Episode Report Card Al Lowe: A | 2 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT The UnRelenting
By Al Lowe | Season 6 | Episode 3 | Aired on 09.26.2005
At Lorelai's, Luke is having a chat with Tom in the front yard. Apparently, an important water pipe has been hit, and Lorelai's water had to be turned off. Luke says she can stay with him, and that he'll gather up some of her stuff, since she has to be at the Inn to greet the wedding party coming in. "Last time you 'gathered some of my stuff,'" she says, "you brought me four bras, and no pants." Luke: "That could have been intentional." Hello! Lorelai says she'll get her own stuff, thanks; her only problem now is to try to figure out what to do with Paul Anka. She goes on a long spiel about how she's never left him alone so late and covers her options on what to do with him, some of which involve building a warp engine out of dilithium crystals in order to be able to get to a kennel, drop him off, and get back in time for these wedding people. Luke is staying quiet, but finally gives in and says he'll handle the dog: "And points for the dilithium crystal reference." Lorelai: "Well, when you sleep with geeks..." ["Giiiiiiiiiirl, I hear that." -- Wing Chun]
T.J. arrives at this moment with dinner for the crew, and a little news: he's talked to a buddy of his who's an actual contractor, and learned what real contractors do, none of which T.J. has been doing on this job: "And Tom, there is no such thing as a Mystic hammer!" He says he's starting to think they've been pulling a sham on him, and that he's not really the contractor on the job. Tom steps in to say that they did it for his own good, and that he should look on the bright side. T.J. is justifiably pissed, and says that they can keep their stupid, phony contracting job, because he's through. Before storming off, he realizes that he's still holding one of the dinner bags, and turns back to give the final kiss-off: they'll all have to "reach in [there] and pull out [their] own condiments."
We cut immediately to Luke's diner, where T.J. is drowning his sorrows in milkshakes. Luke tries to cut him off after four and says it's no big deal that he's not a contractor -- that it's not his "thing," anyway. "Yeah," T.J. says, "it's not my thing. I don't have a thing. I have...nothing." He goes on to say that he has no dream and no future. Luke rallies, pointing to the shelves T.J. built for the diner. Luke tells him he should be proud of those shelves, since they are actually good, and not everybody can build stuff like that. "So," Luke concludes with real enthusiasm, "you're not a contractor; you're a craftsman!" T.J. likes the sound of that. "I'm a craftsman," he says, "like Jesus. He built stuff for a while." Luke is glad to see that his speech is working. "Yep," he says, "you're exactly like Jesus -- that was my point." Wrong. Jesus would never chew scenery like T.J. does. Luke is just glad to have cheered T.J. up, no matter how stupid he is, and ushers him out the door, breathing a sigh of relief.