Let the Games Begin
Season 3, Episode 8
Original airing: November
19, 2002
My Rating: 78
The Good:
·
Luke’s protective parent rant in the apartment
is great fun. He has two teenagers to feel responsible for in this situation
and he obviously thinks he’s got everything under control. It’s reminiscent of
his earlier assumptions about how easy it would be to turn Jess around when he
first arrived. And while he hopes Rory will have a good impression on Jess, he
is also worried that Jess will have a bad impression on Rory.
·
I really like Rory checking in with Lorelai
about how she’s going to treat Jess. She’s fully aware of Lorelai’s preferences
in the boyfriend department, so it makes sense that she would want to know how
Lorelai intends to behave in this new post-Dean world.
·
Richard’s ability to keep the real reason for
the trip to Yale under his hat is pretty impressive. Especially when he’s so
awkward when the moment comes for the interview. His bit about looking at his
watch and being surprised that it happens to be 3:00 is excellent. While I’m
frustrated with him as an audience member, I felt this was perfectly in
character. He didn’t trust that Lorelai would allow the meeting to happen if
there was forewarning, so he just does it without her leave.
·
The inter-Gilmore fights were great. Everyone
had perfect reasons for feeling the way they did in this moment. Richard knows he
can help Rory get in to Yale and that Lorelai will oppose him. Rory is
frustrated that she wasn’t given the opportunity to provide the best first
impression possible. Lorelai is frustrated that one of her parents has again
duped her and overstepped their bounds as grandparent to Rory. And Emily is
frustrated that Richard was sneaky and drove another wedge between the grandparents
and Lorelai and Rory. It’s very easy to see everyone’s side of the situation
and empathize with them all, even if I don’t sympathize with Richard.
·
It’s interesting to see Rory and Lorelai giving
Yale some serious consideration at the end of the episode. This potentially
sets up some intriguing conflicts about which school Rory might end up at and
how she will react to this very personal decision after going to Harvard has
become so much a part of who she is as a person. And there are the additional
stakes of the grandparents possibly pushing for Yale and Christopher possibly
pushing for Harvard, due to proximity. We could get some very interesting
stories out of this concept.
·
While I thought Rory going to apologize to Dean
was premature and smacked of the show wanting the audience to forgive Rory, I
really liked how Dean handled the situation. I was glad he didn’t forgive her
instantly and put the show back on a nicey-nice level. It was actually very
emotional to have him close the window in her face and gave him one of his most
real moments on the show.
The Bad:
·
It’s become unfortunately common for Stars
Hollow to have its own time vortex. There were several timing issues in this
episode including the question of if the first two scenes happened on Sunday
morning right after the dance marathon, or Monday morning the next day. Lorelai
mentions the Dean and Rory break up happened the night before, but Rory seems
to be headed to school. We also have a direct jump to Friday Night Dinner after
this which means Rory and Jess didn’t see or speak to each other for the entire
week. That seems pretty unlikely.
Favorite Moment:
·
It was adorable, sweet, and completely realistic
to have Rory and Jess awkward with each other in their first couple of scenes.
They need to reestablish how they interact now that they can freely express
their feelings and be together without any barriers. It was really sweet seeing
them fumble in the apartment, hold hands, and just whisper “hi.” It felt like a
new beginning.
The Bottom Line:
·
This was a very good episode. It feels like it
could have been a season opener with the way it’s setting up new possibilities
and reestablishing relationships between multiple characters. I greatly enjoyed
it.
