Hello! Welcome to Return to Stars Hollow - a spoiler-free, retrospective podcast about Gilmore Girls! This is the podcast for Season 3, Episode 20 - Say Goodnight, Gracie.
You can direct download the episode here: S3E21 PodcastComment on this post to leave your feedback for the next podcast!
You can also send feedback and voice clips to returntostarshollow@yahoo.com.
Or you can tweet us at SeriouslySwatch (Cordia) or CelesteFohl!
The next podcast will post on Monday, February 15, 2016 for S3E21 - Here Comes The Son.
P.S.
To go with Kate's comment on this week's podcast, here's the overhead view she sent of the Gilmore Girls set.
Attention Jess: moving from a diner to a hot dog stand is not an upgrade.
ReplyDeleteAnd once again, the show returns to "Lorelai as Financial Idiot" as a driver of the plot. She still hadn't figured out how to pay for Yale when she decided to toss back $75,000? She was just assuming that the Yale financial aid office was going to give Rory a bunch of money?
If Lorelai had mentioned to Richard that she wanted to pay him back, he undoubtedly would have advised her that the money was going to affect the parent-contribution calculation and probably had advice on how to deal with it. Richard can be super irritating, but this kind of thing is right in his wheelhouse and Lorelai is missing out by not taking advantage of his knowledge.
When it comes to her parents, Lorelai is her own worst enemy, just as Emily is her own worst enemy when it comes to Lorelai. Both of them just cut off their own noses to spite their faces.
Favorite moment of the episode: Lorelai hugging Paris and telling her to unclench her fists. I wonder how much of that was ad-libbed?
So I read that this episode was supposed to act as a 'backdoor' pilot for a Jess centred spinoff named Windward Circle but it never went ahead because it would have cost too much to shoot on location. I'm not really a Jess fan and I didn't really enjoy this part of the episode. I liked when his father was introduced in Stars Hollow in last week's episode but I guess I just wasn't as interested in his girlfriend and home situation. It was weird not being in Stars Hollow or the surrounding areas and maybe that's why it just didn't feel very 'Gilmore Girls.' I did enjoy Jess finally reaching breaking point; his 'I have nothing!' speech was one of the very few times I have ever really sympathised with him. Luke's reaction to the whole thing was interesting too. He does regret how things ended with Jess and feels like he failed him, which is sad.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the woman who used to play the harp at the inn? It was weird to see her pop up again. She did have some funny lines but she seemed like too much of a Stars Hollow-esque character for Emily and Richard to take seriously. Also she doesn't look anywhere near as old as Lorelai is making her out to be.
Lorelai on the phone to Yale was such a retread of the pilot but I believe the show actually realises it's doing this and is making the scene look almost identical on purpose. Lorelai is now able to see that paying back the loan has wider reaching consequences beyond offending her parents. Again, she's keeping her school related financial problems a secret from Rory. Given that Rory found out about the Chilton loan almost right away, it's only a matter of time before she finds out about Yale too, especially because she's older now as well.
Wow, preparing to gratuate highschool seems really stressful. But it's always fun to see this side of Rory emerge and how Lorelai handles it. I teared up a little at their last scene when, after Rory is annoyed that she has one more speech to write, they both agree that her being valedictorian is a really great thing and Lorelai is just going to let Rory do what she has to do for now. It's such a nice moment.
ReplyDeleteLorelai is still bad with money. What else is new? I like that the man she's talking to on the phone doesn't go along with her rambling nonsense/ flirtation attempt. It's always great to have characters react to this side of Lorelai in a more realistic way and not be charmed by it because it is inappropriate.
I bet Kirk is the one on the motorcycle waiting behind that tiny equestrian sculpture for someone to run that red light.
So, the failed Jess spin-off. I'm a fan of Jess and I would not have liked to watch this show. What kind of name is Windward Circle anyway? Apparently it's a place in Venice Beach? But it doesn't fit the character at all. It also seems like a very bad decision to have Jess act like a complete jerk right before sending him off on his own show. A lot of people never liked Jess or only in his relationship with Rory and/or Luke. The last episodes certainly changed some people's opinion who liked him before. So who is supposed to want to watch this show about an angry teenager in California? But then, of course he had to act this way in order to make it believable that he would leave Stars Hollow, Rory and Luke behind.
So yeah, besides that, what we see of this in this episode doesn't convince me either. Almost all of the scenes in California just fall flat. The only scene I like because it at least has something to it, is when Jess and Jimmy start yelling at each other and Jess says that he has nothing. He finally lays it all out there, all the problems he has and that he really doesn't know what he's going to do now because his life is kind of terrible and he really screwed up this time. This is a character you can be invested in but I don't think that's enough to carry a show and the rest just isn't there.
Ok, I also kind of enjoy the very beginning, but only because the sight of Jess in his leather jacket surrounded by everyone else wearing summer clothing cracks me up. I'm always irritated then though when he's at the beach and standing super close to the .. sandhill the kids are building. Nobody would stop right there.