Special bonus notes: Episodes 7-3, 7-17
Michael Ikeda
themes of Season 7...
7-3 Lorelai's First Cotillion
One key theme of the first part of the season is how the aftermath
of the breakup with Luke has sparked self-doubt in Lorelai. This
self-doubt is expressed in several different ways. In this episode
it starts coming into play when Lorelai is thrown by her parent's
lack of reaction to her breakup with Luke. Which leads to a
realization that she actually wanted their disapproval. And
quickly spirals into Lorelai wondering how much of what she likes
and dislikes is simply a reaction to her parents.
(Note Rory's response to Lorelai's ramble about not knowing whether
she likes pop-tarts. Rory takes the one pop-tart Lorelai didn't
eat and says "I like pop-tarts.")
Then Lorelai attends the cotillion Emily organizes. And finds
herself actually enjoying it. When she returns she finds
Christopher just returned from his dinner with Rory. He tells
Lorelai that her loves her and that "You're it for me".
And later that night, against her better judgement, Lorelai calls
Christopher. Which leads to them getting back together, and
ultimately to their marriage. At every step of the way Lorelai's
own instincts tell her that the relationship isn't quite right, is
moving too fast. But she doesn't have the self-confidence right
now to trust her instincts.
And she WANTS to believe that she belongs with Christopher.
Another note. It's easy to see why Lorelai identifies with the
rebellious Caroline. But Charlotte (the one who attends the Friday
night dinner) isn't precisely a junior Emily. She likes Lorelai,
is apparently friends with Caroline, and is planning a very non-
cotilliony dance routine with Caroline and a third girl.
(Some other things that happen in this episode: Rory and Logan try
to adjust to their long-distance relationship. Lane tells Zach
about her pregnancy and they eventually rebond over their mutual
freak-out about the situation.)
7-17 Gilmore Girls Only
In this episode Emily, Lorelai, and Rory take a road trip to North
Carolina for Mia's wedding.
We see Rory preparing for life on her own, getting ready for
interviews, worrying about whether Lorelai and Emily can stay
"close -ish" without her there. (Note how Rory encourages Emily
to come along both on the trip and to the wedding itself).
Lorelai, meanwhile, is in the process of preparing emotionally for
Rory's departure. And (with the help of Mia) realizes the
similarity between how she's going to feel and how Emily felt when
Lorelai left. Which perhaps helps lay the foundation for an
eventual genuine reconciliation with Emily. And foreshadows the
scene in the finale where Lorelai lets Emily know that she's
planning to continue the Friday night dinners.
(Some other things that happen in this episode: Logan gets called
on his relapse into his old irresponsibility following a business
setback. He then decides to resign from his father's business.
Zach and Lane ask Luke to be godfather to their twins and their
twins are born.)
--
Michael Ikeda mmi...@erols.com
"Telling a statistician not to use sampling is like telling an
astronomer they can't say there is a moon and stars"
Lynne Billard, past president American Statistical Association
Rob Jensen
wrote:
>
>And she WANTS to believe that she belongs with Christopher.
That's what I've been trying to tell people for the past two years
about Lorelai's mistaken impulse to marry Christopher. IMO, she
didn't really need to say in Farewell, My Pet that she was more or
less in love with the idea of being in love with Christopher for the
entire duration of the series to the point that it finally hits her in
FMP. And timeline-wise, I think she's had the feeling of being in
love with the idea of being in love with Christopher since pretty much
the day that their parents debated whether she was going to have an
abortion or not. I would argue that the second Young Christopher
started talking about taking the job with his father -- ie: even
thinking of choosing to "do the right thing" and thereby give up his
free-spiritedness and any chance to follow his dreams and travel
around the world -- she immediately fell out of love with him, but it
took her another 22 years to figure out that that's what happened.
They reversed roles at that moment -- she stopped being the daddy's
girl and became a free spirt and seemingly paradoxically the good
parent while he failed at his intent to "do the right thing" and
instead became a weasley, troublesome young playboy (ie: Logan).
I know that there were a lot of Lor-Luke fans who were frustrated with
this part of the premise -- Chris is a jerk, why does Lorelai keep
letting Chris into her life when he just screws it up all the time.
And I think that they missed the point that Lorelai essentially had
blinders on from age 16 until Farewell, My Pet. She was literally
intoxicated with the idea of being in love with him and, thus, was
more or less objectifying him rather than treating him as his own
person.
Yeah, that's seemingly at odds with the sacrifice that she made by
making sure that he went back to the pregnant Sherry at the end of
season 2 -- especially given that episode's allusions to Casablanca
(allusions that, in some respects, were turned totally on their head
in French Twist and FMP. However, in retrospect, Lorelai was in the
throes of romanticizing and idealizing their relationship, feeling
that she was making "the big sacrifice" when she really wasn't because
she had yet to even recognize, much less confront, her non-existent
feelings for Christopher as a romantic partner.
But then again, that's why it's called cognitive dissonance.
-- Rob
--
LORELAI: I am so done with plans. I am never, ever making one again.
It never works. I spend the day obsessing over why it didn't work
and what I could've done differently. I'm analyzing all my shortcomings
when all I really need to be doing is vowing to never, ever make a plan
ever again, which I'm doing now, having once again been the innocent
victim of my own stupid plans. God, I need some coffee.
David E. Milligan
"Rob Jensen" <Shut...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:k365841r5m6j98h66...@4ax.com...
And we see some of that in "Lazy, Hazy Days..." when she goes into the diner (pretending to
be Mimi). She tells Luke Chris finally got it together, but now he's with Sherry, and Lor was
heartbroken --
"I always thought if he could just get it together, grow up - maybe we could do it. Maybe we could
really be a family, in the stupid, traditional 'Dan Quayle, golden retriever, grow old together,
wear matching jogging suits' kind of way. And then he did get it together - he became that guy. . .
and he gets to be that guy with her. Chris is gonna have a baby with his girlfriend. He's gonna
marry her. . .and he's gonna be there for her while she's pregnant and he's gonna be there with her
while her child grows up, and he's gonna be there for her while she does. . . whatever it is she
does. And I am in exactly the same place that I was in before."