[8.6/10] I liked pretty much every part of this one, even the portions I was mildly dreading, which is no small feat. Let’s take things in order from least-liked to most-liked.
This is the most tolerable that the Lane-Zach relationship has been. Zach is still a complete dolt, which makes him less-than-ideal for Lane my eyes, but for once he actually seems nice and well-meaning instead of a little self-centered and rude. There’s something interesting about the contrast of Rory meeting up with a boy and going to a lavish shindig, while Lane and Zach have their date at home, doing the same thing they did the night before, except with the magical imprimatur of the date. Gilmore Girls is a strikingly class conscious show in a television landscape that tends to elide or flatten those distinctions, and it’s interesting to see the juxtaposition.
At the same time, I like that the show mostly plays their date for goofy sweetness. Brian being the (mostly limp) third wheel is amusing, and the fact that Lane and Zach have their first kiss while Zach has Brian in a fireman’s carry is the sort of off-kilter start to the romance that gives the whole thing some charm.
Speaking of which, this is also the most I’ve liked Logan since he entered the show’s orbit, which granted, this is only his third appearance, but considering how visceral my dislike for his radiating douchiness was in the prior two, how pleasant he was here was a nice surprise. I think the difference is two-fold. One, he’s not mean or condescending to anyone here. He needles Rory a bit, but it’s more out of a sense of playfulness and the sort of respect that says he thinks that she’s strong enough to take it.
You see that in the set piece of the Life-or-Death club. There’s a Gatsby-esque strangeness to the whole shebang that is well-realized, between the all-white safari routine, E-less word games (look out Homer Simpson’s typewriter!), and the black tie paintball and polo affair. Having Rory do her darndest to wear out the shoe leather getting the details of the story, and having Logan guide her through that world, albeit in a somewhat elliptical fashion, creates a nice atmosphere to where you can see the two of them clicking in a way that hasn’t been present in the show previously.
Which leads me to the second thing I liked about Logan here -- that he pushed Rory a bit. I don’t know if I necessarily agree with his hypothesis about Rory being too timid, but there is a sense that part of why she fell back into a relationship with Dean is that Dean is unchallenging. She’s groping for the good ol’ days, and the boyfriend who was often blandly cheering her on.
It’s brief, but there’s something encouraging about Logan, by contrast, trying to broaden Rory’s horizons by encouraging her to take some risks, to be a part of the action rather than just an observer, and with the smarts to cite precedent for why she should do it to achieve her dreams. The kid’s still a little too self-satisfied, but he’s far more charming here than he’s been before, and using him as a means to develop Rory a bit as a character is a promising avenue.
In the mean time, Richard and Emily are trying to develop Luke, and my god, I loved every minute of it. Seeing Luke’s adventures with the Gilmores was just utterly delightful from start to finish, because of the reactions he got from everyone. Lorelai’s apocalyptic warnings, Emily’s passive aggressive digs, and Richard’s life-controlling domination were all hilarious elements to bounce off Luke’s generally amiable disposition.
There was so much great comedy and so many great character moments. For one thing, Lorelai’s utter exasperation and attempts to get herself and Luke out of each of her parents’ traps is amusing in that wound-up Lorelai way. The back and forth between her and Luke throughout it all is as adorable as ever.
For another, Luke giving Emily the benefit of the doubt, only to see her keep a smile the whole time but subtly undermine and undercut everything Luke does and is becomes the sort of iron fist in the velvet glove hilarity and cuttingness that only Emily Gilmore can master. In an equal and opposite way, I cracked up at how Richard effortless inserted himself into Luke’s world and started trying to immediately remake him. The elder Gilmores were each true to form, and it brought the comedy every second.
But a big part of what makes it work is bouncing them off kindly ol’ Luke. As we see in his interactions with Lorelai, Luke is such a pliable, people-pleasing guy that his efforts to make a good impression with his girlfriend’s parents, to be polite and agreeable, turns him into a sponge for their digs and tsk tsks, and an unwitting victim of their plans to transform him into someone who can be lent enough respectability to brought around the club, at least on holidays.
Which leads to the funniest scene in the whole episode, when Richard and Emily compare notes. It’s such an amusing clash, with Emily (semi-endearingly) declaring that Luke’s not good enough for Lorelai, and having the same two-faced condemnation after a polite dinner that she had for Jess. And the reciprocal treatment from Richard, who’s no more enamored with this “hirstute lout” than Emily is, but ready willing and able to prop up this “dupe” into something they can live with as a form of “thinking ahead” is amusing pragmatic if narrow-minded. The elder Gilmores are such clearly-drawn characters in the same way Luke is, and seeing the natural clashes (which are subtle, since everyone’s trying so hard to be nice, at least on the surface) is utterly perfect.
Overall, it’s a hell of an episode with no real drawbacks, on that finds a nice note for Lane’s crush, portends interesting directions to go with Rory, and brings the Gilmores together with Luke in a way that had me in stitches from start to finish.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-12-09T05:21:31Z
[8.6/10] I liked pretty much every part of this one, even the portions I was mildly dreading, which is no small feat. Let’s take things in order from least-liked to most-liked.
This is the most tolerable that the Lane-Zach relationship has been. Zach is still a complete dolt, which makes him less-than-ideal for Lane my eyes, but for once he actually seems nice and well-meaning instead of a little self-centered and rude. There’s something interesting about the contrast of Rory meeting up with a boy and going to a lavish shindig, while Lane and Zach have their date at home, doing the same thing they did the night before, except with the magical imprimatur of the date. Gilmore Girls is a strikingly class conscious show in a television landscape that tends to elide or flatten those distinctions, and it’s interesting to see the juxtaposition.
At the same time, I like that the show mostly plays their date for goofy sweetness. Brian being the (mostly limp) third wheel is amusing, and the fact that Lane and Zach have their first kiss while Zach has Brian in a fireman’s carry is the sort of off-kilter start to the romance that gives the whole thing some charm.
Speaking of which, this is also the most I’ve liked Logan since he entered the show’s orbit, which granted, this is only his third appearance, but considering how visceral my dislike for his radiating douchiness was in the prior two, how pleasant he was here was a nice surprise. I think the difference is two-fold. One, he’s not mean or condescending to anyone here. He needles Rory a bit, but it’s more out of a sense of playfulness and the sort of respect that says he thinks that she’s strong enough to take it.
You see that in the set piece of the Life-or-Death club. There’s a Gatsby-esque strangeness to the whole shebang that is well-realized, between the all-white safari routine, E-less word games (look out Homer Simpson’s typewriter!), and the black tie paintball and polo affair. Having Rory do her darndest to wear out the shoe leather getting the details of the story, and having Logan guide her through that world, albeit in a somewhat elliptical fashion, creates a nice atmosphere to where you can see the two of them clicking in a way that hasn’t been present in the show previously.
Which leads me to the second thing I liked about Logan here -- that he pushed Rory a bit. I don’t know if I necessarily agree with his hypothesis about Rory being too timid, but there is a sense that part of why she fell back into a relationship with Dean is that Dean is unchallenging. She’s groping for the good ol’ days, and the boyfriend who was often blandly cheering her on.
It’s brief, but there’s something encouraging about Logan, by contrast, trying to broaden Rory’s horizons by encouraging her to take some risks, to be a part of the action rather than just an observer, and with the smarts to cite precedent for why she should do it to achieve her dreams. The kid’s still a little too self-satisfied, but he’s far more charming here than he’s been before, and using him as a means to develop Rory a bit as a character is a promising avenue.
In the mean time, Richard and Emily are trying to develop Luke, and my god, I loved every minute of it. Seeing Luke’s adventures with the Gilmores was just utterly delightful from start to finish, because of the reactions he got from everyone. Lorelai’s apocalyptic warnings, Emily’s passive aggressive digs, and Richard’s life-controlling domination were all hilarious elements to bounce off Luke’s generally amiable disposition.
There was so much great comedy and so many great character moments. For one thing, Lorelai’s utter exasperation and attempts to get herself and Luke out of each of her parents’ traps is amusing in that wound-up Lorelai way. The back and forth between her and Luke throughout it all is as adorable as ever.
For another, Luke giving Emily the benefit of the doubt, only to see her keep a smile the whole time but subtly undermine and undercut everything Luke does and is becomes the sort of iron fist in the velvet glove hilarity and cuttingness that only Emily Gilmore can master. In an equal and opposite way, I cracked up at how Richard effortless inserted himself into Luke’s world and started trying to immediately remake him. The elder Gilmores were each true to form, and it brought the comedy every second.
But a big part of what makes it work is bouncing them off kindly ol’ Luke. As we see in his interactions with Lorelai, Luke is such a pliable, people-pleasing guy that his efforts to make a good impression with his girlfriend’s parents, to be polite and agreeable, turns him into a sponge for their digs and tsk tsks, and an unwitting victim of their plans to transform him into someone who can be lent enough respectability to brought around the club, at least on holidays.
Which leads to the funniest scene in the whole episode, when Richard and Emily compare notes. It’s such an amusing clash, with Emily (semi-endearingly) declaring that Luke’s not good enough for Lorelai, and having the same two-faced condemnation after a polite dinner that she had for Jess. And the reciprocal treatment from Richard, who’s no more enamored with this “hirstute lout” than Emily is, but ready willing and able to prop up this “dupe” into something they can live with as a form of “thinking ahead” is amusing pragmatic if narrow-minded. The elder Gilmores are such clearly-drawn characters in the same way Luke is, and seeing the natural clashes (which are subtle, since everyone’s trying so hard to be nice, at least on the surface) is utterly perfect.
Overall, it’s a hell of an episode with no real drawbacks, on that finds a nice note for Lane’s crush, portends interesting directions to go with Rory, and brings the Gilmores together with Luke in a way that had me in stitches from start to finish.