6.17: "I'm OK, You're OK"--In the room, in their Bill Blass scrubs

Well, well, well. The long-awaited (or long-dreaded) first episode back from the long-endured hiatus has finally happened, and... what's the fallout going to be? I'm trying to reform my spoilerwhore ways, so while I could probably tell you some of the spoilers for the next few weeks... I'm not going to. Because I don't want to think about them until they actually happen, and I don't want to cause anyone else to stumble.

Anyways, onto last night's episode.

My favorite thing was the Rory/Lorelai scenes. Overall, I thought that it was a wise move on Amy and Co's part to bring the first episode back from hiatus to Stars Hollow, especially using the Lorelai2 dynamic to kind of offset the Luke/Lorelai drama. It's good to see at least one of the show's primary relationships (oh, wait; the primary relationship) getting back on track.

I think that's the good thing that happened as a result of the rift--because Rory's growing up and moving away, there aren't as many Lorelai/Rory scenes in general, simply because they don't live in the same place anymore. The rift, and having 6 months (including a summer hiatus in there) of no Girls scenes, makes them fresher when they come back, in my opinion. Now, I think there's more appreciation, even though we don't get as much as we did in S1-3, because it's more than we got in the first half of S6. Just an observation...

Okay. Individual relationships/storylines. Lorelai and Luke. Just freakin' talk! I mean, I love them as a couple, and I want them to be together as much as anyone else, but I'm getting really tired of seeing them not talk. Scream. Yell. Fight. Have it out with each other. Please. That's all I'm asking for. Because when they're not in this weirdness, we get more scenes like the spider in the shower, and Luke's disappearing act at the front door. Which, by the way, was priceless. Loved it!

Honestly, I don't even feel like I have anything to say about them, which saddens me. There should be mountains of things to say about Lorelai and Luke, but instead, I've got huge sections ready to devote to Zach and Lane, and Rory and Logan.

Zach and Lane first. I think that MamaKim has seen the consequences of her strictness with Lane, and is reacting by attempting to meet her in the middle.

It's been three years since Dave was trying to ask Lane to prom, and since then, Lane and MamaKim have been through a lot of ups and downs, including MamaKim all but disowning Lane, and Lane moving out without telling her. I think that, as both characters have matured, Lane has started to respect her mother's opinion more, and MamaKim has started to respect Lane's ability as a young adult to make her own decisions. If nothing else, we know that they both want a relationship with each other, and have both tried to meet somewhere in the middle. Lane didn't have to get MamaKim's approval--we know that she's made major life decisions without it, but this is obviously important enough to her to go through the traditional channels, and that indicates a certain maturity.

Maybe the whole proposal has been rushed, but that doesn't actually worry me as much, since Zach has been a part of Lane's life for a long time, and MamaKim has seen him make an effort with the rest of the family, by coming to Korean New Year (even though he didn't really want to), by looking at photo albums, agreeing with MamaKim about Lane's glasses, cleaning up for the "apartment inspection," and even going to her when his relationship with Lane was in trouble. I think that those things speak more highly to MamaKim than only the songwriting; they indicate that Zach is willing to integrate his life with Lane's in the important ways that a marriage requires.

I think that the biggest difference between this and Dave's Bible reading was that this was with MamaKim. Dave's feat was impressive because he took the initiative and did it himself to gain points. Zach's was impressive in that he spent the time with MamaKim working on it, even though she obviously terrified (or, at the very least, intimidated) him, because that's what he needed to do to get her blessing on the marriage. Not only is he "proving" himself, but it gave him the chance to begin to build a relationship with his mother-in-law-to-be, probably one-on-one for the first time, and maybe that's what MamaKim was going for, more than anything else.

I'm not worried about Zach and Lane anymore, really. I think that he did a lot to prove himself in this episode, and while I still think that proposing to make up from a fight was a little off, what else would you expect from this show? If you look at its history of proposals, most of them have been spur-of-the-moment, and have usually been a reaction to something else. So this just fits. I think that Lane and Zach will be fine.

Now. As for Logan... I sympathized with him, to a point. At the beginning, there was a part of me that was glad that Rory was going to give him another chance. At the end, I felt for him a lot more, because I really believed that he was worried about Rory, and that she was completly inconsiderate (not to mention passive/aggressive to the max) to leave without telling him, especially after going back with him. Beyond the inconsideration, though, I could see him glued to his cell phone all weekend, trying to get in touch with her, trying to call everyone, calling the paper--I could see him letting it affect him. In that last scene, he looked slightly haggard, and I would venture to guess that it was because he was worried about her, not because he was out with Colin and Finn.

I decided that the reason I keep giving Logan a chance is that, while he may be clueless, he's not manipulative. When it comes to Rory, especially lately, it seems that Logan is just a bumbling fool in terms of knowing what to do, or how to handle the boyfriend/girlfriend thing. He may not make sense to many of us, and his reasoning may not be sound, but he said it himself: "In my head." His logic wasn't necessarily sound, but I really believe that he wasn't purposely trying to manipulate Rory, and he believed that he wasn't cheating on her. Whether or not the rest of us believe it is (for the purposes of this argument) beside the point.

I can give foolishness and ineptness a second chance; I can't give manipulation the same slack.

I gave him points tonight for coming to Rory right away, instead of letting things fester again. It showed me that he is learning something about a long-term relationship, and whether or not I think that Rory should have taken him back, I think that the fault or merit in that decision lies with her, not with him. I don't want to excuse what he did, but I also think that, in this case, in dealing with her taking off after the wedding, he did the right thing, and the consequences are a result of her decision to give it another chance.

Overall favorite moments?

Rory and Michel at the Inn, with the post-it notes. It smacked of season 1 and the stamps, and I loved it. Especially him calling her "Little Lorelai." Priceless!

Luke's disappearance at the front door? Hilarious.

I liked Anna. And her store. And that irritated me. But I think that she and Lorelai would get along really well, if it weren't for the fact that she's April's mom. If nothing else, it keeps Luke's taste in women consistent, though--Lorelai, Rachel, and Anna all have many similarities. Nicole... well, we just won't go there.

I liked the interaction with the Elder Gilmores. It was normal, for them--their criticisms of Lorelai's house were their "usual" banter, and it made the Grandparents (particularly Emily) the kind of three-dimensional characters that we saw in earlier seasons, rather than the manipulative plot device that she was during the past season or so.

I wanted someone to mention the fact that Jess lives in Philly when they were talking about Luke going with April's class. Would they not mention it? Especially considering next week's episode? Unless it turns out that them not mentioning him serves some plot point, I'll stay a little miffed. If it has a point... then, I guess they can be forgiven.

I liked Rory's distinction between "Luke's ex-girlfriend" and "your fiance's daughter's mother"--that was an excellent point, and I really appreciated her calling Lorelai on not dealing with it. It also, as Adina pointed out, brought out Lorelai's Mom-Voice for the first time since the rift, which is definitely a milestone. Yet another indication that things are on their way back to normal between the two of them.

Wow. This page needs a layout with a wider text box, because it takes forever to scroll through one of these mondo-entries.

Oh! We can't forget... dun dun DUN... the TRAILER! Because what happens next week??? Oh, that's right. Jess comes back! Nah, no one's excited or anything.

Thoughts? Comments? Responses? Come on--dialogue with me! What did you think?