Episode Report Card Pamie: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT One Down, Two to Go
By Pamie | Season 4 | Episode 16 | Aired on 03.01.2004
The minister Gran requested has retired, but Emily is on the phone, insistent that he perform the services. She answers the door to find Lorelai with a container of soup. Emily tells Lorelai to take the soup into the study and see if she can get Richard to eat. The scene cuts off in the middle of Emily's line, which is very strange indeed.
Richard is a mess, camped out on his couch, listening to old-timey records. Lorelai tells him she brought mock turtle soup. This sends Richard into tears, so Lorelai immediately hides the soup. She sits next to him and asks about the music. Richard says that Gran wasn't much of a music lover, as she found it frivolous, but she liked this musician, Kay Keyser. Lorelai calls Kay a "she," until Richard corrects her. Lorelai says Kay's parents were mean. Richard dissolves into tears again as he calls his mother a saint. Lorelai hands him a tissue. Richard says he learned everything from Gran: "Life is a battle. And you either enter it armed or you surrender it immediately." That's what she told him on his tenth birthday; he never forgot it. Richard sits up, weeping. He says he has to deal with this regret he has. The last words they exchanged were in anger. He says he lost his temper and he was disrespectful. He cries as Lorelai says it was only a little fight. Richard says Gran raised him, taking care of him after his father died, and that he spoke to her as if he had owed her nothing: "You only have one set of parents, Lorelai. Remember that. I forgot, and now I have to live with that the rest of my life." Richard cries, not realizing that what he just told Lorelai, for her, are filled with hope. He asks if there's soup. Lorelai gives him the Tupperware, but realizes she forgot a spoon. She leaves to fetch him one.
Emily is on the phone again, trying to reach an old florist Gran requested. Lorelai walks to the kitchen, Emily following. Lorelai distractedly tells Emily that Richard is going to eat the soup. Emily tells her to take an apple, and some bread, too. She corrects Lorelai on which spoon to give Richard. As they head back toward the study, Emily tells Lorelai that Gran made these arrangements twenty years ago, so most of the businesses are no longer there, and most of the people have retired or died.
Richard storms out of his office in fury. He's just been faxed the obituary announcement, and it's sparse. With barely a mention of her family or her legacy, the newspaper just glossed over Gran's passing as if she were any common non-Gilmore. Richard is outraged, and wants to sue. He wonders why they wouldn't mention the new children's ward at the hospital that Gran paid for, and where all of the babies in Hartford would be born were it not for her. Emily tells Richard to calm down, and promises they'll take care of it. "She was a saint, that woman!" Richard shouts. Emily promises that they'll make sure it says "saint" somewhere in the article. Lorelai tries to give Richard his spoon, but he's no longer hungry. He stomps back into his study. Lorelai asks Emily if she can help. She says she'll bring coffee and a danish: "You'll never have so much fun with death in your life." Emily says it's okay, and that she has it all under control. As Lorelai stalls by her purse before she leaves, Emily makes another phone call. She interrupts to tell Lorelai that she has to go to Gran's house the next day to sort through her personal papers. Lorelai smiles and says she'll bring a cherry danish. She leaves as we fade to commercial, Emily still talking on the phone.