3x15 Face-Off

[8.1/10] There’s been an interesting theme to the teen-focused side of Gilmore Girls since around the halfway mark. It’s been a combination of Jess learning how to be a boyfriend and Rory learning that not all boyfriends are like Dean. It can get a little rote at times, but it’s true-to-life stuff and interesting to see both characters facing adjustments and having to grow and not take things for granted a bit.

For Rory, that means learning not to try to play it cool, but rather to be straight with Jess about what she wants, including making plans to hang out rather than just keeping it fuzzy. (And Lorelai’s cheerleading and reminiscing on that front is an interesting side dish.) There’s also the complication that she keeps running into Dean, the symbol for perfect doting boyfriendhood, to remind her that even if she didn’t love him anymore, he was good at the nuts and bolts of relationships in way that Jess isn’t and wasn’t. And the fact that he’s now kissing some old acquaintance named Lindsay only complicates the possible buyer’s remorse.

And Jess, for his part, is still monosyllabic but making an effort in his two-steps-forward-one-step-back kind of way. He’s certainly oblivious much of the time, and thinks a lot of that nuts and bolts boyfriend stuff is lame, but he’s making an effort because of how he feels about Rory, and that makes him sympathetic even when he’s screwing things up.

There’s also some amusing and/or compelling stuff on the side. The Lane-Dave romance continues apace, with Lane going on a fake date with Yung Chu to please her mom, but with both her and Yung Chu pining for their real significant others. And Dave racing across town because he’s a little jealous, and Lane being flattered by that jealousy, is still pretty adorable. Plus in the comedy department, Taylor’s fussiness and Kirk’s overzealous and underinformed attempts to call the hockey game are worth a few laughs.

But the best storyline in the episode centers on Emily and Gran (aka Lorelai Sr.). As I’ve said before, seeing the normally unflappable Emily so flustered by her mother-in-law is always a treat, and the (admittedly sitcom-ish) twist of her walking in on Gran making out with a gentleman caller (officially credited as “Gran’s Kissing Man”) is a lot of fun. The way Emily preens and plans to lord it over her tormentor, and the gasps of the old ladies when she lets the secret slip are all just fantastic.

Still, the real strength of the story comes in the quiet scene shared between these two women who so rarely see eye-to-eye. As hard-edged as Gran can be, the story she tells -- of seeing marriage as a commitment that transcends death, but feeling lonely at times -- is a relatable one. It’s so relatable that it creates common ground between the two eldest Gilmore Girls, with Emily explaining that she too has her pride, and that she too gets lonely, and stating not in so many words that when Gran orders her around or takes all Richard’s time it hurts her on both of those fronts. It’s a nice resolution to the story, and it even produces a hilarious scene with Lorelai and Richard reflecting on what just happened. (Richard laughing and saying “I guess I have a new daddy” is just tops.)

Overall, a very pleasant and well-done episode with the stories feeding one another nicely.