Gilmore Girls: Secrets and Loans
January 30, 2025 5:06 PM - Season 2, Episode 11 - Subscribe
The Stars Hollow house has termites. Lane tries out being a cheerleader. Rory won't tell Paris her PSAT scores.
My recaps have gotten a little absurd in length, so thank god for this episode to give me a chance to reset those back down to a more reasonable level.
At the diner, Rory gets her PSAT scores. 760 Math, 740 Verbal. Very good scores, though she's flummoxed on how she did better on the math side of things.
Taking her coffee out onto the porch on a snowy morning, Lorelai steps right through it. Kirk diagnoses the problem as termites, and the problem extends way beyond jut the porch. He estimates it'll cost Lorelai around $15,000. At Chilton, Paris desperately wants to compare PSAT scores (she got 750 Math, 730 verbal) but all Rory will say is that she's happy.
That night, Lorelai doesn't feel comfortable sleeping in the house, so she wakes up Rory and takes her over to wake up Sookie. Sookie is into the idea of a fun sleepover, but the gals are just exhausted. Jackson is hiding in the closet because he's embarrassed of his pajamas, which are printed with pictures of him in his high school wrestling uniform.
Every bank rejects Lorelai for a loan, and she won't discuss getting help from her parents. Madeline calls Rory on Paris's behalf to ask for her PSAT scores, but Rory is too smart for that one! Rory stops by the Kim house to see Lane, but Mrs. Kim shoos Rory out for fear of her termites catching on with the antiques. Lane is "at school," she says, "studying." Later Rory runs into Lane wearing a Cheerleader outfit. They fight about it.
At Friday Night Dinner, Lorelai has a tension headache, and won't say why, so Rory spills the beans. Emily wants to give Lorelai a check, but Lorelai won't hear of it. Lorelai flips out at Rory for blabbing.* Rory is upset about the fight, and talks to Dean, who tells her that she's as stubborn as Lorelai is, which I'd argue isn't at all the point here, but it makes Rory feel better. Emily calls Lorelai to let her know that she set up an appointment for her to meet with someone from their bank. This angers Lorelai.
Luke takes a look at the termite damage and tries to sell Lorelai on letting him front the money for the repairs, which she refuses to do (which, hey, in this case that's probably the right call. 1 point for Lorelai.) So Lorelai goes to the bank appointment, where Emily. Lorelai insists on Emily being silent during the meeting, but the banker won't give her a loan without a co-signer, and Lorelai finally buckles. Outside the bank, she snarks at Emily, asking what she'll have to do in exchange for this favor, and Emily, hurt, snaps back that she just wanted to do something nice for her daughter.
Rory and Lorelai meet up at the Stars Hollow High pep rally out in the snow, and Rory apologizes because Lorelai's pride is more important than their home and Rory should know that. Lane comes out and leads the cheerleaders (who aren't shivering like the boy's basketball team is) to a dance routine to "One Step Beyond" and it's easily the highlight of the episode.
Rory makes up with Lane afterwards, telling her that it looked like she was having fun. At Friday Night Dinner, Lorelai apologizes to Emily and thanks her for co-signing, and Emily says that she wants to have her D.A.R. functions at the inn from now on.
*Inasmuch as this episode is about anything, it's about this, and it's a deeply one-sided conflict. Plus, it's the second episode in a row to showcase Lorelai throwing a tantrum because on some level she knows that her actions are selfish, not in her child's best interest, and just generally unjustifiable. Lorelai's usually better than this and I'm anxious to get back to that.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman in Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack:
"Que Sera Sera" - Doris Day
"One Step Beyond" - Madness
Random Guest Star Watch: Richard Kline (Larry Dallas from Three's Company) as the banker, Miles Hahn.
My recaps have gotten a little absurd in length, so thank god for this episode to give me a chance to reset those back down to a more reasonable level.
At the diner, Rory gets her PSAT scores. 760 Math, 740 Verbal. Very good scores, though she's flummoxed on how she did better on the math side of things.
Taking her coffee out onto the porch on a snowy morning, Lorelai steps right through it. Kirk diagnoses the problem as termites, and the problem extends way beyond jut the porch. He estimates it'll cost Lorelai around $15,000. At Chilton, Paris desperately wants to compare PSAT scores (she got 750 Math, 730 verbal) but all Rory will say is that she's happy.
That night, Lorelai doesn't feel comfortable sleeping in the house, so she wakes up Rory and takes her over to wake up Sookie. Sookie is into the idea of a fun sleepover, but the gals are just exhausted. Jackson is hiding in the closet because he's embarrassed of his pajamas, which are printed with pictures of him in his high school wrestling uniform.
Every bank rejects Lorelai for a loan, and she won't discuss getting help from her parents. Madeline calls Rory on Paris's behalf to ask for her PSAT scores, but Rory is too smart for that one! Rory stops by the Kim house to see Lane, but Mrs. Kim shoos Rory out for fear of her termites catching on with the antiques. Lane is "at school," she says, "studying." Later Rory runs into Lane wearing a Cheerleader outfit. They fight about it.
At Friday Night Dinner, Lorelai has a tension headache, and won't say why, so Rory spills the beans. Emily wants to give Lorelai a check, but Lorelai won't hear of it. Lorelai flips out at Rory for blabbing.* Rory is upset about the fight, and talks to Dean, who tells her that she's as stubborn as Lorelai is, which I'd argue isn't at all the point here, but it makes Rory feel better. Emily calls Lorelai to let her know that she set up an appointment for her to meet with someone from their bank. This angers Lorelai.
Luke takes a look at the termite damage and tries to sell Lorelai on letting him front the money for the repairs, which she refuses to do (which, hey, in this case that's probably the right call. 1 point for Lorelai.) So Lorelai goes to the bank appointment, where Emily. Lorelai insists on Emily being silent during the meeting, but the banker won't give her a loan without a co-signer, and Lorelai finally buckles. Outside the bank, she snarks at Emily, asking what she'll have to do in exchange for this favor, and Emily, hurt, snaps back that she just wanted to do something nice for her daughter.
Rory and Lorelai meet up at the Stars Hollow High pep rally out in the snow, and Rory apologizes because Lorelai's pride is more important than their home and Rory should know that. Lane comes out and leads the cheerleaders (who aren't shivering like the boy's basketball team is) to a dance routine to "One Step Beyond" and it's easily the highlight of the episode.
Rory makes up with Lane afterwards, telling her that it looked like she was having fun. At Friday Night Dinner, Lorelai apologizes to Emily and thanks her for co-signing, and Emily says that she wants to have her D.A.R. functions at the inn from now on.
*Inasmuch as this episode is about anything, it's about this, and it's a deeply one-sided conflict. Plus, it's the second episode in a row to showcase Lorelai throwing a tantrum because on some level she knows that her actions are selfish, not in her child's best interest, and just generally unjustifiable. Lorelai's usually better than this and I'm anxious to get back to that.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman in Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack:
"Que Sera Sera" - Doris Day
"One Step Beyond" - Madness
Random Guest Star Watch: Richard Kline (Larry Dallas from Three's Company) as the banker, Miles Hahn.
Yup! It's really not a good episode (David Sims calls it the worst episode of the first six seasons, and Lindsay Pugh isn't much kinder) and also nothing that happens in it matters or will come up again. The Lane subplot is the only thing it has going for it, I think, and it kinda-sorta fits into her finally finding her passion a little further on down the road here.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:15 AM on January 31
posted by Navelgazer at 9:15 AM on January 31
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As much as I understand Lorelai's reluctance to ask her parents for help, her stubbornness that she continues in the face of having no other options is exhausting. And Rory has a point that it's her house, too, and Lorelai is not doing a good job of solving the problem.
(Why no one thought of getting loan co-signed before is another gap in logic, but sure.)
The PSAT plotline is trivial and Rory's silent gloating over having better scores than Paris isn't particularly charming. I do like how the groundwork for Lane becoming a cheerleader was laid a few episodes back, but I think this is the last time we see her as one.
Emily having the DAR meetings at the inn is also something that never comes up again, but I can't see how having the meetings there is really a bad thing. Emily is bring the inn business!
posted by edencosmic at 7:45 AM on January 31 [1 favorite]