Previously: Max proposed!
Sadie, Sadie…
Samantha: Hello friends, and welcome to Season 2 of Gilmore Girls! We start with a panning shot of the town that shows Lorelai’s yellow daises all over the place while a cutesy song plays. In front of stores, lining the sidewalk, even in some guys bike, the Max daisies are everywhere. (A: Yeah, there are waaaaaay more than 1,000 daisies here.) (S: RIGHT?!) Lor and Rory walk, with Rory holding a bouquet of the flowers and throwing out wedding suggestions. Lorelai is not taking these suggestions seriously.
If you’re out on the roooooad!
After the credits which I totally did not sing out loud, what a weird accusation, Rory walks into Kim’s Antique’s where Lane and her mother are arguing about something that Mrs. Kim won’t tell her. Rory delivers her flowers and finds out that Lane’s parents have bought her a one way ticket to Korea for the summer, and won’t tell her when she’s coming home. She’s panicked that she might never come back. Rory lists off more plausible reasons for why the one way ticket, but trails off when she realizes how much she’s going to miss her if she never returns. Mrs. Kim sing song calls for Lane from the kitchen so Rory heads to Luke’s.
Lorelai stops by Bootsie’s magazine stand (with an adorable daisy peeking out of her purse) and we get an Ivana Trump reference and I 2019 shudder. Lor also guiltily pages through a bride magazine until Rory sneaks up on her, grinning smugly. Rory buys the magazine just as Miss Patty (wearing a daisy chain around her neck) arrives on scene and gets excited over the wedding magazine. Lorelai clarifies that she hasn’t said yes yet. Patty asks if Luke knows yet and gets nervous when Lorelai says she hasn’t told him. She tells Lor to be gentle, even though they are “just friends.” Lorelai and Rory walk to Luke’s and there’s a hilarious montage of Patty gathering everyone behind them to follow the girls to Luke’s. The girls eventually notice and make adorable faces at each other before heading inside the diner.
They take a seat and everyone smooshes up to the glass to watch, so Rory tells her to tell him now. Rory also confirms that Luke definitely has a thing for her, even as Lor continues to deny it and list all the things Luke loves hates about her. Rory requests a muffin, and Lorelai heads up to the counter.
Daises can also be spotted on people and ledges in Luke’s, nowhere is safe from the daisies! The lovebirds just friends banter a bit about coffee and the town being weird, before Lorelai stumbles a bit about having something to share with him. She tells him about the proposal and his face, I think, goes blank for a moment before he tells her that he figured it out, what with Max being around a lot and the “life changing” comment.
- Where are you going to live?
- Will you continue to work after you’re married?
- Will you have kids?
- Joint checking accounts?
Lorelai is pissed at the invasive questions and wants her popsicle back, but also realizes that her and Max haven’t talked about the big things at all. Luke finishes with an anecdote about his dad not knowing where the coupon drawer was after his mom died. Scott Paterson delivers all of the obvious Luke angst very drily and with a hint of sarcasm, not the explosion that the town expected. Luke came prepared. When Lorelai gets back to the table it’s to find that Kirk passed out outside.
Friday Night Dinner. Lorelai stalls as long as possible before heading up to the door, and Rory tries to get her to talk about what’s on her mind. Emily joyfully answers the door and weirds out the girls.
Emily herds them inside and keeps yelling for Richard, who instructs her to say nothing until he gets there. Emily tries not to but eventually folds and tells the girls that her contact at Chilton informed her that Rory has placed in the Top 3% of her class! Lorelai and Rory are underwhelmed at this news because they already knew. Richard finally enters and grandly announces the news but everyone already knows. Richard and Emily talk about a special dinner that they are planning, while Lorelai moves a butterfly ring over to her engagement ring finger. As everyone else heads in to dinner, Lorelai goes outside and calls Max. She demands to know where they’re going to live because she has a lot of stuff. She also remarks that he hasn’t seen her closet yet and I’m extra reminded about how young this relationship is.
Annie: Absolutely. Their relationship is kinda insta-lovey and for someone who has apparently always been so careful about who she dates and how she dates around making sure raising Rory is always her first priority, this is dumb. And rushed. Even for Lorelai.
Samantha: She continues on in a stream about how she loves her bank and she wants to keep working. Max finally gets her to take a breath and talk so she tells him that she wants him to know where the coupon drawer is. She tells him that they need to figure these things out before… she trails off and Max demands to know if this is her saying yes.
We cut to dinner, where Emily and Richard are discussing with Rory her accomplishment in the form of plaques and bragging rights to their friends. Lorelai comes to the doorway of the dining room and grins excitedly at Rory and nods.
Annie: I mean, they absolutely would ruin it, because that’s what Emily and Richard do. But it’s just another example of how broken the parent-daughter relationship really is here.
Samantha: Well said!
The next day, at the Inn, Sookie is doing head chef things, including getting her hand pinched by a very fresh lobster. Michel is weighing his sliced turkey because science told him that if he cuts his calories by 30% he will live 30% longer. I… what even is math?
Sookie makes a Fame reference that I do not get. Lorelai comes in with a Big Announcement but Michel don’t care and peaces out. Lorelai tells Sookie that she’s engaged, and Sookie is so stunned that they have a “No!” “Yes!” back and forth for a bit before it’s pronounced amazing. Hold up. Did the entire town of Stars Hollow know about Max proposing but somehow her bff, who also lives in Stars Hollow, not know? ‘Cause Sookie seems like this is totally new info and even clarifies that it is Max who she’s engaged to. Weird. Sookie starts singing the “Sadie, Sadie, married lady” song and thus earns herself the gold title star.
Annie: Jackson would be so lucky to marry Sookie. He needs to stop being a stereotypical jerk. This is kinda of a Amy Sherman-Palladino hallmark, though. She loves certain stereotypes.
Samantha: Rory is on the phone with Lane, who is still convinced that she’s never coming back from Korea. Lane leaves her lava lamp infused closet hideout, except it’s not much of a hideout from a very nosy mother? Like the lights glow underneath the door, do not tell me Mrs. Kim has never noticed that and opened that closet.
Rory and Lorelai are getting ready for a tator tot dinner and talking wedding details, sorta, when Max calls. Rory answers and Max confesses that he’s been out ring shopping all day and wants Rory’s advice. The first one is a gold band with a square diamond, and Rory repeats it back so Lor can hear. She shakes her head and Rory nixes it, so Max cutely tosses the picture over his shoulder. The second one is a maybe, but the third one, a 20’s deco ring, causes Lorelai to bark excitedly (yes seriously) giving away to Max that she’s right there. Rory tries to cover, badly, before handing the phone over to Lorelai.
Friday Night Dinner. Fuck. I really didn’t know this plot was in this episode. The grandparents are happily getting ready and Richard heads off to get a special book for Rory. The doorbells rings, Emily answers, and her face falls at seeing Dean. How how how how how did Lorelai NOT give her parents a heads up about Dean being the person Rory was bringing???????? That just seems bananas to me.
Annie: Yeah. I feel like it’s really, really bad on the part of Lorelai to have not tried to run damage control ahead of this. Especially considering Emily’s opinion of Dean and what happened the last time they interacted.
Samantha: Also, I weirdly love Lor’s dress for this dinner. Emily is kind of a bitch so Lorelai reminds her that it was great of her to tell Rory she could bring a friend to this special night. This seems to get Emily back on track, and she stops being rude.
Emily asks for their drink orders, and Lorelai asks for a Corona for Dean who, admittedly a little sweetly, freaks out insisting that he DOES NOT drink beer. Emily knows Lorelai’s game though and isn’t bothered. Richard walks in and looks pretty murderous at the sight of Dean, who stands up to shake his hand. Richard is awful though, and don’t you forget it, because he completely ignores Dean’s hand. The ladies all look genuinely flummoxed at Richard’s rudeness, because they did forget. Dean, looking like a kicked puppy, asks Lorelai quietly if they should do the beer bit again. Man, this episode really gives you some Dean Feels, unexpectedly.
They sit at dinner, discussing how Emily actually found a recipe for Beefaroni. I find that really cute, that Emily went out of her way to find a recipe for something out of her comfort zone just for Rory. Emily asks if Dean would like some more, very pleasantly, but Dean looks uncertainly at Richard’s glare before declining. Rory gets a present of a lovely stationary kit and poor Rory keeps trying to engage her childish grandfather. Seriously, there may be a path toward sympathy for Richard here, but I am not interested in it. Emily has Twinkies for dessert because she is excellent this dinner.
Richard suddenly bursts in to the conversation ask Dean where he’s going to college. Lorelai tries to deflect, but Richard will not be deterred. Dean is not sure where he’s going to college yet so Richard asks him what kind of grades he gets. Emily asks him to not grill Dean but he continues and Dean admits that he gets a few C’s in math. Lorelai tries desperately to smooth it over and change the subject to ho hos, but there’s an awkward silence. Emily fills it by admitting that the maid is currently making the twinkies, not just opening the box. Lol, classic Emily.
Emily reminds Richard that there’s a book he wanted to give his granddaughter, but he cannot be distracted from his misogynistic and shitty antagonizing of the boy his perfect granddaughter dared bring home. He reminds Dean that Rory is going to an Ivy League School, basically implying that Dean isn’t good enough. Rory politely asks her grandfather to talk about something else and Emily leaves to go get the book, but Richard plows on with reaming Dean for not having a life plan at 16. Dean keeps trying to answer correctly and placate the tyrant. When Lor jumps in he traps her into saying that Rory is special and then uses this as proof that Dean isn’t good enough. Like a jackass would.
Annie: Emily’s awfulness often makes me forget that Richard can be just as terrible, if not worse, than Emily sometimes. This is so hard to watch.
Samantha: Rory officially loses her shit, just as Emily returns with the book. She starts ranting about how Dean is also special and Richard doesn’t even know him. He does the whole “I will not be spoken to like that in my house” and I lose my shit along with Rory. YOU DON’T JUST GET TO HAVE RESPECT OLD WHITE MEN OF THE WORLD, IT’S NOT JUST GUARANTEED FOR YOU, OLD DIPSHITS. (A: A+.) Rory tells him that he cannot treat Dean this way but he storms out, and god, sorry everyone, my response may seem irrational but I hate his behavior so hard. Rory thanks her grandmother and leaves, leaving a flabbergasted Lorelai and Emily.
Back home, Lorelai tells Dean that he is now officially a Gilmore Girl, and heads inside. Dean pretends that everything is okay but also has to go shave his hands and leaves. Rory comes inside and rants about how awful her grandfather is. Lorelai calmly puts twinkies on a plate, much like the Poptarts on a platter in a previous episode. She agrees with everything Rory says with the air of someone who has lived this experience before. However she adds a “but” and explains that Richard loves Rory so much and his freak out tonight probably actually had nothing to do with her or Dean. Rory is the golden child, the daughter he never had with Lorelai, who will meet his expectations and go to college. When she walked in with Dean, he had a Lorelai flashback and saw the potential for all of that to go away. Whatever, no fucking sympathy for Richard on my end. You still don’t get to treat children like that and it’s sexist to assume a boy will fully distract or derail Rory’s plans, even if it did happen to Lor in his eyes. IDGF, Richard.
Back at the Gilmore Estate, Richard is ranting about how Lorelai never thinks and how could she let Rory run around with a boy like that and I want to throat punch him. Emily is sitting miserably on the couch, trying to tell Richard that he was attacking her boyfriend, of course Rory yelled at him. The phone rings and Emily answers it, probably thrilled for a distraction from her boorish husband.
It’s Sookie, calling to make sure that Emily is available on the 21st for Lorelai and Max’s wedding shower. Emily’s face turns to shock as she realizes that she didn’t know that Lor was engaged. She agrees to get back to Sookie and has #feels. She marches into Richard’s office and tells him that he is going to call Rory tomorrow and apologize and tell her that Dean is lovely. Richard is like “the fuck?”
Emily: Our daughter is getting married. She’s getting married and she didn’t tell us. When Rory decides to get married, I’d like her to tell us. Call her tomorrow.
She marches back out before leaning against a piece of furniture and looking like she’s about to burst into tears. Well done, Kelly Bishop.
Samantha: Lorelai and Max are sitting out on the porch as she recounts the evening and warns him about the family he’s marrying into. Max gives Lorelai the ring, which we do not get a close-up of boo, but it’s too big. She doesn’t want to give it back just yet. She gazes at it happily and says “I’m getting married.”
Next time on Gilmore Girls: Lorelai gets the cold shoulder in S02 E02 – Hammers and Veils.
I'm a 28 year old graduated English major and almost librarian. I can often be found singing too loudly (poorly) in the car or spending some time (hours) on Tumblr. I am a lover of Harry Potter, the Spice Girls, and too many other things.
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