Sookie and Lorelai Are Such Bad Friends to Michel
Megan Watches Episode 145: "Farewell, My Pet"
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What’s Wrong With Episode 145: “Farewell, My Pet”? Sookie and Lorelai Are Cruel to Michel, a Man Who is Abrasive But Ultimately a Good Employee
By Megan
At this point, the acute midness of season 7 just really can’t hurt me. I’m numb to its silliness, and even kind of enjoyed this episode: I like that Paris and Rory are taking a “History of Feminism” seminar and discussing Judith Butler. In the discussion of post-college prospects, I appreciate the distinction between newspaper jobs and jobs on the business side of newspapers, whose inclusion on a network TV show is a public service. I like that we get to see Paris drawing on her extensive medical knowledge. She’s WebMD before WebMD! There’s a fun joke about Joe Lieberman’s political affiliation, and Rory’s babbling about the underrated works of Isabel Allende is a welcome surprise given that we’ve barely seen her pick up a book since the end of season four. And perhaps most importantly: The Christopher stuff is wrapping up! Hooray and hallelujah!
And yet! There’s bad stuff here, too, which I guess we have to talk about: Guys, I’m sorry, but I don’t love the Lauren Graham acting in the Christopher scenes. I feel OK writing about it because I’m currently listening to her memoir Talking As Fast as I Can, and in it, she says she doesn’t Google herself. As Jess would say: I’m gonna hold you to that! Lorelai is clinically delulu about her relationship, so when it finally ends it’s a great relief, but I was surprised by the artifice of the crying? Lauren Graham is usually so much better in these emotional scenes, but she’s pulling an Alexis Bledel here.
(Sorry, but it’s true: This show was much better in the earlier seasons, which never required crying from Alexis Bledel. Not everyone can cry on cue, and it’s disrespectful of directors to force actors to work outside their range. Alexis Bledel has other gifts: Her Mad Men arc proves this. But I wish the fake crying had never been introduced into the show.)
Unconvincing tears notwithstanding, I really did not enjoy how cruel Sookie and Lorelai are to Michel in this episode, when the “Pet” of the title is one of his winsome chow chows, who has passed away and whose funeral he entrusts to Sookie and Lorelai, who apparently are unmoved by pet death. That might make sense for season one Lorelai, but this is post-Paul Anka Lorelai, and I can tell you, once you become a pet person, you become emotionally invested in the wellbeing of ALL PETS. Yes, even the annoying ones. I wish them all well! This episode would’ve been much better if Lorelai burst randomly into tears while handling the funeral arrangements, kind of like Carrie Bradshaw in the episode of Sex and the City where Big has heart surgery. That would’ve been endearing and funny. And real!
But instead, Lorelai and Sookie are pretty callous about Michel’s loss, and do not seem very sorry about it at all. They’re annoyed at his preferences for music (just play the Celine!), uninterested in much advance planning, and generally unkind toward Michel, who, OK, he’s a piece of work, but he’s a piece of work who’s loyally RUN THEIR INN for YEARS and has recently suffered A LOSS! This is not the way to treat a valued employee, raising my ongoing concern that Lorelai is actually a bad manager? Not great, Bob.
Rory’s storyline is handled a bit better: She has a crush on her econ TA and is embarrassed but tells Logan about it, and Logan, a grown-up, is like, it’s cool, crushes are fine, and they have a very emotionally mature discussion on a show where men don’t seem to have them very often anymore. Good for Logan, and congrats on the character development, but he still has so little chemistry with Alexis Bledel that even though this is the most I’ve ever liked them together, I still have to kind of talk myself into it, which is not the stuff of great onscreen romance.
Here’s another problem, though: In discussing Rory’s improved dynamic with Logan, Paris says “He’s changed! You changed him! It’s amazing!” Haha, but the thing about relationships is you’re actually supposed to like the person to begin with? And also, when people say “I can fix him!” while discussing, like, Luigi, IT’S A JOKE. Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift have BOTH written songs about this! The myth of fixing a bad boy is such a goofy fake thing women who date men are told is possible, and let me tell you from hard-won experience: You’re not going to change him, but struggling to try might end up changing YOU in ways you do not ultimately enjoy and will have to process later in therapy! Bad boys are overrated and require an exhausting mental load to deal with in any long-term scenario. Love yourself and please find a nice one instead. It’s hard but it’s not THAT hard. Be patient and get some hobbies in the meantime. You’re welcome! And no thank you to Gilmore Girls for suggesting otherwise!
And while I don’t totally mind this storyline, it introduces an important question for me: Rory is young and still learning about herself. Logan lives in another city. Why not just let this woman be single?
Five Other Things About This Episode, Not All of Which Are Wrong
In her massive countdown to graduation, Paris goes to a frat party and learns about beer funnels. But despite being nerds, Rory and Paris went on spring break together in season four. Surely they’ve seen a beer funnel.
Zach is so nice about playing at Chin Chin’s funeral. When Zach is written like an adult he’s very likable. More Good Zach, please.
Rory probably IS “naturally econ-crazy,” but I’ll take it because it’s a funny thing to say.
Rory loves school. She would not want to stay any longer at the hospital than she had to, especially now that Richard is doing so much better.
I thought it was cute they matched the flower colors to Chin Chin’s fur. May he rest in peace over the Rainbow Bridge.
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I’ve always liked this episode because it’s finally the end of Christopher and Lorelai, and I thought Logan and Rory really did have a very mature conversation about crushes (they just have no chemistry, so I couldn’t ever get behind their relationship). I liked Zach in this episode too and always end up crying with the acoustic version of My Heart Will Go On.
We had two of our dogs die years ago (one we had to put down after a sudden illness at 9 years old, and the other developed a seizure disorder at 8 years old and died about 10 months later); we later got two German Shepherd puppies a few months apart, and our dogs are almost 7 years old now, but I still think about how much I miss our old dogs sometimes, and we always talk about how we really wish our daughter could’ve known our original dogs because they were so sweet (one knew how to give you a literal hug- he would put his paws up on your shoulders and everything). The death of a pet is a big deal, and Sookie and Lorelai should’ve been way nicer!!