About:
Gilmore Girls S4.E20 “Luke Can See Her Face”
Drinks Taken: 27
Cups of Coffee: 8
We’ve reached Week 30 of our Rewatch Project, and I can’t think of a better way to ring in such a nice round number. LUKE CAN SEE HER FACE, okay? He can totally see it. Whoa.
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.
Emily gets a new maid.
On to the episodes!
4.19 “Afterboom”
Lorelai and Digger are still dealing with the fallout from last week’s explosion. Digger’s doing his best to redeem himself in Richard’s eyes, even trying to improve his golf game, but it’s all for naught. Digger soon learns of Richard’s betrayal – he’s out. Richard has taken all of his clients, destroyed his reputation and returned to the firm’s fold under the untrustworthy leadership of Floyd Stiles. When Digger tells Lorelai this, she can barely believe him, so she goes to confront Richard. She’s calm and respectful, but firm in her defense of Digger, and Richard loses his temper at her. “I am tired of this, Lorelai! You’ve shown absolutely no concern about what happens to me, what happens to your mother. The only thing you care about is what happens to your boyfriend. And the worst part of it is that I never expected you to act any differently.” It’s harsh. Lorelai looks crushed and leaves, and Emily tries to stand up on her behalf to Richard, but he shows his wife the same amount of deference that he has shown her all season, which is to say none at all.
So I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising when Lorelai and Rory later discover a secret about Richard and Emily. Lorelai is dreading Friday night dinner, assuming it will be too strained after her fight with Richard, but when she and Rory show up Richard and Emily are just polite and distracted and behaving very oddly. After some in-the-bush snooping, Lorelai realizes that her mother is staying at a hotel instead of at the house with Richard. Separation!! Intrigue!
Meanwhile, Rory’s starting to feel very uncomfortable with Paris’ relationship with Asher, as she keeps getting caught in the middle. She feels extra uncomfy when Doyle mentions Asher’s rotating cycle of student girlfriends, and when Rory receives an A on a paper in Asher’s class – a paper that she was sure she bombed – she thinks she received it for dishonorable reasons. She faces Asher and tells him she only wants the grades she deserves, regardless of what she knows of his romantic life, and Asher is very reasonable in his explanation that she did, indeed, earn the grade. She looks a little chagrined at first, but then walks off on a weird line, telling him that one of the students flirting with him at his book signing has fat thighs. It’s a gross, very un-Rory bit of writing, but other than that I like this storyline. I like how much honor Rory shows in demanding that she receive an accurate grade, and I like learning that she simply did better on that paper than she thought she did.
Lane’s still settling in with the band, and they have a new gig! She’s excited but also distracted as she sees a foreign exchange student living in her old room, dressing in her old clothes and being mothered by her old mother. But the new gig goes great and she’s starting to feel good about it, until two girls whoosh Zack away and Lane exhibits a touch of what might be jealousy. Or also possibly loneliness, as Zack and Brian and Gil all have someone to cheer for them at the gig, and Lane doesn’t. (WHERE’S RORY?)
Finally, Lorelai meets with Digger at the Hartford coffee shop where she first started dating and then broke up with Max (the first of a dozen times), and he tells her that he’s suing her father. He says he has to do this to protect his job and his reputation, but Lorelai tells him she can’t be with someone who’s suing her family. He seems upset, but he doesn’t change his mind, so that’s that for Digger! Convenient that Luke’s divorce happened to be finalized this week, as well…
How many times do I have to drink?
13.
How many cups of coffee do the Gilmore girls drink?
2.
Flirtation quota
During one of Lorelai’s ramble sessions, Luke sighs oh-so-cutely, “You are a lot of work.” Later, as she’s outside the diner on two cell phones at once, Luke walks out and admonishes her, “This is a sickness,” but he also brings her a danish and puts it in her mouth because her hands are full. LOVE HIM.
Best/most dated pop culture reference
After Richard and Emily’s bizarre behavior at Friday night dinner, Lorelai recaps to Rory, “Jack Nicholson and Angelina Jolie just kicked us out with parting gifts.”
Sookie’s best dish of the episode
Caramel marshmallow chocolate chip cookies, good lord.
Lorelai’s craziest outfit
It’s not the worst thing she’s ever worn, but I do not care for it.
Outfit MVP
Especially in comparison to ol’ Cute Skirt Rory over here.
Kirk insanity
He works at the post office now! (drink!) He sells stamps.
Michel madness
He’s giving a tour of the Dragonfly to a group of travel agents, and he has them eating out of the palm of his hand. His words, not mine.
Best Gilmore Gal witticism
Digger: “So, I’m officially taking the one hour I have off to go to the driving range to hit golf balls to try to improve my sucky game, thereby redeeming myself in your father’s eyes.”
Lorelai: “I like the use of ‘sucky’ and ‘thereby’ in the same sentence.
Random observation
I wish Lorelai knew how often her mother stands up for her when she’s not around. I think it would go a long way toward healing their relationship if she did know.
4.20 “Luke Can See Her Face”
Lorelai’s still feeling a little shaken after her breakup with Digger – particularly when a passel of cats appears on her porch and she thinks they’re hunting her down because they know she’s now a single woman on her way to becoming a crazy cat lady. Luke is dealing with his breakup in a more productive fashion, getting self-help tapes and learning to process his feelings. I know!! It’s the last step toward his becoming the perfect man! Along those lines, when Liz shows up and tells him she’s marrying TJ in a couple of days, he actually expresses happiness for his sister. When she tells him Jess isn’t planning on attending because he is THE WORST, Luke hunts the little punk down and forces him to come to town. To his credit, Jess complies. He and Luke attend TJ’s bachelor party (which is hilariously awkward, with Luke refusing to sit at a strip club because he doesn’t want to offer a lap for any dancing purposes, and Jess just reads the whole time), and end up getting in a fight when Jess says he doesn’t want to walk Liz down the aisle. But afterwards, they have a good talk, and Jess admits the main reason he didn’t want to come to town is that he’s still hung up on Rory. I realize my hatred for Jess may be at an end. He’s on an upswing now.
Aww. Well, uncle and nephew are both learning to express their feelings better, because Luke’s self-help book has helped him realize something the rest of us have known for years: he and Lorelai are meant for each other.
!!!
Well, the best part is that he doesn’t waste any time with his newfound revelation. He heads straight to Lorelai’s house and asks her to accompany him to Liz’s wedding. Lorelai doesn’t yet completely understand that this is a date, but she looks touched at the invitation anyway, and Luke is pleased as punch. AHHH THE WEDDING’S NEXT WEEK!!
In other news, Asher invites Paris to join him in Oxford for the summer, but then he suffers a heart attack. After he stabilizes, Paris intends to break up with him, too weirded out that she has a heart attack-aged boyfriend, but when he tries to set her free, she realizes she still wants to be with him and can’t wait for Oxford. It’s pretty sweet.
And finally, Dean and Lindsay are fighting. Rory seems intrigued at the news. Oof.
Let’s focus on happier news, shall we? LUKE CAN SEE HER FACE.
How many times do I have to drink?
14.
How many cups of coffee do the Gilmore girls drink?
6.
Flirtation quota
Well, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Luke can see her face. He also pulls a piece of straw out of her hair when he’s asking her on a date and I nearly die. But even before that, as she’s trying to get out of a set-up by Sookie with Shel, the Dragonfly’s poultry supplier, she pretends to be Luke’s girlfriend. It’s pretty cute (spoiler – and prescient!).
Best/most dated pop culture reference
As Lorelai bemoans her and Luke’s newly single status, she says: “I see Dr. Phil books in our future.” Luke makes me laugh by replying, “Unless they stock them at Home Depot, they’re not likely to cross my path.”
Sookie’s best dish of the episode
Lorelai wants Sookie to make her “critically acclaimed” zucchini soup for the Dragonfly’s opening, but Jackson is worried about the zucchini crop. Lorelai’s stress infects everyone, so Jackson decides to sleep in the zucchini patch like a crazy person, and when Lorelai hears of this, she realizes the mania has got to stop. She, Sookie and Michel meet Jackson in the zucchini patch and she apologizes for all of the stress, and they all agree to drop one thing off their formidable to-do lists. And then they fall asleep in the zucchini patch and have a great night’s sleep, and it’s the cutest thing.
Lorelai’s craziest outfit
What is this shirt?
Outfit MVP
This outfit, however, is the hotness. So simple, so hot.
Kirk insanity
Lorelai arrives at Luke’s as he opens because she desperately needs coffee, and Kirk arrives moments later, wanting to sit at the table where she’s sitting even though every other table is free. “You have to understand that on days when Lulu is working, I have very little in my life. This table is a small thing, but it makes me happy. It gives me a sense of power over my life, a little control in a world where very little is controllable.”
Michel madness
He hasn’t received his desk yet, which is why he’s sitting on the floor in the above picture. He’s not enjoying that very much, as one might imagine.
Best Gilmore Gal witticism
Lorelai to Rory, with angst: “There’s a cat on my doorstep.”
Rory, breezily, “Well, that’s better than a bun in your oven!”
Random observation
Let’s just recount all of the ways that Luke sees her face.
“Whose phone calls or visits are never unwanted or too long? Do you see her face? Who would you most like to have in your life to ward off moments of loneliness? Do you see her face? When you travel, who would make your travels more enjoyable? Do you see her face? When you’re in pain, who would you most like to comfort you? Do you see her face? When something wonderful happens in your life — a promotion at work, a successful refinancing — who do you want to share the news with? Do you see her face? Whose face appears to you, my friend? Whose face?”
LORELAI’S FACE!!!
Well, that’s it, and that means next week brings us the final two episodes of Season 4, and that means we only have one week to live because next week we will all die of collective swoon overdose. Mandy J will join me for the finale installment, so meet us back here next Wednesday morning!
And I leave you with a question, dear FYA readers: do you think Luke really didn’t realize until that moment that he was in love with Lorelai? These two cuties are so obtuse!
