Gilmore Girls: The Breakup, Part 2
January 26, 2025 7:39 AM - Season 1, Episode 17 - Subscribe
Rory goes to a Chilton party. Lorelai goes to Max's place. Lane goes for a guy her parents would approve of.
We pick up right where we left off: Rory coming home from her date with news of her breakup. And she left the meatball in the car, dammit all. Lorelai's trying to help, but Rory isn't giving up any details about what went down. She's also simply refusing to wallow, over Lorelai's strong objections, insisting instead on waking up at six a.m. to complete a list of long-overdue household tasks.
The pair climb through an alleyway* to get to Luke's so as to avoid passing any number of places where Dean might likely be. At the diner, Lorelai attempts to shield Rory from the Stars Hollow rumor mill kicking into overdrive - intercepting Miss Patty's well-wishing and trying to redirect Luke's righteous anger towards making chocolate chip pancakes - but Kirk slips through to Rory and everything's out in the open. Luke spots Dean walking towards the diner and rushes out into the street to stop him, getting in a ludicrous slap-fight with him that Rory and Lorelai have to break up themselves.
Still refusing to wallow, Rory decides to go to Madeline's party (established in the previous episode), Lorelai suggests that she bring Lane with her at least, and we skip whatever scene with Mrs. Kim could plausibly lead to Lane getting to go out to a Chilton bacchanal looking as amazing as she does. The party is a total scene, with great music, French sodas, and a location seemingly borrowed from Eyes Wide Shut.
Lorelai borrows Sookie's car to drive up to Hartford for a booty-call with Max. She's fine with that being a one-off thing, and he wants them to talk and talk and talk about figuring out how to make it a relationship, at least until all the talking has turned it into a backdoor relationship by default so that she's as emotionally invested as he is.
Paris is there acting as a shepherd around this massive house, moping about how everyone else gets a boyfriend, and constantly checking the time because her mom won't let her leave until 10:30 (when she basically sprints out of there.) Madeline and Louise are off hooking up with two randos in the poolhouse. Tristan and Summer have an obnoxious break-up in the middle of the party, and Rory finds him at the piano to commiserate, but of course he kisses her, she tries to reciprocate for a second but starts (finally) processing her own breakup, and leaves to find Lane and get out of there.
Because Lane found herself a boy! A very lovely-seeming Chilton boy named Henry who is polite, Korean, a future doctor, attends church, and otherwise is everything Mrs. Kim wants in a match for her daughter. Lane is both ecstatic and horrified and it's adorable. Rory tears Lane away, and she gives Henry her number despite having met her own mother before, and the two return home.
Back at the house, Lorelai finds Rory crying and announcing that she's "Ready to wallow now."
*I love the cat in this shot, just because this is the Warner Bros. backlot and that means that they had to call in an animal wrangler and do any number of other things in order to have the cat in this shot. And it doesn't do anything! The shot starts on it, and Rory & Lorelai wordlessly react to seeing it, but it's not in the script! Somebody (presumably ASP or episode director Nick Marck) insisted on this cat, and very possibly had to fight for it. I think there's dialog in this scene but I'm not sure because I can't stop thinking about that cat.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman in Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack:
"What Do I Do?" - Sam Phillips
"Where It's At" - Beck (remember, Lane appreciates Beck on a deeper level than other girls)
"Ms. Jackson" - Outkast
"Everyday I Write the Book" - Elvis Costello
"From Red to Blue" - Billy Bragg
"The Crystal Lake" - Grandaddy
Random Guest Star Watch: Nobody, far as I can tell. You'd expect at least one of the partiegoers to have been someone in their pre-stardom phase or something, but nope!
We pick up right where we left off: Rory coming home from her date with news of her breakup. And she left the meatball in the car, dammit all. Lorelai's trying to help, but Rory isn't giving up any details about what went down. She's also simply refusing to wallow, over Lorelai's strong objections, insisting instead on waking up at six a.m. to complete a list of long-overdue household tasks.
The pair climb through an alleyway* to get to Luke's so as to avoid passing any number of places where Dean might likely be. At the diner, Lorelai attempts to shield Rory from the Stars Hollow rumor mill kicking into overdrive - intercepting Miss Patty's well-wishing and trying to redirect Luke's righteous anger towards making chocolate chip pancakes - but Kirk slips through to Rory and everything's out in the open. Luke spots Dean walking towards the diner and rushes out into the street to stop him, getting in a ludicrous slap-fight with him that Rory and Lorelai have to break up themselves.
Still refusing to wallow, Rory decides to go to Madeline's party (established in the previous episode), Lorelai suggests that she bring Lane with her at least, and we skip whatever scene with Mrs. Kim could plausibly lead to Lane getting to go out to a Chilton bacchanal looking as amazing as she does. The party is a total scene, with great music, French sodas, and a location seemingly borrowed from Eyes Wide Shut.
Lorelai borrows Sookie's car to drive up to Hartford for a booty-call with Max. She's fine with that being a one-off thing, and he wants them to talk and talk and talk about figuring out how to make it a relationship, at least until all the talking has turned it into a backdoor relationship by default so that she's as emotionally invested as he is.
Paris is there acting as a shepherd around this massive house, moping about how everyone else gets a boyfriend, and constantly checking the time because her mom won't let her leave until 10:30 (when she basically sprints out of there.) Madeline and Louise are off hooking up with two randos in the poolhouse. Tristan and Summer have an obnoxious break-up in the middle of the party, and Rory finds him at the piano to commiserate, but of course he kisses her, she tries to reciprocate for a second but starts (finally) processing her own breakup, and leaves to find Lane and get out of there.
Because Lane found herself a boy! A very lovely-seeming Chilton boy named Henry who is polite, Korean, a future doctor, attends church, and otherwise is everything Mrs. Kim wants in a match for her daughter. Lane is both ecstatic and horrified and it's adorable. Rory tears Lane away, and she gives Henry her number despite having met her own mother before, and the two return home.
Back at the house, Lorelai finds Rory crying and announcing that she's "Ready to wallow now."
*I love the cat in this shot, just because this is the Warner Bros. backlot and that means that they had to call in an animal wrangler and do any number of other things in order to have the cat in this shot. And it doesn't do anything! The shot starts on it, and Rory & Lorelai wordlessly react to seeing it, but it's not in the script! Somebody (presumably ASP or episode director Nick Marck) insisted on this cat, and very possibly had to fight for it. I think there's dialog in this scene but I'm not sure because I can't stop thinking about that cat.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman in Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack:
"What Do I Do?" - Sam Phillips
"Where It's At" - Beck (remember, Lane appreciates Beck on a deeper level than other girls)
"Ms. Jackson" - Outkast
"Everyday I Write the Book" - Elvis Costello
"From Red to Blue" - Billy Bragg
"The Crystal Lake" - Grandaddy
Random Guest Star Watch: Nobody, far as I can tell. You'd expect at least one of the partiegoers to have been someone in their pre-stardom phase or something, but nope!
Alexis Bledel's tiny "I'm ready to wallow now" is such a lovely piece of acting. She is often great, but it's such a reminder of how young Rory actually is.
Tristan is always awful and he's written with so little appeal. Chad Michael Murray has nothing to work with!
Paris is fun here, definitely.
posted by edencosmic at 2:34 PM on January 26 [1 favorite]
Tristan is always awful and he's written with so little appeal. Chad Michael Murray has nothing to work with!
Paris is fun here, definitely.
posted by edencosmic at 2:34 PM on January 26 [1 favorite]
You're going the Good Work in chronicling Gilmore Girls.
That said, I despise the show.
Carry on!
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:53 PM on January 26 [1 favorite]
That said, I despise the show.
Carry on!
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:53 PM on January 26 [1 favorite]
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And of course Paris continues to be great. Tristan sucks, of course, and I genuinely don't know if he reads more as a predator now than he did then, or if he did then too and they just didn't realize it for a while, or if this was all intentional, or what. But he sucks and not in a "fun to hate" kind of way. More of a "No Rory don't be alone in a room with him!" kind of way. Summer's totally blasé shittiness is kind of delightful, though.
posted by Navelgazer at 7:53 AM on January 26