Gilmore Girls: That Damn Donna Reed
January 25, 2025 6:07 AM - Season 1, Episode 14 - Subscribe

Rory watches Babette's kitten. Lorelai loses Rory's chick. Emily and Richard don't go to the Vineyard.

So from what I can tell, something like 90% of this show's cold opens are more or less entirely disconnected from the main story, and this one, in which Dean brings pizza over and the Gilmores introduce him to their tradition of mocking The Donna Reed Show, which Dean objects to because he thinks the idealized 1950s lifestyle seems "nice," looks for all appearances to be the epitome of this structure. But nope! This is the premise for our A-story!

The scene itself is one of the funniest of Season 1, with Rory & Lorelai's alternative dialogue, Lorelai's reaction to Dean's judgy-ass salad, and Dean realizing how unpopular his opinions are in this setting. It's also ironic, with its running joke about how "nothing happens" in Donna Reed episodes, since virtually nothing happens in this GIlmore GIrls episode.

Babette has a new kitten, Apricot, and Morey has a show at the Village Vanguard that night, so she asks Rory to housesit. Rory brings a baby chick (named Stella by Lorelai) home from Chilton for some vaguely school-related reason. Dean continues to be kind of a jackass about gender norms, so Rory decides to use her night on her own at Babette's to dress up like Donna Reed and cook Dean dinner. Then, I guess she kind of enjoys it, at least in a cosplay, "I chose to do this and it was fun" kinda way? If there's a moral here, it's very unclear.

Meanwhile, Lorelai convinces Luke to repaint the interior of the diner, even though that's what Taylor wants. They have a cute moment after closing while picking the colors, and then when she gets home, Lorelai can't find Stella. She calls Luke for help, and Luke makes a comment that implies he thought this was a booty-call. Luke and Dean run into one another outside, Lorelai and Rory come out, and Lorelai laughs at Rory's outfit.

Also, Emily and Richard aren't going to Martha's Vineyard because they didn't get their normal rental, but then when we check in on them at episode's end, they've secured a different rental with a better view because someone died.

Oh, and Lorelai admits to Emily that she "doesn't know" if she has feelings for Luke, which is what counts for momentous in this episode. Rory's dad Christopher shows up on his motorcycle at the end, since this is weirdly kind of part-one of a two-parter? (Painting Luke's will come into play next episode as well.) And Lorelai watches as Christopher and Rory get on the motorcycle and two very obvious stunt doubles drive it off to see the town. That's it.

In reality, the most notable thing that happens here is that Dean is actually given a personality trait, and it's a vaguely odious one. He says that he doesn't want or expect Rory to be Donna Reed, but he also says this immediately after pulling her to sit on his lap to patronizingly comfort her about forgetting the rolls, so it's a wash to say the least.

A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman in Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh

Soundtrack:
"Flower Girl from Bordeaux" - Esquivel (From what I can gather, this is the "weird CD" Rory borrows from Lane)
"Johnny Angel" - Shelley Fabares

Random Guest Star Watch: None as far as I could tell.
posted by Navelgazer (1 comment total)
 
I will forever question how Rory got that costume together so quickly. (She goes to borrow a CD from Lane but I would've rather if we had a scene where she raided Miss Patty's costume closet. But maybe that would've made it too obvious?)

But yeah, this is some "choice feminism" bullshit. I'm in favor of women choosing the lives they want, but the whole "tradwife" "movement" makes this feel weirder to me.
posted by edencosmic at 7:43 PM on January 25 [1 favorite]


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