Gilmore Girls – Fall

By starrymag | January 3, 2017

By: Taylor Gates

 

Lorelai (Lauren Graham) arrives at her worn-down motel. She calls Luke (Scott Patterson) and leaves a long message on his voicemail before stuffing her hiking backpack full of supplies. She accidentally falls asleep in the middle of the fiasco and when she wakes up, it’s time to hit the trail. She goes outside to meet other women also doing the Wild experience. A park ranger (Jason Ritter) tells them all there’s a storm moving in so Lorelai and the other ladies decide to start the next day instead.

 

Rory (Alexis Bledel) tells her Gazette staff they’re going to put the fall poem back on the cover of the next issue. Strange messages pop up on her computer and on a sign draped over Kirk’s (Sean Gunn) pig.

 

Jess (Milo Ventamiglia) visits Luke, who has finally given the wifi password to the diner customers. His out of character behavior concerns Jess who makes him sit down and talk. Luke admits there is tension between him and Lorelai—she’s gone for three weeks, which is the longest they’ve been apart since they got together. Luke is afraid Lorelai is going to leave him.

 

Lorelai grows bored in her motel room and ventures outside. She joins the group of other Wild book women and they drink wine and talk about what brought them there. Lorelai admits she always thought she knew exactly what she wanted, but now everything seems hazier and she feels like she’s standing still.

 

Strange things start happening on Rory’s walk back to the Gazette. People ominously quote Shakespeare and a crow calls her name. She looks out the window to see the Life and Death Brigade heading towards her. She banters with Colin (Alan Loayza), Finn (Tanc Sade), Robert (Nick Homes) and Logan (Matt Czuchry) before going on an adventure around Stars Hollow and watching Kirk’s latest short film. They then drive off to a tango club. Colin gets bored of the music they’re playing and buys the entire club in order to listen to what he wants. Rory and Logan drink champagne and Logan hands her the key to his family’s house in Maine so she can have a place to write.

 

The four of them arrive at the King’s Head Inn in New Hampshire. The Life and Death Brigade bought the whole place out so it will just be them. Rory and Logan go up to his room together. The next morning, Rory wakes up to watch the sunrise. Rory thanks Logan for the perfect night, but gives him the key back—she knows where she’s going to write. She wishes everyone a tearful goodbye before heading home to get started on her book. She gives Logan one last kiss, saying his days of rescuing her are over. He tells her she never really needed rescuing before committing her face to memory.

 

Lorelai is about to get to hiking when a park ranger (Peter Krause) stops her, asking for her permit. She can’t find it in her pocket and worries it might be buried in her bag somewhere. She tries begging, flirting and bribing, but nothing works. She tries going to a restaurant instead, but every place is closed. She walks up a hill behind the cafes and looks out at the nature. The sight makes her emotional and she calls Emily (Kelly Bishop), finally telling her a good story about Richard (Edward Hermann) to make up for the day of the funeral. A boy broke her heart in front of everyone on her 13th birthday and she ditched school to go to the mall. There she ran into Richard, who was furious she was cutting class. When she started crying; however, he bought her a pretzel and took her to the movies and it was the best birthday she ever had. Emily thanks her for sharing the story and Lorelai abandons her backpack on the side of the road before driving home.

 

Lorelai comes home to Luke cooking dinner for himself and Paul Anka. She tells Luke that even though she didn’t hike she figured out what she needed to on her way to get coffee. Luke cuts her off before she can continue, giving her a list of reasons why she shouldn’t leave him. He offers to go to a therapist, open a franchise, give her more closet space – anything she wants. Lorelai stops him saying she wants to get married. She picked a date for that month and everything is set. He grabs her old ring and tells her the only way she can leave him now is in a body bag.

 

Jack (Ray Wise) apologizes to Emily for having to leave Nantucket, but Emily doesn’t mind. They had plans to go to the Whaling Museum and she decides to go solo. Afterwards, she leaves Rory a message saying she’s welcome to use her house. Rory goes into Richard’s old office to write her novel.

 

Lorelai and Michel (Yanic Truesdale) interview a few of his potential replacements, but Michel hates all of them. Lorelai wanders into an old, closing retirement home. She talks to the nuns who used to work there and they tell her the building is now for sale. They suggest she move quickly if she’s interested, as there are already a few offers. Lorelai considers buying it in order to expand the Dragonfly.

 

Rory beckons Lorelai out of bed in the middle of the night. The two sit around the kitchen table and talk about the wedding and Rory’s book. Rory gives Lorelai a printed copy of the first three chapters, requesting that she read it. If Lorelai hates it, Rory promises she won’t finish it.

 

Emily and the rest of the DAR interview Serena (Julie Berman), a young woman attempting to join their club. They talk sweetly to her and give her false hope, but Emily can see through their facade. She finally loses it, saying the whole organization is a bunch of bullshit. Serena never had a real chance and the ladies are just going to make fun of her once she leaves. Emily also calls Serena out for being a slutty trophy wife. The ladies essentially kick her out and Emily says the DAR is dead to her anyway—it died with Richard.

 

Lorelai and Luke go over the guest list while Miss Celine (Alex Borstein), their tailor, writes down their measurements. Lorelai asks Luke if there is anyone he knows she doesn’t that he would like to invite and he says they could ask Kiefer Sutherland to come. They met at a baseball camp a long time ago and Lorelai is shocked he never told her they were buddies. Lorelai shifts around the table arrangements so she can sit next to Kiefer.

 

Rory goes to visit Christopher (David Sutcliffe) in his new office. Rory tells him about Lorelai’s new marriage and her new career path. He offers to give her some money, but Rory declines. She asks him how he felt about Lorelai raising her alone and he says that everything probably happened exactly as it was supposed to. Lorelai didn’t push him away, but she was a force of nature and Christopher couldn’t talk her out of anything. Rory compliments him on his office and the two make plans to meet for dinner soon.

 

Lorelai goes to Emily’s house, spying a “for sale” sign on the gate. Emily says the house hasn’t been home since Richard died. Emily announces she’s moving to Nantucket. She bought the house she and Richard always rented during the summer—it wasn’t even for sale; she just doubled what the house across the street went for and paid cash for it. This is her first big purchase on her own. Lorelai tells Emily that she wants to expand the Dragonfly and she needs money to do it. She wants to use Luke’s franchise money. Emily agrees to call the lawyers, but only if she and Luke visit her in Nantucket three weeks a year.

 

Rory stops at Doose’s to pick up things for the wedding. There she runs into Dean (Jared Padalecki) and the two catch up. Dean tells her about her little sister’s boyfriend and his marriage; Rory talks about wanting to put him in her book and Dean is flattered.

 

Lorelai finds Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) in the Dragonfly’s kitchen, making her dozens of wedding cake variations. Their favorite though is a milestone cake that includes models of the old inn and the hospital Lorelai had to take Sookie to when she accidentally chopped her finger off. Sookie says that although she loves what she’s doing now, she misses the Dragonfly. Lorelai assures Sookie they will always be best friends before Sookie starts ranting about all the cooks that have been in her kitchen since she left.

 

Emily makes her sick maid, Roberta (Rose Abdoo), some soup before going to her new satisfying job as a tour guide at the Whaling Museum.

 

Jess tells Luke he looks good in his wedding tux. Kirk rushes in, telling Luke he feels like he’s going to throw up as everything for the wedding is ruined because of him. Lorelai told him just to piggyback off the autumn festival, but he got an idea and went overboard with glitter.

 

Lorelai and Rory share Pop-Tarts in the kitchen. Lorelai gives her the first three chapters back, saying she doesn’t want to read any part of the book until it’s done. If she hates it, she’ll just sue Rory, which will be great publicity. She does give Rory one note—drop the “The” in the title and just make it “Gilmore Girls.” Luke walks Jess outside and Rory excitedly shows him the first part of her novel. Jess looks longingly through the window at her before he leaves.

 

Luke and Lorelai talk about the pressure of the wedding. They have to entertain everyone and they’ve both planned flash mobs. It’s going to be a stress-filled party everyone except them will get to enjoy. Lorelai reminds Luke that it’s bingo night and the reverend is up late for that. She wakes up Rory and they all go to the town square so Luke and Lorelai can have an intimate wedding ceremony before the main town event the next day. There are twinkling lights everywhere and Lorelai texts Kirk to tell him it’s perfect. The happy couple shares their vows and kiss in front of Lane (Keiko Agena), Michel and Rory.

 

Meanwhile, Emily says goodnight to the portrait of Richard before tucking in Roberta’s children. She goes outside to drink a glass of wine under the stars.

 

The morning of the big wedding ceremony, Rory and Lorelai talk under the gazebo. Lorelai says being married to Luke feels right. She suggests maybe Rory should get married too so they can do married lady things together. Paul finally texts Rory saying he thinks they should break up since their schedules always conflict. Lorelai says they just weren’t a great fit, but they will both find the right people someday. Rory tells Lorelai she’s pregnant.