In which Jackson stays at Lorelai’s house to avoid getting chicken pox, Lorelai asks Luke to go car shopping with her after the Jeep dies, Paris receives several acceptance letters for med school, and Rory learns she didn’t get the Fellowship.
Here’s What Happened:
After several long months of exile, Lorelai has returned to Luke’s Diner! Yaay! She sits at the counter (to Kirk’s chagrin) and makes awkward small talk with Luke about the weather. She ultimately decides to take her order to go, but the ice is finally broken!
On her way to the Inn, Lorelai gets a call from Sookie. The kids have chicken pox, so she’ll be staying home with them. She also mentions Jackson is going to be staying in a hotel since he’s never had the chicken pox, but Lorelai insists he come stay at her house. Just as Lorelai starts to fill Sookie in on her stop at Luke’s, the Jeep sputters and begins to die, forcing Lorelai to pull over.
Meanwhile at Paris and Doyle’s place, they’re getting ready to open the response letters from Paris’s schools of choice.
DOYLE: Paris has some news.
PARIS: Not some news, the news. Responses from Harvard medical school, Johns Hopkins school of medicine, Penn medical, Yale law school, Stanford law school, and Columbia medical. And before you comment on envelope thickness, keep in mind that so much stuff is online these days that thickness is no longer an accurate indicator.
RORY: Mm-hmm
PARIS: I knew you would want to be here, when I opened them.
RORY: Yeah, right. Thanks.
Paris makes Rory open the letters for her – using the lucky letter opener, of course! It’s all good news for Paris. Every single school accepted her.
Sookie drops Jackson off at Lorelai’s, but before she leaves she reads him the riot act on his behavior while staying with her friend.
SOOKIE: Wipe your shoes off if you go outside and come back in.
JACKSON: I will.
SOOKIE: Don’t leave them laying around in the middle of the room or anywhere where they can be smelled.
JACKSON: Sookie.
SOOKIE: Just don’t touch anything, and hang up your wet towels.
JACKSON: I have stayed at other people’s houses before.
SOOKIE: I know. Why do you think I’m saying all of this? And just try not to annoy Lorelai.
JACKSON: Believe it or not, I don’t try to annoy other people.
SOOKIE: Well congratulations, because you have a natural talent.
JACKSON: Sookie!
SOOKIE: What?
JACKSON: Nothing.
Poor Jackson.
Lorelai finalls gets to work on her bike. Sookie and Michel try to help her brainstorm about what kind of car she might like, but not much comes of it.
SOOKIE: Close your eyes. Now, I want you to imagine your dream car. It can be anything you want. You’re backing out of the driveway. You’re driving through Stars Hollow. “Good morning, townspeople! Top of the morning to you.”
LORELAI: Why am I saying “top of the morning”?
SOOKIE: It doesn’t matter what you say. It matters what you’re in. Can you see what you’re in?
LORELAI: I think I can see it!
SOOKIE: Okay, what kind of car is it?
LORELAI: It’s not really a car. It’s more of a float.
SOOKIE: A float?
LORELAI: In the shape of a swan, and I’m dressed all in white.
SOOKIE: Okay, that’s not a very practical car.
Lorelai decides to enlist Luke’s help. After all, this is definitely something she would’ve asked him for help with before… everything. She gives him a call and he agrees to car shop with her. It starts out uncomfortably, but eventually Luke and Lorelai find themselves bantering and bickering just ike the old days.
LORELAI: So narrow-minded.
LUKE: That’s not narrow-minded. Okay it’s sane, and here’s a news flash for you, okay? Sports cars don’t think they’re better than other cars. Okay. Hatchbacks don’t have SUV inferiority complexes.
LORELAI: Now who’s ridiculous?
LUKE: And sedans aren’t afraid to get dirty.
LORELAI: You know what I think it is? That you’re hungry.
LUKE: What? No.
LORELAI: Sometimes you get like this when you’re hungry.
LUKE: I’m not.
LORELAI: I think I have some cookies in here, some Oreos.
LUKE: I’m not and besides I wouldn’t eat anything that came out of that bag.
LORELAI: They’re in a wrapper.
LUKE: I can’t believe you still haven’t cleaned that thing out.
When Lorelai gets home, she’s met outside by a sad-looking Sookie and Jackson. While she was out with Luke, Jackson accidentally broke her dollhouse. They assure her they’ve found someone who can fix it, so it looks like everything will be alright. The accident also gave Sookie and Jackson a chance to talk and deal with the “Sookie is mad at me because I lied about having a vasectomy and now she’s pregnant” issue.
Over at Yale, Paris decides the only way she can make a college choice without factoring in Doyle is to break up with him. She later admits to Rory that Doyle wasn’t putting ANY pressure on her whatsoever, but she couldn’t stand the thought of choosing a school “not for its merits, but for its proximity to some guy.”
RORY: But Doyle’s not just some guy.
PARIS: I know. But I’m only 22. This wasn’t supposed to happen yet. I wasn’t supposed to meet the guy until I was 30 and clerking for a federal judge or finishing up my residency and when I knew where I’d be when I was ready to settle down.
RORY: Yeah, but you can’t plan everything. I mean, you fell in love. That’s a good thing.
The next morning, while Paris is telling Rory she’s decided what she wants to be – if not where. She wants to be a physician. Shortly after this revelation, Doyle walks in and informs Paris that he isn’t moving out. In fact, he isn’t breaking up. Oh, and she was accepted to two more med schools.
There’s also a letter for Rory.
As Paris and Doyle walk into the other room, still discussion all the options for their future, Rory reaches for the lucky letter opener and takes a look at the response from her fellowship application.
Uh oh. 😦
What a catchy tune:
To Go Home – M. Ward
That Gilmore Girls show sure is a pop culture playground:
SOOKIE: Oh, history, schmistory. Couples have been breaking up and becoming friends. I mean look at Ryan O’neal and Farrah Fawcett, huh?
LORELAI: Really Ryan and Fawcett that’s the most well-adjusted relationship you can come up with?
SOOKIE: I mean I’m sorry. He’s been in the news lately — that whole shooting-a-gun-at-his-son thing.
LORELAI: You know how Jack Bauer should torture terrorists? Make them go car shopping with their exes.
The witticisms of Lorelai Gilmore, ladies and gentlemen:
LUKE: Okay there have been improvements.
LORELAI: They made some changes.
LUKE: Improvements.
LORELAI: Says who?
LUKE: What exactly is bugging you?
LORELAI: It’s not bugging me per se. It’s just it’s different. I don’t get that feeling.
LUKE: Oh, for god’s sake.
LORELAI: What?
LUKE: You’re being ridiculous.
LORELAI: Why?
LUKE: You don’t buy a car based on a feeling.
LORELAI: No. You don’t buy a car based on a feeling.
LUKE: It’s not just me. It’s the whole rest of the population.
LORELAI: Really? You took a poll, and you know how everyone else buys their car?
LUKE: I don’t have to. I already know what they’re gonna say.
LORELAI: Well, I am the person buying the car, and so the only opinion that matters is mine.
Snark 101 with Michel Gerard:
LORELAI: How about a mini?
MICHEL: Oh, how about a Rolls-Royce?
LORELAI: [Sarcastically] Yeah, I’ll consider that.
MICHEL: Or a Bentley, Aston Martin, Mercedes, a BMW.
LORELAI: What are you doing, just listing expensive cars?
MICHEL: Take out a second mortgage on your home. It will be worth it.
SOOKIE: Michel, be quiet.
MICHEL: People are impressed by fine automobiles. It’s how the world works. Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t make the rules. I just play by them.
Paris is Burning:
RORY: Okay. [opens the letter] Okay. “We are pleased to inform…”
PARIS: Whoo! I got in! I got in!
DOYLE: All right!
RORY: Congratulations!
PARIS: Bite me, Harvard, bite me!
DOYLE: Yeah, choke on it!
PARIS: I’m tempted to reject them the same way they rejected me that dark day four years ago. Who’s laughing now?!
Other random thoughts:
♦ Was it just me, or was Lorelai’s fashion in this episode a little… interesting?
♦ Paris stressing out about Doyle impacting her grad school decision reminded me of how she didn’t want it to seem like Jamie was influencing her undergrad college choice.
♦ Really nice to see Luke and Lorelai find their banter groove again. 🙂
Katie wrote this ツ
The Great Gilmore Girls Rewatch 