Episode Report Card Pamie: C | 3 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Hate Your Life? Try Bad Wigs.
By Pamie | Season 3 | Episode 4 | Aired on 10.14.2002
The woman on the other line talks like we should know who both she and her daughter are. We don't, and you don't have to. They've made them up for this episode. Her name's Debbie Fincher. Her daughter is Cathy Fincher, and apparently Rory went to school with Cathy for about three days back when Rory attended Stars Hollow High. I love that somehow there are enough kids in Stars Hollow for their own high school. Debbie is played by the woman who was George Costanza's Susan, and in this episode she's forced to wear the worst blonde wig I've ever seen. It's like a Streisand drag queen. Debbie's very busy in her kitchen making out shopping lists and things while she small-talks with Rory before asking for Lorelai.
Rory finds Lorelai and holds the phone down by her hip for about fifteen minutes as she reminds her mother who Debbie is. Both this episode and the last one had scenes where Rory held her hand over a phone while she talked to Lorelai for half an hour. It's not like the person on the other line has gone into some kind of waiting void. That person can hear the conversation, or at the very least, has been put on hold for an unacceptable period of time. Get on the phone, girls. Anyway, for a million years, Rory tries to remind Lorelai who Debbie is, and it's all very boring and pointless. Rory used to swim over at Debbie's house with Debbie's daughter Cathy. Lorelai doesn't remember them at all. Even Alexis and Lauren have given up acting during this scene and are just reciting the lines back and forth without any meaning.
Finally, Lorelai takes the phone and asks Debbie how she's doing. Debbie's back in her fridge, talking about how much she and "the gang" miss Lorelai around the school, since Lorelai was such a "kick." Lorelai says she misses the gang as well. Debbie asks Lorelai if she'd like to speak to the students on behalf of the PTA about her success in local business. Yeah, I know it's a stretch. Just go with it. Debbie says it's a big deal that Lorelai runs that "beautiful" inn with so much "style." Lorelai is flattered. Then Lorelai pretends to care about Cathy, since Debbie has pretended to care about Lorelai. But Lorelai was just trying to get Debbie to start talking, which she does, so Lorelai holds the phone in her hand and has a conversation with Rory instead of listening to Debbie. I can't believe how rudely they make Lorelai behave sometimes. Anyway, Rory thinks it's great that Lorelai has been asked to speak to the school. "Toot your own horn, little missy," Rory says. So Rory finally makes Lorelai get back on the phone. Lorelai finds a way to accept quickly. Debbie tells Lorelai that they're still looking for another speaker, and would really like Luke, but that he always turns these kinds of things down. Lorelai says that she can flirt Luke into doing anything, and that she'll talk him into going. Debbie likes to point while she talks. Lorelai calls Debbie "Deb," which causes Debbie to start shrieking, "Oh, you rat! You rat!" Lorelai asks why she's a rat, and Debbie says she can't believe that Lorelai remembered how much she hates being called "Deb." "I'm wicked," Lorelai says. Debbie thanks her and hangs up. Rory pinches Lorelai's cheeks hard and says she's proud of her little success story. What day is it?