Episode Report Card Al Lowe: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Mommies Dearest
By Al Lowe | Season 7 | Episode 2 | Aired on 10.02.2006
Back at the diner, more T.J. bullshit is going on and...look, it's not that I hate the actor who plays T.J., because at times he's kind of funny, but...in very, very limited quantities, is what I'm saying. He tells Luke that he and Liz have extra tickets to go and see the Hockettes, and that he wants Luke and Lorelai to go with them. Luke tries everything he can to beg off, but the mosquito-like T.J. won't leave him alone until Luke finally admits that he and Lorelai have split up. T.J. leaps on him and wraps him in an unbreakable bear hug and demands that he come over to dinner that night with T.J. and Liz.
Rory arrives back at her mom's house, which has been transformed into a Generic Asian Paradise, complete with a humongous Buddha, wall hangings of Hello Kitty, and Chinese lanterns everywhere. "You made Crazy Asia!" Rory says, thrilled, as Lorelai helps her into her handmade kimono. "Believe it or not," Lorelai says, "this is an exact replica...of what you would see in the other Asia!" Rory laughs, delighted: "Asia is a lot smaller than I thought. More intimate, and more...fragrant!" Lorelai says that Miss Patty donated a bottle of her Opium perfume to the cause and that, while spritzing it around, there was a flip-flop incident that caused spillage. Rory compliments Lorelai on the decorations: "The poster of Mao is a nice touch.And the one of Sandra Oh because, oddly, you have a poster of Sandra Oh..." Lorelai: "Well, she's a goddess." I wholeheartedly agree. This is a painfully cute scene and I do love it, but...wouldn't the old Rory just have GONE to Asia? Why does she even need Fake Asia? She and her mom should just blow off (not like that) all these goobs and go by themselves.
Rory and Lorelai walk around the feng shuied furniture as Lorelai gives Rory a tour of Asia: "First stop: Japan. Land of the Rising Sun." Rory dutifully follows, camera in hand. Lorelai goes on describing Japan: "Rruled by Hello Kitty, where we are gonna make our own sushi!" Rory is skeptical of this plan: "You, me and raw fish. Is that safe?" Lorelai says that she took a lesson, but that if Rory is scared, they can skip the fugu. After the sushi, Lorelai goes on, they will take an invisible rickshaw to the rice paddies (Rory's room), where they will origami paper cranes: "Then, we'll take a bullet train, straight back to Tokyo, where we will relax with some Tai Chi, in preparation for the kabuki play I wrote!" It's a genius plan, and Rory agrees, though she can't help pointing out that Tai Chi is actually a Chinese art. "I knew that," Lorelai says. "We'll teach it to the Japanese." Rory: "That's nice of us!" This fantastic voyage will conclude with dessert sushi and educational videos such as The Bridge On Tthe River Kwai, The Joy Luck Club, and Enter The Dragon. Also on the marquee, the Tom Selleck (who I love) classic Mr. Baseball, and, for its perpetuation of racist stereotypes, Breakfast at Tiffany's, featuring Mickey Rooney in perhaps his most embarrassing role as the Japanese landlord. "All right," Lorelai says, "let's make some sushi!" Rory: "But, I'm scared!" Lorelai lets her in on a little secret: "The fish is really fried chicken."