Gilmore Girls 6.03 “The UnGraduate”
Gilmore Girls 6.03 "The UnGraduate"
Original Air Date: September 27, 2005 (Recap date: April 18, 2008)
Recap & Discussion
Discussion Questions:
- Why does Lorelai think deceiving TJ will keep him happy?
- What changed for Rory, to make her more assertive during community service?
- Why doesn’t Paris talk with Rory now? Did you interpret Paris’ anger about Rory dropping out of Yale as a serious breach in their friendship?
- Why doesn’t Lorelai committ to a wedding date? Is that a red flag?
- Why is Luke uncomfortable with Lorelai’s treatment of the construction crew?
- Do you think Paris is abusing her relationship with Lorelai?
- Should Lorelai "break up" with Paris?
- Why is Lorelai so upset to hear Rory is working in an office?
- Does it sound like Rory never plans to return to Yale?
- Was it a good plan for Lane to deceive the band on their finances?
- Is Rory boring Logan?
- Why does Lorelai want to wait for Rory to set the wedding date? And why not mention so earlier?
- How does Lorelai expect things to resolve with Rory if she’s not willing to make any effort?
- Did going back to Yale throw Rory’s choice into stark contrast, finally seeing something is not right?
Gilmore Girls Episode Recap:
Lorelai is back to sleeping on her couch. She gets up to prepare a nutrient-free breakfast for the construction crew now working on the renovation. Paul Anka sits on a chair at the kitchen table to watch. Lorelai reminds the workers to pet Paul Anka only with their non-watch hands so no more of her appliances get damaged.
TJ is acting like foreman on the job, but Tom has to follow behind him to make sure the crew know what they need to do and don’t follow TJ’s bad advice. Lorelai doesn’t want to break it to TJ that he’s not the contractor because he’s been so happy. Tom says he’s harmless, since TJ’s bad instincts are chased by zero follow-through. Lorelai says those are the best qualities in a pretend contractor. Luke retorts:
"But we’re paying TJ a contractor’s salary to do a job that he’s not actually doing. And you’re paying Tom an extra ten percent to pretend he’s not doing a job that TJ thinks he’s doing but Tom is actually doing. You should hire Blake Edwards as your contractor."
Lorelai argues that a happy TJ makes a happy Liz, which makes for a happy Luke and Lorelai. Lorelai is going to shower at Babette’s - some of the guys saw her naked yesterday because TJ accidentally sent them up. Lorelai says it’s no big deal, but Luke is angry. One of the workers sizes Lorelai up as she walks away and then pats Luke on the shoulder appreciatively.
Emily is fuming about a "semi-polite" letter about the state of a plant in the DAR office. She thinks it’s meant to be very insulting in a polite way. Emily is the president at the DAR, so it’s a direct slight on her leadership. Emily fears the woman, Constance, wants to run against her for the next election. Rory reminds Emily that she has someone on the inside now - her!
Rory is now using two garbage spears at once now, and is able to help others more as a leader. Telling them where supplies are, offering moral support, and is even helping Liza to quit smoking. She has a rundown of the day with the supervisor, whom she’s been assisting in organizing the crew. Rory has to go to do some volunteer work at the nursing home after. The other people there are surprised how much community service Rory was ordered to do.
Paris is having a heart-to-heart with Lorelai about her relationship with Doyle. Living with him is proving challenging. Her current challenge is her sleeping arrangements - what does it say to want to put on a comfortable tshirt to sleep in? Should she sleep naked? Lorelai is looking Paris-ed out, so lies to Paris about being out of espresso when Paris says she’s getting worn out.
Paris leaves, and Michel is now able to come out of hiding from the kitchen. Sookie hates her too, because Paris is always sending back food. Paris comes there often and it’s interrupting all of their work. Lorelai feels sorry for Paris, but realizes she needs to cut her off.
There is a wedding coming up at the Inn, and Sookie is using it as a trial for Lorelai’s wedding. Sookie wants a date from Lorelai, but Luke & Lorelai haven’t planned it yet. Sookie had Michel block off all of July in hopes they’d choose that month. When Lorelai asks that they un-block it, Michel sees that as a sign that they’re not getting married (and that he was right about that). Sookie has her doubts now too. Lorelai insists they are getting married, but that things are too hectic with the renovations.
Rory is working at the DAR office, trying to substantiate that an applicant is related to a patriot. Emily comes in, so Rory offers up some gossip about Constance that she managed to weasel out of some of the girls over lunch. Emily calls her a sly fox proudly. The gossip is that Constance may be using drugs. So, Rory suggested to the girls that the invite Constance for lunch to get her tipsy and see what comes up.
"Who knew that behind such a sweet face lurked the soul of a spy?"
Paris calls Rory, apparently they’ve had trouble connecting lately. Paris needs to put a deposit on their place off-campus, so Rory has to re-insist she’s not going back to Yale. Paris knew about Rory stealing the yacht from a "Rebecca Thurston’s blog". Apparently Rory and Logan tried to outrace the coast guard.
Lorelai is in her living room entertaining the construction workers with her Daniel Day-Lewis retrospective when Luke walks in. They taught Paul Anka to bark for "pizza" but not for "salad." Luke is concerned about the un-finished work left in the yard. Luke thinks Lorelai is being too generous with the crew and the food & beer. Tom asks Lorelai if she wants a bigger kitchen, but they think it’s fine.
Tom sent TJ on a wild goose chase to find a "mystic hammer" - got him out all day. TJ notices Rory’s room and suggests they make it into part of the kitchen or a weight room, workshop or a pork smoking room. Lorelai looks uncomfortable about the mention of Rory’s room. Lorelai tells TJ to leave the room alone in no uncertain terms, then leaves.
Hep Alien is doing a cover of Blondie’s "Don’t leave me hanging on the telephone." Zack has a beard now, and Lane has colored streaks in her hair. This is their last stop on their tour. They think they rocked like the Foo Fighters. The tour was great - exhilarating but tiring.
Sookie shows Lorelai a dark chocolate s’mores wedding cake that is even topped with a marshmallow bride & groom. Sookie asks if the bride & groom will like it for their wedding this weekend, then asks if perhaps Lorelai will like it. Lorelai is a little exasperated. Sookie wants to make sure that Lorelai is telling her everything. Lorelai says she’s committed.
Michel comes back to say the wedding party will be late, so Lorelai agrees to stay. Then he hums the Wizard of Oz song saying something "sinister" is approaching. Paris. She’s there for lunch, though Lorelai promises she’s going to break up with her today. The service staff all run and hide as Paris comes in.
Paris begins ranting about all the stupid people she just interviewed for her roommate. Lorelai suggests to Paris that it’s fine if they cut out some of their lunches because Paris is so busy. Paris says it’s all Rory’s fault for not rooming with her. Lorelai wistfully repeats that "you talked to Rory yesterday?" Lorelai didn’t know about Rory’s job. Paris isn’t sure where it is, just that it’s with Emily. Lorelai grills her for details. Paris then thinks that Lorelai is using her for information about Rory - why else would she have bi-weekly lunches with her? Lorelai insists that she loves their lunches.
Rory is organizing some dancing at the nursing home. Logan shows up there, back from his trip to Europe. They are all smiles and kisses. Logan is happy to wait around for Rory’s day to finish up.
Later, Logan is sitting wrapped in a blanket on Rory’s striped couch, and she’s up wearing just his shirt. Cuddle time. Rory asks to see pictures. Logan pulls out his cell phone to show Rory some photos of his crazy time with Colin and Finn. Including the Gloucestershire cheese-rolling festival. It’s how Logan broke his pinky finger. Colin apparently fell in love with a milk-maid and ran off with her alone for the rest of the summer. They assume he’ll be back "by the time…" Logan trails off not wanting to mention school.
Logan says he doesn’t want to bum Rory out by talking about school. Rory says it’s fine - Yale was a good chapter in her life, but she’s happy with where she is now with her job and her "pad". Rory insists that Yale never be off-limits to conversation. Rory agrees to go there for breakfast with Logan the next day. Rory jokes about Logan not having seen the bedroom yet, which he takes as a hint/joke to move the action to the next room.
The band are at a gas station filling up, Zack being cautious that he’s using regular gas so they don’t forgo the snack money. They are close to home and they’ve had quite enough of the cramped van. And are starving. Lane admits that in her capacity of band manager, she made a decision to fib a little about how much money they had. Lane says they are going home with over $9,000! The guys don’t cheer though, since they haven’t had a full meal in 2 months. Lane points out that the money will let them record.
Lorelai came home to feed Paul Anka before her late night receiving the wedding party at the Inn. Tom says the water will need to be off for a couple of days. Lorelai hints that she’s worried about leaving Paul Anka alone for so long - Luke lets her fish for him to volunteer for a while, just to see her squirm. Luke says he’ll take Paul Anka home with him.
TJ comes back having talked to another contractor - he learns that contractors don’t fetch food and they do get to answer the phone, and that there is no such thing as a mystic hammer. TJ realizes that he’s not the contractor. Luke is going to admit it’s true, but Tom softens the blow by telling TJ he got out of the house. TJ hands out the dinners then quits.
TJ is sitting sadly at Luke’s drinking his fourth milkshake. Luke tells TJ that contracting is just not his thing. TJ realizes he has no "thing" - no dream or future. Luke perks TJ up by reminding him of the shelves - he calls TJ a craftsman. TJ is thrilled to realize he’s like Jesus.
Luke finds that Paul Anka has gone through his cupboards and eaten a pile of chocolate. Luke goes to smell the dog’s breath. Luke picks up Paul Anka and runs out. Luke had gone to the animal hospital, which was closed, then called Babette, who told him where the vet lived.
"You gotta do something! Because this is not my dog, this is my fiancée’s dog. She loves him. She named him Paul Anka, which may, on the surface, not seem like a sign of love but if you knew her you’d get it, and believe me, there’s a lot of ways I could screw up this relationship, but I cannot lose her over the fact that I killed her dog."
Rory is telling Logan a story of walking out on her community service job to switch for another one, since the soup kitchen she was at did not want to log her hours. Rory has done 125 hours so far. Rory is starting as a candy striper next week. Logan has to run out to speak with his faculty advisor.
Luke wakes up in the morning and finds Lorelai in his bed. He gets up, which wakes her. Lorelai asks how things went with Paul Anka, and Luke tells her about the chocolate and the hour and a half of vomiting that he did. He then held water to Paul Anka for three hours to get him to re-hydrate. So, now he’s going to go make some scrambled eggs for the dog.
Lorelai says to Luke that she doesn’t want to set a wedding date until things are good with Rory. Luke says ok. And goes to make the dog his breakfast. Lorelai cuddles down in the bed.
Rory is wistfully watching the student orientation at Yale. She looks both happy and sad. That transitions to Rory’s initiation into the DAR - all dressed up, in contrast with her youthful look of that morning. Her arms are crossed and she looks awkward, as well as out of place with the much older women.
Tags: gilmore girls, gilmore girls recap, gilmore girls recaps, gilmore girls episodes, the ungraduate, rory gilmore, yale, the dar, dar, daughters american revolution, paul anka, gilmore girls season six
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POSTED IN: Discussions, Emily Gilmore, Gilmore Girls Recaps, Lane Kim, Logan Huntzberger, Lorelai Gilmore, Lorelai's love life, Luke Danes, Paris Geller, Rory Gilmore, Sookie St. James
2 opinions for Gilmore Girls 6.03 “The UnGraduate”
mygirlswatchcinderella
Apr 21, 2008 at 7:41 am
Rory’s recklessness is only topped by Loralie’s uncertainty about her future. Finally, the dog has had enough and decides to commit suicide. Fortunately, Luke comes to the rescue –as usual. Emily is her old self seeking to maintain her status as the sole keeper of the top of the social ladder. Hopefully, the uncomfortable initiation into the DAR will be just what Rory needs to get her to wake up and put her life back together.
vewer
May 4, 2008 at 1:21 am
I saw Rory magically becoming the Queen of Community Servicelandia as just a little reminder that the show is, after all, a sitcom, and is therefore authorized to bring to bear upon viewers the full weight of its sitcom-grade artistic license.
Reading your questions actually changed my mind about something, though.
I had always assumed that whether she might be deceiving herself or not, Lorelai was being both sincere and sensible about waiting to set a wedding date until she and Rory had made up.
As a mother with such a close relationship with her daughter, she would know that the current rift would end eventually, and she would certainly not want to even begin planning for a wedding without Rory.
But you raise a very good point - why would she not have said that when she proposed to Luke? Which makes me wonder what so many other viewers have always wondered - was the proposal itself - and not just its timing - more a result of the pain of Rory’s absence than a genuine and well-thought-out conviction that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Luke?
I think that for Paris, Rory “taking time off” from Yale was, if possible, a bigger deal than it was for Lorelai. Besides her own selfish if candidly expressed frustration that she would now be deprived of her “benchmark,” taking time off was such a complete file not found for Paris that she could not begin to understand it, and by her nature was unable to “take time off” from her frenetic obsessing about everything in her own head to sit down for a minute and try.
I don’t think Lane was wrong to save up the band money, but once they got home, I think she was wrong to leave it in her underwear drawer. :D
Lorelai is way too stubborn to make the effort to patch things up with Rory, and her feelings are too hurt for her to reason it all out and see that her hard-headedness is shooting her in the foot!
I didn’t percieve that Logan was getting bored with Rory so much as frustrated with her. I don’t think that he fully comprehends all the psychological fallout of Mitchum’s little speech, and emotionally, Rory in her little zone has become as emotionally unreachable as someone who shut themselves in their room and refused to answer the telephone.
Rory standing there watching the new students in line and hearing the speech about the importance of one’s ID card, seemed to me to be sort of a most un-Rory-like pity party. She had, in her mind, renounced all that, and so to underline just what it was she had renounced as “not for her,” she went there and forced herself to watch it. That was just my own personal interpretation, it is entirely possible, even likely, that the intention of the writers was compeletely different!
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