About:
Gilmore Girls S2.E02 “Hammers and Veils”
Gilmore Girls S2.E03 “Red Light on the Wedding Night”
Drinks Taken: 30
Cups of Coffee: 7
We’re on Week 8 of our Rewatch Project, and that means we’ve reached Season Two! Now, I know what that means for a lot of you, but simmer down. No floppy-haired rebels have rolled into town just yet.
So let’s dive in, but first! A reminder of our drinking game rules:
The Gilmore Girls Drinking Game Rules
Drink once every time:
Lorelai or Rory drinks coffee.
Emily gets flustered by Lorelai’s bizarre sense of humor.
Sookie is controlling about food.
Paris is controlling about anything.
Michel snubs a customer.
Luke is crotchety.
Taylor has an absurd scheme for Stars Hollow.
The girls acquire massive amounts of food and then fail to take even one bite.
Drink twice every time:
Kirk has a new job.
You see a town troubadour.
And a new rule, in honor of Season Two: Emily gets a new maid.
On to the episodes!
2.1 “Sadie, Sadie”
The entire town of Stars Hollow is drenched in daisies thanks to Max’s proposal, and Lorelai’s ostensibly still making up her mind, but she’s looking at wedding magazines, so. Miss Patty, Town Magistrate of Everybody Else’s Business, tells Lorelai she needs to tell Luke before anyone else does, and Lorelai pretends that it’s no big deal. The entire town disagrees, and they all follow her to Luke’s to spy through the window, because this town is adorable. She tells Luke and he plays it so perfectly, shrugging it off with utmost nonchalance, and then casually asking Lorelai a few questions perfectly pitched to create panic. Where will they live? Does Max want more kids? Lorelai wigs a little at first, but then she tells Max yes, and she, Rory, Max and Sookie are all over the moon.
Sookie’s reaction in particular kills me, as she immediately starts celebrating and planning the wedding menu, and then she just tears up. When Lorelai asks her why, she says, “You raised that little girl all alone, and she is so great, and you work your butt off here and you go to school and you put up with me. You just really deserve this.” TEARS. You can watch that scene here.
Less over the moon? Jackson. Homeboy is freaking out about Lorelai and Max’s engagement, thinking Sookie will want him to propose soon. Lane is also not having the best week ever, as her parents have packed the world’s biggest suitcase and are sending her to Korea without a return ticket. Come back, Lane! Rory needs you!
But at least Rory has Dean back, and he comes over for movie night and they all watch The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story together. Lorelai is so happy to see Dean again.
Dean looks extra hot this episode, all tan and tall, and two nights ago I actually said the following sentence and meant it, to my husband’s horror: “That puka shell necklace really brings out his collarbone.”
Emily and Richard are incredibly excited that Rory’s in the Top 3% at Chilton (a truly impressive feat considering how behind she was when she started the schoolyear), and they decide to throw her a party with homemade Twinkies. Rory brings Dean, and Emily is actually very sweet to him, but Richard is a class-A asshole, grilling him about college and telling Dean he’s not good enough for Rory. Rory, to her credit, totally stands up for Dean, and poor Emily is crushed that her little party’s been ruined.
Afterwards, as Richard is ranting and raving about Dean, Emily gets a phone call from Sookie inviting her to a surprise engagement party for Max and Lorelai. Emily is stricken that Lorelai hasn’t told her that she’s engaged. She tells Richard that he will call Rory tomorrow and apologize for his behavior, because “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.” MORE TEARS.
How many times do I have to drink?
9.
How many cups of coffee do the Gilmore girls drink?
2.
Flirtation quota
Dean and Rory are majorly flirty this episode – they’re just so happy to be reunited! Max gives Lorelai a gorgeous, vintage, art deco engagement ring, so I’d say that counts. Luke plays it extra cool when he hears the news about Lorelai and Max, and my heart jumps a little when I note how bummed that makes Lorelai. And all three guys have gotten a haircut, and are thus looking much better this season. Bonus!
Best/most dated pop culture reference
After Rory and Dean cutely decide that breaking up is not for them, Dean: “I’m sure some people like it.” Rory: “Oh sure, Cher, Greg Allman, bet they’d give it a big thumbs up.”
Sookie’s best dish of the episode
In discussing what will pair well with champagne for Lorelai’s wedding, she says scrambled eggs may not seem very festive, but “when you put them in a little quail’s egg shell and you put caviar on top, they are quite a crowd pleaser.” OMG THAT SOUNDS INCREDIBLE. Eggs on top of eggs inside egg!
Lorelai’s craziest outfit
Hello, embroidered jeans and dog-face t-shirt. Lorelai’s S2 wardrobe will not disappoint in the crazy factor.
Kirk insanity
When all of the townies are crowded outside of Luke’s to spy on Lorelai, Kirk passes out. He’s so fragile!
Best Gilmore Gal witticism
As Rory’s planning Lorelai’s wedding, saying she’ll walk down the aisle to Frank Sinatra carrying something that smells really good, Lorelai replies, “Pot roast!”
Random observation
One of my favorite moments of the entire episode is when Lorelai, Emily and Rory are all teasing a terribly nervous Dean at Rory’s party. Lorelai tells Emily that Dean will have a beer and he panics, all “I don’t drink! I’ll have soda, water, whatever!” Emily tells him to relax and that Lorelai’s just torturing him, and then when she asks Rory what she’ll have, Rory says, “Oh, I’ll have a beer.” All three Gilmore ladies crack up at poor Dean’s expense. Cutest!
2.2 “Hammers and Veils”
Paris is still trying to freeze out Rory, and during some Hands Across America-type volunteer work, she succeeds in intimidating her by rattling off all of the extra-curricular work she’s done to put her over the top when she applies for Harvard. Rory has a massive panic attack and sort of tells Dean she can never see him again because she’s going to be too busy, and they fight a little because they just got back together and already she’s splitting. Dean makes up for it really well when he later tells her that it was stupid of him to get mad and, “I love that you’re going to Harvard.” Rory chills a bit and realizes she doesn’t have to do every extra-curricular activity ever today.
Henry and Lane are still circling around maybe sort of dating, but Henry is appropriately terrified of Mrs. Kim and Lane’s being shipped off to Korea anyway. Lane brings over all of her contraband to hide at Rory’s during her trip, as well as the “Lane Kim retrieval packet” containing all travel information, a copy of her passport and a mock-up of what she’ll look like in a few months.
Richard and Rory have made up quite sweetly. Richard says of their fight, “I must say, I didn’t care for it.” Aww. But now Lorelai and Emily are fighting, which means everything is back to normal. Lorelai tells Emily that she’s engaged, and Emily responds, “I certainly hope we’ll be in town for it, but if not I promise we’ll send a nice gift.” Lorelai is FURIOUS, not understanding that Emily already knew and is hurt it took Lorelai so long to tell her. Lorelai gets a little tipsy and heads over to confront Emily, asking her tearfully “Why have you never cared? No matter what has happened to me my entire life, you’ve never been happy for me, and that hurts!” Emily finally loses her cool and tells Lorelai that she’d already heard about the engagement from “a complete stranger,” and Lorelai realizes this fight is not only Emily’s fault. A couple of days later she goes over to try on veils for Emily, and Emily eventually thaws, telling her that she should wear Emily’s tiara instead. A slight truce and some serious emotional breakthroughs with these two.
Sookie’s engagement party for Max and Lorelai is amazing. It’s in the town square, all of Stars Hollow attends, they sit on thrones and Miss Patty has her little dancers dress as tiny brides. Lorelai goes to Luke’s where he’s studiously avoiding the party, and they share a nice moment where she tells him she’d like him to be there, and he agrees. He heads to the party just in time to see Lorelai and Max slow-dancing, and of course he’s crushed.
Oh and Jackson tells Sookie he’s not ready to get married, but he’d be willing to move in with her, to which she responds by cracking up and calling him hilarious.
How many times do I have to drink?
11.
How many cups of coffee do the Gilmore girls drink?
3.
Flirtation quota
Dean offers to watch Rory browse for hours at the bookstore, and that is all I ever really wanted out of a boyfriend in high school. Luke and Lorelai’s chemistry is OFF THE CHARTS in the last scene, and that is why it’s totally inappropriate for her to invite him to her engagement party. They’re even making love-eyes over Max’s shoulder at one another while she and Max dance.
Best/most dated pop culture reference
Lorelai, rambling to cut the tension with Emily: “Hey, whatever happened to Xuxa?”
Sookie’s best dish of the episode
She bakes macaroons and chocolate pralines for Lorelai’s engagement party, and attempts to force poor calorie-obsessed Michel to try them both.
Lorelai’s craziest outfit
She makes this amazing newspaper veil! Also that t-shirt with a built-in necklace is weird.
Kirk insanity
He’s so vintage Kirk at the engagement party: yelling at people through the megaphone, awkwardly slow-dancing with Patty, sniffily asserting, “I don’t tap dance anymore.”
Best Gilmore Gal witticism
After Luke rants for five minutes about weddings, Lorelai: “You know, the Gettysburg Address was only one page long, and that was about a war.”
Random observation
This is a big episode for Lorelai and Emily. Lorelai opens her heart up to her mom about how hurt she is, only to discover that Emily’s capable of being hurt by her, too. I am so invested in their relationship, so passionately rooting for them to get along even though I know that it’s such an uphill battle with all of their history.
2.3 “Red Light on the Wedding Night”
The wedding is two weeks away and Lorelai’s busy making plans and sampling cakes she knows she’s not going to buy because Sookie is making hers. (Diabolical genius.) Max is sleeping over, and Lorelai finds that a little weird but Rory is shockingly cavalier about it. Everything seems to be going well, and that’s how we know disaster is about to strike. Dean, Rory, Lorelai and Max have a double date, and it becomes clear how much better Dean knows the Gilmore girls than Max does. Max is starting to get a little clingy and demanding, although to his credit, Lorelai can’t even remember to make him a damn key to her house, so his insecurity is founded.
Taylor’s installing a traffic light outside of Luke’s, and Luke is SO crotchety about it, which means drink! Luke’s also super ranty and grouchy about the institution of marriage, and it’s starting to weigh on Lorelai. He realizes he’s being a jerk, so he makes her a FREAKING CHUPPAH and it’s gorgeous and I cry and I love him so much.
Sookie throws Lorelai the greatest bachelorette party ever: Lorelai, Sookie, Rory, Miss Patty, Michel and Emily go to a drag club! (No Babette? That seems her speed.) They have a totally adorable night, and Emily starts fondly remembering how anxious and thrilled she was before her wedding, trying on her dress every night and imagining scenarios where she’d spontaneously run into Richard. Lorelai realizes she doesn’t feel that way about Max, and she drunk-dials Christopher at her bachelorette party. Chris wisely interprets this means that she’s not too jazzed about her upcoming nuptials.
Lorelai breaks it off with Max (offscreen, I guess), and then tells Rory they’re taking a road trip. She’s crying and frantic, and when Rory asks her why she called off the wedding, she sadly replies, “Because I didn’t want to try on my wedding dress every night.” Rory is the best daughter ever, immediately packing her suitcase and feigning enthusiasm for this crazy trip to cheer up her heartbroken mom. They head out of town, chatting non-stop to keep their spirits high, when they’re stopped by Taylor’s damn traffic light. (Right outside of Luke’s, ah-hem.) They stare at the red light into the credits.
How many times do I have to drink?
10.
How many cups of coffee do the Gilmore girls drink?
2.
Flirtation quota
Oh god, Luke and Lorelai when he brings over that chuppah. They sit on the porch together and speak volumes with their eyes. Luke admits that he’s been too hard on marriage lately, and he says the following, to which I (and Lorelai) melt: “I guess if you can find that one person, you know, who’s willing to put up with all your crap, and doesn’t want to change you or dress you or you know, make you eat French food, then marriage can be all right.”
GAHHHH.
Best/most dated pop culture reference
Lorelai, about Max: “We’ve been completely in sync, without the slightly gay boy band affiliation.”
Sookie’s best dish of the episode
No Sookie food this week, so Fran’s cakes will have to take the cake.
Lorelai’s craziest outfit
I’m a fan of the pigtails, but this comic shirt is nuts:
Kirk insanity
He’s decided he wants to be a photographer (drink!), so Lorelai hires him for the wedding. His portfolio includes a nude photo of himself and also this picture, as if he took it. Oh, Kirk.
Best Gilmore Gal witticism
Emily is so delightful at the drag club. When Miss Patty asks what she’s drinking, she replies, “Manhattan. Good too. Not too sweet. I ordered it from that nice fellow dressed as Joan Crawford.” Mandy was right last week when she said that Emily is so fun when she gets to be included!
Random observation
Within three episodes Lorelai has gotten engaged, had an engagement party and then broken off the engagement. Oh, Lorelai.
So next week we’re tackling “The Road Trip to Harvard,” “Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy,” and “Presenting Lorelai Gilmore,” and yes, you guys, that means JESS. So meet us back here next Wednesday morning to swoon or scowl, depending on your Jess affiliation!
And I leave you with a question, dear FYA readers: I just don’t know how to feel about Lorelai this week. She’s kind of a jerk – she never should have said yes to Max in the first place. She spends the entire engagement flirting with Luke, and that’s unfair to Luke and especially Max. She gets a bunch of presents at her engagement party and then dumps Max four days before the wedding. And yet…I kind of can’t be mad at her! How does she do it? How do you feel about her behavior these episodes? Lay it on me downstairs!
