Run Away, Little Boy originally aired November 11, 2001.  It was directed by Danny Leiner and was written by John Stephens.

We start off this episode with Lorelei getting a wedding present, and wanting to return the ice cream maker someone sent her.  However, there is nothing saying who this gift is from, and Lorelei is determined to figure out who sent it.

At Chilton, each class gets assigned an act from Romeo and Juliet.  Rory gets teamed up with Madeleine, Louise and Paris, because apparently Rory can’t be assigned to work with anyone else in her class.  Each group is supposed to do their own interpretation of the scene, which will be half of their final grade…so no pressure or anything.

Rory gets home to find that Lorelei is still making calls, trying to figure out who sent the ice cream maker.  Lorelei heads off to class, where she gets asked out by a guy in her business class, but she turns him down.

Back at Chilton, Paris announces that traditional Elizabethan is their interpretation, because the point is to get an A, not turn the scene into a Vegas lounge act.  Doesn’t reinterpreting the scene in your own way show you understand the themes?  There’s no doubt Paris and Rory have a good grasp on Shakespeare, and my guess is that Louise does do.  So as smart as they are, sticking to the original doesn’t show you understand what’s going on.  Rory is Juliet because Juliet has more than 3 lines and is supposed to be chaste and Tristan joins the group, which saves Brad, who we met a few minutes earlier, from being Romeo.

At the inn, Lorelei tries to donate the ice cream maker, and has this conversation with Sookie about how Lorelei hasn’t gone on any dates, even though Lorelei has moved on since breaking off her engagement.  After talking about it with Sookie, Lorelei says she’ll reconsider.

Paris isn’t happy that 2 other groups are practicing in the great hall, even though she reserved it in advance.  Paris, being Paris, is worried about people seeing their interpretation, so rehearsal gets moved to Miss Patty’s.  Rory asks Lorelei for advice, because of her kissing Tristan after she and Dean broke up.  While Lorelei loves Rory’s honesty, she also thinks it’ll do more harm than good.  While the group (minus Tristan) waits for Miss Patty’s class to leave, Rory heads over to Doosey’s, because Dean is working, and Tristan is headed over there.  Tristan gives Dean a hard time, and Dean is not happy that Tristan and Rory are playing Romeo and Juliet.  Rory apologizes and says she’ll pretend like Tristan doesn’t exist when the project is over.  Dean doesn’t know why she’s apologizing.

I get that Dean doesn’t like Tristan and Rory playing Romeo and Juliet, and that Dean doesn’t like how Rory and Tristan are thrown together a lot.  While slightly weird that Rory is consistently paired with the same 3 or 4 people throughout her Chilton years, I also realize that with an already large cast of characters, they’re only going to focus on a select few of Rory’s classmates.  Rory shouldn’t have to apologize to Dean because he doesn’t like Rory and Tristan working on a class project and she shouldn’t have to avoid Tristan just because Dean doesn’t like him…especially since Rory and Tristan seem to have several classes together.

We move on to Luke’s, where Lorelei tells Rory about her date.  Dean wants to see Rory practice, and decides he’s just going to do it even though Rory doesn’t want him to.  This is why I am not a fan of Dean.  I get he doesn’t trust Tristan but it’s also like he doesn’t trust Rory, which is irritating.  We also see Rory talking to Tristan at school, and she asks him to not mention the kiss.  I definitely got this vibe that it meant nothing to Rory, but it seemed to have meant something to Tristan.

We see Rory’s group rehearsing, and it seems like Tristan knows his lines, but is pretending like he doesn’t know them.  Paris tells them they’re staying until they get it right, and Rory asks Dean to leave, because they need to rehearse and Dean is making things worse.  Tristan just ups and leaves.

Moving on to the next big scene: the play itself.  Tristan’s not there, Brad’s transferred to a different school, and Paris is freaking out because there is no Romeo.  We learn Tristan is getting sent to military school because he acted like an idiot, so Paris fills in as Romeo.  Once the play is over, we see Lorelei and Sookie talking about how Luke goes hot and cold with his emotions, and Sookie says it’s because Luke is into her, and how he sees her go from guy to guy, and that when he saw the guy she went on a date with, he likely wondered if she would go out with everyone before she went out with him.  Lorelei seems pretty resistant to the idea that Luke is into her, but apparently everyone can see it except for Lorelei…and probably Luke too.

At the diner, Lorelei tells Luke about how she’s not good at the whole dating thing, and asks Luke if he’s good at it.  She tells him she doesn’t have a lot of people she can trust, but does have the town and Sookie and Rory and hopefully Luke…who says she does have him as someone she can trust.

Favorite Line:

Rory, in reference to Paris pulling out a sword: “Tell me you didn’t just have that lying around.”

Pop Culture:

Emily Post

Final Thoughts:

This is one of those episodes that reminds me of how I really dislike Dean.  I am wondering if there’s a part of me that looks for how irritating Dean is and for reasons to not like him…and then acts all pissy because of something that is out of Rory’s control.  And the ice cream maker!  It’s admirable Lorelei wants to return it, but we never learn who sent it.  I never thought of this before, but I wonder if Emily sent it.  We know that Emily told Lorelei she was saving for when Lorelei does get married, and it mysteriously appears with no note months after the wedding is called off.  It was just okay for me, so this one gets 2 mugs of coffee.