2.22 - I Can't Get Started

[lessa]

Hey, happy birthday! Looks like I wrapped up my dark week just in time.

Now, for a very special Gilmore Girls... we've secretly replaced Christopher's contraceptives with fruit roll-ups. Watch what happens.

But seriously, after the way Sherry introduced herself to Rory, I thought they must have been trying to get pregnant. She pulled him off his motorcycle, made him clean up, get a job, and clear his family baggage, she wanted a father for children. Actually, I thought the timing was pretty clever, since being pregnant and not knowing it can be the cause of lots of huge arguments. Seriously, not knowing you're pregnant is like having someone break into your brain and rearrange the furniture every time you blink.

I can see that the baby won't make their problems go away, and he should already know that it can't work with her if he's still in love with Lorelai. Even still, letting her come home and telling her he was still moving out, even if she's really sorry about the names she called him would just be too... heartless. And whatever he lacks in brains and sex education, Christopher is not heartless.

And if Rory's performance is any gauge, she feels the same way. Stupid but honorable, even when clumsily attempting to fall on her sword to be true to Dean. He's not pregnant or anything, he just really loves her, and falling for someone else wrecks that whether she wants it to or not. Like father like daughter? I wonder if Christopher's story would have run a little differently if he'd been handed a 6-week time out.

I appreciate that Lorelai put her favorite stationary forward when trying to apologize to Luke. I especially appreciate that she prefers the real Luke to the nice one. It wasn't completely her fault that Jess had to leave, but Luke lost Jess in the exchange all the same. It wouldn't have made any sense for him to let it go before things were okay between him and Jess again. He doesn't forgive people until things are fixed. It only becomes a problem when they can't be.

[bingbong]

Glad to hear you survived your dark week, lessa! Hopefully you'll find some light on the weekend.   
And now i have to get that fruit roll-ups image out of my head!

One thing i'll say for the timing of Sherry's pregnancy, the after-shocks provided plenty of juicy drama-drama-drama for the upcoming episodes. 

In "Deviled Eggs", Sherry and her friends make it clear that Christopher is the baby person and she is not. But i agree, it appeared she could have been grooming Christopher for a family. We only had outlines of what was going on with them, and it's easy for me to view her as a career-driven upwardly mobile control freak with no maternal instincts to speak of.  I wonder how honest she was with him about not being a baby person, if she was leading him along to think she was. Or, if she openly agreed to Christopher's dream of a family unit (presumably down the road, not at the time it actually happened), as a way of hanging onto him.

Much as i dislike Sherry, i don't know if it's quite fair to say she "made" Christopher clean up his act or do anything else. She got her claws in him, but he allowed her to re-mold him. I wonder how much Christopher was aware, perhaps sub-consciously, that his changes, supposedly for Sherry, would lead him back to Lorelai. The truly sad part for Lorelai is that Christopher's re-molding was what she was waiting for all along. Sherry unwittingly did her a service.

When Luke makes amends with Lorelai in the next episode, it's at the end of the summer, placing it at least a few months after Jess' return. Luke holding a grudge against Lorelai that long is a bit hard to swallow (on behalf of continuity issues caused by the break between seasons) and makes him look as hard-headed as Emily. But it also indicates how deeply he was involved with Jess' well-being and the hurt of knowing his efforts turned out badly. Luke was being hard on Lorelai but he was also hard on himself.

[lessa]

Mmmm, weekend...

Luke was being hard on Lorelai but he was also hard on himself.

Dirty! I suppose he was, in the sense that he was denying himself of her by not forgiving him. He didn't tell her that guilt over letting Jess down was holding him back, he just let her think he hated her for precipitating Jess's departure. Actually I thought his "I heard your apology, I feel I'm being polite" speech was Emily in the extreme. But later when he's talking to Jess, he shows how much of her angry rants and nosy remarks actually sank in.

I was talking about Rory's bondage trip with Sherry in "It Should've Been Lorelai" when she told Rory that she was considering single parenthood before she met Christopher. Before she actually had one, she reeeally wanted kids. If it hadn't been some sort of karmic destiny for Christopher, the idea of her walking out would have been pretty hard to swallow.

Lorelai, freedom junkie extraordinaire, had the insight at 16 that she wouldn't be happy with Christopher if he stayed with her out of a sense of duty. He never forgave himself for missing out on Rory's childhood, but leaving Lorelai single in the process wasn't exactly his decision.  Heh, maybe going through with his marriage plans wasn't his idea, either. It's sort of a funhouse mirror for Rory's dilemma, in which her guilt-ridden, duty-bound self wants to fulfill some abstract social obligation to Dean, but her real desire is to do exciting and dangerous things that defy her clean image.

Irony, though, is that Christopher's L&R-stopping duty/guilt comes from letting Lorelai down, but Rory seems more driven to redeem Lorelai's sins.

[bingbong]

That's right, i forgot about the earlier description of Sherry as desiring children, inconsistent with Sherry and her friends later describing her as not being a baby person. Looks like the writers were tinkering with her character as they saw fit. Either that or Sherry was trying to give a false impression to Rory, although i don't know what she would gain from it (the impression that she was very serious about Christopher?).

The thought that Christopher never forgave himself  for missing out on Rory's childhood is a stark contrast to Emily & Richard's feelings on the subject. They never forgave Lorelai.  I've always felt Christopher understood or at least respected Lorelai's decision, even as he has felt frustration at being shut out. My sense is that he felt guilty over the pregnancy and the ensuing trouble and came down hard on himself (no "dirty" intended!). Even as he wanted to be more involved in L & R's life and never gave up on it, he came to accept the way it was and perhaps felt he deserved his fate as the outsider. I never had the sense that he understood Lorelai was hoping or waiting for him to get his act together for their sake, at least not prior to "Christopher Returns"  - mainly because Lorelai didn't let on about it. Sherry was much more assertive about what she wanted and he recognized the opportunity to prove himself as a responsible adult capable of being a family man. He loved Sherry but not in a "true love" kind of way; she was the substitute and for a time he was willing to settle. We never knew the details of why he and Sherry went sour prior to her pregnancy but it's a guess that what they hoped would be everlasting was in fact the kind of relationship that lasts a year or two and doesn't have enough depth of feeling to continue further. They were perhaps both trying to force the relationship, Sherry for the sake of molding him into the guy she wanted and Christopher for trying to get the family life he missed with Lorelai. 

[lessa]

Well, as much like Emily as Luke can be, Christopher is a polar opposite. I'd always imagined their relationship was born as a safe haven from the soul-crushing parental criticism they faced. Both ran away, but Christopher kept running, all the way through a string of dead-end jobs and girlfriends, never staying in the same place long enough to set up a room for his daughter to stay in while she visited. Lorelai ran to something, but Christopher seemed so stuck in rebellion mode, always running away from his father's idea of manhood. It couldn't have been Lorelai to pass judgment and make a man out of him, she just can't be hard on him knowing what she knows.

I like the way their quasi-breakup played on her argument with Luke. At the first sign of trouble, she clammed up and went robot-polite on him. That was her window to firmly correct him, make him see he couldn't make it work if he didn't love her, or at least ask him if he loved her or if he was just doing it for absolution. Instead, she respected his choice and backed off because while she may not understand what makes a perfect 'ship like Sookie and Jackson tick, she does understand about freedom.

Then again, maybe she was seeing herself as a sort of Jess to Christopher's Rory, tempting him and wrecking up his potentially perfect life over her feelings, but unable to make him any real promises. Heh, wow, that's such a neat parallel, I can't believe I didn't see it the first few (*cough* hundred) times I watched it.

[katie_lou]

Well, as much like Emily as Luke can be, Christopher is a polar opposite. I'd always imagined their relationship was born as a safe haven from the soul-crushing parental criticism they faced. Both ran away, but Christopher kept running, all the way through a string of dead-end jobs and girlfriends, never staying in the same place long enough to set up a room for his daughter to stay in while she visited. Lorelai ran to something, but Christopher seemed so stuck in rebellion mode, always running away from his father's idea of manhood. It couldn't have been Lorelai to pass judgment and make a man out of him, she just can't be hard on him knowing what she knows.

I like the way their quasi-breakup played on her argument with Luke. At the first sign of trouble, she clammed up and went robot-polite on him. That was her window to firmly correct him, make him see he couldn't make it work if he didn't love her, or at least ask him if he loved her or if he was just doing it for absolution. Instead, she respected his choice and backed off because while she may not understand what makes a perfect 'ship like Sookie and Jackson tick, she does understand about freedom.

Then again, maybe she was seeing herself as a sort of Jess to Christopher's Rory, tempting him and wrecking up his potentially perfect life over her feelings, but unable to make him any real promises. Heh, wow, that's such a neat parallel, I can't believe I didn't see it the first few (*cough* hundred) times I watched it.

I like to imagine that it was Rory and her circumstances that made Lorelai stop running, physically at least. I think relationship wise we see that Lorelai is never willing to compromise which may be either her way of sabvotaging anything that ties her down or just a reaction to years of having to live how someone else wanted her to.
As for Christopher he moves between nice boy corrupted by Lorelai (Emily in season 5 who says that he's weak but nice) to High School Rebel (see season 6). I always thought that Lorelai's uncertainty towards Logan had something to do with Christopher. Rich kid who has been kicked out of more schools than anyone would care to know and who does things like jump off scaffolding or in Chris's case, smash the car his parents bought him for his 16th birthday hours after receiving it. And Lorelai doesn't trust Rory enough when it comes to her boyfriends to think that she can avoid making the same or similar mistakes that her mother did.

[gg crazy]

this was the episode i thought chris and lorelai were going 2 finnaly start dateing again. then when sherry told chris she was pregnant  took it out of the picture which wasn't good my opinon. and rory and kiss was one of the worst things 2 happen on the show.

[laurla205]

I know I’m way behind but I couldn’t resist posting on such a good/bad Lorelai/Christopher episode. 

Sorry to see that there no more new episodes and we still can’t kick that Evil Promo Guy!  Man, he’s ruthless.  And for the record I’m also having trouble ridding my mind of that fruit rollup image, yikes. 


I rewatched this episode with my husband last week, who has also seen this episode a few times, and he is a man’s man Luke fan.  Wouldn’t you know he couldn’t resist quoting Christopher’s ‘Sherry’s pregnant’ line all through the L/C scenes leading up to that heartbreaking moment.  I have to say, anyone - java junkie or not - who doesn’t feel at least a little swoony watching those scenes doesn’t know what he’s missing. 

Both Lorelai and Christopher’s excitement at maybe finally being able to give their relationship a real chance is endearing as is their amazement at being in the same place at the same time for once.  There’s almost a childlike wonder about them at the Dragonfly the night before the wedding.  You really see what makes the two of them work/mesh so well in those scenes as well as the ones right before the wedding.  It’s all too good to be true and it figures that Lorelai would have just gotten finished filling everyone in on their new relationship when Sherry dropped the bomb. 

I agree that when she was initially introduced to Rory, Sherry might as well have been planning to get pregnant on the spot (well not exactly).  She certainly made it clear that they had a five year plan and she was at a stage in her life that she had started to hear her clock ticking.  I hadn’t thought of the possibility of her planning the way the actual pregnancy went down (to save the relationship), though I also wouldn’t put it past her.  I don’t however give Sherry all of the credit for Christopher cleaning up his act.  He needed a partner who would believe he could be the man he wanted to be and Sherry did.  Let’s also not forget that he only went that route after being rejected by Lorelai for liking Metallica (no I won’t let that one go).  I think as much credit can be given to Lorelai for her kick in the face as can be given to Sherry for her willingness to believe in him.  My point being that no one can make another person change.  He wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t felt he was ready for that sort of relationship.

I also believe that it’s possible Sherry wanted to be a family person even if she didn’t really want it, if that makes sense.  It’s easy to say you want to have a family.  It’s easy to think you want to have a family.  It’s not so easy to face the life-changing reality of, and actually go through with, having a family.  Especially when the parents’ relationship isn’t right in the first place.  I think this is more likely than Sherry planning the pregnancy. 
 
I haven’t read this entire thread, it’s a little lengthy for reading at work so I’m not sure of the previous Christopher excuses.  I’d say his telling Lorelai it was over with Sherry is akin to fast forwardy town Dean telling Rory it was over with Lindsey.  I give Christopher extra forgiveness (especially over Dean) for a couple reasons.  The first being that he and Sherry weren’t married.  They were living together but that’s not quite the same commitment as being married.  Second, they had more or less both really just about given up on the relationship (as in it was actually discussed).  The way Christopher had presented it was that they were taking time apart.  There are only two outcomes that stem from returning from a relationship timeout.  One is that absence made the heart grow fonder and everything is sunshine and rainbows again.  The other is that nothing has changed and the relationship is still a wreck.  I’d venture a guess that the latter is the most common and it was confirmed to be the case here.  It would/could have ended in no harm no foul, had Sherry not discovered that she was pregnant.  Christopher should have completely ended things with her before getting involved with Lorelai and Lorelai should have made sure that had happened before jumping in with Christopher.  Though I didn’t get the impression that either of them were plotting for their relationship to take that course as quickly as it did. 

I fully buy that Lorelai saw herself as the Jess in this particular triangle.  I’ve been reaching for a parallel between Rory’s triangle and Lorelai’s and couldn’t get there.  I think you hit the nail on the head, lessa. 

Heh, Sookie choosing the wedding music is now one of my favorite scenes in this episode, I had the same problem.  Her night before freak-out was unbelievably sweet.  I like that it defied the stereotypical writer’s contrivance for this scenario (that being that one soon-to-be-spouse always freaks out and considers calling it all off).  It wasn’t that she wasn’t prepared to get married and considered backing out but that she was scared of the unknown.  I think that’s more accurately portrays what is behind most wedding day jitters. 

I can’t remember who mentioned this, Jim maybe.  Here’s my thing with Rory going to Washington.  I never understood why she told Dean that going to Washington wasn’t set in stone yet.  Because the way I understood it, from what she explained to Christopher in the beginning of the episode, was that if they got elected they had to go.  There wasn’t an option and it was actually one of the negatives for running as Paris’ VP.  I’m not saying that with the way things played out she didn’t prefer it to being in SH choosing which man boy she wanted, but I think she only portrayed it to Dean as optional in order to placate him (once again). 

Is it fair to crucify Rory yet now that she’s officially cheated on Dean?

[lessa]

Can we have a showing of hands, please, for everyone who waited until Rory had officially cheated before crucifying her? Anyone? Anyone?

Sorry about the Fruit Rollups, I was possessed by an evil, boob-obsessed fairy.

[gg crazy]

what??

[laurla205]

Can we have a showing of hands, please, for everyone who waited until Rory had officially cheated before crucifying her? Anyone? Anyone?

Rats, I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut.  I suppose patience really is a virtue.   

Sorry about the Fruit Rollups, I was possessed by an evil, boob-obsessed fairy.

Oh it’s a good ESPG (evil soap promo guy) statement, it’s just hard to get rid of the mental image      

[bingbong]

Can we have a showing of hands, please, for everyone who waited until Rory had officially cheated before crucifying her? Anyone? Anyone?

Sorry about the Fruit Rollups, I was possessed by an evil, boob-obsessed fairy.

I thought a vicious trollop was responsible for the fruit rollups.

What's wrong with an innocent friendish kiss as a way of saying welcome back? Star's Hollow is a friendly town.

If not for fast-forwardy land, i might have resisted a full-on cucifixion until Rory's road trip to New York. But she would have earned multiple fruit-rollup lashings prior to that. She will earn more lashings as soon as... the next episode!

[thevoid99]

You know, just as things between Lorelai and Christopher were going really good.  He definitely had to f*ck it up.

He's a f*ck-up!  He has this pattern.  He shows up, he plays dad, try to rekindle things, and then screws up.  Boy, the things Luke and Lorelai will tell their sons (if they have any) about what not to do.  "Do you want to be like Rory's dad?"  "NO!!"

Rory, now all confused that she's with Dean and has feelings for Jess. 

I think it's a great season finale.  Paris trying to run and win.  Sookie getting stressed and such.  I love this episode and finale.  It's one of those perfect episodes. 

[superstarmonkey]

It would/could have ended in no harm no foul, had Sherry not discovered that she was pregnant.  Christopher should have completely ended things with her before getting involved with Lorelai and Lorelai should have made sure that had happened before jumping in with Christopher.  Though I didn’t get the impression that either of them were plotting for their relationship to take that course as quickly as it did. 

I really believe that if Sherry had not become pregnant, that Christopher would have gone back to Boston to 'finalize the break-up' and would have actively persued a relationship with Lor that would have worked. Heck, I think they were both so ready and finally in the right place for this relationship that if HAD worked out, and nothing had got in the way, it would have lasted and perhaps *gasp*, there would have been no Lorelai/Luke.

Oh yeah, hi everyone. I'm back! I know I've been absent for the whole summer but now I'm here and ready to discuss/debate 

[JazzedPotato]

Hmmmmmz    Great epi, great scene where Rory and Jess kiss for the first time...

Ok so I just only recently saw parts of this epi scraped together what I found on internet and otherwise because unfortunately I missed it at the time it was first broadcast here (Holland) and the reruns stopped just before series 2..    

But I'd have to say even if I only saw partials this epi clearly ranks amongst my favs. I just really love the scene between Rory and Jess at Sookie's wedding (their first kiss).. I know a lot has been said and written about it, from both angles. But even the most Dean-loving crowd must melt at the sight of Rory and Jess in the midst of all that luscious green-pristine having their innocent yet passionate embrace.. I just love how Rory looks just before her leap of faith, finally surrendering, succumbing after she has fought for a long time to no avail because the battle was lost even before she began fighting...

I do think in her way she fought for what she had with Dean, only she could never win this fight - she was meant to move on. The thing she is accountable for imho is not recognizing this , owning up to and claim responsibility for it before... she surely should have after having kissed Jess of her own volition and quite passionately so... She should have ended things with Dean at least after this imo. I can understand her holding on to 'safe' and feeling secure, but this was not what she was looking for, all year before basically. She was being dishonest with everyone including herself, and yanking Dean's chain, which she did admit later on ('They shoot Gilmores don't they?') but that was little too late... I was always endeared by Rory and Jess (inspite of his obvious issues), could have even understood a little transitions-phase - after all you don't give up on your first love so easily, you want to hold on. But Rory should definitely have been more honest with both Dean-Jess as well as herself.

I can somewhat understand some people objecting to Jess going after Rory, but in all honesty she didn't do much to ward him off or give him signals she wasn't interested (fake-murder/snowmancontest/tisket-tasket basket, forgetting all about Dean, letting Jess stay for dinner with the care-package, kissing Jess at Sookie's wedding all out of her own volition..-to me this is most clearly shown by Rory's excuses to be with Jess : 'He only came to bring me food'', 'it's tradition', and then calling him afterwards). Rory more or less acted as a victim in all of this, and yes Jess persued her, but if Rory hadn't been interested in him, hadn't played along it would have never gotten that far..

At any rate it's one of my fav scenes of all GG.. Whatever your feelings/thoughts might be on Rory & Jess it's just such a sweet, endearing fragile scene where both Rory and Jess finally show their true feelings for the first time... before and later somuch got in between, here they are just pure and true, without all the stuff/ people surrounding, that makes this one of the best scenes ever on GG ..

Two Haiku's for this epi.. :


Stealing a sweet kiss
The grass seems greener in a
Wishful wedding bliss

Hollow words fail to
tell what lingering lips will -
kissing you were missed!