3.13 - Dear Emily and Richard

[Nov78]

Hmm, it sounds like I'm in the minority at feeling a bit let down by this ep.  It left me with more questions than answers about Lorelai's past, as it really only showed a few key moments in Lorelai's pregnancy and Rory's birth.  For example, when young Lorelai and Christopher are looking at Rory in the nursery, he says "I guess we should get married now."  I would have liked to have seen when Lorelai decided not to marry him and his reaction to it.  Was he relieved, mad, hurt?  I also wonder if Chris had anything to do with Lorelai and Rory in that first year.  Did she tell him when she ran away?  I think these things would have had an impact on their later relationship.  I'm also curious about whether Lorelai ever considered not having Rory or placing her for adoption.  While I can definitely see her making the decision to have and to raise Rory, you would think that at least in the beginning a 16 year-old girl might be confused about what she should do.  I also share the sentiments of an earlier posting, where they said it didn't show how Lorelai made the decision to leave her parent's house.  I guess this would be too much to ask of an hour ep, which also had to work in all the stuff with Gigi's birth as well as other storylines.  Still, it did leave me wanting to know more.

One thing I found interesting about this ep was the early conversation between young Lorelai and Chris in which he convinced her they should skip college and go to Europe.  I always think of Lorelai as the really rebellious one who didn't want to do what her parents told her, but in fact at first she was the one telling Chris they had to go to college.  It doesn't sound like Lorelai completely rejected her parent's lifestyle and expectations of her until she decided to leave home.

This ep also gave me a better impression of Emily than in other eps.  Considering the social circles she was in, she was surprisingly supportive of Lorelai (that is in her own annoying Emily way).  You would think she would have thought like Christopher's mom and wanted to send Lorelai away so no one would know.  But instead she kept Lorelai at home and helped to raise Rory in the beginning.  It was pretty enlightened of her for the 1980s where things were still less liberal than now (and even now this would be fairly shocking in rich social circles I think.)

I didn't really love the actors playing either young Chris or Lorelai.  The girl didn't quite feel like Lorelai to me, but I think it would be hard for anyone to capture the Lorelai-ness that Lauren Graham does so well.  All things considered, she did a decent job.  I agree with what's been said that young Chris looked nothing like older Chris (David Sutcliffe is much better looking!), and his acting was so-so. 

[gilmoregfan]

i love thsi ep soo much... if you have the 3rd season on DVD go to extras for those are strings ponicho(rory's graduation) look at the deleted scenes and the second deleted scene is lorelai and rory walking around  the independence inn when they were closed and it shows a young lorelai (chelsea brummet) and a young rory (10 or 11) and they were talking about stuff and it was really cool. check it out!!!

[AussieGGFan]

I really cried during this episode. I actually bawled. I was only a couple of years older than Lorelai when i fell pregnant with my first girl,and it was a lot the same. My mother pushed me into marrying,and thats why im so glad she didnt marry Chris then and there.
I saw one of the later eps with Strobe and Francine in it,and Francine was still an emotional wreck. I wouldnt like to have them for my parents.
I really loved the way that Lorelai was there for Sherry though,even though it was hard for her to do.

[memorexia]

What is the song that plays while Lorelai puts on her headphones in the waiting room?

[Nov78]

What is the song that plays while Lorelai puts on her headphones in the waiting room?

I believe it's 99 Luftballons by Nena.

[soxgrrl33]

i loved seeing lorelai as a teenager. this was a really sad episode though, especially when you saw emily reading the note from lorelai. In the last flashback, where all 4 parents are discussing the future, and richard is very quiet, you really see just how distraught he was about the situation. He was very stoic though. i also loved seeing emily as bossy as ever.

[xAlisonx]

I couldn't figure out where I recognised Chelsea Brummet from, but she was Kelly in Drake and Josh. The one with the super-annoying laugh.

I love the flashbacks. They help you to relate to the charactors better and understand them easier if you know their past. And we did know...but it was cool to see it like this. =]

[Gilmore_Lover]

hahahahh conradv!
First of all: My favorite episode of all time.
Second that pic is hilarious.
LOVE that part.
had to rewind it 2,000 times.
Probably due to the fact that I'm a musical theatre kid myself...as I know Lauren Graham to be=)

[minilorelai14]

OMG i luv this eppy this was on the best eppy my fav! i luv flashbacks! there great not everyday u get to see a young lorelai and a baby rory OO SO CUTE!! LOL! but this was a great eppy and at the end lorelai and emily have a little moment there its great but its a wonderful eppy I LUV IT!!!

[LilMizPiper]

I really liked this episode. I really felt for Lorelai, it must have been hard. Chelsea Brummet is an amazing actress, I love her as young Lorelai! She bears a striking similarity to Holly Marie Combs so if they do end up having a Charmed Spin Off, I REALLY hope Chelsea plays Melinda Halliwell!



See? She's totally Holly's double!

I also felt really sorry for Emily . . . did you see her face when she was reading that letter? She's a brilliant actress.

Ooh! I love how Lorelai said Rory was perfect.

One of my very favourite episodes!

[Jaysfrontier64]

I just saw this episode yesterday and I really enjoyed the flashbacks.  Why didn't they do more flashbacks of Lorelai's younger days?

[kim_gilmoregirl]

This epi was so amazing and so sad. The flashbacks made it. It was so amazing to see what Lorelai went through. sad too. =/ I loved when Lorelai said "Have fun!" when Sherry was going into labor and rory was like "have fun?!!!"

[logansLover]

I was, I guess the way to describe it was hurt, emotionless by the end of this eppi.

Christopher wanted to be there for Lorelai and Rory, he was willing to do whatever it took to be there. And, I guess, aslong as my father lives, I will forever compare him to Christopher.  And it's not working out so hot right now.

But, I also would have liked to see more of their past together. To see Rory as a baby, and Lorelai with her. Did Chris stick around after Lor told him no? Was he there when she left? Did he know where she was going?

It was almost a tease having this eppi play, and seeing some of Lorelais past.

[superstarmonkey]

Am I the only one who thought that the young Lorelai was acting like a complete brat? I know we have seen the controlling Emily throughout the series so we are meant to assume she is like that when Lorelai is 16...but I didn''t seen any evidence of it in the episode. Ok, maybe she was slightly controlling with the portrait, but Lorelai was acting completely spoiled and horrible without us seeing why.

The episode needed Emily to be 'insanely manipulative Emily' to show us why Lorelai had to run away. If I had never seen G.G before this episode I would have put young Lorelai in the wrong.

[bingbong]

Am I the only one who thought that the young Lorelai was acting like a complete brat? I know we have seen the controlling Emily throughout the series so we are meant to assume she is like that when Lorelai is 16...but I didn''t seen any evidence of it in the episode. Ok, maybe she was slightly controlling with the portrait, but Lorelai was acting completely spoiled and horrible without us seeing why.

The episode needed Emily to be 'insanely manipulative Emily' to show us why Lorelai had to run away. If I had never seen G.G before this episode I would have put young Lorelai in the wrong.

The flashbacks were very selective in what they showed us, a tease, and i also wonder why we did not see more first-hand evidence of the manipulative Emily, as superstarmonkey pointed out. The series has always had enough complexity to show Emily’s side on occasion (for example when Richard once revealed that she was in bed for a month after Lorelai ran away), but this would have been an obvious time to show exactly what Lorelai was running from. I have never really doubted that Lorelai was smothered by Emily’s domineering ways while growing up, and i took her sharp mouth as a defense mechanism against Emily. Not that i've ever assumed Lorelai was an angel, but such an environment can breed rebellion. I don’t know if young Lorelai came across in the flashbacks as a brat or if she was just being her usual quick-witted self, which has its obnoxious side at times. Interesting that before the pregnancy Chris was the one talking about going off to Europe and sleeping on a bench while Lorelai was the one saying they had to go to college, as though she reluctantly accepted the plan laid out for her. But after the pregnancy Chris was now the one accepting the plan laid out by Richard and the other parents, while Lorelai rejected it.

I wish we had a scene where Lorelai tells her parents she is pregnant and seen their reaction, especially Emily. I’m guessing she would not have been the cool cookie we saw in the scene with Chris’ parents. In fact, in that scene i thought she came over pretty well, the way she would not allow Chris’ parents to put all the responsibility on Lorelai. Emily was the one saying they were equally responsible. I loved when she told Chris’ mother to “choose your words carefully.” Whatever she was feeling inside, outwardly she was defending her daughter to Chris’ parents, sticking up for the Gilmore name.