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Gilmore Girls: The Great Stink
by Joel Keller, posted Oct 24th 2006 10:17PM
(S07E05) Even though Gilmore Girls fans have complained about everything that has occurred from the beginning of Season Six until now, they have to admit that the best thing to come out of this somewhat fallow creative period of the show is a character that was introduced early last year: Paul Anka.That neurotic dog has been the source of a lot of comedy the last year and a quarter, hasn't he? Hearing Lorelai reel off all his fobiles in the opener of this episode made me laugh; he likes chewing a certain shoe, and will only catch tennis balls of a certain brand and color. How Lor keeps these things straight is anyone's guess. And then, as she rattles them off, and Chris grows weary of the litany of doggie quirks, Paul Anka just lies there, like any dog, probably contemplating where he's going to sleep later on that day. It's a contrast that I've always found to be very funny.
This episode was very "Classic Gilmore," wasn't it? I think it's because they stayed away from the wreckage that is Luke's life right now -- like I've said before, seeing Luke's life play out without Lor in it, even as a customer in the diner, is just sad to me -- and concentrated on the couples of the moment, Lor/Chris and Rory/Logan. There was lots of flowy dialogue that had a certain lightness and rhythm that the writers have come close to getting this year but haven't really captured until this week. We could especially see it in the obligatory Lor/Rory phone call, where Lorelai keeps talking about the pickle stink that has invaded the town, and then gets chagrined when Rory tells her that Logan showed up out of the blue, so chagrined that Lor went "Brring, Brring," and pretended to start the entire conversation over again. Good stuff.
OK, on to Rory and Logan. Those annoying "Aerie girls" that yammer about the episode in an ad immediately following the show actually made a good point this week: if Logan loves Rory so much, why does he only manage to come back and visit when he happens to be making a business deal at the same time?Think about it; as romantic a gesture as his surprise roof appearance was, he essentially squeezed her in between meetings, didn't he? And when he closed the deal and invited her to New York to celebrate, she had to put up with dinner with "the guys" on his team... one of whom, Bobbi, happens to be a leggy, gorgeous blonde (with that oh-so-sexy British accent); Logan conveniently never mentioned Bobbi's lack of an Adam's apple to Rory, if you recall. Then, when Rory rightly expresses her disappointment in the evening, Logan somehow manages to get her turned around to the point where she's blaming herself for being such a Neurotic Nelly. Damn. He's good.
Rory's got a problem: she loves the fact that Logan's becoming more responsible, but the problem is, he's now becoming more like his a-hole father. Wouldn't be surprised to see this play out more over the next few weeks.
The Great Stink was a nice way to get the town involved in things, even if it was barely involved. At least we got a glimpse of Luke (wearing an adjustable CT Defenders cap this time). It also gave us an excuse to see a town meeting, which we haven't seen on GG in a while. And it got Sookie and Michel out of the Dragonfly for a change. But it really didn't add much to the show beyond an interesting joke at the end, as the reunited Gilmore family drives back from Friday Night Dinner. The pickle-smell-complementing pastrami Sookie was making did sound delicious, though...
As I said last week, as much as we hate to see Chris and Lor together because it ruined Luke and Lor, you have to admit the two of them have a great chemistry. Lor is not blameless in the breakup of her old relationship, but that's not what you're seeing here. Here, Luke is a dope who wouldn't listen to Lorelai, while Chris, who's "changed," is now open and honest about everything. Yet, we don't really hear anyone tell Lorelai that she spent the entire year last year not telling Luke how she felt; by the time she did spill out her feelings, their relationship was beyond repair. So, if Lorelai thinks that telling Chris that he shouldn't send off his daughter Gigi to stay with her mother (and Chris' ex) in Paris is the same thing she did with Luke, she's sadly mistaken. What I'm not sure of is whether the writers aD
- Dave Rosenthal must like Lisa Weil, because he and the staff gave Paris another funny speech. As Paris lobbies Rory for temporary control of the paper while Rory is out seeing Logan, Bill tells her that they didn't give Captain Bligh another after the mutiny on the Bounty. She replies, "Of course they did. Multiple ships. And by the time he died they promoted the guy to rear admiral. Do you think the British Royal Navy was able to rule the world in the 19th century by letting that much natural talent and leadership capability go to waste because some whiny complainers wanted more grapefruit and less scurvy?"
- Richard's story about his mistaking a student's reference to Franz Ferdinand as a true interest in historical assassinations and not an interest in alternative rock was funny, if a little forced.
- Also forced was the banter between Emily and Richard. I think they were just so delighted to see Lor and Chris together they decided to just babble on and on. Emily thought Lor was being "delightful", but Lor was just pissed at Chris. When they resolved their argument -- they're going with Gigi to Paris -- then, incorrigible Lorelai comes back, breaking out the pictures of Emily at the police station. Nice.
- My favorite Emilyism? "Derelicts. The word is derelicts."
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