Category Archives: Season Two

GG 2 x 3: Red Light On The Wedding Night

Posted in Season Two by

Red Light On The Wedding Night originally aired October 16, 2001.  It was written by Daniel Palladino and was directed by Gail Mancuso.

We open this episode with Rory and Lorelei taste-testing different cakes at a bakery in Stars Hollow.  Rory printed up some quotes for the invitations…which is super weird because THE WEDDING IS IN TWO WEEKS!  I get this is a low-key wedding planned that has been planned in 3 months, but who prints up invitations for said wedding TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE WEDDING IS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN?!?!  I’ve never planned a wedding, and I have never been involved in the planning of a wedding, but shouldn’t the invitations be one of the first things you take care of?  Rory wonders about the ethics of taste-testing when Sookie is going to be making the test.  And then Fran mentions something about a coffee-flavored cake.

Next, Max and Lorelei hire Kirk, of all people, to be their wedding photographer.  I know any scene Kirk is in is going to be funny in a very strange way, but again, why are they leaving stuff until 2 weeks before the wedding?  The chairs, catering and location are taken care of right away, but you wait a couple months to hire a photographer and to print invitations?  That seems a little backward to me.  Anyway, Lorelei asks Max to stay over, because his apartment is going to be painted, and that way, he doesn’t have to go back and forth.

Rory and Dean are talking about their plans for the evening, when Rory brings up going on a double-date with Lorelei and Max.  We find Max cooking dinner, and Rory thinks the food smells good, even though it’s weird that someone is actually cooking in the kitchen.  They seem surprised by the fact that the oven has a broiler, and I’m not sure if they’re just joking around, or if they’re being serious.  Maybe it’s both!

Later that night, Lorelei goes to talk to Rory, because it’s weird for her to have Max there.  Rory tells her that it’s just Max, but Lorelei starts talking about how their life will change once Lorelei gets married, because it won’t be a girls-only, no boys allowed club anymore.

At breakfast the next morning, Taylor is in a good mood because Stars Hollow is getting its first traffic light.  This doesn’t go over well with Luke, who uses it as a way to get out of talking about Lorelei’s wedding.  We go on the double date, which ends with Max learning that there’s no need for him to be a parent with Rory.  Basically, Max comments on how Rory and Dean are still on the porch, wonders what he should do if he comes home and they’re making out on the couch.  Lorelei says that since Rory’s all grown-up at the age of 16- I think she’s still 16- at this point, so let’s go with that- there’s no need for him to parent Rory because she’ll handle it.  Lorelei doesn’t see the problem, and Max wonders what his role is, other than answering the phone and making garlic bread.  He asks Lorelei if she’s even thought about how their future, because they’re taking two very different lives and melding them together.  Not surprisingly, Lorelei hasn’t thought about it, but says she’ll start thinking about it.  Seriously, two-ish weeks before you’re getting married, and you’re just now talking about stuff like Max’s role in Rory’s life?  They make up minutes later, and so we find Lorelei and Sookie talking about Lorelei’s bachelorette party at the installation of the traffic light.

Fast forward to the party- which takes place at a club, and somehow Rory manages to get in, despite the fact that she needs to be 18, and is currently 16.  I sort of have an issue with this- I mean, Lorelei and Rory are super-close, and you’d think it would occur to Lorelei that maybe her bachelorette party should be somewhere that Rory is, oh, I don’t know, actually allowed to get into?  Unsurprisingly, Rory actually gets in, and they find Emily sitting at a table.  Everyone (Michel, Sookie, Miss Patty, Lorelei and Rory) order drinks, and Emily talks about how excited she was the week leading up to her wedding.  Emily shares that she would try her dress on every single night.  Sookie calls Jackson, Rory talks to Dean and Lorelei calls…Chris.

She goes off into a corner, and just wanted to share her news with someone who knew her, but it turned out that Rory had told him Lorelei was seeing Max.

The next day, she’s at work, and Michel, Sookie and Lorelei are all hung over.  Max shows up, because he wanted to drop something off, but couldn’t, because he doesn’t have keys and there was no one to let him in.  Lorelei apparently keeps forgetting to give him keys, and he’s trying to not read too much into it, but he eventually tells her to think of someone besides herself.  He apologizes immediately.

Later, Rory asks Lorelei why she called Chris at her bachelorette party, and Lorelei blames it on the Long Island Ice Tea.  Which is totally weird, because she ordered her drink and talked to Chris, like, a few seconds later.  At this point, I think she’s having doubts, especially after what Emily said, and just needed to blame it on something.

Luke built a hoopah for Lorelei, and they talk about weddings and relationships.

The episode ends with Lorelei cancelling the wedding because she didn’t try on her wedding dress everyday, and Lorelei and Rory going on a road trip.

So, here’s what I’ve been not saying the last couple weeks.  I’ve seen each season several times, so I knew that things wouldn’t work out between Lorelei and Max.  At least Lorelei didn’t actually get married, but watching it this time around, it really seemed like Lorelei wasn’t sure about getting married from the moment Max proposed- maybe even saying yes, because that’s what people expected her to do…which is really unlike Lorelei.

Favorite lines:

Rory, in reference to ethics: Highly subjective and completely over-rated.

Lorelei: I hate funny bottoms.

Pop Culture:

Billy Jack, Mussolini, Brady Bunch, Yogi Berra, AI (the Haley Joel Osment movie)

Final Thoughts:

This really was a frustrating episode- much more than what I remembered.  Honestly, it seemed like Max was much more willing to be in a serious relationship than Lorelei.  I found myself agreeing with Max several times throughout the episode.  Just because Rory’s 16 doesn’t mean Max shouldn’t have a role in raising her.  Just…this was a really frustrating episode.  It gets 2 mugs of coffee.

GG 2 x 2: Hammers And Veils

Posted in Season Two, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Hammers And Veils originally aired October 9, 2002.  It was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino and was directed by Michael Kattleman.

We open Hammers And Veils with Lorelei using newspaper to decide on the right veil length.  She asks Rory for her opinion, but Rory is more interested in reading the newspaper on Lorelei’s head than she is giving an opinion.

At Chilton, Rory happens to be in the same area as Paris, Madeleine and Louise.  Madeleine mentions a build for a Habitat For Humanity-type company, and Paris starts talking about how Rory wouldn’t like doing the Habitat For Humanity.  She runs into Henry (the guy she and Lane met at the Chilton party) and talk about what classes they’re taking.  It’s physics, Shakespeare and obscure Russian poetry for Rory and trig for Henry.

I know I’ve said this before, but Chilton…what kind of school is this?  It feels more like a college than a high school sometimes!  Henry gives Rory his number because he’s scared of Mrs. Kim answering the phone again.

At Friday night dinner, Lorelei is really amused by Rory building a house.  She takes off her engagement ring, and still hasn’t told Richard and Emily about her engagement, even though the wedding is in 3 months.  Rory is giving Lorelei two weeks, before Rory says something.  Seriously, three months to plan a wedding?  It’s one of those things that seem like a lot of work…work that takes more than three months.  This episode is roughly a week after Sadie, Sadie, so things have moved awfully fast…or the timeline just got really messed up and the writers didn’t notice.  Richard apologizes to Rory again, and they really didn’t like fighting.

Meanwhile, Lorelei does tell Emily about her engagement.  Emily hopes they’ll be in town.  If not, she’ll send a nice gift.  After dinner, Lorelei rants about how it was a mistake to tell Emily, and how she regrets mentioning it.  I know they don’t have the best relationship, but Lorelei and her unwillingness to see things from Emily’s side is starting to get annoying.

Rory goes off to help build a house, with Lane dropping off instructions for her escape from Korea, and Dean laughing at Rory for wanting to do this.  It is a little strange, I’ll admit, Rory building a house.  But they make plans for that night.  Paris starts talking about all the extra stuff she’d done to get into Harvard- study groups, charity work, and tutoring, to name a few.  Rory realizes she is behind on such activities and wants to cancel her plans with Dean.  Not surprisingly, this doesn’t go over well with Dean.  Remember h0w last week, I felt kind of bad for Dean?  Well, it didn’t last very long, because Dean was super-annoying.  He thinks summer is a time for relaxing and hanging out, and could care less about Rory getting in Harvard.  You’d think by now he’d know how important Harvard is to Rory and that she has a bit of tunnel vision about it.

Lorelei and Max have dinner, where Lorelei’s still frustrated about what Emily said.  We do learn how one plans a wedding in a week, for a date 3 months in the future- by having Sookie cook, by having the ceremony at her house, and by having Patty supply the chairs.  Pretty impressive, doing all of that planning IN A WEEK.

They make a stop at Emily’s, where Lorelei wants to know what Emily said what she did, and if Emily knows how it felt to hear Emily say what she did.  Emily says it’s probably how Emily herself felt when she realized that Lorelei got engaged and told everyone else in her life first, and having to hear from a complete stranger that Lorelei was engaged.

Emily has a good point, and I really feel bad for Emily.  Lorelei doesn’t really look good in this scene.  Yeah, Emily and Lorelei have a ton of issues, and I do get Lorelei being worried about what they’ll think…but putting it off and wishing she never told Emily in the first place…it’s like Lorelei doesn’t even want to try to work things out or make an effort.

Lorelei learns about the party, Sookie babbles about how she wasn’t sure if she should invite Emily and Richard, but decided to invite them anyway, and we see the engagement party.  People dance, Rory and Dean make up, and Lorelei asks Luke to come.  A note about Rory and Dean making up- he apologizes, as does Rory.  Rory really shouldn’t have to apologize, but she’s Rory, so she apologizes for having tunnel vision, while Dean admits he got jealous of Harvard…even while liking Rory is going to go to Harvard.

We end the episode with Lorelei asking Emily for advice about veils.  Emily tells her that she’s capable of making her own decisions.  And Lorelei does apologize for not telling Emily, and talks about how she doesn’t know how to tell Emily things.  She does admit to maybe being partly to blame for the vicious cycle they get in…which really sounds insincere.  Emily tells Lorelei she might want to try a tiara, because it’s what she wore at her wedding.

Favorite Lines Or Scenes:

Rory reading the newspaper veil on Lorelei’s head

Pop Culture:

Thelma And Louise, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra

Final Thoughts:

This is a pretty interesting episode, and stuff definitely happens.  Lorelei and her rant about regretting telling Emily was irritating- and her “I hate my parents, who are evil and horrible” mentality is starting to get annoying and tired.  Still, Lorelei does appear to realize she hurt Emily by waiting to tell her about her engagement.  Hammers And Veils gets 3.5 mugs of coffee.

GG 2 x 1: Sadie, Sadie

Posted in Season Two, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Sadie, Sadie originally aired on October 9, 2001.  It was written and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino.

We open Sadie, Sadie with yellow daisies all over town.  Rory is coming up with all kinds of wedding suggestions for Lorelei’s wedding.  Lorelei hasn’t made up her mind about whether she gets married or not.  Which is actually pretty smart.

From there, Rory drops off some flowers at Lane’s house, where we learn Lane is going to Korea for the summer.  The problem is that Lane’s parents got her a one-way ticket and won’t tell her when she’s coming back.  Meanwhile, Lorelei is looking at a bridal magazine at Bootsie’s newsstand.  Miss Patty sees her looking at the magazine, gets excited and then asks if Luke knows.  Lorelei and Rory walk to the diner, and a lot of people are following them to see her tell Luke.  At this point, it’s no big secret in town that Luke has a thing for Lorelei, so naturally everyone wants to see his reaction.

She tells him, and he’s asking her things like where she’ll live and if they’ll have more kids.  Lorelei isn’t happy with Luke’s questions, so she goes back to the table.

At Friday night dinner, Emily tells Lorelei and Rory that Rory is in the top 3% of her class, having heard it from Headmaster Charleston’s wife.  Lorelei says she knows, and Emily wants to know who Lorelei knows at Chilton…that person being Rory, of course.  Richard comes in and announces Rory’s big accomplishment, only to learn they already knew.  Emily tells Rory they’ll have an extra-special dinner the following week.

Lorelei randomly calls Max during dinner, and starts asking him the same questions Luke had asked her.  She accepts his proposal, goes back inside, and silently lets Rory know she and Max are getting married.  They start jumping up and down screaming, and they tell Emily and Richard it’s because of Rory doing well at school.

Dean comes over, and since Rory can invite someone to Friday night dinner, she asks him.  He agrees, but when they finally arrive, Emily isn’t exactly thrilled Dean is there.  I don’t blame her, after the dance.  But she does act pretty nice to Dean, which is very different than Richard’s reaction.

He is less than thrilled, and during dinner, starts asking Dean a lot of different questions.  Like, where Dean wants to go to college, and what grades Dean gets.  Dean isn’t sure about where he wants to go to college, and gets a couple A’s, a couple B’s, and a few C’s.  Plus, he’s not sure what he wants to do once he graduates college.  Richard responds to this by saying that Rory is smart, is going to an Ivy League college and is going to need top grades to get into a top school.  She also has plans and wants to travel.  Richard also talks about how when he was 10, he knew he wanted to go to Yale, travel, work in an office, and wear a nice suit.  And then he says the family has high standards and how Rory has to live up to those standards.  And since she does, everyone she’s in contact with needs to live up to those standards as well, because there are some people (meaning Dean) who are going to bring her down.

This whole time, they’re trying to get Richard to leave Dean alone, and go easy on him, but it doesn’t work.  Rory defends him, and Rory, Lorelei and Dean end up leaving.

I never thought Dean and Rory were well-matched, and I am not a big of Dean.  But even Dean doesn’t deserve the questions asked and things Richard kept saying.  I mean, saying that Dean is going to bring her down because he doesn’t get the grades she does, and doesn’t know where he’s going to college or what he wants to do is uncalled for.  I’m 26, and half the time, I still don’t know what I want to do.  Besides, Rory is pretty unusual, and not everyone knows what they want to do at 16.

After they get home, Lorelei tries to reassure Rory and tells her that it’s more about Lorelei not being the daughter they expected.  We also see how Emily isn’t happy with Richard, who didn’t expect her to bring Dean.  Richard thinks proper socialization is important, but she shouldn’t date one boy, and she most certainly should not date Dean.  Sookie calls Emily while she and Richard are talking, and invites them to Lorelei’s bridal shower.  This is the point where we learn Lorelei never told her parents she was getting married.  I know it’s been around a week, and that Lorelei still doesn’t have the best relationship, but it’s weird that it takes her a while to tell them.  Emily tells Richard he needs to apologize to Rory because Lorelei’s getting married and didn’t tell them, and she wants Rory to tell them when she gets married.  Emily did (understandably) look upset.

The episode ends with Lorelei and Max talking on the porch.

Favorite Lines And/Or Scenes:

Nothing really jumped out at me in this one, except for the first Friday night dinner

Pop Culture:

All In The Family, Sally Field, Cujo, Frank Sinatra

Final Thoughts:

There is a lot going on in this episode, but that’s not surprising, given that it’s the first one of Season Two.  Richard was pretty horrible to Dean and Lorelei gets engaged but doesn’t tell her parents.  These are pretty important happenings, and they’ll show up again.  I didn’t love Sadie, Sadie, but it was still a pretty decent episode, so it gets 4 mugs of coffee.