Season 2, Episode 21
Lorelai's Graduation Day
(Original air date: 5/14/02)Lorelai is completing her business degree, and Rory convinces her to attend the graduation ceremony, as she missed out on her high school graduation. Lorelai agrees, but when Rory asks her who she wants to invite, Lorelai balks at inviting her parents, insisting that they don't want to come and she is a disappointment to them. Rory secretly invites them anyway, but tells them not to come if they cannot be supportive. Christopher sends a gift basket, and the relationship between him and Lorelai becomes murkier as the basket includes a very real piece of jewelry. Emily and Richard attend the ceremony and have a different reaction than what Lorelai was expecting.
Meanwhile, Rory is tired of everyone blaming Jess for the accident. She and Jess talk by phone, but it's not the same. She impulsively decides to skip school and gets on a bus to New York City, where she finds Jess reading in Washington Square Park. They spend a few hours together, exploring a record shop. Unfortunately, the bus headed back to Stars Hollow is running behind, and Rory ends up missing her mother's graduation ceremony. Lorelai is hurt, and Rory is forced to confess that she went to New York. Lorelai confronts Rory about her growing feelings for Jess, which Rory denies.
Maid of the week: Beatrice, who is English.
This episode contains examples of:
- Artistic License – Geography: Possibly. Rory gets off the bus at Port Authority and presumably walks to Washington Square Park. She arrives looking quite relaxed and put together for someone who just hiked it two miles downtown in Manhattan. It would make Jess' refusal to walk 12 blocks Hilarious in Hindsight, since Rory had just walked about 40 blocks.
- Big Applesauce: Jess teases Rory for calling New York City "The Big Apple."
- Blood Sport: Lorelai would find shooting clay pigeons more interesting if they were filled with blood.
- Brick Joke: When eating breakfast at Sookie's in the prologue, Lorelai and Sookie joke about giving wedding guests aspirins for the coming hangover instead of more traditional almonds. Days later, after the graduation ceremony, Jackson finally gets it – and worries that his family won't get the joke. Sookie predicted it.
- The Bus Came Back: Thematically inverted; Rory goes to see Jess, rather than Jess coming back to Stars Hollow.
- Continuity Nod: Rory mentions the time in season one when she went to a Bangles concert.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: Rory makes up a list of punishments for herself on the bus ride back to Stars Hollow. These include some normal things, such as giving Lorelai control of the remote and music selections, and progressively get more ridiculous, such as buying dishes so Rory will have some to do (as Rory is taking over chores) and not breathing (after Lorelai implores her to stop her rambling and take a breath).
- Country Mouse: Rory in this episode, who has only been to New York a few times, and never by herself. She gets asked for directions at the bus station and is delighted to be mistaken for a native...only for Jess to inform her that she sent the guy in the wrong direction.
- Dartboard of Hate: Jess is surprised Lorelai has time anything except for lighting darts on fire and throwing them at his picture, much less graduate from business college.
- Genius Book Club: Jess is reading Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" when Rory finds him in Washington Square Park.
- Hypocritical Humor: Lorelai pretends to hate rich people as much as the less well off community college graduates.
- Irony: After making a big to-do about filming the graduation with a professional camera man, Richard and Emily can't take a picture with Lorelai because they didn't bring a camera.
- Love Informant: Lorelai tells Rory she is falling for Jess after finding out she skipped school to see him in New York. Rory tells her she's crazy.
- The Masochism Tango: Zach and Liza, a couple at Lorelai's graduation, act like they're each other's least favorite person, but are sad that they'll have to break up to go to universities in different states.
- Metaphorgotten: Lorelai compares the exam pressure she's been under to two giant brothers sitting on her chest, both named Clem, with separate mothers.
- Mind Screw: The two giant metaphorical brothers Clem and Clem who were sitting on Lorelai's chest have mothers, because they're brothers.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Rory freaks herself out with her own uncharacteristic behavior.
- Out-of-Character Moment: The whole episode is one for Rory, which intrigues Jess, concerns Lorelai, and seriously disturbs Rory once the reality of her actions (both the impulsivity her actions, and that she missed her mother's graduation) sinks in.
- Product Placement: Liza mentions that she works for FedEx.
- The Runaway: Rory skips school, gets on a bus, and heads to New York City without telling anyone — to see a boy her parents don't approve of and who recently crashed her car and broke her wrist. Though Lorelai seems more surprised than concerned, implying she may have taken into consideration by now that only swerved to avoid hitting an animal.
- Ship Tease: For Jess and Rory, and also Christopher and Lorelai.
- Shout-Out:
- When discussing the next town over, Lorelai references The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. Rory sarcastically says they stoned the woman who won the lottery.
- Lorelai calls Lane Michael Landon.
- Lorelai expresses that she thinks Rory is unadventurous with the line: "Tonto, when did you become so much older than me?"
- George is fighting Ringo in Lorelai's inner world.
- Lorelai claims her career is one that even Jessica Hahn would think was beneath her.
- Lorelai plans on keeping Mick Jagger away from her hypothetical children, and if that's him calling just hang up.
- Chris sends Lorelai a basket containing What Color Is Your Parachute?, The Graduate on DVD, and a portable Friedrich Nietzsche.
- Rory tells Jess she went to a The Bangles concert in New York once.
- Jess claims a music store is right out of High Fidelity.
- Jess wears an Ardkor shirt.
- Jess wonder who the Slint is. A regular at the store explains it to him.
- Rory finds a record by The Go-Go's signed by Belinda Carlisle.
- Lorelai feels like Woody Allen in Annie Hall while getting ready for the graduation ceremony.
- Zach thinks it's like a Baz Luhrmann movie out there with Emily's camera man and sound guy.
- Lorelai never leaves home without a picture of Shaun Cassidy.
- Jackson feels like Marcus Schenkenberg.
- Skipping School: Rory decides on an impulse to go to New York instead of class.
- Stylistic Suck: Welcome to Scabland, Raúl's audition tape that made Emily decide to hire him to film Lorelai's graduation. In her words it was disgusting, but beautifully shot.
- Verbal Backspace: Lorelai insists she is self-sufficient and takes nothing from her wealthy parents… then quickly admits that it's "except this corsage," and her kid's tuition.
