Hotplate Harriet strikes again

Alright. Here we go. 6.14, "You've Been Gilmored," review, coming up!

Much filler. I'm looking forward to the Valentine's episode, just because they'd better do something with it. Still, even though it seemed like filler, there were good things about it, and definitely review-able. :o)

First, though, let me pick apart last week's promo and prove my point that the Evil Promo Monkey is trying to take over the world. If, by chance, you didn't watch the promo, go down two posts and click on that link, and then come back here.

Okay. First of all, did anyone else think that they were trying to look like they were setting up a Rory/Logan pregnancy announcement? That's what happens with the magic of splicing, people. I knew, because I read spoilers, that the "big announcement" was the moving in, but it's amazing what they can make you think it is.

Let's pick this apart clip by clip. First three images? Rory and Logan's "whirlwind romance"--the Birkin bag debacle, the evil dinner at the Huntzbergers', and the success at the paper. No complaints there, so far. Then. Over the Logan voice-over of "Look, we'll figure this out, okay?" from the phone call where he is doing nothing so romantic as hugging her to reassure her, we see the hug from her breakdown over Mitchum's criticism at the end of S5. Then, cut to a random shot of the insurance dinner, then Emily's face from the first FND of the episode, then Rory's phone call with Lorelai and Lorelai's phone call with Chris are merged together to make one ultra-dramatic conversation.

And what did I say about it? How much do you want to bet that none of the spliced scenes have anything to do with each other, and 80% of the promo is from the last 10 minutes of the show? There you go. Evil Promo Monkey. I told you.

Okay, onto the episode.

Again, the Luke/Lorelai storyline was less than utterly compelling, but the difference was that this week, Rory and Logan weren't nearly as interesting (or sweet) as last week. The Lorelai/Michel storyline was cute, but it was better for the fact that we got to see Michel in all his glory, rather than the fact that the storyline did anything to further the plot. I actually didn't mind the Rory/Chris interactions, simply because it was good. It was a nice father/daughter moment, without intruding on Lorelai at all.

I have to say that I'm fascinated by Lorelai's commitment to repairing the extended-family relationships, or at least to not slamming the doors for Rory to build those relationships. She's going so far above and beyond in her efforts to make sure that things between Rory and the Gilmores and between Rory and Christopher are good, and that's kind of cool to see. Except for the minor fact that she's fixing all these other relationships and not her relationship with Luke. Or maybe she's doing that because he's not trying to fix things.

And, in defense of relationships being restored, I was so glad to see that movie night, complete with pop-tarts, was restored. It was yet another example of Rory and Lorelai getting back to where they should be, after not being there for so long. I think that we're actually starting to see this relationship get back to a place that it hasn't been since before "Raincoats and Recipes." It's still somewhat tentative, as we see in the phone call, but they're both taking those baby steps to where they should be.

Luke and Lorelai were less awkward this week than they were last week, but their familiarity wasn't the "aww-able" kind. For instance, my favorite L/L familiarity comes in "Twenty-One is the Loneliest Number," in some of their interactions there, about the link sausages, and the cooking fried chicken, and the smoke coming out of the nose. That's the kind of familiarity that is incredibly intimate and sweet. This kind was... not bored, per se, but almost just co-existing. I'm not saying that I want a fight, but I just want them to deal with everything!

The insurance dinner was just weird. Are they setting us up for something April-DNA-Luke's not the dad-related? If not, I don't think that dinner had much point, unless the whole thing was just a setup for Lorelai's comment about Richard and Emily accepting the relationship. In which case, may I just say, overkill! If it was an April thing... I dunno. It just seemed so random, and such a major way to spend so much of an episode. But then again, that's what filler is--when they spend so much focusing on Michel's jealousy of everyone who has anything to do with Lorelai (does anyone remember his insane jealousy to Tobin?) and the insurance business.

In the eternal question of "is Logan successful in redeeming himself not only in Rory's eyes, but also in the eyes of every viewer?", this week didn't do much to sway me one way or the other. Although I have to wonder at his relationship with Colin and Finn, if they can come move Rory at a moment's notice. Still. I wonder where the "moving in" thing is going; if he realizes the kind of commitment that it is. I think he does--I really do think that he made the offer on the spur of the moment, but I don't think that old Logan would have done that. The spontaneity of it was only possible because of the underlying commitment. But we'll see. They do love to prove us wrong on all things relationship-related.

Chris. Every Chris and Logan similarity is being slammed over our heads right now, and it makes me wonder how big of an anvil this is. "Chris isn't right for Lorelai; Logan isn't right for Rory?" Is it setting up a huge breakup? I guess we'll see. I did love Rory's line, though, "Interesting yardstick you're using." At least she realized the absurdity of the bond between boyfriend and dad. Like I said before, I actually enjoyed Chris' interactions in this episode, mostly because I didn't feel (with one exception) like he was barging in where he shouldn't be. And I liked his outfit.

The one exception. Caling Lorelai when he did. I don't necessarily have a problem with him playing the Dad card and telling Lorelai that Logan and Rory had moved in together. What I do have a problem with is the fact that he didn't give Rory a chance. She was obviously not trying to hide things from Lorelai--she told her as soon as she got home (and in her defense, it seemed like the day that never ended, in terms of life-altering occurrances, so we'll forgive her for not calling Lorelai first!), and didn't beat around the bush. If she hadn't told Lorelai, Chris would have had every right, I think, to share the news, but his timing sucked.

Anything else? I loved Paris' resignation speech. Leave it to Paris to try to preserve her dignity, even if it was only in her own mind. I actually kind of liked the fact that Rory wasn't an original choice for editor--it was only after the other, more legitimate, options had been exhausted that they overlooked her semester off and put her name up. Plus, I think that it shows that she really is a loyal friend to Paris, because she was never looking to take over Paris' position. I think that, through all of this, Rory has been more than patient with Paris, and has really tried to bridge the gap between the two sides, playing mediator as often as possible.

And the Gilmore timeline strikes again. So... we've got a FND at the beginning, and then we skip a week to the next Friday, and that's when the rest of the episode takes place. I think. Because the editor-ousting, the eviction, the moving into Logan's, the visit from Chris, the Michel/Lorelai Weston's coffee, the insurance dinner, and the phone call all took place on Friday. February 3rd, incidentally, if anyone cares. Oh, and we fit the Luke-hangs-the-key-rack and the first Michel scene somewhere into that week between FND and FND. Seriously. This show's timelines are just so far out there sometimes.

Anyways... I think that's it. Thoughts?