"Concert Interruptus" & "That Damn Donna Reed"

Yep. This post is late. Late late late. Sorry about that. It'll probably happen again sometime in the future.

A little housekeeping. If you live in the New York metro area, Videology in Williamsburg is hosting a Gilmore Girls watch party tonight. Details are here if you are so inclined.

"Concert Interruptus"

Air Date: February 15, 2001

Written By: Elaine Arata

Directed By: Bruce Seth Green

Other than a strong sense of satisfaction I got from seeing two bratty teenagers get smacked down, this episode didn't do a huge amount for me. Perhaps that would be different if the following episode, "That Damn Donna Reed", hadn't completely messed with my head. Jury's still out on that one. Anyway, you're getting a pretty basic recap on "Concert Interruptus".

Stars Hollow is having a rummage sale for charity. Since Lorelai has volunteered to collect for it, her entire home is overrun with everyone's stuff. Conveniently, Rory gets assigned to a group project for her history class. They're going to Rory's house to plan for it because Madeline's brother has measles, Paris' mother is redecorating post divorce, and Louise's mother is having an affair (no one blinks when that last one is mentioned). The group project meets up on the day that Sookie, Lorelai, and Rory are supposed to be going to a Bangles concert (I love you Susanna Hoff). Louise and Madeline are being nice to Rory, so in the spirit of buying her daughter friends, Lorelai suggests that they take the great concert tickets. Lorelai and Sookie wind up all the way at the back of the theater while the girls stand up front. Conveniently, the only two single, straight, college-aged boys ever to willingly go to a Bangles concert ever are standing behind them. Louise and Madeline go off with them to a NYC apartment party (not all they're cracked up to be, trust me, ladies). Paris and Rory bond over their mutual decision to enjoy the concert and not openly defy Lorleai. When Lorelai finds out that the girls have gone off to a party at 1st and Waverly, she tracks them down and unleashes her kickass mom superpowers on the boys and the wayward girls. The episode closes on the rummage sale.

Favorite Quote

"Take heart, my dear. Suffer today, party tonight." -Lorelai to Rory

Random Thoughts

-Lorelai's casual style seems to be, "If you can spangle it, I'll wear it." This makes her sometimes resemble a seven-year-old who has gone wild with her first Bedazzler.

-Tristan creepily macks on Rory in History class and gets called on it by his teacher. Then he goes up to Paris and openly flirts with her in front of Rory. Rory doesn't seem all that disturbed by this, but Tristan clearly thinks he's making a point. I'm half convinced he's going to grow up to stalk women.

-Is there anything worse than a high school group project? Probably, but I can't think of one right now because I'm blinded by all of the awful group project flashbacks running through my head.

-There's a whole subplot in this episode that deals with Lorelai enraging Luke by wearing his ex-girlfriend Rachel's sweatshirt. She pokes and prods to find out more information about Rachel, and Sookie and Patty paint this picture of an adventurous photographer who traveled the world. Eventually we come to learn that Luke's attachment to Stars Hollow was a breaking point for the relationship.

-Miss Patty is quickly solidifying herself as one of my favorite secondary characters. I love that she donates to the rummage sale the drum set she danced on at the Copacabana in 1969.

-I've always loved the "Hey look, a random band that has a CD to promote/is getting paid for an appearance" moment in TV shows. It's even better when the writers attempt to work the band into a story line and it kind of falls flat on its face. Sheryl Crowe in GCBs was my favorite, a reference which I realize that like .02% of the population is going to understand so here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOQOZLlOfpU

-Just for accuracy's sake, I'm going to tell you that Waverly and 1st doesn't exist in New York City. Don't go looking for it, Gilmore Girls fans.

"That Damn Donna Reed"

Air Date: February 22, 2001

Written By: Daniel Palladino, Amy Sherman-Palladino

Directed By: Michael Katleman

Gilmore Girls, you were so, so close to warming my little feminist heart. Sadly, you dropped the ball in "That Damn Donna Reed".

The episode opens with Lorelai, Rory, and Dean watching The Donna Reed Show. The ladies are making fun of the ridiculous 1950s standards that Donna is held to on the show, but then Dean steps in it:

Dean: She looks happy.

Lorelai: She's medicated.

This reveals Dean's belief that it would be nice to have a wife to come home to with dinner. It's what his mother has done for his father for years. Both of the women (and I) stared at him in disbelief.

Let me stop for a second here and talk about my own feelings on gender expectations. I'm a feminist, a very proud feminist of the third-wave variety. If a woman wants to make dinner for her husband and be a Donna Reed-esque housewife and she has a choice to do that, that's fine with me. The key word here is choice. What Dean does not seem to understand is that the character of Donna Reed* didn't have a choice. The expectation was that, as a housewife, she would be making her home a beautiful, pleasant place for her husband. Her own desire to live in a beautiful, pleasant home was secondary. Her husband has no expectation of contributing to the household except to go out and work, something Donna can't do because it would undermine his masculinity. Plus, you know, no jobs were really available to women of her social status. Yipie! Essentially, Donna Reed the character was constructed to reinforce the idea that this was the ideal situation for the middle class, American family. It is such, such bull.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-uh3XbUMfY

Back to Gilmore Girls. Rory is more than a little horrified by the idea that Dean would expect this from the woman he eventually marries. Rightly so. Dean, being a straight, white, American, male teenager, assumes that this is the way things will be. That assumption? It sucks, and Rory calls him out on it.

So I'm watching along, thinking, "Goodness, this is pretty progressive for a WB TV show at the turn of the millennium. Good for Gilmore Girls." Then the wheels fall off the train. Rory dresses up like Donna Reed, cooks Dean dinner, and then agrees that it's pretty great doing this for her husband-like figure. Gee, big surprise that Dean agrees.

Okay, I try not to be a hypocrite so a caveat. Rory chooses to cook Dean dinner (there's that choice word again). Awesome for you, Rory. I can't be mad about that. I do wish that it didn't happen right after a fight in which your boyfriend didn't seem to understand the issues with expecting that his wife have dinner waiting for him at the end of the day, but I can't get picky.

Except I'm going to.

You see, while Rory learns that there are different ways to express and perform femininity,** Dean doesn't seem to learn anything from this episode. The writers make a weak attempt at showing that the real life Donna Reed was a producer on her show, making her one of the first TV executives in the business, but we don't see a real change in attitude from Dean. He doesn't grow, and that frustrates me. I want a female-centric show with a lead who defies social norms by being a proud single mother to do better.

The rest of the episode focuses on Lorelai getting close to Luke. She convinces him to paint Luke's which throws them into a lot of situations where they're alone. Then, after nearly kissing him while hiding in Luke's (for ridiculous reasons), Lorelai calls him to find Rory's chick that has gotten loose. Conveniently, Rory is next door dressed up as Donna Reed, so the house is empty. Unfortunately, she really did mean it when she told Luke over the phone that she needed his help finding an escaped chicken. Later Sookie finds out that Luke came over and tells Lorelai that she's got to figure her feelings out for this guy. Emily does the same before going scary, judgmental mother on her.

All is well and good and then a dude rides up on a motorcycle...and of course it's the elusive Christopher! Rory's father plays Cool Dad, telling his daughter that she should go for a ride on the back of his bike. Oh, and by the way, he's going to be staying for awhile.

Fantastic. So we're going to have Rory's dad around, mucking everything up.

*throws up hands and collapses on couch*

I don't even known what to do with this episode...

Favorite Quote

Lorelai: Excuse me, do you even know what stenciling is?

Luke: Does Martha Stewart do it?

Lorelai: Yes.

Luke: No stenciling.

Reasons Luke is Bound to Break Julia’s Heart

Luke kills Lorelai's horrible lemon lamp in the hunt for the chick. He is a defender of good taste. Also, I sat through most of this episode screaming, "Kiss her! Kiss him!" at the screen (when I wasn't being annoyed at Dean, of course).

Random Thoughts

-There's a hilarious subplot in this episode about Emily and Richard not being able to get their usual house in Martha's Vineyard for the spring season. It involves the most incredible shocked silence ever seen on TV over the suggestion that they might not fly first class to Europe in the fall. Richard and Emily sometimes remind me of two actors on an old 40s radio play.

-Not going to lie, my first reaction to Rory dressing up at Donna Reed and having Dean over for Donna Reed Night was, "Oh god, this is twisted. But I love her dress."

They also talk about snatching up Martha's Vineyard houses from dead people like New Yorkers speak about snatching up apartments from their dead tenants

-During a transitional shot, there's a random guy playing a guitar and singing into a portable microphone amp thingy strapped to him. Who are you and what is the place called Stars Hollow?

*Who was a white, middle class, cisgender female TV character.

**I'm going to say right here that I strongly believe that choosing to wear pearls, lipstick, and heels doesn't make you any less of a feminist.

"Kiss and Tell" & "Love and War and Snow"

 

"Kiss and Tell"

Rory's first kiss, guys! (Everyone take a moment for collective warm fuzzy sighs of happiness).

No big surprise that "Kiss and Tell" is all about relationships and growing up. Dean, ever a romantic, kisses Rory near the soda fridges in the local supermarket where he is a bagger. Naturally, Rory's reaction is supremely awkward. She doesn't say anything, just runs out clinging to a box of cornstarch and goes to find Lane. Lane's mother overhears Rory's story, and Mrs. Kim tells Lorelai that her daughter's been kissing boys where people buy their food (the horror!). Lorelai is upset that Rory didn't tell her about the kiss so she goes off to stalk him in the grocery store. We get our first extended Lorelai and Luke scene, after which Lorelai confronts Rory about Dean. Lorelai thinks she's being helpful by inviting Dean to a movie night, but Rory fears being seen as lame for having her mother around. Finally Lorelai and Dean have the required, "Don't hurt my little girl," conversation, and she gives him her motherly blessing. Sort of.

This episode shows us that both Rory and Lorelai are growing up and changing. Rory hits a bunch of teenage firsts in this episode (first kiss, first date) while Lorelai struggles with the idea of her little girl getting older. The thing that seems to bother Lorelai the most isn't that Rory is dating. It's that Rory has secrets of her own now. Luke pinpoints exactly what Lorleai's problem is -- she's freaking out because she's not ready for this yet.

Lorelai seems to often walk the line between mother and best friend on this show. At times she's intensely maternal, slaying dragons for her daughter whether they be in the form of stodgy headmasters or her own mother's Junior League ambitions. During other moments she seems to be playing the child (see the horrible, ridiculous fight from "Kill Me Now"). She hates being left out and sometimes comes off as hating that her daughter might have an inner life of her own. And yet there are lovely moments like the one at the end of this episode with the two Gilmore girls gossiping about Dean after he leaves movie night. It's simple, sweet, and shows the strength of the mother/daughter bond. My hope for the show is that we're going to simultaneously see the growth of both characters throughout the series run.

Pop Culture References

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971), The Way We Were, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Elsa Klensch, James Dean, General Hospital, Liz Phair, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, "Pink Moon" by Nick Drake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXnfhnCoOyo

Favorite Quotes

“I got kissed… and I shoplifted.” –Rory

===

Luke: You’re not going to kill the bag boy.

Lorelai: Why not?

Luke: It’s double coupon day. You’ll bring down the town.

Reasons Luke is Bound to Break Julia's Heart <--- a new feature moving forward because, let's be totally honest here...

Lorelai runs into Luke when she's stalking Dean in the grocery story. Immediately he pinpoints why Dean bothers her so much: having a boyfriend and keeping secrets from her mother means that Rory is growing up. You are absolutely right, Luke. You know her so well! Oh god, this show is going to torment me with the "Will they? Won't they? Why did they screw it up?" tension for seasons, isn't it?

Random Thoughts

-I had no idea that Dean was also Sam Winchester on Supernatural. Mind. Blown.

-I want a Sookie in my life who just shows up with random desserts. Now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't complain because one of my coworkers brought in whipped pumpkin dip and cinnamon graham crackers on Wednesday...

-The Lorelai/Dean conversation when Rory steps out during movie night was one of the best Lorelai moments we've seen so far. It would be really easy to write Lorelai as the scary mother who just threatens Dean with bodily harm if he hurts her daughter. Instead, she tells Dean that the whole town of Stars Hollow loves Rory, and lets him figure out on his own how much trouble he'll be in if he's a jerk to her. Even better, Dean earns Lorelai's respect by standing up to her and promising not to hurt her daughter.

"Love and War and Snow"

"Love and War and Snow" hits so many of the right buttons for me. So much so that I'm not even doing a recap. Let's jump in:

1) The episode opens up with a town meeting whether no one can get along or get a word in. Randomly Luke starts picking a fight with the mayor about a reenactment of a seemingly non-significant (?) battle or something or another that happened in Stars Hollow during the Revolutionary War? Just go with it.

I do journalistic things in my day job, and this reminded me so much of Community Board meetings here in New York City. I mean, the last one I went to was about whether to allow a methadone clinic in one neighborhood so maybe not quite that intense...

Just watch this clip from Parks & Rec while I regain my train of thought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng_-HgRfGBY

2) Snow! It's nearly November, and a sick little part of me is excited for the first snowfall of the year. I feel you Lorelai. I love the first snow of the year.* I love the cleanness of the snow and the possibility it brings. I love the crisp air and my intense desire to wrap myself up in a blanket with a book and stare out the window. And you're right, Lorelai. The clothes are better.

Snow is also the background for one of my favorite romantic TV moments. I tried to find a YouTube clip of the Matthew and Mary moment from Season 2 of Downton Abbey (you know what I'm talking about, fans) but everything has a spoilery title to it. As I've mentioned before, we're keeping The Gilmore Girls Project as spoiler free as possible even when it comes to other shows.

3) My writer friends will tell you that snowed in romances are some of my favorites -- so much so that they've told me to just write the damn things myself and stop asking for books written to order.** How convenient is it that Max shows up in Stars Hollow right before a snow storm so he kind of has to maybe stay with Lorelai who happens to be solo that night because Rory went ahead to her grandparents' house and is snowed in up in Hartford? It's super convenient, except for the tiny complication of Lane also being at the Gilmore house. Speaking of which...

4) I feel for Lane in this episode, guys. She is all of the teenage angst rolled into one. She touches the hair of the boy she likes and is so embarrassed she runs (there are a lot of teen girls running away from boys in Gilmore Girls). Then she feels like she's losing touch with Rory who seems to be wrapped up in her own happiness with Dean. Even Lorelai's got a man in the house during this snow storm. All of this angst leads to a really lovely moment between Lorelai and Lane late in the episode.

5) Oh Max (formerly known as Mr. Good Hair). He's kind of a gamma isn't he? He's alphaish to let Lorelai know what he wants, but he's beta enough that he's willing to sit back and let her take the lead, especially in her own house. And he's fairly adorable sprawled out on the couch with a book on his chest the next morning. But obviously Lorelai needs to end up with Luke. Obviously.

So this episode wraps with Lorelai dating Max, Rory still dating Dean, and Rory promising to be a better friend to Lane. Hooray!

Literary References

Jane Austen, Hunter S. Thompson, Charlotte Bronte

Reasons Luke is Bound to Break Julia's Heart

Oh god, guys. This show is setting me up to break me. Luke hands out coffees to the reenactment soldiers even though he finds them morally reprehensible. Then he spots Lorelai kissing Max on the street (because of course), and he just looks so crushed. After they had such a good moment in the last episode! Ugh.

Random Thoughts

-Lorelai listens back to a voicemail from Max over and over again in the beginning of this episode prompting the question: has texting ruined that part of dating? The part where you save and relistened to messages because the relationship was still new and you were excited to hear their voice. I love the immediacy of texting, but there's something about that voicemail scene that makes me a little nostalgic.

-Lane reminds me of a couple people I knew in high school who seemed completely out of sync with the people around them. They wanted more. The knew that the world was bigger than what they were being shown (in Lane's case Korean Bibles and boys her parents set her up with). I hope that she winds up being that type of character who heads off to college and only comes home for holidays.

---

*Or at least I did until I became a journalist. Sadly, there are no snow days in news. Instead, those are the days you often work the hardest. There's a strange, sick sense of satisfaction in that which makes me begrudgingly enjoy them (albeit in a very different way).

**Obviously that defeats the purpose of having friends to write books for you.

There is now a special tab section on my website for The Gilmore Girls Project. That's the place to go if you want to catch up and watch along with me. If you want to leave me a comment, you can do that here, on Facebook, or by tweeting at me using #GilmoreGirlsProject

"Cinnamon's Wake" & "Rory's Birthday Parties"

Wordpress decided to glitch on this post while I was trying to schedule it on Sunday morning, so email followers might have gotten an earlier, perfectly fine version of it. Now, I was scheduling during the ridiculous last 3 minutes of the Liverpool 3-2 win over Queens Park Rangers, so maybe Wordpress was just overwhelmed by the insane soccer.

Last week you might remember that we encountered some weaker Gilmore Girls offerings. The show was clearly struggling to figure out its place. It had moments of sweetness or intelligence, but they got bogged down in characters who felt more like stereotypes than real, multi-layered people. I'm happy to say that this week I really started to feel like the writers understand who they want the characters (especially Lorelai) to be. But more on that in a bit.

Before we start, I should say that there is now a special tab section on my website for The Gilmore Girls Project. If you are coming into this article series cold, thank you! You can catch up and watch along with me or just jump in wherever you like. If you want to leave me a comment, you can do that here, on Facebook, or by tweeting at me using #GilmoreGirlsProject

"Cinnamon's Wake"

One of the things that people trying to sell me on Gilmore Girls have told me over and over again is how charming the community of Stars Hollow is (I've been promised I will want to move there eventually). This is the episode where we really see what community means to these people, and how they come together in times of need.

I don't really need to do too much of a wrap up on this episode because really only two things happen. Max* and Lorelai agree to go on a date after a "pre-date" at a Hartford coffee shop. Then Cinnamon, the cat owned by the Gilmores' neighbors Babette and Morty, dies. Lorelai forgets about her real date with Max during the wake. Naturally, Max shows up and Rory realizes that her mother and her teacher are interested in each other.

Cinnamon dies, and the same afternoon the entire town of Stars Hollow descends on Babette's charmingly small house to celebrate the life of her beloved cat. Both Sookie and Luke bring food, Dean shows up with drinks from the store, Miss Patty is there to be Miss Patty. When Max comes, Lorelai tries to explain that they're having a wake for her neighbor's cat. While he clearly thinks that's kind of crazy, it's totally normal to the residents of Stars Hollow. One of their own is hurting so they group together to show their love. Outsiders might not understand, but this is what these people do. It's a lovely sentiment, and one I'm guessing that we'll see revisited throughout the show.

Pop Culture References

M. Night Shyamalan, Valley of the Dolls**, Iran-Contra Affair, Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thorton, Rancid's "Time Bomb"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhKHAopx7D0

Favorite Quote

"I'm attracted to pie. Doesn't mean I feel the need to date pie." -Lorelai to Max

"Lorelai, I don't know how many French people you've met over the years, but most of them are insufferable." -Michel

Random Thoughts

-While watching this episode, I messaged my friend Matt about it. Matt has been a very vocal supporter of The Gilmore Girls Project, which is probably why he drunkenly text messaged me every line in the show's theme song. On Monday, he followed up via gchat^:

Matt:  so after i drunkenly texted you the gilmore girls theme song

me: which was my favorite part of Saturday

Matt:  i went home and mainlined a few episodes

Matt: (and also ate an entire pizza)

me: you are a champion

-The M. Night Shyamalan reference killed me. Clearly this show was shot in 2000. The Sixth Sense was released in 1999 and Unbreakable was released in November of 2000 (which means it's quite possible that it wasn't even out yet when this episode when to air). How different things are now...

-Chilton must have the most twee school bake sale ever

-The scene between Lorleai and Max when they're walking through the school grounds shows us just how far quality has come in TV. The sound mixing is atrocious in this scene

-This show relies heavily on silver eyeshadow... like much of the early 2000s. I just can't wait for everyone to start wearing frosted blue eyeshadow next season.

---

*Previously called Mr. Good Hair by me

**Loved that cracktastic book when I read it many years ago (probably well before it was appropriate for me to read it)

^Edited lightly so that you all don't have to pick through the mess of a gchat conversation between two friends who have known each other for years

"Rory's Birthday Parties"

Finally all of our hard work as viewers pays off in this wonderful episode. The writers manage to pack a whole bunch of themes into "Rory's Birthday Parties" including:

• The relationships between generations of mothers and daughters and coping with realizing that parents and children begin to miss out on each others' lives as children age
• The division of classes as illustrated between Rory's two birthday shindigs
• Families that are not tied together by blood

Really though, I don't want to talk about any of those things (except maybe in the Random Thoughts section). That's because something more exciting happened this episode. Luke won me over.

Here's a quick rundown of our action. Emily decides she is going to throw Rory a classy birthday party on their usual Friday dinner night even though Lorelai wants to throw her one the same night. Lorelai winds up taking Saturday for an alternative birthday. Emily reaches out to Lorelai for help buying Rory a birthday present, and they have a not awful shopping experience. Rory sees that her grandmother and mother hung out without fighting and doesn't want to tell her mother that Emily has invited all of the awful people at school to her birthday including Tristan (formally called Smarmy Prep School Guy on The Gilmore Girls Project). The classy party is, naturally, a disaster, and Rory fights with Emily. The alternative birthday with seemingly all of Stars Hollow is a huge success until Emily and Richard show up and it gets awkward. There is a touching moment when Emily realizes that she doesn't know that Lorelai broke her leg three years ago. Rory and Emily make up. Emily tells Richard that she doesn't really know her daughter after all.

*gasps for breath*

Okay, fine. Now Luke.

So I acknowledge that I have a soft spot for grouchy heroes. Just to clarify, not every grumpy character qualifies as a grouchy hero. He needs to exhibit some heroic qualities (even if they are small, subtle ones) to elevate him. In this episode, Luke does.

The writers use a three-beat to develop Luke throughout the episode and give us a deeper look at the backwards baseball cap-wearing coffee shop owner. First, Lorelai plops herself down at his counter and we get this exchange.

Luke: Will you marry me?

Lorelai: What?

Luke: Just looking for something to shut you up.

The way that Lorelai grins at him afterwards tells us that this is not to be taken personally. This is just Luke being Luke. And yet we as viewers get the sense that Luke isn't entirely joking (go ahead and squee, fangirls).

The second beat with Luke gives us a nice look at his relationship with Rory. On her birthday, she also plops down at the counter with Lane when Luke walks up.

Luke: Wrong table.

Rory: Since when is there a right table?

Luke: Since the coffee cake I baked for you and the balloons I blew up for you are at that table [points]... I count to three and it's gone.

Later we see that there's a pink candle stuck in the coffee cake and the balloons have "Happy birthday Rory!" hand-written on them in Sharpie. In this very quick exchange we learn a lot about Luke. He knows Rory's birthday and goes out of his way to do something special for her. He not only bakes, he blows up balloons and decorates them for her. Underneath the grouchy exterior, he cares for the 16-year-old. These are the little things that let us know that this man isn't just a grump. These are the very quiet markers of the good guy hero.

Rounding out our three-beat, Luke shows up at Rory and Lorelai's house at just the right time. The party has run out of ice, and Lorelai is just about to run out for more when he shows up on their doorstep with two bags because everyone always needs ice. She launches herself at him, hugging him full-on, and we know that this is a big deal for Luke even if Lorelai doesn't realize it. In his own, quiet way, Luke cares. He cares about Rory, and he's clearly romantically interested in Lorelai even if something is holding him back.

TV shows are great at the slow burn. If I'm reading this right and Luke is going to be the man we know that Lorelai should be with, it's going to take them like five seasons to finally get together. The "will they, won't they" romantic relationship gets helped along with these tiny moments of revelation brought to us to three-beats like this. We're learning more about our characters and becoming invested in them at the same time. Until he does something to ruin that for me (which he probably will because, again, it's a TV show), I'll be rooting for Luke, the grouchy hero.

Book Nerd Moments

Edith Wharton

Pop Culture References

Madonna, Elvis, Jim Morrison, the Vulcan Death Grip, The Fly (but which version?), The Waltons, Cosmopolitan Magazine

Favorite Moment

How can I not list Luke's exchange with Rory about her birthday coffee cake.

Favorite Quote

"She did agree to get the string quartet to learn 'Like a Virgin.'" -Lorelai on Emily, party planning monster

Random Thoughts

-Emily and Richard's idea of a rager of a night is sticking Post-It Notes on objects around the house so that Rory and Lorelai can claim them as part of their inheritance (although it does beg the question, who else would inherit?)

-Emily calls Lorelai and when they are on the phone I realized that Emily is sitting next to a needlepoint pillow depicting Raphael's Madonna del Prato. It feels so tacky and yet so perfect after asking her daughter to stick Post-It Notes on household objects

-There are a few lovely scenes that reveal more about the relationship between Lorelai and Emily in this episode. First we have the shopping trip for Rory. Then Emily finds out that Lorelai broke her leg, but Emily never knew. And finally, Emily has a moment in the car when she tells Richard, "She's right. I don't know my daughter at all."

-I adore Richard. Rory sets him up on the porch with an issue of Comso and later in the episode he proudly announces that he is an autumn

-Does Dean own a change of clothes? Every time I see him he is in the same green striped sweater, jeans, and leather jacket. Every. Single. Time.

-Speaking of Dean...continuing the sweet, awkwardness of the last episode, Dean and Rory have a moment at the end of "Rory's Birthday Parties" when he gives her a charm bracelet he made. Lorelai sees this out the window and we know that she doesn't quite know how to process this. She tries to be the cool mom, but at the same time, there's a boy around her daughter. I'm sure that we'll be seeing more of floppy-haired Dean and Lorelai's uncertainty about him soon

-I want all the pink feather boas at my next birthday party

"Pilot" & "The Lorelais' First Day at Chilton"

Here we go... the first episodes of my new Gilmore Girls project.

Before I say anything about the show so far, let me explain my policy with new TV shows. I give every new show 4 episodes to convince me that I should continue investing my time in watching (although we already know I'm committed to the entire first season for this project). I do this because my goodness are some pilots rough. Even shows that I've loved (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sleepy Hollow, and Firefly) have had weak showings in the opening episodes compared to the rest of the show. Writers figure things out. Characters settle down. Arcs develop. It just takes time to work everything out. I try to be mindful of that so while I might judge harshly sometimes, I'm open-minded about the awesomeness that is coming.

So with all of that in mind, let's jump in.

"Pilot"

Before we tackle anything about this pilot and my feelings on pilots in general, I'm just going to put this out there. Man I feel old. In my head, 2000 when Gilmore Girls aired wasn't that long ago. Sure, I didn't have a cell phone and I spent an inordinate amount of time on AIM because I was a freshman in high school (and seriously, what else was I going to do?). However, 2000 feels fresh in my memory.

And then I watched this episode.

"Pilot" opens with Sixpence None the Richer's "There She Goes." I cannot remember the last time I heard that song (or any Sixpence None the Richer song) without it being played A) with irony or B) over the PA system at a Duane Reade. I dropped in the music video so that you can enjoy the glory that is the lead singer's pixie cut hair, shiny and yet starkly pale makeup with a red lip, choker, and metallic mesh top over a black camisole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMfXeuv4kZE

With the exception of the pixie cut, I'm pretty sure that I looked exactly like this wandering the halls of my Southern California high school in 2000.

So we're moving along through the opening scene and then we get a Macy Gray CD reference. Judge me all you want, but I loved the hell out of Macy Gray's "Why Didn't You Call Me" when it came out. I'd want my CD back too, Rory.

So enough about me feeling old about the song choices or the fact that the inn where Lorelai works has a paper book rather than computers to hold reservations. Let's get into the meat of the episode.

The basic set up seems to be that Lorelai has a brilliant daughter, Rory, who she had when she was 16. Lorelai has raised Rory as a single mother and is incredibly close with her daughter. Lorelai has ambitions to open an inn of her own and send her daughter off to the best schools (and eventually land her a spot at Harvard). Rory is sharply intelligent and a bookworm which already endears me to her. So far, so good.

Where I'm hoping that the show develops in interesting ways rather than taking us down the usual path is in the relationship between Lorelai and her parents. They've been mostly estranged because of their disappointment in her early pregnancy and her insistence that she will make her own way in the world. But when Rory gets into the prestigious prep school Chilton, Lorelai has to humble herself and ask for financial help for tuition. Naturally her mother uses this as an opportunity to blackmail her wayward daughter into family dinners. The mother wants to be involved in her life, and while this might be a simple request we're led to believe that it's not quite so easy as that.

My hope is that this show will not take the predictable route of making the wise yet emotionally manipulative mother the reason that Lorelai reconciles with her parents. There were several quite awkward moments that played well (including Rory sitting at the dinner table with her grandfather as they listen to Lorelai and her mother fight in the kitchen) to show how the reality of this extended family isn't a happy one. Also, please give Lorelai's father some more characterization other than being the disengaged, wealthy father who shows his apathy by sitting on the couch and reading the newspaper while his female kin dukes it out passive aggressively across the room. Same goes for the cold, seemingly perfect mother. If this is as smart a show as everyone assures me it is, I have no doubt that we're going to be peeling back layers soon enough.

Book Nerd Moments

Madame Bovary, Moby Dick, Jack Kerouac

Pop Culture References

Rosemary's Baby, Mommy Dearest

Julia Feels Old Moment

Sixpence None the Richer, Macy Gray references

Favorite Quote

"People are particularly stupid today. I cannot talk to them." -Michel

"Oh, hey..." Moment

Melissa McCarthy's in this show. I didn't know that.

Random Thoughts:

-Rock on, there's a Korean BFF! It's not a leading role, but let's hear it for some representation of Asians on TV in a positive light.

-Michel is my standout favorite part of the show so far. Apparently all it takes is a snippy, rude Frenchman to make me happy. I would gladly watch a half hour show of just him insulting people.

-Melissa McCarthy's character is a disaster of clumsy cliches, but I did enjoy the beautiful choreography of her staff cleaning up or quite literally putting out the fires after her.

-Does anyone look really good in knit beanies? I would posit no...

-Maybe less with the slutty mom jokes. I'm hoping that the writers assume the audience has gotten enough of the, "Hey, Lorelai got knocked up when she was 16," message and will stop with the self-deprecating slut shaming. Clearly this woman does not have loose sexual morals, and even if she does I really don't care. Is she a good mom to her daughter? Looks like it so far.

-Who is this Dean character and why does he look 24 to Alexis Bledel's 16? *glares suspiciously*

"The Lorelais' First Day at Chilton"

"The Lorelais' First Day at Chilton" focuses on what I assume will be a theme repeated throughout Gilmore Girls: class, wealth, and keeping up appearances.

This episode's title pretty much sums up everything you need to know about the action for the next 42 minutes. Lorelai drops Rory off a school in cutoffs, a tie-dyed pink t-shirt, cowboy boots, and a long coat because...laundry day? Lorelai's mother, Emily, goes way overboard when it comes to buying Rory supplemental parts of her uniform, pissing Lorelai off when Emily reveals that she will also be buying the 16-year old a car for her birthday. Rory finds her new school overwhelming in its exacting demands.* The student body doesn't seem to warm to Rory one bit as she has clashes with a hyper type A girl and a popular boy who insists on calling her a "Mary"--a commentary on her innocence which doesn't really seem to phase Rory all that much.

Now that we've gotten all of that out of the way, let's talk a little more about the idea of prep school and class division in the episode. It becomes quite clear that Chilton is not a world in which Rory is necessary welcome. She is innocent, studious, and clearly an outsider because of those things. Interestingly, we do not yet see any real victimization of Rory for being less wealthy than the rest of the school aside from one of her classmates questioning where her old school was. So far, it is the adults who duke it out over whether "fitting in" is something worth striving for.

Rory seems to straddle a line between her grandparents' upper class indulgence and her mother's middle class values. Over and over we see that Lorelai wants her daughter to work for the things she has in life much in the same way that Lorelai has, while Rory's grandmother doesn't understand the problem with taking a little help to make the girl's life more pleasant. It is almost as though her grandmother 1) believes that Rory will not fit in to her new school and 2) only really knows how to relate to the girl through giving her the markers of that upper class life Emily leads.**

The question of taking help is an interesting one. The whole series so far (all two episodes of it), revolves around one question: when is it worth accepting help from someone if it goes against your principles? In the case of Rory's tuition, Lorelai can swallow her pride. When it comes to helping her daughter fit in at her new school, Lorelai is staunchly against accepting her mother's money.

I have no doubt that much of the show's conflict will arise from Rory attempting to fit in to a new place where she is the outsider even more so than she was at her other school. We're led to believe that at Stars Hollow she at least one close-knit friendship despite being a dreamy girl who is constantly reading.

One more thing to note. Lorelai is a mess. I suppose we're meant to believe that she's something of a sympathetic mess. I get the struggle of raising a teenage daughter on her own. That's not what I'm talking about. My complaint is that we're getting all of her characterization in kind of ridiculous ways. She talks too much when she's nervous! She doesn't have any clean clothes! She demands coffee from Luke in a way I think is supposed to be cute! And yet through all of this we know that she's meant to be more than competnent at her job. I hope that those things are not mutually exclusive. I'm a little tired of TV's, "This woman is strong as has it together professionally except her personal life is a mess because clearly she can't have it all," thing. At some point I hope that the show settles into letting the viewer pick up on the nuances of her character and trusts the audience to like her as we see her.

Book Nerd Moments

Oh so many it makes the book nerd in my shiver with delight. I want to be in Rory's English class at Chilton. Dickens (Great Expectations, Little Dorritt, A Tale of Two Cities), Tolstoy (Anna Karenina and War and Peace), George Sands, Balzac

Pop Culture References

Schindler's List

Favorite Quote

"Oh ladies, what do I see? Naked girls? Keep those leotards on. This is not Brazil!” -Miss Patty (I love her so)

“Now walk smooth. That’s a new Harry Potter on your heads. If it should fall, Harry will die and there will be no more books.” – Miss Patty

“Excuse me. There’s a phone call for you. If I am to fetch you like a dog, I’d like a cookie and a raise.” –Michel

Random Thoughts

-This show seriously suffers from a lack of HD (I'm looking at you, opening credits). What is this world we used to live in?

-Back off about TV journalism, superior headmaster. Some of us do good work.

-Rory has a cute uniform. I never had a cute uniform (see first footnote).

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*When I was in the 3rd grade, my parents had me go through the application process at Westridge School for Girls in Pasadena, CA (the options for middle school were slim in the Pasadena area at the time). I remember very clearly the entrance exam, multiple interviews, and essays I wrote. That's right, I wrote essays for a prep school at the age of seven (I wasn't with my age group, long story) as well as the extensive interview process for my parents. Not to disparage Westridge which is a wonderful school, but it bordered on crazy. I wound up being told I was too young to enter Westridge and to reapply the following year. My parents opted to move instead so that my sister and I could attend an excellent public school outside of the Pasadena school system. The struggle for good schools is real and ridiculous, and I sympathize with all of my friends who are currently trying to get their children into the best educational institutions available.

**In fairness, we have seen very little of Emily's interactions with Rory. Instead she has primarily been used as a foil for Lorelai. My hope that is Emily's characterization will deepen as the show goes on because right now it is very easy to brush her off as a cold rich lady who gets her way by throwing her money around and is in some ways attempting to buy her granddaughter's affection. From what I have been told about this show, the writing it too smart to continue down that path.