Stopping by Stars Hollow: A Critic’s First Watch of 'Gilmore Girls' - Season 1, Episode 4

It’s been raining for the past few days and I’ve gotten ten rejection emails from jobs. Time to escape into a world filled with coffee and witty banter.

With the horror of Lorelai’s golf course reaction behind us let’s hope that this episode brings back the strong, independent mother in Lorelai. It’s time to stop by Stars Hollow.

Season 1, Episode 4: “The Deer Hunters”

The subject of this episode is one I am all too familiar with: the pressures of trying to excel academically.

I love how this subject was handled, because it wasn’t done too over dramatically with Rory turning to some not-so-smart methods to improve her grades, but instead focused on Rory’s studious and perfectionist nature as a character flaw.

This episode is a great pallet cleanser after Lorelai’s disastrous character shift to a toddler last episode as it shows us just what makes Lorelai a good mom.

During the course of the episode watching Rory’s downward spiral down the slide of stress leads to a beautiful build up that cultivates in her lashing out. What makes this work so well is that Rory’s frustration matches our own. The blow-up has been building up since before she got a “D” on her paper; this confrontation was bound to happen since Paris refused Rory’s help… and I’m so glad it did.

It’s honestly nice to see that Rory does have a backbone. While it has been made clear that Rory is confident in herself yet reserved in public spaces- most of the time she has come off as more meek and eager to please rather than the book smart girl with big dreams we met in the first episode. This episode address this change in Rory by giving us an up close view of just how Chilton has changed her.

The constant taunting from Paris and her posse, the harassment from Tristan, and the reiterated doubts of both her headmaster and teachers have achieved a perfect balance. They were placed in the story enough for the audience to get frustrated and wait with baited breath for Rory to finally hand them their asses, but not so much for it to become irritating. The timing is great as well to give the audience a reminder that Lorelai is a mom, especially since her character’s action last episode convinced us that she was everything but.

Lorelai in the beginning of the episode was her normal quirky, buddy-buddy self with Rory, but the moment she realizes that something is wrong Lorelai switches into supportive mother mode and thank god she does. Seeing Lorelai work just as hard as her daughter to make sure that she aces her Shakespeare exam, having her argue for her daughter’s sake with the headmaster, and even that tender moment when she joins a sleeping Rory at the dinner table and drapes the blanket over the two of them, is genius.

The damage done by Lorelai is almost erased in this episode with her intense care of Rory. However I, much like an elephant, never forget. While this is a great showcase for how good of a mom Lorelai can be while still being Rory’s friend, I want to see it build more. I like seeing the conflict between being a friend and a mother so long as it doesn’t leave anyone emotional traumatized.

“The Deer Hunters” was a nice release after the unnerving aspects of the previous episode. Although I do have one qualm with it.

That was the fakest deer I’ve ever seen! What deer is only three feet tall with fully formed antlers?! Talk about stunted growth.

On to Season 1, Episode 5: “Cinnamon’s Wake”!