[6.9/10] This was a weird episode, full of strange, tacky, rushed, and kind of overblown things, but also some endearing or encouraging bits as well. Let’s dive in.
Oh man was the Lorelai/Sookie stuff with trying to buy Fran’s inn before her corpse is even cool tacky. I think the show was going for wacky and quirky with it, and it at least had the sense to be tongue-in-cheek about how awful they were being, but it still comes off as cringe-y rather than funny. (Though in the same vein, Taylor having to call off the brass band meant to herald his Soda Shoppe’s grand opening during Fran’s moment of silence was a good gag.)
On the other side of the spectrum, I really like the Lane/Dave stuff in this one. Mrs. Kim freezing her daughter out rather than excoriating her is a tactic that adds to the mystery of the fallout and heightens the audience’s anxiousness to find out what’s going to happen. Dave’s speech to Mrs. Kim about how much he likes Lane and all the reasons he’d make a good boyfriend for her is nigh-perfect. And his disheveled confession about reading the whole bible in one night to try to find the quotation, Mrs. Kim instead quoting Shakespeare because “I goof around too,” and Lane’s utter glee at actually being able to go to prom with her beau is all just outstanding. I’ve had my skepticism about this story at times, but it hits its romcom highs here, and does so with flying colors.
Then, there’s the Jess stuff, that I don’t really know what to do with. Jess’s dad showing up is pretty out of the blue and, frankly, feels like overstuffing the plots when Jess already has plenty going on. That said, it gives Scott Patterson a great scene where he confronts Jimmy Mariano, dripping with content, and warns him off from messing with Jess’s life, which Luke is desperately trying to keep on track.
Then there’s the confrontation with Luke and Jess, which is a little overwrought, but still feels true to the characters and like a characteristically direct but fraught means for the two to deal with Jess flunking out. Jess’s sigh when Luke throws him out is a strong bit of nonverbal acting, and while story-wise it seems a bit out of character for Luke, it does work as Jess having to suffer the consequences of his actions.
Then there’s how it affects Rory. For one thing, she’s already on edge at the news that Dean is getting married. That alone feels like an odd choice from the show. There’s been hints that Dean is a little old fashioned, so it’s not totally out of character or anything, but at the same time it feels sudden, and I guess it’s supposed to. Something about it strikes the wrong note, but I’m not 100% sure what.
That said, what is just as brief but strikes a much better note is the terse, tense interaction between Lorelai and Emily. I really like how Lorelai is at some combination of feeling guilty and missing her parents, and how Emily is still hurt and affronted by all of this. Emily’s recollection of their relationship before the situation with Rory’s school is damning and painful in how accurate an assessment it seems. Theirs is the relationship I’m most invested in on this show, and I’m really curious to see where they’re going with this.
But back to Rory, there’s a nice scene where she vents her frustrations about Jess and how he’s not open with her to her mom (and Lorelai is nicely and understandably fixated on the “in Kyle’s bedroom” part). I like the idea of Rory realizing that the fantasy of having the bad boy boyfriend doesn’t quite match the reality of it, and again, the upshot of that being that she can’t go to prom with Lane (or at least, not with Jess) is an interesting way to dramatize that. The bus ride with him off to wherever is a little The Graduate, but also represents an appropriately terse, wishy washy way for their relationship to (seemingly) go out. It’s another kind of headscratchy episode, but we’ll see where the show goes in the last two eps of the season.
I'm becoming increasingly disappointed with the direction of this show. Jess and Rory make me think what the point of their relationship. Jess lies, hides things and always hurt Rory and ends up hurting himself too. Dean also disappointed me
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-10-16T00:08:27Z
[6.9/10] This was a weird episode, full of strange, tacky, rushed, and kind of overblown things, but also some endearing or encouraging bits as well. Let’s dive in.
Oh man was the Lorelai/Sookie stuff with trying to buy Fran’s inn before her corpse is even cool tacky. I think the show was going for wacky and quirky with it, and it at least had the sense to be tongue-in-cheek about how awful they were being, but it still comes off as cringe-y rather than funny. (Though in the same vein, Taylor having to call off the brass band meant to herald his Soda Shoppe’s grand opening during Fran’s moment of silence was a good gag.)
On the other side of the spectrum, I really like the Lane/Dave stuff in this one. Mrs. Kim freezing her daughter out rather than excoriating her is a tactic that adds to the mystery of the fallout and heightens the audience’s anxiousness to find out what’s going to happen. Dave’s speech to Mrs. Kim about how much he likes Lane and all the reasons he’d make a good boyfriend for her is nigh-perfect. And his disheveled confession about reading the whole bible in one night to try to find the quotation, Mrs. Kim instead quoting Shakespeare because “I goof around too,” and Lane’s utter glee at actually being able to go to prom with her beau is all just outstanding. I’ve had my skepticism about this story at times, but it hits its romcom highs here, and does so with flying colors.
Then, there’s the Jess stuff, that I don’t really know what to do with. Jess’s dad showing up is pretty out of the blue and, frankly, feels like overstuffing the plots when Jess already has plenty going on. That said, it gives Scott Patterson a great scene where he confronts Jimmy Mariano, dripping with content, and warns him off from messing with Jess’s life, which Luke is desperately trying to keep on track.
Then there’s the confrontation with Luke and Jess, which is a little overwrought, but still feels true to the characters and like a characteristically direct but fraught means for the two to deal with Jess flunking out. Jess’s sigh when Luke throws him out is a strong bit of nonverbal acting, and while story-wise it seems a bit out of character for Luke, it does work as Jess having to suffer the consequences of his actions.
Then there’s how it affects Rory. For one thing, she’s already on edge at the news that Dean is getting married. That alone feels like an odd choice from the show. There’s been hints that Dean is a little old fashioned, so it’s not totally out of character or anything, but at the same time it feels sudden, and I guess it’s supposed to. Something about it strikes the wrong note, but I’m not 100% sure what.
That said, what is just as brief but strikes a much better note is the terse, tense interaction between Lorelai and Emily. I really like how Lorelai is at some combination of feeling guilty and missing her parents, and how Emily is still hurt and affronted by all of this. Emily’s recollection of their relationship before the situation with Rory’s school is damning and painful in how accurate an assessment it seems. Theirs is the relationship I’m most invested in on this show, and I’m really curious to see where they’re going with this.
But back to Rory, there’s a nice scene where she vents her frustrations about Jess and how he’s not open with her to her mom (and Lorelai is nicely and understandably fixated on the “in Kyle’s bedroom” part). I like the idea of Rory realizing that the fantasy of having the bad boy boyfriend doesn’t quite match the reality of it, and again, the upshot of that being that she can’t go to prom with Lane (or at least, not with Jess) is an interesting way to dramatize that. The bus ride with him off to wherever is a little The Graduate, but also represents an appropriately terse, wishy washy way for their relationship to (seemingly) go out. It’s another kind of headscratchy episode, but we’ll see where the show goes in the last two eps of the season.