3x12 Lorelai Out of Water

[7.1/10] There’s a weird lumpiness to the middle of Season 3. There’s some interesting storylines and ideas floating around in the background, but more and more, it feels like the show’s getting away from telling individual stories within episodes and more just touching on this and that and letting things trail off.

The one semi-tight story in this episode belongs to Luke, and it’s a good one. I like the idea that he’s still pining for Lorelai in his own, understated yet obvious way, but that Jess is getting him, in his own not-so-understated yet obvious way, to think about moving on and trying to find someone else. Scott Patterson underplays his scenes nicely, and you get the quiet sense in which his fishing lesson for Lorelai, and the news he learns there, both wounds him a little, but also gives him the motivation he needs to stop pining and ask out Taylor’s lawyer. I can’t imagine it lasts, but it’s still nice to see Luke as someone going after things he wants rather than just being a puppy dog if neither he nor Lorelai is going to make a move.

But Lorelai’s date situation, which prompts the fishing trip, is one of those “floatier” storylines. There’s not much to it, beyond providing the impetus for the nice scene with her and Luke and for a bit of comic relief. Alex and Lorelai are perfectly fine together, but Alex comes off like a placeholder and it’s hard to get too excited about anything that happens with him.

The contrary, in unfortunate terms, can be said for the continuing Lorelai/Paris feud. The fact that Paris tries to get Rory impeached is ridiculous, and while the scene with the Chilton Headmaster is a good one, the fact that the show is dragging out this thin beef between them is annoying.

Last but not least but also not best, is Lane’s storyline. The episode telegraphs things a little too hard, with Lane raving about how perfect everything is in the way that basically guarantees that things will inevitably, predictably fall apart. Still, I like the conclusion of the episode, where Mrs. Kim, despite liking Dave a lot, has a racial bias against him dating her daughter, which is an interesting thing to explore in an immigrant family.

I also like the texture we get for the Lane-Rory relationship. It doesn’t really go anywhere, but unlike other bits in the episode, that’s more of a good thing. Rory and Lane reminiscing about the first time they met or counting how many Kim family weddings they’ve attended together is just there to make it feel real that these are two best friends, and to add an air of melancholy to the fact that college is going to be an ending, if not for their friendship, than certainly for its everyday nature.

Overall, this isn’t a bad episode or anything, but it’s shaggy in parts that makes it good enough, but not really more than the sum of its parts.