Célèste's Review of S2E9 "Run Away, Little Boy"

“Run Away, Little Boy"

Season 2, Episode 8

Original airing: November 27, 2001

My Rating: 46

The Good:

• I like that the show finally acknowledges and gives motivation for the fact that Lorelai has been ignoring Luke as a romantic interest this season. After suffering the heartbreak she did over Max, it makes sense that she would be gun-shy about risking a good friendship that provides a lot of support in her life. 
• Lorelai's impression of Dean is spot-on and hilarious! It's one of those moments where you feel that the show is at least a little self-aware of its own failures and can laugh at itself a little. 
• Michel is hilarious in the blueberry/Destiny's Child scene. Classic!
• Miss Patty smoking as she says, "breath in, breath out" to her yoga class" is great!

The Bad:

• Overall the Tristan plot isn't as engaging as it needs to be because his relationship with Rory never developed. After they shared a vulnerable moment last season and seemed like they were becoming friends, he went back to the old Tristan with no explanation during the whole P.J. Harvey thing and then he disappeared for ten episodes, and now we're supposed to care about him? We're supposed to buy into lines like, "I would kiss you but your boyfriend's watching" and moments like Rory smiling when he calls her Mary. Get real. 
• Jealous, angry Dean is very unflattering and I think it's a huge missed opportunity that Rory doesn't push him to trust her more and stop being so controlling. Him forcing her to let him come to the rehearsal and then taking off (but not before the requisite chaste goodbye kiss) is nothing short of nauseating. 
• I like seeing more from Henry, but there was no real plot here to move that storyline along. Rory pushing Lane to break out of her cage isn't enough. Henry pushing her a little would have been nice to see. 
• There are so many logical gaps and small, distracting problems. These are the kinds of things that may not bother me so much in a good episode, but completely grate on me when the rest of the episode doesn't hold up. 
• Sookie is excited about the ice cream maker but then it turns out the inn already has a nicer one and no one mentions Sookie taking it for home use.
• Paris doesn't kiss Rory at the performance (It's unclear why she would skip that, especially since she seams to be willing to do anything to win), but Dean delivers a line that implies they did kiss. 
• In the scene when Lorelai's date Paul comes to the diner, she and Rory are eating hamburgers but Paul says he brought his parents there for breakfast. And then, he orders coffee to go and nothing else. WTF?
• It's unclear if Lorelai already knew about Rory kissing Tritan. Her reaction in the moment implies that she didn't know, but her behavior (and lack of asking questions) implies that she did know. 

Favorite Moment:

Lorelai's Dean impression 

The Bottom Line:

This episode fails in a major way and is not worth watching. There are some great moments of humor sprinkled throughout, but they are not nearly enough to save this train wreck.