Cordia's Review of S2E22 - I Can't Get Started

I Can’t Get Started

Season 2, Episode 22

Original airing: May 21, 2002

My Rating: 72

The Good:

In an episode presumably about Sookie and Jackson’s wedding, we got to see a relatively small amount. What we did get was quite lovely, though. I greatly enjoyed Jackson’s reaction to his kilt and Sookie’s pre-wedding freak out. She looked amazing in her dress trying to de-pink the cake. And the wedding guests at the piano were wonderful. Kirk attempting to sing a sexy song was gold.

Mixed in around this madness was some more good stuff. I really liked Luke and Lorelai’s scene in the diner. She attempts to make nice and move on and he’s obviously still not ready. I’d like to know what was in Lorelai’s apology note. My guess is that she only apologizes for having the fight, not for her unfair anger directed at Luke.

But Rory and Jess’ story was definitely the highlight of the episode for me. I really liked that Jess went back to Luke’s first and asked permission to move in. This felt like a really mature move from him when he could have just shown up and said “I’m here.” I’m interested to possibly see their relationship develop in to something more familial, which seems to be what Luke has been trying to do from the beginning.

And, of course, Rory and Jess’ scene at the wedding was phenomenal. The lack of conversation is interesting and really allows them to speak with the energy they have between them. They’ve always been good at looking at each other and that continues here until Rory just can’t handle it anymore. This is a great follow up to last episode when they didn’t talk about why Rory really visited Jess in New York. After her step forward in the relationship, he takes the next one and comes back to Stars Hollow. I don’t blame her at all for getting swept up in that and kissing him.

It’s an excellent kiss, for sure, and long coming. And I’m able to enjoy it for what it is despite the fact that it means Rory is cheating on Dean. I don’t like Dean, but I don’t think anyone deserves to be cheated on. However, as I mentioned above, it’s perfectly understandable that Rory’s emotions drive her to this point. What saves it is how she pulls back so quickly and obviously freaks out. Then she literally runs away and makes the decision to keep running to Washington DC for the summer. IT should be interesting to see how Dean and Jess get on in her absence.

The Bad:

On the smaller side of things, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Paris storyline. It felt convenient so that Rory would have somewhere to go after kissing Jess and avoid her feelings for a while. It’s a good story by itself and perfectly in character. Of course Paris wants to be student body president and of course nobody wants to vote for her because she’s scary. But with the rest of the episode staying connected to the wedding and things surrounding it, this random bit of Chilton life felt out of place.

My big problem was with Christopher and Lorelai. While I totally by Rory jumping the gun and kissing Jess in a moment of passion, Christopher and Lorelai sleeping together felt quite calculated. And while Christopher says he’s having problems with Sherry and thinking about looking at moving out, he’s still in a relationship with her. Neither Lorelai nor Christopher address this when they make the decision to sleep together and the choice to attempt their own relationship.

I was already struggling with this lack of awareness of the situation outside of themselves when the pregnancy bomb was dropped. This just made the whole story even worse because I felt like it was a really unbelievable reason for Christopher to have to break up with Lorelai. First, I found it strange to think that Christopher, a man who has already experienced one accidental pregnancy, and Sherry, a woman who’s primary characteristic in her last appearance was her extreme ability to organize every aspect of her life, would find themselves accidentally pregnant. It didn’t feel believable from the start. But then I really didn’t like that Christopher assumes the only way to do the kid thing right this time around is to toss Lorelai and Rory aside to run back to Sherry and the baby. There is no nuance or interest in this story; it’s just about trying to create drama that isn’t that interesting.

Favorite Moment:

While I was onboard with Rory’s story and pretty annoyed by Lorelai’s, I still really thought the final moment hit it out of the park. It was a striking image to see Lorelai and Rory standing next to each other, both in a state of stunned heartbreak, and completely unaware of what the other has just experienced.

The Bottom Line:

This was a pretty strong season finale. It set up some very interesting plot lines for Season Three. How will Dean and Jess fair over the summer? Who or what will Rory want when she returns? How will Lorelai recover from this latest blow from Christopher? Will Paris rule the school with an iron fist? I can’t wait to find out.