1x18 The Third Lorelai

[8.8/10] I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again -- one of the things I love most about Gilmore Girls is the stories it tells about the relations between generations and the way they reflect on one another. Contrasting the dynamic between Emily and Lorelai with the one between Lorelai and Rory’s always reveals interesting things about how different the mother-daughter relationships are, but also the seeds of commonality between them.

True to its title, “The Third Lorelai” gives us another generation of Gilmore girl to contend with. Richard’s mom, Lorelai the first, is a noteworthy addition to the milieu, not just because she comes bearing old-fashioned criticisms and approvals (and an old-fashioned checkbook to boot), but because she’s essentially Emily’s Emily.

Lorelai takes great pleasure in that fact (to Rory’s amusing disapproval), and while I don’t take quite the same schadenfreude that Lorelai does, it’s very interesting to see Emily try to put out old gifts, dote to get her mother-in-law’s approval, and overall simply squirm in a way we rarely see from the dignified, well-mannered lady. Watching her bend over backward to try to please someone even snootier than her, who is, true to the Gilmore name, quick with a cutting remark, and end up eternally frustrated is a nice role reversal. (And Richard’s doting obliviousness to it all is a nice side dish.)

The better development, however, is when Lorelai I offers to give Rory the money to pay for Chilton/college/Europe/etc., which would short-circuit Richard and Emily’s role in supporting Rory’s schooling and which throws a gigantic monkey wrench into everyone’s plans and emotional states. Lorelai is initially overjoyed, while Emily is beside herself, and I just love how the episode plays that out.

Emily warns Lorelai that money is freedom, and Rory having that money means that she’ll be out the door, independent, no longer needing her mom or wanting her to come along on globe-trotting post-grad trips. Lorelai thinks it’s because Emily is being mean and controlling, and in a way she is, but not in the way she thinks. In a way, it’s Emily being incredibly honest about her fears, albeit in a roundabout way that involves projection.

When she tells Lorelai that Rory won’t need her if she has that money, she’s speaking of her own insecurities and pain from when Lorelai left her. If anyone would be sensitive to worrying about being cut out of her daughter’s life, it’s Emily. And what makes the episode’s conflict particularly interesting is that it’s another multigenerational thing that muddies the water. When Emily confesses to Richard her worry that Lorelai will never see them ever again if she isn’t bound to thanks to their loan, it calls to mind Richard’s admonition to his daughter that Emily didn’t get out of bed for a week after Lorelai left. Emily isn’t just worried about Lorelai losing Rory, she’s worried about losing Lorelai again, and it makes for a compelling, layered conflict.

Of course, Lorelai brushes her mom off but then, as usual, the warnings seep into her brain and are expressed in a way that’s true to who Lorelai is. Even if she pushes back against her mom and believes in her relationship with her daughter, Lorelai can’t help but look at those Europe posters on the wall and have a small but palpable concern that maybe Emily is right. This show is founded on the close relationship between Lorelai and Rory, and it’s understandable then that as much as Lorelai seems to understand the need for her daughter to leave the nest, she’d worry about anything that could change that relationship, and move it closer to the one she has with Emily.

Granted, Lorelai The First retracting the offer after Emily and Lorelai fight over it is a bit too convenient a way to elide the issue for my tastes, but the emotional part of the resolution -- Emily realizing what she’s possibly cost her daughter and granddaughter and wanting to make it right while Lorelai starts to understand where her mother is coming from and says that they’re good -- truly works. Anytime that these two women who are so often on different pages and want different things begin to comprehend and listen to one another, the show wrings great emotional material and character growth out of it.

Of course, Gilmore Girls is still a CW show, so it has to include more of the teen romance business that isn’t anywhere near as compelling, and the thing that holds this episode back from being rated higher. Tristan seems slightly more down to Earth during he and Rory’s talk about their kiss, and even takes Rory’s advice abouting dating Paris. There’s a lot of problems to begin with, like the fact that Rory would be so insensitive as to tell Tristan that Paris has a crush on him without asking her, but it doesn’t stop there.

While there’s some minor cuteness in Paris coming over to Rory’s house with date conversation notecards (cue Leslie Knope) and wanting to borrow clothes and lipstick, it devolves into the usual love triangle and melodramatic nonsense quickly. Of course Paris is walking on air after the date, only to be dashed when Tristan says they should just be friends, and angry when she realizes Rory put him up to it. The only thing that adds insult to injury is Tristan intimating that it didn’t work because he’s crushing on Rory.

Maybe I’m just an old fuddy duddy at this point, but I really couldn’t care less. We’re still in the post-Dean hangover mode, and I wish that Rory could just be herself for a little while without having to immediately shunt her over to another love interest. Paris taking her first steps into the social scene has promise, but draping it in the usual wallflower tropes and frenemy anger does nothing to advance the character or engage the audience. I know, I know. The show has to appeal to teens and that means dating and drama, but I just can’t be bothered to care.

Even so, it’s a small price to pay for getting to watch the consequences of Emily being caught in an intergenerational Lorelai sandwich. Seeing the more flustered, pleading, genuinely worried side of Emily is a treat, and watching Lorelai resist, reluctantly embrace, and then understand her mother’s concerns is even better. If this season so far is any indication, the teen drama elements will always be something to tolerate, but the stellar stories about different generations of women in this family pushing back on but ultimately making things work with one another is what makes it special.