Episode Report Card Al Lowe: B | 1 USERS: D YOU GRADE IT Unraveling
By Al Lowe | Season 7 | Episode 9 | Aired on 11.27.2006
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Lorelai is worried that Christopher isn't fitting in with the Stars Hollow crowd. She's right. She sends him out on a Man Date with Jackson to give him some local street cred. He seems to be doing all right until he ruins the classic Stars Hollow Knitathon, trying to be Mr. Big. Rory attends Lucy's birthday party (at which Paris and Doyle perform some episode-saving hip-hop dancing) and smoothes over her friendship with Marty. It's like old times until he makes it obvious that he's still got the hots for her. Luke receives the upsetting news that Anna is moving with April to New Mexico. He tries to work something out with Anna for visitation, but she freaks like Sally Field in Not Without My Daughter. When Luke attends the homebirth of Liz's baby girl, he realizes how important his time with April has been. He gets up in Anna's face and threatens to fight her in court for his rights as a father. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
It's Friday night, and Lorelai and Christopher are being toasted by the Gilmores. Richard tells a cute little story about Lorelai as a ten-year-old swearing she would one day marry Tip O'Neill. "I liked the name 'Tip,'" Lorelai says in her defense. "I thought it was, cute like a puppy or a bunny." Oh my God. Even I, who live with an historian, would have to physically hijack the Wayback Machine to explain to you why that's supposed to be funny. To commemorate the occasion of Chris and Lorelai's marriage, Richard says, he and Emily have bought them a little gift. It's about the size of a painting. Way to go, Lorelai. If you had married Luke, they would have given you a HOUSE. But a painting's nice. Hell, maybe it's a Picasso. Oh...well, no, it isn't. The Grandparents look on proudly as Lorelai eagerly rips it open. "Wow..." she says, as if in shock. "It's extraordinary." Emily explains that the piece is an etching by Kiki Smith titled Wolf Girl. Richard happily says that all young couples should cultivate an art collection, and Lorelai, turning the frame so that Rory can see it, says that Wolf Girl will start their collection off "with a bang." It's hideous. Even Rory gasps out loud to see the portrait of a hairy young woman. "We were flying blind without a gift registry," Emily says, seemingly pleased. Lorelai says that they flew great.
"Of course," Emily adds, with that slightly ominous, passive-aggressive tone we've come to love, "I imagine it's difficult to have the forethought to register when you decide to elope." She says that, when couples elope, nothing is quite done in the traditional manner: "For instance, informing your parents of your marriage by leaving them a message on their answering machine." Christopher is surprised to hear this. Apparently, Lorelai told him that she had told her parents of the wedding. Lorelai: "I didn't say they were home when I told them!" Rory can't help gasping again: "Mom, you're such a chicken." Christopher: "You left a message on their machine?" Richard says that she certainly did, and Emily launches into a deservedly smug and vengeful story about coming home and hearing, between messages between fundraisers and tennis dates, that -- guess what? -- her only daughter is married: "Well, why just talk about it? Why not share it?" With that, despite Lorelai's urgent protests, she turns to the side table and plays the message. "Hey," comes Lorelai's voice from the machine. "Just wanted you guys to know, Christopher and I are back from Paris. Gigi's all set, and, uh, we just ended up, uhhhh, getting married. So, anyway, see you Friday. Bye!" Rory and Christopher visibly cringe with shame as Emily and Richard gloat. Lorelai begs her to erase the message, but Emily says no: she and Richard will treasure it forever as a keepsake or a memento. "Remember when Lorelai told us she was married," she says to Richard in a dreamy voice. "Ah, yes," he faux-reminisces. "Now, what was it exactly that she said?" Emily: "I think it was something like...THIS!" Click. She plays it again. Good one, Geezers. Twenty-five years, one illegitimate grandchild, and many mutual disappointments later, you finally got her.