Sadie, Sadie:
October 9, 2001
Lane freaks out when her parents buy her a one-way
ticket to Korea for the summer; Luke gives Lorelai a lot to think about when she
tells him about Max's Proposal; Lorelai finally says "yes" to Max and tells
everyone except her parents; when Rory brings Dean to a special dinner at her
grandparents' house to celebrate making it into the top 3% at Chilton and
Richard attacks Dean for not meeting Gilmore standards of excellence, Rory
springs to Dean's defense and creates a rift between Richard and his
granddaughter; Emily is heartbroken when she finds out about the wedding from
Sookie instead of Lorelai.
Hammers and Veils:
October 9, 2001
Rory stresses out about being too far behind on
extracurriculars, which puts a strain on her relationship with Dean; Henry
expresses an interest in dating Lane; Richard and Rory patch up their
differences; hurt over being the last to know, Emily gives Lorelai a frigid
reception when her daughter finally tells her the good news; all of Stars Hollow
turns out for Lorelai's and Max's engagement party.
Red Light on the Wedding Night:
October 16, 2001
Lorelai, Sookie, Emily, Michel, and Rory go to a
drag club for Lorelai's bachelorette party; Emily regales the group with stories
about the week before her wedding, some of which give Lorelai pause about her
own feelings about marriage; when everyone else leaves to call their sweeties,
Lorelai calls Christopher instead of Max; later that evening at home, Lorelai
announces to Rory that she's call the wedding off because she's realized that
Max isn't the one for her; mother and daughter decide to take a road trip to
avoid the sympathies of all of Stars Hollow.
The Road Trip to Harvard:
October 23, 2001
To escape everyone's reaction to the news of the
broken engagement, Lorelai and Rory hit the road, and stumble upon the bed and
breakfast from hell before eventually arriving at Harvard, where Rory gets a
taste of college life and Lorelai muses over what might have been; Lane comes
home loaded with bootlegs from Seoul; Lorelai breaks into tears when she sees
the chuppah thtat Luke made for her; Luke commiserates with Lorelai even though
he's secretly overjoyed to hear that the weddin's off; Lorelai decides to get
serious about making her dream of opening an inn a reality.
Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy:
October 30, 2001
Luke's sister Liz, afraid that her 17 year old son
Jess is headed for trouble, puts him on a bus to Stars Hollow to live with Luke.
Lorelai finds out and offers Luke some guidance on the care and feeding of a
teenager, but is rebuffed. Undaunted, she hosts a dinner party for Jess, who is
sullen and angry with everyone except Rory. At the first opportunity, he takes a
beer from the fridge and sneaks out to the back porch. Lorelai finds him and
gives him a lecture on how good he has it with Luke. Jess tells her what she can
do with her little speech and then leaves. When Luke finds out about Lorelai's
meddling, they quarrel and he goes to find Jess. Taylor calls Luke the next day
to accuse Jess of stealing money from the bridge fund container at the market.
Luke confronts Jess about this accusation, and becomes so frustrated at his
response that he shoves him into the lake. Realizing that he needs Lorelai's
help, he goes to her house to patch things up, only to find that one of
Babette's gnomes is missing. He goes back to the diner, lays down the law to
Jess and retrieves Babette's gnome. Paris is intent on making Rory's life
miserable, so she sabotages her participation on "The Franklin" by giving Rory
the wrong time for the staff meeting, and then assigning her to a story on the
paving of the new faculty parking lot. Her plan is frustrated when the faculty
advisor singles out Rory's article for praise. Undeterred, Paris assigns Rory
the job of interviewing Max after she sees Rory and Max painfully avoid each
other in the hall. Rory accepts the challenge, and after a few painful moments,
Max and Rory express their regrets to each other about not being able to be
stepfather and stepdaughter.
Presenting Lorelai Gilmore:
November 6, 2001
Richard, who has become increasingly irritable and
contentious with Emily, begins to put in more hours in the office than ever.
Without telling Emily, he cancels several important social engagements due to
the pressures of work, which leaves her both upset and concerned about her
husband. At the urging of her friends, she decides that Rory's making her debut
at a society ball will be just the thing to get Richard back into the social
swing. To Lorelai's amazement, Rory willingly agrees and Emily goes into high
gear shopping in preparation. Dan protests loudly about the formal attire he is
forced to wear and the fox-trop lessons he is forced to take from Miss Patty, so
Rory promises him a lifetime of watching Battle Bots at his side if he'll be a
good sport and go along with the occasion. Lorelai asks Christopher to escort
their daughter on the night of the big event, and he surprises her by agreeing
to come willingly. Lorelai is in for even more of a shock when he arrives on
time, driving a Volvo instead of a motorcycle, and tells her he has a regular
nine-to-five job. Entranced by his new, more responsible side of Christopher,
Lorelai tries to rekindle their relationship and gets the biggest shock of all
-- Christopher is serious about a new womaan in his life named Sherrie. Richard,
having grudgingly agreed to attend Rory's debut, arrives late to the event and
begins quarrelling loudly with Emily. He finally reveals the source of his
unhappiness and overwork -- he is being forced out by his company because of his
age, and doesn't know what he will do with himself if there's no job to go to
every day. The debut goes off without a hitch. Rory is a vision of grace, poise
and beauty -- first on the arm of her dashing father, and then on the arm of her
handsome boyfriend.
Like Mother, Like Daughter:
November 13, 2001
Headmaster Charleston decrees that both Gilmore
Girls need to improve their socialization skills at Chilton if they want him to
write a glowing recommendation for Rory's Harvard application. Rory's first
attempt to socialize leads her to ask a group of girls at lunch if she could
join them. They agree and hit it off famously. After lunch, an insanely jealous
accosts Rory and tells her that the group that she innocently stumbled into is
"The Puffs," Chilton's famed secret sorority. Paris would do anything to join,
and she begs Rory not to bad-mouth her to the group. At the next opportunity,
Rory talks Paris up to the group and they are both accepted as pledges. The
Puffs "kidnap" Rory, Paris and the other pledges very early one morning under
the guise of taking them to breakfast, but instead take them to Headmaster
Charleston's office to be initiated into the group. In the middle of the
ceremony, they are discovered by Charleston and the security guards. He calls
their parents and threatens their college careers, until Rory stands up to him
and says that if he hadn't forced her to socialize, she wouldn't be there at
all. He agrees and reconsiders, saying that she is a good student who deserves
to go to Harvard. After being chided by Emily for her lack of participation,
Lorelai joins the Booster Club and offers to host a fundraising fashion show at
the Inn. To her dismay, she discovers that the Booster Club mothers are the
models; not wanting to be mortified by herself, and to exact a little payback
for being chided, she signs Emily up to model as well. On the day of the show,
Lorelai calls Luke to fix the runway, and he catches the eye of Eva, the Booster
Club president, who's quote taken with him. Lorelai becomes uncomfortable when
she sees them huddled together talking. The day goes even further downhill when
Lorelay discovers that she and Emily will be modeling matching mother-daughter
outfits. They end up looking terrific and having a ball struting their stuff on
the runway, and the show is a tremendous success. Back in Stars Hollow, Lorelai
visits Luke at the diner and asks him not to go out with Eva. She offers the
pathetic reason that she wants to keep her Stars Hollow life and her Chilton
life separate, and that Luke's dating Eva will combine the two. Luke sees right
through her, and after letting her know that he'll date whoever he pleases,
tells her that he's not interested in Eva and was only giving her directions
back to Hartford. Lorelai secretly happy but realizing she's made a fool of
herself, hurries out of the diner, to Luke's amusement.
The Ins and Outs of Inns:
November 20, 2001
Lorelai and Sookie gear up their plans to open an
inn, but encounter a roadblock when the owner of their dream location refuses to
sell the property. The unexpected arrival of Mia, the absentee owner of the
Independence Inn, complicates matters even further when Lorelai begins to
experience pangs of guilt at leaving Mia with the responsibility of running the
Inn again. When Lorelai finally summons up the courage to tell her about their
plans, Mia is supportive and enthusiastic, and announces that this was just the
opportunity she was waiting for to sell the Inn. Lorelai is saddened at this
news and tells Emily how much the Inn means to her as the place where she and
Rory grew up together, oblivious to the pain she is causing her mother.
Lorelai's emotional turmoil culminates with having her first ever argument with
Sookie. After a pep talk from Luke, Lorelai apologizes to Sookie and recommits
to their friendship and partnership. Stung by the loss of years and memories
while Lorelai and Rory lived at the Inn, Emily decides to meet Mia, the woman
who was such an important part of their lives then. Mia explains that she took
them in to give them a place to feel safe, while Emily explains that she wanted
Mia to send them home. Emily asks Mia if she has any pictures of the girls from
those days, and Mia eagerly agrees to send them to her right away. Someone has
planted a fake murder scene at the front of Doose's market, complete with police
tape and the chalk outline of a body. Naturally, this gets Taylor in a dither;
after scouring Stars Hollow looking for the culprit, he confronts Luke at the
diner and accuses Jess. Luke jumps to Jess's defense and throws Taylor out.
Later that evening, Luke, Lorelai, Rory and Mia stumble upon a secret town
meeting where Jess is accused once more and Luke is vilified for bringing him
into town. Luke stands behind his nephew again, supported by Lorelai. The next
day, Rory tells Jess that she knows he's really the culprit, and that he's being
a jerk for letting Luke take all the heat from everyone in Stars Hollow. After
Jess gets her to admit that it was a pretty funny prank after all, he agrees to
lighten up and be more considerate of Luke's feelings.
Run Away, Little Boy:
November 27, 2001
Lorelai receives a late wedding present without a
card attached, and insists that it be returned. Sookie sees to what great
lengths Lorelai is going to find out who sent it, and tells Lorelai to move
forward in life to get some closure on her relationship with Max. Lorelai takes
her advice and accepts a dinner date with Paul, one of the other students in her
business class. The date goes well, but they decide to remain friends because
they don't have very much in common. When Paul appears at Luke's the following
Saturday with his parents in tow, Lorelai gets ribbed by everyone in town
because he's so young. Luke is uncharacteristically quiet, which Lorelai can't
figure out until Sookie explains that he's had a crush on Lorelai forever.
Lorelai goes to him to let him know that he'll always be a very important part
of her life, and Luke brightens up again. Rory, Paris, Madeline and Louise are
assigned to present the death scene from "Romeo and Juliet" as part of their
class participation in the Chilton Shakespearean Festival. Since this production
will account for half of their grade, Paris takes over as director and assigns
Rory the role of Juliet. Tristan returns to school with Duncan and Bowman after
their suspension, and is cast as Romeo against Rory's wishes. When a scheduling
mix-up occurs with the rehearsal hall, Rory is horrified to learn that Paris has
rented Miss Patty's studio and that the group will convene in Stars Hollow to
practice. Tristan wastes no time in going to the market and taunting Dean, and
they nearly come to blows before Rory pulls them apart. The next day at school,
Rory pleads with Tristan not to mention anything to Dean about their kiss at the
party, because it meant nothing to her. She also cautions him about hanging out
with Duncan and Bowman. Stung by her words, but hiding it well, Tristan storms
off. The next day Dean shows up to watch rehearsal and Tristan taunts both Dean
and Rory before he finally bails to go off with Duncan and Bowman. On the
evening of the performance, Paris freaks out because Tristan is nowhere to be
found. He finally shows up to tell Rory that his father has pulled him out of
Chilton to send him to boarding school, because he was caught with Duncan and
Bowman breaking into Bowman's father's safe on a lark. Paris storms off, puts on
his costume, and takes over as Romeo, thereby saving the day, the performance,
and their grades.
The Bracebridge Dinner:
December 11, 2001
A blizzard prevents a group from attending the
historical dinner that Sookie has painstakingly prepared at their request, so
she and Lorelai decide to invite all their friends in Stars Hollow to enjoy the
feast at the Inn. At Rory's urging, Lorelai also invites Richard and Emily, in
an attempt to boost Richard's spirits. During dinner, Emily is hurt and angered
when Richard reveals that he has quit his job without consulting her. Jess tries
to get between Rory and Dead when Dean is distracted by his little sister.
Secrets and Loans:
January 22, 2002
Loreali and Rory have a major falling out after
Rory goes against her mother's wishes and asks her grandparents to lend Lorelai
the money she needs to repair termite damage to their house; Lane's desire to
become a cheerleader causes a strain in her relationship with Rory; after an
exhaustive and unproductive attempt to raise the funds she needs based on her
own credit rating, Lorealis is forced to ask Emily to cosign a loan; Rory drives
Paris crazy when she refuses to reveal her PSAT scores.
Richard in Stars Hollow:
January 29, 2002
Newly retired Richard is making Emily crazy, so
Lorelai agrees to take her father for a day in Stars Hollow, where he proceeds
to annoy both Lorelai and Rory. Richard criticizes every aspect of their lives
and refuses to let Rory accept a car that Dean built for her.
A-Tisket, A-Tasket:
February 5, 2002
The annual Stars Hollow charity picnic basket
lunch auction sparks controversies among couples throughout town; Jess outbids
Dean for Rory's basket, causing Dean and Rory to quarrel when Rory abides by
tradition and shares the lunch with Jess; Jackson refuses to bid on Sookie's
basket after she leads him to believe that she doesn't want to move in together;
Luke comes to Lorelai's rescue, bids on her basket, and feeds them both at the
diner after Miss Patty sets Lorelai up with a trio of unsuitable bidders; Henry
tires of the end runs around Mrs. Kim, and calls it quits with Lane; Rory and
Jess hit it off at lunch and Jess leaves with a secret souvenir -- the bracelet
that Dean gave Rory, which he picks up and holds on to after Rory drops it;
Sookie and Jackson work things out so well that he proposes and she accepts;
Lorelai and Rory quarrel when Rory finds out that her mother lent a sympathetic
ear to Dean's concerns about Jess; after Emily agrees with her daughter's
distrust of Jess, Lorelai realizes that they're both wrong, and apologizes to
her daughter.
It Should've Been Lorelai:
February 12, 2002
Christopher comes to town on a business trip with
his girlfriend Sherrie in tow. Since Sherrie and Christopher's relationship is
getting serious, Sherrie wants to begin bonding with Rory -- on Friday night.
Without consulting Emily, Lorelai excuses Rory from The Gilmore Friday Night
Dinner, and takes Christopher with her instead. When Emily finds out about
Sherrie over cocktails, she has a meltdown and rushes off to the kitchen.
Lorelai follows her there and finds out that Emily has always envisioned that
Lorelai and Christopher would end up together. Now that she sees that this isn't
going to happen, Emily blames Lorelai for always keeping him, and everyone else,
at arms length. After mulling over her mother's words, the next morning Lorelai
tells Christopher that she's always thought that they would get back together,
too, and that's why she's never had a relationship that lasted, including the
one with Max. Christopher gets very angry, refusing to accept the responsibility
for the way Lorelai's romantic life has turned out.
Lost And Found:
February 26, 2002
Rory embarks upon a campaign to improve Lorelai's
relationship with Jess, and convinces her to let him clean out their gutters so
he can make some extra money. Luke can't stand how cramped his living quarters
have become now that his sister has sent all of Jess's things to Stars Hollow,
so he goes apartment hunting, first with Jess and then with Lorelai, who finally
finds him a great place to live. When he finds out later that Taylor will be his
new landlord, he explodes, tells Taylor to throw out his application,
impulsively buys the building which houses his diner and the flower shop next
door, and begins to take down the adjoining wall to expand his living space.
When Dean notices that Rory isn't wearing the bracelet he made for her, she
covers her shock at its loss and lies that she removed it because of a rash on
her arm. She searches for it frantically all over Stars Hollow, not realizing
that Jess picked it up after she dropped it on the bridge two weeks earlier when
they shared the basket lunch for which he outbid Dean. Jess hides the bracelet
under Rory's bed when he sees how upset she is. Lorelai catches him leaving her
room, and he makes an excuse about looking at Rory's books to see if she already
had one he wanted to buy for her. Lorelai doesn't believe him for a minute, but
decides to let it pass. Rory returns home thoroughly discouraged, and Jess urges
her to keep looking for it. When Rory finds the bracelet in her room and happily
runs off to tell Lane, Lorelai accuses Jess of stealing the bracelet, calling it
Rory's most treasured possession. Jess counters that statement with the
revelations that Rory didn't realize it was missing for two weeks, as he angrily
denies its theft, leaving Lorelai bewildered. When she asks Luke later if he
things that Jess is interested in Rory, Luke expresses his hope that he is,
because Rory would be such a good influence on him. Lorelai agrees, but
privately seems dismayed at the prospect.
There's the Rub: April 9, 2002
When Emily and Lorelai go to a spa for a weekend of relaxation, Emily
lets her hair down, kicks up her heels and ends up bonding with Lorelai in a way
that only her daughter could inspire. Thrilled that she has the house all to
herself, Rory hopes to spend a quiet night at home doing laundry and eating
Indian food. Her plans are foiled -- first by Paris, then by Jess, and finally
by Dean. In the process, she discovers that she has a surprising savior, a
secret suitor, and a skeptical sweetheart.
Dead Uncles and Vegetables:
April 16, 2002
Lorelai and Rory pitch in at the diner while Luke
plans his Uncle Louie's funeral; Taylor is unhinged when a farmer's market opens
in the town square and puts a damper on his business; Emily goes completely
overboard in helping Sookie plan her wedding; Rory prods Jess into being more of
a help; Luke is upset when family and friends cite Louie's unpleasant
personality as a reason for not attending his funeral, but is comforted when
Stars Hollow comes through for both him and his uncle in the end.
Back in the Saddle Again:
April 23, 2002
Rory asks Richard for help in creating and
marketing a first-aid kit for Chilton's annual Business Fair, which leads him to
realize that he is unhappy in retirement and wants to start a second career;
fresh from having underbid on Rory's lunch basket and the loss of the bracelet
he made for her, Dean goes overboard in trying to be close to Rory, afraid that
she is losing interest in him, and finally becomes resigned to her affection for
Jess; at first, Michel is ecstatic when his flamboyant mother Giselle visits,
but after Lorelai causes problems for him when she reveals to Giselle that
Michel has been holding back from his mother, Michel quickly is driven crazy by
his mother's incessant questioning.
Teach Me Tonight:
April 30, 2002
Lorelai's complaint about Taylor's choice for
"Movie in the Square Night" lands her the responsibility for picking the
evening's entertainment, but her enthusiasm for the task is quickly dampened
when Taylor informs her that she must take a choice from a list of free movies
which doesn't include any masterpieces; against her better judgment, Lorelai
agrees to Luke's request that Rory tutor and about-to-flunk-out Jess; Rory and
Jess decide to take a break from studying to get some ice cream, and with Jess
behind the wheel, get into a car accident which leaves Rory with a broken wrist
and a totaled car; a distraught Lorelai blames Luke for the accident, creating a
serious rift in their relationship; Christopher arrives in the middle of the
night ready to go after Jess, but he's already left Stars Hollow to return home;
Kirk's short film premieres at Movie Night.
Help Wanted:
May 7, 2002
Richard opens a new office and hires a secretary
with Lorelai's help; Dean comes home; Lane falls in love with a drum set at
Stars Hollow's new music shop and discovers that becoming a rock drummer is her
new dream in life; Rory is dismayed to discover that everyone blames Jess for
the accident despite her protestations; to the consternation of all in Stars
Hollow, Luke closes the diner and goes fishing.
Lorelai's Graduation Day:
May 14, 2002
Lorelai and Rory have breakfast at Sookie's in an
effort to avoid Luke's, but Lorelai can't avoid an awkward encounter with him at
Doose's Market where he fails to pick up on her hints to patch things up; in an
effort to help Lorelai through final exam stress, Rory gets her excited about
attending her college graduation ceremony and secretly invites Richard and
Emily, despite Lorelai's assertion that they'd never agree to attend; after a
late night phone call from Jess, Rory impulsively cuts school the next day and
visits him in Manhattan; Christopher sends Lorelai a graduation gift basket
filled with fun goodies and an expensive necklace; Lorelai is shocked to see
Emily, Richard and the film crew accompanying them to her graduation, and must
contend with obnoxious classmates with an attitude about the rich; Rory is
furious with herself when she takes the wrong bus home and misses her mother's
graduation; when Rory finally arrives home, Lorelai forgives her when she
realizes that the trip to New York may indicate that her daughter has fallen in
love with Jess, despite her protests to the contrary.
I Can't Get Started:
May 21, 2002
Sookie's wedding draws near, and both bride and
groom are getting frazzled, to say nothing of Michel, who Lorelai has placed in
charge of the preparations at the Inn. Lorelai finally relents and goes into the
diner, where she apologizes profusely to Luke, who is polite, but cool and
somewhat remote. Christopher comes to town for the removal of Rory's cast and
decides to stay for Sookie's wedding. After he confesses that his relationship
with Sherrie is over, he and Lorelai rekindle their relationship, much to the
delight of both Rory and Emily. Their reunion is cut short when Sherrie
telephones Christopher to tell him she's pregnant, and Christopher returns to
Boston, leaving Lorelai devastated. Paris is running for student body president.
She's commissioned Madeline and Louise to poll the student body and is shocked
to find that even though she's overwhelmingly considered to be the most
competent candidate, she'll probably lose the election because she's also the
least liked candidate. Frantic, she pleads with Rory to run as her vice
president because Rory is so well liked. Dismayed at the thought of being in
politics, rather than writing about it, and having to spend six weeks in
Washington, D.C. at a summer leadership conference with Paris if they win, Rory
refuses at first, but finally relents when Paris reminds her that this just
might be the things that gives her the edge to get into Harvard. Having overcome
the likeability hurdle, Geller and Gilmore win the race. Jess returns to Stars
Hollow and asks Luke if he can stay. After overcoming his shock and vowing that
things will be different this time around, Luke agrees. Jess goes off in search
of Rory, ignoring Luke's pleas to leave her alone. When Rory sees him in the
Inn's gardens waiting for her, she rushes to him. Surprised, flustered and happy
to see him, she impulsively gives him a passionate kiss, and then immediately
runs off as the wedding begins. Right before they go down the aisle, she tells
Lorelai that she's decided to go to the leadership conference in Washington,
unaware that she will be leaving Lorelai alone now that Christopher has returned
to Boston.