Sadie, Sadie
Season 2, Episode 1
Original airing: 10/9/2001
My Rating: 57
The Good:
This episode picks right up from the finale of Season 1 and
it’s full steam ahead with the proposal storyline. I like that Max is living up
to his word and giving Lorelai space to think. It makes her eventual acceptance
feel more heartfelt.
Rory’s excitement over the proposal really helps sell the
whole thing. If she was at all hesitant, it would be really weird for Lorelai
to accept. So having both girls on board is very fun and makes for a super cute
scene at the first Friday Night Dinner.
I also really like the importance the episode put on Lorelai
telling Luke about the whole thing. It was a great touch to have the whole town
interested in this moment, though it perhaps crossed the line in to a bit too
silly with the literal window watching. But it was still a great scene. Of
course, Luke would immediately bring up all the practical questions to spin
Lorelai’s head. He does it so craftily, I couldn’t help but smile the whole
time.
The final third of the episode fell primarily into The Bad
for me, except for the very end. Emily’s reaction to Sookie’s phone call was
fantastic and my Favorite Moment.
The Bad:
I was not a fan of Lane’s subplot. While she seems genuinely
concerned, Rory doesn’t act at all worried that she’s losing her best friend to
Korea for goodness knows how long. And I was not a fan of the luggage shot. It
was too ridiculous of a visual and reminded me of a sitcom gag. It just felt
very out of place to me in the Gilmore Girls reality.
I was also disappointed by the ring conversation on the
phone with Max and Rory. Rory was beyond obvious by repeating everything Max
said to Lorelai. And I figured, Max must know! But then his reaction is
surprise that Lorelai is listening! Again, it felt like a poorly done sitcom
joke. It was too long and drawn out and I didn’t find it humorous at all.
But the entire second Friday Night Dinner was where I really
struggled with this episode. I think Lorelai’s eventual explanation is fine
(Richard is worried Rory will ditch her future for a guy), but his behavior is
out of character and inexcusable. While his reasoning is sound and I think his
concerns are valid in his own eyes, I just don’t see him as someone who could
stand to be that rude to someone else’s face. He should be much better at
hiding his feelings and being subtly subversive. It was the outright pouting and
anger that felt so out of place to me. And having it be so bad that even Emily
feels the need to step in was just bizarre.
Overall, I think this would have been a much more successful
sequence if Richard had been more in control of himself. I know he has a
similar reaction during the aborted dinner with Christopher’s parents in S1E15,
but it just doesn’t work to turn the same kind of emotion on to a 16 year old
boy.
Favorite Moment:
I feel so bad for Sookie to be unwitting bearer of news and
conflict for Emily and Lorelai. But this was a great way to reveal the
engagement to Emily and help her really stand up for Rory. While she’s
moderately supportive at the dinner, this is when she really steps up and tells
Richard to suck it up. She’s truly aware that if they want a good lasting
relationship with their granddaughter they’ll have to handle things very
differently than they did with Lorelai. We’ve seen glimpses of this in past
episodes, but here is where it seems to really hit home.
Kelly Bishop’s stoic face to Richard and subsequent break
down in the hallway really make this moment a well-acted punch to the gut.
The Bottom Line:
The majority of this episode was great. Having Lorelai work
her way through her own thought process (and Luke’s) to her decision on the
proposal was really necessary. And Rory’s support of the idea was fantastic.
But the subplots with Lane and Dean were really poorly done in my eyes and
detracted from the episode as a whole.
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