In which the town has hay fever, Rory has a big decision to make and Lorelai says she’s sorry.
Here’s what happened:
Hoodwinked
We open with Sookie and Michel bickering about the arrangement of stuff in the Spring Fling baskets. The event won’t be as fun this year anyway. Taylor’s childhood dream/madman scheme of a hay bale maze got the pity vote/hoodwink vote from the town, hay allergy be darned.
Why are you here?
Breakfast at Paris and Doyle’s is a tense affair with Logan upsetting Paris’s 5 milks for 5 reasons delicate balance. No cereal for her since he snarfed up all the 2%. She’s also irked that mail addressed to Logan (who doesn’t live there) is being delivered to the apartment. In essence, why is he there?
Rory enters, stressed about her first big interview and the white noise space that her brain has become. And no, Rory, your coat is not too “His Girl Friday.”
April is in for a visit at Luke’s. She’s really digging living in New Mexico and the eye opening culture it has to offer.
APRIL: It’s fascinating stuff, and you know what’s funny? Growing up in New England, it’s like you’re told over and over that you live in this old place where houses are 300 years old and there’s all this history, right?
LUKE: Right,
APRIL: Well, some of these pueblos, like the Aztec ruins national monument, or the Casamero Pueblo ruins — I mean, people were living there in 1100 A.D. It’s like, “suck it, New England.”
LUKE: It’s like what?
She shares some of that culture with Luke, giving him a delightfully awful silver and turquoise bracelet that could also have come from the store where Joey Tribbiani bought his and Chandler’s bracelet buddies bling.
Rory calls Lorelai from a train back from Providence to let her know that the interview was aces. She also wanted to check to make sure it was OK that she’s bringing Logan with her to Stars Hollow for the spring fling. That is the first time this has happened. All of her other beaus were residents of the Hollow, even if only temporarily. She’s feeling all grown up and pretty happy with herself.
Logan in Stars Hollow
Logan arrives with Rory, bearing fancy Himalayan flowers for Lorelai. Things are a little awkward with Lorelai giving Rory (who’s forever lived in Stars Hollow) a list of possible activities they can do, and showing them their sleeping accommodations in Rory’s room.
Rory takes him on a walking tour of the town, which includes stops where important thinks happened in Scab Nose’s life.
RORY: And this right here — this is the very curb where I fell off my bicycle the second time.
LOGAN: Wait, is that blood?
RORY: Yeah you joke, but it was very traumatic, okay? I scraped up my whole face. There was a big old scab on my nose the first two weeks of fifth grade. Oh, they called me bozo.
LOGAN: Bozo.
RORY: And Rudolph and scab nose.
LOGAN: Oh.
RORY: This is the curb where I fell off my bike the third time.
LOGAN: Oh, poor little scab nose.
RORY: Yes. It’s also the place where I decided I would never ride a bicycle again in my entire life, or at least till the end of elementary school.
LOGAN: There should be a plaque.
There’s even time for a little street theater, when Taylor’s ridiculous hay bale maze begins to cover the entire front of the diner.
No lemonade booth
Walking and talking with Sookie reveals Lorelai still holding a wee bit of judgment against Logan and his recent shenanigans.But Rory’s an adult now, and Lorelai doesn’t feel like she has a place for an opinion on her gentlemen callers anymore. It takes a minute, then Lorelai wonders where all the Spring Fling booths are. The festival is tomorrow after all.
They make their way to the town meeting to see what’s going on. Lorelai says hello and chitchats with April, while Luke looks on. April goes to find seats and the chitchat continues, cordial but stilted now that it’s just those two grown-ups still carrying around a bit of baggage. Thankfully, Taylor bangs the gavel, and the meeting is called to order.
Taylor assures the town that preparations are going very well. Where are all the booths? they ask. Did I mention the hay bale maze was looking really good?
JACKSON: There’s hay everywhere. I haven’t seen so much hay since… I have never in my life seen so much hay.
TAYLOR: Would everyone please take a handful of chill pills?
GYPSY: Where the hell is my damn lemonade booth?
TAYLOR: You don’t need to worry about your lemonade booth.
GYPSY: Why not? The festival is tomorrow, and I have to start squeezing my lemons, and I don’t have my equipment or my booth.
TAYLOR: You don’t have to worry about that, gypsy, because you don’t need to squeeze lemons because you don’t need lemonade. Because there isn’t going to be a lemonade booth this year.
Uh, say what??
Taylor has finally flipped his lid completely. The town is working its way to an uproar, but he has one final point to make.Kirk the Minotaur arrives to probably impart riveting information about the differences between a labyrinth and a maze, but the town has had enough and leaves the meeting in disgust just in time to see the square’s gazebo being crane-lifted away. This is madness, I tell you! Madness!
Lorelai returns home to find there’s actual cooking going on. Logan is making paella. She helps chop the peppers and offers her sympathies to his recent business troubles while Rory takes a call. Lorelai’s not too thrilled with Logan’s laissez-faire attitude though-“Oh, yeah, that’s the way it goes. You know these things happen. A business is like an ocean. You just got to surf it.”
Rory returns, super excited that she got the job!
Big fish, small fish
The excitement wears off a bit, and Rory starts to weigh the options of taking this job and being a big fish versus waiting for the bigger opportunities as a smaller fish. Nothing has to be decided until Monday, and in the meantime, there’s hay and pie.
Logan and Lorelai clash a little about what a 22-year-old’s top priority should be–a paycheck and some security or a chance to go for her dreams.
True to Lorelai’s characterization of her being a thoughtful, deliberate decision maker, Rory stays up late drawing up the pro-con list.
Logan gets up to get a drink of water and runs into Lorelai in the kitchen. Before she makes a quick exit back to bed, he assures her that despite what Rory tells her about him (Vegas, business failure, etc.), it’s not who he really is. He doesn’t want her to be worried. She’s a mom, dude. She’s gonna worry; it’s part of the job.
She doesn’t appreciate how lightly he seems to be taking this, but Logan assures her that he knows he made a huge mistake, he’s just fronting to make a good impression. She also thinks the whole paying bills, 401ks and dealing with reality are important. Logan may come from a privileged upbringing, but that’s not how Rory was raised.
Logan reminds Lorelai that they’re a lot alike. They both left a world of privilege to do things their own way. All right then. Lorelai brokers the peace with a bit of leftover pie.
Hay fever
It’s Spring Fling day, and so far the hay bale maze is a huge hit, even with the doubting, cranky-pants townsfolk who are now high on the maze.
Logan mentions to Rory that he noticed his name last night on her pro-con list with three question marks next to it.He tells her not to factor him in. At first, she’s a little crestfallen until he reminds her that he has no idea what’s next for him. She should do what she wants to do and then maybe he’ll factor her in. What she really wants is the Reston Fellowship at The New York Times.
Business is hopping at the diner. April helps get the food out. Zach’s become one with the maze, going through it each time a delivery needs to go out.
Lorelai journeys through the maze alone, looking like she’s sort of digging it. She runs into Luke, carrying a delivery bag that Zach forgot. Possibly inspired by Logan owning up to his mistakes the previous evening, Lorelai seems to think this is the right moment.
What a catchy tune:
Grant Lee Phillips’s “Raise the Spirit”
That Gilmore Girls show sure is a pop culture playground:
MICHEL: I am a man of refine and renowned aesthetic. Fabien Baron once publicly admired the way I decorated my locker at Crunch.
LOGAN: Yeah, what if your mom’s out there? I don’t want her thinking I’m David Hasselhoff or something.
Hey, this is the first time I’ve noticed:
Rory and Logan using cutesy endearments with one another. In just one scene we get a “Dear,” a “Babe” and a “Sweetie.” If they’ve done that before, I sure haven’t noticed.
Why I want Sookie for my personal chef:
Nothing but hay bales at the Spring Fling? Sookie to the rescue with hot dogs and salty nuts and funnel cakes!
Kirk’s current job:
Minotaur and Maze Guard
The witticisms of Lorelai Gilmore, ladies and gentlemen:
LORELAI: You can give him [Logan] the grand tour of Stars Hollow, and I’ll show embarrassing pictures of you picking your nose.
RORY: Oh, no. No baby pictures.
LORELAI: Who said they’re baby pictures? So, um, you’re bringing a guy home.
RORY: It’s not like I picked him up at a truck stop.
LORELAI: No, no, I know. You’re bringing a suitor, a gentleman caller, home to stars hollow. I’m gonna have to get out my pipe and dust off my “what are your intentions?” Cue cards.
Snark 101 with Michel Gerard:
Does Michel have SAD? The coming of spring sure seems to give him the blues.
MICHEL: I do not care for trains.
RORY: Oh, no? I’m sorry.
MICHEL: Trains are dirty.
RORY: Well, this train doesn’t look very dirty.
MICHEL: You know what I find particularly disgusting?
RORY: What?
MICHEL: Train tracks. They remind me somehow of trails left behind by slugs. You know there are a lot of slugs in the spring, you know? Oozing all over the place.
A reason Season 7 is not so bad:
Lorelai and Luke have a very genuine moment in the maze. They honestly own up to what they did to each other and both offer very heartfelt apologies. The looks in their eyes show nothing but healing and genuine affection for one another. We can finally put the Christopher era behind us and move on.
Other Random Thoughts:
♦ This episode would have been an excellent opportunity for Hay Bale Bill to visit Stars Hollow.
♦ Does April read no YA fiction? She is YA after all.
♦ I know she’s referring to financial situations when she talks to Logan about how she thinks dealing with reality is important, but that’s a bit rich coming from Lorelai. The woman ran away from home when she decided she didn’t want to marry Max.
Burning Question:
Ms. Mojo offers their take on the top ten burning questions they need answered. I agree with them on numbers 9, 7, 4, 3, 2 and definitely 1. Which ones make your list?
The Great Gilmore Girls Rewatch 
