1x16 Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers

[7.7/10] Ahh teen romance, so passionate and so fragile. I spent a decent amount of the portions of the episode focused on Dean and Rory going, “this is nice, but what is the point.” I’ll admit, it felt indulgent, showing the two kids being cute and having their typical amusing banter, but felt like the show reveling in that than really going anywhere with it beyond the contrasts between Rory’s delightful dinner and Lorelai’s miserable one.

And then it all falls apart. When Rory commented that this was so perfect a moment that she was sad it had to end, I told my wife that under fellow CW potentate Joss Whedon’s rules, that meant either she or Dean would have to die. Well, Gilmore Girls isn’t the type of show that offs people like that, but it does have its “nothing gold can stay” mentality as well, with Dean and Rory breaking up immediately after.

The “why won’t you say ‘I love you’” bit is something of a teen romance cliché, but it at least justifies the amount of time we spent on the couple just being adorable. Dean goes to all this trouble to craft the perfect anniversary, to build Rory a car, as a way to try to express his love for her, and he’s understandably hurt when after all of that, Rory can’t say I love you back. Rory’s position is understandable too, as she has some family history that makes this sort of thing hard, and as far as we know, this is her first big semi-adult relationship. But it makes for a decent fissure between them that puts a cap on the “love is in the air” theme of the episode.

That theme is perturbing poor Lorelai, who sees romance all around her with the Stars Hollow Fire Festival going on, and only sees reminders that she doesn’t have anyone. The episode belabors the point a little bit, but it’s still nice to see the inventive opening sequence that follows various love-struck denizens of the town around the square.

I’m less excited by the prospect of Luke’s ex, Rachel. Look, I understand there’s a certain necessity to play will-they-won’t-they with your main pairing, but I wish the show would at least have Luke and Lorelai happen and split up rather than teasing them so much and throwing seemingly random roadblocks in their way. Rachel seems fine and has decent chemistry with Luke, and there’s a solid enough contrast between her as the globetrotting adventurer and Lorelai as the townie, but it can’t help but feel like the show stalling for time before pulling the trigger on the obvious coupling.

Still, at least we get some good comedy out of it. Lorelai’s dinner with her parents, which turns out to be a setup with a dull young actuarial accountant named Chase, is good for lots of laughs. The contrast between stuffy and faux-charming Chase, Emily trying to muster up as much enthusiasm as possible, and then Lorelai and Richard who are varying proportions of bored to death and offended at the situation, makes for some good laughs and character moments. The best pair of them are when Emily challenges her daughter, in her own Emily way, about her dearth of long-term relationships, and the corresponding moment when Richard lets her sneak out of the house rather than have to suffer any more of Chase’s slimy drollness.

The episode does a nice job at the compare and contrast game with what’s going in Lorelai’s night versus in Rory’s, and there’s a similar move with Chase being the guy who dutifully researches everything, Luke saying at some point “you just have to jump in” when deciding whether to rekindle things with Rachel, and Dean complaining that Rory should just know what she feels rather than needing to make a pro/con list. Thematic coherence is always a nice touch that this show does well.

While I could do without Lorelai pining for Max (seriously, has she even mentioned Max since they broke things off?), this is an episode about love delivers some enjoyable teen drama (not a phrase I use often) and some amusing parental matchmaking scenes to boot. Fun and well-done.