Monday, April 20, 2015

Podcast #33 - S2E11 - Secrets and Loans

Hello! Welcome to Return to Stars Hollow - a spoiler-free, retrospective podcast about Gilmore Girls! This is the podcast for Season 2, Episode 11 - Secrets and Loans.


You can direct download the episode here: S2E11 - Secrets and Loans

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The next podcast will post on Monday, April 27, 2015 for Season 2, Episode 12 - Richard in Stars Hollow.

7 comments:

  1. I recently started re-watching GG, and am so happy to have found your podcast. I sampled some of the other many podcasts about GG o itunes, and I have to say yours is by far the best and the only one I will be listening to regularly. I appreciate all the work you put into the podcast, and I look forward to more episodes. My only complaint is that I find it a bit odd that you are so thorough about references etc, but you don´t bother looking up or mentioning who has written or directed the various epsodes. It´s such a major part of a tv show, if find it strange that you are not interested in those aspects. Other than that; love the podcast! :)

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  2. I couldn't get behind Richard on this one. I felt like we were supposed to feel sympathetic for him in the final scene, but I was just kind of angry about how he berated Lorelai and then left in a huff.

    I'm ready for more Jess scenes! I'm glad they keep including him, but I want more interaction between him and Rory. Or maybe I'm just ready to see less Dean.

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  3. Richard in Stars Hollow !
    The opening is just classic Gilmore Friday night dinner ... Lorelai comment "Never what you expect" when Emily starts the conversation on who to move out to the annex. But priceless is the face pulled by Lorelai when told she is eating "sweetbreads".
    Kelly Bishop is just so good at moving between expressions during these few minutes as Richard is talking about her days !!

    LOVE Paris' rant at the news paper office ... only Paris would expect a school newspaper to be competing against the NY TImes !

    As Emily and Richard had been to Rory birthday party in the first season, why did Richard need directions to visit this time ??
    Also where are all these "sights" Richard visits around Star Hollow ?? The Giant slinky ? The Yarn person ? You would have thought we too would have seen these are the girls drive/walk around the town ??

    Then Rory and Paris walk into Luke's diner ! Why do Jess and Paris act as if they have never met ? SPOILERS : am I ahead of the story lines?? Didn't they sit eating with Rory for the night that Emily and Lorelai went to the spa ???

    The Rory curtain !!! I do wonder what Jess has swapped into the Dumbo box ??

    Over all - I feel quite sad for Richard :( In the last few episodes everyone is showing him that he is just not wanted; his job, his wife and his daughter. His view of the world is not welcome or current. He is quite lost.
    Also this is SO much better episode than last weeks :)

    Is it me or are there quite a few Star Trek references again ??

    Should have been called "The art of Rant" ... you should count the number of rants in the episode !!
    Richard to Lorelai
    Richard to Dean (x2)
    Paris to the Paper team
    Lorelai to Richard
    Paris to Rory

    ALSO last week you spoke about Rocky Horror Show .... Just to let you know it huge over here (UK). Have attended quite a few showings and mostly have been dressed up. Most theatres will list out the items your can not bring in with you coz they do not want the mess of clean up afterwards ....

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    1. I would assume that Paris and Jess met or at least recognized each other from the Bracebridge Dinner. Not sure what scene you're talking about so maybe were not there yet. But good point about Richard touring the town and seeing things the audience hasn't. Where is all this, and how big is Stars Hollow really?

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  4. In theory Richard's story of a man who doesn't know what to do with himself after he's stopped working and is annoying everyone around him is good, but the execution here doesn't work at all for me.
    After he spent the whole day being incredibly judgmental of Lorelai I just can't feel sorry for him when he gives her his big speech at the end. And that could have been a good speech otherwise. It also doesn't excuse his prior behaviour, but it also doesn't even explain it. Him feeling obsolete has absolutely nothing to do with him critricizing everything Lorelai does.
    While not everything he says throughout the day is wrong per se, he's not offering constructive criticism, he's just criticizing. Especially in the scene at the inn, how is it any better or more professional for Lorelai to be chided by her dad in front of her employees?
    Richard's reaction to the car is too extreme but I think Lorelai takes this a little too lightly because yes, a professional should look over it. Maybe her reaction is partly because she doesn't want to agree at all with anything Richard has to say at this point.
    I do like the talk between Dean and Richard at Gypsy's though, with Dean standing up to Richard and Richard apparently admiring that. I also really love their exchange here: How tall are you? - Why, do you wanna dance? - No, thanks ... I appreciate the offer. And Dean's face at this response.

    The only scene I feel maybe kind of a little sad for Richard is at the end when Emily is so giddy after spending the whole day without him. That must sting.

    I really like Rory's subplot, so at least that part of the episode was thorougly entertaining.

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  5. So I really enjoyed this as a good comedy episode, for the most part. It's nice to get a Richard centric episode. I thought the opening scene was funny and morbid, and of course Rory is the only one that cares about poor aunt Cecil. I like Richard wanting to tag along with Emily and keeps commenting on how her and Lorelai drink too much coffee in the morning. Poor Lorelai, but I love Richard lecturing her about how she runs the inn. In a way it's sweet that he just wants to help her and be a part of her life. But I agree with Lorelai, he was kind of talking to her like she was a kid. A video store, I remember those! I noticed the posters in the background on the wall. One was Valentine, which is a terrible horror movie, that I actually like, which has David Boreanaz in it.

    So the whole Paris thing I thought was really funny, but it didn't really go anywhere. I guess the point was for Paris to find her story in Stars Hallow, but it just ended, I thought there should have been a follow up. Not sure if we get one in the next episode or not. But I did like her scene with Luke in the diner. He starts off being nice and then she just annoys him. So Dean finished the car. Glad the writers didn't forget about that. I think Richard has a valid point about making sure the car was inspected properly. I'd do the same if someone built me a car. But he seems to get really over protective of Rory. It was nice to see him warming up to Dean, even though I don't really care. I thought Gypsy was funny. Breaking off the wipers just to please Richard and stop. In the end I felt really bad for Richard. Nobody wanted him around and he was just trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

    This episode brought up some random questions though. What are Lorelai's work hours? It ahs been bugging me for a while. Does Taylor own the video store too? How much money does Lorelai spend on eating out, if it's THAT much food she's ordering.

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  6. Regarding Secrets and Loans:

    I definitely agree this is one of the worst episodes so far. Watching Lorelai act so petulant (to borrow a word from Emily's vocabulary) and stubborn was excruciating. However, I wanted to offer a different point of view. For one moment, lets suspend our disbelief (and hatred) and try to understand what this episode offers us that wasn't given to us in the similarly-themed pilot.

    First, this episode brings us back to earth in terms of the flaws of Lorelai. Its easy to get caught up in her charming ways and forget that she is a very flawed individual-- she can be very annoying, immature and extremely stubborn. Sometimes its easy to fall in love with her and see her through rose colored glasses and whenever she's at her worse to explain it away as bad writing instead of accepting that she isn't as great as we may think she is. (not to say there wasn't bad writing in this episode however, there definitely was). Additionally this episode gives us one of the first instances where we see this cycle of trust & understanding building between Emily and Lorelai only to be knocked to the ground floor again. This time we think Lorelai is being irrational by thinking Emily would use a loan to get something out of Lorelai. But in the end, Lorelai is proven right when Emily confirms she will hold the DAR meetings at the Inn from now on. Its almost like they're playing with how the viewer sees Emily-- first we're led to believe that Lorelai is being irrational and not giving her mom enough credit, but then Lorelai is proven right in the end. However, there is still some upward movement, considering that this manipulation was less significant (in terms of consequences for Lorelai) than others we've seen. Its almost like an upward spiral where things between them improve, then they reach a huge setback, but they're still slightly better than they were after the previous setback.

    Another thing this episodes gives us is a reality check about Rory's flaws. We learn that Rory can be stuck up and judgmental about things she considers to be too mainstream. Its discovered that her and Lane have made fun of cheerleaders in the past and generally hold the opinion that they are vapid and generally to be avoided and mocked. We've also seen Lane in the past struggle to create her own life and identity that is separate from Rory, which is necessary for her to do now that Rory is less available due to school and Dean. In fact, every time Lane has mentioned the friend Jamie who ended up bringing her into cheerleading, Rory has seemed like she's distracted and not really giving Lane her full attention. Almost as if Lane is testing to see how Rory would respond if she did peruse this friendship with Jamie, or perhaps she is insinuating that Rory need be more available to her or else Lane might have to find new friends. Rory shouldn't expect Lane to only have one friend who doesn't even go to the same school; even Rory joins the school paper and has some semi friends there (madeline and louise). Anyway, I think it creates some subtle character development for Lane as she tries to be more independent from Rory and look around for her own identity, while exposing Rory's flaws as being judgmental and having a rigid idea of who Lane should be. Additionally, it was refreshing to see a plotline in a tv series that breaks the cliche "smart girls are complete opposites of popular cheerleaders" trope that is so over-done.

    Last but not least, the entire cringe worthy episode was almost worth it for the way that Lauren Graham nailed the apology to Emily at the end scene. The way she says "I should've left off one of the "really"s that always tips it." and takes a bite of a cookie stick is so perfect. I must have watched that 10 second clip a hundred times.

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