Gilmore Girls: There's the Rub
February 1, 2025 2:33 PM - Season 2, Episode 16 - Subscribe
Emily takes Lorelai to a spa. Lorelai takes Emily to a bar. Rory fails to have a night to herself.
As the upstairs renovation continues apace at the diner, Luke and Jess are having to help patrons dodge falling debris in addition to filling their orders. Lorelai steps outside to take a phone call from Emily, who bought a spa package at a charity auction and is offering it to Lorelai, who enthusiastically accepts before learning that Emily will be going along as well.
Paris is freaking out over an A- on her lab assignment, and asks Madeline and Louise to study with her, but it's a Friday. They have dates.And Rory would be down to help her out, but with her mom and grandma going to the spa, she has no Friday Night Dinner and the house to herself for once, and she really wants to stay in, do laundry, and enjoy some actual alone time. Paris reluctantly accepts this, as does Dean, but neither of them are happy about it.
Lorelai works up a spa schedule which will keep her and Emily in separate rooms all day, but Emily notices this and "fixes" it so that they'll be glued at the hip. Between her mother's constant presence and the lack of any coffee at the facilities, Lorelai's experience is less than relaxing, and she spends most of the time whining until Emily calls her out on it.
Rory is in her PJs doing laundry when Paris comes a-knockin' because Paris Will Not Be Deterred. Rory agrees to study with her "for one hour." Paris will start the clock once Rory is done changing.
Emily and Lorelai are getting ready for dinner (and sharing some "Vicious Trollop" lipstick) when they look at the menu and decide to bail for a steakhouse somewhere. The place the find only has seats at the bar - which Emily objects to - and they soon clock the establishment as a "60-40" bar, i.e. where 60-year-old men hit on 40-year-old women. One of the aforementioned 60s is making eyes at Emily, and mother and daughter are for once having fun together.
As Rory and Paris are finishing up studying, Jess arrives at the door with a massive amount of food, a care package from Luke, who was worried about her being on her own for the night. Jess and Rory have a little verbal jousting about Jess coming inside, and he seems to win that one. The three sit down to a feast, Jess and Paris hit it off so well that it becomes criminal that we never see them together again, and Dean calls. He's got ice cream and he's coming over.
Chad, the dude from the bar, comes over to Emily and starts laying the mack down. Lorelai finds this delightful as long as she's not the one directly dealing with it, and peer-pressures Emily into dancing with him. She hits the floor for one dance, and stays for more. At some point, as she starts to relax and the dance starts to feel a touch too intimate, she snaps back and demands to leave at once, thinking that she "practically cheated on" Richard. And it's all Lorelai's fault.
Rory tries to shove Jess out the door, a little too slowly, since as soon as he's on the front porch, so is Dean. The two dudes flex at each other a bit, and Dean comes in the house livid. His temper gets worse until Paris jumps in and says that Jess was only there for her. Rory confirms, and this lie calms Dean down for the moment. After Dean is gone, Rory asks Paris if she wants to stay night night, seeing as they're friends now, or at least somewhere in the neighborhood of it.
Back at the spa, Emily asks why she can't have the kind of relationship with Lorelai that Lorelai has with Rory, and Lorelai doesn't have any answers that Emily wants to hear. But to try to get back some of the spark they were having earlier in the evening, Lorelai convinces Emily to steal the spa's very comfortable robes. Even though they know that the robes will just be billed to their cards in any case.
At the diner, Rory goes to the counter to thank Luke for the care package, but he doesn't know what she's talking about. Jess distracts him away, and he and Rory flirt for a few minutes while Dean stands outside, watching them through the window with sad widdle puppy dog eyes.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman In Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack:
"Deora Ar Mo ChroĆ" - Enya
Random Guest Star Watch: The band at the bar is Marty and Elayne, a notable L.A. lounge act also featured in Swingers. Chad is played by an uncredited Hal Linden (Barney Miller in Barney Miller)
As the upstairs renovation continues apace at the diner, Luke and Jess are having to help patrons dodge falling debris in addition to filling their orders. Lorelai steps outside to take a phone call from Emily, who bought a spa package at a charity auction and is offering it to Lorelai, who enthusiastically accepts before learning that Emily will be going along as well.
Paris is freaking out over an A- on her lab assignment, and asks Madeline and Louise to study with her, but it's a Friday. They have dates.And Rory would be down to help her out, but with her mom and grandma going to the spa, she has no Friday Night Dinner and the house to herself for once, and she really wants to stay in, do laundry, and enjoy some actual alone time. Paris reluctantly accepts this, as does Dean, but neither of them are happy about it.
Lorelai works up a spa schedule which will keep her and Emily in separate rooms all day, but Emily notices this and "fixes" it so that they'll be glued at the hip. Between her mother's constant presence and the lack of any coffee at the facilities, Lorelai's experience is less than relaxing, and she spends most of the time whining until Emily calls her out on it.
Rory is in her PJs doing laundry when Paris comes a-knockin' because Paris Will Not Be Deterred. Rory agrees to study with her "for one hour." Paris will start the clock once Rory is done changing.
Emily and Lorelai are getting ready for dinner (and sharing some "Vicious Trollop" lipstick) when they look at the menu and decide to bail for a steakhouse somewhere. The place the find only has seats at the bar - which Emily objects to - and they soon clock the establishment as a "60-40" bar, i.e. where 60-year-old men hit on 40-year-old women. One of the aforementioned 60s is making eyes at Emily, and mother and daughter are for once having fun together.
As Rory and Paris are finishing up studying, Jess arrives at the door with a massive amount of food, a care package from Luke, who was worried about her being on her own for the night. Jess and Rory have a little verbal jousting about Jess coming inside, and he seems to win that one. The three sit down to a feast, Jess and Paris hit it off so well that it becomes criminal that we never see them together again, and Dean calls. He's got ice cream and he's coming over.
Chad, the dude from the bar, comes over to Emily and starts laying the mack down. Lorelai finds this delightful as long as she's not the one directly dealing with it, and peer-pressures Emily into dancing with him. She hits the floor for one dance, and stays for more. At some point, as she starts to relax and the dance starts to feel a touch too intimate, she snaps back and demands to leave at once, thinking that she "practically cheated on" Richard. And it's all Lorelai's fault.
Rory tries to shove Jess out the door, a little too slowly, since as soon as he's on the front porch, so is Dean. The two dudes flex at each other a bit, and Dean comes in the house livid. His temper gets worse until Paris jumps in and says that Jess was only there for her. Rory confirms, and this lie calms Dean down for the moment. After Dean is gone, Rory asks Paris if she wants to stay night night, seeing as they're friends now, or at least somewhere in the neighborhood of it.
Back at the spa, Emily asks why she can't have the kind of relationship with Lorelai that Lorelai has with Rory, and Lorelai doesn't have any answers that Emily wants to hear. But to try to get back some of the spark they were having earlier in the evening, Lorelai convinces Emily to steal the spa's very comfortable robes. Even though they know that the robes will just be billed to their cards in any case.
At the diner, Rory goes to the counter to thank Luke for the care package, but he doesn't know what she's talking about. Jess distracts him away, and he and Rory flirt for a few minutes while Dean stands outside, watching them through the window with sad widdle puppy dog eyes.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman In Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack:
"Deora Ar Mo ChroĆ" - Enya
Random Guest Star Watch: The band at the bar is Marty and Elayne, a notable L.A. lounge act also featured in Swingers. Chad is played by an uncredited Hal Linden (Barney Miller in Barney Miller)
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Emily's freakout at the bar isn't really reasonable but I also understand it. Emily loves Richard and I don't think she's really ever known anything else. There's sort of a sense throughout the series that Emily doesn't know who she is as an independent woman. She's happy with her life but only when there's not space to question if she wanted anything else. I think that's both why she admires and resents Lorelai.
We get some great Paris moments here and I love the growing friendship between her and Rory. The parts between her and Jess are so much fun! And I love Paris covering for Rory on the fly the way she does. (Also, she said see first saw Jess at the diner but didn't she actually first see him at the Bracebridge dinner? They were both there!)
And I mean, of course Dean throws a fit because everyone else has railroaded Rory's desire to be alone but somehow he deserves to be the special exception. Honestly, yeah, Paris deciding they need to study and Jess bringing food over are both tiresome, but they seem to come from a place of understanding that they're imposing. Dean is just doing what Dean wants because that's who he is at this point in the show.
(Except for some moments early in season 1, Dean always kind of sucked, but the way the show decided he need to suck more so Jess looked better in comparison is quite a choice.)
I like this episode quite a bit, despite Lorelai being at her worst a lot of time. I think it captures everyone really well and deepens the relationships all the characters have. Not that much happens in terms of overall plot but it just works.
posted by edencosmic at 2:51 PM on February 2 [1 favorite]