Lorelai Apologises to Emily

Emily goes to to the kitchen to get more bread (wherever is the cook or the maid during these dramatic kitchen scenes? Do they just happen to be on a break in the middle of a meal, or in the toilet? Is there another food preparation or storage room somewhere? Even weirder, are they just out of shot and actually present the whole time?).

Lorelai apologises to Emily for not trusting her motives in helping, saying that she isn’t used to people doing things without strings attached. Emily immediately realises that Lorelai is talking about her and Richard, but Lorelai continues thanking her, saying she didn’t have anywhere to turn and was all out of ideas, and that she doesn’t know what she would have done without Emily. Hm, maybe she needs to thank and apologise to Rory as well now?

Emily thanks Lorelai, and then gives her parting shot – with a wicked smile, she tells her the DAR will be holding all their meetings at the Independence Inn from now on. She leaves, seemingly without the bread she supposedly came in for. Emily wasn’t joking either. A year later, there is mention of the DAR meetings still being held at the inn.

Of course, the DAR would have been free to book the Independence if they wanted to anyway, and Emily has organised things so that the inn Lorelai manages gets more business. It’s up to the viewer whether she has really taken revenge on Lorelai, or is trying to give her even more help. Or both!

Note how beautifully this scene is composed and shot, and that here is the colour red again to indicate strong emotion. Lorelai in red with a red light on her hair, vase of red flowers, red strawberries on the cake, little red desserts, red grapes, a red pepper in the fruit bowl (slightly oddly). Only Emily remains in cool blue and silver, her emotions under control.

Be True to Your School

This is the song that the Town Troubadour is singing at the end of the scene, just as Rory and Lane walk off together, and most people are leaving.

It was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the Beach Boys, released as a single from their 1963 album Little Deuce Coupe. It is an early example of a concept album, as all of the tracks are about cars in some way.

The song talk about being proud of your school, and not letting people look down on it, and specifically refers to cheerleading as part of showing school spirit. Each line of the song’s coda begins with “Rah rah”, like a cheerleading chant. The show focuses so much on Chilton, Rory’s school, and this is rare chance for Stars Hollow High School to be showcased.

The Troubadour seems to singing the song for all the school, but especially the cheerleaders, and perhaps Lane in particular. She hasn’t had much to be proud of, with golden girl Rory getting all the plaudits, so being able to feel proud of her cheerleading and her school seems pretty important. It’s the first time Lane has made a deliberate choice to break away from Rory and start leading a life of her own – and it’s something involving music, which she loves. It might be only “one step step beyond”, but it’s a significant one.

Rory and Lane Make Up

Rory and Lane make up their fight very quickly, with Rory saying that cheerleading seems fun, and that she can see that Lane is stamping her own personality on the team, rather than giving up her personality in order to fit in (which is possibly what Rory feared). Lane assures Rory she is the same person she always was, and they go for coffee.

I wonder if Lane really is unchanged, though? She went through a pretty rough time after Rory went to a new school and got a boyfriend, and she actually seems happier and more confident since starting cheerleading.

Lorelai and Rory Make Up

When they see each other at the school, Lorelai says that they got a loan, without disclosing that Emily helped her by co-signing for it. (Shades of the Pilot, when Lorelai asked Emily not to tell Rory that they were paying for Chilton).

Rory apologises for telling Emily about the termite situation, even though if she hadn’t, nothing would be different. And Lorelai does her usual song and dance about what a great provider she is and doesn’t need or want any help, even though Emily is the person who actually sorted everything out.

Lorelai kept saying that she would fix the problem herself, and even now insists that she never needed any help, but what exactly was her plan? She couldn’t get a loan from a bank, or even a loan shark. She refused loans from both friends and family. So what was she going to do?

It’s hard to see how this problem would ever be resolved unless she got help from Emily – which, thanks to Rory, she didn’t even have to ask for. But Rory receives no thanks, and actually apologises for helping!

And yet Emily is supposed to be controlling mother. Hmm …

Co-Sign the Loan

LORELAI: No, I mean it. I can’t leave without knowing there’s a way that I can save my house, so I’m just asking you to take five minutes and think of something, anything that I can do to get this money.
MILES: Well, you can get someone to co-sign the loan with you.

When someone co-signs a loan with you, they are promising to become responsible for your debt should you become unable to pay for any reason. It isn’t uncommon for parents to co-sign a loan for their child, especially for people who are too young to have built up a credit history yet.

Lorelai may feel embarassed that, even as a homeowner with a good job in her thirties, she still needs her mother to co-sign so that she can get a personal loan. However, Emily is showing quite a lot of faith in Lorelai, because if she did default on the loan and leave Emily responsible for the payments, it would damage her mother’s credit rating. Emily must trust Lorelai to be able to handle the loan payments herself, once she has been given a helping hand.

(Of course, Emily would never allow Lorelai to default on the payments – she would give her the money if necessary to make sure neither of them ended up in financial hot water).

Rah, Rah, Rah

[Rory walks up the porch steps]
LORELAI: Hey, uh, Dean called twice.
RORY: Rah, rah, rah. [goes into the house]

Rah, rah, rah is a typical cheerleader chant meant to create greater enthusiasm and excitement. Rory says it very snarkily.

Also note that Rory has only just had coffee with Dean, and had a short interaction with Lane on her way home. By the time she’s walked back to her house, Dean has already phoned twice before she even gets in the front door. That seems worryingly insecure, and even rather controlling. Rory’s ironic cheer may be a sign that she doesn’t welcome Dean’s constant calls.

Luke Tries to Loan Lorelai Money

LORELAI: Luke, that’s a loan.
LUKE: No, it’s just a temporary exchange of money for services that will be paid back when you finally have the . . . it’s a loan.

Luke makes an attempt to help Lorelai by advancing her the money to pay for the home repairs, as well as getting in a “good contractor” who did some work at the diner for him. I wonder if this is Tom the Contractor, who appears later in the show, and may be the same Tom who assisted Rory in her volunteer work for Rebuilding Together?

Lorelai thanks Luke but turns his offer down. She is refusing help from both family and friends, apparently determined to go it alone.

Rory Fights With Lane

In this episode, Lane has been mysteriously unavailable whenever Rory tries to catch up with her to share her news, such as her stellar PSAT results, or their termite disaster. While talking to Dean at Stars Hollow High School, Rory suddenly notices that Lane is one of the cheerleaders who are staying late for practice. Aghast by this discovery, Rory heads off for coffee with Dean.

When Rory sees Lane at the school on her way home, they have a confrontation. Rory is upset that Lane hid her cheerleader tendencies from her, while Lane says she couldn’t tell her the truth because she feared being mocked or Rory getting upset. Rory is actually quite rude to Lane, insulting her cheerleader outfit and reminding her that they always made fun of cheerleaders like Janie Fertman.

Lane points out that Rory isn’t around much any more, always being busy with Chilton stuff or Dean, that she wanted to try something new, and doesn’t have to justify her choices. This is all perfectly reasonable, and it’s great to see Lane get to do something for herself for a change. Rory is in a bad mood because of the fight with Lorelai, and gets in a temper with her, and it ends with both girls raising their voices at each other.

(In an episode about secrets, this is the third secret: Rory keeping her PSAT results a secret from Paris, Lorelai keeping her termite problem a secret from Emily, and Lane keeping her cheerleader secret from Rory).

“Stubborn like my mother”

RORY: You were saying that I’m stubborn just like my mother.
DEAN: I was saying that in addition to all of the wonderful amazing qualities that the two of you share there is possibly, on occasion, a similar tendency to dig your heels in.

Rory isn’t that stubborn, being keen to please others as much as possible. If Lorelai and Rory were both equally stubborn, they would fight much more than they do. It’s worrying that Dean considers a meek girl like Rory to be “stubborn” – just how much of a doormat does he actually want?

Lorelai and Rory Fight

Against Lorelai’s wishes, Rory tells Emily that their house is infested with termites, and they have no way to pay for the necessary repairs. Emily immediately gets out her cheque book, only asking to know how much money is needed. Lorelai turns her offer down, and afterwards freezes Rory out, refusing to speak to her or even look at her – this is a foreshadowing of how other, more serious arguments between them will play out.

This again shows how dishonest Lorelai was with Rory when she said they were a “team” and a “democracy” – but with Lorelai able to play the “mom card” whenever she likes, and Rory forced to obey her. Their fight ends with Rory being sent to bed like a naughty child, even though they have Friday Night Dinner at 7 pm. Considering that Lorelai was in no mood to hang around after dinner, it can’t be more than about 9.30 pm.