Episode Report Card Sara M: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT "My Boyfriend's a Kleptomaniac! Cute!"
By Sara M | Season 5 | Episode 20 | Aired on 05.02.2005
Richard and Emily leave to check on the dinner. Lorelai, Richie, and Rory remain and try to make awkward conversation, then give up and head for the dining room. On the way, Richie takes the lighter out of his jacket and exchanges it with a small antique sewing box. Rory asks what he's doing, and Richie explains, as Lorelai listens, that as part of the Life and Death Brigade, he steals a knick-knack from one "rich person's" house and then replaces it with the knick-knack he stole from the last "rich person's" house. He's been doing it for years, and they never notice. "You're crazy!" says Rory, smiling because everything Richie does is totally awesome, up to and including stealing from her family members.
Rory, Lorelai, and Richie take their places at the table. Emily comes out and immediately notices that her sewing box is gone. She accuses Beatrice of stealing as Richie and Rory sit there looking guilty. Awkward. Finally, Lorelai speaks up and says she found the sewing box. She takes it from Richie and tells her parents that she just found it on the table behind the centerpiece, neglecting to mention that it was in Richie's pocket. Beatrice smiles in relief and is yelled at. Lorelai exchanges looks with Rory and Richie, the latter of whom doesn't really look like he cares all that much that a maid was almost fired because of what he did and his apparent refusal to own up to it. It's good to know, though, that apparently we can go to the Rich manor and steal that Velazquez, as long as we replace it with a paint-by-numbers of similar size. It's all in good, clean, rich fun!
After the commercial, dinner has been consumed, but Emily and Richard are still eating out of Richie's hand, telling him he's sure to be a journalistic super-talent just like his father. Emily says Richie and Rory are a "power couple," and the discussion turns to Rory's internship, and then to the Rich compound on Martha's Vineyard, and how gorgeous a spot it is for weddings. Emily thinks that Cape Cod is also a great place for a wedding. Richie agrees. Emily and Richard are thrilled to get Richie's approval of their proposed compound spot. Rory says she likes what she's seen "in pictures" of Cape Cod, making her possibly the only person in Connecticut who hasn't been there. "Mom, did you get a job at the Cape Cod chamber of commerce?" Lorelai asks. "NO!" Emily snaps, and then turns to talk to people she doesn't hate with the fire of a thousand suns. She starts hinting around about kids and how they like Cape Cod, and Rory looks very uncomfortable. Lorelai tries to take the focus off of Rory and Richie by saying that she thinks internships are a Communist plot. "Have you lost your mind?" says Emily. Lorelai does a quick check and reports that it's still "sloshing around up there." At this point, Richie says he has an "early day" tomorrow, so he and Rory should be going. They say their goodbyes, although Lorelai doesn't get to say much before Emily scolds her for keeping him from turning in for his "early day" tomorrow.