Recap / Gilmore Girls S 02 E 16

Season 2, Episode 16

There's The Rub

(Original air date: 4/9/02)

Lorelai is gifted with a spa weekend by Emily, who won a gift certificate at a charity auction. The only problem is, Emily invites herself along. This leaves Rory at home by herself for the weekend. She has plans to hang out in her pajamas and eat take-out, but this is interrupted by Paris, who begs Rory to help her study for an important test. Things get interesting when Jess shows up with a care package of food from Luke's. A bit later, Dean shows up, and is not happy to see him there. Paris covers for Rory, claiming she has a crush on Jess.

Meanwhile, Emily enjoys the spa while stressing her daughter out. They end up going to a restaurant, where Emily gets hit on by a man and dances with him, then decides that's cheating and blames Lorelai for encouraging her to dance with him.

Tropes

• Ask a Stupid Question...:
  • After spending several minutes monologuing about how the robes are wonderful and she should put hers on, Lorelai shuts herself in her room for a moment, and Emily asks what she's doing in there.
    Lorelai: You're kidding me, right?
  • After yelling at Lorelai for "practically forcing" her to dance with a man she doesn't know, she asks why she and Lorelai can't have what Lorelai and Rory have. Lorelai tries to be diplomatic about it.
• Big Eater: Jess brings a big box of food to the Gilmore house while Rory is supposed to be home alone.
  Rory: God, how much food is in there? This could feed twelve.
  Jess: Excuse me. I've seen you eat.
  Rory: Fine, six.
• Bilingual Bonus: Paris speaks Portuguese to her nanny on the phone.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Lorelai claims that hotels don't really check whether they have stolen the robes, but she works in the hotel business, so she knows.
  • Jess's care package was not from Luke. Rory only finds out when she thanks Luke for sending it, but she doesn't seem surprised that he has no idea what she's talking about.
• Captain Obvious: Lorelai has to explain to her mother that a "couple's massage" is for couples, not for a couple of people.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Dean shows up at the Gilmore house, and is not pleased to find Jess there. Unfortunately, he targets his jealousy and anger more at Rory, despite the situation being unplanned and platonic.
• Cue the Falling Object: Twice in the opening scene. The diner is being renovated and drywall is falling from the ceiling. The girls take their seats, and Lorelai leaves to take a phone call. Jess (wearing a hard hat), silently walks by and offers Rory an open umbrella. Luke chides him, but tells Rory she should keep it open. A moment later, a chunk of drywall falls onto the umbrella. When Lorelai returns, she doesn't question the umbrella, or Rory telling her to lean forward. As she does, another chunk of drywall falls. Lorelai does not react, and calmly sips her coffee.
• Genius Book Club: Jess and Paris debate the merits of the Beat movement, while Rory tries to play mediator.
• Gold Digger: Lorelai figures the 40-year-old women flirting with 60-year-old men at the bar are doing it in hopes of marrying a rich guy who will die soon.
• I Have to Go Iron My Dog: Paris excuses herself by saying she's probably about to break out in some kind of rash.
• Insistent Terminology: Emily and Lorelai are not in a singles' bar, but in a 60/40 bar.
• Irony: Paris tells Rory that her dad is trying to reconcile with her mom after Paris herself helped him work out how much it would cost him to divorce her.
• Mocking Sing-Song: "You're a vicious trollop, you're a vicious trollop…"
• Motor Mouth: Emily's really gets going at the spa.
  Emily: I still can't get over that it really was mud, I mean I know it said mud bath but I didn't think it meant a real mud bath and the odd thing is I should have been more repulsed by it. Sitting in a tub of hot dirt which is really what mud is, should have made me ill, and yet I really enjoyed it. Did yours have twigs? Mine had twigs, and when I asked the woman about them she told me they were there because of the healing qualities…
• Must Have Caffeine: Lorelai is horrified to learn that the spa does not serve coffee.
• Odd Friendship: Jess and Paris get along surprisingly well.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Lorelai's masseur asks how the pressure is, and she replies "too much," meaning the pressure to spend time with her mother.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title is taken from a soliloquy in Hamlet
  • Lorelai points out that Rory has seen Risky Business.
  • Lorelai calls her mother "Miss Daisy".
  • Rory mentions that J. D. Salinger likes the hermit thing.
  • Paris has one word for Jack Kerouac: "edit".
  • Jess thinks Jane Austen would have liked Charles Bukowski.
  • Jess asks Frankenstein-scowling Dean to not get all West Side Story on him.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Jess and Lorelai regarding Rory's love of Indian food.

  Lorelai: Oh, you're ordering Indian food?

  Rory: Yep.

  Lorelai: Good, enjoy. Can you burn the house down afterward? ‘Cause that’s the only way we’ll get the smell out.

  • Later:
    Rory: I don’t need a care package. I ordered food from Sandeep’s.
    Jess: Really? Planning on burning down the house afterwards?
    Rory: Jess
    Jess: Only way to kill the smell.
• Wild Teen Party: Lorelai encourages Rory to throw one while she's gone, and is disappointed to hear that Rory's weekend plans do not include bikers and low-lifes. She just wants to do laundry in her pajamas.

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