Reasons Jess is Going to Fail Junior Year

His grades are poor

He doesn’t do homework

He doesn’t participate in class

His attendance record is erratic

His attitude to teachers ranges from indifference to hostility

He shows no interest in school activities or fellow students

He stole all the baseballs

Principal Merton only tells Luke about all these issues one month before the end of semester! I don’t think it’s just Jess who’s been indifferent to his teachers – they sound like they’ve been indifferent to him as well. It’s almost as if the school has just been waiting for Jess to fail, rather than intervening to help or trying to engage with him – or talking to Luke about all these problems a lot earlier.

Schools really are quite useless in Gilmore Girls. Even if Jess was a model student for the next month, surely that wouldn’t be enough for him to pass, considering he’s had an entire year of doing nothing?

By the way, notice that Principal Merton’s observation that Jess isn’t interested in social activities or making friends at school is very similar to the criticism Mrs Verdinas had of Rory not socialising at Chilton. One might be failing while the other is maintaining a straight A average, but Rory and Jess have more in common academically than people think.

Rory’s Weekly Phone Call from Christopher

In “It Should Have Been Lorelai”, Sherry says that Christopher phones Rory every Wednesday night at 7 pm. Now he is phoning her at 6.45 on Wednesday morning.

Rory is busy getting ready for school in the morning, how does she have time to talk on the phone? Christopher even says that he can’t talk for long, but he’s sent an email, and to add an extra 40 minutes onto next week’s call. There’s no way she can chat on the phone for 40 minutes before school. It seems as if Christopher has figured out a way to make his weekly phone call just a quick check-in. He is the king of minimal effort fathering.

The Yearling

LORELAI: You chose The Yearling again?

TAYLOR: It is a fine, wholesome motion picture. Moving story, lovely scenes of nature.

The Yearling, 1946 dramatic family film directed by Clarence Brown, based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. It stars Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman, and was filmed on location in the Ocala National Forest in Florida. The film is about a young boy, played by Claude Jarman Jr, who adopts a troublesome deer, the “yearling” of the title.

The Yearling was praised by critics as a heart-warming family film, and was the #9 film of the year at the box-office. However, high production costs meant that it didn’t actually make a big profit. It won three Academy Awards, including a Juvenile Award for Claude Jarman Jr. A television adaptation was released in 1994.

Note that we later learn in this episode that when Taylor says, “Moving story, lovely scenes of nature”, he is quoting from the description given in the film catalogue.

After Lorelai complains that Taylor has chosen The Yearling for the past three years for Movie Night in the Square, Taylor unexpectedly gives her the job of choosing the movie instead, saying she has never volunteered once to help with this event (which is surprising to learn, since Lorelai loves film, and volunteers for most community festivals).

“She likes Jess, doesn’t she?”

[Lorelai pulls up to the house and finds Dean sitting on her front porch]

LORELAI: Dean.

DEAN: She likes Jess, doesn’t she?

Dean has done what Lorelai suggested, and only sent Rory one pager message in two days – presumably the one she gets as they drive into Stars Hollow is to ask how the Business Fair went, and he is considerate enough to wait until Rory is likely back from her grandparents’ place.

Lorelai suggests that Rory should call Dean back, as a tacit reward for his “good behaviour”, but Rory says she’ll call him the next day. She’s heading over to spend time with Lane, and they might even sneak out to Luke’s. Mrs Kim is away at an antiques fair, and Lane’s grandmother, who must be Mrs Kim senior, her father’s mother, is babysitting, but conveniently goes to bed at 6 pm – this might explain other times Lane has mysteriously been able to go out late at night, such as Madeline’s party.

Lorelai returns home alone to find Dean sitting on their porch, waiting for Rory. (So much for not turning up uninvited any more!). Seeing that Rory isn’t with her mother, a depressed Dean gives voice to his worst fears as he says, “She likes Jess, doesn’t she?”.

He understands what Rory has not given herself permission to feel. And yet, despite knowing that Rory’s affections are now otherwise engaged, he continues to try to hold onto her, in exactly the same way that Lorelai told him he shouldn’t.

“This whole week”

RICHARD: This whole week, this whole experience with Rory and the locker first aid kit – that is a damn good idea, by the way, no matter what those yarnheads at that school of yours say. Anyway, this whole week made me realize something – I don’t want to be retired.

When they were first discussing the Business Fair, Rory said they had three weeks to prepare for it. Yet Richard, who helped them develop and market a product right from the beginning, says that he worked with them for a week.

Richard retired in December and finished at work in January, being restless and miserable ever since. Now in April, he decides that he’s had enough of retirement and wants to return to working life in some capacity. After a winter of discontent, Richard is ready to emerge in the spring to begin life anew.

“Nothing but politics and religion”

RORY: Please help me out tonight – no mention of work or Chilton or school or retirement.

LORELAI: Nothing but politics and religion, got it.

A joking reference to the old saying never to discuss politics or religion in company, as these topics can lead to some heated arguments. Lorelai means that these supposedly contentious subjects are far preferable to discussing work, school, or retirement with Richard.

“It’s for the children”

RICHARD: This has nothing to do with me, it’s for the children!

CHARLESTON: But they’re not the ones who are causing the public scene right now, you are.

Yet another public meltdown by a disappointed Gilmore when they don’t get their own way. Richard has been stressed and unhappy for at least the past seven months, and Rory’s group not winning the Business Fair after all their hard work is the final straw.

“Feel better now?”

MICHEL: Now she knows I’ve been hiding something from her. Suddenly she’s asking questions. Why did I leave France at eighteen? Where do I go at night? Who are my friends? What do they do? Where do they live? Why have I chosen this career? On and on and on and on – it never ends! I can’t stand it, she’s a complete pain. She won’t stop. I took a six hour bath last night just to escape the incessant nagging. You did this to me! You turned my Giselle into a mother, and I hate you for it! I hate you very, very much! [leaves]

SOOKIE: So, feel better now?

LORELAI: Yeah, I do, thanks.

Lorelai is jealous of Michel and Giselle’s relationship as both a daughter, unable to spend time with Emily as Michel does with his mother, but more importantly, jealous and possessive as a parent. She has to ruin things for Michel because only Lorelai and Rory can have the “perfect” mother-and-child-yet-best-friends relationship. Sookie’s question suggests that she understands Lorelai’s feelings (although perhaps doesn’t approve of them), and has seen this coming.

Lorelai Talks to Dean

Lorelai gets home from work and finds Dean washing Rory’s car while he waits for her to come home from school (he forgot that she had to stay late again). Lorelai takes Dean into the kitchen, and suggests that he give Rory a bit more space, advice which he promises to take. This is the second relationship Lorelai meddles in, within a single afternoon, and yet another scene of Lorelai looking inappropriately flirty with Dean, rather than maternal.

Richard and Paris Get Along Well

Rory is amazed that when she and the other students arrive at the Gilmore home in Hartford, Paris is already there, and greeting them as if it is her house. She and Richard clearly hit it off, and she seems to easily fit in with his plans and expectations, taking a prominent role as if she has indeed usurped Rory’s position as both group leader and granddaughter – although Richard is quick to remind everyone of Rory’s status.

This is an early hint that Paris has an affinity with older men – something which will become apparent later.

Rory says that the meeting takes place soon after 3.10 pm, but the school day doesn’t finish until 4.05 pm. This suggests that they are working during class time, even though they are meeting at Richard’s house. I’m not sure how they got permission for that, or if they even bothered to get permission. Maybe Emily fixed it up, since she is friends with Headmaster Charleston’s wife, Bitty.