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.

“Michel ate pasta?”

GISELLE: I am. I will miss him so much when I go home, but thank goodness, he will have an extra five pounds to remember me by after eating all my pasta today, that dirty thieving boy.

LORELAI: Michel ate pasta?

GISELLE: Well, yes. Michel loves pasta, he eats it all the time.

LORELAI: Not around us. Here it’s all no-carb, low-cal, let me see if I can eat less than the lab rats do.

Michel and his mother Giselle are having a wonderful time together treating themselves to luxurious meals, and there must surely be some malice involved when Lorelai decides to “out” Michel as a fad dieter to his mother (it feels like a subtitute for a different kind of “outing”, and just as much of a betrayal).

When Michel and his mother leave together laughing and joking over coffee, Lorelai looks utterly disgusted by them, and mutters, “That is so wrong”. It seems that it’s wrong for any other mother to befriend her child and joke with them while pigging out and drinking coffee!

David Letterman’s House

LORELAI: Honey, you gotta ease up on that love potion you’ve been giving him or he’s gonna start showing up at David Letterman’s house soon.

In May 1988, David Letterman was stalked by a mentally ill woman named Margaret “Peggy” Ray, who stole his car, camped on his tennis court, and repeatedly broke into his house. Her exploits gained national attention, and Letterman joked about her on his show sometimes, but without ever naming her. Ray served 34 months in prison and psychiatric hospitals for stalking Letterman, but refused to continue her medication upon her release, and went on to stalk astronaut Story Musgrove. She killed herself in 1998. Both Letterman and Musgrove expressed sympathy for her – “A sad ending to a confused life”, said a spokesman for Letterman.

Another rather distasteful joke about mental illness and suicide, and the implication that it is somehow Rory’s “fault” that Dean is behaving so obsessively. There does seem to be a slight acknowledgement here from Lorelai that Dean’s behaviour is abnormal and unhealthy.

Business Fair Pitches

Louise – a lipstick tracking device (rejected as not unisex enough)

Madeline – locker robot to help with homework and carry stuff (rejected as too complex)

Paris – flashy locker first aid kits

Richard says that he loves Paris’ idea, and Rory, as group leader, immediately accepts it as the product they are running with. We never get to hear Brad and Chip’s ideas, which seems rather unfair. Neither of them protest though. Probably because they’re too frightened of Paris.

“I’m incredibly disappointed in you”

EMILY: So, tell me Richard, is this how it’s going to be from now on? … I just want to know what to expect from you. Because the bouncing from one thing to another, the moping and silence in your den for days, all of that I accepted … but your turning your back on Rory! … You adore that little girl, she means everything to you, remember? … Are you that lost? I’m incredibly disappointed in you Richard!

Rory asks her grandfather to be the group adviser for the Economics project, as Lorelai suggested, but Richard declines, saying he’s busy (restoring his antique car), and that Rory has given him very short notice. Really, because Rory said they had three weeks to prepare, and it seemed as if she asked Richard the very next day? Is three weeks short notice?

Emily is upset when she discovers Richard turned down the opportunity to help Rory, especially in her education – something which Richard values highly, and wants Rory to succeed at. Richard has been unhappy and rudderless since he retired, and now he has turned on his back on a chance to do something positive for someone he loves.

Emily lets him know in no uncertain terms how disappointed she is in in, and this appears to be the catalyst for Richard changing his mind and agreeing to be the adviser for Rory’s group.

No Parent Available to Mentor the Group

Their group has to find a parent with experience in business to act as an adviser and mentor for the business fair. Chip’s father has scheduling issues. Paris’ father is in Hong Kong for a month, but could possibly video conference – an idea Rory says no to. Madeline says her father is travelling; she doesn’t mention her stepfather, so I’m not sure if she still has one, or if she now refers to him as her dad? Her stepfather was in Japan last time he was mentioned.

Louise’s father is in court for the next six weeks on a mysterious charge. Oddly enough, when Paris’ dad was involved in some shady activity, it was a major, major scandal, she was a laughing stock at school, and her parents separated for a time. But now Louise’s father is in legal trouble, and nobody cares at all. Louise hasn’t even bothered finding out what he did!

Intra-school Business Fair

RORY: There’s going to be an intra-school business fair in three weeks. Each group has to come up with a consumer product that’s geared toward high school kids … So we pick our product and we make a prototype of it, then we use our imaginary million dollar budget to mass produce, market, and distribute it, and we’ll present all of this at the fair.

Rory quickly tells their group, and the viewer, what’s happening in this episode. Their Economics class has put them into groups to compete against the other Economics classes at Chilton at a business fair. They have to think of a product that high school students will buy, make a prototype that can be displayed, then use a fictional million dollar budget to manufacture, market, and distribute it, presenting it at the fair to be judged.

And the business fair is only three weeks away, so they need to get started immediately, yet somehow, they don’t seem to do that. A lot must happen behind the scenes.

Brad Returns to Chilton

RORY: So you’re back at Chilton now?

BRAD: Oh, yeah. My psychiatrist convinced my parents that I should face my fears instead of running away from them and my rabbi agreed, so here I am.

Brad is now back at Chilton, after transferring to Hillside Academy five months ago, due to being bullied by Paris. He told Rory that Hillside Academy was much more relaxed than Chilton, and he’d made tons of friends there.

If that’s true, what kind of sick psychiatrist would tell a teenager they should return to a stressful school environment where they were bullied, rather than one where they supposedly have friends, and are thriving enough to be on the debate team? And what kind of rabbi would back that decision up? And what kind of parents would agree to it, rather than sacking the psychiatrist at once and moving to another synagogue? Poor Brad. I don’t think Paris is his only problem in life.

“I thought it was, like, prayer time or something”

LOUISE: Oh, were we reading these now?

RORY: Yeah, that’s why we’ve all been kind of quiet for the past ten minutes.

LOUISE: I thought it was, like, prayer time or something.

Louise was originally the brighter of the two out of she and Madeline, and quite a good student. She seems to have been getting steadily dimmer, until she now doesn’t seem to understand that she’s meant to read educational materials when they’re handed to her. Chilton isn’t a religious school, so why she thought they’d be opening with a ten-minute private prayer session, I don’t know. Maybe she’s playing dumb so successfully it’s actually turned her brain.

Jess’ Handwriting

LORELAI: I know. Look how hard he worked on that sign and everything. Look at the handwriting, it’s so precise, so determined. It’s focused-Luke.

RORY: That’s Jess’ handwriting.

LORELAI: Really? How do you know Jess’ writing?

RORY: Oh, well, I lent him a book and he wrote some stuff in it.

Lorelai’s examination of Jess’ handwriting is a sign of how much more careful, focused, and determined Jess really is, deep down. That boy has hidden depths. Is it possible that it was Jess who convinced Luke to put a new special on the board – and if so, was it a tease for Rory, knowing that she usually orders French toast?

Lorelai also discovers that Rory can recognise Jess’ handwriting, and that’s because he wrote in her book – “vandalised it”, as Lorelai says. Rory is careful to say that she “lent” her book to Jess, not that he took it without asking, the very first moment he met her.

Note that the sign next to the chalkboard is for the Howland Mercantile Co., a reminder of Jess writing in the margins of Rory’s copy of Howl and Other Poems.

Surprisingly, Lorelai doesn’t seem to be able to tell Luke’s handwriting from Jess’, even though Luke writes on the chalkboard all the time. Unless Jess and Luke have the same handwriting?