Ballrooms and Biscotti:
September 23, 2003
Lorelai and Rory return from their whirlwind tour
of Europe; Taylor and Luke have it out over the new soda shop; a very pregnant
Sookie updates Lorelai on the latest baby news; Taylor doesn't take it well when
Rory declines the privilege of being the Stars Hollow Ice Cream Queen; mother
and daughter get caught up in a flurry of activity after Rory realizes that she
wrote down the wrong date for freshman orientation, and she only has two days to
get ready for Yale, instead of the week she was planning on; Emily is upset when
Lorelai misses Friday night dinner and retaliates by turning into a four hour
extravaganza, complete with ballroom dancing videos before the soufflé course;
Lorelai is shocked when Luke finally tells her what happened on his cruise with
Nicole.
The Lorelais' First Dat at
Yale: September 30, 2003
While Luke is willing to lend Lorelai his truck to
help Rory move into her dorm, he's not too thrilled when the project turns out
to take all day to accommodate Lorelai's last minute shopping trips to keep
Rory's room on a par with the rest of the dorm, to say nothing of Lorelai's
seeming inability to drive a stick, losing his spare tire, and saddling him with
the old mattress from Rory's dorm room; Rory's roommates turn out to be a jock,
a 15 year old prodigy sorely lacking in socialization skills, and none other
than Miss People Person herself, Paris Geller, who arrives with a life coach in
tow; Nicole's partners descend on the diner and threaten to ensnare Luke in a
morass of paperwork and legal complications when he refuses to hire a lawyer or
even discuss accepting a settlement; responding to Rory's attack of homesickness
after just four hours, Lorelai returns to Yale and sets up a dorm-wide takeout
food test to judge the quality of the local restaurants, their delivery speed,
and the cuteness of their delivery boys; as a thanks for the takeout feast, the
next morning some dormmates arrive with breakfast, having "Lorelai'd" a few
places on campus to find the best place for coffee and muffins.
The Hobbit, the Sofa, and
Digger Stiles: October 7, 2003
The help meet the expenses of opening the inn,
Lorelai and Sookie decide to become caterers on the side, with their first
assignment being a "Lord of the Rings" theme party. At Yale, Rory returns from
class to find that Emily has redecorated their rooms. Meanwhile, Richard ponders
a proposal to take on a new business partner.
Chicken or Beef?:
October 14, 2003
Back home for the weekend, Rory has an
uncomfortable encounter with Dean, her ex, and ends up getting invited to his
wedding the next day. Meanwhile, Lorelai and Sookie visit Michel at his trendy
new workplace, but run into problems getting the permit they need to begin
construction on the inn.
The Fundamental Things Apply:
October 21, 2003
Rory accepts a classmate's invitation to go out on
her first date since breaking up with Jess, while her roommates engage in a war
of wills. Meanwhile, Lorelai invites Luke over to share the traditional Gilmore
movie night she used to have with Rory, although she is somewhat disturbed after
discovering that the designer she just hired to decorate the inn used to work
for Emily.
An Affair to Remember:
October 28, 2003
Emily offers Lorelai and Sookie the job of
catering the party to launch Richard's new business venture, then runs them
ragged with demands. Meanwhile, at school, Rory finds that her roommates'
activities are preventing her from studying.
The Festival of Living Art:
November 4, 2003
Sookie and Jackson decide to have a home birth and
enlist the services of a formidable midwife; when Stars Hollow mounts a festival
of living pictures, Kirk goes way overboard in getting into character for his
role as Jesus in "The Last Supper," while Lorelai has a bad case of stage
fright; Lane, Zack, and Brian finally find an awesome guitarist to replace Dave,
but wonder if he isn't too old to join the band; Nicole asks Luke if they can
postpone the divorce and start dating again; Jackson's brother Beau, who's come
to provide moral support during the delivery, is less than enchanted with Stars
Hollow, and is right behind Sookie in expressing extreme frustration with the
tardiness of the baby's arrival; as he escorts Lulu through town, Kirk proudly
and repeatedly reminds everyone in Stars Hollow that he has a girlfriend.
Die, Jerk:
November 11, 2003
Richard and Emily hold widely differing points of
view on the success of their business trip to Atlantic City; spurred on by her
editor, Rory writes a strongly opinionated dance review that leads to a dining
hall confrontation with the ballerina; even though she continues to resist his
interest in her, Lorelai can't help but be impressed by Jason's smooth moves as
he manipulates a frosty Emily into inviting him for Friday night dinner so that
he can woo Lorelai; Lane and Dave have a long distance argument over pottery;
Michel is back on the staff of the still-under-reconstruction Dragonfly Inn, but
his own sneeze has Bruce erecting barriers to his attending a staff meeting
which includes an overly-protective new mother Sookie and baby Davey; when she
learns that Nicole and Luke have put their divorce on hold and have resumed
dating, Lorelai becomes so flustered that she has an argument with Luke; Richard
ecstatically roams throughout the house with his laptop after he goes wireless
with Jason's help, but Emily fails to be charmed by either the Internet or Mr.
Stiles.
Ted Koppel's Big Night
Out: November 18, 2003
Rory and Paris have lunch at Yale with Richard,
who introduces them to his friend, Professor Asher Fleming; during Friday night
dinner at the Gilmore residence, Lorelai asks for an invitation to the
Yale-Harvard game even though Rory clearly gives her an out; Emily is irritated
with Lorelai shows up for the game wearing Harvard colors, the Gilmore's
tailgate in styel with flasks, an RV, a BBQ, and servants to wait on their
guests; Emily is upset when Pennilyn Lott, Richard's first girlfriend, shows up
and asks about the Inn, and Richard is forced to confess that he has continued
to have a semi-annual dinner with Pennilyn the entire time that he and Emily
have been married; Loreali takes Jason up on his earlier offer of a dinner date,
but they end up leaving the stuffy restaurant and having a great time dining at
fresco at a local grocery store; Rory walks back to the dorm after the game and
discovers Paris kissing Asher Fleming.
The Nanny and the
Professor: January 20, 2004
Luke becomes overwhelmed by Lane's work ethic when
he hires her to work at the diner; Michel exhibits a profound jealousy of Tobin;
Emily and Richard find the treats they brought home from Switzerland are widely
panned; Rory is less than thrilled with the new man in Paris's life, especially
when she learns that he's teaching her contemporary political fiction class; as
Lorelai and Jason grow closer, she begs him to keep their relationship a secret
from her parents; Rory's talent for millinery combines with her talent for
writing to win her a position on the "Daily Yale;" inexplicably, Sookie and
Jackson allow Michel to baby sit for Davey, forcing Lorelai to come to the
rescue when Michel, not being one to fail to disappoint, needs to get himself
and Davey out from under a problem; Richard becomes intensely irritated when the
Chez Gilmore walking tour benefiting the Historical Society overstays its
welcome.
In the Clamor and the
Clangor: January 27, 2004
Lane sneaks out of the house when Gil gets the
band a 1:00 a.m. gig at CBGB's; Luke and Lorelai take matters into their own
hands when newly restored church bells turn out to be less welcoming than
originally anticipated; Rory gets personal with William during a political
discussion when she suspects that he's spreading embarrassing stories about her;
Lorelai is initially distressed when she learns that Luke has moved to
Litchfield to live with Nicole, but a visit to his apartment over the diner
dispells her worries; Lane and her mother have a long-overdue talk with
life-changing consequences after Mrs. Kim discovers her daughter's secret life.
A Family Matter:
February 3, 2004
Luke has his hands full as family members return
to Stars Hollow: Liz for her high school reunion, and Jess for his car; Lane
busies herself at Yale by being the suite's Helpful Hannah; Lorelai agrees to
accompany Jason on an office furniture shopping trip on his morning off, but the
press of international business calls keeps getting in the way; Jamie's in town,
and Paris keeps avoiding him; Lorelai and Jason agree that Emily and Richard
need to be told about their relationship, but Lorelai just can't bring herself
to do it after Emily mocks both Jason and the idea that he would ever hit it off
with her daughter; Rory's finally speaking her mind on Paris's romantic
entanglements backfires when Paris decides she has a future with Asher and
breaks up with Jamie; Rory becomes concerned that her mother is having financial
problems; when Lorelai and Rory discover Jess sleeping in his car in the
freezing cold after an argument with his uncle, Lorelai intercedes on his behalf
with Luke, who relents and allows Jess to come inside while Luke spends the
night in Litchfield.
Nag Hammadi Is Where They
Found the Gnostic Gospels: February 10,
2004
Jess's attempts to keep a low profile until Gypsy
completes the repairs on his care are put to the test as he keeps bumping into
Rory all over town; Taylor puts Kirk in charge of the annual Firelight Festival,
and his managerial skills, or lack thereof, place a strain on the preparations;
Lane follows Rory back to Stars Hollow and a place on the Gilmore couch for the
weekend, but isn't quite ready to face her mother; Emily is in a dither about
filling a table at a benefit and enlists the help of Lorelai and Jason, whom she
encourages to pretend that they're a couple; Luke is less than impressed by
Liz's latest business venture and newly-arrived boyfriend, which prompts Jess to
give his uncle an earful about minding his own business; after Lorelai and Liz
finally meet, Lorelai gets a renewed perspective on Luke; Liz's high school
classmates descend upon her brother and reveal long-held crushes on him; Richard
is suspicious when Jason's father greets his son at the benefit and doesn't
inquire about the business; Lorelai fixes Luke's broken heart after his
confrontation with Jess while Luke fixes Lorelai's broken window; Liz and T.J.
end their visit in Stars Hollow, but not before T.J. has a few choice words for
Luke; Jess makes a startling confession to Rory before he leaves town.
The Incredible Shrinking
Lorelais: February 17, 2004
When Trix returns to town and berates Lorelai and
Richard for being financial failures, Richard angrily sets his mother straight,
to Emily's delight; Lorelai and Sookie explore ways to ease their financial
crunch and raise money to pay their construction crew, one of whom is now Dean;
Janet and Paris go head-to-head over the constant presence of Janet's boyfriend
in the suite, Lane moves out of the dorm and in with Lorelai, and gets her job
back at Luke's; Lorelai and Sookie have a heated discussion about sharing the
responsibilities of opening their inn; Rory is distraught when one of her
professors tells her to drop the class because she can't handle her course load;
Lane runs into her mother and receives a frosty reception, at the end of a very
long, hard day, Lorelai and Rory still can't manage to connect, and end up
taking solace in the arms of the married men in their lives.
Scene in a Mall:
February 24, 2004
Kirk branches out from dog sitting for Lulu into a
new canine-centered career; Paris goes into germ-phobic overdrive when Rory gets
a cold; Lane gets an apartment with Zach and Brian and faces a frigid reception
from her aunt and mother, and an overly-eager, non-stop-talking cousin when she
packs up her things and movies out; when they realize that their relationship is
increasingly being conducted over email and the phone, Lorelai and Rory decide
to play hooky and go window shopping in the mall, where they run into Emily in
the middle of a shopping binge meltdown; Luke lends Lorelai the thirty thousand
dollars she needs to finish construction on the Inn; after Emily confesses that
the shopping binge and bickering with Richard stems from her anger at being
ignored, neglected, and made to feel useless by her husband, Lorelai reassures
her of how much she's accomplished and urges her to talk to Richard, but Emily
can't seem to make the connection with her husband she so desperately desire;
Rory and Luke get a peek into Dean's life as a married man, and Luke gets an
inkling that something is amiss when he catches Dean's wistful looks towards
Rory as Dean unsuccessfully tries to paint a happy pictures of life with Lindsay
and her parents.
The Reigning Lorelai:
March 2, 2004
The rift between Emily and Richard widens when he
goes on a golf date with clients instead of accompanying his wife to the funeral
of her best friend;Doyle goes on a theft and plagiarism rant; Trix dies
suddenly; Michel offers Lorelai a hug in consolation, which weirds them out so
much that they agree not to share any more warm and fuzzy moments; stricken with
grief and guilt, Richard is inconsolable; Emily calls it quits on arranging
Trix's funeral and drops everything in her daughter's lap after finding a letter
in which her mother-in-law pleads with her son on the eve of his wedding to
Emily to marry Pennilyn instead; Luke and Nicole have all of Stars Hollow
listening in and reading lips as they quarrel; worried about her parents and
frantic over fulfilling Trix's exacting requirements for her funeral, Lorelai
has a meltdown while shopping for Trix's funeral undies; after the service,
cousin Marilyn regales family and friends with tales of Lorelai the First; Emily
and Richard finally reach out to each other as he defies one of his mother's
last wishes for the sake of his wife.
Girls in Bikinis, Boys
Doin' the Twist: April 13, 2004
Rory, Paris, Janet and Glenn escape a Dickensianly
cold winder in Connecticut and head to Florida, where they run into Madeline and
Lousie, who show them the spring break ropes; Jason gives Lorelai the key to his
apartment as a symbol of his commitment to their relationship; Lorelai bails
Luke out of jail after he's arrested for beating up the car belonging to the man
he suspects an affair with Nicole; Lorelai and Rory get the dubious honor of the
first ride in Kirk's latest venture, the Stars Hollow pedi-cab.
Tick, Tick, Tick, Boom!:
April 20, 2004
Luke makes a bigger fuss than Davey when Sookie
and Jackson bring their son into the diner; all of Stars Hollow is amused when
Taylor returns from his Caribbean cruise with a drastic change in his
appearance; Richard and Emily are stunned when Floyd informs them that Lorelai
and Jason have been dating for months; Luke comes to the rescue when Kirk's
failure to make a map of the Easter eggs he hid in the town square gets Taylor's
nose out of joint; Richard and Jason discover that Floyd's peacemaking overtures
are a disguise for his plan to ruin Richard financially by suing them for
stealing his clients; while shopping with Lane in Doose's, Rory has harsh words
about Lindsay as she relates her quarrel with Dean over his plans to drop out of
college to earn more money to buy a house, unaware that his wife is listening in
the next aisle; Richard resolves his problems with Floyd at Jason's expense;
Dean and Rory agree to continue their friendship despite Lindsay's demand that
they stop speaking to each other.
Afterboom:
April 27, 2004
Luke finalizes his divorce; the band's latest gig
is a big hit, but leaves Lane feeling lonely; as the Dragonfly Inn nears its
opening date, Michel gives travel agents the grand tour and Sookie is back in
the kitchen, if not on her feet; Doyle clues Rory in on Asher's reputation as a
serial student dater; Lorelai and Richard have it out over his treatment of
Jason; Lane is upset to discover that her mother has taken in a Korean exchange
student who could be her double, and confronts the girl when she sees her
wearing her old clothes; when Jason decides to sue Richard after discovering his
treachery, Lorelai breaks up with him; afraid that Richard's actions will put a
rift in their relationship with Lorelai and Rory, Emily asks her husband to
reconsider, but he brushes her off; Asher is displeased when Rory questions
whether the "A" he gave her for a paper she thought she did poorly on has any
connection to her friendship with Paris; after Richard and Emily act very
strangely during Friday night dinner, Lorelai does a little investigating and
discovers that her mother has moved out of the house and into a hotel; Lane
begins to realize how much she misses her mother.
Luke Can See Her Face:
May 4, 2004
Jackson's devotion to his wife and her famous
zucchini soup set the stage for the perfect antidote to the stress surrounding
the opening of the Inn; Luke unwittingly comes to the rescue when Sookie tries
to set Lorelai up with the poultry supplier; Liz returns to Stars Hollow to
announce that she's getting married in the town square in a week; Paris and
Asher decide to travel to Englang together during the summer; T.J. has a
tumultuous bachelor party; at Luke's request, Jess changes his mind about
attending his mother's wedding and returns to Stars Hollow for the festivities;
Rory tries to hid her discomfort when Lorelai tells her about overhearing a
fight between Dean and Lindsay; a self-help tape helps Luke clarify his
thinking, and a talk with Jess gets him started on the path to having the
relationship he's been looking for all along.
Last Week Fights, This
Week Tights: May 11, 2004
As Stars Hollow prepares for the
Renaissance-themed wedding of Liz and T.J., Kirk feels slighted when Miss Patty
chooses someone else as the maypole dance captain; Lorelai discovers and equine
visitor in the Dragonfly Inn's lobby; Rory's suite mates depart for summer
vacation; Lorelai urges Mrs. Kim to call Lane; Lorelai unsuccessfully attempts
to get Emily to admit to the separation during Friday night dinner; T.J. revels
in the wonders of tights, but discovers their main drawback during the cermony;
Mrs. Kim gets some good advice from Lorelai after initially feeling in horror at
the sight of Zach and Brian and Lane's shabby apartment, and eventually returns
for team armed with a game plan; Rory calls Dean to rescue her from the
disastrous date Emily has arranged for her with the son of a friend; Luke and
Lorelai share significant glances during a slow dance at the wedding, which
prompts Luke to ask Lorelai out on a date; Jess expresses his gratitude to Luke
before saying goodbye; Rory tells Jess it's over between them when he asks her
to go away with him.
Raincoats and Recipes:
May 18, 2004
Momentous changes are in the air as: the Dragonfly
Inn approaches opening day by having a shakedown weekend; Rory and Dean take a
major step forward in their relationship, to Lorelai's dismay; Emily and Richard
admit that they are separated; Kirk decides to let Lulu in on the deep, dark
secret of his night terrors; Jason appears at the Inn to plead his case with
Lorelai, to no avail; Luke answers Lorelai's question about the status of their
relationship when he makes it passionately clear to Lorelai that they're dating,
to which she enthusiastically agrees.