Hello! Welcome to Return to Stars Hollow - a spoiler-free, retrospective podcast about Gilmore Girls! This is the podcast for Season 4, Episode 8 - Die, Jerk!
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The next podcast will post on Thursday, June 30, 2016 for Season 4, Episode 9 - Ted Koppel's Big Night Out.
The date at the restaurant that Digger had planned really shows how little he and Lorelai fit together or have in common. It also shows how little he knows her when he thinks that this is what she would want. Though I have to admit that the date at the grocery store they end up with is kinda cute. I would also say that any charme Digger has is because of the acting and not in the writing, because ugh, ew, no. And like Celeste, I insist on calling him Digger because this fictional character doesn't like it. That makes total sense.
ReplyDeleteThe fight between Richard and Emily seems to exist in this episode mostly to get Lorelai on her date with Digger. I expect them to deal with this more in future episodes and to not drop it, because that is a huge lie Richard told for their entire marriage and Emily is rightfully angry at him. Her lashing out at Lorelai about it is terrible but also in character. I'm curious to see if we'll see some fallout of this fight next episode.
Why didn't Rory say anything about the colour of Lorelai's shirt? She should have noticed that even if she doesn't care about football.
Paris calling Richard Dick? The look on Rory's face is my face. Also like Rory, I find nothing exciting before 11. I love that little exchange and the sight of Richard and Emily in their Yale outfits.
The first half of this episode made me happy/sad. The writers set up the expectation that the tailgate is going to be an utter disaster, Lorelai is going to have a horrible time -- and then things go really well at first! Maybe the "fun flask" and the constant infusion of Bloody Marys cut through all the Gilmore tension? Richard is in his element showing Lorelai and Rory all the Yale traditions, and Emily is mixing drinks and asking Lorelai about her dating life, and everyone seems slightly drunk and happy! Which makes it worse when it all goes pear-shaped. Richard closes off and Emily lashes out (perfectly in character for both).
ReplyDeleteInitially I was going to blame Emily wholly for fighting at (not with) Lorelai, but now I think Lorelai was getting some karmic payback. Her initial conversation with Pennilynn Lott is just...kind of cruel, both to Pennilynn and her parents. Obviously, the "Richard dumps Pennilynn for Emily right before the wedding" story is old news, but it doesn't take a super-sensitive genius to realize that all three parties MIGHT feel a little touchy about the subject even now. If you got dumped by your fiance for another woman, would you want his child to make cheery jokes about it to your face on first meeting? (Then again, given how Lorelai treated Max, she might not see fiance-dumping as a big deal.)
We know that Lorelai can be charming as all-get-out with her effervescent personality, but she always runs into trouble when she effervesces past the bounds of politeness. I think her one of her bad qualities is that, because of her upbringing, she associates being polite with being repressed and so she resists tamping herself down...at the cost of other people's feelings.
So, Rory and Marty are friends now? Did I miss something?
And Paris: no. For the love of all that is holy, Paris: NO.
I liked that Lorelai initially was turning Digger down because she recognized that it would negatively affect her relationship with Emily. This is why it's sad to see that as soon as Lorelai and Emily have an argument, she calls up Digger. Lorelai didn't seem to understand that Emily was actually hurt by Richard's lie, and instead interpreted their fight as a "classic Emily freakout" that she had to rebel against. I would've liked seeing Lorelai console Emily or at least acknowledge her feelings.
ReplyDeleteI wish Digger could take a clue and realize he's already reached his "pathetic threshold." I was ALMOST able to stomach him asking Lorelai out, until he said he was bummed she said no because she would've looked really good in a little black dress. He brings nothing to the table for Lorelai, can we have some forward progress on a relationship we actually care about? Their date was painful to watch and I just wanted it to end so badly. However, I must admit that the supermarket date was kind of cute. Not that Digger was cute, but I liked the date idea.
I loved seeing Paris interact with Richard again, as weird as the "you honey tongued devil, Dick" line was. Has Paris given up on her life coach? I can't remember hearing about Terrance or her craft table or anything related to that in a while. As much as I commend Paris for trying to be a better person, original Paris is just so much more entertaining to me, and I'm glad she seems to be back to her original self, though perhaps with a slightly more sophisticated air. I also like seeing her friendship with Rory move forward, and I hope we get more development and interesting complexity than at Chilton, where they would take one step forward and two steps back.
I loved Richard and Emily all decked out for the big game. It was fun to see them re-living college days while maintaining elements of classic Richard and Emily, like bringing the maid along to the tailgate. I was reminded of the Bracebridge dinner a bit when they were flirting at the tailgate, and I love being reminded that they are so in love. That made it even more upsetting to find that Richard has been lying to Emily for their entire marriage. I totally sympathize with Emily, especially when the lie was prefaced by Lorelai's "almost mommy" comments. I also hope we get more development on this storyline.
Finally, I'm not sure what the Brennan story contributed to the plot, but it was entertaining. I loved that Luke's rant was immediately followed by the image of Brennan rocking out on top of the diner tables. And I also loved Kirk's "Brennan, Satan, whatever" line. Maybe Luke will fire him and hire Lane?? Maybe then we could see more Lane?
Also, random information for anyone interested. The actress who plays Nicole was on a sitcom called The New Adventures of Old Christine with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and she was amazing. She played a mean mommy-type of character, but you didn't hate her because her role was hilarious. I highly recommend it, if it's even possible to find anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI like that Jason and Lorelai’s date ends at a grocery store. Picking up toothpaste and snacks is so authentic and human, which goes against first date protocol. Lorelai’s previous dates haven’t always been willing to roll with the punches (see Max falling asleep during movie night in Season 2), but Jason is already helping her heist some Pringles. Maybe this one will stick for a while?
ReplyDeleteI always grit my teeth when Rory turns nasty. She has no right to be offended that some casual junior high acquaintance doesn’t remember her. She’s the center of this show, not the entire world!
Nit-picky, and maybe you guys will have already discussed this, but Luke tells Brennan that the decaf coffee is in the black-handled pot. I’ve only seen decaf in orange-handled pots. Maybe that was a weird Scott Patterson ad lib that snuck through?
I also thought the coffee pot was weird. Orange handle is always decaf! haha
DeleteMinority opinion, but I really don't hate Digger. I'm NOT Team Digger by any means and I want to see her with Luke, but I think out of all the other relationships, she and Digger are the most equally matched. I mean, yeah, he's a little swarthy, but think of how dirty-minded Lorelai is. Some of the comments that come out of her mouth would sound pretty gross coming from a guy. I don't find him rapey, I find him blunt and used to getting what he wants. He isn't pretending with her, he's upfront about what's on his mind. Would I want to date him? No. But I'm not Lorelai. I think he is way better able to keep up with the witty give and take than Max or Snore Bore Alex. Yeah, the original date is a disaster, but they just don't know each other as adults. I don't see how it's bad for him to have weird quirks and not bad for Lorelai to have them.
ReplyDeleteAnd a note on the decaf pot thing - I am 99% sure that it was no adlib, because ASP was very stringent on scripts being word-perfect on film. Only one character was ever allowed to go off script and that was in season 6. So probably ASP or whoever wrote that line just never worked in a cafe or place with coffee pots.
You can add me into your minority opinion club, Meags - very well said. For once it doesn't feel like Lorelai is six jokes ahead of her date. Thank you for clearing up the ad lib theory!
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