Cordia's Review of S1E8 - Love & War & Snow

The pain of leaving behind a cute guy.

Love & War & Snow

Season 1, Episode 8

Original airing: December 14, 2000

My Rating: 72

The Good:

Yay! Max is back! I like the idea that we haven’t seen him because he and Lorelai are playing phone tag and leading busy lives. I think that totally works, especially with them living in different towns.

Their first date is so sweet and I really appreciated the measures taken to show that this is a unique event in Lorelai’s life. I think pointing out her Rules for Dating and how they exist to protect Rory is a necessary part of the episode. I really liked that Lorelai met Rory at the door to try and prepare her in the morning. I also really like that Lorelai is being completely honest and realistic about the situation and her relationship with Max. Is it love? Who knows! But Rory deserves to be kept in the loop.

I’m always a fan of drama or conflict on a show that feels like a natural development from the characters and situations. This episode did a great job of this with Lane. She’s feeling isolated from Rory’s life and doesn’t have anyone to talk to after doing something stupid. Her fight with Rory was pretty tame by TV teenage girl standards today, but it felt very real. I can’t imagine Mrs. Kim was thrilled about Lane staying the night at Lorelai’s though.

It was great fun seeing Rory interact with her grandparents solo. They all seemed a little more relaxed without Lorelai there. The moment of discovering Lorelai’s picture and everyone coming back down to earth was pretty intense. It must be difficult to love someone and yet remember such difficulties whenever you look at them. I think there is great familial love between Lorelai and her parents as well as between Rory and her grandparents. But the fact that Lorelai got pregnant at 16, dropped out of school, and refused to get married will likely always haunt their relationships.

Finally, Luke’s storyline was a nice B-note for the episode. He’s been around Stars Hollow since he was five and he seems to often think the townspeople are doing weird and pointless things. But he’ll still bring them coffee in the middle of the night. I really liked the small moment where Kirk asked for tea and Luke said he could make that happen. I figured his response would be more along the lines of “I brought you coffee! Take the damn coffee!” There’s a sweetheart buried deep in that flannel.

And my heart broke for him when he saw Lorelai with Max in the snow. I’m a big fan of Lorelai and Max’s relationship, but it’s always hard to see a character you like take a punch in the gut.

The Bad:

Aside from a few logical fallacies, I really enjoyed this episode. I don’t have any major complaints!

Favorite Moment:

Lorelai’s face when she leaves Max on the couch was hysterical! She’s making quite the sacrifice for Lane’s teenage drama.

The Bottom Line:

It’s so nice to see Max again and I really enjoyed the development of his relationship with Lorelai. The episode also did a great job of making the Lane and Luke’s subplots feel natural and woven in to the main story.