A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving
It has been about two weeks since the events of the previous episode. Lorelai is still mad at her parents about the Yale business. Emily stops by and demands that she at least come for Thanksgiving. That makes four Thanksgiving dinners for the Gilmore girls, as they have already committed to dinners with the Kims, Sookie and Jackson's, and Luke. They rationalize this by declaring themselves World Champions of Eating.
Louise is visiting her father in jail, and Paris is mad that shelters and soup kitchens have no need for her volunteer work. Kirk has acquired a cat that he named for himself.
Rory is uncomfortable making out with Jess in public, and Lorelai assures Dean that just because he and Rory broke up doesn't mean they did, which is a relief to him given how he became a pariah after their first break-up.
The dinner at the Gilmores ends with a fight after some prying from guests reveals that Rory applied to Yale after all. Sookie gives up trying to stop Jackson and his friends deep-frying everything, although she did stop Phil throwing his nephew in. Dean decides he won't be nice about what happened between him and Rory and Jess.
Plot-relevant foods:
• tofu turkey, fondly nicknamed tofurkey
• deep-fried turkey
• traditionally stuffed turkey
• ceremonially carved turkey
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: A very drunk Sookie mistakes Lorelai's "you gonna be okay?" to mean "you're gonna be a person named Okay?" and explains that she is Sookie.
- Amusing Injuries: Cat Kirk has it in for Human Kirk. It is a Running Gag of the episode.
- Awkward Kiss: Rory feels self-conscious about PDA with Jess after how things ended with Dean, and whenever Jess tries to kiss her, it's stilted and uncomfortable. Babette comments on the awkwardness when they meet at Luke's for dinner, which doesn't help. She talks with Dean and gets over it, abruptly cornering Jess as he's taking out the garbage to lay one on him.
- Berserk Button:
- Lorelai finds out that Rory applied to Yale as a backup at Thanksgiving dinner and gets mad.
- Cat Kirk really hates it when his new owner does things for him.
- Big Eater: The girls' tendency toward this becomes a plot point as they are invited to four Thanksgiving dinners.
- Bilingual Bonus: The Clemenceaus are from France. Claude know English, while Monique speaks only French, claiming to be too lazy to learn English.
- Black Comedy: At Luke's dinner they give thanks that they aren't Native Americans who got their land stolen in exchange for smallpox-infested blankets.
- Blatant Lies:
- Lorelai pretends to talk to Emily on the phone to sell her change of mind back to eating Thanksgiving dinner at Luke's.
- Lane claims Dave Rygalski is not her Dave Rygalski, but the Dave Rygalski her mother met at the dance marathon. She goes on to plan lying about how they met and who he really is for the rest of their lives.
- Luke's insistence that the Lorelais just happened to come over when his turkey was done is revealed to be this by Jess's insistence that he's starving because Luke told him to wait.
- Lorelai calls every dinner they go to "the main event."
- Captain Obvious:
- Kirk figures he can call his new cat Kirk, because when he calls "Kirk" he obviously won't be calling himself.
- Lorelai accuses Richard of wanting Rory to go to Yale instead of Harvard, which as he lampshades is something he has never tried to hide.
- The Cynic: Rory and Lorelai are genuinely surprised that they are capable of disappointing Luke.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Dean somehow still manages to be this despite not actually being Rory's boyfriend anymore. He outright tells Jess he's going to try to sabotage their new relationship and keeps trying to goad Jess into a fistfight. Jess doesn't take the bait, which ticks him off.
- Deep-Fried Whatever: Jackson and his gang deep-fry the turkey, then get drunk and begin deep-frying other things. As Sookie, a genius master chef, gets drunker and drunker in order to cope, she laments that the only reason the mattresses are intact is that they wouldn't fit, a yell is heard in the background: "Deep-fried shoe!" At which point she buries her face in her hands. She eventually holds up her margarita glass in a resigned toast.
- Delayed "Oh, Crap!": The episode starts with Lorelai and Rory watching Grey Gardens, a film where an eccentric mother and daughter live their best lives cohabiting together with their cats and raccoons. Lorelai comments that in a few years that's her and Rory. Rory digests this for several seconds before she gives her mother an "oh crap" sideways glance.
- Facepalm: Sookie, a Supreme Chef, buries her face in her hands as she hears "deep-fried shoe!"
- Fee Fi Faux Pas: Lorelai quotes "Lady Marmalade" to her father's French guests.Richard: Asking my friend to sleep with you is a joke to you?
- Five Stages of Grief: Sookie went through denial and anger, then drank margueritas with rock salt and forgot to keep track until she finds herself in the acceptance stage.
- Godwin's Law: Lorelai compares Emily to Joseph Stalin.
- A Good Name for a Rock Band: Lane sends Rory a text saying "bible kiss bible", which means "I kissed Dave Rygalsky when I returned his Bible," but Rory doesn't get that and comments that it's a good band name.
- Gratuitous French: Monique Clemenceau only speaks French. Her husband Claude translates a lot for her.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Cat Kirk. The cat doesn't like it when you put his food bowl in front of him, and other things annoy him too. Human Kirk's scratches prove that the cat is aggressive.
- How Is That Even Possible?: Jackson apparently figured out how to deep-fry butter, salt, and a napkin, separately.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Sookie needs alcohol to cope with Jackson's deep-frying fun.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Invoked by a Thanksgiving guest, who comments that Lorelai has her mother's wit. Emily wishes Lorelai would give it back.
- Literal-Minded: Rory and Lorelai run into Kirk carrying a lot of things he bought at the pet shop. Rory quips that there can't be anything left in the shop. Kirk replies that there is plenty left in the shop.
- Look Behind You: Lorelai thinks Sookie is pretending Emily is behind her as a joke.
- Malaproper: A drunk Sookie claims to be happily "enscotched" in the acceptance stage of grief.
- Perpetual Expression: Lorelai can somehow tell that Kirk is enthusiastic despite his expressionless face.
- Product Placement: Dean calls Jess "The Glad Man."
- Right Behind Me: Subverted by Lorelai, who doesn't buy Sookie's "Hi, Emily!" when Emily walks into the room behind Lorelai.
- Rudely Hanging Up: Lorelai's modus operandi when she's mad at her mother.
- Running Joke: The various slash injuries Cat Kirk inflicts on Human Kirk.
- Self-Deprecation: Monique claims she would like to learn English, but that she is too lazy about it.
- Shout-Out:
- The Lorelais watch Grey Gardens, a documentary about Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale, Jackie Kennedy's aunt.
- Paris calls Madeline and Louise "the Banger Sisters" and feels that her Thanksgiving is turning into a Wes Craven movie.
- Lorelai finds that Luke is the Grinch and she and Rory are Cindy Lou when they accidentally disappoint him by cancelling Thanksgiving dinner with him. They never knew he liked it when they came to Thanksgiving.
- Jess suggests wearing The Three Stooges masks so people won't know he and Rory are making out in public.
- Jess claims to be as cool as Frank Sinatra album "Frank at the Sands."
- Moulin Rouge!'s "Lady Marmalade" contains the line "voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir," which Lorelai quotes as an example of what little French she knows, much to Richard's chagrin.
- Richard's French friend thinks Lorelai is as funny as Jerry Lewis.
- Dave is proud of his Kurt Cobain calluses.
- Dean confronts Jess, who thinks it's too West Side Story for him.
- Take That!: Lorelai gets that when you're a Kennedy, how are you supposed to know what family members to hide from the public?
- Thanksgiving Episode: Lorelai and Rory attend four different Thanksgiving dinners.
- The Thunderdome: Invoked by Lorelai, who thinks Thanksgiving à la Jackson is this trope.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Subverted by Luke, who asks Lorelai if he saw smoke coming from Sookie's house earlier. Played straight by Lorelai, who nonchalantly replies, "yeah, why?"
- Yes, Except No: Lane thinks if Mrs. Kim thinks her boyfriend Dave is a guy in a Christian band that plays at different Kim house arrangements whom she, Lane, slowly ends up falling for, it will be just like the real thing, except that they can never reveal how they met or that he's not really a devout Christian.
