Presenting Lorelai
Gilmore
Season 2, Episode 6
Original airing: November
6, 2001
My Rating: 76
The Good:
This episode handled some tricky storylines very well.
Christopher’s return and increased maturity put an interesting spin on his
relationship with Lorelai while we got some great time invested in the current
state of Richard and Emily’s relationship. Meanwhile, Rory lives up to her nice
girl image by trying to do a favor for her grandmother, who ultimately misses
out on the whole thing.
It was great having Christopher around. He fits so
seamlessly with our Gilmore girls and the chemistry between the three is incredibly
watchable. The move to Boston feels sudden, but perhaps we’ll get to see some
more development in his relationship with Rory now that he’s within driving
distance. It was sad to see Lorelai falling for him again when he’s entered in
to a serious relationship, but things can never go smoothly.
The fight between Emily and Richard was excellent. We don’t see
much of the two of them and the stresses of their marriage. In the past, we’ve
mostly seen Richard bowing to Emily’s wants and needs, so it was interesting to
see him really asserting his position here. And it was noteworthy that when
Emily needs Richard, he’s there. But when he needs her, she’s more focused on
herself.
Meanwhile, Rory is trying to do a very nice thing for Emily
and the fact that Emily is missing it all really adds to the sadness of the
fight. She’s so wrapped up in being angry at Richard that she can’t appreciate
Rory’s coming out ball. As the society ladies say on the patio, this should be
a big moment for Emily.
I really liked the ending with Lorelai visiting Emily to
basically say “I’m here”. She doesn’t push Emily to discuss her feelings or
issues, but she makes it clear she’ll listen. This is a great gift as we know
that Emily rarely is willing to truly listen to Lorelai. It’s very selfless and
sweet.
Finally, Jess and Luke’s mini story was excellent. In two
short scenes we see that they are adapting to each other. Jess is working at
the diner, but still doing his best to cleverly annoy the living daylights out
of Luke.
The Bad:
The only thing in this episode that really drove me nuts was
Dean’s responses. He spends every scene whining about how much wearing a tux
sucks and how much Rory owes him for this huge favor he’s doing for her. While
I understand wearing a tux and going to a ball isn’t high on Dean’s priority
list, his incessant complaints are just too many. Especially on top of having
seen at least four separate occasions in the past when he has behaved in
exactly the same manner when Rory asks him to do something with her. Their
relationship has no give and take between them. This would be fine, except
everyone on the show acts and talks like the relationship is extremely mature
and wonderful. It’s a severe case of what we see and what we hear being worlds
apart. It just gets more and more annoying with each episode.
On a more mild note, I found it bizarre for Rory to peak her
head in to the hallway during the fight to remind her grandparents she’s next
on the stairs. If she was waiting in line on the second floor, how did she know
they were fighting and not watching the other girls? And how did she get BACK
upstairs in thirty seconds to be presented without anyone noticing? It was just
a weird timing situation.
Favorite Moment:
Christopher and Lorelai’s waltz was beautiful, romantic, and
perfectly shattered at the end. Here’s a brief glimpse of what could have been
in their lives. And then we’re reminded in the next conversation how much they
both disliked the world in which whey were raised.
The Bottom Line:
This was a great episode with lots of humor and quite a
heavy dose of poignancy. Christopher always manages to stir things up when he
visits and Richard and Emily’s fight was a great look in to the lives of the
older couple on the show. I look forward to seeing the progression in each
relationship.
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