Episode Report Card Sara M: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Reversal Of Fortune
By Sara M | Season 5 | Episode 19 | Aired on 04.25.2005
Rory returns to the dorm, her precious blue dress in hand. She is alarmed to find Nanny in her bedroom. Paris explains that Nanny finally got Doyle to fall asleep, so she moved on to other work because she apparently lives to serve. Paris then explains the whole Doyle situation to Rory, and how Paris is unable to care for sick people. Since Nanny suffers from no such aversion, she has been brought in to tend to Doyle. Nanny also has an aversion to working for people who can actually pay her, it seems. Rory says that she needs Nanny to leave her bedroom so that she can get ready for her dinner with Logan, and then does her share of useless exposition dialogue, telling Paris how she and Logan are together now. "You're Annette Bening!" Paris says, shocked that Rory got Logan to commit. "I'm not Annette Bening," Rory says, neglecting to add that she's better than that; she's Rory Goddamn Gilmore, the most desirable woman in the world! Nanny walks out, her arms full of Rory's shoes. I hoped she was stealing them as payment for her services, but no. She's just going to buff them. Rory plucks a pair out of Nanny's grasp for the dinner. Meanwhile...where is Nanny going? Does Yale have a shoe-buffing station for everyone to use? And where does Nanny live? Is she staying in the dorm somewhere? Rory walks into her bedroom and exclaims that it is clean, thanks to Nanny. Paris nods and smiles.
Logan and Rory arrive at Logan's parents' house. It's very big, because Logan is very rich. Rory expresses her amazement at the size of Logan's palace. Logan says he's nervous about the dinner, because he doesn't know how his parents will react to Honor's news, and they have been known to get vicious. Rory says she has a lot of experience in vicious family dinners. At least, vicious family dinners in which she is not the subject of the viciousness. Logan rings the doorbell to his own house, and Honor answers it, scolding him for being late. She says that the place has been like "a morgue" since she and her new fiancé, Josh, got there, even though she told them that Rory was coming, in the hopes that this would put them on their best behavior. She tells Logan to get inside and stop this, and Rory tells him to remind her to tell the story of the time Lorelai came to dinner with a shirt with a rhinestone penis on it, and Emily had her car towed. I see she has come prepared with an arsenal of family stories that are sure to amuse and delight the Huntzbergers.
Rory oohs and aahs over the interior of the house. It is very impressive, and looks like one of those summer homes in Newport, Rhode Island that families like the Vanderbilts and Astors used to own around the turn of the century. The turn of the last century, that is, since the upkeep of the ornate palaces soon became way too expensive, and they were eventually sold off to preservation societies that offer tours much like the one I was forced to endure during a sixth-grade field trip. There's nothing more fun and educational than walking through the remnants of gross family wealth. Anyway, the entire place seems a little over-the-top for an old-money family, who I thought were known to frown on such ostentatious displays of wealth. Unless...is Logan Richie Rich? He's got the blond hair, and that's all I need. Richie and Rory make their way to the sitting room, and Richie introduces Rory to his mother and grandfather. Father Rich is still at work. Mother Rich asks about Emily and Richard, and Rory says that they're doing well. Then there is awkward silence, broken only by Grandpa Rich swirling his ice cubes in his glass until Richie offers to refill it for him. Rory tries to make small talk, asking if the Riches were at her grandparents' wedding. Mother Rich says they were, and then makes a mental note to send Emily a note. That's what rich people do, you see. Or at least, that's what they did in Jane Austen novels. More awkward silence. A maid, wearing a formal uniform, enters with a note on a tray. Mother Rich reads it and says that Father Rich will be at work for a while longer, so they'll start dinner without him. Everyone walks to the dining room. Rory notices an original Velazquez on the wall and tells Richie that his house is "so cool." Whatever; if they were really rich, they'd have, like, a Da Vinci. Or a Michelangelo. It's very sad that my knowledge of Renaissance-era painters is limited to what I learned from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.