Gilmore Girls: Richard in Stars Hollow
January 31, 2025 7:04 AM - Season 2, Episode 12 - Subscribe
Having trouble filling the hours post-retirement, Richard spends the day with Lorelai. Paris goes hunting for Stars Hollow's seedy underbelly. Dean delivers the car he built for Rory.
At Friday Night Dinner, Emily wants to discuss getting an annex to the family mausoleum, and whose remains should be moved to it should Lorelai ever get married. Everyone (save Rory) agrees that it should be Aunt Cecile. During the main course, it becomes clear that Richard has a lot of time on his hands following his recent and unexpected retirement. It's to the point where he wants to follow Emily to her D.A.R. luncheons, swim aerobics, and the hair salon. So Emily calls up Lorelai and begs her to take her father in for a day so that she (Emily) can have some peace.
At Chilton, Paris is trying to win the "Oppenheimer Award for Excellence in School Journalism" for The Franklin. It's very prestigious. She sees that all the past winners had a human interest story on page one, and gets the idea to fill that void with a story digging into the dark side of Stars Hollow. Rory agrees to help, but assures her that this isn't going to be a fruitful trip.
At the video store, Rory sees some little kids on the ground ogling the VHS box for Showgirls, and suggests to Kirk that maybe that one should be on a higher shelf. Richard arrives and tells Lorelai to act like he isn't even there. He then proceeds to be critical of just about everything starting with her breakfast (a lot of coffee early in the morning, and every breakfast should really include half a grapefruit) and onto how she dresses ("Where's your work jacket?") and even lecturing her about how she conducts business (for being lightly flirty on a phone call in order to get a linen delivery in to resolve a crisis at the Inn.)
Rory can't take him off of her hands, because she's busy guiding Paris around town, first to Luke's (which Paris is sure must be a hotbed of truckers, drifters, and prostitution) but then onto the video store, which has erected a "Rory Curtain" behind which nearly every one of their movies has been placed. Rory's picture is in the window as "Citizen of the Month." Rory does not approve,* but Paris thinks she's found her story. Rory doesn't approve of that either.
Richard and Lorelai get back to the house barely able to hold onto a shred of civility, and Rory brings down the tension a bit (since her relationship with Richard is far less fraught than Lorelai's.) Then Dean shows up, having finally completed the car he's been building for Rory. Everyone's psyched but Richard, who is horrified that they would consider letting his only granddaughter drive around in something built by a kid, and a kid he thoroughly demolished at Friday Night Dinner during the season premier no less!
So Richard and Dean head to see Gypsy, the town mechanic (introduced in this episode. Great character! Unfortunate name!) who inspects the car again (because Dean had already had her check it out before taking it to Rory) and declares it free of problems, but Richard needs there to be a problem. So Gypsy tears the windshield wipers off, and says she's sick of looking at this car. Dean has had enough of Richard's shit and stands up for himself, which is nice.
Back at the house, Richard says the car is good enough for Rory (Rory hugs and thanks him! Which is more than he deserves here, I think) and he and Lorelai finally get into it. Richard admits that he knows that Emily begged Lorelai to take him off her hands, and that without a job he's just "an annoyance." He heads home before dinner.
Rory runs into Jess, who played some unspecified prank on the video store to avenge Rory's honor. They bat some eyes at each other. In Hartford, Richard returns, tells Emily that he had a great day, and retires to his study to wallow in self-pity.
*A couple recaps back I referred to an upcoming storyline in which Taylor enlists Rory in one of his causes without asking her permission first, and this wasn't even the one I was thinking of! I'd forgotten about this one! Taylor is the worst.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman in Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack:
"A Foggy Day" - Tony Bennett
Random Guest Star Watch: None, so let's give it up for the first appearance of Rose Abdoo as Gypsy! (Again, great character, but I hate typing that name.)
At Friday Night Dinner, Emily wants to discuss getting an annex to the family mausoleum, and whose remains should be moved to it should Lorelai ever get married. Everyone (save Rory) agrees that it should be Aunt Cecile. During the main course, it becomes clear that Richard has a lot of time on his hands following his recent and unexpected retirement. It's to the point where he wants to follow Emily to her D.A.R. luncheons, swim aerobics, and the hair salon. So Emily calls up Lorelai and begs her to take her father in for a day so that she (Emily) can have some peace.
At Chilton, Paris is trying to win the "Oppenheimer Award for Excellence in School Journalism" for The Franklin. It's very prestigious. She sees that all the past winners had a human interest story on page one, and gets the idea to fill that void with a story digging into the dark side of Stars Hollow. Rory agrees to help, but assures her that this isn't going to be a fruitful trip.
At the video store, Rory sees some little kids on the ground ogling the VHS box for Showgirls, and suggests to Kirk that maybe that one should be on a higher shelf. Richard arrives and tells Lorelai to act like he isn't even there. He then proceeds to be critical of just about everything starting with her breakfast (a lot of coffee early in the morning, and every breakfast should really include half a grapefruit) and onto how she dresses ("Where's your work jacket?") and even lecturing her about how she conducts business (for being lightly flirty on a phone call in order to get a linen delivery in to resolve a crisis at the Inn.)
Rory can't take him off of her hands, because she's busy guiding Paris around town, first to Luke's (which Paris is sure must be a hotbed of truckers, drifters, and prostitution) but then onto the video store, which has erected a "Rory Curtain" behind which nearly every one of their movies has been placed. Rory's picture is in the window as "Citizen of the Month." Rory does not approve,* but Paris thinks she's found her story. Rory doesn't approve of that either.
Richard and Lorelai get back to the house barely able to hold onto a shred of civility, and Rory brings down the tension a bit (since her relationship with Richard is far less fraught than Lorelai's.) Then Dean shows up, having finally completed the car he's been building for Rory. Everyone's psyched but Richard, who is horrified that they would consider letting his only granddaughter drive around in something built by a kid, and a kid he thoroughly demolished at Friday Night Dinner during the season premier no less!
So Richard and Dean head to see Gypsy, the town mechanic (introduced in this episode. Great character! Unfortunate name!) who inspects the car again (because Dean had already had her check it out before taking it to Rory) and declares it free of problems, but Richard needs there to be a problem. So Gypsy tears the windshield wipers off, and says she's sick of looking at this car. Dean has had enough of Richard's shit and stands up for himself, which is nice.
Back at the house, Richard says the car is good enough for Rory (Rory hugs and thanks him! Which is more than he deserves here, I think) and he and Lorelai finally get into it. Richard admits that he knows that Emily begged Lorelai to take him off her hands, and that without a job he's just "an annoyance." He heads home before dinner.
Rory runs into Jess, who played some unspecified prank on the video store to avenge Rory's honor. They bat some eyes at each other. In Hartford, Richard returns, tells Emily that he had a great day, and retires to his study to wallow in self-pity.
*A couple recaps back I referred to an upcoming storyline in which Taylor enlists Rory in one of his causes without asking her permission first, and this wasn't even the one I was thinking of! I'd forgotten about this one! Taylor is the worst.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman in Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack:
"A Foggy Day" - Tony Bennett
Random Guest Star Watch: None, so let's give it up for the first appearance of Rose Abdoo as Gypsy! (Again, great character, but I hate typing that name.)
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And hey, there's fun Paris stuff in this one! Not enough, in my opinion (and I don't think we ever find out about whether The Franklin wins the Oppenheimer Award.) But her scene freaking out Luke is incredible, and I enjoy the little video store subplot for how it draws the line between Rory's original suggestion (very reaosnable, responding to an immediate thing) and their implementation (wildly reactionary and using her name and likeness against her wishes.)
posted by Navelgazer at 10:00 AM on January 31