Célèste's Review of S2E10 "The Bracebridge Dinner"

“The Bracebridge Dinner"

Season 2, Episode 10

Original airing: December 11, 2001

My Rating: 73

The Good:

• This is one of those lovely Stars-Hollow Event episodes. I'm a lover of beautiful things, so I tend to find these to be the most memorable. The gorgeousness of the sleigh ride scenes alone makes this an episode worth watching and re-watching.
• It's really fun to see so many characters interact in interesting ways. Gilmore Girls has finally built up enough of a complete world in Stars Hollow to have an episode like this that's just bursting with great moments. 
• Paris plays a small role, but I appreciate her inclusion. It's another hind that Paris and Rory are back to being cautious allies, which, in my opinion, is much more interesting than when they are all-out rivals. 
• Edward Herrmann is on point this episode! He really stole the show for me. I enjoyed his charm at the party as well as his sincerity when he and Emily reconcile. 
• Luke's casual declaration that he discovered "the secret of parenting," and Lorealai's, "That's so much worse than I thought it was gonna be." Classic!
• I'm enjoying seeing more of the chemistry between Rory and Jess, and I like that Dean, though obviously jealous, was enough on the periphery this episode that he didn't get too tiresome. 
• The Christopher plot, though simple and easily resolved, is a nice reminder that things in his life are changing, and it makes me eager to learn more about Sherry. 

The Bad:

• The musicians' auditions are just awkward. Sometimes when they think they need to add sometime for Lorelai to do at the inn, they're wrong, and they really should just have her do a simple walk and talk or even a drink coffee in the kitchen and talk. 
• Rune and Clara are still annoying. Luckily they are both drowned out by the general glut of other characters. 
• The Bracebridge dinner is supposed to take place in the 19th century, but some of the servants are wearing Elizabethan costumes. Not a huge deal, but it just throws me off to the point where I'm rewinding to figure out what century we're supposed to be in again. 
• Paris speaking Portuguese is a great idea with bad execution. It doesn't sound like a fluent person who knows the meaning of the words they're saying; it sounds like an actress reading lines. 

Favorite Moment:

Richard flirts with Emily in the sleigh. I especially enjoyed his, "Not as much as the other thing," before he tousled her hair. So adorable. 

The Bottom Line:

This episode is just a lot of fun to watch. It's not one of the big-revalation episodes, but it's still super memorable because of the tone, the setting, and the characters.