Gilmore Girls Recap: I’d Rather be in Philadelphia

Title: I’d Rather Be In Philadelphia
Original Airdate: Feb. 7, 2007
GMMR Recapper: Whirl

Lorelai is helping Babett move a very large potted plant, seeing as her husband wasn’t there. Babette was wondering where Christopher might be, but Lor just makes up excuses. Then her cell phone starts ringing but she ignores it. Then her home phone starts ringing, and then her cell phone again. She finally answers it, and shocked by what she hears takes off, leaving Babette hanging.

Okay, Victoria Secret I get that you have to put your underwear on supermodels to sell your clothing. However, do I really need a commercial where they share what they are looking for in their ideal man? Especially since Giselle would like a guy who can “cook”, you know since you she’s such a big eater and all. Phfffff.

Rory is sitting by herself at the hospital, not paying any attention to her ringing phone. It’s Lorelai, trying to figure out where Rory is. They find each other and we find out how Richard is doing. It was indeed a heart attack, he’s moved out of the ER and he having tests done as we speak. It’s pretty scary, and mother and daughter hug.

Lors standing alone in the hospital hallway, phoning Christopher on her cell. (Who? Oh yeah. Dammit!) It’s obviously not the first message she’s left him because she updates him and begs him to call. After hanging up she goes back to Rory, who has bought out the vending machines. The girls aren’t hungry though, which I guess is the writers way of showing how upset the girls are. Or is supposed to anyway. Emily is on her way to the hospital from the club, but Rory wants to know where her Dad is. Lor says he is probably on his way but she’s not sure he’s gotten her messages yet. Liar liar pants on fire!

The doctor comes out and lets the girls know that they are going to be giving Richard more tests; they need to know how serious his blockage is. If it’s bad he could need emergency surgery. Enter Emily, frazzled and wearing a sweat suit. Love it. She immediately heads to the nearest person she can yell at, demanding to see her husband. So of course its unacceptable that he is having tests and unavailable at the moment. Lor tries to get Emily to sit down and have some tea, but she’d rather march around and rant about incompetent people. It’s the entire clubs fault really, since it took them so long to tell Emily about Richard and they don’t serve enough fish. Wha? Well since fish has been shown to help prevent heart attacks if they’ve served it more he would be fine. Logical I guess.

Hottie Alert! Yes I am 15 years old at heart. Logan’s just shown up to offer his moral support and I personally couldn’t be happier. He hugs Rory, says how sorry he his and offers to get Emily some tea. He heads out to find her some and Emily glows, letting Rory know how much she likes that boy. Oh don’t we all. At this point she realizes her son-in-law isn’t there but Lor doesn’t get a chance to explain as the doctor shows up again. It’s bad and Richard needs immediate surgery. They get a chance to see him first, but Lor has a hard time entering his room, needing some deep breaths before she’ll walk in.

Poor Richard looks sleepy and dopey, but other then that very very tanned. Emily starts fussing over him, which causes Lorelai to get snappy with her. Thankfully Richard makes a comment about how he hates Tucson, but he’d rather be there right now. This makes everyone laugh, and maybe realize the family would be pretty crappy without him.

At Luke’s Diner Zack is serving customers and seemingly enjoying every moment of it, which is good news. I guess.  Luke listens to him ramble on about really liking taking over for Lane. He thought he’d hate it but it was that or give birth to twins, so he didn’t have much choice. I think Lane got the raw end of the deal on that one. Anyway Luke listens to Zack ramble on and then compliments him on his positive attitude. Luke, are you feeling okay? Babette rushes in, because she has something to tell Luke, but she’s not sure if she should. She just feels like he should know, and I do too, so he finds out about the heart attack. Luke is concerned but I think unsure of what the hell to do.

Lor’s on the phone again, leaving Chris a message. Again. She tells his voice mail how small her Dad looks in his hospital bed. It reminds her of being a little girl and looking down on her dad from a tree she had climbed. He’d looked small then too, and it just didn’t seem right that her father could look that small. Sookie calls Lor and offers any support she can, even Michel is thinking of her and wishing Richard well. Nice that her friends are all so wonderful and caring, too bad her husband isn’t.

Emily is on the phone canceling dinner reservations for that night, blaming the cancel on an unexpected business trip. Emily I love you but really? She then starts raving about the benefits of fish again and Lor doesn’t even pretend to care.

Logan and Rory are sitting around and catching up while his cell phone vibrates away on the table in front of them. She suggests that he answer it but he assures her that no matter what it is it can wait. Emily spots Luke down the hall and is appalled to see him. Lor approaches him so he explains Babette told him what happened. Before he realized what he was doing he’d driven to the hospital but now he’s worried he’ll just be in the way and make Chris uncomfortable. Lor is pretty cold when she tells Luke that Chris will be there any minute and there is nothing he can really do to help. Emily, however, has errands for him to run, so he gets stuck finding Richards car at Yale and getting it back to the house. Still Luke does it gladly and takes off. Then Emily gets Rory and Logan to go to the house and meet the fish man. Yes the fish man, who is coming over with a ton of different types of fish, which is suddenly desperately needed at the house. The kids borrow Lor’s car because Rory arrived by ambulance and Logan arrived by helicopter. Swanky. They leave all cute and happy, and Lor can’t help but notice. See…Rich men can be handsome AND emotionally available at the same time. It’s not just an urban myth, or you know, fiction.

Babette is looking after the dog and trying to get Paul Anka to pee. Too bad he’s scared of the front steps so she calls Lor to try and find out what to do. Turns out you have to lay something on them and hide them from the dogs sight. And I thought that I was high maintenance. Oh and Bab’s thinks Richard is hot, so he’ll bounce back in not time. The hot people of this world have it so easy.

Rory and Logan are at the house; packing things for the hospital they think that Richard would need. Like 30 different leather bound books and a giant chess set. How about some pajamas people? Really. They start talking shop and Logan finally opens up about what he’s been up to at work. Seems he’s investing 3 million dollars of his own money (trust fund much?) towards the deal. Rory finds this dumbfounding, so I guess she loves him for his looks and not his money. Not that I can blame her.

Lor and Emily are in the cafeteria getting something to eat. Emily is anyway because Lor doesn’t seem that hungry. Mommy dearest gets a call from Richards’s lawyer and requests copies of his wills. Yes his living and standard wills, she wants to know where he stands on DNR. Do Not Resuscitate. I know they wont kill Richard off but this is getting crazy. Lor thinks so too and leaves her Mom sitting there alone.

Rory and Logan have put all the fish away and collected so much stuff I don’t even know how its all going to get to the hospital. This includes a record player and an assortment of records. Sweet thought I know but is that even allowed? Or right they’re rich. Never mind. Rory thanks her boy toy for being so great and supportive, but he says it’s not necessary. There is no place that he would rather be. I want one just like him for my birthday, think you could swing it GMMR?

Emily finds Lorelai in the gift shop, wanting to verify some data on Richards will, but Lor is refusing to give her mother any information. She calls out her mother for acting like this is a bleep in her social calendar and treating the situation like Richard is already dead. Emily reminds Lor of when Richard was sick years ago and how unprepared they were for everything. Therefore they set up a plan and that’s what she is doing, following the plan. Fish and dinner reservations are part of the plan? Doubtful and Lor thinks Emily should start acting like a wife. OH NO YOU DIDN’T! Emily points out that Lor has been married for about 40 days, while she’s been married to Richard for 40 years. She takes care of her husband, and that’s who she is. If she could she’d be performing his surgery right now but she can’t so she’s doing what she can. Richard is her entire life and she has no idea what she would do without him. She breaks down in tears and Lorelai comforts her, and thank God we’ve finally got some emotion in this episode.

The doctor approaches a waiting Emily, Lorelai, Rory and Logan. Richards’s surgery went really well but he’s out of it so it’s best if just his wife goes in to see him at first. Overjoyed Emily goes and sits with him, updating him on all she had accomplished on that day. She tells him about the fish, all the wonderful different kinds of fish. He just gazes at her and says, “That’s just fine.” It’s cute and sweet as they sit in silence holding hands.

Lor is outside calling you know whom, updating him again on Richards’s condition. She leaves him a message to say that she’s doing the best she can as a wife. They may be fighting but her father having a heart attack is bigger then hurt feelings and he should be there with her right now. Everyone else has been but not her husband, and Christopher…that’s not okay. Some one want to explain to me the point of bringing Chris back if he hasn’t changed at all?

Rory is playing music for drugged up Richard and Lorelai proclaims how wonderful and tall he looks. He’s happy to be with his girls but not too awake as he quickly falls asleep. Lor lets her daughter know that she is happy for her and Logan. Rory wants to know if her Mom even knows where Chris is, and she admits that she doesn’t. You know I don’t know where he is either and its not bothering me at all…go with my flow.

In the hall Lorelai spots Luke who is leaving some bags at the reception. Seems he just wanted to drop off some food for everyone and make a quick exit. Lor stops being an iceberg to him and lets him know that Richard is going to be just fine. So this is the perfect time for winner of Dead Beat Husband 2007 to make his appearance. He spots his wife and “Diner Guy” talking in the hall and stops dead in his tracks. Then he grows a pair and heads over. Once Luke sees Chris he says, “I should go.” Chris actually has the nerve to respond with “Yes, you should.” Luke gives him a searing look but says nothing and Chris actually seems to squirm under his stare. Ha. Loser.

Once Luke is gone Lor explains that she didn’t call Luke that he just showed up but Chris has to act like he’s a five year old and doesn’t want to talk about it. Rory spots her Dad and takes him to see Richard. Emily stands with Lor, promising her that everything will be all right because blood is thicker then water. Lor just looks down at the food Luke brought and then back to her husband as he continues to walk away from her.

Tune in Next Week: Sure this whole season could end up being a waste of time because it looks like Lorelai finally admits to Chris how she feels about Luke. Which is not good…for Chris. However its fabulous news for me. So Yay.

Being born and raised amongst the igloos of Canada shaped Whirl’s love of hockey, beer and the warmth of the television screen. Though she refuses to wear spandex she has sworn to use her powers of sarcasm for the greater good of man kind, and disguises herself daily as a mild mannered office clerk. Oh yeah, and she’s not too bad at Trivial Pursuit. Seriously. Seriously.