Was Alex a Distraction from Luke?
November 9, 2009 by Arieanna
In ‘I Solemnly Swear‘, Lorelai meets a new man at her Inn seminar – a man who is there for his own small business venture – opening a coffee place. Alex is his name and he and Lorelai hit it off immediately.
To me, Alex always seemed too perfect for Lorelai. The attraction, the wit, the coffee! It’s almost as if the writers wanted to quickly divert Lorelai’s attention from noticing Luke, now that she finally may be doing that (or now that he finally may be getting the courage to do something about it). Perhaps, though, Lorelai wasn’t ready to notice Luke - do you think that’s possible too?
In a little bit of trivia, this is not the first time that Lauren Graham has worked with Billy Burke (who plays Alex), who plays the character of Alex. The pair were in a mockumentary called Dill Scallion in 1999:
Watch this episode of Gilmore Girls on TheWB.com here.
Image: TheWB.com
so this is the year before Gilmore Girls started!?!?! She looks so young and her fringe (bangs) grew out so quickly. Also, is she working in a fishing store? Her & alex went fishing together. Is that a coincidence or did the writers of GG do that on purpose?
That clip from Dill Scallion is HILARIOUS and so bad!
I never understood Alex on GG. He came out of nowhere. It was all very random and arbitrary. I didn’t really see a spark or anything. He was just sort of there. Then, he was just gone. Pretty much no mention of him again. After Lor kissed Max again, I remember her telling Sookie, “Technically, I am still seeing Alex…” That was the only mention I can recall of him after he went MIA. I thought it was all a little weird, and I knew right away that he was not the next major love interest in the show for Lor.
Ha! You’re funny, Arieanna! “Not ready to see Luke”? Because that’s her destiny, what’s “meant to be”?
IIRC, she only seriously considers Luke because of two events coming together: She thinks she’s going to be an old maid with cats, and he reads a self-help book and decides to get temporarily romantic. Until then, he’s just the sexy friend in town who she always is tempted by but can’t take it seriously until panic sets in.
Alex didn’t last because there was no spark, nothing soul-stirring about that pairing. It just goes to show you can be perfect on paper and still a bust.
I would more think Alex was a distraction from Christopher, not Luke. I don’t think Lorelai really *needs* distraction from Luke – this is the third season, after all. Luke’s got Nicole and Lorelai is still coming off of the almost-it with Christopher. There’s really nothing bubbling beneath the surface in this episode arc – it comes later, during the fourth season, when they bring out the big guns and have Luke and Lorelai dance around the obvious attraction they share. Season 3 was definitely more about the teen love and the things going on in Rory’s life.
As another bit of trivia, LG also dated Billy Burke. So I read.
I never understood either this love interest. He was there and then he was gone. I also think that it was too good to be true: a divorcé, with kids, addicted to coffee, who opens his own business and who seems really nice and looks quite cute… Come on!
Hilarious vid. I suspect ASP in her infinite wit was giving both LG and BB a “golden raspberry” for just how bad they were together in this “fishing” scene. LG’s southern accent makes Craig Ferguson’s alligator southern accent look good by comparison. Clearly this was the inspiration for their outdoor date on GG.
As to Alex’s presenc on GG, several purposes: 1- Give Lorelai a transition guy to have harmless fun with while repairing from Chris, 2- Give ASP some time to figure out what the next tsunami for Lorelai would be, 3- Make Lorelai’s love-life so usefully good but boring that the attention could be shifted to Rory where it belonged as Jess and graduation play out.
I actually liked Alex as he was one of the few guys who dated the girls who disappeared from the scene with his dignity and intelligence still intact.
To answer Arieanna directly, as I understand what I have read or read at the time, the Palladinos always described the Luke-Lorelai relationship as something they kept in reserve, perhaps because they did not know if the series would run for certain as long as it did, and because they knew their was such interest in it, though Amy did say several times she never promised that they would end up together.
In that sense, from a cynical point of view, I think Alex was a plot to give Lorelai a temporary love life without having a lasting impact or complication for the series, but also to give Luke a reason — not necessarily a good one — to continue his defeated attitude that Lorelai will date anyone but him, when he never asks her out. This is true even as Sookie says she never dates anyone longer than a couple of months, except for the disaster of Max, and as Taylor said, all of Lorelai’s relationships quickly sour, so Luke has had many opportunities to do something other than pout and pine and blame her for his inaction for six or seven years at least. Alex entering the picture — someone who fishes and camps — makes Luke’s reasoning plausible at least that if he had thought Lorelai would not date someone “like” him in some ways, this is not true, and he can now convince himself it just must be him that she doesn’t envision dating.
Also, I think Alli and mcityrk are onto something when they said it was to get over Christopher — at least temporarily — though this is the most perplexing part of Lorelai’s persona, at least to me. This is someone who chose to be a maid but used his lack of business success as a reason to push him away, told Rory she would always love him, giggled with Sookie when she slept with him, and tells only when he is with Sherry she has waited for him for 15 years — but then acts very tentatively when seriously discussing the idea of trying a relationship at the end of Season 2. And it only lasts for days, though her trauma after it falls apart shows how much of her feelings she had suppressed and denied herself.
Ultimately, it appears the characters or writers themselves forgot about Alex. Does Rory not forget Lorelai dated Alex when she tries to tell Lorelai that she never dated, that she only had relationships?
Was curious about the plotline in the mockumentary video show above. Ran across this in EBAY for a listing of a “Dill Scallion” VHS tape:
Spinal Tap for country music. Music score by Sheryl Crow. A film by Jordan Brady. Soon after being spotted in a talent contest in Texas, aspiring country singer/school bus driver Dill Scallion (Billy Burke) is invited to Nashville to record a restaurant jingle. With the help of legendary producer Larry Steinberg (Henry Winkler), Dill finds fame and fortune overnight. But, with his swelling ego, fan backlash, and a wicked lactose intolerence, can this simple crooner handle the pressure of fame? Cast also includes Robert Wagner, Lauren Graham, Kathy Griffin, Peter Berg, Jason Priestley, Willie Nelson, LeAnn Rimes, and Travis Tritt.
Interesting clip! I actually bought that movie on eBay a while back but have yet to find time to watch it! Although I think I’ll find the time now because that clip is so strange!
The only thing that bothered me about the Alex relationship is that they never broke up or mentioned a break up. I don’t like it when writers do that on tv shows, they just assume the audience will know what happened even when there is no mention of the events. He was a good enough boyfriend for awhile, but there was no potential for the future.
As a bit of trivia, Lauren Graham “appeared” on Oprah on Monday (11/9). Ellen DeGeneres was actually the featured guest but Oprah showed a montage of Ellen scaring her guests by hiding in their dressing room bathroom and jumping out at them when they entered, and Lauren was one of the guests she did this to!
Definitely agree with Marie here. Alex didn’t even get a decent write out! I think he’s only mentioned as having been “distant” and that’s it. Attention shifts to Max’s return – another light love interest that can keep Lorelai occupied without being too heavy, because we know it can’t go anywhere. The focus is definitely on Rory this season. . . but Season 4 hails the arrival of Jason, who is a *very* interesting character, and an excellent shift to the Lorelai/Luke dynamic (finally!). So I think it balances out.