Rory Invites Richard and Emily to Lorelai’s Graduation

RORY: As you know, Mom’s been going to business school at the community college out here for three years now … Actually, she’s graduating Thursday, and there’s going to be a ceremony and I think it would mean a lot to her if you guys were there.

Concerned that Lorelai is making a mistake by not inviting her parents to her graduation ceremony, Rory takes it upon herself to give them tickets herself on an after school visit for afternoon tea. She makes a very mature, calm and rational submission to them, and you can tell that her days on the debating team haven’t been wasted.

At the end, she addresses her grandparents as “Richard” and “Emily” when tea is served, to indicate both how objective she was trying to be, and that she was speaking to them as a friend and equal, not as a beloved granddaughter pleading with them for a favour.

She wishes them to attend Lorelai’s graduation ceremony because they want to, not because they feel manipulated into it, and I think Rory’s sincere attempt to make things right is the main reason Richard and Emily go to the graduation ceremony with such a good attitude.

“Twice a week”

LANE: Twice a week, on Wednesday and Friday nights at six o’clock, I could come and practice here …

SOPHIE: Please, go home.

LANE: I can’t. I can’t go home until you say yes. I have to rock, I have to! Please, I’m so begging you – let me rock!

Lane begs and pleads and cajoles and bargains, and finally gets Sophie to agree to let her practice twice a week at the music store in the evening. It’s an incredible gift Sophie has given Lane, apparently touched by her overwhelming need to live a musical life and with no one to help her.

Rory gets opportunities handed to her on a platter, while Lane has to beg a virtual stranger to let her practice drums. She’s not getting free lessons, she will have to teach herself, but at least she is going to be allowed to touch some actual drums on a regular basis.

According to Lane, her mother goes to Bible group alone on Wednesday and Friday evenings at 6 pm. In “It Should’ve Been Lorelai”, Lane has to accompany her mother to Bible class every Saturday morning, but Bible class and Bible group seem to be two different things. Perhaps Bible class is for instruction, while Bible group is for discussion. Throw in Thursday evening hymns, and most of the week seems to be taken up with religious activities.

Notice how Lane pleads with Sophie as if in the throes of passionate prayer. I can imagine Lane has prayed constantly for any chance to play music, and after many years, her prayers have been answered.

“My car hit the bench”

RORY: Right. Um, Taylor, listen, I just wanted to apologize to you … About the other night. You know, my car hit the bench that had your brand new Doose’s Market sign on it and I know how much that sign meant to you and I’m just so, so sorry that it was ruined.

Even though the footage showed Rory and Jess driving around with a lot of traffic on their way back from getting ice cream, we now discover that the actual accident occurred in Stars Hollow, when they were nearly home (where most car accidents are said to happen). We also learn that when Jess swerved to hit the small furry animal, he ended up hitting a bench on the sidewalk, which had an advertisement for Doose’s Market on it.

Despite footage clearly indicating that Rory and Jess were out on a busy road, I think we are supposed to believe that they were only driving around Stars Hollow.

Rory’s Letter to Dean

DEAN: What happened? What’d you do to your arm?

RORY: [hands him an envelope] Here.

DEAN: What is this?

RORY: Just read it.

Rory waits for Dean to come home from Chicago that evening, sitting on the porch, in a mirror image of when Dean waited fruitlessly for Rory to come home from Friday Night Dinner. When his dad brings Dean home, presumably from the airport, Rory hands him a letter where she has written down what happened to the car.

It’s a quick way to avoid lots of superfluous dialogue, but it makes Rory look a little cowardly that she couldn’t talk to Dean directly. Are we meant to think that she was too scared to talk to Dean, or that she didn’t feel confident Dean would listen to her all the way through?

Dean does read the letter all the way through, while yelling and kicking a duffle bag, which seems a bit threatening. However, once he is assured that Jess has really and truly left town, he just asks Rory to join he and his family for dinner. Later they watch TV with Dean’s sister, Clara.

It seems odd that Dean doesn’t have any other questions or comments about the accident or about the car – he seems to think the only thing wrong with his relationship with Rory was Jess, and now he’s gone, they can get back to normal.

Rory didn’t seem to have met Dean’s family in the first six months or so of them dating, but she is obviously very familiar with them now.

Jess Leaves Town

BABETTE: Last night, not long after the accident happened, Luke walked him straight to the bus station, stuck the kid on a bus, sent him home to his mom.

MISS PATTY: I can’t believe Luke would send him off like that.

BABETTE: Well, I heard the kid wanted to go. I don’t know. All I know is that Jess is gone.

While watching the film with Lane and her parents, Rory overhears Babette and Miss Patty gossiping, and in this way learns that Jess left town the previous night, after the accident he had driving Rory’s car. Luke walked him straight to the bus station and sent him home to Liz.

We never got to see the conversation between Luke and Jess, so we have no idea why Luke did that, or in what mood he did it. Babette heard that Jess actually asked to leave, rather than Luke throwing him out. Did Luke take Lorelai’s advice and get rid of Jess, or did he regretfully give way to Jess’ request that he go home? We don’t know for sure, but town gossip hints the latter is more likely than the former.

In real life, the last bus to New York City leaves Hartford at 10.30 pm, so Jess would have left Stars Hollow around 11.10 pm, and got to Manhattan some time after 1 am. That might suggest the accident took place somewhere between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm.

After all the town’s complaints about Jess, Babette and Miss Patty seem rather regretful that Jess has gone, saying that they don’t know what they will do for entertainment now (and Jess stole from Babette and pestered Miss Patty’s dance students, so they have personal reasons to wish him gone). It suggests that the town’s exaggerated hatred of Jess was mostly motivated by a desire to cause drama so they’d have something to focus on. Like old Louie Danes, Jess was a convenient sinkhole where they could throw all their negativity.

Lorelai keeps her face rigidly glued to the screen, trying not to betray anything by her expression, but she knows this can’t be good news for her friendship with Luke. Rory looks hurt and unhappy, and turns away from her mother, as if needing privacy for her grief (or possibly as if she is beginning to blame Lorelai for Jess’ departure). It feels as if Jess being gone will cause just as many issues for the Gilmore girls as Jess being there …

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).

“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.

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.

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.