Category: S2Ep22: I Can’t Get Started

I Can’t Get Started

At the end of the episode, Sookie and Jackson’s wedding is about to begin, as we hear the strains of their wedding song, “I Can’t Get Started”, previously discussed.

The episode nears it conclusion with a shot of Rory and Lorelai, locked in their own secret relationship difficulties, neither sharing them with the other, as they have to focus on the wedding. Rory has secretly kissed another boy while on a date with her boyfriend, and still looks shellshocked by her own action. Lorelai is heartbroken over being dumped by another woman’s boyfriend, who is going back to be a father to their unborn child – something he could never muster the energy for when it came to Lorelai’s daughter.

The song “I Can’t Get Started” is written from the perspective of someone who is successful in every possible outward way, yet they don’t have a hope of beginning the relationship that they want. In the same way, Lorelai is a successful mother, homeowner, community participant, and businesswoman; Rory is a successful student, journalist, debater, and now Vice-President elect at a prestigious private school. However, success in romance is eluding them. It’s the complete opposite to the end of Season 1, which concluded with both Lorelai and Rory infatuated with their respective partners, and bubbling over with happiness and excitement.

“Sherry’s pregnant”

CHRISTOPHER: Sherry’s pregnant … She just found out and she called me as soon as she found out, and that was her calling to tell me that she found out.

Christopher comes to see Lorelai who is standing on the bridge, waiting for him (another mention of bridges as significant emotional spaces). He tells her that Sherry has called him on his cell phone to tell him she has just discovered she is pregnant – I presume she used a home pregnancy testing kit, as it’s a Sunday.

Oddly enough, Lorelai says, “Women all over the world will line up to see that tiny little woman fat”. Sherry isn’t a tiny little woman, she’s only a few inches shorter than Lorelai, and Lorelai is slim as well. It makes Sherry sound like a stick-thin five foot tall waif, which she isn’t. Not to mention the bizarre thinking that equates being pregnant with being “fat”.

Apparently all the terrible problems Christopher and Sherry were having were not enough to stop them from having (unprotected?) sex. It does beg the question, did Sherry even know they were supposedly having problems and Christopher was thinking of moving out? Maybe all she did was go away on business for a month or so, and Christopher used that as an opportunity to weasel his way back in to Lorelai’s life, telling her some story about how he and Sherry were practically broken up.

As a huge slap in the face to Lorelai, Christopher is going back to Sherry because she’s having a baby. Christopher was never around while Rory was growing up, and he’s apparently never forgiven himself (zero evidence of that, but whatever). He can’t make that mistake again, so it’s back to his girlfriend that he doesn’t love, so he can be a father to their child. (This is actually a terrible basis for a relationship).

It doesn’t make any sense, because he could still be a good father to his second child without going back to Sherry (and I bet while telling her nothing of what he’s been up to with Lorelai in the interim). For that matter, he could have been a good father to Rory while not being with Lorelai all this time.

Notice that when Rory questions why her dad has a work phone call on a Sunday, he responds, “Hey, I have a lot of responsibility now”. Little did he know how true those words would turn out to be!

Rory Kisses Jess

After her father leaves to answer a phone call, Rory suddenly sees Jess, and discovers he has moved back to Stars Hollow. Only a complete idiot would fail to realise it was to see Rory again, and Rory isn’t an idiot. She kisses Jess, warning him not to tell anyone what happened, then runs back to her boyfriend Dean with a cheery, “Welcome home!”.

Yep, falling in love with a Gilmore girl isn’t any picnic. Just ask Dean.

The kiss with Jess in this season finale is a counterpart to the kiss Rory had with Dean in the finale of Season 1 as they reunited after breaking up. The first kiss had Dean looming over Rory and grabbing her almost roughly, as if taking possession of her (Jared Padalecki’s height partly explains this). The kiss with Jess, another reunion, is far more gentle and intimate, much more romantic. It feels more like Rory giving herself to Jess, rather than allowing herself to be taken.

Alexis Bledel and Milo Ventimiglia were a real life couple during the filming of the show, which is one reason why it appears far more convincing. They are almost too comfortable together for a first kiss.

Lorelai and Christopher Tell Family They are Back Together

At the wedding, Lorelai lets her parents know that she and Christopher are back together – even though Christopher still hasn’t broken up with his girlfriend, Sherry! A teensy detail that nobody even bothers asking about or suggests might need a little more thought (or at least waiting for Sherry to get back from her business trip).

While Emily and Richard are quietly pleased about the news, Rory is by no means automatically thrilled about getting Daddy Dearest back in her life. In fact, she is justifiably suspicious of his motives, saying that both she and Lorelai have been waiting for this for a long time, and they cannot take another disappointment from the ever-disappointing Christopher.

Amusingly, she warns Christopher, “We take disappointment extremely hard. I mean it. Property damage is often involved”. In the next season, Rory and Lorelai will resort to property damage due to their romantic disappointments. It’s also a foreshadowing of Rory’s even more spectacular disappointment and property issues later on in the story.

Prince William

RORY: Paris, how did you get this number?

PARIS: Oh, relax. I won’t call you on Prince William’s precious phone again.

Prince William (born 1982), member of the British royal family, and since birth, second in the line of succession to the British throne. In 2002, Prince William was enrolled at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and considered one of the most eligible young bachelors in the world. (By the next year, he was dating fellow student Catherine Middleton, who would eventually become his wife).

Paris never says how she got Dean’s cell phone number. Presumably she had a snoop at Rory’s pager some time.

Paris and Rory Win the Election

Paris rings Rory on Dean’s cell phone while they are at Sookie and Jackson’s wedding to tell her that they have won the election. It’s a rather strange scene, because it shows Paris at Chilton, with what looks like students and teachers busily counting the votes for the school President elections.

But the election was on Friday, and it’s now Sunday – have they been counting votes all weekend? Couldn’t this have waited until Monday? And why does it take all weekend – surely Chilton doesn’t have that many students?

Also, they clearly haven’t finished counting votes, they are still working at it. And this isn’t a recount either, because the scrutineers are taking the votes straight from the original boxes. How does Paris know she has won already? Is there a tally board up somewhere, so Paris can see that she already has an unbeatable lead?

And Paris says the real clincher was that they got the votes from the school band, which was always a wild card, as the academic clubs were something they could count on. Do all the clubs vote en bloc, or does each particular club get one collective vote (which is obviously very undemocratic?). And how does Paris know all this? Isn’t the voting a secret ballot?

Walkin’ After Midnight

The song sung by Kirk at the wedding. It’s a country pop song, written by Alan Block and Don Hecht in 1954, first recorded by Lynn Howard with The Accents in 1956.

It is best known for the version sung by country music artist Patsy Cline, first performed in 1957 on the television show, Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts. Despite Cline not liking the song, she won first place in the TV contest, and there was such a strong audience response to the song that it was rushed out as a single within a month.

“Walkin’ After Midnight” became Patsy Cline’s first major hit, selling over a million copies, and reaching #12 on the charts, #2 on the country music charts.

The song is about someone so lonely after a breakup that they go for long walks in the early hours of the morning, unable to sleep for the misery. It’s a suitable choice for Kirk, who had earlier confessed his loneliness to Luke.

You’re Just in Love

The song Miss Patty and Babette together at the wedding, while Morey plays piano. It’s a popular 1950 song by Irving Berlin, first performed by Ethel Merman and Russell Nype in the Broadway musical Call Me Madam; Merman later reprised her role for the 1953 film version, featuring the song as a duet with Donald O’Connor [pictured]. The song has been recorded several times, most successfully by Perry Como and the Fontana Sisters, who reached #5 in the charts for 1950.

The lyrics of the song give the message, You’re not sick, you’re just in love – a callback to Rory crying that she must be “sick” to have cut school to see Jess in New York. Now Lorelai has done something even more questionable, and the song is telling the Gilmore girls (and Jess?) that they’re not sick in the head, they are simply in love.

The Wedding is About to Begin

We get to see guests gathering for Sookie and Jackson’s wedding, which is being held at the Independence Inn. Everything looks pretty and romantic, with lots of colourful spring flowers everywhere. However, there’s plenty of quirky little details to provide some fun, including a sing-along around the piano.

Note that Lorelai and Rory are wearing blue bridesmaid dresses – the colour Lorelai predicted she would wear to Sookie and Jackson’s wedding on their very first date. We also see Jackson and his groomsmen striding across the lawn in their kilts.

Sookie and Jackson are going to be married under the chuppah that Luke made for Lorelai and Max’s wedding. So if you’ve been unhappy about the chuppah being relegated to a piece of garden decoration, here you go – it’s finally fulfilling its purpose. Decorated with flowers, it really does look very nice. Hopefully someone shows Luke a photo.

You might also notice that the minister performing the wedding ceremony is wearing a tee-shirt with a photo of Sookie and Jackson on it. They clearly went a little nutso with the photocopying from Jackson’s cousin. The minister isn’t either of the two ministers we’ve already seen in Stars Hollow, and is possibly from Jackson’s home town, as his family seemed to be more concerned about the religious conventions being followed (such as getting the children christened).

Some fans are disappointed that we never get to see Sookie and Jackson get married, or even walk down the aisle. However, the show is about the Gilmore girls, and everything is focused on their dramas, not that of side characters.