Recap / Gilmore Girls S 08 E 04

Season 8, episode 4

Fall

Rory has a job as the editor of the Stars Hollow Gazette. Walking home from work she gets sidetracked by Alice in Wonderland style clues, and ends up spending the night partying with four Life and Death Brigade alumni, including Logan, who she breaks up with because he's getting married.

In the meantime, Lorelai is in California to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, but it fails twice so she gives up and wanders around on her own instead. Lorelai decides that she and Luke should get married. Emily is vacationing in Nantucket and goes to a whale museum with a boring lecturer.

Rory temporarily moves into the empty Gilmore house to reminisce about Friday night dinners and write. Lorelai has trouble finding a replacement for Michel, partly because Michel sits next to her during job interviews and hums "so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good-bye" when they leave. To solve matters Lorelai bids on a building owned by poker-playing nuns and hopes to keep Michel working for her, and convinces Emily to let her use Luke's franchise money.

Emily spices up a whale lecture while the Stars Hollow Gilmores get ready for the wedding.

On Lorelai and Luke's wedding day, Rory has some news for Lorelai...

Tropes

• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Michel accuses Sookie of turning Lorelai into a broken shell of a person who won't let anyone use the best parking space because it was Sookie's.
• Bait-and-Switch: Lorelai relates how one of her middle-school boyfriends told her there was a rumor that she wasn't really a Gilmore, but the gardener's daughter. Here's where you expect it to be a rumor about Emily cheating on Richard, but the rumor was that her parents bought her from the gardener because they couldn't have kids.
• Beef Bandage: Robert nurses his wounds with a steak after some Life and Death Brigade shenanigans.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Lorelai tells the park ranger that yesterday's park ranger told them they all had permits, and she was one of "them all", so that means she has her permit. He doesn't buy it.
  • Luke knows the girls haven't left but are sitting in the kitchen, but they deny it.
  • Luke asks Jess if he's over Rory, and Jess reassures him he's "long over." The Longing Look in her direction after Luke leaves undermines the sentiment.
• Brick Joke:
  • Luke had to fight a bag of flour that broke, which he explains to Jess. After giving Luke updated news about Liz and TJ, Jess suggests they meet up later, unless he has something scheduled with a can of baking soda.
  • In episode one, Lorelai and Michel discussed Sookie's replacements, and it came out that one of them was fired because she kept parking in Sookie's spot. When Sookie returns in this episode, Michel yells at her for Lorelai never letting him park in that spot.
  • Lorelai tapes her backpack. When she, struggling with her overfilled backpack, leaves the park ranger on the bridge something falls off it, which she tells him he can have. When she gets home, she mentions to Luke that she taped dried stew to her backpack.
  • When they get engaged, Luke tells Lorelai the only way out is in a body bag, and she comments that now they don't have to write their vows. The night before the wedding, Lorelai claims they promised each other not to have creepy vows, just a traditional ceremony.
• Call-Back:
  • Lorelai seems to be avoiding Luke, and the last time she did that she was preparing to break up with him, so Luke assumes she is doing that again.
  • When Lorelai shows up before her wedding, Emily assumes she cancelled the wedding.
  • After the massive painting of Richard in Winter, Lorelai is happy to find a more regular-sized one in Emily's house in this episode.
  • Sookie makes a wedding cake full of references to the past, including her fingertip that she used to accidentally cut off.
  • When Luke presents her with the ring, he assures Lorelai he can get her one that fits better or looks newer. Lorelai refuses that; just like with the ring Max gave her in season one, she gets too attached to the first ring.
  • When Lorelai was going to marry Ambiguously Jewish Max Medina, Luke built her a Chuppah. In this episode, Lorelai assumes they will step on a glass, but Luke points out that they're not Jewish.
  • Lorelai and Luke "elope", which they almost did in the season six finale.
  • The song playing over the wedding is Sam Phillip's Reflecting Light, which was also among Liz's wedding music back in season four.
  • Lorelai mentions that Rory wanted to marry Pee-Wee Herman when she was little, a fact mentioned once in season one.
  • The picture on the side table next to the chair Jess is reading in is from Rory's 16th birthday party.
  • Jess and Luke talking about Luke and Lorelai's relationship issues visually mirrors Jess and Luke talking about Jess's relationship issues with Rory, though their seats are opposite. A possible nod to the flipped roles now, with Luke being the one in need of advice and Jess in the position of support.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Downplayed, but Rory finally confronts Christopher about not being around when she was a child.
• The Cameo: Miss Celine, Christopher, Dean, and Sookie all show up for a single scene.
• Captain Obvious:
  • Esther informs Rory that she was filing.
    Esther: I was at the filing cabinet. You know what that entails.
  • Luke informs Jess that flour is mobile.
  • The second ranger informs Lorelai that the first ranger wore his own pants.
• Casting Gag: Luke claims he and Kiefer met at a baseball camp and they both stunk. Scott Patterson is a retired professional baseball player.
• Circular Reasoning: Cesar can't come to Luke's wedding because then Luke can't take the day off for his wedding, but he doesn't want to close Luke's because he has staff that can cover for him on his wedding day.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Rory runs into Dean right by the corn starch and points it out to him. He tells her to pay for it this time, recalling the time when she ran off with a pack after he kissed her.
  • Rory remembers that She and Dean used to watch The Lord of the Rings a lot, and Dean used to do a horrible Sméagol impression.
  • Luke mentions his ex Nicole.
  • Luke lists Rachel, Max, and Christopher.
  • Rory alone in the Gilmore house recalls the Friday night dinners when she and Lorelai ate fast to get to their dates sooner, and the one where there was a blizzard and Rory made them frozen pizza.
  • Jess and Lorelai are Strange Minds Think Alike a few times, a nod to other times they've been on the same wavelength.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: When Rory asks Christopher about being an absentee father her entire childhood, he puts the blame on Lorelai. He says he wasn't consulted on Lorelai raising her alone, but also that he didn't fight it because he didn't think he could change her mind and it was supposed to happen this way. Whether or not you think this is a good excuse depends on how much you like Christopher as a character; there were fans who thought this made him come off as flippant, since in the series proper, it is Christopher who is largely in control of how much he sees or contacts Rory and he chooses not to.
• Defector from Decadence: Played with. Emily doesn't quit the D.A.R., but is indifferent to them kicking her out, and they kick her out because she is indifferent.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: When Lorelai tries to propose to Luke, he thinks she's trying to break up with him.
• Drinking the Kool-Aid: Sookie draws a parallel between her new home upstate and Jonestown. Lorelai says to get out if they start passing around Kool-Aid.
• Dumped via Text Message: Paul texts Rory that they should break up.
• Elopement: Hours before the arranged wedding.
• The Ending Changes Everything: This episode made a lot of fans think that the original series is in fact Rory's prettied-up memoir.
• Extreme Omnisexual: Finn hits on the hunting trophies in the cottage when he's drunk.
  Finn: Where is the rest of you, dear?
• Foreshadowing: In the previous episode, Rory mentioned that maybe she could get a job as one of Paris's surrogates. This episode, she reveals that she's pregnant.
• Funny Background Event: Petal running around.
• Gag Echo: Lorelai walks out of the kitchen to find Luke trying on his suit for the wedding while Jess supervises. Luke is annoyed and asks what she's doing there. Lorelai replies that she lives there, while Luke explains it's bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding. Lorelai remarks "Oh, are we doing that?" Rory then pops in to see what all the noise is, and she and Jess repeat the conversation pretty much word for word.
• Gold Digger: The D.A.R. thinks Serena is this, but Emily is the only one who says it.
• Gossip Evolution: A hiking veteran is practically a legend for never speaking, losing her toes to frostbite, and punching a bear. When she gets fed up with it, she tells them that her name is Carol, she has all her toes, and it was a possum. And he had it coming.
• Mathematician's Answer: One of the guys asks what time [it] is, and is told that time is a relative concept.
• Mondegreen Gag: Sookie told the police she was breaking into her house by mistake, because when they asked "are you breaking in?" she thought they were asking "do you have pineapple juice?" and she did. This was right after an alarm had gone off right in her ear after she triggered a bear trap.
• Must Have Caffeine: Lorelai concludes that she must have been coffee in a former life, that's how much coffee means to her.
• My Own Private "I Do": Lorelai and Luke get married a few hours before the ceremony.
• The Nose Knows: Sookie can smell what other chefs have been cooking in her kitchen over the two years she's been gone.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Luke and Jess discuss how weird it is that Lorelai would want to be anywhere near nature and conclude that she is probably preparing to break up with Luke.
  Luke: She bought hiking boots!
  Jess: Cute hiking boots?
  Luke: No, real hiking boots!
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: A younger nun chastises an older nun for telling a potential buyer about the badger family in the attic. The older one defends herself by pointing out that she didn't mention the triple homicide this time.
• Refuge in Audacity: Emily just doesn't care anymore, so she informs Serena about how things really work in the Daughters of the American Revolution, and that they'll just laugh at her application before throwing it out.
• Rewatch Bonus: When you know the Wham Line at the end, you realize why Rory is so sad that Logan is getting married, even though she was fine with it in previous episodes. In this context, Rory's conversation with Christopher is also more meaningful.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: The ladies doing Wild (the book) all gather around on the night before to discuss what personal problems they're dealing with. One lady asks Lorelai if she's addicted to Vicodin or heroin; another lady asks where she would even get heroin, and the first lady replies behind the Olive Garden down the street.
• Riddle for the Ages: How did Logan and his friends recruit Petal to carry a message for Rory?
• Running Gag:
  • Lorelai having trouble with her backpack.
  • Luke's of giving out wrong wi-fi passwords to customers gets subverted when he is too distracted to remember his rule and just tells a guy.
  • In-universe, Sookie and Lorelai had a "thing" where Sookie would cut off her finger tip and Lorelai would throw it in her purse and take her to the hospital so they could sew it back on. In the pilot episode, Sookie actually had stitches from one of many kitchen accidents.
• Shout-Out:
  • Wild is everyone's inspiration for hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, with the likely exception of Carol the lawyer.
  • Jess thinks flour-covered Luke reminds him of Lucy Ricardo.
  • A woman almost did Eat, Pray, Love, but was out of miles.
  • The guy on the unicycle quotes Macbeth.
  • A (mechanical) raven shows up and says ominous and vaguely threatening things.
  • Colin and Finn ask Rory if she's Yentl.
  • The Life and Death Brigade reunion goes to the tune of The Beatles' With A Little Help From My Friends.
  • The guys evaluate Kirk's shortfilm to be a new La Dolce Vita.
  • Rory tells her friends they're remaking Kirk's shortfilm with Ryan Gosling.
  • Colin buys a tango club and forces them to play Rosemary Clooney.
  • For the good-bye scene, Rory and Logan's three friends re-enact the farewell scene in The Wizard of Oz.
  • Rory tells Logan he took her on a Mr. Toad's wild ride.
  • Lorelai tells her backpack she's got a little "call of the wild" for it.
  • Lorelai is afraid to open her pack because it will be like The Hurt Locker.
  • On Lorelai's thirteenth birthday she and Richard went to see Grease and An Unmarried Woman.
  • Lorelai thinks Carol looks like Christian Bale in The Machinist.
  • Lorelai walks in on four nuns playing poker and asks for Whoopi Goldberg.
  • The nuns claim Katy Perry was interested in the place.
  • Rory's memoir has been in her brain along with the lyrics to "My Sharona".
  • Lorelai doesn't want to be Rory's Candy Spelling.
  • Lorelai's bridesmaid dress themes are between Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and desnudes.
  • Serena's mother named her for the Bewitched character.
  • Emily says Barbara Sinatra just waited Frankie out.
  • Miss Celine says Kirk Douglas taught her about having clothes hug only the things that need hugging.
  • Miss Celine thinks Luke looks like Eli Wallach, whom she met on the set of Baby Doll.
  • Luke knows Kiefer Sutherland and invites him to his wedding. Lorelai and Rory do several Jack Bauer impressions.
    Rory: "I am special agent Jack Bauer. This is the longest day of my life, and my wife and mistress have the same face – and haircut." That one?
  • Rory marathoned Buffy the Vampire Slayer before visiting her father. When he asks her how she is, she replies she's "five by five."
  • Emily watched Jerry Maguire and now uses the expression "Show me the money!"
  • Emily changes as much as The Picture of Dorian Gray according to Lorelai.
  • Emily quotes The Godfather, thinking she is referencing real-life mobster Bugsy Siegel.
  • Emily has become a Mamet-play.
  • When Rory sees Dean, she greets him in Casablanca style.
    Rory: Of all the gin joints in all the world!
  • Dean used to watch The Lord of the Rings a lot.
  • Jess comments that Luke is too sexy for his shirt on his wedding day. Lorelai agrees.
  • Lorelai agrees that Luke looks like Rande Gerber.
  • Luke arranges for a Steely Dan flashmob.
  • Lorelai convinces Miss Patty to change it to Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon."
  • Rory also wanted to marry Edward Scissorhands and Jerry Orbach from Law & Order.
• Self-Deprecation:
  • Luke tells Jess that the diner guests are online because some dumbass asked for the wi-fi password and a bigger dumbass gave it to him.
  • Luke divulges that there's been communication problems with Lorelai, and Jess jokes he's never experienced that himself.
• Stop Being Stereotypical: Colin wishes the tango club would stop with all the tango music.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Jess and Lorelai. They both agree that a hiking experience based on the film of the book Wild would be vastly different than a hiking experience based on the book.
• Sustained Misunderstanding: Luke refuses to understand how surrogacy works. This has been going on since the first episode, so almost a year.
• Team Mom: Finn refers to Rory as their mother when she scolds them for punching each other. In fairness, Robert did say Finn was from New Zealand.
• Themed Party: Kirk failed to piggyback off the Harvest festival.
• Those Two Guys:
  • Charlie and Esther.
  • Finn and Collin.
• Title Drop:
  • Rory assures her staff they're going with the Fall poem.
  • Lorelai thinks Rory should just name her memoir Gilmore Girls.
    Lorelai: Drop the "the".
• Trophy Wife: The DAR thinks it's obvious that Serena is this and is incredulous that she doesn't seem to realize how obvious it is to them. She did, however, sign an airtight prenup, throwing her Gold Digger status into doubt.
• Unusual Euphemism: Miss Celine refers to Lorelai's breasts as her Deanna Durbins.
• Wham Line: The "we've come full cycle" words.
  Rory: Mom?
  Lorelai: Yeah?
  Rory: I'm pregnant.
• Wrong Assumption: When Lorelai shows up unannounced at Emily's house, Emily immediately assumes she called off the wedding. There is precedent.
• Your Mom: Doris tells Collin her mom taught her to only drink expensive champagne. Collin tells her that her mom taught him the same thing.

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