Emily In Wonderland originally aired April 26, 2001.  Emily In Wonderland was written by John Stephens and Linda Loiselle Guzik and was directed by Perry Lang.

Brief Summary: Emily visits Stars Hollow and spends the afternoon with Rory.

We open with Friday night dinner, where Rory is asking for pictures for a visual family history project for school.  We learn that Lorelei burned all of the pictures of her as a kid.  Rory notices that the chairs are new but Lorelei thinks they look the same.  Emily talks about how she’s been looking for them all over the East Coast and how she looked for them for three years in different antique shops.  Rory tells her about Kim’s Antiques and invites her to Stars Hollow for an afternoon.

The next morning, Rachel shows Lorelei a picture of her and Luke at the Firelight Festival and then shows her a picture of an old abandoned inn, and invites Lorelei to go see it with her.  Lorelei mentions that she and Sookie have talked about opening their own inn someday.

At the inn, Lorelei sees Roon in the lobby, and we learn that most of his family doesn’t want to talk to him and that he lost his job and got kicked out of the place he was living in.  Lorelei agrees to let him work at the inn and live in the tool shed, where Lorelei and Rory lived when Rory was a baby.

Meanwhile, Emily arrives in Stars Hollow, and Rory wants to give her a walking tour of Stars Hollow.  Emily, of course, disagrees at first, but Rory says she can borrow a pair of shoes from Lorelei.  They finally arrive at Kim’s Antiques, and Emily initially complains about how cluttered it is…until she spots something she likes.  She browses while Lane and Rory talk.  They eventually leave and Emily mentions how she likes the antique store and the shoes she borrowed from Lorelei.

Meanwhile, Roon asks Michel where his room is and Michel is very amused with this- and doesn’t believe Roon when he says Lorelei hired him.  Lorelei vouches for Roon, and takes him to the tool shed.  Rory and Emily stop by, and Emily and Michel meet.  They really like each other, and then they run into Lorelei before Rory gives Emily the grand tour.

On the one hand, it’s not that hard to believe that Emily rarely makes the trip to Stars Hollow, and that it was probably her first time at the inn.  Especially with the relationship that Lorelei and Emily have.  But you’d think Emily would have an idea of where Lorelei was after leaving home at 16, and gone to bring her back home.  We finally see the shed that Lorelei and Rory lived in, and Emily doesn’t take it well.  I don’t blame her, because Lorelei went from living this really nice life, in a mansion to working as a maid and living in a shed.  It had to have been hard to see.

Back at Luke’s, Lorelei sees his apartment for the first time.  Rachel is showing her pictures, and they talk about Luke.  Lorelei talks to Luke about how he should give Rachel a chance, and that she’d probably end up leaving because she thought he didn’t want her to stay.  Apparently, it’s not the first time he’s heard this speech from her, so I don’t blame him for not believing her.

Rory gets a phone call from Emily, and Emily is asking her a bunch of questions, like her favorite color and her favorite flower.  It turns out that Emily has a big surprise for Rory- a room at the mansion for Rory, since Rory is spending a lot of time there.  Rory goes downstairs, and Emily mentions the shed that Rory and Lorelei lived in.  Lorelei just really needed to live away from Richard and Emily.  It does seem like it was completely horrible for Lorelei, but seriously, why didn’t Emily and Richard make her come home?  It seems like they just let her leave, and had no clue where she was living, but if they did know where she was, why didn’t they go after her?  And if they did, it was certainly never mentioned on the show.  I think they would have mentioned Lorelei leaving twice, but maybe the writers never thought of including that.

The episode ends with Lorelei, Rory and Sookie at the Dragonfly.

Favorite scenes: the opening Friday night dinner

Pop culture: boy bands- notably, N*SYNC, Backstreet Boys and 98 degrees, Charlie’s Angels, Prince, To Kill A Mockingbird, infomercials

Final thoughts: I really liked this episode.  It was nice to see Emily visiting Stars Hollow, which she really doesn’t do very often.  Well, not that we see.  It does bring up an interesting aspect to Emily and Lorelei’s relationship, and you have to wonder why Emily didn’t have a special room for Rory before.  It gets 4 mugs of coffee.

The Third Lorelei originally aired March 22, 2001.  It was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino and was directed by Michael Katleman.

Episode 18 Overview: We meet the original Lorelei, who is visiting the Stars Hollow Gilmores.  She offers to set up a trust fund to pay for Rory’s education- which Emily wants to keep to herself.

We open with Friday night dinner, where everyone is quiet.  Emily brings up the discussions the Kennedy family would have at dinner. Richard comes in and tells everyone that his mother is coming to visit, which prompts Emily to freak out.

Emily is in the basement, trying to find everything that Lorelei 1 ever gave to her, so she could put it around the house.  Rory asks about her on the way home, and wants to like her great-grandmother.

At Chilton, Rory is working on a group assignment with Paris, Louise, Madeleine, Tristan and a few other people.  Paris is annoyed that only Rory is taking the assignment seriously, and wants everyone to meet in the classroom on Saturday and Sunday.  Seriously, what kind of school is that that students can come in on the weekend to do their homework?  Shouldn’t they be learning to meet at people’s houses or something?  This is a very strange fictional school.

At the inn, Lorelei gets a call from her mother, who wants her hat rack back.  Meanwhile, Rory and Tristan talk about the kiss.  He says he’ swearing off girls, which makes Rory laugh.  She tells him he’s going out with the wrong girls, and that he should ask out Paris.

Rory and Lorelei go to Friday night dinner, which Lorelei is excited about because she wants to see her grandmother making her mother uncomfortable.  Rory tells her to be nice, but Lorelei just laughs.  Richard calls his mother Trix, and she meets Rory for the first time.  They talk about different things throughout the night, including Rory’s education and how Richard and Emily are paying for it.

Rory brings coffee and donuts to the study group in the morning, and Tristan asks Paris out in the hallway.  Paris comes to Rory for fashion advice, because she doesn’t want to go to Madeleine and Louise.  She is certainly calmer than Madeleine and Louise, but they would probably be better at it than Rory.  Rory loans Paris an outfit from her mom’s closet because Paris doesn’t have a great wardrobe.

There’s another dinner with Lorelei the First, who doesn’t like the idea of Lorelei borrowing money from Richard and Emily so Rory can go to a good school.  She offers to have a trust fund made available to right immediately, so it can be used for school.  Lorelei’s excited, but Emily isn’t, because it means Lorelei will pay back the money, and they’ll never see Rory or Lorelei again because Emily doesn’t have something to hold over Lorelei’s head.  Emily is convinced that Lorelei will lose Rory the way Emily lost Lorelei.  Seriously, Emily and Lorelei have a very different relationship than the one Rory and Lorelei have.  From what we know of Lorelei and Emily’s relationship so far, there’s a good chance Emily was going to lose Lorelei no matter what happened.  Rory is always going to need Lorelei, because they’re best friends.

Lorelei is letting Emily’s comments get to her, so she doesn’t tell Rory away.  She uses Rory being asleep as an excuse, but plans to tell her after a reassuring talk with Sookie.

Emily talks to Richard about how she wants him to ask Trix to take the money back.  She knows Lorelei the First will never like her, but she worries Lorelei won’t come back if she takes the money.

At Chilton, Tristan tells Paris that he sees them as friends and that Rory set them up.  Paris isn’t happy that Rory set them up, because she doesn’t want to be with a guy Rory rejected first.  Then Rory is annoyed with Tristan for telling Paris and thinks it’s because he’s not over summer…when it’s really because he likes her.

At tea, Emily and Lorelei fight about Lorelei not telling Rory right away.  Lorelei the First trusts Rory with the money, but doesn’t trust Emily and Lorelei with it.

The episode ends Rory telling Lorelei that she probably won’t be getting that outfit back, and Lorelei telling Rory about losing out on a lot of money.

Favorite scenes: Friday night dinner, Emily freaking out about Lorelei the 1st coming, Lorelei talking to the dog statues

Pop culture: Kennedy’s and Camelot, Henry VIII, Barbie, Marx Brothers

Final thoughts: I thought this episode was just okay.  We do see the lengths Emily will go to in order to keep Lorelei coming back for Friday night dinner, and we also see a little bit of the tension between Emily and her mother-in-law.  Lorelei and Emily still don’t have the best relationship but you’d think Rory has gotten close enough to her grandparents to still go visit them every once in a while.  Marion Ross is great at Lorelei the First, and I’m glad that she makes a few more appearances over the next few seasons.  It gets 2 mugs of coffee.

The Breakup, Part II originally aired on March 15, 2001.  It was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino and was directed by Nick Marck.

Episode 17 Overview: Rory is dealing with her break-up by tackling a long list of things to do, while Lorelei gives into her feelings for Max.

We open right where we left off in the previous episode- with Lorelei and Rory hugging in the hall.  Rory tells her about her night, but doesn’t want to talk about why they broke up.  Lorelei wants more details, because she knows there’s more to it than what Rory is saying.  Rory gets rid of the stuff Dean gave her, and puts it in a box for Lorelei to take far away.  Lorelei puts it in the hall closet, behind a bunch of other boxes.

Then, Rory wakes Lorelei up really early the next morning because she has a list of stuff they say they’re going to do, and then never do.  Lorelei wants to sleep but instead gets up to find that Rory rearranged the furniture in the front room.  Lorelei wants Rory to wallow by eating ice cream, watching sad movies and eating a lot of junk food.

Rory doesn’t want to be that kind of girl.  Not only that, but she doesn’t think it will help.  They take this weird trip to Luke’s because Rory wants to avoid every possible place that Dean could be.  It was nice of Lorelei to indulge Rory, but also a little ridiculous, because it’s a small town and they’re going to run into each other eventually.  I do understand not wanting to run into, but still.  It’s going to happen.

They get to the diner, which is busy, and they have breakfast and coffee.  Everyone’s heard by now, and Rory is all worried that everyone knows, which is why she feels like they’re all staring at her.  Lorelei and Patty talk about it, and Lorelei tells Patty to spread the word about not talking to Rory about it.  Kirk apologizes to Lorelei for not voicing his concerns about Dean earlier.  It’s nice that everyone’s so protective of Rory, because they all love her.

Even Luke is protective, because he gets into a fight with Dean outside the diner.  Lorelei breaks it up, and Rory checks on Dean but he just stalks off and ignores her.  Sometimes, I wonder what Rory ever saw in Dean.  Lorelei and Rory work on the list Rory made, and finally make it home.  Babette comes over to talk to Rory, but Lorelei sends Babette back home.  Rory is looking through her backpack, and finds a flier Madeleine gave her for a party she’s having.  Rory wants to go, which surprises Lorelei, but Rory is insistent on going.

She ends up taking Lane so there’s a friendly face, so we see them getting ready.  She doesn’t want to dwell on the break-up, but realizes she forgot to put the cornstarch in the box.  Lorelei offers to take care of it.  While they go off to the party, Lorelei puts the cornstarch in the Dean box, and finds the Max box she put together.  She goes to Sookie’s house, where she finds Sookie waiting outside, because Jackson is cooking her dinner.  He kicked her out because she kept trying to help him.  She asks to borrow Sookie’s car, because she needs to go somewhere.

At the party, Lane is impressed with the house and Madeleine is excited Rory came.  Louise asks if she and Dean broke up, but Rory lies and says he couldn’t make it.  A few minutes later, Rory tells Paris they broke up.  Paris keeps checking her watch, and tells Rory that her mom doesn’t think she’s enough of a people person, so she has to stay until a specific time.  We learn Paris wants to get into cancer research.  The only Korean guy at the party finds Lane, and Rory promises to come down with something horrible in a couple dances.  Rory wanders around while Lane is dancing.

Meanwhile, Lorelei ends up at Max’s house, where they have make-up sex.  They are still trying to figure out how to be together, but still can’t come up with a good solution.

At the party, Tristan breaks up with his girlfriend Summer, while Paris runs out of the house because she can finally leave.  Lane is freaking out because she likes Henry, and she can’t believe she likes a guy her mom would approve of.  Rory finds Tristan alone, and they talk about school.  He kisses her, but she starts to cry, and leaves with Lane.

The episode ends with Lorelei coming home to find Rory on the couch, ready to wallow.

Favorite Scene: Jackson kicking Sookie out of her own kitchen

Pop Culture: Outkast is playing during the party

Final thoughts: We see the direct aftermath of Rory and Dean breaking up.  I get not wanting to think about it, and wanting to be distracted, but putting it off isn’t going to help either.  Dean ignoring Rory was pretty rude, but it seemed like he was still upset that Rory didn’t say she loved him.  It’s not my favorite episode, but things do get moved along in this episode.  It does what it needs to.  It gets 3 mugs of coffee.

Star-Crossed Lovers And Other Strangers originally aired March 8, 2001.  The teleplay was by John Stephens and Linda Loiselle Guzik while the story was by Joan Binder Weiss.  This episode was directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.

Brief Overview: We see the preparations for the upcoming Founder’s Firelight Festival, and almost everyone in town is in love.  Lorelei deals with her mother’s matchmaking while Dean and Rory call it quits.

We start with the prep for the festival, and Miss Patty is telling some kids the story of how the Firelight Festival came to be.

From there, we see Dean waiting at the bus stop for Rory.  He asks Rory if she can get out of Friday night dinner, because he wants to celebrate their 3-month anniversary.  Later on, Lorelei talks to Emily about letting Rory get out of dinner for one night, which Emily agrees to.  She doesn’t let Lorelei out of dinner.

Then we’re at Chilton. where Paris and Rory can’t get to their lockers because Tristan is making out with someone in front of their lockers.  I’m wondering, is this a movie and t.v. thing?  Because this never happened to me, and I honestly don’t remember ever seeing this happening.

Meanwhile, Lorelei is annoyed with everyone being in love and acting all couple-y at the inn.  She ends up going to Luke’s for some coffee, and almost gets taken out by a huge star.

Patty and Taylor argue about the Firelight Festival, and Lorelei loudly wonders if people can talk about something other than the festival.  So, Lorelei is definitely not happy that love is in the air.  She suggests that to Luke that the next day, they should hate people who say, “hey, how’s it going?”  Naturally, Luke’s ex-girlfriend Rachel walks in and says “hey, how’s it going?”

We go on to Lorelei helping Rory get ready for her date, and is all worked up because she made an idiot out of herself in front of Rachel.

Lorelei goes to Friday night dinner, sits awkwardly on the couch while Richard read the newspaper.  The doorbell rings, and we learn it’s the son of a friend of Emily’s.  Conveniently, he just happened to be in the area.  But it’s really Emily trying to set Lorelei up with someone suitable, because Emily doesn’t think Lorelei can get a guy on her own.

We see a little bit of Dean and Rory’s date and the beginning of the Firelight festival.  What I find interesting is that we only see the mayor a handful of times, and I believe all of those times are in the first season.  I don’t know if showing the mayor got to be too much, because the cast of Gilmore Girls is pretty big.  And Taylor goes on to fill that role pretty well, so it’s not like we need to see the mayor anyway.  The matches to light the bonfire can’t be found, which happens every year I think the Firelight Festival is the only town event- other than town meetings- that we see more than once.

Lorelei ends up leaving Friday night dinner through the balcony, because Chase is really boring, and Richard finds her trying to leave.  He covers for her, and tells Emily that he couldn’t find her.

Rory and Dean leave the festival (because it’ll take a while for the bonfire to be lit) and they go to this junkyard.  Dean is building Rory a car, and tells her he loves her.  Rory doesn’t say anything for a minute, and then says she loves the car.  She needs to process it, and Dean, naturally, is not happy that he said it, and she’s not saying it back.  She keeps repeating that she needs to think about it, but Dean tells her that it’s not something you think about or make a pro-con list about.

Here’s the thing.  I get why Dean is upset- you tell someone that you love them and they don’t say it back, and then you’re feeling all stupid for putting it out there.  But saying it can be hard…and is it really a surprise that Rory needs some time?  I mean, saying it isn’t easy, so you’d think he’d be more understanding of that.  She’s confused, and it’s a big deal for her, and she wants him to understand where she’s coming from.  He breaks up with her and takes her home.  This just really makes me not like Dean.  I get it’s hard, but to break up with someone because they don’t say I love you right away…Rory’s better off without a guy who will dump her just because she doesn’t say it right back.

Lorelei goes to the festival and runs into Luke.  She goes home and learns that Rory and Dean broke up.

Pop culture: Tolstoy

Favorite line/scene: The story of the firelight festival

Miss Patty, to kids: “Who wants to about the time I danced in a cage for Tito Puente?”

Kids: “Me!”

Final thoughts: This was an interesting episode.  I did not like Dean in this episode, which should be obvious by now.  It sets up a few things that will carry us to the season finale.  It was a really good episode, and it gets 4 mugs of coffee.

Christopher Returns originally aired March 1, 2001.  It was written by Daniel Palladino and was directed by Michael Katleman.

In Christopher Returns, Chris visits the Gilmore Girls in Stars Hallow.

We open with Chris wanting to be more involved with Rory’s life, and Lorelei not having a lot of faith in him.

We see Rory giving Chris a tour of Stars Hollow.  This brings up a lot of questions for me.  It doesn’t seem like Chris is involved in Rory’s life, and I’m not sure if it’s Lorelei’s doing or if it was Chris or a combination of the two.

They go to the bookstore, where Chris tries to buy Rory an Oxford English Dictionary…only to have his card declined.  He promises to come back the next day for it, but apologizes to Rory for it outside.  He tells Rory to not tell Lorelei about it.

They come across Jackson, who’s talking about Chris to some of the other townspeople.  So, this has to mean Chris has never been to Stars Hollow, because otherwise they wouldn’t be making such a big deal out of it.  Jackson runs away after realizing they were right behind him.

And then…Friday night dinner.  We meet Rory’s other grandparents for the first and only time, and I can say with absolute certainty that I do not like them.  Strob starts going off about how Lorelei is just as out of control as she was when she was 16, how she ruined Chris’ life and future by getting pregnant, how she might have aspired to something more than a blue-collar university if she had attended a university like her parents planned for her…that Chris ended his family legacy at Princeton when Lorelei seduced him into ruining his life.  Emily tries to get everyone into going into the dining room for dinner, but Strob and Francine leave.

Okay, we need to talk about this scene.  I hate that Strob blames the entire thing on Lorelei.  Lorelei isn’t the only one at fault.  Some people are perfectly happy and successful, even if they haven’t gone to some prestigious school.

Then Rory goes to talk to Richard, and thanks him for defending her.  Richard, however, says that he would do it to anyone who attacked the Gilmore name.  He starts talking about how she put him and Emily through hell and that it was hard to tell his colleagues that his only daughter was pregnant at 16 and was leaving school.  He says they did nothing to deserve it, and that she treated him and Emily as though they were lepers.  Richard wasn’t happy about Lorelei getting pregnant, and wishes she followed “the proper procedure” like she was supposed to.  Chris was willing to get married, but Lorelei wasn’t.  She asks him if what she wanted mattered to him, and he tells her that things have to be sacrificed in order to do what is right.

We really need to talk about this scene too.  I get Richard’s point when he says that they did nothing to deserve how she treated them.  I mean, we only really get Lorelei’s perspective on what happened, and we don’t really get a lot on Emily and Richard’s version of what happened.  I get that marriage is one solution, but there’s also no point in getting married if it’s not right for you.

Rory and Emily talk in the kitchen, and tells Rory that it doesn’t mean anything.  She tells Rory that there’s been a lot of talk of disappointment over the years, but Rory and her existence have never been included in that list.  We go to the balcony, where Chris and Lorelei have drunken sex.

We also see Luke waiting in front of the diner for Lorelei.  Rory and Lorelei talk about how that night, and Lorelei makes sure Rory knows the horrible things said were directed at her.  Rory, however, says that they were directed at Lorelei because she had Rory.  Lorelei says that Strob and Francine’s anger and pride were getting in the way of them getting to know Rory, and that it’s a big loss on their part.  Lorelei wakes up and remembers that she was supposed to paint the diner with Luke.  She goes over to apologize, and comes home to talk to Luke.  Chris wants to marry Lorelei, and she, of course, still doesn’t want to.  She doesn’t think he’s responsible enough, and knows that he can’t buy a book without his card being declined.  He didn’t realize how much he missed Rory until he came to see her, but says it’s easier for him to stay away.  Lorelei says to come visit more, because Rory needs her dad.

Chris leaves, and promises to call Rory more.  Rory knows he asked Lorelei to marry him, but Lorelei says it wasn’t right and to trust her.  Rory’s hopeful he changed, because he did come to visit them this time.

We close with Lorelei in the diner after having painted it for Luke.

Favorite lines/Scenes: Chris meeting the townspeople; Emily, in reference to Strob: “Let’s face it, he’s an ass.”

Pop culture: Lipsmackers, I Love Lucy, The Offspring, Metallica

Final thoughts: I really liked seeing everyone’s relationship with Chris.  He’s not too involved in Rory’s life, and does seem really flaky, so maybe it’s for the best.  We get an idea of what all of Rory’s grandparents think of Lorelei’s pregnancy with Rory, and this episode does a great job with all the different relationships and how they have or have not changed over the last 16 years.  It’s a great episode, so it gets 5 mugs of coffee.

That Damn Donna Reed originally aired February 22, 2001.  It was written by Daniel Palladino and was directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino.

In That Damn Donna Reed, Dean expresses his approval of the 1950’s housewife, which leads Rory to dress up and surprise Dean with a 1950’s-styled evening.

We open with Dean coming over to spend the evening with Rory.  They watch the Donna Reed Show (which is an actual show, I googled it) and Dean says that he kinda likes the 1950’s housewife thing.  Rory and Lorelei just look at him when he says that.  I’m not surprised that Dean thinks the idea of a woman having dinner on the table is a nice idea.

At Luke’s, Taylor is trying to convince Luke to spruce up the diner.  Lorelei agrees, and Luke eventually decides to re-paint the diner. We go to Friday night dinner, in which Lorelei likes the wine and Richard and Emily aren’t going to Martha’s Vineyard.  Lorelei’s suggestion of going to Europe or flying coach doesn’t go over well with Richard and Emily.

Rory agrees to house-sit for Babette, who has a new kitten named Apricot.  Rory has a pet bird as an assignment for school- she has to observe it for a month.  She asks Dean to come over but he has to work.  He makes a comment about repressed housewives needing to shop for their husband’s dinner.  Rory doesn’t take it well, and doesn’t like the fact that Dean is kind of into the whole dinner on the table/’50’s housewife thing.  I kind of get why Rory doesn’t like it, but I have to agree with Dean when he says that there are 2 points of view.  Don’t get used to me agreeing with Dean, because I don’t think it’ll happen very often.  Rory doesn’t seem willing to listen to Dean’s side, and kind of dismisses it because he’s not agreeing with her.  In Dean’s defense, he did grow up in a home where his mom didn’t work for a long time, and even when she did go back to work, she still managed to cook on the weekends for her family.  It is what he knows, so it does make sense that he’d look for that in his own relationships.

Lorelei goes over to Luke’s to pick out paint colors, where they’re visited by Taylor and Kirk, who doesn’t believe Luke is re-painting the diner.  Andrew also stops by to take before-and-after pictures.  It is funny, because everyone’s so surprised that Luke is actually sprucing up the diner.

Rory cooks for Dean, and has a Donna Reed night for him.  She, in true Rory fashion, researches Donna Reed- and Dean tells her that he doesn’t expect to her be like Donna Reed.

Lorelei loses Stella (Rory’s bird) and calls Luke to come help her find Stella.  Meanwhile, Rory loses Apricot, and Lorelei says they’re not animal people.

We see another Friday night dinner, where Emily and Richard manage to rent a house in Martha’s Vineyard.  Lorelei admits to having having feelings for Luke, and Emily isn’t thrilled.

We close with Christopher- meaning, we finally meet Rory’s dad for the first time.

Favorite lines/scenes: Friday night dinner (both of them) and Lorelei singing a painting song

Pop culture: Donna Reed Show, the 1950’s housewife, A Streetcar Named Desire

Final thoughts: I really liked this episode, and it was interesting to see Rory and Dean disagree on the ’50’s housewife concept.  Also, I’m glad I don’t go to Rory’s school- a flour baby in health class for a week was bad enough, so I’m glad they never gave me an actual animal to take care of.  It gets 4 mugs of coffee.

Concert Interruptus originally aired February 15, 2001.  It was written by Elaine Arata and was directed Bruce Seth Green.

In Concert Interruptus, Lorelei takes Rory, Paris, Madeleine and Louise to see The Bangles- and takes action when Madeleine and Louise  sneak off to a party.  The Gilmore house is also the drop-off point for the town rummage sale donations.

We open with a previously on Gilmore Girls segment, followed by Rory convincing Lorelei to donate items, or she’ll do it for her.  Even though Lorelei volunteered to be the drop-off point, and to run the rummage sale, she doesn’t want to donate anything.  Sookie gets tickets to see The Bangles, and Lorelei, Lane and Rory are really excited.

At Chilton, Rory, Paris, Madeleine and Louise get assigned to work on a project for school, and decide to meet up at Rory’s house.

Lane tries to figure out how to get to the concert, and ends up not being able to go.  Meanwhile, Luke freaks out over a jacket that Lorelei is wearing.  We learn that the jacket used to belong to Rachel, who is Luke’s ex-girlfriend, and that she left years ago because she loves to travel.  Lorelei wonders how she never knew this.

Madeleine, Louise and Paris come over to work on the school project, and end up getting invited to the Bangles concert.  Sookie and Lorelei buy tickets for different seats.  Madeleine and Louise end up leaving the concert, while Paris and Rory stay at the concert.  Lorelei ends up finding the girls, tells them she’s calling their parents, and takes them home.  We end with the town rummage sale, where Lorelei gives the jacket back to Luke, since it has sentimental value.

I’m honestly not surprised Madeleine and Louise went off to a party, and I can never remember which one’s Madeleine and which one is Louise.  I think the blonde one is Louise, and the one with black hair is Madeleine, but at the same time, they’re pretty similar characters.  The introduction of Rachel was pretty interesting, and while I know where this is going, it felt a little random.  Luke in a serious relationship is a little weird, but you see that he did care about her a lot.

Pop culture: The Bangles, Annie Oakley, Shakespeare, Paul Bunyan, Elle McPherson, Catherine Zeta-Jones

Favorite lines/scenes: Lorelei: “I’m a very sick woman, everyone should know that.”

Sookie: “Does anyone in town have a peg leg?”

Final thoughts: I liked this episode, because we learn a little more about Luke, and because Rory kind of got along with Madeleine, Louise and Paris.  It doesn’t move anything along (well, not really) but it was fun to see all the donations at Lorelei’s house, and how it overwhelmed her.  It gets 3 mugs of coffee.

Double Date originally aired January 18, 2001.  It was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino and was directed by Lev L. Spiro.

In Double Date, Lorelei goes on a double date with Sookie and Jackson, and ends up with a horribly rude blind date!  Lane goes on a double date, and gets in serious trouble with her mom.

We open with Lorelei and Rory’s morning routine.  From there, we see Lane asking Rory to set up her and Dean’s friend Todd, who is the current love of her life.  Lane’s love life (or lack thereof) is always entertaining.

Things are awkward between Sookie and Jackson, and we see that she never did anything after asking Jackson if he wanted to go out sometime.  She finally sets up a date…and it’s a double date, because Jackson’s cousin Roon is in town, and it never occurred to Sookie to reschedule the date.  Sookie is kinda clueless at times, but it is kind of endearing.

Dean and Rory set up the date with Lane and Todd.  I have to say, watching Rory talk to Dean about setting up Lane and Todd…it was a hard scene to watch.  Rory’s so eager and persistent, but for some reason, Rory was really annoying in this scene.

We move on to date night, and Sookie’s nervous.  Lorelei’s helping her get ready, and Rory and Lane are getting ready for their night, all while trying to figure out what to tell Lorelei.

Meeting Roon was interesting.  He’s not happy about being set up with Lorelei, mostly because she’s tall…I was amused by his issue with her height.  As someone who’s not quite 5 feet tall, it’s nice when there’s someone tall, because they can get things off the top shelf.  Then again, it could be different for guys.

Sookie’s chattering away nervously, and the dinner really isn’t going well.  I vaguely remember Jackson looking a little bored, Roon is still annoyed he has to be there with Lorelei, and Lorelei is trying to get Sookie to talk to Jackson instead of her.

Meanwhile, Lane’s date with Todd isn’t going well either.  She realizes that he’s not her soulmate.  I seriously want to know more about these Connecticut schools!  Todd is majoring in gym…in high school!  I know it’s a fictional town, on a t.v. show…but that is one nice public high school if they have majors.  Did the writers not notice this or something?  I just think it’s weird.  But whatever.  I’ll go with it.

Lorelei, Sookie, Jackson and Roon leave the restaurant they’re at, and go to Luke’s instead.  Roon leaves, and wants Jackson to go with him, but Jackson ends up staying with Sookie.  Luke plays cards (poker, I think) with Lorelei so that she’s not alone.  Mrs. Kim comes in, looking for Lane, and that’s when they realize Rory and Lane weren’t completely honest with them.  They all go home, and Lane gets grounded, while Lorelei just talks to Rory about what happened.

Later, Lorelei talks to Mrs. Kim about how Lane’s a good kid, and to ease up a little.  You really see how differently they parent their kids, but you also see that they want the best for their kids and for them to be safe.  Mrs. Kim is one of my favorite characters on the show, and while strict now, she does become a lot cooler later on in the series.  We see that Lane can go in the front yard, as long as she stands behind the sign in the front yard.

Favorite scenes: Lorelei not wanting to study; anything with Michel is great

Pop Culture: Yoko Ono breaking up the Beatles, Sylvia Plath’s autobiography

Final thoughts: I liked seeing the start of Jackson and Sookie’s relationship.  I love Mrs. Kim, and she always makes me laugh, but she really is a great character.  It was a fun episode, and it got quite a few giggles.  It was fun, and I liked it!  It gets 3.5 mugs of coffee!

Paris Is Burning originally aired January 11, 2001.  It was written by Joan Binder Weiss and directed by David Petrarca.

In Paris Is Burning, Lorelei has doubts about her relationship with Max, while Paris kind of accepts Rory’s offer of friendship.

We open with Rory and Lorelei going through diseases in alphabetically order to decide who will clean out the fridge.  It’s actually pretty funny, and a cute way to decide who will clean out the fridge.  Lorelei gets distracted by puppies, and we learn that Rory had a pet hamster named Skippy, who laughed at Lorelei.  To the point that Lorelei brought Skippy back to the pet store.  At this point, it’s not a surprise that Lorelei would do that, and in all honesty, I can see Lorelei wanting a pet, getting one, and then have Rory take care of it.

Lorelei has dinner with Max, and she borrows a copy of Swann’s Way.  It doesn’t seem like Lorelei’s kind of book, but I commend her for wanting to give it a try.  At Chilton, Madeleine, Louise and Paris are talking about who Max is dating.  Rory, of course, overhears, knowing that Max and her mom are dating.  We learn that Paris’ parents are going through a nasty divorce, and that all of the details are in the local papers.

At Friday night dinner, Lorelei learns about Parent’s Day, but goes because she doesn’t want Emily to.

Later, Rory asks if Max can go ice-skating with them, which freaks Lorelei out.  In a conversation with Sookie, she says that Max is great for someone.  Sookie calls her out on it, and Lorelei says that it’s not good that Rory is getting attached.  Sookie says Lorelei always dumps a guy after 2 months, while Lorelei insists this isn’t a pattern.

At Chilton, Max asks Rory if Lorelei is coming to Parents Day, because he hasn’t heard from her in a while.  The timeline seems a little fuzzy to me- it seems like it’s happened over, like, 3 or 4 days, but maybe it’s been longer.  Anyway, Lorelei tries to get out of going to Parents Day, and wants Rory to give the book back.  She ends up going, of course, but isn’t happy Max asked Rory about her.

At Parents Day, we see Paris’ mom- I think it’s the only time we see either of her parents.  Lorelei and Rory head off to Max’s class, and afterwards they talk, while Lorelei tries to give the book back.  Lorelei doesn’t want Rory to get hurt, but Max thinks it’s because Lorelei herself doesn’t want to get hurt.

I have to agree with Max at this point.  I mean, I get Lorelei is worried about what will happen if it doesn’t work out, in terms of him being Rory’s teacher.  And for her too.  But it really seems like a combination of Lorelei being scared of things getting serious, and wanting to use Rory as an excuse.  Rory is a big girl, and she seems mature enough to handle it.

Then, they make out.  Naturally, Paris sees this, and tells the entire school.  Mostly so people will stop talking about her.  But we’ll get to that in a little bit.  Rory is mad at Lorelei, and thinks the rules Lorelei has in place are stupid (in terms of dating).  We go to Friday night dinner, and Emily isn’t happy.  Lorelei thinks that Max might have been the love of her life…it’s just too bad she kinda screwed it up.

Rory extends an offer of friendship to Paris during lunch one day, after telling Paris that she hurt a lot of people by telling their classmates about Lorelei and Max.  She did hurt Lorelei and Rory, of course, but she also really hurt Max, who really likes her and thinks she’s a great student.  Paris admits that she wanted people to stop talking about her, and this is when Rory tells her that if she ever wants to talk, Rory’s there.  Paris kind of accepts this offer (but not really).

Sookie asks Jackson out on a date, and we end with Lorelei and Max breaking up, because he doesn’t want to put his job on the line.  And because he didn’t want to believe that a relationship with Lorelei would be so complicated.

Favorite scene: The only scene that really stands out is when Jackson tries to sell Sookie a zucchini-tush…a hybrid of zucchini and sucotash, I think.

Pop culture references: Psycho, Rick James, Hugh Grant, Tonya Harding

Final thoughts: This episode established the Lorelei/Max relationship as a complicated one, and it’s not the last we’ll see of Max.  If I remember correctly, I think this is the episode that starts the Paris/Rory starting to get along storyline.  It didn’t strike me as particularly funny, but it does set some things up that I don’t want to spoil.  Paris Is Burning gets 3 mugs of coffee.

Forgiveness And Stuff originally aired December 21, 2000.  It was written by John Stephens and was directed by Bethany Rooney.

In Forgiveness And Stuff, a medical emergency brings Emily and Lorelei together, when the holidays can’t.

We open up with a previously on segment.  So from there, the town is getting ready for their annual Christmas pageant.  The baby Jesus doll loses it’s arm, and Rory suggests getting a new doll, but Taylor doesn’t go for that idea.  When Lorelei and Rory are leaving Patty’s dance studio, we see that a dog is walking around with the arm in it’s mouth, which was really funny to see.  Things are still weird between Lorelei and Rory, and Rory has spoken to Dean since “it” happened.  Lorelei and Emily aren’t getting along either, to the point that Lorelei gets uninvited to Emily’s Christmas party.

Rory goes by herself, and tries to talk to Emily about what happened.  Emily either changes the subject or tells Rory that the party is not the appropriate time to talk about it.  Richard’s pretty focused on work, and is feeling really warm, so he goes to adjust the thermostat.  Meanwhile, Lorelei heads over to Luke’s for food after finding Dean tapping on Rory’s bedroom window.  We find out that Richard is in the hospital, so Luke drives her over.

Random thought: They must have one hospital for that entire area, because the message for Lorelei didn’t seem to mention which hospital.  It must be a really nice (and very big) hospital.  I know it’s a fictional town, and it’s probably the one closest to Richard and Emily’s house, but still.

At the hospital, Emily just wants to know what was going on with Richard, and doesn’t care about anything else.  Understandable, but has no one in her life been in the hospital before?  Because she really doesn’t care about that paperwork.  Luke’s reactions to the different patients going by was really funny.  Richard is fine, he just had a touch of angina.  Emily’s surprised that Lorelei came, but he is her dad, and while she’s not getting along with Emily, Lorelei seemed willing to put it aside.  And Emily and Lorelei do work things out.  Rory and Lorelei work things out as well.

The one scene that really stuck out was when Emily and Richard were talking about how Emily was going to die first because she didn’t want to live without them.  It really shows a different side of Emily.  She does come across as a little harsh (and she’s definitely accused of being a little controlling, which does come across sometimes) so it was nice to see how much she loves Richard.

Pop-culture references: Metamorphosis by Kafka, Charro

Favorite lines/scenes: Taylor: “Okay, listen up, the arm is missing.  I repeat, the arm is missing.”

Patty: “Our before Mary is about to become an after.  Who else in town is knocked up?”

Final thoughts: I liked this episode, but not as much as the previous one.  We see the fall-out of the previous episode, but things are pretty much resolved by the end of the episode.  I thought it was a good episode, even if it was pretty standard.  It gets 3 mugs of coffee.