Luke is serving breakfast at the diner and tells Lane (who I am so glad to see has not disappeared from the Earth) that they're getting backed up. "Done in a sec," she says, leaning over some papers. Lorelai comes in, and Luke tells her that, sadly, there is no bacon today, since he has had to fire his meat guy. "How could you fire Pepperpot?" she gasps. "He's so cute, and his mother has that skin condition they can't diagnose." Luke says that the guy never brings what the diner orders. "But he's so sweet," Lorelai says. "And his father has that foot-grafting operation month." Luke says he can't keep a guy on just because of all his family needs. "I know," Lorelai laments, "but he tells those funny little limericks. And his sisters were just surgically separated two weeks ago!" She suddenly realizes that Kirk, to her at the counter, is sniffing her shoulder. He asks her if she just ate a Three Musketeers bar. She says no, and he tells her she really smells like nougat. These are the jokes, people. "Stop sniffing my fiance," says Luke, and Kirk shakes his head, saying that he can't help it; his senses are more finely tuned these days due to his all-juice diet: "I want to get the healthy glow of someone who consistently goes to the gym," he says, "without actually going to the gym, of course." From what we've seen of Kirk's torso, a few visits to the gym might do us all some good. Luke tries to rush away, casting another look at Lane and snarking that he is busy since he's the only one working today, but Lorelai stops him to remind him of the journalism panel she's attending today at Yale; she wants him to know that Christopher will be there. See how she's following Luke's rule about sharing everything and keeping no secrets? Remember Luke's rule? That he totally broke like a rule-making, rule-breaking ass? Right. Anyway, Lorelai says that Chris is just trying to make good, for Rory's sake. Luke says he's fine with it (of course he is), and goes to get her pancakes.
Lane comes over, finally done with the thing she was working on. It's a psychedelic flyer of her playing drums -- she's trying to get a new band together. Lorelai says it's awesome: "Very 'White Rabbit.'" Lane scrunches her nose. "I photograph so Asian," she says. Lorelai stutters, saying she thinks Ming-Na has that same problem. Cute. I have really missed Lane. I will come to regret that later in this recap. Lane says that she just has to get back in a band. She's climbing the walls with no rehearsals or shows: "You go from having band practice every day, and seeing certain people every day, and then suddenly you're not." Lorelai nods: "You mean Zach." Lane tries to cover for herself, saying that she also means Brian and Gil, but it doesn't work. Lorelai changes the subject, saying she likes all the shiny pens Lane used on the flyer. "They're Luke's daughter's, actually," Lane says. "She left them here last week and I snagged them." Poor Lorelai immediately looks uncomfortable, and now it's her turn to try to cover. Lane says that April comes in and studies or draws: "We even play some games when things get slow. She kicks my ass at Scrabble." Lorelai laughs and looks wistful. She says she used to play board games with Rory a lot: "She'd get very upset when I'd cheat. So cute." Lane says it's hard to cheat with April because she spends the first twenty minutes reading the rules manual. "Rory was obsessed with Battleship," Lorelai kind of desperately jumps in. "I always thought she was going to join the Navy when she grew up." Lane nods: "Well, there's still time."
“ WHY is Lorelai volunteering to fix anything with Christopher? What is with all the frustrated single parenting on this show? Does everyone have to have a child to take care of? ”
Outside the bar, Doyle complains that he's cold, and Rory gives him her coat, like he's a little kid. "This is lovely," he says, hilariously. She helps him into the coat and they hug, boozily, until he starts kissing her neck. She shoves him away, asking what the hell. He apologizes, profusely, saying that he misses Paris so much. "Oh, God," Rory says, walking away and looking at Doyle like a disease. "Could this day get any worse?"
Lorelai is scrubbing marker off her floor when the phone rings. It's Chris, finally apologizing. "Well," she jokes, "the house was too perfect. Now it's lived in." He can't respond, and she notices that he's awfully quiet: "Gigi got a gun on you, or something?" Chris sincerely apologizes, again, and says that Lorelai was exactly right. "I'm just so mad at Sherry for taking off like that," he says. "Who leaves a kid?" Lorelai is being big about the apology but can't help putting in a "Well..." Chris says, yeah, he knows: "I tell you, Lor, I don't think I got how you felt about me until now, because I want to kill Sherry." Lorelai says she never wanted to kill Chris: "I wanted to key your car. Which I did once, by the way." Chris says it's not right that Gigi doesn't get a mom; he doesn't want her to feel like she's missing stuff, and wants her to be happy. He can't get her into any schools. Lorelai says that what Gigi needs is for Chris to be a parent -- which will mean his saying no sometimes -- and that it's not too late: "I'll help you in any way I can. I promise. We'll fix this." WHY is Lorelai volunteering to fix anything with him? What is with all the frustrated single parenting on this show? Does everyone have to have a child to take care of? Chris tells Lorelai that she's the greatest, but quickly has to get off the phone when Gigi starts breaking stuff and screaming again.
Rory arrives at her old place and knocks on the door. From behind the door, we hear Paris telling "everyone" to get their bowls and chopsticks out. She opens the door to find Rory, and is disappointed, saying she thought Rory was the Chinese food delivery guy. She grudgingly lets Rory in, revealing that she's really alone: "I ordered food for ten, and I didn't want the delivery guy to think I'm a hog." Rory says she kind of ran into Doyle earlier, and Paris asks if that's why she came over. "Well...yes," Rory says, caught off-guard. Paris rushes to her, saying she's a really great friend for coming over to make sure Paris is okay. Rory can't keep up the ruse: "In the name of full disclosure, I should tell you, Logan and I broke up, too. Today. I'm moving out." Paris asks why they broke up. "He cheated on me," Rory says, "with an entire wedding party." Paris is genuinely, in her way, sympathetic. "Nice," she says. "Men suck." They agree on that point. "They let you down," Paris says, "and then you walk around with a stomach ache for the six months." Rory asks if that's how long the stomach ache really lasts. "I don't know," Paris says. "I hope it's only six months." She says that Rory can stay with her, and can even take Paris's room, since Paris has been sleeping at her craft table lately. I love Paris. "Hey, I just realized," she adds. "When the food arrives now, I can really ask someone to get the bowls." Rory smiles and nods. It's a silver lining.
Lorelai is in bed reading when Rory makes the call. "How was the wedding?" Lorelai asks. "Sucko," Rory shrugs. "I've got a new address for you."