Cinnamon’s Wake originally aired on November 2, 2000.  It was written by Daniel Palladino and directed by Michael Katleman.

In Cinnamon’s Wake, Rory acts awkwardly around Dean.  The death of Cinnamon, Morey and Babbette’s cat, brings the entire town together for a memorial.

We start off with Friday night dinner, with Lorelei making jokes about Nazi’s.

From there, Rory and Lorelei talk about the bake sale and how Lorelei has it covered.  We get our first look at Cinnamon, who’s being pushed in a wagon because she’s not feeling well.  It’s too bad we don’t see a lot of Morey, because I like him.  I’m glad Star’s Hollow is so strange.

Dean and Rory talk on the bus…right after he scares Rory.  At the inn, Michel pretends he is from Texas and isn’t from France.  Of course, the French businessmen are glad he’s from France.  I love the conversation between Lorelei and Michel about how he left France because the French are insufferable.

At the bake sale, Sooki makes the tablecloth catch on fire, and Lorelei uses lemonade from the stand next to them to put it out.  And Lorelei is still annoyed at Max over the Shakespeare test.  He talks to her at the bake sale, and asks her out on a date.  Lorelei has mixed feelings because he’s Rory’s teacher, but at the same time, I don’t blame her.  It’s an interesting relationship they have, at least in these early episodes.

Rory goes into Doosey’s market, because she sees Dean in there.  She runs into Miss Patty, before going to a different part of the store.  She buys some lettuce and a mouse-trap before realizing she doesn’t have enough money.

Lorelei and Max have a pre-date at a coffee shop and talk about why they should date.  Lorelei is still resistant to the idea, and Max isn’t.  She hesitantly agrees to go out to dinner with him.

At Luke’s, Lorelei and Sookie are talking about Max.  Sookie starts fixing people’s food at Luke’s while they’re talking about Max and how Lorelei feels about him.  Luke isn’t happy Sookie is behind the counter “helping.”  And we learn Lorelei hasn’t told Rory, but before Lorelei can finish explaining how she was speaking metaphorically to Sookie, we find out that Cinnamon dies.

There’s a memorial at Babette’s house, where there is a wake for Cinnamon.  Michel’s reaction was funny…and how did they fit so many people into that tiny house?  Naturally, Sookie and Luke are fighting about placement of food.  Sookie’s trying to be all organized while Luke just sets the food down and lets people go at it.

Rory finds out about Lorelei’s date with Max, which Lorelei forgot to cancel (because of the wake).  She reschedules and goes back to the wake, where she talks to Babette about Cinnamon and her medications.  Babette is so sad about Cinnamon and her relationship with Morey.  That house is designed for Babette.  I wish I could live in a house where everything was designed for my height.  The joys of being not quite 5 feet tall.  Fun fact: Sally Struthers, who plays Babette, is 5’1″

Rory tells Dean she’s interested in him and then runs off.  She and Lorelei finally talk about Lorelei’s now-cancelled date with Max.  Rory’s upset (again, I don’t blame her) but they work out the weird feelings the date brought up.

The episode ends with Lorelei and Emily talking about how Emily couldn’t reach Lorelei.  Emily’s not happy that Lorelei didn’t go to her cousin’s funeral but went to a cat’s wake.

Crazy References: Henry VIII, M. Night Shamalan, Iran Contra scandal

Favorite Lines/Scenes: Emily, to Rory: “Rory, correct me if I’m wrong, but men have landed on the moon, regardless of whether your mother remembers it or not.”

Rory: “That’s the rumor.”

Michel, to a French business man: “I am from Texas.”

Emily, to Lorelei: “Hold on, I’m looking up aneurysm in the medical dictionary to see if I just had one.

Final thoughts: I like this episode, but it’s just average.  The town attending a wake for a cat really is Stars Hallow, and it’s the first of many town events we get to see during the series.  Granted, it’s not, like, a festival or anything, but we do see some fun things.

This episode gets 3 mugs of coffee.