Gilmore Girls: Eight O'Clock at the Oasis
February 6, 2025 12:13 PM - Season 3, Episode 5 - Subscribe
Lorelai splits a glass of wine with a stranger. Lorelai agrees to water a new neighbor's grass. Lorelai waffles about going to a Bowie concert.
The gals arrive at the diner to find it packed with families. Specifically families of babies. Luke is about to snap, since apparently these folks come every week and order little to nothing and drive him crazy with their familiness and babiness. Then Luke sees one of the moms breastfeeding and goes off on a tirade that has aged like, well, milk. Though he does seem amused watching Jess come out and have the same reaction.
Emily calls Lorelai at the inn to ask her to come to a charity auction. Michel wants to go badly enough that he agrees to all manner of demeaning work in exchange. When retrieving the mail that night, Lorelai meets her new neighbor Dwight, a lightly creepy, extremely affable man who talks her into watering the new grass in his lawn for him (in very specific increments at specific times) while he's away.
At the auction, Lorelai goes to get a glass of wine, but a handsome young stranger (Paddle 17) gets the last of the red just before she can. They do a bit of flirty auction-style banter over the glass, and then split it between the two of them. He walks off, but Lorelai is smitten. So she makes some weird phone calls around the next day trying to figure out his name (which the audience already knows is "OMG is that Jon Hamm? He looks like a baby!") Rory suggests that, since it's Emily's world, she might have a clue as to who he is.
Then, at Friday Night Dinner, Rory pushes harder, until an embarrassed Lorelai asks her mother, who susses it out pretty quickly: Peyton Sanders. She agrees to set them up.
The next morning, while watering Dwight's lawn, they find a note asking Lorelai to go ahead and water the indoor plants while she's at it. The inside of Dwight's house is like a tiki bar, but with board games. Payton calls, and they set up a dinner date. Plus a date to a Bowie show to follow.
The first date is a disaster* - Peyton spent the whole time talking about his car and the wine list. Lorelai doesn't even want to see Bowie in concert if it means spending more time with him. But Emily insists that she "try harder" on their second date, since Peyton's mom is a powerful person in Emily's world. Lorelai tells her to butt out of her business.
So she gets a call from Richard telling her the same thing but (in probably the episode's best scene) both admitting that the rules and etiquette that govern Emily's world are arcane and stupid, and making it clear that since Emily cares about them, he's going to back up his wife.
Meanwhile, Rory goes to tend to the grass, overhears Dwight's estranged wife screaming at him over the answering machine, and gets stuck in the sprinklers unable to turn them off. She calls Dean, but then runs into Jess, who helps her out. But, not wanting her to get in trouble with Dean (which is ridiculous but also totally what Dean's reaction would be) turns them back on so that Dean can be the hero when he arrives.
At Friday Night Dinner, Lorelai apologizes to Emily for her rashness in jumping into a situation that could affect Emily's social standing, but also explain just how awful the first date was. Emily accepts the apology, and then instructs her to borrow Rory's sweater for the Bowie concert.
* Or so we're told, anyway. We don't actually see it. This episode is real weird for a few reasons, but the biggest one is that it's hard for a modern audience to believe that Jon Hamm would be anything less than captivating while reading the tax code. Not exactly the show's fault, since he wasn't famous yet, but his casting still just feels like a huge missed opportunity.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman in Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack: None
Random Guest Star Watch: Journeyman character actor Jason Kravits as Dwight. Jon Hamm (or whatever pokémon evolves into Jon Hamm, anyway) as Peyton Sanders. Interestingly, both played recurring characters on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
The gals arrive at the diner to find it packed with families. Specifically families of babies. Luke is about to snap, since apparently these folks come every week and order little to nothing and drive him crazy with their familiness and babiness. Then Luke sees one of the moms breastfeeding and goes off on a tirade that has aged like, well, milk. Though he does seem amused watching Jess come out and have the same reaction.
Emily calls Lorelai at the inn to ask her to come to a charity auction. Michel wants to go badly enough that he agrees to all manner of demeaning work in exchange. When retrieving the mail that night, Lorelai meets her new neighbor Dwight, a lightly creepy, extremely affable man who talks her into watering the new grass in his lawn for him (in very specific increments at specific times) while he's away.
At the auction, Lorelai goes to get a glass of wine, but a handsome young stranger (Paddle 17) gets the last of the red just before she can. They do a bit of flirty auction-style banter over the glass, and then split it between the two of them. He walks off, but Lorelai is smitten. So she makes some weird phone calls around the next day trying to figure out his name (which the audience already knows is "OMG is that Jon Hamm? He looks like a baby!") Rory suggests that, since it's Emily's world, she might have a clue as to who he is.
Then, at Friday Night Dinner, Rory pushes harder, until an embarrassed Lorelai asks her mother, who susses it out pretty quickly: Peyton Sanders. She agrees to set them up.
The next morning, while watering Dwight's lawn, they find a note asking Lorelai to go ahead and water the indoor plants while she's at it. The inside of Dwight's house is like a tiki bar, but with board games. Payton calls, and they set up a dinner date. Plus a date to a Bowie show to follow.
The first date is a disaster* - Peyton spent the whole time talking about his car and the wine list. Lorelai doesn't even want to see Bowie in concert if it means spending more time with him. But Emily insists that she "try harder" on their second date, since Peyton's mom is a powerful person in Emily's world. Lorelai tells her to butt out of her business.
So she gets a call from Richard telling her the same thing but (in probably the episode's best scene) both admitting that the rules and etiquette that govern Emily's world are arcane and stupid, and making it clear that since Emily cares about them, he's going to back up his wife.
Meanwhile, Rory goes to tend to the grass, overhears Dwight's estranged wife screaming at him over the answering machine, and gets stuck in the sprinklers unable to turn them off. She calls Dean, but then runs into Jess, who helps her out. But, not wanting her to get in trouble with Dean (which is ridiculous but also totally what Dean's reaction would be) turns them back on so that Dean can be the hero when he arrives.
At Friday Night Dinner, Lorelai apologizes to Emily for her rashness in jumping into a situation that could affect Emily's social standing, but also explain just how awful the first date was. Emily accepts the apology, and then instructs her to borrow Rory's sweater for the Bowie concert.
* Or so we're told, anyway. We don't actually see it. This episode is real weird for a few reasons, but the biggest one is that it's hard for a modern audience to believe that Jon Hamm would be anything less than captivating while reading the tax code. Not exactly the show's fault, since he wasn't famous yet, but his casting still just feels like a huge missed opportunity.
A.V. Club Review - David Sims
Woman in Revolt Review - Lindsay Pugh
Soundtrack: None
Random Guest Star Watch: Journeyman character actor Jason Kravits as Dwight. Jon Hamm (or whatever pokémon evolves into Jon Hamm, anyway) as Peyton Sanders. Interestingly, both played recurring characters on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Can I just say how much I've been enjoying reading all of these posts. I watched the show a long time ago and don't have any intention of rewatching it but reading these summaries has been fun.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:49 PM on February 6 [4 favorites]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:49 PM on February 6 [4 favorites]
I rewatched all Gilmore Girls post-election because, well, you know. But that was more just turn my brain off comfort watch. It's been fun to actually sit and watch it again and pay attention it. And you know, still a comfort watch, because, well, you know.
posted by edencosmic at 3:06 PM on February 6
posted by edencosmic at 3:06 PM on February 6
D'aww, thanks any portmanteau in a storm!
posted by Navelgazer at 8:36 PM on February 6
posted by Navelgazer at 8:36 PM on February 6
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Dwight's ex-wife leaving that message on the answer machine makes me suspect everything about Dwight's story. I'm sad we never saw Dwight again.
And yes, baby Jon Hamm! I think I regard this episode to be better than it is just because his few moments on screen are that much fun. Maybe he really was a dud as a date but I can't really reconcile that with the way he was at the auction (however brief that was). Lorelai is right to be selective, but she's also a bit of a snob. Or at least, she often has a closed mind it people don't quite line up exactly to what she wants.
Still, I do like Richard admitting the whole first cup of tea thing is ridiculous, but that's Emily's world and he just lives in it. (Don't we all?) I am also glad Lorelai comes around to realizing that the circles Emily travels in are different than hers.
I am sad we never got to hear about the Bowie concert, though. The joke about "we'll just see him next time he does a retirement tour" kind of stings now (I presume as much as one can presume anything about this show, it was his Heathen tour, which was in 2002. I know he did one more tour after that but still ...).
posted by edencosmic at 1:01 PM on February 6 [1 favorite]