Gilmore Girls: Emily in Wonderland
January 26, 2025 10:54 PM - Season 1, Episode 19 - Subscribe

Rory takes Emily on a tour of Stars Hollow. Lane gets a call from Henry. Rachel shows Lorelei a photo of an inn.

A bit of a low-key episode compared to some of the happenings recently. Rory suggests that Emily would enjoy Kim's Antiques, and so Emily comes out to Stars Hollow to make a day of it. At first reluctant to borrow/wear some of Lorelai's sneakers so as to be able to walk around town and get the true SH experience, she soon-enough finds herself having a great time. She gets along like a house on fire with both Mrs. Kim and Michel*, but when Rory shows her the pottery shed that was their first home after Lorelai ran away from home at 16, she balks and runs back to Hartford.

That seems like a momentary thing, though, as soon enough Emily is phoning up Rory to ask for her favorite color, flower, and boy band. Lorelai doesn't really have a clue what that's about (though it's telling that her assumption is that Emily is trying to bond with Rory, but you know, in a sinister way.) In reality, Emily has decorated Rory her own room at the Hartford house, a confusing gesture that even Lorelai recognizes as sweet after she gets over her WTF reaction to it.

But, heart-droppingly, Lorelai's initial worries weren't too far off the mark, and this was Emily's passive-aggressive way to get emotional revenge on her daughter for running away to "that pit" instead of staying at home, because "that's how much you hated us." The irony being that Rory showed her the pottery shed because she wanted to bring Emily into that part of her life and show her why those memories of her young life are still magical to her, and the old wounds are still too deep for that to seemingly ever be possible. So instead their bonding takes the form of an N*SYNC poster on the wall.

In the other plots, Lane intercepted an answering machine message from Henry before Mrs. Kim could hear it, listened to it ad nauseum, and destroyed it, and is now freaking out from over-thinking it. Rory talks her down. And Rachel shows Lorelai some pictures she's taken around the area, including one of the Dragonfly Inn, which is falling down now, but might be what she and Sookie are looking for in order to open their own place one day. Lorelai tries to talk Luke into having a little faith in Rachel lest his lack of faith drive her away, and maybe she gets through to him?

The final scene of the episode is artful, with Lorelai and Rory sitting in the grass admiring the Dragonfly, which may be decrepit, but which they know enough to appreciate for its possibilities.

*Though when speaking en français with Michel, she says that she and Richard go to Paris every Spring. Back in "That Damn Donna Reed," when Lorelai suggested that they go to Europe rather than Martha's Vineyard, they treated the idea of visiting Europe in the Spring as inconceivable. But Emily is a land of contrasts, honestly. While the crux of the episode is her inability to see eye-to-eye with Lorelai, her list of traits that she doesn't want in any shoes she might borrow shows a very good understanding of her daughter. And while she initially throws shade at the Charlie's Angels dishware, a few minutes later in Kim's she tells Rory that if she likes something, "then it's something special." Kelly Bishop's performance is great enough that I'm cool with Emily containing multitudes.

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

Soundtrack:
"Child Psychology" - Black Box Recorder

Random Guest Star Watch: None, though Max Perlich returns as Jackson's cousin Rune.
posted by Navelgazer (1 comment total)
 
I have so many questions about the shed. How long did they live there? Did they live there year-round? How did they not freeze in the winter?

Rory was naive to think Emily would be "yeah, awesome!" Emily had every right to be upset at the reminder of Lorelai running off.

As misguided and weird as it was, it was still sweet for Emily to give a Rory her own space.

I like Lorelai and Rachel's attempts at a friendship, although I think it's clear they don't really like each other. Or at least, are threatened by the other. Which is fair, but I like that they're trying for Luke's sake.

Kelly Bishop is great here! I feel like the show finally began to realize who they had with her in this role.
posted by edencosmic at 6:44 AM on January 27 [2 favorites]


« Older Person of Interest: The Crossi...   |  Movie: Wolf Man... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments

poster