[7.1/10] A nice, light bit of comic relief after some pretty serious business over the past couple of episodes. This is another one where we get an assortment of vignettes centered around a particular event rather than one cohesive story, but the little scenes were largely fun, and the “before and after” quality to them added a nice wrinkle. Let’s take each Thanksgiving in turn.
Thanksgiving at the Kims’ house was good for a larf. The delicate plan for Dave to seem like the perfect boy so that Mrs. Kim will approve led to some good Frasier-esque farce and subterfuge. The fake out with Mrs. Kim seeming to sniff out the ruse with Dave’s bible, and the whole thing leading to Lane’s first kiss proved to be a nice note to go out on.
The bit at Sookie’s was another light but laugh-filled outing. Sookie’s frustration in the first instance, and drunken resignation in the second, made room for some nice work from Melissa McCarthy. At the same time, the ceremony and hooting that followed Jackson deep frying the turkey was great.
The weakest segment was probably the meatiest -- where Lorelai and Rory go to the elder Gilmores’ house. The fast-paced patter among the assembled Gilmores and their guests was great, but it led to more ill-conceived intra-family drama in the form of reheated leftovers from the conflict a few days ago. I don’t mind the show revisiting that -- it was a big deal -- but little works or makes sense. Lorelai being this incensed and paranoid feels off even for her being particularly on edge about this topic, and the notion that Rory wouldn’t tell her mom that she’s applying to Yale before now seems odd. But hey, we get a nice Emily moment, so there’s that.
Lastly, the final Thanksgiving with the Danes boys is uneven. I love the deal with Luke, where he pretends not to care or be invested in the Gilmore Girls stopping by, but is clearly invested in it and has his nephew almost give him up on that front. But the Rory/Jess subplot about whether they kiss forcefully enough gets a little creepy with the older members of the community cheering them on, and then it gets tedious when Dean goes spoiling for a fight.
Still, on the whole, the episode is light on its feet, and even when it’s not quite clicking, it jumps from scene to scene and setting to setting too quickly for any bad taste to linger. It’s an episode that mirrors the smorgasbord of Thanksgiving nicely and that structure covers for some of its flaws.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-10-09T21:37:38Z
[7.1/10] A nice, light bit of comic relief after some pretty serious business over the past couple of episodes. This is another one where we get an assortment of vignettes centered around a particular event rather than one cohesive story, but the little scenes were largely fun, and the “before and after” quality to them added a nice wrinkle. Let’s take each Thanksgiving in turn.
Thanksgiving at the Kims’ house was good for a larf. The delicate plan for Dave to seem like the perfect boy so that Mrs. Kim will approve led to some good Frasier-esque farce and subterfuge. The fake out with Mrs. Kim seeming to sniff out the ruse with Dave’s bible, and the whole thing leading to Lane’s first kiss proved to be a nice note to go out on.
The bit at Sookie’s was another light but laugh-filled outing. Sookie’s frustration in the first instance, and drunken resignation in the second, made room for some nice work from Melissa McCarthy. At the same time, the ceremony and hooting that followed Jackson deep frying the turkey was great.
The weakest segment was probably the meatiest -- where Lorelai and Rory go to the elder Gilmores’ house. The fast-paced patter among the assembled Gilmores and their guests was great, but it led to more ill-conceived intra-family drama in the form of reheated leftovers from the conflict a few days ago. I don’t mind the show revisiting that -- it was a big deal -- but little works or makes sense. Lorelai being this incensed and paranoid feels off even for her being particularly on edge about this topic, and the notion that Rory wouldn’t tell her mom that she’s applying to Yale before now seems odd. But hey, we get a nice Emily moment, so there’s that.
Lastly, the final Thanksgiving with the Danes boys is uneven. I love the deal with Luke, where he pretends not to care or be invested in the Gilmore Girls stopping by, but is clearly invested in it and has his nephew almost give him up on that front. But the Rory/Jess subplot about whether they kiss forcefully enough gets a little creepy with the older members of the community cheering them on, and then it gets tedious when Dean goes spoiling for a fight.
Still, on the whole, the episode is light on its feet, and even when it’s not quite clicking, it jumps from scene to scene and setting to setting too quickly for any bad taste to linger. It’s an episode that mirrors the smorgasbord of Thanksgiving nicely and that structure covers for some of its flaws.