Stopping By Stars Hollow: A Critic’s First Watch of 'Gilmore Girls' - Season 1, Episode 7

I’m a gardening machine. The greatest gardener that ever did live. I can pull weeds in a blink of an eye, plant a butterfly bush in a moment's notice, and weave a delicate vine through a trellis in an instant. I can do all this and more because I am… still unemployed!

Also I’m on a no carb, low fat, no sugar diet and my brother decided to go on a baking spree out of spite. So morale is lukewarm at best. Guess I better go and stop by Stars Hollow.

Season 1, Episode 7: “Kiss and Tell”

Fun fact: I love first kisses. But like TV first kisses, not necessarily real life first kisses. This is mainly due to the fact that once you pass the age of fourteen, first kisses go to first make outs real quick, and first make outs almost always suck. Too much teeth, too much tongue, chapped lips, you get the picture.

Rory and Dean’s first kiss was so adorable my flesh almost melted off my body, and her afterwards excitement about it was phenomenal. The back and forth between her and Lorelai, each one trying to tell or learn about the kiss and about the boy added a new layer to the relationship. Children starting to develop crushes and dating can be a scary time for a parent, so it’s nice to see this episode touch on this subject.

However, everything after Lorelai invites Dean over leaves me absolutely baffled. I understand the whole letting Dean and Rory have their space so that Rory can learn how to romance with the safety of her mother being just a few feet away… but that talk between Lorelai and Dean while Rory was in the bathroom? What?

This moment was an offbeat record scratch in the middle of a sweet love song. I understand that Lorelai has to have “the talk” with Dean and that it has to be taken seriously. The audience knows that Lorelai may be the cool mom, but she is also the mom who would quite possibly kill a man, chop his body up into pieces, and then dissolve him in a tub of lye for her daughter. The message of this talk wasn’t so clear cut, it was more… ultimatum-y?

Though Lorelai started the conversation, Dean was the one to lead it. Dean's counters to Lorelai’s promises of townwide horror if he hurt her daughter come off as menacing. He basically laughs Lorelai off and I’m left with the impression that I should be more afraid of Dean than Lorelai.

I understand that the writers want to keep up the quick paced dialogue, but this moment needed to be more weighted. Lorelai needed to be in control. With her talking about how Rory is the whole town’s daughter and then making witty comebacks to Dean’s protests that he will treat her right doesn’t do it. This talk needed to be just as serious as her discussion with Mr. Madina regarding whether the two of them should date.

Also, I can’t quite put my finger on why I don’t like it, but the end of their talk when Dean asks that Lorelai likes him because he knows that Rory won’t be with him if Lorelai doesn’t like him just sends shivers down my spine. The gist of that moment is for Lorelai to be, “if Rory is happy, then I’m happy,” but with Dean’s asking that Lorelai like him… it’s just weird.

Actually, I can put my finger on it. The thing that makes this whole thing creepy is that Dean talks like a stalker during it. He says that no matter what she or the town says or does, he’s not going anywhere. Which is what crazy stalkers do.

This scene could have been so poignant and pivotal, as well as informative for parents of teens trying to navigate the dating scene. But instead they didn’t take a second to look over and think, Huh, maybe this sounds more stalker-y than supportive and that maybe Lorelai should be more steadfast in her approach.

Anyway, let’s hope that this crazy stalker-ish talk of Dean’s goes out the window, and we can get some more good Lorelai, Rory, and Dean moments in the future. But for now,

on to Season 1, Episode 8: “Love and War and Snow!”