Lorelai after their fight about him being the rebound guy and second best to Lorelai's feelings for Luke.
Babette, who was with Lorelai when she got the phone call about her father, tells Luke about Richard being in the hospital. Luke shows at the hospital and is promptly sent away by Emily on errands like picking up Richard's car from the Yale parking lot. Later in the show he shows up with three bags of food for Lorelai, Rory and their family.
Christopher shows up at the hospital and see Luke talking to Lorelai. When Luke says that he should go, Christopher agrees with him. Lorelai tries to explain to Christopher that she didn't call Luke, but Christopher doesn't want to hear it. Rory then shows up and asks her dad if he wants to see Richard and Christopher agrees, leaving with Rory and Logan to see Richard. Emily catches onto the tension between Lorelai and Christopher and tells Lorelai that there is a silver lining to every cloud. Lorelai stares wistfully at the food Luke has brought, which is now sitting on the counter.
My commentary: Lorelai makes a comment about how her father looks when she sees him in the hospital for the first time. She says he looks "small." At the end, after the successful bypass surgery, she tells Luke that her father looks "tall" again. This rang true for me. When my dad is at his most vulnerable, I always think that he looks "small" or "frail" when most of the other times, in my head he is "tall" and "strong."
Logan and Rory felt more like best buddies than boyfriend and girlfriend in this episode. I don't want to see a make out session between the two while Rory's grandfather is in the hospital, but some affection beyond just a hug would be nice. Even when they were packing away the chess set, the conversation was generic, the kind Rory might have with Doyle even. The chemistry is gone between them now, I think. Logan has matured nicely though, I think. He showed how he could take care of Rory in a nice role reversal in this episode. In previous seasons, Rory has taken care of Logan (like when he hurt himself jumping out of a plane in a life and death brigade stunt) but now Logan was taking care of her. Another role reversal was how Logan is now the one with direction in his life, making business deals and with a general purpose to his day and his life while Rory flitters about, getting engaged in teenage antics with Marty and Lucy and without any plans about what to do post-graduation from Yale.
Emily's speech to Lorelai was a really good one -- Kelly Bishop also did a great job with the scene. And combined with the motherly advice Emily gave Lorelai about her marriage at the end of "Merry Fisticuffs," if one didn't know any spoilers, it would seem as if the show was setting the plot for Lorelai to really try to make her marriage to Christopher work. So knowing that ultimately Christopher and Lorelai will divorce, such scenes seem like a waste of time. They are fruitless, throwaway scenes that will lead nowhere because obviously Lorelai isn't going to heed her mother's advice.
Maybe I am alone on this (I seem to be for the most part at my GG forum), but I think Luke was out of line and presumptuous in going to the hospital both times. He couldn't have known that Lorelai and Christopher had had a fight and that Christopher wasn't with his wife, his daughter and his in-laws at the hospital. Considering that Luke just had a fist fight with Christopher, one would think that Luke would think twice about showing up at the hospital to be at Lorelai's side, even if they are friends. And while it was a nice gesture on his part to bring the food (didn't he think though that there would be food at the hospital or that Logan or Christopher could have gone to get food for the Gilmores if they were hungry, not to mention that usually you can't bring outside food to a hospital), it was stepping his bounds a bit, even as a friend. Friends know that sometimes they need to back off and let their friends figure things out for themselves or to just give them friends. And considering that these friends were engaged not so long ago, the situation requires even more sensitivity. Plus, Emily and Richard have never really liked Luke. They barely tolerated him while he was dating and engaged to their daughter. They would hardly like him more as their daughter's ex-fiancee. Why show up and cause more tension during an already stressful time for the family? If he wanted to be a good friend to Lorelai he could have found other ways to do so, such as calling as her other friends did.
Only two more episodes until apparently Christopher moves out of Lorelai's home. Ugh! The beginning of the end for us BB fans I guess. When I get the season 7 DVD series, I will just watch until the previous episode. I will block all the following episodes if this is the direction we continue on.
Labels: Gilmore Girls
If I Were a Gilmore Girls Writer ...
0 Comments Published by Alexandria on Tuesday, February 6, 2007 at 7:58 p.m..
So it is 8 p.m. on a Tuesday evening of a new Gilmore Girls episode (7:13: I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia). I have my mug of berry tea and I am feeling a bit nostalgic as the inevitable will continue to happen in tonight's episode: Christopher's character will again take a big hit. I have never been one to sit there and take something quietly, especially not when it comes to my beloved Gilmore Girls, so to heal my heartache a bit, a little imagination time on my part. Bear with me here ...
A few weeks ago on my Gilmore Girls forum, a few of us Balcony Buddies were discussing how the show should end if this is indeed the last season. The show's executive producer David Rosenthal has confessed to being a Luke and Lorelai fan, which means that inevitably the Lorelai and Christopher marriage was doomed from the moment of their Parisian "J'adore" and that the majority of this season has been "filler" for the inevitable Java Junkie reunion.
But as BB fans are nothing if not a hopeful (and stubborn) lot. Some proposed that rather than end up with Luke, if the show ends with Lorelai being single. (Now, this is not a spiteful proposal by BB'ers, just a stab at a bit of realism so that Lorelai doesn't go from the end of her marriage to Christopher right into Luke's arms, but so that she can figure herself out a bit first, too, and ultimately be happier with Luke so that there isn't some lingering questions in her head when the inevitable JJ reunion does happen.) In late August/early September, at the CW launch party, David Sutcliffe, the actor who plays Christopher, said that the show started out as being about two girls figuring life out and doing their stuff and that if the writers ever asked for his opinion about how the show should end, he felt that it should end like that: Two girls figuring life out and doing their stuff.
Based on this ending, if I could write the very last scene of GG, I would propose a full-circle ending scene-wise. I would propose that the very last scene of the entire series be the exact scene that ended the very first episode of the show: With Lorelai and Rory sitting in Luke's diner over coffee and burgers and gabbing. They could gab about what is happening at the Dragonfly Inn and Rory's plans for the future, post-graduation from Yale. If Rosenthal feels that it's necessary to appease the JJ fans, then Luke could come over to pour Lorelai coffee, they could smile at each other or Luke could even confirm date plans with Lorelai for another night. But I am set that the show should end with just Lorelai and Rory.
Of course, if I could have free reign of the rest of the season and Lorelai and Christopher's marriage could stay in tact, then the last scene I would write would be different. The very last scene of the entire series would be Friday night dinner at the Gilmore house. Richard would be in good health and at one end of the table with Emily at the other. On one side would be Lorelai and Christopher and on the other side would be Rory and Gigi. The ultimate meaning behind this would be that the very thing that started Lorelai and Rory's life together -- her being pregnant at 16, not marrying Christopher as everyone wanted, and etching out a life for herself and her daughter -- comes full circle and brings Lorelai back as a mature adult, mother and wife to her parents home. In the end maybe she inevitably does everything her parents wanted her to do in the first place at age 16, but the point is that she did it on her own terms. She took the long way yes, with detours and heartbreak, but she did it her way.
To me this is would be the most satisfying ending rather than the train wreck the writers have Lorelai and Christopher have on at the moment. Lorelai looks like a weak and indecisive persona of her former self. One minute she loves Christopher and is committed to their marriage, the next she's making bedroom eyes at Luke. Christopher isn't faring much better, bordering on jealous lunatic who won't even drink the coffee from his wife's ex-fiancee's shop as if Luke poisoned the coffee. Luke is the only person who's held up okay in this triangle: He's stayed focused on his daughter and fighting for custody of her.
So, David Rosenthal and company, if you're reading this, consider my ending. I'm a writer, I can come up with a script for you!
An hour and a half until the new GG episode!
A few weeks ago on my Gilmore Girls forum, a few of us Balcony Buddies were discussing how the show should end if this is indeed the last season. The show's executive producer David Rosenthal has confessed to being a Luke and Lorelai fan, which means that inevitably the Lorelai and Christopher marriage was doomed from the moment of their Parisian "J'adore" and that the majority of this season has been "filler" for the inevitable Java Junkie reunion.
But as BB fans are nothing if not a hopeful (and stubborn) lot. Some proposed that rather than end up with Luke, if the show ends with Lorelai being single. (Now, this is not a spiteful proposal by BB'ers, just a stab at a bit of realism so that Lorelai doesn't go from the end of her marriage to Christopher right into Luke's arms, but so that she can figure herself out a bit first, too, and ultimately be happier with Luke so that there isn't some lingering questions in her head when the inevitable JJ reunion does happen.) In late August/early September, at the CW launch party, David Sutcliffe, the actor who plays Christopher, said that the show started out as being about two girls figuring life out and doing their stuff and that if the writers ever asked for his opinion about how the show should end, he felt that it should end like that: Two girls figuring life out and doing their stuff.
Based on this ending, if I could write the very last scene of GG, I would propose a full-circle ending scene-wise. I would propose that the very last scene of the entire series be the exact scene that ended the very first episode of the show: With Lorelai and Rory sitting in Luke's diner over coffee and burgers and gabbing. They could gab about what is happening at the Dragonfly Inn and Rory's plans for the future, post-graduation from Yale. If Rosenthal feels that it's necessary to appease the JJ fans, then Luke could come over to pour Lorelai coffee, they could smile at each other or Luke could even confirm date plans with Lorelai for another night. But I am set that the show should end with just Lorelai and Rory.
Of course, if I could have free reign of the rest of the season and Lorelai and Christopher's marriage could stay in tact, then the last scene I would write would be different. The very last scene of the entire series would be Friday night dinner at the Gilmore house. Richard would be in good health and at one end of the table with Emily at the other. On one side would be Lorelai and Christopher and on the other side would be Rory and Gigi. The ultimate meaning behind this would be that the very thing that started Lorelai and Rory's life together -- her being pregnant at 16, not marrying Christopher as everyone wanted, and etching out a life for herself and her daughter -- comes full circle and brings Lorelai back as a mature adult, mother and wife to her parents home. In the end maybe she inevitably does everything her parents wanted her to do in the first place at age 16, but the point is that she did it on her own terms. She took the long way yes, with detours and heartbreak, but she did it her way.
To me this is would be the most satisfying ending rather than the train wreck the writers have Lorelai and Christopher have on at the moment. Lorelai looks like a weak and indecisive persona of her former self. One minute she loves Christopher and is committed to their marriage, the next she's making bedroom eyes at Luke. Christopher isn't faring much better, bordering on jealous lunatic who won't even drink the coffee from his wife's ex-fiancee's shop as if Luke poisoned the coffee. Luke is the only person who's held up okay in this triangle: He's stayed focused on his daughter and fighting for custody of her.
So, David Rosenthal and company, if you're reading this, consider my ending. I'm a writer, I can come up with a script for you!
An hour and a half until the new GG episode!
Labels: Gilmore Girls
7:12 - To Whom It May Concern
2 Comments Published by Alexandria on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 at 8:07 p.m..
Last night was a new episode of Gilmore Girls entitled "To Whom It May Concern."
Show summary: Sookie is acting weirdly about a ski trip she and Jackson are taking, during which time Lorelai is babysitting Davey and Martha. Lorelai and Jackson later figure out that Sookie is acting weirdly because she is pregnant. On a walk around town, Lorelai reminds Sookie about all the great things about babies and Sookie warms up to the idea of being pregnant for a third time.
Luke and Anna are in court for custody of April. The judge reads out a character reference written by Lorelai on Luke's behalf. In it, she states that Luke has been like a father-figure to her daughter Rory and that once Luke is in your life, he's always in your life. She also says that to not allow Luke to be a father to April would be depriving April of one of the best things in her life. The following day, the judge grants Luke shared custody of April with weekend visits once a month, every other holiday and a month during the summer. He calls Lorelai to share the good news.
Inevitably, because Lorelai wasn't up front about writing the letter, Christopher accidentally finds the letter while searching for the leveler for the big flat screen TV he is installing. He gets upset, naturally. When Lorelai comes home from Sookie and Jackson's, Christopher confronts Lorelai about the letter and says that he thought he could be second best but he can't anymore and storms out of their house.
Rory leaves Lucy a letter of explanation in regards to not admitting that she knew Marty. In the dining hall with Paris, Rory spots Lucy who has not replied to her yet. Paris confronts Lucy and Lucy forgives Rory.
At the end of the episode, during a lecture at Yale, Richard slumps over the podium and clutches his heart. The screen fades to black and Rory's voice can be heard yelling "Somebody call 911."
Plus Lauren Graham was credited as a producer for the first time in last night's episode.
My commentary: With Sookie's pregnancy and Lane already expecting twins, I think this is Stars Hollow's biggest baby boom. Three new babies in the coming year! If only Kirk's girlfriend Lulu would get pregnant, too!
I'm so glad Rory and Lucy have reconciled with some sledding with cafeteria trays. I just couldn't handle another episode of Rory moping over Lucy or some fake exchanges between Rory and Marty. I used to think Marty was cute during that first year at Yale, but when he came back this season, he was a pathetic, dorky guy. Enough already! Let Rory move on and let Alexis Bledel do something more!
And thank goodness for the return of Paris. I had forgotten how much I missed the spitfire in Paris until last night. I love her "calls things as I see things" attitude and how she took charge of the Rory and Lucy situation and about her and Rory's last semester at Yale. As always, Paris was aiming high and forcing Rory to do the same. Paris is a nice contrast to the wishy washiness of Lucy and Olivia.
The show started off with Lorelai, Rory and Christopher at Friday night dinner with Emily and Richard. After leaving the house all three revealed crumpled napkins with the famed snail recipe Emily had tracked down, and a discussion of how to get rid of the snails without Emily finding out. It was a pretty funny moment, especially when Rory mentioned the "chicken kiev incident from 2002."
And so now the big stuff: the eternal Luke/Lorelai/Christopher triangle.
And so now I see that this is how they will turn Christopher into a bad guy, thus making Luke the good guy and therefore Lorelai has no choice but to end her marriage to Christopher and jump back into Luke's arms.
The precursor incident happens at the very beginning of the show when Sookie brings over muffin tops and coffee from Luke's. First Lorelai reacts weirdly when Sookie tells her the coffee is from Luke's, then when Christopher comments that it's good coffee, Lorelai says it's from Luke's diner and Christopher pushes the cup away. Why exactly? Do the cups from Luke's diner have cooties? Did Luke know that the coffee was for Lorelai so he licked all of the cups? It's just coffee. While I can see that it might be awkward or uncomfortable to be drinking coffee from your wife's ex-fiancee's diner, get over it. It's coffee. Is he 13 and won't drink the slushee made by the pimply-faced ex-boyfriend? It was all a bit melodramatic for my taste. It reminded me of Lucy's tantrum when she found out Marty and Rory had lied to her about not knowing each other. At least Lucy had good reason to be angry.
Christopher later finds the letter for Luke is rightfully angry with Lorelai. He says that she still loves Luke and that's why she didn't want to move away from Stars Hollow. He says that he thought he could be second best but he can't and storms out of the house. The next morning Lorelai wakes up and realizes that Christopher has not slept in their bed.
This scene makes it seem as if Christopher is indeed 13. Yes he was angry and I agree with why he was angry, and I get that he needed to cool off but to not go back to your own home for the entire night? Where was he and what was he doing all night? And did he stop to think about all the other reason why Lorelai might want to continue to live in Stars Hollow other than Luke? Like maybe she spent the last 20+ years of her life there, she has friends there, and she has a business there. It was clear from the coffee scene that she hadn't been to Luke's since she and Christopher were married, or even before that, after she and Luke broke up. What kind of irrationality is this coming from Christopher?
The next episode (7:13 - I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia) doesn't fare well for Christopher either. Richard is in the hospital and Christopher is no where to be found. The CW previews show Loreali trying to call Christopher and saying something along the lines that he's her husband and that [his disappearance] isn't right. But who does show up? Luke of all people.
I just hate how they are ruining Christopher's character in this way. I get that the majority of fans want Luke and Lorelai back together but to get there does Christopher's character have to be stripped of his dignity? And in doing so don't they realize that it will destroy whatever friendship he and Lorelai have but also any relationship he might have with Rory?
Arrrrrgggghhhhh!
Labels: Gilmore Girls
This evening, at 8:19 p.m. I made my 100th post at my Gilmore Girls forum. And along with my centennial post comes a special privilege: to grant karma points to other members of the forum. I can either hit someone with a pretty stick if I like their posts and want to boost their karma, or I can lash them with a snarkastic one to lower their karma. (I've actually seen some members with minus karma points, ouch!)
Since being granted my powers I have already hit two members with the pretty stick and hit one other with the snarkastic one. Oh the power!
Since being granted my powers I have already hit two members with the pretty stick and hit one other with the snarkastic one. Oh the power!
Labels: Gilmore Girls
This past week, with the return of new episodes for Gilmore Girls, I have been busy posting at my Gilmore Girls forum. I have been deeply engrossed in a discussion about whether or not Lorelai actually cheated on Luke in the episode called "Partings" by sleeping with Christopher, or if they had actually broken up and as such she wasn't cheating on Luke with Christopher, just that she made a bad decision. (I am of the opinion that in giving Luke the ultimatum to elope she was breaking up with him, so sleeping with Christopher was just a bad decision on her part but that she didn't cheat on Luke.)
As I have been spending a lot of time this past week and this weekend at my Gilmore Girls forum, I have become increasingly obsessed with gaining karma or community points. Karma points are given (or taken) by other members based on how helpful your posts around the forum are or how thoughtful (or unthoughtful) others find your posts. Of course karma points -- sometimes referred to as being "hit with the pretty stick" after a phrase on GG -- can be given and taken away frivolously.
So far I have 13 community points. I must be getting all those points from my fellow Balcony Buddy supporters!
As I have been spending a lot of time this past week and this weekend at my Gilmore Girls forum, I have become increasingly obsessed with gaining karma or community points. Karma points are given (or taken) by other members based on how helpful your posts around the forum are or how thoughtful (or unthoughtful) others find your posts. Of course karma points -- sometimes referred to as being "hit with the pretty stick" after a phrase on GG -- can be given and taken away frivolously.
So far I have 13 community points. I must be getting all those points from my fellow Balcony Buddy supporters!
Labels: Gilmore Girls
The People in My Little Corner of the World
1 Comments Published by Alexandria on Tuesday, December 26, 2006 at 8:15 p.m..
An introduction to the people and characters in my little corner of the world. Consider this a cheat sheet or a primer to the people (and TV characters) you'll read about here.
GILMORE GIRLS
Quickie Explanation: A mother (Lorelai Gilmore) and daughter (Rory Gilmore) who are more like best friends live and love in a small town American town.
Extended Explanation: The premise is a mother and daughter who are more like best friends than a parent and a child. Lorelai Gilmore (played brilliant by Lauren Graham) had her daughter Rory (whose real name is actually Lorelai as well, played by willowy Alexis Bledel) when she was 16 years old and raised her on her own. The show starts with Rory turning 16 and now in its seventh season, Rory is in her last year at Yale. They live in a fictitious little town in Connecticut, USA called Stars Hollow (the original filming was actually done here in Ontario, Canada in Unionville) where there is an assortment of eclectic characters like Kirk who has had a million jobs around town, Miss Patty who runs the local dance school and has been married a billion times, and Babbette who calls everyone "sugar." Lorelai's elitist parents, Richard and Emily, live in posh Hartford. Their stuffiness serves as a foil to her laid back ways.
Lorelai runs her own inn called The Dragonfly Inn with her best friend Sookie and Michele, the head concierge. Rory is at Yale studying journalism to be the next Christiane Amanpour, a reporter for CNN. She is presently in a relationship with Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry), who is from a well-to-do family much like her grandparents. Lorelai was engaged to Luke Danes, the local diner owner but when season six ended she had slept with Christopher Hayden, who is Rory's dad and who has popped in and out of Lorelai and Rory's life the past six seasons. When this present season started, Lorelai and Luke broke up for good and soon afterwards Lorelai started dating Christopher. They eventually eloped in Paris. This season has greatly divided the show's fans. In the one corner, Luke and Lorelai fans are known as Java Junkies (nick named for her love of coffee and as he owns the local diner he pours her a lot of coffee), and in the other corner, Christopher and Lorelai fans known as Balcony Buddies because they've had sex at least twice on the balcony outside of her childhood bedroom, one of which resulted in their daughter Rory's conception.
I myself am a Balcony Buddy backer. I liked Luke and Lorelai together -- her 'glass is half full' attitude was a nice contrast to his jaded 'glass is half empty' ways. But now that I've seen the chemistry between Lauren Graham and David Sutcliffe, I am a BBer all the way. They have all this history between them, he was her first love -- and how many of us wouldn't want a second chance with our first love?, he comes from the same social background as she does but fits into her present-day world, too. But it seems that the marriage will be short-lived. The spoilers indicate that Lorelai and Christopher's marriage will be over and that by the end of the season Luke and Lorelai will be back together.
The show is full of clever pop culture references and even historical ones but in a very accessible way. And the characters are known for their mile a minute talking. (A typical one-hour show script is about 60 pages long. A typical episode of Giilmore Girls is 80 pages long.)
Lorelai (Lauren Grhamam) and Rory (Alexis Bledel)
Lorelai and Luke (Scott Patterson) (Java Junkies)
Lorelai and Christopher (David Sutcliffe) (Balcony Buddies)
An old cast photo (from season three)
From the back row, left to right: Lane Kim (Rory's best friend since childhood), Michele (the concierge at the Dragonfly Inn), Paris Gellar (Rory's nemesis from her private school days at Chilton and now with her at Yale), Richard and Emily Gilmore (Lorelai's parents), Sookie (the chef at the inn and Lorelai's best friend), Kirk (the town everyman), Miss Patty (a former dancer who now runs the dance school in the town). Front row, left to right: Dean (Rory's first boyfriend), Luke (the local diner owner and Lorelai's former fiancee), Rory, Lorelai, Jess (Luke's nephew and a former boyfriend of Rory's).
And some other shows I watch ...
Grey's Anatomy, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Law & Order SVU (Special Victims Unit, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Unit
Boston Legal, Medium
GEORGE CLOONEY
What can I say other than that I love, love, love George Clooney. Remember the Friends episode where Ross makes up a list of the five people he can sleep with even though he is in a relationship with Rachel? He goes so far as to laminate the list that includes Isabella Rosselini and Dorothy Hamill? Well, I would put George at the top of my list!
What is there not to love about him? The salt and pepper hair, the sense of humour, the villa in Italy ...
GILMORE GIRLS
Quickie Explanation: A mother (Lorelai Gilmore) and daughter (Rory Gilmore) who are more like best friends live and love in a small town American town.
Extended Explanation: The premise is a mother and daughter who are more like best friends than a parent and a child. Lorelai Gilmore (played brilliant by Lauren Graham) had her daughter Rory (whose real name is actually Lorelai as well, played by willowy Alexis Bledel) when she was 16 years old and raised her on her own. The show starts with Rory turning 16 and now in its seventh season, Rory is in her last year at Yale. They live in a fictitious little town in Connecticut, USA called Stars Hollow (the original filming was actually done here in Ontario, Canada in Unionville) where there is an assortment of eclectic characters like Kirk who has had a million jobs around town, Miss Patty who runs the local dance school and has been married a billion times, and Babbette who calls everyone "sugar." Lorelai's elitist parents, Richard and Emily, live in posh Hartford. Their stuffiness serves as a foil to her laid back ways.
Lorelai runs her own inn called The Dragonfly Inn with her best friend Sookie and Michele, the head concierge. Rory is at Yale studying journalism to be the next Christiane Amanpour, a reporter for CNN. She is presently in a relationship with Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry), who is from a well-to-do family much like her grandparents. Lorelai was engaged to Luke Danes, the local diner owner but when season six ended she had slept with Christopher Hayden, who is Rory's dad and who has popped in and out of Lorelai and Rory's life the past six seasons. When this present season started, Lorelai and Luke broke up for good and soon afterwards Lorelai started dating Christopher. They eventually eloped in Paris. This season has greatly divided the show's fans. In the one corner, Luke and Lorelai fans are known as Java Junkies (nick named for her love of coffee and as he owns the local diner he pours her a lot of coffee), and in the other corner, Christopher and Lorelai fans known as Balcony Buddies because they've had sex at least twice on the balcony outside of her childhood bedroom, one of which resulted in their daughter Rory's conception.
I myself am a Balcony Buddy backer. I liked Luke and Lorelai together -- her 'glass is half full' attitude was a nice contrast to his jaded 'glass is half empty' ways. But now that I've seen the chemistry between Lauren Graham and David Sutcliffe, I am a BBer all the way. They have all this history between them, he was her first love -- and how many of us wouldn't want a second chance with our first love?, he comes from the same social background as she does but fits into her present-day world, too. But it seems that the marriage will be short-lived. The spoilers indicate that Lorelai and Christopher's marriage will be over and that by the end of the season Luke and Lorelai will be back together.
The show is full of clever pop culture references and even historical ones but in a very accessible way. And the characters are known for their mile a minute talking. (A typical one-hour show script is about 60 pages long. A typical episode of Giilmore Girls is 80 pages long.)
Lorelai (Lauren Grhamam) and Rory (Alexis Bledel)
Lorelai and Luke (Scott Patterson) (Java Junkies)
Lorelai and Christopher (David Sutcliffe) (Balcony Buddies)
An old cast photo (from season three)
From the back row, left to right: Lane Kim (Rory's best friend since childhood), Michele (the concierge at the Dragonfly Inn), Paris Gellar (Rory's nemesis from her private school days at Chilton and now with her at Yale), Richard and Emily Gilmore (Lorelai's parents), Sookie (the chef at the inn and Lorelai's best friend), Kirk (the town everyman), Miss Patty (a former dancer who now runs the dance school in the town). Front row, left to right: Dean (Rory's first boyfriend), Luke (the local diner owner and Lorelai's former fiancee), Rory, Lorelai, Jess (Luke's nephew and a former boyfriend of Rory's).
And some other shows I watch ...
Grey's Anatomy, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Law & Order SVU (Special Victims Unit, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Unit
Boston Legal, Medium
GEORGE CLOONEY
What can I say other than that I love, love, love George Clooney. Remember the Friends episode where Ross makes up a list of the five people he can sleep with even though he is in a relationship with Rachel? He goes so far as to laminate the list that includes Isabella Rosselini and Dorothy Hamill? Well, I would put George at the top of my list!
What is there not to love about him? The salt and pepper hair, the sense of humour, the villa in Italy ...
Labels: George Clooney, Gilmore Girls
