Season 2, Episode 22
I Can't Get Started
(Original air date: 5/22/02)Sookie's wedding is coming up. She wants to invite Emily. Emily and Richard take it personally that she waited until nine days before the wedding to invite them, but come to the wedding. Rory figures Lorelai and Luke have been passive-aggressive to each other for long enough, and the two have one fairly awkward conversation where Luke claims he's not mad and Lorelai leaves feeling still frozen out.
Paris runs for student body president and treats it like a rally. Finding people don't like her well enough to vote for her, she asks Rory to run for vice president alongside her. Jackson objects to getting married in a kilt like the other men in his family. Christopher tells Lorelai he and Sherry's relationship is on the rocks, so naturally they sleep together. Sookie freaks out about all the feminine stuff at the wedding.
Jess returns and asks to move back in with Luke. Luke reluctantly agrees, and informs him that Rory and Dean are still together so he'd better stay away from them. Paris calls Rory on Dean's cellphone at the wedding to let her know they've won. Jess goes to the wedding to see what's up. Rory, who is there with Dean, kisses Jess and tells him not to tell anyone. Sherry calls Chris to tell him she's pregnant.
Maid of the week: Inger.
Tropes
- Added Alliterative Appeal: Paris claims she and Rory has this going for them in the school election by both having last names that start with a G.
- All Women Love Shoes: Invoked. When Lorelai makes up her mind to enter Luke's although they haven't made up after she yelled at him for Jess and Rory's car accident, Rory points out that she has her shoe sale face on.
- Babies Make Everything Better: Christopher and Sherry get back together on account of her discovering she's pregnant.
- The Bus Came Back: Jess returns in this episode.
- Brick Joke: Kirk apparently gives a toast saying "Who owns the silver Volvo? Cause you're blocking me in." No one believes him because it's a classic joke. He's not kidding and it's Christopher's Volvo.
- The Cast Showoff: Despite his memetic loser-ness, Kirk actually sings pretty well at Sookie's wedding.
- Companion Cube: Lorelai has bonded with Rory's cast, nicknamed it "Casty," and is a little sad that Rory's arm is healed so the doctor is taking him off.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: In-universe, Paris asking Louise to arrange a sex-scandal, and Louise's response of "on it," has to be against Chilton school policy.
- Hypocritical Humor: Paris figured the band would be hard to win over, because if anyone was going to be scared of her it was some artsy loser with a tuba wrapped around his head.
- Inherently Funny Words: Discussed. Lorelai comes up with "Oy with the poodles already!" by putting the two funniest words she knows in a sentence. ("Oy" and "poodles.")
- Man in a Kilt: Jackson is upset that his family (and Sookie) expect him to wear a kilt on his wedding day.
- Metaphorgotten: Subverted by Lorelai, who feels that it's obvious what she means by "I'm like cheese." (That she gets better with time.)
- Morton's Fork: Paris feels that she loses even if she wins, because she will only have won because Rory is likeable.
- Product Placement: Christopher's Volvo.
- Pun: Lorelai, having told Sookie that Chris is waiting for her in his bedroom, tells Sookie to go get some sleep, to which Sookie replies that Lorelai should "go get some."
- Shout-Out:
- Lorelai thinks anyone not hanging out with Annie Sullivan listens to the lyrics.
- Sookie wants to play "I Can't Get Started" at her wedding, along with "Hey Jude," "Seasons in the Sun," "Cats in the Cradle," and "Don't Cry Out Loud."
- Rory suggests she and Lane find some less Girl, Interrupted music selections.
- Lorelai thinks her new catchphrase knocks "Watcha talkin' 'bout Willis?" right out of the park.
- Lorelai makes up a Dr. Seuss style rhyme about doughnuts.
- Luke thinks Garfield is one funny cat.
- Paris paraphrases John F. Kennedy in her election speech.
- An opponent of Paris's did a Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct bit in hers.
- Madeline comments that the Farrelly brothers were right.
- Paris claims she has been considering vice presidents to run with by asking herself who could be Joel to her Ethan and Damon to her Affleck.
- Paris calls Rory Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm of the 21st century.
- Lorelai calls Rory Hillary Clinton after she decides to run for student body vice president.
- Paris quotes Hubert Humphrey's concession speech to Nixon in her pre-written concession speech.
- Rory guesses that Brad and Jen are in the process if breaking up, but it's only her father and Sherry.
- Luke didn't expect to watch Sleepless in Seattle on the phone with Jess, he just wanted a call saying he was okay.
- Luke tells Jess he doesn't get to be all James Dean this time.
- The first time Luke took on Jess, people told him he was insane enough to write letters to Jodie Foster (a reference to John Hinkley Jr., who was obsessed with her and attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan).
- Paris refers to Dean as Prince William.
- Stop Being Stereotypical: Sookie freaks out about the wedding being too feminine, feeling like she's telling Jackson to grow some ovaries. This will continue into next season.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Downplayed with Emily and Richard both think Sookie is extending a pity wedding invite. Of course, they would not have been less offended if Lorelai had explained that it simply slipped Sookie's mind until she realized she had two seats left to fill.
- Title Drop: Sookie wants to walk down the aisle to "I Can't Get Started."
- Too Much Information: Kirk informs Luke that not even Animal Planet does it for him anymore.
- Wedding Episode: This episode centers around Sookie and Jackson getting married.
