Célèste's Review of S2E5 "Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy"

“Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy”

Season 2, Episode 5

Original airing: October 30, 2001

My Rating: 80

The Good:

• It's nice to get a small amount of closure with Max in the form of Rory's interview and it fits in nicely with the Paris-is-mad-at-Rory thing which, let's face it, is staring to lose steam. 
• This is the first time Luke has really had a subplot of his own (even when he and Rachel were having trouble, it was mostly about Rachel and Lorelai) and he really owns it. His rant about jam hands is one of my favorite moment of the series, as is the surprise of him pushing Jess in the lake. 
• Luke's rant about "jam hands" is one of the funniest and most on-point rants of the series. 
• In Jess, the show has found a new source of energy that can really turn the whole show on its head. In his interactions with Lorelai, Luke, and Rory we see opportunity for many future conflicts, and we can only imagine how Taylor and other towns people may butt heads with him as well.
• In addition to the various relationships and conflicts that are sure to come, Jess keeps this episode interesting as well. It's a great introduction to a character as we see all the obvious surface stuff (a juvenile delinquent...) as well as the underlying complexities (...who loves beat poetry). Jess has been in one episode and he's already 10 times more interesting than Dean and 5 times more interesting than Max. Welcome to season two; shit's about to get real. 

The Bad:

• The Paris plot is getting very stale. She needs to change her tactics or something.
• I would have been a lot more invested in Lorelai helping Luke if she'd done a better job at talking to Jess on the porch. She immediately makes it about herself, "I've been there," etc. to the point where you really can't blame Jess for thinking she's full of it. A better tactic would have kept the audience more clearly on her side.  

Favorite Moment:

Luke pushing Jess in the lake. 

The Bottom Line:

This episode does its job of introducing a new character brilliantly while serving a reminder of why we love Luke so much.