We pan down to Stars Hollow preparing for another festival as we hear this voice-over from Miss Patty: "This, boys and girls, is the story of true love. A beautiful girl from one county; a handsome boy from another. They meet and they fall in love. Separated by distance and by parents who did not approve of the union, the young couple dreamed of a day that they could be together. They wrote each other beautiful letters. Letters of longing and passion. Letters full of promises and plans for the future. Soon the separation proved too much for either one of them to bear. So one night, cold and black with no light to guide them, they both snuck out of their homes and ran away as fast as they could. It was so dark out that they were both soon lost and it seemed as if they would never find each other. Finally, the girl dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her lovely face. 'Oh, my love. Where are you? How will I find you?' Suddenly, a band of stars appeared in the sky. These stars shone so brightly they lit up the entire countryside. The girl jumped to her feet and followed the path of the stars until finally she found herself standing right were the town gazebo is today. And there waiting for her was her one true love, who had also been led here by the blanket of friendly stars. And that, my friends, is the story of how Stars Hollow came to be and why we celebrate that fateful night every year at about this time." As Patty's story unfolds, we see all of the locals preparing for the Stars Hollow Firelight Festival with large stars, banners, and lots of decorations. We settle on Miss Patty's studio, where she's telling the story to a group of children. "Now," she says. "We still have a little time left in our story hour. Who wants to hear about the time I danced in a cage for Tito Puente?" All of the kids raise their hands and plead to hear the story. Miss Patty smokes her cigarette, smiles, and begins her story. "Well, it was the summer of '66," Miss Patty begins, as we fade to the opening credits. Perfect.
CuteDean is waiting at Rory's bus stop. Rory exits and asks him what he thinks of the book. "It's depressing," he says. "It's beautiful," Rory smiles. "She throws herself under a train," CuteDean says as they sit down on the bus bench. Rory: "But I bet she looked great doing it." CuteDean says the story must have been a little over his head. Rory says that Tolstoy wrote for the masses. Rory says she knows it's big. CuteDean agrees. Rory: "And long." CuteDean: "Very, very long." Rory says she knows the similarities in the Russian names can be confusing. CuteDean agrees, saying that every person's name ends with "sky." Rory says it's one of her favorite books. CuteDean says he'll try reading it again. I wish he'd hand her a copy of Popular Mechanics so she'd squirm. Rory says he won't be sorry. They leave for coffee. CuteDean comments on how many celebrations Stars Hollow has. He asks what she's doing Friday night. She says she's got dinner at Emily and Richard's, but she was wondering if he'd like to go to the bonfire with her if she got home early. He says he was hoping she'd get out of the dinner for a special occasion. Rory says she'd have to have some sort of accident that lands her in a plastic bubble for Emily not to freak out over her missing a dinner. CuteDean says that she should tell Emily that it's her three-month anniversary with her boyfriend.
Rory stops walking and says, "It is?" CuteDean says it's three months after her birthday, which is when he gave her the bracelet, so he figures that's pretty much when they started dating. Take it from me, never have an anniversary on a birthday. It ruins gifts, and leaves a bad feeling on future birthdays after you break up. CuteDean says that technically it should be on a Saturday, since her birthday was on a Saturday (but what date, CuteDean?) but he has to work on Saturday and he's planned this big thing out for Friday. Rory asks what he has planned. CuteDean doesn't say, but pleads with her to get out of the dinner. "Don't make me throw myself under a train," he says cutely. Rory smiles and says she'll see what she can do. He thanks her. Rory says she feels "kinda stupid" that she didn't remember their three-month anniversary. "That's quite alright," CuteDean says, because he's perfect. Rory says this means she missed their two-month anniversary as well. CuteDean says it's still all right. Rory asks how it went. CuteDean says it was pretty good. Rory and CuteDean walk past Grant Lee Buffalo still strumming away, still not amusing, still not necessary.
Rory walks into the house to find Lorelai pondering over a box of Hamburger Helper. Rory demands that she put the box away. "No. I wanna cook," Lorelai pouts. Rory says that Lorelai is allowed to make soup. Lorelai says she wants to really cook things, like sauté and chop and say, "Bam!" She says she wants to be the Iron Chef. Rory says she'll help. Rory goes to get a pan and Lorelai mutters that she probably should have bought hamburger. "You didn't buy hamburger?" Rory moans. Lorelai says she did. She just likes saying things like that so Rory looks at her like she's crazy. Rory asks why Lorelai wants to be domestic all of a sudden. Lorelai says there are too many stars out there, and all that love stuff is making her feel sick. Rory says that Mustang Max must not have called yet. Lorelai says he hasn't. Rory says that's why Lorelai's so cranky. Lorelai asks for a new subject. Rory says that Lorelai has a phone as well, and she could call Max. Lorelai still wants a new subject, so Rory tells her about her own dilemma. She explains that she wants to go out with CuteDean on their anniversary for his big fancy plan, but she'd have to get out of dinner at Emily's to do so. "Ah," Lorelai says. "Good luck with that." Lorelai says that Emily couldn't possibly care any less about Rory's anniversary. Rory asks if Lorelai will help her talk to Emily. Lorelai says she will, because she cares, but that Emily probably won't. Lorelai goes to call Emily and starts giggling. Rory asks what's so funny. Lorelai goes into an Emily impersonation. "Really, Lorelai? Well, that's wonderful! I'm thrilled! Three months! Well, woo-hoo! Hold on, I'm going to cartwheel." Rory tells Lorelai just to forget it. Lorelai says that Emily and Richard "are Cabbage Patching." Rory tells Lorelai to get her own pan as Emily answers the phone. Lorelai makes small talk until Emily asks why she's calling. Lorelai explains Rory's problem with lots of words I'm not going to recap here. Emily says it's fine. Lorelai is shocked and stunned and keeps asking if Emily understands that she just said that Rory wouldn't be at dinner. Emily says she'll see Lorelai at seven. Lorelai hangs up the phone. Rory: "So?" Lorelai: "The world is officially coming to an end."
Chilton. Paris and the Snobs are watching Philllipppe mug down with some girl at the lockers. They talk about how they'd like a boyfriend to make out with. Paris complains that she can't get to her locker. She says that this is a school and you don't make out in a school. Louisa explains that if your boyfriend is Philllipppe, you make out "anywhere you can." Louisa and Fraulein go back and forth listing places (street corner, phone booth, shopping mall) until Paris thanks them for the list of possible make-out places and heads for her locker. "Hell hath no fury," Louisa says to Fraulein.
Paris tells Philllipppe that he's in her way. They keep kissing. "Hey! Spawn in front of somebody else's locker, please," Paris pouts. Rory walks up and joins the girls. She asks Paris if her locker is in there somewhere also. I'd think that Rory would have known by now if her locker were to Paris's. Rory asks if Paris has tried to get their attention, since they're still mugging down hardcore. Paris says she has, with no luck. They watch the kissing for a while. Rory grimaces and says it looks like Philllipppe is eating that girl's face. Paris says she's going to get the fire hose. Rory tells her to wait and knocks on Philllipppe's shoulder. Rory asks Philllipppe to move further down because he's blocking their lockers. Philllipppe pretends he was too wrapped up in the girl to notice. They move just an inch down. Paris opens her locker and Philllipppe says hello to her. She says hello back. "You should get bangs," PrepWhore says to Paris without looking at her. Paris thanks her for the tip. "You have a long forehead." PrepWhore continues as she applies lip-gloss. "Bangs would hide that." I'm going to pretend that's not a shout-out. Paris slams her locker and stares at PrepWhore until Fraulein busts in with a party invitation to cut the mood. Fraulein hands one to Rory and tells her that she can invite her boyfriend. Rory says she'll see. Philllipppe and PrepWhore flirt away. Paris says it's a shame Elizabeth Barett Browning wasn't there to see all of that. "She'd put her head through a wall."
Independence Inn. Someone spiked Sookie's soufflé with roofies, because everyone is all over each other. People are holding hands, leaning on each other, flirting. This is all making Lorelai quite pouty. She scoffs at the couple making out in the lobby and walks over to the kitchen. She opens the door to find Sookie and Jackson making out. They stop kissy-facing and turn guiltily towards Lorelai. She reminds them that this is a kitchen, and not a place for lovemaking. Sookie and Jackson stammer out a lie that Jackson is planning on making jam and preserves. Lorelai asks if there's coffee. Sookie apologizes. Lorelai says it's fine and turns to leave. She tells them to "resume smooching." Sookie thanks her and Lorelai leaves. Sookie and Jackson sigh at each other.
At the front desk, Michel is cooing Frenchly to his girlfriend on the phone. He's going to see her soon. He's very excited. It's very endearing. He tells her he promises the wait will be worth it. He giggles at something she says and gets off the phone. "How's Mom?" Lorelai asks. Michel says he refuses to get into any sort of spiteful banter with her today because he's in a very good mood and nothing is going to get to him. He says he has a date for Saturday night. "Your turn?" he asks. Lorelai slams something on the counter and says that right now she needs "lots and lots of coffee." Michel sips from his mug.
Lorelai walks through the middle of the town, where preparations are still underway. Someone shouts a "heads up" to her and a giant star falls from the sky, narrowly missing her head. A townie runs over to ask if she's okay. She says she's fine. "That's never happened before!" he says in amazement. Lorelai sighs, says, "How 'bout that?" and walks away.
Inside Luke's, Lorelai tells Luke that she was almost killed by a papier-mâché star. She asks how his day is going. He says it's going much better now. She orders a cup of coffee "with a shot of cynicism." He asks why she's so grumpy. She says there's no real reason. She tries to pick a fight with him but is quickly drowned out by Cardigan Man and Miss Patty behind her arguing about the legend of the Firelight Festival. Cardigan Man says the young couple built the fire so they could throw themselves on it when their parents found out. Miss Patty says the fire was to keep them warm their first night in Stars Hollow. They continue arguing until Lorelai huffs that she wishes someone in this town would talk about anything other than "this stupid festival." It gets real quiet in the diner. "That came out a lot louder than it was supposed to, didn't it?" Lorelai asks. Luke agrees. Cardigan Man reminds Lorelai that this festival commemorates the founding of Stars Hollow. Lorelai apologizes. Luke makes an excuse for her, saying that she's bi-polar. "Really?" Miss Patty asks. "But you're so young!" Lorelai tells Luke she doesn't know why she's so upset about this festival, and that she shouldn't let it get to her. Luke grumps that the festival is for a stupid story about two lunatics that probably didn't even exists. Lorelai smiles and wiggles, happy to have found another killjoy in the town. Luke says the town Stars Hollow probably got its name "from the local dance hall prostitute." Lorelai: "You are full of hate and loathing and I gotta tell you that I love it." Luke says it's nice to have someone to commiserate with. As Luke refills Lorelai's coffee, she tells him that tomorrow she's planning on despising anyone that says, "Hey, how's it going?" if he'd like to join her. He says she's on. A woman enters the diner. "Hey, how's it going?" she asks. Lorelai smiles and says that it shouldn't be that easy. But it isn't. Luke is silent, staring at the woman. "Rachel," he finally says. "Rachel?" Lorelai asks. "Your Rachel?" She turns to the woman. "You're Rachel?" The woman nods and says she is. Lorelai and Luke stare silently until the commercial break.
Lorelai and Luke are still staring at Rachel, and the diner is awkwardly quiet. Luke stammers that he thought Rachel was in "Philadelphia, or the Congo or something." Rachel says she was in a place similar to both Philadelphia and the Congo: she was in the Middle East. Luke says her postcard must have gotten lost. Rachel sits down and says things were pretty crazy over there, so she didn't have much time to write. She says she was walking through O'Hare and she looked up and saw there was a flight leaving for Hartford in a few minutes and the thing she knew she was on it. "Nice story," Luke says bitterly. Rachel says she should have called. Luke says it's fine. Lorelai is just watching. Rachel says Luke looks good. Luke stammers about how she looks until Lorelai tells her that he thinks she looks good too. Lorelai introduces herself. Luke is no help here, just stammering along about how Lorelai works at the inn. Lorelai says that she, in fact, runs the inn. Rachel says she loves that place and that Lorelai must have a big job. Lorelai runs at the mouth forever about how they just installed coffee makers and only half of them work so her job is really crazy. She stops herself to ask why Rachel was in the Mid East. Rachel says she was doing a photo story about the families affected by the violence in that area. Lorelai says that Rachel must understand job pressure, then. She then excuses her blushing ass. Rachel says hello to Luke again. He says hello back.
Lorelai is brushing Rory's hair, beating herself up for looking like a fool in front of Rachel. Rory is complaining about the pain. She says that Rachel is only Luke's ex-girlfriend and she shouldn't get so worked up about it. Lorelai bitches that Rachel had just gotten off a plane and was still beautiful and didn't even have "plane hair." Rory asks what plane hair would look like. Lorelai explains that it's puffy and big and ugly. She says that Luke was looking at Rachel like she's "Miss September" and she's looking at him like he's "Johnny Depp," and Lorelai was standing there like a moron. Rory can't take the pain anymore and pulls Lorelai off hair duty. Lorelai apologizes. Rory asks what's wrong with her. Lorelai says all of the love in the air is making her miss Max. Rory says she knows. Lorelai says she had a dream about him the other night. Rory asks if it was a dirty dream. Lorelai says it wasn't, but if Rory asks again when she's twenty-one she'll get the truth. Lorelai says she'd rather focus on Rory right now, and asks what she's going to wear with her hot pink dress. Rory pulls out two sweaters. One is the same shade of hot pink, and the other is hot pink with stripes. Yikes. Lorelai asks where they're going to dinner. Rory says some Italian name. Lorelai is impressed with how fancy and romantic that place is. She says that it'll be just like Lady and the Tramp and that they'll share a plate of spaghetti but it'll just be one long strand, and then CuteDean will roll a meatball over with his nose and Rory will roll it back with her nose and then she will bring that meatball home with her and save it years. Rory interrupts her to ask about the sweaters again. Lorelai tells her wisely to ditch the sweaters and just wear her coat. Lorelai stands up to fix Rory's flower. Lane calls from downstairs. Lorelai stares at herself in the mirror as Lane starts gushing at Rory downstairs.
"I mean, three months!" Lane sighs. "That's like one sixty-forth of your life!" Rory says she knows. Lane says she should stop hanging out with Rory because it's making her life seem pathetic. "Join the club," Lorelai chimes in. Rory asks if Lane is going to the festival, because they could meet up with her. Lane smarms that meeting up would be so romantic. She says that she's going to the festival because her mother has set her up again. This time he's a chiropractor, which makes her think that her mother is losing confidence in her. Rory says it might be nice. Lane then informs her that she's not just going with the boy, but also "his parents, his grandparents, two sisters, three brothers, and at least one maiden aunt." CuteDean honks outside and Rory stands to go. Lane says she wants to hear everything that happens. Rory says she wants to know all about Lane's evening too, despite Lane's protests. They hug. Rory hugs Lorelai goodbye. Lorelai tells her, "Don't forget the meatball." Lane asks what that means, but Lorelai tells her it's a "mother-daughter thing." Rory leaves and Lane asks Lorelai if she can hang out with her tonight. Lorelai says that she has to go to Emily's for dinner, so she can't go unless she wants to go to Hartford. She says it's not nice to keep "fifteen prospective Korean in-laws waiting." Lane asks Lorelai to run over her with her car on the way out. She wonders if her mother would let her skip out on the date if she was in the hospital. Lorelai says it's unlikely. Lane agrees.
Lorelai finishes her coffee in front of Emily's door and looks around for a place to toss the cup. She settles on shoving it into her purse. Emily opens the door and says that Lorelai is late. Lorelai asks how Emily knew to open the door before she even rang the bell. Emily says she thought she heard something, went to the door and saw Lorelai was there. She lets Lorelai in. Lorelai says that the door is ten feet thick and doesn't see how Emily thought she heard something. Emily asks if Lorelai wants to hear that she was standing in front of the window waiting to pounce on her the second she arrived. Lorelai says she'd rather hear that because it's actually less creepy. Emily takes the coffee cup from Lorelai's purse and tells her to go fix herself a drink.
Lorelai says hello to Richard, who never looks up from his newspaper. Lorelai walks over to the fireplace and asks how his work is doing. Richard mutters that it's fine. Lorelai says her work is going just fine as well. She sees the glass menagerie on a small table and says that Emily has gone just a bit too far. "Little Kathy Bates? Although, you probably haven't seen Misery which is a good thing, because Rory couldn't sleep alone for a week after she saw it. That wouldn't be a problem for you, because you don't sleep alone anyway. I'm guessing. I don't know…what your and Mom's sleeping arrangement is. Now I'm wishing I hadn't brought it up, because it's such a, 'Wow. Don't want to go there,' kind of subject. For me. Not for you. Because you should definitely go there. You, well…" Lorelai goes to put the figurine back on the table and knocks a few over, making a wild noise. Richard asks what Lorelai has done now, and Lorelai stammers that she sort of separated the bunny and his friends, but that's what they get for living in the jungle. Richard tells Lorelai to sit down. She apologizes. He tells her to sit with her hands in her lap and to keep quiet so he can finish reading his paper. He asks her to keep quiet and to try not to break anything else.
Emily enters and asks if they are having "a nice chat." Lorelai looks up: "Yeah, we're having a great conversation, here, me and Morrie." Hee. Lorelai thanks Emily for letting Rory get out of the Friday dinner. Emily says that Rory should be out celebrating. She says that the three-month mark is a milestone for someone at her age. She adds, "Or at any age, for some people." Lorelai goes to make herself a drink.
The doorbell rings. Emily goes to answer it. Lorelai asks if Richard needs another drink. He says that one drink before dinner is fine enough. Emily walks back into the room, beaming, with a young man under her arm. They're talking about something being so close, and Emily says it's a "small world." Richard doesn't look pleased to see this gentleman caller. Emily introduces him as Chase Bradford, but I wish his name were Tom so he could call her Blue Roses and then dance her back into that small table and break the horn off the glass unicorn. Emily says that Chase grew up just around the corner from them. Lorelai knows the house and says they had Dobermans. Chase says that they did. "Leopold and Loeb." Chase adds that the dogs have passed on by now. Lorelai jokes that the postmen must have gotten organized. This isn't funny to anyone else. Emily introduces Chase to Richard. They sit. Richard says he didn't know they were having company for dinner. Emily says it was a "spur-of-the-moment" kind of thing. She's in DAR with Chase's mother and since he just moved back to town, she thought it'd be nice to have him for dinner. Lorelai smiles strongly and says it's very nice. Chase and Richard rich-snobby-talk about what kind of Scotch Chase would like to drink. Chase tells Lorelai that he's heard so much about her. He says he wishes Rory could have been here. He adds that he just adores children. Lorelai asks if she can talk to Emily for a moment. Emily says they have company. She says that it'll only take a moment and it'll be fun. She excuses them from Chase for a "spur-of-the-moment conversation."
Lorelai pushes Emily into the hallway and asks if this was a setup. Emily reluctantly confesses. She says she thought it was a good opportunity. Lorelai thanks her and says she can get her own men. Emily giggles and says she must disagree. "You must?" Emily says that Chase is a nice man, from a nice family and makes a good living. Lorelai says he's not her type. Emily asks if that's because she likes him. Lorelai says she's not sure which one, but she knows there's a game show out there with Emily's name on it. Emily says that Lorelai hasn't even said two words to Chase so she can't possibly know already that she hates him. Lorelai says that Emily would be very good at Whack-A-Mole. Emily says that she knows Chase isn't as "controversial" as Lorelai's typical boyfriend, but she's only asking that Lorelai think for a second about how Rory is on her three-month anniversary date. She asks Lorelai when was the last time she celebrated that mark in a relationship. Lorelai's smile fades. Emily lifts a finger and smiles. "I thought so." She walks away. Lorelai pouts and follows Emily back into the room.
Emily apologizes for taking so long. Chase says he had some time to explain what he does for a living to Richard. Richard is bored out of his mind. Chase asks Lorelai if he can fix her something to drink. Lorelai: "Mmm. Gin." Chase: "And?" Lorelai: "Gin." Richard says he'll have a drink as well. Lorelai asked what happened to his one-drink rule. Richard says that they have guests. "We're celebrating," he says, without a tone of celebration. He goes to help Chase with the drinks. Lorelai pats her own knees, catches the stink-eye from Emily, and then pouts back into the couch. Commercial.
Oh, and now there are cute babies sleeping in the commercials. How cute does this hour have to be?
CuteDean and Rory are at dinner. He asks if everything was fine. She says it was. He asks how the salad was. She loved it. She says everything was perfect. Even the soda. She says the soda was better here than she's ever had it. CuteDean asks at what point did she start making fun of him. She says she'd never make fun of him. "Especially since you ordered three different kinds of pasta for me just because I couldn't decide." CuteDean says that Rory shouldn't have to make any sort of decisions on this special evening. Rory says she's a big fan of the three-month anniversary. CuteDean says it isn't over yet. Rory sighs happily and says this is just like the Christmas she got a full set of illustrated encyclopedias. CuteDean stares until she tells him that she wanted it. The waiter brings over the Tiramisu and one meatball in a doggy bag. CuteDean asks about the meatball. Rory says it's a mother-daughter thing. He tells her, "Ladies first," and she tries the Tiramisu. She mentions again she loves the three-month anniversary. She says the Tiramisu is good enough to have saved the evening if it were sucking. She eats while CuteDean stares until she asks why he's smiling at her. He says she's cute. She says she's eating, and no one's cute while they're eating. "Well, you eat cute," he smiles. Oh, man. I love this boy. Even though he's sorta sexist and kinda dumb. I love this well meaning, backwards boy. CuteDean says it's time for Phase Two of the evening. Rory jokes that she'll need a space suit.
At the Gilmore dinner, Chase asks if Lorelai is a member of the DAR. "No, I'm not," she says. "D-A-R-N!" She laughs alone at her joke, and then has to explain it, which is getting to be an old joke for Lorelai. Richard is fuming, by the way. Emily asks Chase how he ended up moving back to Hartford. Chase sucks Richard's ass for a little while, but Richard's not interested. Chase blabs on about completely uninteresting things that I won't bother you with. He says things like, "I did at that." Richard grumps that he'd like more roast. Emily ignores him. Lorelai offers to get Richard more roast. Chase asks her to hurry back so he can hear the appeal of Stars Hollow. Blah. We hate him. scene.
Walking through the festival, CuteDean asks Rory what book she brought. See? He remembers things. This is why we love the CuteDean. Rory confesses that she brought The New Yorker, but it's the fiction issue. The Mayor stands at the gazebo and kicks off the festival. He says that many people have found true love standing where he's standing right now. He says it's where he met his true love and they've been married for forty-three years. Cardigan Man covers the microphone and tells the Mayor to ask his wife to wave. The Mayor whispers back that he can't. His wife went to play Bingo in Bridgeport. Hee. That's near where my family is from, and we used to go into Bridgeport to play Bingo. It's nice and trashy. Like a good Bingo game should be. They start to light the bonfire, but Rory asks to start Phase Two. She says it'll be a while before they actually get the bonfire lit. The Mayor and Cardigan Man are grumbling and yelling at each other until the Mayor turns to the crowd and shouts, "Does anyone have any matches?" Wah-wah-wah-waaaaaaaaaaaaah.
Chase is blah, blah, blahing as Richard and Lorelai are in hell. I don't understand a word that he's saying. Something about computers, which bores Richard. Chase tells Emily that if she answered a few simple questions for him, he could pinpoint the day she's going to die. This stops Emily's interest, but Lorelai is now back in the game. She tells Chase to ask the questions. Chase scoffs (with a "No, no, Lorelai!") that he couldn't just come up with a date, and that he'd have to feed the answers into a computer. "I'm not Kreskin!" he shouts, and then snorts himself into a coma. Richard almost chokes on his tongue. Emily says that Chase and Lorelai should retire in the living room with some brandy while she helps clear the table. Lorelai laughs and says, "While you do what?" Chase gets all creepy and says, "Well, that sounds lovely." He then actually raises his creepy pasty hand and is all, "Shall we?" Lorelai stammers and says she will, but first she has to powder her "something," and excuses herself from the table. She says she'll meet him in the living room. He says he'll be waiting. "Super," she smiles.
Lorelai takes a quiet moment in her bedroom. She grabs her coat and heads to the window. As she's got one leg towards freedom, Richard walks in and calls her. There's a moment where they stare at each other. Lorelai: "Hi, Daddy. Okay, I know this is bad. And I know this probably brings back all the horrible aspects of my childhood life for you, and see, I'm really sorry that we fought last week, and I'm really sorry that you're so disappointed in me, and I really wish there was something I could do to fix that, but there probably isn't, and I can accept that, because I'm an adult now and, and, and I'm proud of who I've become, but I am begging of you, please, please, please do not make me go back down there because that guy is boring." Richard turns and shouts, "Emily! She's not up here!" Lorelai whispers, "Thank you, Daddy," turns and leaves. Richard smiles for a second and then leaves the room.
Pan down to a junkyard. Rory and CuteDean stand in front of the gate. She asks him what all of this is. "Did you ever see Christine?" he asks her. Rory gives a shaky, "Yes." "Well, it's nothing like that," he promises. They break into the junkyard. "You brought me to Beirut?" she asks. "It's a salvage yard," CuteDean says, correcting me. Rory says it still looks like Beirut. He brings her over to the hollow shell of a car. He tells her that this is her surprise. Rory is confused. He explains it's a car. "When it grows up?" Rory asks. CuteDean says it's not really a car yet, but it will be. He's building it for her. Rory can't believe this, and keeps asking him over and over again if he really means that he's building an actual car for her. He says that she doesn't have a car and she's wasting precious minutes on that bus every day when they could be sitting together arguing over long books by confusing Russian authors. Y'all. He's building her a car. My heart can't take this. Rory's face is so perfect, all full of love and awe, calling him insane. He asks if she likes it. She answers with a kiss. He says he'll take it as a yes. "Take it, Mister," she says all cute. He opens the door for her, and it falls off. He says he'll fix it. "Don't!" Rory orders. "I like it like that." She gets into the front seat, all proud and happy. CuteDean jumps over the passenger side door. "This is amazing," she says. She says that she had no idea three-months was the car anniversary. He says month she gets a plane. He puts his arm around her and she settles back into him. As we watch them from overhead, Rory says, "I'm having one of those moments right now. One of those moments when everything is so perfect and so wonderful that you almost feel sad because nothing could ever be this good again." CuteDean says he's depressing her. Rory says he is and giggles. "You're very weird," he says. "And you're wonderful," she says back. They kiss. Man. I can't take all the perfect.
CuteDean sits back and says, "Rory? I love you." Rory's face falls as the music dies. "Rory?" CuteDean asks. "Did you hear me?" Rory says she did. CuteDean asks her to say something. Rory stammers that she loves the car. CuteDean asks if that's it. Rory says no, but she's surprised. "You don't love me," CuteDean says. Rory says she just has to think about it for a second. CuteDean asks what she has to think about. Rory says that saying "I love you" is a really difficult thing. CuteDean: "Well, I just did it." Rory: "And you did it really well." CuteDean: "What the hell does that mean?" Rory apologizes and says that this all came as a big surprise to her, what with the dinner and the car and the confession. She says she needs a minute to think about it. CuteDean says this isn't something you think about. You either feel it or you don't. CuteDean should show her at this point some sort of gash or scar he got while working on the car. That'll get her. Rory begs him to not be mad about this. CuteDean says a few things that are mean about her having to go home and talk about it with her mother and make a "pro-con list." "Not fair," Rory says quietly. CuteDean apologizes and says he's an idiot. Rory says that it's just not easy for her. She asks him to think about it from her point of view. Her mom said "I love you" to her dad. "You don't get pregnant saying 'I love you,'" CuteDean spits. Rory says she knows that. She's just confused and needs to think. She says it's a really big deal.
CuteDean starts to get out of the car, but Rory pulls on his arm and begs him to not be mad. "I'll take you home," he says. She says tonight was amazing and perfect and she just needs a minute. CuteDean interrupts her with a "whatever" and pulls himself out of the car. He won't let Rory touch him. Rory watches CuteDean leave the salvage yard as hearts break around the world. Rory gets out of the car and follows him.
Lorelai walks by that damn Buffalo guy who keeps on ruining things. She walks past Sookie and Jackson. Jackson asks Sookie if she knows what he's thinking. She doesn't. He's thinking this is really nice. She agrees. Rachel stands a few feet away, taking photographs of them while extras ruin the shot by walking through the scene.
The camera follows Rachel, who takes a few shots of the grumpy Luke. She sits down to him. He asks if she got some good shots. She says that the Firelight really changes people, and makes them seem free and without troubles. Luke speculates that it's probably the Firelight Party Punch that's doing that job. Rachel says she loves the punch. He asks what she's doing there. She says she's putting more film in her camera. He asks again. She says she was at the airport and now she's there. He says she has a tendency to show up and then leave suddenly. She asks if he's happy to see her. He doesn't say anything. She says she missed him and wanted to see him. He says he missed her too. She says that since they're both being honest, she'd like to know about Lorelai. He keeps avoiding talking about her. Luke says that they are just friends. "For now," Rachel says. Luke says yes. Rachel asks about the future. Luke says he doesn't know. Some days he thinks there's a chance and other days it's not there. He says that he doesn't know at all. He says he is happy to see her, though. "Good," Rachel says. She says she's going to get some more punch. She asks if he wants any. "That stuff'll kill you," he grumps. "Oh, Luke," she smiles. "Some things never change."
As Rachel walks over to the punch tent, Lane and her funeral party slowly walk by. She's leading a pack of at least twenty stone-faced Korean elders.
Lorelai sits down to Luke. He says he thought she was supposed to be in Hartford. She says she was but she climbed out a window. "Okay," he says. Lorelai asks if he wants to know why she climbed out the window. He doesn't really care. She says that's what she loves about him. He asks how long she's been there. She says not too long. Luke says she missed Cardigan Man and the Mayor get into a fistfight. Lorelai moans that she can't believe she missed it. She asks where Rachel is. Luke tells her that Rachel's a punch junkie. Lorelai says even the good girls aren't safe. Luke says that Rachel's having a good time, he thinks. Lorelai asks what "the haps" is between the two of them, which might be a shout-out, since my friends are fond of asking, "What's the haps, peeps?" but that's just me projecting myself into this show yet again. They argue about "the haps" for a bit. Then they argue about how to ponder.
Lorelai asks if Rachel's staying. Luke doesn't know. She asks if he wants her to. He doesn't know. She says Rachel really likes him. Luke goes on about debating things, wondering what's right or wrong, and sometimes you just need to jump in with both feet. He says they loved each other before and she left and he survived, so why not try again. Lorelai says that he should. He says he's going to go check up on Rachel. Lorelai says it's nice to have someone to check up on. Luke says it's not so nice when that person is drunk and puking in a corner. Lorelai says it's still kind of nice. Luke smiles and says he'll see her tomorrow. "Tomorrow," Lorelai says, and watches him leave.
Back at the house, Lorelai walks in and looks at the phone. She picks it up and dials Max's number. She's about to leave a message but Rory walks in. Rory stands there, her face all…damn, this is sad. Okay. So, Rory's just standing there, and Lorelai puts the phone down and calls Rory's name, and Rory just looks up and goes, "We just broke up." And that's all. She's just standing there all sad and shocked and thinking about what happened, and Lorelai walks over and holds Rory until the episode ends and I can't stop crying, so this recap is over.
week stupid Rory gets mad over stupid CuteDean and might kiss stupid Philllipppe.