Episode Report Card Al Lowe: A- | 3 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Is That A Balalaika In Your Pocket...
By Al Lowe | Season 6 | Episode 8 | Aired on November 7, 2005
In her blue Chanel, Emily goes to knock on Rory's door the next morning at 7:30. She finds the room empty, not having been slept in.
At Lorelai's, Luke wakes up to an empty bed, himself. He follows the path of shoes down to Rory's room, where Lorelai has been sitting up with Paul Anka. She has been watching him all night. Sweet Lauren Graham; she is amazing. She cries about Paul Anka -- he got cold in the middle of the night, so she put his soccer jersey on him. This scene tore me up, I'm not ashamed to admit. I love my damn dog so much, to the point of obsession, that it is embarrassing. When his canine nemesis across the street attacked him by our mailbox, I screamed like Sally Field in Not Without My Daughter. I know Lorelai's angst here is all about transference -- she once again feels that she's failed as a parent, like she thinks she did with Rory. She thinks Paul Anka was messing with her shoes to try to tell her to put her shoes on and take him to the vet so that he could get better. "I tried so hard," she says. "I have a list of things that he's afraid of, on the fridge. And I tried to do the right thing....I did this wrong. How could I have let this happen?" Luke tries repeatedly to console Lorelai. "How can I not fix these things?" she asks. "I'm a bad mother!" Luke says she needs to stay home that day and says he will call Sookie for her. Aw. I mean, I'm crying about the dog, but Luke's sweet, too.
Rory has spent the night at Lane's, apparently, and is now headed out for the DAR event. Waste of Lane! We need more Lane! One scene is not enough! Rory thanks her for providing a place to crash. Lane says that any time Rory needs to is fine, and that she can't wait to hear the whole story. Rory sips her coffee and says she's "still living it." Lane tells her that she has a message on her cell phone from Rory's grandmother, and wonders how Emily even got the number. Rory sighs. "She's Emily Gilmore," Rory says, in explanation, and takes off for the event...