Hello! Welcome to Return to Stars Hollow - a spoiler-free, retrospective podcast about Gilmore Girls! This is the podcast for Season 4, Episode 18 - Tick, Tick, Tick Boom.
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The next podcast will post on Thursday, October 27th, 2016 for Season 4, Episode 19 - Afterboom.
Emily has been through a lot with Richard this season and she has remained with him. But the point where she draws the line is when Richard is risking that they will loose Lorelai again with his behaviour. She will not stand by him in that and I love that. And I think it's very interesting that she doesn't tell Lorelai about it. It's believable that Richard and Emily wouldn't want anyone to know that they have separated, but I wonder what would have happened if Lorelai really had cut ties with them again. If Emily would have told her then that she didn't want any part in that to save her relationship with her daughter.
ReplyDeleteI also really like the breakup scene between Lorelai and Digger (in the same coffee shop where she used to meet Max, right?). It's easy to understand both sides and why they have to do what they have to do. They just can't be together in this situation. Lorelai standing by her parents, despite being angry at them, is almost surprisingly mature for her and it's also a nice contrast to how this relationship started with her only agreeing to go on a date with Digger because she was angry at Emily and knew she would hate it.
I'm not sure how I feel about Rory's plot. On one hand, it's nice to see that she wants to earn her grades in an honest way. On the other hand, it's not good that she totally misjudges Asher and thinks he would give her an A on a terrible paper just because she knows Paris and she doesn't trust his judgement that her work was good? I think this storyline could have worked somehow but it also really bothers me how Rory comes across at the end of that scene with Asher. She seems really, I don't know, childish? petulant? as if she still doesn't believe him? It's weird. And I absolutely hate her line about the red head having fat thighs. That's another one of those lines that shouldn't have been there.
I like Lane's plot. I like that we see some more of the consequences of her moving out and how she feels about it. She's really happy in this new place she's in but then she also feels a bit lonely, especially when she sees the other band members celebrating with their families and she doesn't have anyone else there. When Lane sneaks into her house and kisses Mrs. Kim in her sleep, it's one of my favourite scenes of the whole show. It's hearbreaking without overdoing it. I just have to believe that Mrs. Kim and Kyon have a very deep sleep.
Since Asher Fleming likes writers to be concise, here is one word to describe Asher Fleming: "unctuous."
ReplyDeleteThe scene between Richard and Lorelai is fantastic, and brutal, and a great follow up to last week. I think Richard is at least a little hurt by the Lorelai/Jason secret, or he wouldn't have twisted the knife with "maybe you should just go with him."
Not that Richard would ever admit he was hurt by that--when he gets angry with Lorelai, he tends to phrase it as "you hurt Emily" rather than "you hurt ME." (Remember way back in season 1, when he tells Lorelai that after she ran off, Emily cried for a week? I'm betting there were some tears from Richard too, but he'd never admit it.) When Emily confronts him, he says that SHE doesn't like being lied to, but it's clear HE doesn't like it either, and Emily instantly cuts through that particular bullshit.
Just as Richard uses Emily as a screen for his pain, Lorelai uses "my family" as a screen for how hurt SHE is by Jason's lawsuit against her father. And just as Richard is legitimately protective of Emily, Lorelai is also legitimately protective of her parents.
Dang, this storyline is really well structured. Well done, ASP! And the conclusion of Emily and Richard separating has been building the whole season. (Unlike certain other Season Long Storylines That Shall Not Be Named, this one is terrific.)
Also great this episode: Lane! The half-Korean half-English scene between her and Kyon slays me -- it's such a first-generation immigrant kind of thing. And even though Lane says she left behind the clothes she hated, I notice that their wardrobes are pretty similar. Lane may be in a band, but she still wears pink cardigans to work in a diner.
Now that you've pointed out that the Emily leaving thing was built towards very carefully I can see it. It seemed out of nowhere to me in regards to how Emily left the previous scene - because I feel like we've seen her get after Richard so many times before - but when I reflect I see that you're right. They've been showing the cracks in their relationship through.
DeleteSo this episode kept you guessing - and only half in a good way.
ReplyDeleteI'll start with Rory - based on my comment last week you can guess that I was surprised, and not pleased, to see that Rory had "earned" an A on her paper in Fleming's class since I thought she was "sinking" at Yale. When that plot started I thought, yep, here we go, she's still struggling. But then she did earn an A? Or she didn't? How can Rory be THAT out of touch that she writes a phd quality paper but doesn't recognize it? I'm halfway finished with doctoral coursework - I'm calling shenanigans on that. So do we take that at face value or not? And then her parting comment to Fleming out the door - are you kidding me? Either Rory can't contain her distaste for Fleming any longer or she is just a complete moron for alienating her professor that way.
When I realized what was going on with Emily and Richard - mere moments before Lorelei did -I was flabbergasted. That came way out of nowhere with how they left it in the previous scene. But I still somewhat believed it. I appreciated Emily's moment of frankness with Richard in the study - our daughter is too important. I LOVED Richard's comment to Lorelai about him expecting no less than for her to not care about their needs. That struck hard, and Lorelai knew it - which is why she wouldn't repeat it to Rory. I think it shows her character growth that she chose to cut Jason out of her life rather than Richard and Emily over the lawsuit. At first I struggled with believability - since I sympathize with Jason so much - but ultimately I decided I liked it. Lorelai made it clear that she understands why he's doing it, but she's not going to be involved with someone who's suing "her family". Her phrasing it that way, rather than "my parents", really struck me. That stacked up so subtly against Emily's understandable reaction that she would immediately leave them.
Loved Lane and Mrs. Kim. Such a touching episode! They've always had Lane and Mrs. Kim as the anti Rory and Lorelai. And Lorelai, I feel, has always interacted with Mrs. Kim in a way that made me feel like she was trying to give advice to her own mother. There are similarities between how Mrs. Kim raises Lane and how Emily raised Lorelai. But this moment here highlighted the differences between Lorelai and Lane that makes me think things will never be with the Kims the way they are with the Gilmores. Lane has a more soft, compassionate heart than Lorelai. The flashback scenes with teenage Lorelai have always made her seem hard, sarcastic, and alienating. Lane is literally never those things. I cannot ever imagine teenage Lorelai doing that to her mother. Adult Lorelai has matured enough through being a mother herself that she can finally show her mother the compassion that Lane is beginning to show here.
I am once again too late (probably) to comment on this episode! Ughh oh well I have THOUGHTS upon THOUGHTS for the upcoming three. Squee! I'm gonna start writing them now.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Rory's alleged A worthy paper, some of us may be forgetting that Professor Fleming is lifelong good friends with her beloved grandfather, Richard. It may well be that it is Fleming's relationship with Richard - NOT Fleming's relationship with Paris - that may have skewed his assessment/grading.
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