Season 6, episode 9
The Prodigal Daughter Returns
Lorelai's house is done and she is sad that the workmen are gone. Luke moved his grandmother's bedroom set into Lorelai's bedroom. She's afraid to tell him she hates it. Rory moves out of her grandparents' house and into Lane's. Zach isn't crazy about it. Christopher calls and Lorelai hangs up on him just as Luke walks into the room. It turns into an argument. Rory insists on a job at the Stamford Eagle Gazette. A girl walks into the diner, steals a hair with the root from Luke, and determines by DNA-test that he is her biological father. Lorelai and Rory finally make up.
Maid of the week: Sumatra. She is placed in the awkward position of pretending to mediate between Rory and Emily and gets fired. Emily makes her own bed, which confuses everybody.
Tropes
- Captain Obvious:
- Luke hasn't seen Anna Nardini in about twelve years, guesses the twelve-year-old girl claiming to be both their daughter.
- Lorelai is home, seeing as she answers her landline phone.
- Comically Missing the Point: Lorelai compares her new bedroom set to Sookie's grandmother-in-laws hypothetical ugly pots and pans. Sookie ends up wanting her own pots back.
- Companion Cube: Colin wants Richard's humidors, promising to show them a nice picture of him every Christmas.
- Contrived Coincidence: Luke doesn't buy that Christopher just happens to be leaving a message for the first time in a year just as he walks into the room.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Luke figures Lorelai is keeping something from him. He declares that he will never be okay with Lorelai's baby daddy being in her life.
- Crazy-Prepared: April wears a bike helmet with a visor, because when you fall off a bike you fall on your face.
- Dissonant Serenity: April seems to have no reaction to or feelings about learning who her biological father is.
- Emasculated Cuckold: Jackson is upset that Luke uses too much lighter fluid when he barbecues, since the flame would get out of control. Lorelai jokes that Luke establishes dominance over the flame by sleeping with its girlfriend.
- Godwin's Law: The editor at the Stamford Eagle Gazette very subtly refers to Mitchum as "Herr Huntsberger".
- Kill It with Fire: Sookie's suggestion for how to deal with Luke's grandmother's furniture.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Luke makes a snarky comment and Lorelai replies.Luke: I can admit it. I have no trouble telling someone something no matter how uncomfortable it mikght make them.Lorelai: Wow. They'll be debating the subtle complexities of that comment for years.
- Literal-Minded: When Luke uses the phrase "whatever you're selling..." to express that he has no interest in why this random kid showed up in his diner. April tells him that she's not selling anything.
- Luke, You Are My Father: This trope happens to Luke.
- Not Good with Rejection: Subverted. Suddenly Rory is great with rejection.
- Not What It Looks Like: Christopher calls and Lorelai hangs up on him just as Luke walks into the room. He wants to know how long she's been talking to Chris without telling him.
- Orphaned Punchline: Jackson's story about fish heads.
- Passive Aggressive Combat:
- Zach makes a number of snide comments about Rory staying with them.
- Luke's reaction to Lorelai getting a voice message from Christopher. He's not subtle about it.
- Plot Parallel: Rory reunites with her mother just as Luke finds out about April.
- Product Placement: Sony. Norton.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: In-universe, Sookie comes up with putting ducks the menu because Davey learned duck duck goose.
- Retail Therapy: Emily is so upset she tries to buy a plane.
- Shout-Out
- Finding her door chained all of a sudden, Lorelai tries to get Luke to open by saying "here's Johnny!"
- Lorelai invites Sookie to her housewarming party on Saturday night, saying: "I heard it's all right for fighting, get a little action in".
- Luke's grandmother's mirror makes Lorelai feel like the kid in The Mask
- Lorelai recommends The Comeback to Lane, who is willing to take the blame for it being cancelled.
- Lorelai and Sookie think their men's barbeque argument is "too West Side Story".Sookie: Bernardo.Lorelai: Riff.
- Lorelai encourages Luke to enjoy Wisteria Lane.
- Lorelai figures Sookie and Jackson enjoyed watching a show that didn't have La-La playing in a band.
- At school Lorelai told people that she knew Erik Estrada.
- Rory knows how Joe Klein was unmasked as the author of Primary Colors.
- Among the books Michel tidies up is The Human Factor by Graham Greene (Author).
- Emily is not Elvis Presley, so she doesn't buy a plane without looking at it first.
- Verbal Backspace: Zach changes his mind about how much Rory is costing them when Lorelai mentions that they used her garage rent-free for three years.
- Who's Your Daddy?: The theme of April's science project.
