Season 1, episode 18
The Third Lorelai
Richard's mother comes to visit. Emily is stressed out relocating all the gifts from her mother in law that she has hidden or gotten rid of. Rory suggests to Tristan that he get over Summer by dating smart girls, like Paris. He uses this to sabotage the truce between Rory and Paris. It comes out that Emily wants people to need her, which goes a long way to explain her control issues. Trix decides to give Rory access to her trust fund at sixteen instead of twenty-five as originally planned, but changes her mind when she sees Emily and Lorelai arguing.
Maid of the week: Stella. No relation to the chicken.
Rory's study method: rereading her notes while eating cake.
Tropes:
- Acoustic License: Paris yells at Rory in a way that blows her casual "we're totes just friends" cover for Tristan five seconds after he told her, in the same classroom as him.
- Actually Pretty Funny: Tristan announces that he's swearing off girls for a while, causing Rory to giggle.
- Artistic License – Politics: Paris feels that their school project Elizabethan government should have a King and Queen, even though in the British monarchy one of them would only be a consort.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: Lorelai confirms that she double-clicked, and Michel asks if she did it by clicking twice.
- Better as Friends: After the date, Tristan thinks he and Paris are better as friends.
- Blatant Lies: Subverted. Paris thinks Rory is lying about her looking good, but she isn't.
- Brick Joke: The cell phone reception in the tea garden. First it stops Lorelai calling Rory about the trust fund, then it stops Emily calling Richard about the trust fund.
- Captain Obvious:
- Lorelai explains that she is named for Richard's mother Lorelai.
- Michel explains to Lorelai that to successfully double-click you must click twice.
- Companion Cube: Lorelai explains to the life-sized dog figurines that Emily wouldn't call them horrifying if she wasn't so upset.Emily: STOP TALKING TO THE DOGS!
- Death Glare: Trix gets quite annoyed at Emily and Lorelai arguing.
- Dinner and a Show: Paris's date with Tristan.
- Dramatically Missing the Point:
- Rory once again fails to pick up on Tristan's tricks.
- Richard thinks that when Emily is upset that "she" is never coming back, she means his mother. She means Lorelai if she gets the money in Rory's trust fund.
- Tristan says he can't date Paris because he likes someone else, looking directly at Rory. Rory figures he's talking about Summer.
- Trix assumes Emily and Lorelai don't argue regularly.
- Freak Out: Emily has her first one since Lorelai was twelve.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Rory still takes paragraph notes.
- Generation Xerox: Emily treats her own daughter in much that same way as her daughter's namesake, Richard's mother, treats Emily.
- Hollywood Atheist: Paris insists that Rory's use of the expression "I swear to God" isn't valid if she's an atheist.
- Informed Judaism: Paris only left her bat mitzvah dress with menorahs on the collar at home when she comes to Rory to ask what to wear for her date.
- Ironic Echo: After the twin wedding, Emily accused Lorelai of bringing her "used" desert when she brings leftover blueberry shortcake from a wedding at the inn. This episode, Lorelai laughingly accuses Emily of giving her a "used" present when it turns out she gave her a hatrack Trix gave her that she didn't want.
- Irony:
- Turns out, Emily and Lorelai's relationship is much like Lorelai (Trix) and Emily's.
- Trix finds Lorelai's youthful indiscretions (getting pregnant and not getting married) both scandalous (which she dislikes) and independent (which she likes).
- Sarcasm Mode:
- As Lorelai replies to Michel's stupid question: "No, I double-clicked, but I didn't click twice."
- Trix makes an effort to stay in this mode when addressing Emily, going out of her way to criticize her daughter-in-law for things like dinner being slightly late.Emily: But it's only five after, mom!
Trix: Richard, in the event that I am kidnapped and ransom is demanded at a certain time I'd rather Emily not be in charge of the drop-off.
- Shout-Out:
- Lorelai quips that being related to God will make getting Madonna tickets much easier.
- Lorelai thinks "stupid naked angel butts" sounds like a David Mamet play.
- There's a school project about the Elizabethan government.
- The topic of Henry VIII comes up when Rory says he created his own church and Paris replies that he also cut off his wives' heads.Paris: Is he still your role model?
- Rory points out that even Barbie didn't become a Queen but a stewardess.
- Tristan and Rory nearly have a Marx Brothers moment.
- Rory thinks Tristan will need a Hannibal Lecter mask to stay off girls.
- She quotes Casablanca at him.Rory: Louie, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.
- Rory sarcastically assumes that Louise was quoting Friedrich Nietzsche, but it was Dawson's Creek.
- Louise and Madeline want to turn Paris from Sandy at the start of Grease into Sandy at the end.
- Lorelai: Lucy, how many times have I told you not to butt into other people's business?
- William Shakespeare's advice about never lending or borrowing money makes sense to Trix.
- Sookie thinks they should tell Rory she's about to come into money with a song from Cabaret.
- Lorelai promises not to mind if Rory buys the Elephant Man's bones.
- An annoying The Cranberries song gets stuck in Lorelai's head like her mother's advice.
- Lorelai refers to her mother and grandmother as "the cast of Gaslight".
- Emily doesn't care if Trix thinks she's the whore of Babylon.
- Paris quotes a line often attributed to Marie-Antoinette.
- Trix finds Emily and Lorelai's fight reminiscent of Sarah Ferguson.
- Spy Speak: "I need the hatrack" is Emily's way of saying she needs Lorelai to return a hatrack she gave her, whereas "the fish flies at night" is Lorelai's way of saying she doesn't know what Emily is talking about.
- Stealth Insult:
- Madeline and Louise think it's this that Tristan asked Paris out on less than 24-hour notice.
- Trix seems to think her insults become this if she says them under her breath.
- Sustained Misunderstanding: Lorelai does this deliberately, insisting that her grandmother is God who lives in London and can get her Madonna tickets.
- Take That!: Lorelai thinks rose tea is more a bad floral arrangement than tea.
- Teen Pregnancy: Trix brings up Lorelai's, but not so much to criticize her for that as to criticize her for not having gotten married yet.
- This Is Reality: Paris takes her class assignment very seriously, and Madeline asks Louise to remind Paris that they're creating a make-believe government for class. Louise lacks that amount of guts.
- Trophy Wife: Paris thinks Tristan only dates trophy wife material.
- Unwanted Gift Plot: Lorelai walks in on Emily in a meltdown because she needs to (and cannot) find all of the gifts her mother-in-law has ever given them, which she needs to do to prevent the fight that will ensue if Trix finds out she hates them all.
