Recap / Gilmore Girls S 04 E 16

Season 4, episode 16

The Reigning Lorelai

Emily's friend Melinda "Sweetie" Nelson passed away a day before the episode starts, foreshadowing that Lorelai's grandmother Lorelai dies. Rory's editor harps on her for her unoriginal writing style. Arranging her mother-in-law's funeral, Emily finds a letter she wrote Richard the day before his wedding, begging him not to marry her.

Maid of the week: Hilda, who is taking the day off.

Tropes

• Cassandra Truth: Kirk insists his bacon has been fried in the fish pan. He turns out to be right.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Kirk has learned to read lips to converse with his girlfriend when his mother is in the room, but doesn't understand why everyone in town always thinks he's crazy.
• Continuity Nod: Rory brings up that she is scared of horses when Lorelai talks about forcing her to develop an interest in polo.
• Dark Humor: Cousin Marilyn tells the story of how the late Lorelai once visited Egypt, demanded to see the pyramids today, and dragged the camel owner after her camel for an hour and he almost died.
• Dramatically Missing the Point:
  • Averted with Rory, who doesn't even ask, when Lorelai tells her "gran died", whether she means her own gran or Rory's gran.
  • When Sookie tells Emily she's sorry, Emily thinks she means that she's sad, not that she's trying to offer her condolences.
  • When Rory learns that the guy she's talking to at the wake is her second cousin, she excuses herself. The guy says he'll join her to wherever she is going.
  • Reverend Wilder thinks for a moment that Lorelai is the same Lorelai Gilmore he just buried.
• Gender-Blender Name: Lorelai thinks Kay Kyser is a woman.
• Insane Troll Logic:
  • Doyle claims that Rory's use of ordinary phrases is plagiarism.
    Doyle: "Herd mentality"? Are you freaking kidding me?
  • Rory freaking out about possible genetic mutations due to her and her mother's (and Richard's) shared eye color.
• Identical Grandson: Two of Trix's pall bearers are dead, but they both had sons who bear a striking resemblance, so Emily thinks they can get away with it.
• Insistent Terminology: Emily seems to be firmly of the opinion that snails are less gross if you call them by their French name, escargot.
• Ironic Echo: After Emily tells Lorelai she can't help because Emily has a system, then leaves all the preparations to Lorelai, Lorelai tells Rory she can't help because Lorelai has a system.
• I Think You Broke Him: Sookie says this of Emily after the latter says she thinks they should just toss the catering in the casket with Trix.
• Jump Scare: Shannon at the clothes store does this to Lorelai.
• Kissing Cousins: Trix and her husband Charles were second cousins.
• Malaproper: Turtleneck soup.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Trix used an impressive number of exclamation marks in her letter to Richard.
• A Rare Sentence: "Gran's going commando?" (At her own funeral)
• Shout-Out:
  • Doyle doesn't want Tobey Maguire playing him in a movie.
  • Trix used to love the music of Kay Kyser.
  • Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle is all Michel's cable provider will let him watch.
  • Rory wants Nigella Lawson to be her new mommy.
  • Lorelai learns that Richard has a "Winona" in the family, i.e. cousin Marilyn the thief.
  • The Brothers Grimm could not have believed the cruelty of Lorelai's grandmother.
  • Emily is reading The Crimson Petal and the White for her book club.
  • Lorelai feels that the Gilmore house after Trix's death and Emily finding her letter is as surreal as Alice in Wonderland.
  • Lorelai slips a Hello Kitty bracelet on Trix before they close the coffin.
  • Lorelai promises not to live so long that Rory has to wait forever to become the reigning Lorelai, like Queen Elizabeth II was apparently doing to Prince Charles.
• Spy Speak: Kirk figures Luke and Nicole's conversation must be this because he only reads nonsense sentences from their lips.
• Title Drop: Marilyn calls Lorelai "the reigning Lorelai".
• The Unhug:
  • Lorelai and Michel hug, then agree they shouldn't hug.
    Lorelai: So… hearts in the right place, but never again?
  • Richard grieving his mother has him hugging people who don't want to be hugged, like Jason.
• Too Much Information: Lorelai unloads about her grandmother's death on poor Shannon.

---