2x05 Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy

[7.3/10] So let’s start with the smallest thing that happened in this episode and move from there.

I love love loved the scene between Rory and Max. I wasn’t expecting to see Max ever again, and I don’t know that I would have asked for it either, but their moment together puts the perfect button on the entire Max/Lorelai relationship. I think I’ve come around on Max, to where I appreciate him as a character even if I was never crazy about him as a love interest for Lorelai. His story about wanting to be a clown and his semi-canned answers to Rory’s questions are well-tuned and just endearing enough.

It’s a great job from Alexis Bledel and Scott Cohen showing the awkwardness of the situation and both sides professionalism and resolve to do it right nonetheless. It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. The moment where Rory turns off the tape recorder and tells him she really wanted him to be her stepdad, and that he wanted the same thing, is heart-rending in just the right way.

But what isn’t just right is Paris’s renewed antagonism at Rory. I know there’s a lot of Paris fans out there, but I have to admit, I’ve yet to really see the appeal. Her entire return to vindictiveness toward Rory seems ill-conceived, and it’s downright cruel of her to try to make Rory interviewer Max so soon after their engagement. It’s an ugly look, and it makes Paris more of a cartoon villain/mean girl, a characterization I don’t care for.

Still, I do like Rory’s determination through it. It’s a nice chance to show the character’s resolve and “kill ‘em with kindness” response to Paris’s insanity. It’s as good a look for Rory as it is a bad look for Paris.

Then, we get the much ballyhooed Jess, and I have to say that it’s only one episode, and I intend to keep an open mind about the character, but out of the gate, I’m not really impressed. While he gets credit for a family resemblance to Luke (though a bit rattier looking), at first blush he’s a pretty generic bad boy/rebel type, with some annoying responses to people and the usual tropes at play. He has some chemistry with Rory out of the box, which is a plus, but thus far, nothing in his first outing made me excited that we’re going to get more of him. (Surprising that he gets to be in the opening credits right away.)

That said, I like the effect he has on Luke. Being a parent seems like a real challenge for Luke, something outside his wheelhouse that he has no real experience with. That makes his shift from nonchalance and “give him space” to reading the riot act meaningful, and it portends interesting things as we not only get a bit of a glimpse at Luke’s old family life, but see him have to face the issues that will no doubt arise from him being a surrogate dad. (And man, I laughed like hell when he pushed Jess in a lake -- The Prince of Persuasia would be proud!)

It also works nicely as a source of conflict for him and Lorelai. I appreciate that Lorelai tries to help because she’s a parent and knows how challenging it can be, and it makes total sense that Luke would bristle at not only being told what he should be doing but feeling like his family is being attacked. It’s a natural conflict for the two of them, and while there’s low blows (Luke bringing up Lorelai’s teenage pregnancy and suggesting she just “got lucky” with Rory), it feels like they come from a place that makes sense from both characters. Their mini-feud and reconciliation is quite well done.

That said, Jess brings down the proceedings a bit. Lorelai catching him with a beer is a nice scene for her, because it shows her trying to relate to someone playing the rebel part she once did, and reveals what her third rail is (being accused of sleeping with Luke) that lets Lauren Graham play both the mom trying to be cool and the person who is very angry but trying to keep civil and mature. But it’s another bit of generic badboyism from Jess that really didn’t work for me.

Still, despite the unimpressive thud with which Jess lands in the series, and the reversion of Paris to one-dimensional antagonist, there’s a lot of interesting material here as the show exits the Max-related quartet that began the season. Luke as a parent, Lorelai as an advisor, and Rory staying dogged despite the forces working against her at The Franklin are all promising directions for the show to go as it enters the second season in earnest.