About:
Gilmore Girls S7.E06 “Go Bulldogs!”
Drinks Taken: 35
Cups of Coffee: 6
The weird thing about Gilmore Girls Season 7 is that…well, not a whole lot happens for most of it. BUT it’s in a way I don’t particularly mind. It’s just sort of a quirky, pleasant character study instead of the non-stop drama of Season 6. Also it makes for shorter writeups, which I always appreciate!
So let’s get to it, 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!
7.5 “The Great Stink”
Rory gets a call from Logan, telling her to hurry up to the roof in time to catch a meteor shower. She runs up there to find…Logan! He flew in from London to work a business deal and he wanted to surprise her, so he created this candlelit feast with roses and twinkly lights and all of Rory’s favorite foods and it is THE GREATEST. They snuggle lots, and it warms my heart to see how happy she is to see him. BUT they only have about 30 hours together, and much of that Logan has to spend trying to buy this social media company. He and his team – “the guys,” as he calls them – secure the deal, and Logan calls Rory and asks her to meet him at a restaurant to celebrate. Rory misunderstood, thinking it would just be the two of them, but it’s the whole team – and she’s even more dismayed to discover that Bobby, one of “the guys,” is actually a super-hot blonde British woman. Rory gets more than a little pouty and jealous, but Logan charms her out of it, and they give a longing, loving kiss goodbye before he heads back to London. Bye Logan! Come back soon!
Lorelai and Chris are also being pretty cute as the episode begins. She prepares to bring Paul Anka over for his first night at Christopher’s, and while they’re there Chris brings out a fifteen-page letter Sherry sent to apologize for, you know, being the worst human being on Earth. Lorelai’s so touched that Chris shared this with her (something New Luke never would have done), but when she finds out that Sherry wants Chris to send Gigi to Paris for a few months, Lorelai obviously thinks this is a terrible idea, but has Luke trauma flashbacks preventing her from interfering. After talking this out with Sookie (who, it’s clear even though she never outright says it, is still totally Team Luke), Lorelai opens up to Chris about her disapproval, and he responds…pretty much exactly the way Luke would have. He doesn’t like hearing criticism of Sherry from her, and he’s in a crummy mood – just in time for Friday night dinner with Richard and Emily!
Lorelai and Chris are both so quiet during Friday night dinner, but these two adorably oblivious oldies are just enjoying the polite (if rather stilted) conversation. They’re so excited that Lorelai and Chris are now officially an item, and they make all sorts of plans (tennis doubles! bridge doubles!) with them. Finally, Lorelai asks Chris if she can talk to him for a minute, and they step away. Lorelai says something mature: “You’re not Sherry. Maybe we were derelicts back then, but we were 16. We were just kids. You were just a kid. So you leaving Rory when you were 16 is not at all the same as Sherry, a grown woman, packing up and leaving Gigi. So I get why you were upset with me. Because when I’m criticizing Sherry, you feel like I’m criticizing you. But I wasn’t. I’m not. You’ve changed. You’re not 16. You’re not a kid. You’re not Sherry. I get it.” And Chris replies with something immature: “Wow, you get it. That’s great, Lor. Thanks for telling me how I feel,” – then storms out. UGH.
But just when we’re really starting to hate him, he apologizes, telling Lorelai that she’s right and it’s crazy to ship Gigi off to visit a mom she hasn’t seen in years on a different continent with nothing but a 20-year-old nanny as company, and then Chris invites Lorelai to go to Paris with him and Gigi. Lorelai joyfully agrees, and then immediately starts ribbing Emily, showing off her mugshot and refusing all future tennis and bridge invitations. Emily: “What has gotten into you? You were being so pleasant…I swear, I was having the most wonderful time.” Rory arrives at the end of dinner, after saying goodbye to Logan, and then Mom, Dad and Kid drive home together, listening to motown and grinning, the happiest little family you ever did see.
Also, finally, a pickle train tumped over and now Stars Hollow smells like death. This plot point is mainly important for the incredible phone conversation Rory and Lorelai share in light of it:
Alas, alack.
How many times do I have to drink?
18.
How many cups of coffee do the Gilmore girls drink?
2.
Flirtation quota
I don’t think I’m doing justice to that roof scene between Rory and Logan. It is THE SWOONIEST. Logan has so many good lines here. That boy is smitten.
Lorelai and Chris are cute, too, when Chris isn’t being a gigantic baby. I’m tryyyying to be enthusiastic about this relationship, you guys. I promise I am.
Best/most dated pop culture reference
Lorelai, mocking Chris’ DVR choices: “The View? Girlfriends? Sabado Gigante? Who controls this thing, you or Pedro Almodóvar?”
Sookie’s best dish of the episode
After trying EVERYTHING to mask the pickle smell at the Dragonfly, she lands on pastrami and rye. “I decided if you can’t beat them, join them. Embrace the pickle!”
Lorelai’s craziest outfit
See, this is what Heather and Jessica would call a “scroll-down fug” – cute top, cute skirt, cute tights, cute – WHAT ARE THOSE BOOTS.
Outfit MVP
The sassy little number Rory wore to dinner with Logan:
Kirk insanity
Literally the only person in Stars Hollow who thinks the pickle smell is “not that bad.”
Michel madness
Michel, on the other hand, gets EXTRA dramzy in the wake of this odor. “Has anyone ever seen these pickles? Who’s to say this is not some sort of chemical weapon the government is testing on us behind our backs?” “Carcasses. Those strange, angry-looking guests – I’m sure they are traveling with decaying animal flesh.” “I have much scarier scenarios if you want to hear them.”
Best Gilmore Gal witticism
When Rory sees a bottle of wine Logan procured for their rooftop adventure: “Ooh! A 2003 red something! Oh, I bet it’s very oaky and corky and full of fruity legs.”
Random observation
So, yes. I’m trying with Chris and Lorelai, I really am. But I don’t feel like the show is trying very hard. This is meant to be the honeymoon period between them, and it’s already full of moments where I want to lightly throttle Chris. Even last week, when he planned the great date, he then annoyed me by pouting when he felt that Emily’s incarceration overshadowed his drive-in movie surprise. It’s clear the writers don’t intend for us to believe this is Lorelai’s endgame, and I am fine with that.
7.6 “Go Bulldogs!”
It’s Parents’ Weekend at Yale, a tradition Lorelai has of course always eschewed, but Chris really wants to go now that they’re trying to be a family. They’re heading to Paris next week and Lorelai allows that this will be a fine way to pass the time until then, even though she feels that Parents’ Weekend is for “lame-o parents whose kids hate them, so they need a school-sanctioned event so they all spend time together.” But they go anyway, and Chris is so dorkily excited.
Chris enthusiastically joins all of the scheduled activities, attending lectures and meeting the Provost as Lorelai gives lots of good-natured eyerolls, and then who do they run into but Richard and Emily? Of course, the elder Gilmores have attended every Parents’ Weekend, which makes Lorelai Season 1-levels of petulant and stompy. Richard and Emily are taking Rory to a fancy dinner that night, so Lorelai actually makes reservations at the same restaurant for lunch, like a sociopath might do. Chris and Lor watch Rory at work in the newsroom, both parents beaming with pride, and then Chris goes overboard and invites THE ENTIRE NEWSROOM to lunch. He gets them all drunk and stuffs them with expensive food and invites every one of them on a ski trip – all the while, Lorelai and Rory are watching in bemused silence. Lorelai: “You don’t hang out with any of these people outside the paper, do you?” Rory: “Not so much.”
So when a huge story breaks and they all have to head back to the paper, everyone’s too drunk to be of much use, and Rory’s a little brusque with Chris about it. He gets all self-flagellating, and then finally admits to Lorelai what sent him over the edge. “At the brunch, all the other dads were talking about how they took their kids to hockey practice and violin lessons and helped them study for the SATs, and I just stood there like a jerk, nodding my head like I’d done all those things.” While it’s nice that he wants to make up for lost time now, everything Chris does feels so childish and knee-jerky. Anyway, he and Lorelai bring donuts and coffee to the newsroom to fuel the all-nighter, and he apologizes to Rory, who’s sweet about it, telling him she’s not mad. “But Dad, I think I would’ve liked it better if on Parents’ Weekend, I could’ve just had lunch with my parents.” Chris agrees, and everything seems fine again.
Finally, Luke’s in heaven, having April stay with him, and things seem to be going really well. When he picks her up from swim practice, he mentions to her swim coach that he can’t swim, and she insists that he take lessons for April’s safety. While this makes sense, she then gives him her number, so it’s clear that she just wants a date out of it. Luke obligingly calls her, but the date is a NIGHTMARE. She takes him to a vegan restaurant and wants to sit on the same side of the booth with him (red flag!), she talks about her “PSYCHO!” ex-boyfriend and then asks Luke who would play him in “The Luke Danes Story.” This date was not a homerun, by any means, but Luke’s okay with that, especially when he gets to go back home and hang with April (who, cutely, is hanging out with Lane in Luke’s absence).
How many times do I have to drink?
17.
How many cups of coffee do the Gilmore girls drink?
4.
Flirtation quota
Lorelai and Chris are acting like a real, established couple for the first time this episode: calling each other “baby” and “honey,” holding hands and sharing inside jokes. They seem good and natural together, even if Chris is still exhibiting the emotional range of a teenager at times.
Best/most dated pop culture reference
Want to know who Swim Coach would cast in “The Swim Coach Story”? Marlene Dietrich, of course. “RIGHT?” She also straight-up doesn’t believe Luke when he tells her he has no idea who that is. (Oh, Luke.)
Sookie’s best dish of the episode
A new vegetable and fruit supplier brings by a sample of his wares, and Sookie feels guilty for how much she enjoys cooking with non-Jackson veggies. She makes the best ratatouille of HER LIFE with the new stuff, but then throws it away and cheerfully heads out for a romantic dinner with her husband.
Lorelai’s craziest outfit
Her Parents’ Weekend dress leaves something to be desired:
Outfit MVP
Rory’s, on the other hand, just fills me with desire. (For the outfit!)
Kirk insanity
Kirk decides, on a whim, that he’s being smothered by Lulu. He tells Luke he’s going to dump her so they can be two single studs together, and I can’t help but conjecture that Luke is thinking of the way he blew it with Lorelai when he grabs Kirk’s shirt and growls at him: “Listen, you pinhead, you should be kissing the ground that Lulu walks on. Why that sweet girl lets you within a hundred miles of her is beyond me, but she does. You are the luckiest man on the planet to have a girl like that looking out for you and caring about you. And if you say so much as one unkind word to her, I will personally break every bone in your body. You got me?” IT IS AWESOME. He then immediately calls the Swim Coach, clearly feeling lonely – and later, when he’s heading home from the failed date, he sees Kirk and Lulu holding hands, and he smiles to himself. I love this plot.
Michel madness
He’s competing with Sookie to find out who’s in charge in Lorelai’s absence. Lorelai tells him that, while he’s in charge of the front desk, Sookie, as part owner, is in charge of everything. Michel does NOT like this answer, but Sookie sure does, getting all gloaty about it.
Best Gilmore Gal witticism
As Chris is beating himself up for getting Rory’s staff drunk right before a big story, Lorelai: “Honey, if those kids are gonna be journalists, they have to learn to write drunk.” Amen!
Random observation
Now that Luke’s no longer breaking Lorelai’s heart on a weekly basis, I find that…I miss him. This was a good Luke week – he’s so truly great with April, and he seems so overjoyed by her presence. And I really do believe that he was thinking of Lorelai during his amazing speech to Kirk – he knows he was lucky to have her, and he knows he blew it, but all he can do now is make sure that Kirk doesn’t make the same mistake.
And that’s it for this week! Meet us back here next Wednesday morning as we cover “French Twist” and “Introducing Lorelai Planetarium.”
And I leave you with a question, dear FYA readers: are you starting to come back around on Luke (if you weren’t already Team Luke)? Or are you still super mad at him?
I was all about Luke and Lorelai at the beginning. But the writers made him SO awful after April, that I just hated him. I would’ve been fine with Chris and Lorelai as endgame. They get each other in so many ways and like the same things, etc. I know it’s not a popular opinion, don’t care. I also loved Logan and thought he was the best of Rory’s BF’s — for a lot of the reasons your have articulated so well in your recaps.
Thanks for weighing in! Did you watch the revival? I liked Luke quite a bit in the revival, so I feel like they fixed him a little bit.