Hello! Welcome to Return to Stars Hollow - a spoiler-free, retrospective podcast about Gilmore Girls! This is the podcast for Season 3, Episode 17 - A Tale of Poes and Fire.
You can direct download the episode here: S3E17 Podcast
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The next podcast will post on Monday, January 18, 2016 for S3E18 - Happy Birthday Baby.
As so often happens, my favorite part of the episode is the Luke/Jess story. I think it's because the conflict between them is something that real humans disagree about: a stubborn teenager's decisions about his future. And it leads to a great Luke rant, ending with an even greater Luke non sequitur: "did somebody say something about cheese?"
ReplyDeleteContrast that with the other major conflict in the episode: Lorelai vs Emily, Round 67. After 3 years and a lot of growth in the relationship, neither of them understands what the other thinks the "Chilton Loan" really is. Lorelai always saw it as a monetary transaction to be dealt with as though Emily was a loan shark; Emily always saw it as a way to be with her daughter. For Lorelai it was money, but for Emily it was love. Lorelai doesn't foresee that repaying the loan will look like rejection to Emily, and Emily apparently never expected that Lorelai would actually try to pay her back.
The emotional resonance of that works just fine -- family plus money always equals strong emotions. But it doesn't make logical sense for Lorelai to choose this moment to toss back $75,000.
1) She's about to send Rory to a very expensive college. Who's paying for that?
2) Her place of employment just burned and is having financial trouble. It hasn't occurred to her that she might be losing her job, or having her salary cut if the inn struggles?
3) Has she paid off that loan for the termite infestation? And if so, shouldn't she save up for future home repairs?
Paying back the loan at this point makes her look utterly impractical in addition to clueless about Emily's feelings. So impractical that I'm surprised Richard didn't jump in with "what are you DOING?" So impractical that it's an even greater slap in the face to Emily: her parents don't need the money back, Lorelai DOES need that money for a number of very important reasons, but she's so desperate to disentangle herself from the Chilton loan that she's willing to cut off her nose to spite her face.
It's such an obviously dumb decision that it takes me out of the plot a little -- seems like maybe the writers wanted a reason to estrange Lorelai from her parents again.
LOL ... just read your comments and realised we both had the same questions about the money !!
DeleteI love the Yale wall switcheroo. I know it defies time but I handwave it as a Stars Hollow logic thing because it's one of my favourite scenes of the entire show. Lorelai is letting Rory grow up and make her own choices and she is on board so there's no conflict between them despite the fact that Yale is definitely what the grandparents want for Rory. I smile every time I see that scene with Rory looking at the Yale wall. I also love the t-shirt bit and can visualise the whole town wearing those shirts.
ReplyDeleteHi ladies ... Well I re-watched the last episode on Poes again ... and Mrs Kim is hold the cricket bat the right way up as if she was about to "go into bat". Another "actually" for you !
ReplyDeleteOn to Happy Birthday Baby
My fav moment is right at the start with Richard and Emily at first not moving then getting OTT about the "going to Yale"
But I do want to ask ... what is it they are eating ? Looked like a pasta bake ??
While I am on food - Fran's cake sounded AMAZING . I'll have a piece.
Well for me the episode raised questions questions questions
* What is Nicol going to say about the birthday to do list that Luke is doing for Lorelai ?
* Where does Rory get the money to pay for this big party ?? The drinks on the trolley and the largest pizza.
* Are the rest of the town helping out toooo ?
* Why is the soda not being delivered on the day for Rory ?
* When did Rory and Lane even mention Jo Strummer ?
* Was Tobin suppose to come across quite that "oily" ? That's one new charactor I am in no hurry to see again.
* Wouldn't Lor need that $75,000 to pay off the other loan she has for the termites or to pay for Yale ? How is she going to be paying for the DragonFly ?
*
I get the feeling that Emily would have "written off the loan" as always to be paid off but never expecting it so long as Rory and Lorelai came over every week.
Love that Luke "steals" Jess' car. But if Jess is missing to much school isn't there an attendance requirement in USA schools to pass the year? BUT at least we got some Rory and Jess time.
** NEW DOLL ALERT : Luke in a french maid outfit !! **
In my mind, Lorelei jumped on the Yale train after considering what Emily said in Season 3: Episode 8 after Richard had tricked Rory into the interview with admissions during a day trip to Yale. Before Lorelei left campus in an indignant huff, Emily said something along the lines of "Yale would be much closer to home than Harvard. Have you considered that?" In that moment, Lorelei didn't indicate that she had indeed considered that. I think that this factor contributed to Lorelei taking the opportunity to help Rory see that "It's Yale!"
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