One’s Got Class and
the Other One Dyes
Season 3, Episode 4
Original airing: 10/15/2002
My Rating: 67
The Good:
Lane really got to shine this week. She’s joined Dave’s band
after the last episode and is pseudo-rocking out in the music store. Her sad panic
attack about her mother hearing them from blocks away is wonderfully soothed by
Dave. I love when he tells her she won’t be the band’s Pete Best, an excellent
Beatles reference saying he won’t leave her behind.
Lane’s attempts to tell her mom about the band were
perfectly cut short by Mrs. Kim’s stack of curated college applications. I loved
watching Lane channel a small part of Mrs. Kim as she tries to work up the
courage to get off the stairs. Her tone of voice and facial expressions when
she orders her feet to move really match Mrs. Kim’s style of speaking to her
daughter.
All of this spins wonderfully in to Lane’s relatively
impulsive decision to dye her hair. It is an excellent rebellion idea because
she can’t hide it the way she hides her CD collection in the floor. She
undergoes pain and fear in the process of dying her hair and is thrilled with
the results. But in the end she realizes she’s not ready for this step and
sends Rory back to the store for black hair dye. Her panic when she hears her
mother come home is spot on and beautifully acted. I also love how she holds on
to the sense of rebellion when Rory points out that her hair may be black, but
it’s still dyed.
A few other good things were going on in this episode. It’s
always nice to see Luke and Lorelai engaging in heavy flirtation and we got a
small bit of illumination on Jess’ feelings about the Rory situation, but both
of those stories had more dragging them down than lifting them up.
The Bad:
The biggest problem with Lorelai’s storyline was that it
didn’t seem to have a point. We’re introduced to moms and students we’ve never
seen who are hyper aggressive in all of their actions. Lorelai is asked to
speak because of her success, she comes prepared to discuss her job, and then
handles the barrage of personal questions as well as can be expected. After
being attacked by some very brazen students, she’s then attacked on the street
by those student’s Stepford moms. She stands up to them, as can be expected,
and that’s it. What was the point again?
My problem with the Jess, Rory, and Shane storyline stems
more from focus issues than anything else. We get lots of repeat information.
We already know Rory is uncomfortable around Shane and jealous of her. We also
already know she’s struggling with her feelings for Dean. We got an almost
exact duplicate conversation with Lane as the one Rory had with Paris in S3E1
“Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days.” Lane and Paris both point out how lucky Rory is to have
a nice guy she loves who loves her back and Rory avoids commenting on this both
times. It’s not that any of this is inherently bad, we’ve just seen it before
and very recently.
I was particularly thrown off by Rory’s interaction with
Shane in the beauty shop. She’s incredibly mean and rude to an extent that I
don’t think even an upset Rory would be with a virtual stranger. We’ve seen her
express some serious frustration at her mom before, but to this random girl
whose only link to Rory is that she’s Jess’ new kind-of girlfriend? It doesn’t
sit right and I think that’s because this doesn’t feel like something Rory has
any remorse about doing.
The show has done this kind of thing with Lorelai several
times where she behaves badly and never apologizes or demonstrates an
understanding of her poor behavior. Sometimes it feels like the show wants the
audience to support a Gilmore girl being mean, cruel, obnoxious, or otherwise
poorly behaved just because she’s a Gilmore girl. That’s not really a good
reason and it would be nice to see that Rory realizes how awful she was to
someone who really didn’t deserve it.
Favorite Moment:
Lane’s story excelled over and over again in this episode,
but one of the moments that struck me as the most perfect was Lane’s attempts
to talk herself off of the stairs. Keiko Agena does such an amazing job of
channeling Mrs. Kim’s mannerisms and showing a little bit of where Lane’s
independence and strength comes from.
The Bottom Line:
While I felt Lorelai’s story was forgettable and Rory’s
story was largely a retread, Lane’s story really elevated the episode for me.
This one is worth watching for the beginnings of the band and the highlights of
what Lane will do to achieve her dreams of living her own lifestyle.
