Gilmore Girls Recap: A Long Morrow

A GMMR special welcome to WHIRL who wil be taking on the daunting task of recapping the witty banter of our favorite mother and daughter duo…The Gilmore Girls.

It was nice to have Lorelai and Rory back. But I did find myself talking just a bit faster today…didn’t you? Looking forward to next Tuesday when we get the one two punch of The Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars…and their respective Logans.

Title: The Long Morrow
Original Airdate: 9/26/06

It’s the morning after Logan’s going away party and the penthouse is a mess. Rory, of course, looks better after a night of drinking then I do after 3 hours getting glam in front of a mirror. Waiting for her is a long gold box with a pretty red bow. My guess, the world’s longest diamond! Nope, it’s a rather large model of a rocket. Why Logan, how very phallic of you. Rory looks just as confused as I am.

Pickup right where we left off last season, Lorelai is trying to sneak out of Christopher’s bed without waking him. It doesn’t work. Christopher’s being sweet, offering to make Lor breakfast but she’s not interested (GMMR note: too bad he wasn’t that sweet when he knocked her up at age 16). Christopher is a little perplexed and pushes Lorelai a bit on why she’s in such a rush. Using Paul Anka as an excuse she ducks out without incident. Finally out of the bedroom, the magnitude of what just happened seems to hit Lorelai…big time.

Back at home Lorelai finds Babette sleeping on her couch. Bab’s came over to feed the dog and to wash her unmentionables, but we all know she’s really waiting to hear the scoop on Lor and Luke‘s fight. Lorelai seems shocked that word got out. I guess when you have a shouting match in the middle of a tiny little town some people hear about it. Weird how that works, isn’t it? Lorelai, the master of avoidance, hustles Babette out before saying where she spent the night or mentioning she’s no longer engaged.

Rory’s at Yale, which makes sense since it’s her first day of summer. Paris has taken over the newspaper office and is interviewing students and parents for the SAT prep course she’s created. She does it like only Paris can, and I can’t believe how much I missed her. Paris thinks Rory and Logan broke up, since he’s hot, wealthy and alone in London. Rory finds this a ridiculous thought; even when it’s brought to light that they didn’t actually discuss what the distance would mean to their relationship. Paris, the great friend that she is, warns Rory that she best spell things out for Logan, since London is the city most obsessed with sex. I bet it’s all that rain.

Lorelai’s heading to work and Luke’s waiting outside. Luke wants to talk about “us” but Lorelai is having none of it. She just keeps telling him it‘s over and drives off leaving a sad Luke in her dust. Is it cold in here or is it just Lorelai?

Over at the Dragonfly, Michel and Sookie are arm wrestling, and it appears that Michel is winning. How could that be? Oh, Sookie is just faking him out. A solemn Lorelai walks in and listens as Sookie rambles on and on and on about her whisking muscles. It takes our favorite a chef a little while to realize something is wrong with her best friend. Lor tells Sookie that she and Luke are done. When pressed she explains that in the end Luke didn’t fight for her, he didn’t make her part of his life, and that it all was just too painful to take anymore, so it’s over. Oh and she slept with Christopher. Sookie understands, or at least she pretends to.

Luke’s complaining about Lane being on her honeymoon in Mexico and relationships in general. As always, when Luke’s not happy the customers hear it. Naturally this is a perfect time for Luke to find out that Taylor is up to something. Seems Stars Hollow needs a red light camera for its one traffic light. No amount of attitude from Luke can change Taylor’s mind and there will be an unveiling of the camera that afternoon. Super.

Rory’s come to the Inn and Lorelai is super excited to see her. Rory doesn’t want to talk about Logan, whose been gone for 7 long agonizing hours, so they decide to discuss Lorelai. She drops the bomb about that she and Luke are done but she doesn’t want to elaborate on why. So they decide they don’t need to talk. Talks a bit overrated anyway, right? And why do they always feel the need to talk about stuff? They don’t, so no talking for the Gilmore Girls. Um, does that mean the show’s cancelled? No. No talking means they ladies need to find some other activity to fill their time. They decide to try out racquetball, since it sounds easy and they can wear cute outfits. This should be good.

Logan phones Rory once he gets off the plane. He’s glad she liked her present because he was worried she wouldn’t get its meaning. Rory plays it cool and doesn’t let on how confused she (and we) are.

Over at the racquetball court, we find Lorelai and Rory sitting on the floor discussing the model rocket. So much that whole “not talking” thing. They try to figure it out and make a lot of random connections, none of which make any sense. Once Rory tries to turn the conversation to Luke, Lorelai decides it’s time to play some ball. Unfortunately one hit of the ball and it smacks Lorelai in the eye. That’s game! Well at least their outfits were pretty cute.

Once home Lorelai notices Luke’s things lying around and starts collecting them together. Rory decides to run to the store and grab some frozen things to put on her mother’s swelling eye. While out she runs into the unveiling of the Red-Light Camera and since it’s right outside Luke’s Diner they catch eyes through the window. They wave to each other and it’s awkward as all hell. To demonstrate the camera’s crime fighting abilities, Kirk‘s going to drive Taylor’s prized 1964 Thunderbird through a red light. Too bad the cameras flash blinds him and he runs the car into the side of the diner. No one’s hurt but I think Taylor’s in for a world of pain.

Rory’s back at the house and fills Lorelai in on the drama of the in town. Lorelai is shocked but it doesn’t stop her from collecting stuff that needs to go. If it’s Luke’s or it reminds her of Luke..it’s gone. Even a spatula she used to make Luke laugh during one of their spats. All together with me now: Awwwwww. Rory again wants to know what happened because if for no other reason she needs to know how to act around Luke. Lorelai down plays it, admitting to giving Luke an ultimatum and he turned her down, but tells Rory she shouldn’t be mad at him for anything.

Back at the Diner Luke is pissed. Taylor’s not helping the situation and neither it the tow truck driver. He wants Luke to make a decision, tow the car out now or wait until the insurance company gets there. Luke’s not sure what to do and he finally blows up, why can’t anyone give him some time to think?! Luke, I’d give you all the time in the world.

Back at Cottage Gilmore the house is void of all personal belongings, except for the model rocket. I guess phallic doesn’t make Lorelai think of Luke. Okay then. Lor suggests Rory go to England to visit Logan over the summer. Rory’s still not sure where she stands with him and decides to do some more research on the rocket.

Luke’s sitting in the diner staring out the large hole that used to be a wall, lost in thought. Oh no, I hear the classic Gilmore Girl “La La” music playing. This doesn’t bode well.

Lor is in bed and she looks really lonely, so it’s a perfect time for her baby’s daddy to call. He invites her over for dinner the next night, but she makes it clear that she doesn’t think “it” should happen again. You think Lorelai? Great. Christopher takes it pretty well and promises he’s there if she ever needs him.

Rory comes to wake Lorelai because she’s figured out the meaning behind the rocket! Turns out it’s in reference to Logan’s favorite episode of The Twilight Zone. As the story goes, an astronaut falls in love right before he’s about to spend 40 years in space. Due to the suspended animation in space, he won’t age the 40 years he’s gone, but by the time he returns his true love will be old and grey. In an act of true love, the woman subjects herself to suspended animation for the 40 years the astronaut is gone so she will be young when he returns. But as luck would have it, the astronaut forfeited the suspended animation while he was gone so he would be an old man when he returned to Earth…just like his lady. When the two are reunited, he is old and she is as young as she was the day he left. To Logan…this story symbolizes true love. I call it a lack of communication. Either way Rory’s decided she’s going to London to be with Logan! He obviously really loves her! Yay!

Rory calls Logan in London all excited thanking him for the present and telling him she wants to visit. Turns out he already bought her a ticket, for Christmas break. He’s excited about planning the trip for her but he doesn’t have time to talk, he has a meeting to get to. Poor Rory looks like she just crashed from her true love high. Christmas is a long ways away.

After stripping her bed of all blankets and pillows that remind her of Luke, Lorelai finally drifts off to sleep. She is awoken by a honking horn and Luke waiting outside to make this heartbreaking confession:

Luke: It’s like my life isn’t even real to me unless you’re there and you’re in it and I’m sharing it with you. I don’t know what I was waiting for and I don’t know what I was scared of. But I’m not. I’m not scared and I’m not waiting. I’m here.

Sigh. He’s even planned all these different ways for them to elope. He tells Lorelai she just can’t say that it’s over between them. He’s ready. He wants to get married, right now. I just want to stop crying. Lor can’t even look at Luke when she says the four simple words, “I slept with Christopher.” Luke stands there, stunned and then leaves without saying a word. She just watches him go. No doubt now folks, it’s over.