1x19 Emily in Wonderland

[6.6/10] Wasn’t a big fan of this one. Far and away the best part of it was, as usual, the Emily/Lorelai material. For one thing, I love how Emily actually starts to enjoy Stars Hollow a bit. Her having a perfect rapport with Lane’s mom (which makes a lot of sense) and an amiable conversation with Michel are great touches, and Rory’s excitement to show her grandmother around her home and make her feel more a part of it is a nice approach.

But things take a turn when Emily sees the “potter house” where Rory and Lorelai lived when Rory was little. It’s a great performance from Kelly Bishop in showing how gobsmakced she is to see the conditions her daughter and granddaughter were living in. And it’s followed up with a great scene between her and Lorelai where Emily is so hurt by the fact that Lorelai would choose to live some place that Emily thinks is a squalid hellhole just to be away from her, and Lorelai tries to explain to her mom what she was going through. It’s another brick in the wall of the great emotional and character work between the two of them.

But the rest of the episode is a big “eh.” I like the germ of the idea behind the Lorelai/Luke/Rachel business here. The budding friendship between Rachel and Lorelai feels forced, but I like the idea that Lorelai’s worried she’s not an honest broker and so goes a little overboard to support Rachel despite Luke’s very reasonable concerns in order to assure herself that she’s not trying to hang onto Luke at Rachel’s expense.

Still, the scenes between her and Rachel feel awkward, and not in the way intended. And the show unsubtly hints around Luke and Lorelai’s attraction in a way that doesn’t really work for me. I’m not big on love triangles to begin with, but there’s been little compelling about Rachel’s presence here, and her whole return and role in the show feels pretty convenient.

That extends to her clueing Lorelai in to a potential inn she could refurbish in something that just screams “professional goal for a series arc!” I like Lorelai having goals and ambitions apart from her family, but I could just see the seams on this one show a bit too much.

I also wasn’t crazy about the other stuff on the margins. I hated Rune the first time around, so while it was fun to see Michel (who was in rare form here) dress him down, I’m not exactly excited about the prospect of his continuing presence. And by the same token, while I like the advent of Lane getting a potential beau, her agonizing over his phone calls and the possibility of him meeting her parents ruining their relationship felt like wheel-spinning.

Overall, not one of my favorites, but the Emily/Lorelai/Rory material is really strong and makes this one worth watching on the strength of that part alone.