I’ve never thought about Gigi before and now I feel really bad for her in the aftermath of this divorce! Lorelai was around regularly for what like 6 months?! I know they took her to see Sherry in Paris but I’m confused by the whole custody situation for them too.
I don’t currently practice family law but my legal theory on Luke is that he has to petition for custody because they had no formal custody agreement in place- they were never married and there’s no court order backing the visits he had with April up until this point. So Anna was saying she was fully within her rights to move to New Mexico without any input from him. But once he brings a lawyer into it he would be granted visitation rights and I don’t know why they acted like that is outside the norm because most states have presumptive 50/50 custody for involved parents.
I really like the Lorelai/Rory interactions in this episode and I loved April in this episode too. She gets a lot of hate for breaking up Lorelai and Luke but she and Luke had a genuinely nice rapport in this episode and I like the meeting in the shop too. Christopher never fits into their lives in Stars Hollow and it’s really apparent in this episode too. I feel like the season really turns around after this and I’m excited for y’all to be back!
Okay, so this actually happens to be one of my favorite episodes, and you missed my favorite detail, but I'll get to that in a moment. First, I wanted to say that what I love about this episode is that it really shows just how much Christopher missed out on Rory's life. He knows nothing of her holiday traditions. It's pretty clear he has literally never spent a single Christmas with his daughter before, and what's especially sad about that is he's not even actually spending Christmas with her now because Christmas is over.
The togetherness feels so forced, which is exactly what it is... it's two people trying way too hard to make a family where there has never been one, and two people who both, on some level, know this marriage is absolutely doomed. But neither is ready to admit it yet.
I agree that Luke is great with April in this episode. I wanted to say that for me, it's not at all unrealistic that Anna wouldn't allow Luke to see her, and at this point he doesn't actually have any rights as far as custody goes, so it makes sense to me. Plus, he would definitely not want to ruffle Anna's feathers at this point, which is why it's so good he tells April they can't sneak around because they're trying to figure the custody stuff out. He never bad mouths Anna, which is also good. Anna sucks, and she always sucked, and that's why he does ultimately get what he asks for with the custody (and can you imagine how livid Anna had to be? Kinda sorry we didn't get to see that).
I also agree with Lane's pregnancy being absurd. All of it, especially like the twins. I feel like the writers of this season tried to do things with pregnancies they thought would be "funny" but they never really were, and Jackson's lying about the vasectomy and knocking up an unknowing Sookie aged very, very badly, very, very quickly. I thought Gil's fertility goddess comment was sweet, in a Gil way, but then the way to go Zach part was total cringe. But someone who waited for marriage to have sex was also never going to have an abortion. I don't think she's at all excited about being pregnant, but I do think she was excited to get married.
So here's the part of this episode I especially love... when Lorelai goes out to mail the character reference, the mailbox shows the Twickham house in the background, the one Luke once dreamed of buying, long before ASP left after she ruined everything with how she had sleezy Chris sleep with a devastated Lorelai. And that's the moment it FINALLY snows... Lorelai's mailing this letter for Luke, in which we later learn is just so beautiful and heartfelt, and the mailbox is right by that house and that's when it snows.
Also, for the record, her rant about how she can't write because of her brain... "hockey puck. Rattlesnake. Monkey, monkey. Underpants" is one of the best moments of dialogue in the entire show. My ADHD brain works like this, and I swear I sometimes think Lorelai is one of us.
I think I’ve read ASP intended Lorelai to be read as having ADHD. I didn’t know that about the Twickham house, and maybe I will add this on to my fall rewatch! I love hearing the sweet letter. Your analysis about Lorelai and Chris trying to force the family is spot on, like the parents’ weekend episode, we continually see everything he missed with Rory. He was never there in any meaningful way which is why her letter about Luke hurts him so deeply- he realizes once again how he was absent and Luke filled that absence as a father figure for Rory throughout her life.
I was thinking the same about Anna, knowing similar situations in real life even when people have had more involvement with their kids. Lorelai is definitely ADHD, maybe Anna was meant to have other issues we don’t see (aka- why she and Luke weren’t together long). PS-my ADHD husband refers to Lorelai as his “variant”
I’ve never thought about Gigi before and now I feel really bad for her in the aftermath of this divorce! Lorelai was around regularly for what like 6 months?! I know they took her to see Sherry in Paris but I’m confused by the whole custody situation for them too.
I don’t currently practice family law but my legal theory on Luke is that he has to petition for custody because they had no formal custody agreement in place- they were never married and there’s no court order backing the visits he had with April up until this point. So Anna was saying she was fully within her rights to move to New Mexico without any input from him. But once he brings a lawyer into it he would be granted visitation rights and I don’t know why they acted like that is outside the norm because most states have presumptive 50/50 custody for involved parents.
I really like the Lorelai/Rory interactions in this episode and I loved April in this episode too. She gets a lot of hate for breaking up Lorelai and Luke but she and Luke had a genuinely nice rapport in this episode and I like the meeting in the shop too. Christopher never fits into their lives in Stars Hollow and it’s really apparent in this episode too. I feel like the season really turns around after this and I’m excited for y’all to be back!
We're so glad to be back, too, Elizabeth! Thank you for your loyal readership and of course this excellent family law analysis.
Okay, so this actually happens to be one of my favorite episodes, and you missed my favorite detail, but I'll get to that in a moment. First, I wanted to say that what I love about this episode is that it really shows just how much Christopher missed out on Rory's life. He knows nothing of her holiday traditions. It's pretty clear he has literally never spent a single Christmas with his daughter before, and what's especially sad about that is he's not even actually spending Christmas with her now because Christmas is over.
The togetherness feels so forced, which is exactly what it is... it's two people trying way too hard to make a family where there has never been one, and two people who both, on some level, know this marriage is absolutely doomed. But neither is ready to admit it yet.
I agree that Luke is great with April in this episode. I wanted to say that for me, it's not at all unrealistic that Anna wouldn't allow Luke to see her, and at this point he doesn't actually have any rights as far as custody goes, so it makes sense to me. Plus, he would definitely not want to ruffle Anna's feathers at this point, which is why it's so good he tells April they can't sneak around because they're trying to figure the custody stuff out. He never bad mouths Anna, which is also good. Anna sucks, and she always sucked, and that's why he does ultimately get what he asks for with the custody (and can you imagine how livid Anna had to be? Kinda sorry we didn't get to see that).
I also agree with Lane's pregnancy being absurd. All of it, especially like the twins. I feel like the writers of this season tried to do things with pregnancies they thought would be "funny" but they never really were, and Jackson's lying about the vasectomy and knocking up an unknowing Sookie aged very, very badly, very, very quickly. I thought Gil's fertility goddess comment was sweet, in a Gil way, but then the way to go Zach part was total cringe. But someone who waited for marriage to have sex was also never going to have an abortion. I don't think she's at all excited about being pregnant, but I do think she was excited to get married.
So here's the part of this episode I especially love... when Lorelai goes out to mail the character reference, the mailbox shows the Twickham house in the background, the one Luke once dreamed of buying, long before ASP left after she ruined everything with how she had sleezy Chris sleep with a devastated Lorelai. And that's the moment it FINALLY snows... Lorelai's mailing this letter for Luke, in which we later learn is just so beautiful and heartfelt, and the mailbox is right by that house and that's when it snows.
Also, for the record, her rant about how she can't write because of her brain... "hockey puck. Rattlesnake. Monkey, monkey. Underpants" is one of the best moments of dialogue in the entire show. My ADHD brain works like this, and I swear I sometimes think Lorelai is one of us.
I think I’ve read ASP intended Lorelai to be read as having ADHD. I didn’t know that about the Twickham house, and maybe I will add this on to my fall rewatch! I love hearing the sweet letter. Your analysis about Lorelai and Chris trying to force the family is spot on, like the parents’ weekend episode, we continually see everything he missed with Rory. He was never there in any meaningful way which is why her letter about Luke hurts him so deeply- he realizes once again how he was absent and Luke filled that absence as a father figure for Rory throughout her life.
I was thinking the same about Anna, knowing similar situations in real life even when people have had more involvement with their kids. Lorelai is definitely ADHD, maybe Anna was meant to have other issues we don’t see (aka- why she and Luke weren’t together long). PS-my ADHD husband refers to Lorelai as his “variant”
I love how you call Chris sleezy.