About:
Gilmore Girls S7.E18 “Hay Bale Maze”
Drinks Taken: 22
Cups of Coffee: 5
I pretty much can’t believe we’re almost done with this Rewatch Project. I’m having a little bit of trouble reconciling myself to this fact. So let’s stop talking about it and move on before I get weepy!
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!
7.17 “Gilmore Girls Only”
Mia’s getting married! Remember Mia, Lorelai’s surrogate mom and Rory’s surrogate grandma when they first moved to the Independence Inn? (And who was apparently played by two different actresses, I only NOW realized. They did a very good job casting Mia 2.0). Lorelai’s looking forward to her road trip for the wedding, but first she’s she’s gonna take Rory on a guilt trip for not joining her. Rory’s, of course, swamped with the end of her undergraduate career and preparing for upcoming interviews, and she doesn’t feel like she can leave Logan behind, as he’s obviously going through something. He’s still acting like a childish idiot, but she wants to support him anyway.
But then later as she’s at his apartment, he’s still behaving like the negligent party boy he once was when Mitchum shows up to give him a Come to Jesus talk. Rory dares to side with the dreaded father, telling Logan that she’s disappointed with the way he’s handled this crisis, and she and Logan get into a big fight. She decides to go on the road trip with Lorelai, and when Emily – who’s going nuts, still dealing with a maddening post-heart attack Richard – hears about it, she demands to come, too. She intends to go to a spa while the girls are at the wedding, and despite Lorelai’s grumbling, the road trip is on!
It’s about what you’d expect – Emily being imperious, Lorelai being pouty, Rory playing peacekeeper – but a little nicer and lighter than that sounds. Rory tells Lorelai that she wants to make sure they all get plenty of quality time in, since she’ll be graduating soon (and probably moving, although Lorelai’s barely able to hear that, tirelessly trying to convince Rory to take a job in Boston, NY or Hartford, any place close to home), and she wants to make sure her mom and grandma will still get along once she’s out of the picture.
And they get more quality time than they bargained for, because when Mia hears that Emily’s in town, she insists that she come to the wedding, as well. Emily isn’t quite rude at the wedding, but she’s certainly chilly – and it doesn’t help when some idiot former co-worker of Lorelai’s says, right in front of Emily, “Mia was like a mother to you!” – but Mia, sweet thing, isn’t at all offended, and she tells Lorelai something Lorelai really needs to hear: “Seeing me with you must bring back very painful memories. Imagine how difficult it must have been for your mother to lose you.” And she tells Lorelai about the time Emily came to see Mia and asked for pictures of Lorelai and Rory from when they were separated. Lorelai is surprised and touched to hear this.
And suddenly, Logan’s at the wedding! He flew in to see Rory and apologize for his behavior, but Rory isn’t interested in his wedding-crashing apology. “Wow, I can’t believe you’re still doing this. This is so last year’s Logan. You think you can just fly anywhere I am and overwhelm me by just showing up. I’m just not impressed anymore by your grand gestures.” Go Rory! But Logan sticks around long enough for her to soften, especially when he gives a legitimately great apology. And then he tells her:
Logan: “When the whole deal fell apart, I knew I was in so much trouble. I just totally lost it. I couldn’t face anything. I had so much invested in it in every way that, when it all collapsed, it was like I fell into this hole I couldn’t pull myself out of. And I also realized that my dad was right. He had every reason to be pissed at me. I mean, I would have fired me for what I did. So, I decided the only way to fix this is to not be my dad’s employee anymore.
I went to him, and I just said – I was calm, apologetic, no shouting, no threats. I just said I didn’t want to be a pawn in whatever game he had in mind for me. I am officially not working for the Huntzberger group anymore…
It felt great finally standing up to my dad. He tried to put up this cool, detached front, you know, but I think I actually saw steam coming out of his ears. Basically, he told me to hit the road…The thing is, even though he was mad, I swear I saw the slightest glimmer of pride in his eyes, you know, just for a second. I mean, no one walks out on Mitchum Huntzberger.”
And then Rory has to admit that she’s proud of him, too, and they make up cutely.
As Emily and Mia look out the window at Logan and Rory, they share a lovely conversation about how wonderful, strong and grown-up Rory is, and Emily’s truly kind to Mia for the first time. Lorelai overhears and smiles. Then the girls head back to the hotel room, and when Rory makes a vending machine run, Lorelai tells Emily the following, something that’s long overdue:
Lorelai: “I bought her a suit [for interviews]. It was so fun. It was weird, you know, but um, we found something really great, and it just felt like a rite of passage…Made me imagine, you know, what it’s gonna be like after she leaves. It’s gonna be hard to be without her…
What I mean to say is, Mom, I know that it was hard for you.”
She then invites Emily to stay and watch The Pursuit of Happyness with them, and Emily admits to finding Will Smith attractive. (Such good taste in men!) The episode ends with those Gilmore gals a little closer than they’ve ever been before.
Meanwhile, back in Stars Hollow, Zack and Lane invite Luke over for dinner in order to ask him to be a godfather to the twins. They have a nice meal, and he grudgingly agrees, and then the next day Zack (still working at the diner in Lane’s absence) makes it clear that he’s sort of needing Luke to be a godfather to him, too. His own dad’s MIA, and he doesn’t have anyone to ask about how to be a father. Luke’s pretty Luke about it, but nicer than you might expect – especially when Zack gets the call that Lane’s gone into labor, and he starts to panic. Luke tells him “Dad mode doesn’t have to kick in right now,” meaning that he’ll take care of everything, and he closes down the diner in a heartbeat to drive Zack to the hospital. Aww.
How many times do I have to drink?
10.
How many cups of coffee do the Gilmore girls drink?
3.
Flirtation quota
When Rory finally forgives Logan, they’re pretty cute together.
Best/most dated pop culture reference
Richard’s now taken to wearing velour track suits around the house, to Emily’s chagrin, and Lorelai cracks me up by saying, “Hi, Dad. Nice threads! Having lunch with Tony Soprano?”
Sookie’s best dish of the episode/Michel madness
Nope.
Lorelai’s craziest outfit
God. WTF with this dress she wears to Mia’s wedding? It’s Halloween-colored argyle rayon and clingy in all the wrong places. And with black suede knee-high boots? Totally inappropriate for a daytime wedding, or also for literally anything ever:
Outfit MVP
I love this Mary Tyler Moore outfit Rory’s rocking here:
Kirk insanity
He misses Lane’s service at the diner, and keeps giving Zack a really hard time for not doing everything the way Lane used to do.
Best Gilmore Gal witticism
Emily, about Richard: “And he’s getting to be a serious pain in the you-know-what.”
Lorelai: “The nose? The ear?”
Emily: “Would it give you that much pleasure to hear me say ‘ass’?”
Lorelai, gleefully: “I wasn’t sure, but, yes, it did.”
Random observation
Slowly but surely, we’re seeing old wounds start to heal in this final season. It’s subtle but hugely important, and I admire the writers for how they handle the Lorelai and Emily dynamic in these waning episodes.
7.18 “Hay Bale Maze”
It’s Spring Fling time in Stars Hollow, and everyone’s excited about the festival – until they learn that Taylor allocated the entire budget into one enormous, town-wide, titular hay bale maze. Rory’s arrived for the festivities, and she’s brought Logan along, to Lorelai’s not-quite-enthusiasm. He’s lost some ground with Lorelai since her approval of him when Richard was in the hospital, mainly because he lost millions of dollars then went to Vegas to gamble a bunch more, then quit his job and moved in with Rory. (Oh yeah, he lives with Rory now! You can imagine how happy that makes Paris.) He’s now writing in an idea book and talking a lot of big, vague idea talk, none of which impresses Lorelai very much, especially when he makes a crack about 401k’s not being that important. But they run into each other in the kitchen late at night and have a great talk, and Logan says all of the right things:
Logan: “I want you to know I’m not a gambler.”
Lorelai: “Okay.”
Logan: “Look, I know that Rory tells you stuff, and you know all these things about me, like I know you know I went to Vegas and all that, and I just I want you to know that’s not who I am. I don’t want you to be worried.”
Lorelai: “Well… I am worried. I’m a mom. That’s what we do.”
Logan: “Okay, well, what exactly are you worried about?”
Lorelai: “Okay. I’m worried that you’re not worried enough. You take things lightly. This whole ‘you got to surf the waves’ attitude. ‘Cowabunga, dude.’ I mean, you just lost millions of dollars.
Logan: “I know. I know I did, believe me. And I don’t feel ‘Cowabunga, dude’ inside. Believe me, I know I made a big mistake.”
Lorelai: “You do?”
Logan: “Yeah. But I don’t want to act like that in front of you. I mean, for one thing, the whole self-flagellation thing, it’s kind of embarrassing, and I just I want you to think well of me.”
Lorelai: “All right, well… it’s good for me to know. It’s good for me to know that you know you made a mistake.”
Logan: “I made a mistake. I messed up. I really messed up.”
Lorelai: “Okay. I think 401k’s are important. I think responsibility and paying your bills and dealing with reality is important.”
Logan: “Ah well, I’m beginning to learn about reality. I grew up with a lot of privilege.”
Lorelai: “Right, you had that whole silver-spoon-in-the-mouth thing, and that’s not how I raised Rory.”
Logan: “I know that.”
Lorelai: “This was not a silver spoon household. This was Spork City all the way.”
Logan: “I get that, and I respect that because I just spat out a whole place setting of sterling silver Royal Danish. I left my dad’s company; I left that world because I have my own values.”
Lorelai: “I understand that.”
Logan: “I thought you would, because that’s what you did. You left the world of privilege to do things your way.”
Lorelai: “I guess I never thought of it that way.”
Logan: “And you did it when you were younger and had a baby to take care of. It was really impressive.”
Lorelai: “I don’t need you to be impressed by me. I just need you to know it wasn’t easy.”
Logan: “I know that.”
Lorelai: “I didn’t get anything like ‘boom,’ you know? I worked hard for everything I got.”
Logan: “I want to work. I’m ready to work. And I want to work hard.”
Lorelai: “All right, then.”
Logan: “All right, then.”
Logan’s honesty, and his genuine good nature, seem to do the trick, and he’s back in Lorelai’s good graces:
Lorelai: “Since we’re up, do you think we should have some pie?”
Logan: “Yeah.”
Lorelai: “Really?”
Logan: “Yeah.”
Lorelai: “You think we should have some vanilla ice cream on it?”
Logan: “That’s my favorite. I love vanilla ice cream.”
Meanwhile, Rory’s had her first job interview, with the Providence Journal-Bulletin. Naturally, the interview goes GREAT, but Rory frets all day, staring at her phone, waiting to hear back. Once she finally hears that she got the job, she continues to fret, because now she doesn’t know if she should take it or not. It’s one of the best job offers she could hope to get, but she wants to hold out for the Reston Fellowship. She makes one of her patented pro-con lists, and then Logan tells her not to factor him in. He tells her she should make the decision based on what she wants to do, and then he’ll factor her in. “You want to live in Providence, maybe I’ll come live in Providence.” DAMN, that Logan is winning some ladies over this week. This lady included. Rory decides to hold out for Reston, and turns down the job.
April’s visiting on her Spring Break, and as usual, Luke’s over the moon to have her there. April and Lorelai greet each other so sweetly and warmly at the town meeting, and then Lorelai and Luke have a polite, awkward exchange, and the distance seems to trouble Lorelai. Later, as she’s wandering the hay bale maze – and wouldn’t you know it, but everyone realizes they kind of love the maze – she runs into Luke, and then they have a great conversation that needs to be transcribed at length (two of those this week!):
Lorelai: “Luke.”
Luke: “Yeah.”
Lorelai: “I’m sorry.”
Luke: “Yeah, I’m… I’m sorry, too.”
Lorelai: “No, no, let me go first.”
Luke: “Okay.”
Lorelai: “I messed up. That night I went to Christopher – I’m sorry.”
Luke: “Yeah.”
Lorelai: “I mean, I never admitted it to you that it was wrong what I did, and it was, and I’m really sorry.”
Luke: “Okay. Thanks.”
Lorelai: “I don’t know why I didn’t say this before.”
Luke: “You know, I’m sorry, too, ’cause… I don’t know, it’s just now that I’ve had April, I’ve learned a lot, and I was crazy to think that I had to fix everything in my relationship with April before I could really be with you. And that’s just not how you fix things. I mean, things just don’t stand still. They’re always changing.”
Lorelai: “Yeah.”
Luke: “I guess I was compartmentalizing? If that’s what you call it. I mean I should have opened my compartments. I should have gotten your help.”
Lorelai: “I wanted to help.”
Luke: “I know. And I’m sorry. And I’m sorry, also, because I think I kind of used April to push you away.”
Lorelai: “You did, huh?”
Luke: “Yeah, I think so. I was afraid, and… I’m so sorry.”
Lorelai: “It’s really okay.”
Luke: “I’m glad.”Lorelai: “Me too.”
GAH. Honest, mature, open, accounting for their own actions while forgiving each other for their mistakes…these two have grown up! It’s just killing me that it took them so long. Afterward, they both look…bittersweet, I think. The whole scene is just beautiful and bittersweet.
One last thing – we don’t get to meet the babies yet, but Rory and Zack talk excitedly about Kwan and Steve. Kwan and Steve! Those are the best names for twins.
How many times do I have to drink?
12.
How many cups of coffee do the Gilmore girls drink?
2.
Flirtation quota
Rory’s showing Logan around Stars Hollow for the first time (how is that possible?), and he’s so in love with the town that made Rory Gilmore. They’re just as swoony as ever here.
With Luke and Lorelai, it’s hard to call their exchange flirty, exactly. It’s too fraught with emotion and regret – but there’s undeniably love there. A lot of love.
Best/most dated pop culture reference
Logan, as Rory teases him for putting his shirt on to go to the kitchen for some water in the middle of the night: “What if your mom’s out there? I don’t want her thinking I’m David Hasselhoff or something.” This is as good a time as any to mention that Logan looks good without a shirt. Better than Hasselhoff.
Sookie’s best dish of the episode
Since Taylor blew the budget, Sookie ends up making all of the usual Spring Fling booth treats at the Dragonfly: hot dogs, funnel cakes, salty nuts. I bet that’s the fanciest funnel cake EVER.
Lorelai’s craziest outfit
Nope.
Outfit MVP
Perfect Spring Fling dress!
Kirk insanity
I’m not even going to explain this one. I’m just gonna let you absorb it.
Michel madness
He loathes the Spring Fling, and is grouchier than ever. So much so that he and Sookie end up in a slap fight, of all things.
Best Gilmore Gal witticism
Lorelai points out the guest towels to Logan and Rory, and Rory says: “Oh, I didn’t know we had guest towels!” Lorelai: “Of course. ‘Guest towels.’ A fancy way of saying ‘towels that are clean.'”
Random observation
Everyone is growing up on this show! Logan, Rory, Lorelai, Luke, Emily – everyone has at least one moment of healing growth in these two episodes. It’s lovely to watch.
That’s it for this week! Next Wednesday morning the great Mandy J will sub for our penultimate Rewatch Project post, and she’ll be covering “It’s Just Like Riding A Bike” and “Lorelai? Lorelai?”
And I leave you with a question, dear FYA readers: I think Luke and Lorelai’s apologies go a long way toward healing my anger and hurt for the way they both behaved in Season 6. Hearing them both apologize so plainly for exactly what they did wrong almost feels like the writers are apologizing to us, the audience. Am I alone here? Or are you guys still mad?
