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Episode: There's the Rub ... Original Airdate: April 9, 2002 We open at Luke’s, where all hell is breaking loose while he completes renovations on his apartment upstairs. The ceiling is falling through and drywall is ending up in the customers’ breakfasts. And that’s just the beginning. We all know that a construction job is never ever finished on time. Meanwhile, Emily calls Lorelai and offers her a gift certificate for a weekend spa getaway. Emily won in it a charity auction and doesn’t want it. That is, until Lorelai makes it sound so good and gets so excited about getting pampered that Emily decides she’ll go too. So much for relaxation! In order to make the trip bearable, Lorelai schedules all her treatments in such a way so that she’ll only have to have dinner with Emily. Rory thinks her mom is being rude, but Lorelai knows it’s the only way to survive the weekend. And what about Rory, what is she going to do? Throw a big bash while her mom’s away? Yeah, right. Good girl Rory plans on doing laundry, ordering in Indian food and going to bed early. Lorelai is outraged and practically orders Rory to do something deviant. When Emily arrives to pick up Lorelai, she arrives in a chauffeured limo. Lorelai can barely stand it, but it looks like she has no choice. At Chilton that day, Paris is having yet another meltdown. This time she’s freaking in Chemistry class (she got an A- on a paper! It’s the terrible “minus” sign.) and desperately wants to find a study partner. The problem is, that it’s Friday night, so Madeline and Louise are definitely not available. That leaves poor Rory. Even though Paris fully believes her chances of getting into Harvard are in jeopardy, and even though Paris begs Rory for help, it’s a no go. Rory apologizes for not being able to help her tonight and then promises she’ll help Paris every day the week before the final. Meanwhile, Emily and Lorelai arrive at the spa and it’s just delightful. Emily loves it immediately while Lorelai is finding it difficult to fully relax and is preparing herself for having a bad time. The fact that the spa doesn’t have coffee (nothing with caffeine, in fact) means that Lorelai is not off to a good start. What is she going to do without her necessary jolt of java? If that’s not bad enough, Emily called ahead and made sure that all of their spa treatments were done together. So, all of Lorelai’s careful planning has been thrown right out the window. It’s bonding time! Back in Stars Hollow, Rory and Dean are in a serious lip lock but things are about to go sour. When Dean suggests that he pay a little visit to the Gilmore house since Lorelai is out of town, he is shut down. Rory explains that she really wants to spend the night alone so she can do laundry and eat Indian food. Dean is visibly upset that he’s being dissed for the washer and dryer but finally understands that it’s what Rory wants to do because she never gets the house to herself. He is such an understanding boyfriend, but maybe he shouldn’t be. Rory does say that Saturday is all about Dean, which makes him feel a little better. He claims that he’s not mad, a little confused, but not mad. As for Lorelai, she’s getting more disturbed by the minute. She discovers that Emily booked them adjoining rooms so they don’t have to go into the hallway to talk to each other. Before they head for their first spa treatment, Emily badgers Lorelai into putting on the spa robe, even though she’d rather wear her own clothes. Emily is bound and determined to enjoy this spa weekend, while it seems that Lorelai is bound and determined not to enjoy it. The next time we see Lorelai, she is all pampered and relaxed. But that’s because she’s in a room all by herself. When Emily comes in to talk about their next treatment, Lorelai looks like she’s going to have a breakdown. Emily just won’t stop talking! When the two of them get massages, Lorelai freaks out. Emily signed them up for a couple’s massage, a massage usually reserved for a romantic situation. Lorelai just wants to be alone for some of the treatments. Is that so wrong? Apparently it is. Emily is fed up with Lorelai’s sulking and sighing. She shouldn’t be wasting all her relaxation time acting like a petulant four-year-old. Lorelai apologizes and promises to be more relaxed. Later that night, Lorelai calls Rory to see what’s going on. Nothing at all. Rory is ordering food and sorting clothes. Lorelai wants to complain about her weekend, but Rory cuts her off so she can answer the door. Who could that be? It’s Paris. She’s having a breakdown and says she tried to stay home, but she doesn’t know what anything means anymore. She can’t even read her own handwriting. When she finishes ranting and raving, Paris realizes that Rory’s big night involved just a lot of laundry. She’s insulted and tries to leave. Feeling badly, Rory lets her stay and study, but for just one hour. Lorelai and Emily are getting ready for dinner, and, dare we say it, bonding a bit. Lorelai compliments Emily on her dress and Emily likes Lorelai’s lipstick. However, when the girls take a look at the dinner menu, they are horrified. There’s just a lot of steamed stuff and tofu. Yuck. Lorelai suggest they get the hell out of dodge, find a restaurant, and get a big steak. Emily is ready, and it’s a momentous occasion because mother and daughter have finally agreed on something. While Rory is helping Paris study, there’s another knock at the door. She thinks it’s her Indian food, but it’s not. It’s Jess. Apparently, Luke was worried that Rory would have no food in the house so he sent over a care package. Rory reluctantly lets Jess in and waits for him to leave. But he doesn’t. He wanted to get out of the construction mess for a while and starts making himself comfortable. (Which, in turn, makes Rory really uncomfortable.) When it seems that Jess is going to stay and eat with Rory, she invites Paris to stay and hang out. While Paris makes a call, Jess accuses Rory of asking Paris to stay because he thinks that Rory thinks they need a chaperone. Rory denies it up and down, but we think she really is afraid of being alone with Jess. At the restaurant, there is an hour wait, so Lorelai suggest they eat at the bar. Emily’s never done that but, why not? The girls saddle up to the bar, order some martinis and ask for a menu. They drink, they chat and actually have a good time. Then, Lorelai points out that a silver-haired fox is totally checking out Emily. This could get interesting. Back at Rory’s, the three of them are having a healthy disagreement about Kerouac and Bukowski while downing chow. It seems that Jess can hold his own when it comes to talking about literature, and Paris loves learning about the best way to eat fries. It’s all good until Dean calls and announces he’s making a brief visit. Rory tries her best to dissuade him (Dean will freak if he finds Jess there) but it’s not happening. Dean is on his way. So, Rory tries to do some damage control and get Jess out of there. Jess knows the score and teases Rory about the whole thing. But Rory really needs him to leave and asks, as a friend, if he’ll do it. He agrees, but he doesn’t agree quickly enough because as Rory is pushing Jess out of the house, Dean walks up and sees the whole thing. Rory immediately explains, saying Jess just stopped by to drop off food, but her frantic tone makes her seem oh-so guilty. And Jess, of course, just antagonizes Dean until he looks like he’s going to blow. Once Jess bails, Dean walks into the kitchen and sees that there’s been a feast going on for quite some time. He starts yelling, and Rory doesn’t know what to say. The fight escalates until Paris stands up and lies for Rory. She says that she wanted Jess to come over because she has a crush on him. And Rory set the whole thing up. Paris leaves immediately after weaving this large lie, and Dean asks Rory if it’s all true. Rory says yes, and Dean says that he believes her. If Rory says it’s true, then it must be true. But there’s something in Dean’s eyes that says he knows Rory is lying to him and he decides to leave. And when Rory kisses him goodnight, Dean doesn’t look like he wants to kiss her back. Rory is so thankful that Paris helped her out that she asks Paris to stay the night and have a little slumber party. Paris is surprised but touched. Rory might be the first real friend she’s ever had. As dinner progresses for Emily and Lorelai, they start having a really great time. Then, the silver-haired fox, Chad, approaches and tells the girls they look like they’re having more fun than anyone else in the place. He tries to charm Emily and ask her to dance, but she refuses. Lorelai encourages her mom to do it, so she does. And Lorelai has a ball watching her mom dance with a stranger. When the dance gets a little too close for comfort, Emily bails and freaks out because she thinks she’s cheating on Richard. Lorelai tries to calm down her mom, but Emily is convinced that Lorelai has forced her to engage in inappropriate behavior. She’s acting just like the old Emily, and Lorelai doesn’t understand what the big deal is. Emily has got to let her guard down every once in a while if she and Lorelai are going to have a good relationship. Well, if Emily has any say in the matter, that’s just not going to happen. They decide to leave the spa early. Up in the room, Emily asks Lorelai why their relationship isn’t like the one between Lorelai and Rory. And the hard truth is that Rory and Lorelai are best friends first and mother/daughter second, while Lorelai and Emily are mother/daughter all the time. Emily bemoans the fact that she wasn’t able to be her daughter’s friend because she decided to be a mother, a protector, a role model, Emily sacrificed a real relationship with her daughter. On the other hand, just because a weekend at a spa didn’t work out doesn’t mean that Lorelai and Emily can’t try to build a better relationship. They just have to start small. And the way to start small is to steal the spa robes. (That’s Lorelai’s solution.) Emily loves the robe and it will be symbolic of their trip together. Despite Emily’s protests, Lorelai puts her robe in her bag and dares her mom to do the same. And she does. At Luke’s the next morning, Rory and Lorelai have a little pow-wow and trade stories about their weekend. Afterwards, Rory goes to thank Luke for the care package. But guess what? He doesn’t know anything about it. Ah ha! She confronts Jess about his big, fat lie, but he denies everything. As they talk at the counter, Lorelai walks outside and sees Dean. He’s watching Rory and Jess talk, so Lorelai tries to make him feel better by saying that Rory is really sorry about what happened last night. Unfortunately, Lorelai knows the truth and doesn’t know Dean has been lied to. She spills the beans, saying it was all a big misunderstanding. All Dean can say in response is: “Rory wouldn’t lie.” And nothing could be further from the truth. Credit: Reelteen.com There's the Rub Transcript ... There's the Rub Screencaps ... Back to the Episode Guide ... |