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.

Rory’s Dance originally aired on December 20, 2000.  It was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino and was directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.

In Rory’s Dance, events at the Chilton Formal convince Rory and Dean they are indeed boyfriend and girlfriend.  Something unexpected happens that sets the town buzzing and makes Lorelei super-concerned.

We start off with Friday night dinner, where Emily just happens to mention the Chilton formal.  Emily wants her to go, but Rory’s not really interested.  We learn Rory hates dances, even though she’s never been to one.  Lorelei wonders if Rory doesn’t participate in stuff because she’s too shy or if it’s because Rory really doesn’t want to.  I tend to agree with Lorelei here, because Rory’s shy but also really focused on school and Lane and Dean.  Rory decides to go, and asks Dean.

Lorelei makes a dress for Rory, but hurts her back.  Sookie came over, and busts out a lot of different pain medication.  It looked like they were all prescriptions…and while it was funny the first couple times I saw this episode, you have to wonder why she just randomly gives an entire bottle of one of them to Lorelei.  I know it’s t.v., and not everything for me has to be totally accurate (or legal or ethical or whatever) but it is a little weird to me this time around.  Lorelei invites Emily over to be there when Rory goes off to the dance.  Emily stays over in case Lorelei needs something, and they talk about the monkey lamp Lorelei has.

Meanwhile, Rory and Dean go to the dance, run into Madeleine, Louise, and Paris and her date.  Tristan watches them dance, and we later learn Paris couldn’t find a date, so she had to bring her cousin.  She accuses Rory of telling everyone, only to learn that Rory didn’t tell anyone.  Rory and Dean decide to leave, but before they do, Tristan and Dean get into a fight.  Dean, of course, tells Tristan to never go near Rory again.  That was slightly annoying because they go to the same school, so it’s not like they can avoid each other.  I kinda thought Dean was overreacting a little.

They take a walk, end up in Patty’s dance studio, and fall asleep while reading a book.  Patty wakes them up, and Rory realizes she never went home.  Meanwhile, Emily and Lorelei realize that Rory never came home, and are really worried that she wasn’t there.  Lorelei and Emily have a huge fight, and Rory overhears how Emily thinks that Lorelei is going to lose Rory the way Emily lost Lorelei.  Honestly, their fight is more about the long-standing issues they have, and how Lorelei was suffocated her whole childhood.  Emily, on the other hand, tried to give Lorelei the best of everything.

Random side note: So Lorelei has back spasms in this episode, right?  Well, upon hearing that Rory never came home after the dance, Lorelei’s back healed up awfully fast.  You gotta love the miracle healing of t.v.

So, Emily leaves, and Rory comes in, only to get in a fight with Lorelei.  Rory pretty much apologizes for screwing up in front of Emily, but says she knows that Lorelei knows that nothing happened.  I thought this sequence of events was pretty interesting, and I kind of agree with Rory, in that Lorelei’s partially mad that Emily was there to see it happen.  Emily did make a good point, in that she does seem to want the best for Lorelei.  While they clearly have different opinions on what that means, it does get tiresome to hear how horrible living with Richard and Emily was.  We kind of get their side, and it would have been nice to see their side of things a little more.

Pop-culture references: 16 Candles, 98 Degrees

Favorite Lines/Scenes: Lorelei: “Meet my mother, Emily Post.”

Final Thoughts: I really liked this episode, and the fight between Emily and Lorelei and Rory and Lorelei bring up some really important issues that have shown up before- and continue to show up for the rest of the series.  This episode gets 4 mugs of coffee.

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.

The Deer-Hunters originally aired October 26, 2000.  It was written by Jed Seidel and was directed by Alan Myerson.

In this episode, a deer hits Lorelei’s car while Rory drives to Chilton.  It causes her to miss a Shakespeare exam, which could have disastrous consequences for her GPA.

This is one of the more memorable episodes of Gilmore Girls…all because of a deer.

We start off with Rory shopping for school supplies.  Rory needs serious school supplies, because she’s going to a serious school.  Lorelei, of course, has to make fun of Rory for this.

Rory gets a bad grade on an essay, and starts worrying about her Shakespeare test.  She, of course, gets shit from Paris.  From there, we go to the Independence Inn, where Lorelei reads a review about the restaraunt at the inn.  I love Sookie’s reaction to her magic risotto being described as just fine.

I just love Mrs. Kim.  Every time I see her, I can’t help but laugh.  The way she says things just cracks me up.  And Drella playing Black Sabbath (I think).  Very funny.

We meet Max Medina, one of Rory’s teachers, at a parent-teacher meeting.  I like Max, and I’m glad he sticks around for a while.  This is when Lorelei finds out Rory got a bad grade on an essay, and Rory’s behavior afterwards makes much more sense to Lorelei.

No episode is complete without going to Luke’s.  Rory’s studying, and Luke feeds her.  They talk about Rory’s essay and how humiliated she felt.  Rory doubts herself and her ability to catch up at Chilton.

Sookie has Lorelei taste-test several different risottos and is totally freaking out.  It’s nothing unusual from Sookie.  She even talks to one of the waiters, trying to figure out what happened.

Lorelei helps Rory study, and she eventually falls asleep while studying.  She wakes up late, drives to school…and on her way, a deer hits her.  She doesn’t hit the deer, it hits her while she’s at a stop sign talking to Lane.  She arrives late for her Shakespeare test and isn’t allowed to take it.  She has a melt-down in class, yells at Paris and Tristan, and gets sent to the principal’s office.

Back at the Inn, Sookie discovers that the restaraunt critic ordered the wrong wine with the risotto.  Lorelei goes to Chilton to talk to Headmaster Charleston and Mr. Medina and has a freak-0ut of her own.  Headmaster Charleston refuses to change the rules and says that if Rory can’t handle the pressure, she shouldn’t be at Chilton.

Sookie goes to the critic’s house to serve him the risotto with the proper wine.

Rory and Lorelei talk about Rory’s future at Chilton while looking for the deer, and Rory decides to stay at Chilton.  Max calls and leaves a message for Rory saying that there is an extra credit opportunity for Rory that will make up for missing the test.

Pop culture references: Black Sabbath, B-52’s, Saved By The Bell, Flash Dance

Favorite lines and scenes: Rory and her multiple trips to get all her stuff off of the bus.

Rory and Lane playing Marco Polo at Kim’s Antique’s so Rory can find Lane.

Rory, to Tristan: “And the name is RORY.”

Final Thoughts: I like this episode.  It’s the whole getting hit by a deer, but everyone thinking she hit a deer that makes it memorable.  Rory’s still adjusting to Chilton, but I think she feels better about attending by the end of the episode.

The Deer-Hunters gets 3 mugs of coffee.