Episode Report Card Pamie: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Papa Don't Preach
By Pamie | Season 2 | Episode 12 | Aired on 01.28.2002
Rory tells Lorelai to sit down to hear the bad news. She tells Lorelai that she won't be home right after school because she has to do this thing with Paris. She promises to be home for dinner. Lorelai tells her that Richard is at the Inn. They discuss all of the things to see in Stars Hollow again and how Richard has seen all of them. Lorelai says that school comes before her mother's mental health. They hang up. Richard is shaking a loose coffee table.
Stars Hollow. Paris and Rory get off a bus. Paris complains that she's going to smell like a bus all day. Rory asks why they didn't take Paris's car. Paris says they can't get a feel of actual small-town life inside of a BMW. "Is there something crawling in my hair?" she asks. Rory asks Paris what she wants to do. Paris tells Rory to point her to the bad part of town. Rory points to a section of the street next to them, saying that some people are really angry about the color of that fence. Paris tells Rory to stop joking. Rory says there really isn't anything dark or seedy about Stars Hollow, and that Rory doesn't know how to give Paris what she's looking for. Paris asks where the local bar is. "In Woodridge," Rory answers. Paris asks why Rory isn't helping. "I'm trying," Rory says. Paris asks where they are. They're at Luke's. The sound of the word "diner" makes Paris happy. They go inside.
Inside Luke's, Paris sits at the counter and goes through the menu. She tells Rory she's trying to "blend in, fade away, observe." Luke says hello to Rory and asks who her friend is. "Angela Lansbury," Rory answers. Luke asks, "Would you like some coffee, Angela?" Paris starts asking Luke a series of questions leading up to an insinuation that Luke's is just a front for truckers to hire prostitutes. This doesn't make Luke happy, of course, and he starts looking like he's about to punch Paris. "What about that guy right there, huh?" Shot of an old man sipping coffee. "Reverend Nichols?" Luke asks. Paris asks if "Reverend Nichols" is some kind of nickname, like "Doctor Feelgood." Jess is right on this, since he loves all things tension, and teases Luke that he shouldn't be locked up inside the diner in these horrible working conditions, with the whores and drugs and all. Luke pretty much tells Rory to get Paris the hell out of his diner, which is exactly what Rory does. Paris asks what Luke has to hide as Rory pulls her outside.
Lorelai and Michel are somehow both on cordless phones at the same time talking to two different guests, trying to soothe their towel problems. They both promise to bring the guest the first batch of towels as soon as they arrive, and to enjoy the free champagne. They hang up at the same time. Lorelai says she's going to kill Manny with one of his own towels. Michel offers to help. Richard walks over to Lorelai to tell her that there aren't any tablecloths in the dining room. Lorelai says she knows, and that they're having a bit of a linen and towel crisis, but that she's working on it. Richard says it doesn't look very professional. Manny is on the phone. Lorelai gets on and tells Manny that she's a desperate woman, and that she doesn't want to be lying down in the street moaning about how she used to run an inn. After a second, she starts telling Manny that she loves him very much and tells him how cool he is and how he rocks and everything. She gets off the phone with a "Bye, stud" and announces the towels will be there in twenty minutes. Man, if my dad were nearby, I'd make sure he didn't hear me talk that way to someone. Anybody. Because there's shit to take once he hears that, and that's exactly what Richard starts dishing out. He totally calls her out right there in front of Michel, who is beaming at seeing Lorelai get grounded for being on the phone. "Somebody's in trouble!" Michel sing-songs. Richard tells Lorelai that you never talk that way to a business associate, and that she should be ashamed of herself. Lorelai says she's known Manny for ten years and that they needed towels and they weren't going to get towels if she didn't use her girly ways and now there are towels on the way to the Inn. "I won," she says. Richard says that Lorelai needs to have respect from her employees. The more he talks, the more I notice that his lines were shot with a Lorelai stand-in -- one with different hair and a broader back. I wonder what originally happened in this scene. Richard asks whether she understands what he's telling her. Lorelai holds everything inside of her, squares her shoulders, and says, "Im-him." Richard says he's only telling her all of this for her own good. "Im-him," Lorelai says again, determined not to cry where she works because her Daddy is scolding her. I would think that Richard would also find it bad business to lecture the boss in front of the employees. Lorelai walks back to the desk. Michel tries not to laugh.