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
At closing time, Rory has to wrangle all three boys, by herself, out into the street, where they further make idiots of themselves, further insult the institution of dramatic arts by behaving like fourteen-year-olds girls who just sipped one wine cooler and "like, got totally drunk," and just infuriating me overall. Somehow, Rory gets Logan, who is complaining non-stop about having to go to Omaha the next day, into the car and looks up to see that Finn and Colin have disappeared. We cut away, assuming of course that Rory has to run AFTER them, but hoping and praying instead that she gets into the car and drives around the corner where they are staggering through the street, and runs OVER them.
In the next scene, we see her pulling back up the Big House, alone. She gets out and, hearing a noise, turns quickly to find none other than her first bad boy, Jess, standing there as if he materialized out of nowhere.
Let me say a few words about Jess. I didn't watch the show during the seasons where he was prominently featured, but I understand from the recaps that...well, there is some extreme Jess-hatred on the part of your average GG fan. Wing Chun, for example. I get the crazy, psychic feeling that she doesn't love him. ["Indeed, you have The Shine." -- Wing Chun] I kind of like Jess in this episode, but I have been told to reserve my judgment of him as the reemergence of his assy-ness is surely inevitable. ["He's definitely more tolerable than he was back in the day, but (a) that's not saying much, (b) he looks better by comparison to Logan, and (c) I will have no problem with him being Rory's friend, but he was a terrible boyfriend." -- Wing Chun] Right now, though, Jess is just weird, showing up in The Grandparents' driveway in the middle of the night. How did he know when she would be home? What was he going to do if she was there, but in bed? Ring the doorbell? Rory is surprised to see him, and a bit flustered. "Hi...I...Sorry." She stops herself: "That wasn't a sentence." He laughs and says he got the gist. She asks what he's doing there, and he jokes that he has a new job as a professional driveway skulker. Rory: "Pay's good?" Jess: "Yeah, but the hours suck." Aw. Do I really have to hate him? Come on! He's way cuter than NotCuteDean! Jess says that no, really, he's in town on some "business," and that Luke told him where Rory was. He tells her he has something he wants to show her, and she suddenly remembers that they're standing in the driveway. "We're kind of exposed, here," Rory says, indicating Emily's window, above. He says he could come back another time, which is also weird, because...if you could come back at another time, why are you there at 2 in the morning? Rory invites him inside, saying they have to be quiet as her G-mother is a light sleeper...