Gilmore Girls: I Can't Get Started
February 4, 2025 2:30 PM - Season 2, Episode 22 - Subscribe
It's Sookie & Jackson's wedding! Emily and Richard are coming, Christopher's coming, and even Jess kinda/sorta crashes it. Paris runs for student council but needs some help in the likability department.
It's the last days of wedding-planning, and Sookie is trying to decide what song to walk down the aisle to. She likes Ella Fitzgerald's "I Can't Get Started," which is certainly as good or better than anything else on her shortlist, but that's not saying much. Two folks had to cancel, so Sookie asks Lorelai to ask her parents to come, a situation which they read exactly right as soon as they hear that the ceremony is in like a week and a half.
Lorelai tries to make up with Luke, and while he's being perfectly civil to her, none of their usual warmth and friendship is there.
At Chilton, Paris is running for Student Body President, and her campaign speech reminds one a lot of Dwight Schrute's speech to the Northeast Pennsylvania Salesperson Convention, minus the applause. Madeline and Louise have done the polling, and while upwards of 90% of the students think that Paris is the most competent and qualified candidate, none of them like her, and that's what they're going to base their votes on. So as a last-ditch effort, she asks Rory to be her running mate, hoping that Rory's anodyne perkiness will offset her harsh cynical edge. Rory agrees, only because it will look good on a Harvard app, but she really doesn't want to win.
The gals go to the hospital to get Rory's cast removed, and Christopher shows up for the procedure. He'll be around town for a few days and can go to the wedding. After attending the rehearsal dinner together (and sharing the news that he and Sherry are on the outs) Christopher and Lorelai sleep together in his room at the inn, and she comes downstairs later to find Sookie in her wedding dress AND apron, futzing with the cake and generally having a wedding-jitters-freakout, so Lorelai talks her down.
Meanwhile, Rory really doesn't want to deal with a six-week trip to D.C. that winning the Vice Presidency would require, and Paris is writing concession speeches based on Hubert H. Humphrey, morose because she feels like even if she wins, she had to rely on Rory to do so.
Luke is surprised to find Jess in his (formerly their) apartment, and Jess tells him that he wants to come back to Stars Hollow. Luke eventually says ok, but also that things are going to be different this time, and that Jess needs to let Rory go. Jess possibly hears some of these things. Paris calls Rory to tell her that it looks like they're winning.
At the wedding, Lorelai and Christopher are straight-up discussing a future together, and Lorelai for once goes out on a limb and tells Emily about it at the first opportunity. Christopher tells Rory, who warns him not to disappoint them because they've "been waiting for this for a really long time." Then, perhaps inspired by her own words, she goes and kisses Jess and orders him not to tell anyone.
Christopher gets a phone call, and comes to tell Lorelai that, whoops, nevermind. Sherry is pregnant and he has to go be with her. Oh, and can Lorelai tell Rory? And so our two heroes wait, dejected, to play their part in the ceremony, and Rory tells Lorelai that she'll probably be spending the summer in Washington.
Oy, with the poodles already.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman in Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack:
"I Can't Get Started" - Ella Fitzgerald
Random Guest Star Watch: None that I could tell, but that's Jackson's (or, Jackson Douglass's) real-life dad playing his father in this episode. So that's fun!
It's the last days of wedding-planning, and Sookie is trying to decide what song to walk down the aisle to. She likes Ella Fitzgerald's "I Can't Get Started," which is certainly as good or better than anything else on her shortlist, but that's not saying much. Two folks had to cancel, so Sookie asks Lorelai to ask her parents to come, a situation which they read exactly right as soon as they hear that the ceremony is in like a week and a half.
Lorelai tries to make up with Luke, and while he's being perfectly civil to her, none of their usual warmth and friendship is there.
At Chilton, Paris is running for Student Body President, and her campaign speech reminds one a lot of Dwight Schrute's speech to the Northeast Pennsylvania Salesperson Convention, minus the applause. Madeline and Louise have done the polling, and while upwards of 90% of the students think that Paris is the most competent and qualified candidate, none of them like her, and that's what they're going to base their votes on. So as a last-ditch effort, she asks Rory to be her running mate, hoping that Rory's anodyne perkiness will offset her harsh cynical edge. Rory agrees, only because it will look good on a Harvard app, but she really doesn't want to win.
The gals go to the hospital to get Rory's cast removed, and Christopher shows up for the procedure. He'll be around town for a few days and can go to the wedding. After attending the rehearsal dinner together (and sharing the news that he and Sherry are on the outs) Christopher and Lorelai sleep together in his room at the inn, and she comes downstairs later to find Sookie in her wedding dress AND apron, futzing with the cake and generally having a wedding-jitters-freakout, so Lorelai talks her down.
Meanwhile, Rory really doesn't want to deal with a six-week trip to D.C. that winning the Vice Presidency would require, and Paris is writing concession speeches based on Hubert H. Humphrey, morose because she feels like even if she wins, she had to rely on Rory to do so.
Luke is surprised to find Jess in his (formerly their) apartment, and Jess tells him that he wants to come back to Stars Hollow. Luke eventually says ok, but also that things are going to be different this time, and that Jess needs to let Rory go. Jess possibly hears some of these things. Paris calls Rory to tell her that it looks like they're winning.
At the wedding, Lorelai and Christopher are straight-up discussing a future together, and Lorelai for once goes out on a limb and tells Emily about it at the first opportunity. Christopher tells Rory, who warns him not to disappoint them because they've "been waiting for this for a really long time." Then, perhaps inspired by her own words, she goes and kisses Jess and orders him not to tell anyone.
Christopher gets a phone call, and comes to tell Lorelai that, whoops, nevermind. Sherry is pregnant and he has to go be with her. Oh, and can Lorelai tell Rory? And so our two heroes wait, dejected, to play their part in the ceremony, and Rory tells Lorelai that she'll probably be spending the summer in Washington.
Oy, with the poodles already.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman in Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack:
"I Can't Get Started" - Ella Fitzgerald
Random Guest Star Watch: None that I could tell, but that's Jackson's (or, Jackson Douglass's) real-life dad playing his father in this episode. So that's fun!
Yeah, I think the only time I can remember abortion coming up in this show at all in what I've seen so far is Straub suggesting it in a flashback to Lorelai's teen pregnancy and immediately getting shot down, and that's the end of it. Weird and frustrating but sadly not that surprising for either this show or the time when it was made.
What really pisses me off about Christopher is that he's too chickenshit to tell Rory herself after their conversation in the previous scene. He is, through and through, only interested in being a dad when he can feel the rewards of it.
posted by Navelgazer at 4:23 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
What really pisses me off about Christopher is that he's too chickenshit to tell Rory herself after their conversation in the previous scene. He is, through and through, only interested in being a dad when he can feel the rewards of it.
posted by Navelgazer at 4:23 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
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Rory's impulsive kiss with Jess is actually ... well, OK, it's not exactly innocent, but there's something really sweet about it. Their chemistry just finally bubbled up into excitement for her and she couldn't help it. I get it, absolutely.
Rory becoming Paris' VP seems out of nowhere, but sure (also ... it's like the day before elections and no one is running as vice president? This school is weird).
Christopher is Christopher, of course. And as I've said, this is a show that never knew about the concept of abortion (although Sherry was said to be considering single motherhood earlier in the season, until they back-pedaled on that later on). I do find unplanned pregnancies to be one of the more tiresome plot-twists, but whatever. Of course Chris and Lorelai can't be together because we wouldn't have a show. Still, Lauren Graham sells the hell out of it.
Dean is mostly Dean-ing it here but he's basically inconsequential to everything else that happens. I mean, Jess showed up out of nowhere looking hot and we're supposed to care about Dean? Nah.
As the end of season 2, this was great, honestly. It's not really cliffhanger but sets up the conflict for next season nicely.
posted by edencosmic at 4:05 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]