Tag Archives: gilmore girls season 3

Gilmore Girls 3×19: Keg! Max!

Posted in Season Three, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Keg! Max! originally aired April 29, 2003.  This episode was written by Daniel Palladino and was directed by Chris Long.

Gilmore Girls Season 3 Graphic

This episode opens with Rory and Lorelei not knowing what to do on a Friday night now that they’re not going to Friday night dinner.  They’re having trouble remembering what they did on Friday nights, because they’ve gone to Richard and Emily’s for so long.

Lorelei gets a letter from Chilton, saying that Rory’s time there is coming to an end, and so is Lorelei’s.  Lorelei decides to help out the Booster Club one more time.  Jess agrees to go to the Stars Hollow High Prom with Rory, and Lane and her band are practicing for a gig at a party.  Lorelei has to keep laying people off at the inn, until it’s all repaired, and Lorelei offers to have Nicole stay in one of the few open rooms since he can’t meet them for breakfast over the weekend.

The booster club organized grad night on a yacht, and Lorelei was voted in as treasurer.  Max comes in as the faculty advisor for that meeting, and acts like everything is fine between him and Lorelei.  In a conversation with Sookie, Lorelei says that he treated her like the other parents, and even though she’s still seeing Alex, she’s not sure where Max stands, which seems to imply that she might want to get together with Max.

Jess tries to get prom tickets, but finds out he can’t, since he’s missed so much school he’s not able to graduate- meaning Jess will have to repeat his senior year.

At the party, we find out Young-Chu is still pretending to be Lane’s boyfriend, and that he’s at the party because he has nowhere else to go.  Dave wants to know when Lane is going to end things with Young-Chu, and isn’t happy that Young-Chu has feelings for Lane.  She’ll make prom happen for them somehow.  Jess wants to leave after the band plays a set, but Rory wants to stay, and ends up promising that they’ll go after the band is done playing for the night.

Jess and Rory run into Dean and Lindsay, and Lindsay recognizes him as the kid who used to go to their school.  Lane sees that Young-Chu is still at the party, and starts drinking some beer that someone’s cousin brought over.

Rory looks for Jess at the party, and finds him in one of the bedrooms upstairs.  They start making out, and Jess wants to go further but Rory doesn’t, and he ends up getting mad because he didn’t invite her up there.  Rory leaves the room upset and crying, not sure of what she did wrong, but Jess seems to realize that he did something wrong and goes after.  Rory goes by Dean, who notices that she’s upset, and Jess notices Dean asking Rory if she’s okay.  Dean and Jess (not surprisingly) end up getting into a fight.

Meanwhile, Lane calls her mom (drunk) and starts telling her mom that she likes Dave and wants to go to prom with him, amongst other things.  Dave overhears part of Lane’s call and hangs up the phone for her.

While the party is going on, Lorelei is at another Booster club meeting, where Max is not there as the faculty advisor.  She ends up finding him in his classroom, and he doesn’t want to see Lorelei again, because he can’t trust himself around her. And if he weren’t back at Chilton, he’d be seeing someone he met in California, so things are officially, officially over between them.

The episode ends with the cops showing up at the party, and Jess leaving.

What I Thought:

Honestly?  This is one of the episodes where I don’t understand why people love Jess and Rory together so much.  I know that Jess is a smart guy who’s into music and reading the way Rory is into music and reading, but Jess can be such an ass sometimes.

I know that we know he’s acting like a complete jerk because he can’t get prom tickets because he ditched so much school, and that Rory doesn’t know that Jess couldn’t get prom tickets, but still, I was really angry with Jess!  It’s totally not fair that he took it out on Rory.  At least he seemed to realize that he did something wrong…until he saw Dean trying to figure out what was going on with an upset Rory, and got into a fight with Dean about it.

I get why Rory wants to go to the Stars Hollow High prom, but it still seems a little weird to me.  Maybe because I was not the least bit interested in going to my own prom.

As for Lorelei and Max, it seemed like Lorelei was maybe interested in getting back together with Max. Maybe she wasn’t ready to get married before, but I honestly don’t get this story line at all, because her interest in him seems a little too random.  And I completely forgot about Alex- he was never mentioned after whatever episode he was last in, so it was quite the surprise that Lorelei was still kind of seeing him.  Maybe I assumed they broke up, because Lorelei doesn’t have the best of luck with guys.

Favorite Line:

 Nothing for this episode

Pop Culture:

Prince, Milli Vanilli, Lord Of The Rings

Let’s Rate It:

I thought this episode was okay- it does set up a couple things that will happen in the next few episodes, but overall, not a memorable episode.  Keg! Max! gets 2 mugs of coffee.

Gilmore Girls 3×17: A Tale Of Poes And Fire

Posted in Season Three, The Gilmore Girls Project by

A Tale Of Poes And Fire originally aired April 15, 2003.  This episode was written by Daniel Palladino and directed by Chris Long.

Gilmore Girls Season 3 Graphic

This episode starts off with Rory and Lorelei working on a pro-con list in Luke’s Diner- the pro-con list that will determine which college Rory should go to.  Luke is confused is to why they’re working on a pro-con list when everyone knows it’s going to be Harvard.  Kirk is also selling t-shirts that have a topical headline of stuff he’s seen around town.

The Poe Society is in town, and Jess gets Employee Of The Month At Wal-Mart.  Luke is confused about how Jess is working a 40 hour shift, and after talking with Lorelei, Luke isn’t sure if Jess is going to school- between the diner, Rory and school, how is he picking up so many extra hours?

The Poe Society is having an event at Miss Patty’s studio and there’s a weird vibe in the room.  Lindsay (Dean’s girlfriend) gives Rory weird looks, and Nicole (Luke’s girlfriend) gives Lorelei weird looks.  Lorelei tells Rory that Yale has a good drama department, so that’s a pro for Yale.  Lorelei needs a pen, and ends up borrowing one from Nicole.  Lorelei thinks Lindsay needs to mellow, and Rory points out that Nicole definitely has Lindsay’s attitude.  Miss Patty wants to know why they’re wasting their time on the pro-con lists when everyone knows it’s going to be Harvard. Lorelei says that if it’s Harvard, the lists will reflect that.

Then, Lorelei gets a call in the middle of the night that the Inn caught fire, and she and Rory rush over there.  No one was harmed, but Lorelei promises to make arrangements, and she, Sookie and Michel get things going.  Sookie is cooking for guests at Luke’s, and Michel set up emergency headquarters at Miss Patty’s. The nearby inns are all booked, so some of the townspeople offer up their houses for guests to stay at if they can’t get home.

At Chilton, Rory asks Madeleine and Louise if they’ve heard from Paris, since Paris has missed a few days of school after the meltdown speech.  They didn’t even know Paris was absent, so Rory goes to see Paris, to drop off her assignments.  Paris is in bed, watching soap operas, and knows Rory got into Harvard.  She hasn’t talked to her parents or to Jamie, and knows where she went wrong in her interview.  Being Paris, she recorded the interview, and even plays a clip for Rory.  Rory, by the way, hates that Paris is torturing herself, and starts telling Paris what to do.  Paris says there’s no alternative to Harvard.

Rory and Lorelei are getting Rory’s room for their house guests, and are talking about Rory’s big decision.  Lorelei believes the pro-con lists have changed, and that Yale is where Rory should go.  Rory isn’t done collecting data, and her wall very much says Harvard.  She also knows Lorelei was resistant to Yale, and doesn’t want Lorelei to hate the school she’s going to.  If it’s right for Rory, it’s right for Lorelei.

Some new guests show up at Lorelei’s, so she goes to stay at Luke’s.  We learn that Nicole is sensitive where Lorelei is concerned, because of Luke’s first date with her, where he kept talking about Lorelei.

The next day, Lorelei gets a call, saying that she can get into the inn.  She and Sookie meet Michel and the fire chief at the inn. They go inside to find the inn pretty destroyed.  While you see Michel, Lorelei and Sookie at the inn, Rory is in her room, looking at her Yale wall.

What I Thought:

We finally get Rory’s college decision!  This is easily the most interesting thing in the episode.  I know Harvard is something they’ve wanted a long time, and in particular, Lorelei really seemed to want it.  As a fan of the show, I knew Rory would go to Yale, but this time around, it seemed really obvious that once Yale came up, Rory would be going there.

I thought everyone’s reaction to the pro-con lists to be annoying.  Yes, Rory has talked about Harvard her whole life, but deciding which college to go to is a really big decision!  I actually thought the pro-con lists were an interesting way to think about the good and bad things about each school.  And honestly?  Just because Rory has talked about one school her whole life doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the right school for her.  People change, and things change, and sometimes, a school that Rory has talked about her whole life isn’t going to be the right school for her.

As for the inn, which is the other big thing going on…it hit me a lot more this time around.  Especially in contrast to Rory’s decision…and it really got me emotionally.  The scene at the very end, where you know Rory’s going to Yale, and where Lorelei is in the middle of the lobby…I have no idea how to explain how it made me feel.  I definitely felt like Rory’s story had a new beginning, while things at the Inn are up in the air.

I also wanted to touch on the Lindsay/Nicole stuff for a second.  I get why Nicole is sensitive where Lorelei is concerned, because it is a very Luke thing to talk about another woman (especially one who is not a relative) on a date with someone. And I did get this vibe that maybe Lindsay and Nicole (okay, definitely Nicole) feel threatened by Rory and Lorelei.  I know Rory’s moved on with Jess, but…she was with Dean for a long time, so maybe there’s something going on there that we don’t see.

Favorite Line:

Courtesy of Michel: “I’m looking for my cyanide capsule, have you seen it?”

Pop Culture:

Edgar Allen Poe, Trekkies, Gumby

Let’s Rate It:

Overall, I liked this episode.  It definitely resolved the college decision, while starting an issue with the inn, leaving it’s future up in the air.  I didn’t love it, but it’s what I’ve come to expect for pretty much any Gilmore Girls episode.  This episode gets 3 mugs of coffee.

Gilmore Girls 3×16: The Big One

Posted in Season Three, The Gilmore Girls Project by

The Big One originally aired February 25, 2003.  This episode was written by Amy Sherman-Palladino and was directed by Jamie Babbit.

Gilmore Girls Season 3 Graphic

This episode starts off with Rory and Lorelei waiting for Rory’s college acceptance letters.  Kirk is the new mail carrier, and is taking his time delivering the mail, sorting it as he goes along his route.

Luke has changed the menus at the diner.  They get completely redesigned, and he’s even added a few new dishes, as well as get rid of dishes that no one ordered.

Meanwhile, the Chilton bicentennial is coming up, and there is going to be a speech aired on C-SPAN.  Paris thinks that her winning the speech contest will be more satisfying if she beats Rory- which leads to Rory entering the contest.  At the inn, Lorelei and Sookie realize that people sending back Sookie’s food because it tastes awful means that Sookie’s pregnant. Sookie tells Jackson, but he crunches numbers, which leaves Sookie feeling like it didn’t go how she wanted it to go.

Lorelei stops to get some allergy medicine on her way to Friday night dinner and runs into Max, who asks about Rory.  He’s in town for the Chilton bicentennial events.  Lorelei arrives at the Gilmore house to find that Emily is visiting some of her DAR friends who are in the hospital, which means it’s going to be Richard, Rory and Lorelei for the evening.  Lorelei tells Rory that she ran into Max.  Rory didn’t know he was back in town, since he was on loan somewhere, but she does think Lorelei didn’t treat him well.

Lorelei goes to visit Sookie to see how things are going, and tells her about Max.  Sookie agrees with Rory in that he’s a good guy and Lorelei didn’t treat him well.  Rory and Paris had such great speeches that they are going to combine their speeches into one awesome one.  When working on the speech, Paris announces that she and Jamie had sex, and wants to have a healthy debate with Rory so she can figure out how she should be feeling about it.  Paris asks if Rory’s gone all the way with Jess and Dean, which gets Paris wondering why it’s right for her but not for Rory.  Rory tells her that it’s different because they’re different, as are Jamie and Jess, and that what’s right for Paris isn’t going to be right for Rory.  Lorelei comes in with pizza during this conversation, listening in, before making it obvious she’s there.

And when the C-SPAN-aired speech rolls around, Paris is nowhere to be found until minutes before the speech starts, looking disheveled.  We finally learn that Paris didn’t get into Harvard, and she thinks she deserved to get in because of how she’s worked, but is now being punished for having sex.

Also: before the speech starts, Lorelei sees Max and apologizes for not calling him.  She feels bad for not talking to him since the engagement was called off, and she really wanted to explain why she called it off.  He appreciates it, but it’s not necessary, since he’s moved on and has time to think while he was teaching a class at Stanford.

After Paris has her meltdown, she and Rory are talking.  Paris thinks they must really have not liked her if she didn’t get in, especially since generations of Gellar’s have gone to Harvard.  She also thinks Jamie won’t think she’s special because she didn’t get into Harvard.  Rory knows Paris will do great at whatever schools do accept her and that maybe it’ll be good for her to go to a different school.  Lorelei runs into Max again, and they kiss before he leaves.  Lorelei and Rory go home to find that Rory has several college acceptance letters.

What I Thought:

There is so much to talk about!  Rory getting accepted to everywhere isn’t surprising, but Paris not getting accepted to Harvard is.  I actually feel bad for Paris in this episode, mostly because of comparing herself to Rory and because of how Jamie won’t think she’s special.  And because not getting into Harvard is a punishment.  Although…if Jamie doesn’t think she’s special anymore, than he’s an idiot Paris doesn’t need.

And Paris comparing herself to Rory…I don’t know what to think about this.  I mean, it’s very Paris, since she and Rory are on the same level for many, many things, but Rory also makes a good point that they’re different.  There is a part of me that thinks maybe Paris isn’t ready to have sex if she needs data to back things up and if she needs to have a debate with Rory to figure out how she should feel.  At the same time, though, it’s very Paris to need data and to debate things, and as book-smart as she is, Paris is also kinda socially awkward, which makes it hard to sort out my own feelings about it.

Max and Lorelei is the last thing I wanted to talk about before wrapping things up.  I felt like it came out of nowhere, since we haven’t seen him in forever.  This around, I’m kind of confused as to why he’s suddenly popping up.  It’s nice he’s moved on, and didn’t need the closure, but I found that Lorelei apologizing for not talking to him after she broke off his engagement was odd and annoying.  Mostly because it is pretty typical of Lorelei to do what she did and then apologize later.  I guess his absence was explained by teaching at Stanford, but what high school English teacher goes from teaching high school English to a class at Stanford? Especially on “loan?”  Granted, I’m not in the education field, so my random thoughts about how weird Chilton and Stars Hollow High are could be wrong, but this is another instance where a high school teacher being loaned to a college cross-country seems really out-of-place.

Favorite Line:

Lorelei: “It was comforting, like deep-fried ham soup.”

Pop Culture:

Into The Woods, plus other Broadway references

Let’s Wrap It Up:

Overall, this episode is wavering between me thinking it’s okay and me liking it.  There are some really interesting conversations and things that happened, but the Max thing really seemed to come out of nowhere, and it seemed a little bit unnecessary.  The Big One gets 2.5 mugs of coffee.

Gilmore Girls 3×15: Face-Off

Posted in Season Three, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Face-Off originally aired February 18, 2003.  This episode was written by John Stephens and was directed by Kenny Ortega.

Gilmore Girls Season 3 Graphic

Face-Off opens with Taylor going over the details of his upcoming family reunion with Lorelei, who needs Rory to pretend to be sick so Lorelei doesn’t have to talk to Taylor anymore.  He also gives them buttons that show support for the Stars Hollow High hockey team making it to the championship or finals or whatever.

Richard’s mom Trix is going to be staying with Emily and Richard while her floors are getting re-done, which isn’t going over well with Emily.  Lorelei has a date with Alex after Friday night dinner, while Rory is waiting for Jess to call.  When she tells Lorelei about her night the next day, we learn that it never occurred to Rory to call Jess.  Rory wants to know why Lorelei asks her if she’s going to tell Jess before starting to compare Jess and Dean.  Lorelei says it’s not fair to compare them because Dean and Jess are different, and that Rory got lucky with Dean as a first boyfriend.

Mrs. Kim set Lane up with someone, and it makes Dave jealous.  Dave even runs to the hockey game to check on Lane and Yung Chu, and finds out Yung Chu has a girlfriend.

Rory ends up going to the hockey game since Jess still hasn’t called to make plans.  Lane is wondering if everything is okay, since Rory is there without Jess.  Rory and Lane run into a girl named Lindsay, who acts a little weird around Rory.  Lane tells Rory that some people at Stars Hollow High think that Rory thinks she better then them because Rory is going to Chilton, but it turns out that the weirdness is because Lindsay and Dean are dating.  Lane keeps asking Rory if she’s okay, and Rory says she’s find because it had to happen sometime.  Lane feels bad for not knowing, but Rory says it’s not a big deal.

Meanwhile, Jess shows up at Rory’s to find she’s not there, and is really surprised that she’s not home.  Lorelei pretty much tells him to get it together before going to Emily’s to drop off some things for something Trix is planning.  When Emily gets back to her house, she finds Trix kissing a man in a jogging suit before leaving the house.  Emily is in an especially good mood because she has something on Trix, and accidentally spills the beans when Trix pushes Emily a little too far.  Emily apologizes to Trix later than evening.

After the hockey game is over (and Stars Hollow High loses the game), Dean and Rory talk.  He wasn’t sure how to tell Rory about him and Lindsay.  Rory leaves a message for Jess, ranting about how she’s not going to going to wait around for Jess to call her, because she wants specific plans, not a vague we’ll hang out later. She also mentions that she’s spoiled and likes being spoiled, and Jess is just going to have to deal with it, otherwise he’ll have to find someone else.  She leaves the rink to find Jess waiting for her with tickets to the Distillers concert.

What I Thought:

I don’t really have thoughts on the Emily and Trix stuff, so I’m just going to talk about Rory and Jess, who both really annoyed me in this episode.

I’m surprised it took so long for Rory to compare Jess and Dean…at least, a comparison that we see on screen.  Jess doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who calls someone to make plans, and at this point, you’d think Rory would actually know this.

And her whole I’m spoiled and I like being that way, and Jess is just going to have to deal with it?  Good heavens, I wanted to smack Rory for that.  It is one of the things I dislike about Rory, because she seems pretty used to getting what she wants and she does seem to have this big sense of entitlement.

Also: Dean moving on.  I’m not surprised that she thought Dean would still be pining after her.  Rory says it’s fine that he moved on, because it had to happen eventually, but I wonder if it’s really okay with her.  I could be reading too much into it, but given what we’ve seen of her up to this point (and Rory in seasons to come) it does seem like Rory to be taken off-guard and hoping he’s still pining after her.

Favorite Or Funny Moment Or Line:

Nothing really jumped out at me in this episode.

Pop Culture:

Michael Moore’s documentaries, Miss Manners

Let’s Rate It:

I was pretty annoyed with how Rory acted in this episode, and I thought it was an okay episode.  I think it does bring up some interesting things we’ll see later on, but it’s definitely not one of my favorite episodes. Face-Off gets 2 mugs of coffee.