1x02 The Lorelais' First Day at Chilton

[7.1/10] Ah school, the venerable lifeblood of the WB/CW drama. Whenever you need to hook teens not just their parents, offer them a reflection of themselves and their lives, in the form of bookbags and stuffy teachers and barely-navigable social ecosystems.

To that end, the weakest part of “The Lorelais’ First Day at Chilton” comes from Rory’s bog standard difficulties and foils as she starts her new school. For one thing, there’s the entry of Paris. I have it on good authority (Mrs. Bloom’s) that Paris becomes a great character on the show, so I’m willing to give her some leeway. But the show introduces her terribly (with Paris essentially just announcing her character traits and goals to Rory), and paints her as a generic stuck up rival to naive, kind-hearted Rory out of the gate. It’s standard issue Mean Girls stuff (replete with her mini-squad of flunkies) and it feels like the usual CW drollery.

It doesn’t help that we also meet Tristan (Chad Michael Murray, who seemed to play every tow-headed, mildly douchey bad boy in teendom around this time), who refers to Rory as Mary and makes the usual jerk teenage boy passes at her. To some degree, all characters are archetypes when they’re first introduced, and again, I’m willing to give the show some space to fill in the details and develop the characters, but as an opening salvo, the tussle-haired bad kid reads as stock character who’s more of a device than a person.

Thankfully, the episode gives Rory a more interesting story about trying to navigate her new, very different surroundings, not just make nice with the typical preppy jerks who populate it. Her exchange with the headmaster, about how her being the smartest girl at her old school doesn’t mean she’s up to this challenge, creates an interesting chance for a perspective flip and journey for Rory here.

Much of the show that I’ve seen so far has been about the distance between two worlds -- one in Stars Hollow and one in Hartford -- making Rory’s time a Chilton a fulcrum for that larger theme is promising, and if her quick, upstaging answers in history class are any indication, there’s the suggestion that her sharp wit may be able to help her make up for what she lacks in knowledge of the norms of the hoity-toity set.

The episode gets more of its energy and verve from Lorelai, who is, I’m quickly realizing, the thing that buoys the show even when it’s not firing on cylinders. Lauren Graham does really great work here, selling Lorelai’s excitement for and connection with her daughter, mastering the comic timing to handle funny scenes where she’s underdressed for a meeting with the Chilton Headmaster, and making the most of an overdramatic monologue offered to her mother.

It’s the latter point that gives the episode a bit of heft. There’s a harried energy to “First Day” where Lorelai’s day starts off with being late and out of dress clothes, and spins out from an awkward meeting at school to having fend off PTA (or rather, non-PTA) dads, manage guests angry at valets, and shush sassy harp players. But the greatest addition of stress and franticness for Lorelai involve having to respond to her mother’s attempts to be involved in Rory’s schooling.

Again, that part of the story does what the show’s done best so far in the early going -- give both Lorelai and Emily understandable, reasonable goals and intentions that nevertheless come into conflict. Emily is, naturally (though again, understandably) being a little overzealous in her attempts to integrate her granddaughter into Chilton and being involved in Rory’s life, but it comes from a good place. While there’s some sense that Emily is decking her granddaughter out with the trappings of propriety and polite society, there’s also the sense that she just wants the best for Rory and is trying to do everything in her power to get it for her.

That, naturally, clashes with Lorelai’s desire to be independent of her parents and for Rory to be able to do the same. There’s some turf-protecting here -- Lorelai seems as concerned about Emily stepping into usurp her ability to direct Rory’s life as she is about Emily overdirecting Rory -- but there’s also the reasonable clash of philosophies. Lorelai not only wants to do this thing (supporting Rory through school) herself as much because that’s a big part of who she is, but she seems a little worried about Rory getting sucked into or overwhelmed by the world that Lorelai worked so hard to escape and scratch out an existence away from. The monologue in the salon where Lorelai lays all this out is a bit overdone, but Graham sells it like a champ and there’s good character work under the hood.

Once again, there’s plenty of very nice comedy to grease the wheels of the episode. While some gags (like Drella playing the harp too loud or Miss Patty rambling about parades and Brazil) scan a notch too cheesy for my tastes, “First Day” still packs in plenty of the trademark Gilmore patter, sarcasm, and quick remarks that makes the show enjoyable even when not every piston is firing. Comic setpieces like Lorelai trying to hide the fact that she’s dressed (as Emily puts it) for the rodeo, or tete-a-tetes between her and Luke over coffee, keep things light and fun.

That’s a good thing, because it also helps add a distinctiveness even when the show is hitting some hoary tropes like “new kid has tough first day at school” or “main character flirts with local shop owner.” “First Day” leans into some of the traditional WB wheelhouse -- mean high school rivals, annoying but dreamy bad boys -- to the detriment of the Rory-focused portions of the episode. But when it hews closer to the Lorelai-Emily relationship that fuels the conflict of the show, and the Rory-Lorelai relationship that gives it it’s heart, it still succeeds, particularly with enough laughs to paper over the rougher parts of the episode.