AllyB

On the food thing. I do find it very hard to believe Lorelai liked Chinese food but hated Thai. I'm not saying that both types of food are the same because they aren't. But there are enough similarities between the two that if you like a variety of Chinese food, which Lorelai has been shown to, you will easily find a few Thai dishes that suit your tastes. I can understand someone saying they like neither Chinese nor Thai but not really, really liking one and hating the other. I know! There are so many great novels out there that would appeal to a voracious teenage readers. Intelligent, moving, mind expanding and yet very enjoyable to a modern teen. But Rory never talks about those kinds of books, instead seeming to favour 'difficult' classics and impressive biographies. And it's not that I don't believe that Rory wouldn't read Tolstoy, just that it seems like ASP didn't bother to research the kinds of novels that intelligent, literary teenagers actually read and just picked some titles she thought would be impressive.

Phillip doesn't care where they end up, he just wants to live a normal life with his family. Sure he'd like to stay in America with the big house, the music he enjoys and all the stuff but mainly he'd prefer to stay in America so as not to uproot and confuse the kids. But if he had to go back to Russia, or South America, England, France, Poland, wherever, and he didn't have to be a spy, he'd be content. It's Elizabeth who would find it very hard to go back to Russia. I think she knows on some deep, deep level that Russia isn't what she believes it is. And if she had to move back and look at the reality of daily existence for ordinary Russians, it would destroy her. Though if the Soviets exfiltrated them they would not be retired. They would be set up training spies about the west. Which would probably be ok as I'm assuming that would be a very, very good job in the USSR and would give you a much more comfortable life than your average Russian. (Though still very meager compared to what they've grown used to.) But looking at real life spies like Morris and Lona Cohen, eventually the KGB would want to put them back in the field. I could see an eventual plan of sending them somewhere like London if Paige and Henry could be trusted to fall in line. Of course, the USSR and the KGB will cease to exist in under a decade, but they could well be pressured/forced into working as SVR agents once that happens. It's not as if they cease to be of use to Russia come 1991.

That's what I think too. I don't think she's has embraced a career as a teacher, just that it is something to do, probably as a sub, while she works at establishing a journalistic career/ decides if that's really what she still wants. (Or maybe even while she writes a book.)

I think it would have worked better if teen Lorelai initially agreed to marry Chris but hope they could find a way to do it their way and forge their own life together. A life full of hard work but love and adventures. Then it quickly becomes obvious to her that Chris would take the path of least resistance. He'd work for Richard because it was the easiest route but become more and more detached and resentful. Lorelai comes to realise that if she marries Chris she would be left living with Rory under her parents' rules, in a marriage that has become loveless. Nobody (apart from Richard and Emily) would be happy. So she delays the wedding until after Rory's birth so she can be sure, which immediately establishes herself as the irresponsible one in the eyes of the senior Gilmores and Haydens, as she made Rory 'illegitimate.' Then once it becomes obvious that her fears were correct she takes off. Maybe even as the wedding is being planned. The ensuing shitstorm with the grandparents is why she has so little relationship with the Gilmores and none with the Haydens. As Christopher would be overcome with relief and take off travelling with glee while looking like the heartbroken abandoned father/fiance to the grandparents.

I don't think she'd just live off her trustfund, it wouldn't be how she was raised. Or maybe she used her trustfund to buy a home and she still needs some sort of steady income to cover food, utilities, health insurance, etc.

I'm ok with Nina's story in the last 1.5 seasons. I think that it's portentous of what will happen to the rest of the characters. In the past seasons despite big things happening, everything always more or less reset back to the staus quo. Nina's appearances in season 3 subliminally gave the audience the impression that would keep happening. She provided a false sense of security. Like sure, Stan refused to turn for her and she was arrested and sent home, but look she's still on the show, she's going to end up back in America. If not because of Zenaida's arrest and trade, because of something else. So Martha realising Clark isn't FBI and even Paige being told the truth and telling Pastor Tim won't really change anything. The audience is left wondering how they will work out these big new problems, not if they will. But now Nina's dead, the false sense of security her presence provided is gone. Now we know that the characters are never, ever going back to any sense of what they think of as normal. Martha's inevitable arrest or death is no longer something in her eventual future, it's closing in fast. Philip and Elizabeth think they can have Tim and Alice know their secret and keep living with their cover? Ha, that's a fantasy and we all know it. Dennis is the only one who stands a chance of coming out of all this unscathed and even that's going to take a lot of luck. I think that the show has already headed down this road. IRL Vetrov gave up information on Line X. In the show, Oleg is the head of Line X. IRL the Americans used Vetrov's information to plant false technological information where KGB spies would find it, ensuring the Russians wasted time and resources on fake technology, and is an alleged reason behind the trans-Siberian pipeline explosion in 1982. In the show, P&E found faulty plans for components of a submarine that were deliberately planted by the Americans for KGB spies to find, and it would have been 1982 in the show's timeline. So it seems like the show introduced Oleg in that particular job in order to link it to the Farewell Dossier and it's fallout.

In the photo of Rory at Chilton the blackboard behind her is full of notes about The Motifs of Jane Eyre. It would be strange to have those notes left up for career day. So I'm guessing she's a substitute English teacher to make money while writing all her unpaid HuffPo articles.

Watching Dear Richard and Emily last week I was struck by Lorelai's immaturity in some ways. When Christopher is happy to marry her, she won't let him because it will ruin his plans to travel Europe. Umm, well duh! Married or not he's the father of the baby and has no business backpacking and rough sleeping around Europe for a year or two. He needed to be doing something to help with taking care of his baby. He had plans that were important to him but then he was going to be a dad. He needed to adapt. Maybe they could have stayed together and gone to Europe when Rory was older, as Lorelai did. They could have done it together when Rory was a child, even. Lorelai's objection didn't seem to be that she didn't love Christopher or want to be with him. Just that their parents were mean to want him to change his plans.

Why would Luke spend $100k in order to expand his living space to accommodate Jess and still just end up with a single huge room? It made no sense. The initial problem came to light when Luke was downstairs in the diner watching sports on a tiny portable tv because Jess was listening to music upstairs. Lorelai told him he needed a proper apartment and rather than rent from Taylor, Luke bought the building nextdoor so he could extend his apartment. But the one huge room they ended up with would have solved none of the noise and privacy problems. The space above what became the soda shop could have been turned into two bedrooms and then Luke and Jess would have had their own space to play music/watch tv and also had the option of a bigger living area in the original space as Luke's bed wouldn't have been there anymore. And on that note, what's up with Lorelai's upstairs. From the outside the house is pretty much the same size up and downstairs. But downstairs they have a livingroom, kitchen/diner, bathroom and Rory's room. But somehow all that fits upstairs is Lorelai's room and the good bathroom. There could easily be another two pretty big bedrooms up there. It's stupid.

I had not watched season 2 and 3 through fully when they were first on and had dipped in and out of those episodes during reruns. So I never felt I had a full handle on Rory and Jess's relationship as they were always either making out like crazy or having some sort of argument that I assumed I'd missed lead-up to in a previous episode. But having just done a full rewatch of the season I feel like I have the same understanding of their relationship as I did before. There is no coherence to it and both Rory and Jess act out of character with each other. All the connection they have in season 2 is gone and it's just bad writing. And I also have to have a minor rant about something else. In Ballrooms and Biscotti, Lorelai describes how they were in London and then got a train to Dublin to try to stalk Bono. Couldn't the writers have done some basic research on Europe like maybe looking at a map? Ireland and England are on two totally different landmasses.

I don't think he did but we don't know for a fact because Rory never discussed it with him. She asked him why he doesn't care about school, considering his intelligence. And simply accepts that he is bored. They talk about how choosing Yale will make it easier for them to continue their relationship, without any mention of what Jess might be doing. She never asks him what he thinks of doing next year. If he wants to go to college or is he going to work fulltime. Realistically I would have expected Jess to have some sort of idea about writing. Maybe the obvious plan of saving his money working at Walmart then go on a driving tour of North America to find inspiration to write. It seems like a very "Jess" sort of plan. And I'd expect him and Rory to talk about that and for her to maybe respect the idea even though it's completely not for her. She talks to Dean at least 4 times about his post-school plans in season 3. 3 times after their relationship ended. She was very invested in Dean getting a degree of some sort. That doesn't mean Rory didn't care about Jess. She told him she thought she loved him. But their relationship was awfully presented and it made no sense given Jess' character.

And weirdly she often talks to Dean, even after their break up, about his future educational plans. When he tells her he has applied for a 4 year college and when he tells her he was accepted they were broken up. When he tells her about his engagement to Lindsey, she is immediately worried he won't go to college. She never seems to care about Jess' education or post-school plans, despite the fact that, at a minimum, he's every bit as intelligent as she is.

I've just finished a season 3 rewatch and it just makes no sense. In season 2 (and early in season 3) it was clear that Jess, despite his troubled life and resultant moodiness, was someone who connected with Rory on a mental level. They talked, got each others jokes and references, had a great time having dinner with Paris, etc. He was considerate of Rory, holding the umbrella over her during the construction work in the diner, bringing her food when she was alone, turning back on the sprinklers so Dean wouldn't know he'd helped her, etc. It was obvious that Dean wasn't right for her as they didn't have enough in common and, while Jess wasn't necessarily right for her long-term having a boyfriend who was an intellectual match was something that would be good for her. Then they started dating and he was a cardboard cut out of a crappy bad boy boyfriend. We never saw them connect about anything again. They either kissed or had Dean related awkwardness or Jess wasn't bothered with talking to her. There was one scene where he liked the book she was reading and she bribed him with it, and that was their whole mental connection. They never felt like a couple at all. If this was supposed to be some guy Rory was physically attracted to that would have worked as a story. She loves kissing him, and is considering having sex with him but they have no emotional/mental connection and he's an ass, is something a lot of teenagers experience and would have made sense as a story. But the point of Jess was that he matched her mentally and shared many of her passions. They should have been a great couple who connected on many levels but Jess' anger and trust issues along with the appearance of his father prevented them from making it work.

I'd never have made the connection that the brains were strips. It was a total team effort. I'd love to watch how they work these out each week in the writers room.

I assumed Angus was refrozen after he made the new video will. I'd say they fudged the law in order to do the will story and have Blaine want to catch Major. It's a major (hee) plot hole but I will forgive them for it just for Blaine's awesome 'it's the future' gag.

In terms of Luke's business sense and intelligence, I love how in Lost and Found when he explains why he bought the building next door, he just says - 'it was $100,000 so I went to the bank and got a cheque.' He just had that money in a savings account and the ease with which he spent it suggests he still had quite a lot still saved. Which is backed up by other big loans/expenditures he makes throughout the series. Luke didn't inherit a big bank account as he has stated that his father wasn't a good business man. And Luke obviously learned from that, made his own business thrive and was extremely sensible with money, allowing him the ability to take financial care of those he loves when they need it. And without strings attached, even though his wealth is less than Emily and Richard's and harder earned. His dourness would certainly be extremely wearying if you had to live with it, though I had initially assumed it was something of a facade and defense mechanism which would have rescinded in a relationship with Lorelai. And I'm not physically attracted to him, but his obvious financial acumen, business and personal, appealed to me when put alongside his generosity.

I couldn't work out how the BLT tied into the episode. Usually Liv's meals have some sort of tie in to the plot. Ah ok, cross post. Strip brain. And I think there was also turkey on the sandwich, which had three slices of bread, making it a club sandwich. So it was a strip club. I'm happy now.

Chris would have been an excellent 'unreliable but great fun' uncle but he was an awful father. In fact apart from all the sex, he and Lorelai would have made a great brother and sister too.

There are no easy answers. At 11 children can lose friendships when they aren't able to be with their friends for half their weekends, or if they miss parties. They can't join sports clubs as they'll miss half the games. They can find themselves isolated at school because they weren't around for some event that's more important than anything else in the world when you're a kid. Either way someone will lose out and the most important person in terms of well being is the child, not the parent. Rory already didn't want to spend part of her Christmas holiday with Christopher in the Bainbridge episode. (Though Lorelai's freakout could well have influenced that.) She would have been open to spending more time with Christopher if he lived near Star's Hollow/Hartford and she could still live her regular life around him. But not at the expense of her own life as she'd have to spend every second weekend in a different state.

I agree. I have a relative now who is in the tough position of his 11 year old not wanting to travel to see him every other weekend. The child has plans at the weekend, birthday parties, sports events, etc and doesn't want to spend every second weekend in another city. That's a young child who lived with both parents until a few years ago and has spent every other weekend with dad since the divorce. And who's siblings still spend every other weekend with him. My relative is really upset by it but is having to learn that the child is reaching an age where friends and social engagements are starting to become very important and traveling to another city so often is also disruptive to his child's well being. There is no way a 17 year old with a boyfriend, a heavy study and extra curricular schedule and her Friday nights given over for dinner with her grandparents would have any intention of spending every second weekend with the father who has never been a consistent part of her life. It would be emotionally awkward to suddenly try and force a traditional father/daughter relationship at this point. Rory was less than a year off legal adulthood. It would have most likely bred resentment as Rory would be stretched too thin for an arrangement that would be almost exclusively for other people's benefit. It was best that she and Chris at that point developed the best parent/adult child relationship that they possibly could. One where she is not obliged to uproot her life for half of her free time (and I use free time loosely as Rory worked toward Harvard a lot at weekends).

Wow that seems crazy. So even if your family live two blocks away, you have to pay for accommodation and probably meals?

Wasn't the other guy Hans though? Looking around and giving the all clear signal to P&E.

I wondered why, when paying for Yale initially seemed so problematic, it was never suggested that Rory commute to her classes. I'm not sure what direction from Hartford, Stars Hollow is supposed to be but even if it was the furthest distance from New Haven it's still commutable and removing accommodation costs from Rory's schooling would have helped. Rory could have listened to study tapes and lecture recordings in her car while she drove and made the commute a useful study time.

I never got the impression they couldn't afford to go to Europe first class whenever they wanted, just that it wasn't in their self-imposed budget. I could afford lots of things but don't buy them because they are outside the budget I allocate myself. It's about long-term planning and security.

She never crossed into East Germany, they spent the whole trip in West Berlin. They were there for roughly one week and Philip and Elizabeth created the paperwork to show that the trip was booked by a client who cancelled. She's the child of a travel agent visiting a popular tourist spot in an allied country. That's about as suspicious as Philip's squash playing. Yeah I couldn't help but watch the scenes in Kreuzburg in D'83 and wonder how close they were to where Paige and Elizabeth had been just months before. And I watched The Americans last night thinking about how Martin would just about be being overwhelmed by western supermarkets at the same time that P&E were lamenting Henry's cologne.