Célèste's Review of S1E11 "Paris is Burning"

“Paris is Burning”

Season 1, Episode 11

Original airing: January 11, 2001

My Rating: 60

The Good:

• The scene between Lorelai and Sookie where Sookie calls Lorelai out on her pattern was good. It felt real very real but with touches of humor.
• I also liked the zucchini-tush scene, and Sookie’s comment that Lorelai gets such good service, when Luke insists on tuning up Lorelai’s ice skates.
• Sookie asking Jackson out was pretty much a perfect moment.
• Sookie's dimples. Sookie totally stole this episode for me, and I don't think it's too much to give her dimples their own bullet point. 
• In addition to Sookie, I also enjoyed the continuing development of Paris and her relationship to Rory. The scene where she keeps walking away and then stopping to tell Rory that she probably won’t want to talk was really funny and well performed by Liza Weil. So was the line, "How's the coleslaw? Good?" She has such a good was displaying her joy at others' misfortunes. It's so twisted. 
• The cold open puppy scene is cute, but I’m not a big fan of cold opens that bare no relation to the rest of the episode. The only relationship here seemed to be that Lorelai is a total mess, a fact that’s a bit overplayed in the episode.

The Bad:

• Speaking of which, I found Lorelai to be really annoying in the next scene where she’s eating like crazy while Max is cleaning up. Her kookiness is what we all love about her, but in some scenes it’s more annoying than cute. I think there’s a delicate balance of how quirky she needs to be in any given episode or scene, and sometimes the balance gets thrown off.
• I liked seeing more developments in Lorealai’s relationship with Max, but it seems too soon for a breakup. Sookie says they’ve been going out for two months, but we’ve only seen their first date and the date at the beginning of this episode. I think the Lorelai/Max relationship is continually suffering from how disconnected it is from the rest of Lorelai’s life.

Favorite Moment:

Sookie asking Jackson out

The Bottom Line:
A pretty forgettable episode overall, but one with some good moments and intriguing developments