[6.1/10] Another episode where the characters feel off, and worse yet, the whole enterprise feels kind of aimless.
Think about how many threads are in this episode. You have Lorelai not wanting to set a date for her wedding. You have Luke flipping a bit over Lorelai’s getting chummy with the contractors. You have the ruse to make TJ think he’s a contractor. You have Lorelai’s lunches with Paris. You have Rory snooping for DAR gossip for Emily. You have her dealing with Yale wistfulness with Logan. And I’m sure there’s other stuff I’m forgetting.
It’s just too much, and the episode can’t settle or find a direction with all of that going on.
I like the core idea of some of these stories. The episode certainly trumps up the idea of Lorelai as a flighty person in relationships, where it really all comes down to Max, but I like the twist that rather than some poorly-established lack of commitment, the deal with her reluctance to set a date is wanting to make things right with Rory before she proceeds with that part of her life. It’s understandable, and a good beat for the character, along with her visible (if too heavily-underlined) distress when TJ talks about what to do with Rory’s room.
I also like the core thread of Rory’s main story, where she’s making a break from her old life as a college student and slipping into her new life. I still don’t buy that transition; I can see Rory being shaken by Mitchum’s declaration and her incident with the yacht, but eternal bookworm Rory would, as Logan predicted, be inexorably pulled back into the orbit of school. Nevertheless, I like that Rory seems well-integrated into her new life -- organizing trash pickups, chaperoning old folks’ dances, and having no qualms about eating breakfast with Logan on campus -- but that there’s a look on her face when she watches the new Yale freshmen or is inducted into the DAR that reveals something deeper inside her, feeling the pain of this shift.
The rest of the episode is a big hunk of blah. Again, TJ can fall into a pit and never come home, as his antics have gotten beyond tiresome in a short time. Paris is amusing enough, and her queries about what to wear post-coital are worth a laugh from her awkward over-analysis, but it’s an underfed subplot that doesn’t get enough time to do much of anything. And the misadventures of the DAR and the contractors are nothing to write home about.
Overall, this is an underwhelming episode with some good elements that aren’t fully fleshed out, and would be better served if the show had nixed some of the fluff in favor of committing to those strong points.
Edit: I can't believe I forgot about Lane's band, which was my favorite part of the episode! Just shows how overstuffed this one was. Suffice it to say, I like the hint we get that Hep Alien's tour has been a little rocky, but overall a good thing, and the prospect of Lane having saved enough money for them to record a CD is encouraging. More than anything, I just like the dynamic they have with the band right now, which feels truer to the spirit of the show than a lot things going on right now.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-01-04T19:56:29Z
[6.1/10] Another episode where the characters feel off, and worse yet, the whole enterprise feels kind of aimless.
Think about how many threads are in this episode. You have Lorelai not wanting to set a date for her wedding. You have Luke flipping a bit over Lorelai’s getting chummy with the contractors. You have the ruse to make TJ think he’s a contractor. You have Lorelai’s lunches with Paris. You have Rory snooping for DAR gossip for Emily. You have her dealing with Yale wistfulness with Logan. And I’m sure there’s other stuff I’m forgetting.
It’s just too much, and the episode can’t settle or find a direction with all of that going on.
I like the core idea of some of these stories. The episode certainly trumps up the idea of Lorelai as a flighty person in relationships, where it really all comes down to Max, but I like the twist that rather than some poorly-established lack of commitment, the deal with her reluctance to set a date is wanting to make things right with Rory before she proceeds with that part of her life. It’s understandable, and a good beat for the character, along with her visible (if too heavily-underlined) distress when TJ talks about what to do with Rory’s room.
I also like the core thread of Rory’s main story, where she’s making a break from her old life as a college student and slipping into her new life. I still don’t buy that transition; I can see Rory being shaken by Mitchum’s declaration and her incident with the yacht, but eternal bookworm Rory would, as Logan predicted, be inexorably pulled back into the orbit of school. Nevertheless, I like that Rory seems well-integrated into her new life -- organizing trash pickups, chaperoning old folks’ dances, and having no qualms about eating breakfast with Logan on campus -- but that there’s a look on her face when she watches the new Yale freshmen or is inducted into the DAR that reveals something deeper inside her, feeling the pain of this shift.
The rest of the episode is a big hunk of blah. Again, TJ can fall into a pit and never come home, as his antics have gotten beyond tiresome in a short time. Paris is amusing enough, and her queries about what to wear post-coital are worth a laugh from her awkward over-analysis, but it’s an underfed subplot that doesn’t get enough time to do much of anything. And the misadventures of the DAR and the contractors are nothing to write home about.
Overall, this is an underwhelming episode with some good elements that aren’t fully fleshed out, and would be better served if the show had nixed some of the fluff in favor of committing to those strong points.
Edit: I can't believe I forgot about Lane's band, which was my favorite part of the episode! Just shows how overstuffed this one was. Suffice it to say, I like the hint we get that Hep Alien's tour has been a little rocky, but overall a good thing, and the prospect of Lane having saved enough money for them to record a CD is encouraging. More than anything, I just like the dynamic they have with the band right now, which feels truer to the spirit of the show than a lot things going on right now.