Hello! Welcome to Return to Stars Hollow - a spoiler-free, retrospective podcast about Gilmore Girls! This is the podcast for Season 5, Episode 7 - You Jump, I Jump, Jack.
You can direct download the episode here: S5E7 Podcast
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The next podcast will post on Thursday, March 9, 2017 for Season 5, Episode 8 - The Party's Over.
Now that it's over I'm finally going to talk about Rory and Dean's relationship and I'm going to defend it. I think it had to happen. If it didn't, Rory sleeping with Dean would have felt even more like a random throwaway plot point at the end of last season. And I think it makes sense for Rory to try again with Dean. Not just because she was regressing and wanted to relive the past where she was happy. She started this season being yelled at for being a homewrecker, basically. But if she and Dean get together and make it work, if they really are meant to be and belong together, then it was worth it, in a way, and she can justify it to herself. But if not, if they don't at least try, then they really did break up a marriage just because they felt like it in the moment. And yes, that is ignoring that Dean and Lindsay's marriage was a bad idea to begin with and probably wouldn't have worked anyway. And yes, there's nothing really in the show that explicitly supports this, but I can imagine Rory's thought process going something like this. And who knows what Dean is thinking, besides "Rooory" (I expect you to read that in your best impression of Lorelai doing a Dean impression, thank you).
ReplyDeleteAs for the execution, sure the way they got together was terrible, with Rory's "I don't know if I have a boyfriend" and then showing up at Dean's door. But otherwise I think it lasted for exactly the right amount of time and we didn't actually see that much of Dean, which helped. I like that they showed from the very beginning that it wasn't a good idea and the relationship wasn't working and maybe they just didn't want to admit that to themselves. And we know that Rory doesn't like to break up with people, we've seen that the first time around with Dean. So again it's Dean who has to break up with Rory, for the third time now, and I hate him again for doing it in front of a whole bunch of people, again. But the scene itself is quite sad, if I weren't so much not into this relationship, anyway. But I like Jared Padalecki's performance here.
I also really like the last scene and the look on Lorelai's face when Rory tumbles out of the limousine. It's so the opposite of what she would expect of Rory, the outfit, the car, the alcohol, the boys, this .. display of wealth. Plus, she spent the last few hours trying to reach her mother because she tricked Rory and Rory felt the need to call her mother earlier the night to tell her about it. So this was probably the last thing Lorelai was expecting to see when Rory came home, and she doesn't even know yet about the break up. Again, I'm very curious to see the follow up of this and I really like the path they seem to be taking this season.
It's completely over the top and insane but Zach freaking out about Mrs. Kim and the hell hounds always makes me laugh. Not cool. This whole thing gets kind of dropped though. Lane says she'll take care of it, and she does talk to Kyon and I like that Lane is willing to help her, it shows what a good person she is. But there's not really a follow up on Mrs. Kim. I'm interested to see if that will happen in a future episode.
I don’t have much to say about the current episode other than “Yay, Rory and Dean broke up!” but I do have a note about the last podcast. I really loved what Cordia said about Logan being all about the seduction, because that really is the perfect word to describe what he is doing. He’s not courting her or asking her out or trying to convince her to be his girlfriend. He’s seducing her, both to him and his world, which I think is perfectly portrayed during the scene where they jump off the tower together. It’s been scientifically proven that going through a dangerous, high adrenaline experience with someone usually makes you like the person more and feel emotionally closer to them, so Logan convincing Rory to jump with him is actually a brilliant move on his part as far as seduction goes, even if he’s not specifically doing it for that reason. I’ve always loved this scene because it feels so epic and powerful, and I think the psychology behind it is fascinating. You can almost feel the vicarious thrill as you watch them jump, and you can tell from their faces when they hit the ground that it really was a huge bonding experience for them.
ReplyDeleteI really don't like what the show has done with Richard and Emily the last two episodes. They're being written as "Generic Snobby Rich People" as opposed to the specific characters we've come to know and love.
ReplyDeleteIn previous seasons, the show did an incredible job deepening both characters. Richard could be officious and bossy and emotionally closed-off, but also proud of Rory, and protective of Emily, and blind to Trix's faults, and pretend to approve of Christopher while secretly hating him for getting Lorelai pregnant. Similarly, Emily could be harsh and critical, but we also see her worry about Rory, and long for a closer relationship with Lorelai, and get drunk before Trix's funeral.
But for the past two episodes, their shared main character trait has been: "we DISAPPROVE of the men dating our daughter and granddaughter, because we are rich and they are not." It's gross. And worse than gross, it's BORING. It sets up a very black-and-white conflict: Snobs bad, Stars Hollow good.
The interesting conflicts are when it's Emily-and-or-Richard versus Lorelai where I can find myself sympathizing with both. The most important conflict in the show -- Lorelai runs off with baby Rory -- is like that: Lorelai felt that she had to leave, but her choice inevitably hurt her parents. I can maintain my interest in that over an entire show.
This could have been done better. There are all sorts of reasons why Richard and Emily might disapprove of Luke and Dean that didn't boil down to snobbery. What if Emily had spent the dinner grilling Luke about whether he would be a good stepfather to Rory (or father to future offspring), since he has no experience with children? She would still be interfering but there would be a reason behind it. What if Richard just didn't want Rory to be tied down to anyone at her age? He could still be overbearing, but in a good cause (at least in his own mind).
Summary: if I just wanted to watch a "Snobs versus Slobs" conflict, I'd rent Caddyshack. Again.