Season 5, episode 9
Emily Says Hello
Jackson is very very sick of being town selectman. Sookie is pregnant. Paris is fasting to do research for Ramadan. Marty comes over to eat bacons wraps with Rory. Lorelai calls Christopher to ask why he hasn't called her. Rory decides that she and Lorelai should split up and wear down one grandparent each. Emily, persuaded that Richard has moved on by his disregard for her need for butter, wants to date. Christopher visits the Dragonfly. The town tricks Jackson to come to a town meeting.Richard's valet: still Robert
Maid of the week: Emily herself, apparently.
Tropes
- Ask a Stupid Question...: Emily announces she wants to go on a date. Lorelai does a Spit Take and asks if she means with a man. Emily replies that she meant with a weasel.
- Berserk Button:
- If you're a towel rack, don't mess with T.J.
- And don't ask him what he'd do if Liz did what your girlfriend did either.
- Blatant Lies:
- Subverted with Christopher's insistence that he didn't call Lorelai, just like Rory asked.
- Subverted again when Miss Patty claims a girl passed out and she didn't think to check her pulse. It's all a ploy to get Jackson to attend a town meeting.
- Brick Joke:
- Rory asks Paris not to compare their reading speeds again. Paris claims she just wants to know when the sun sets, information which will be in the paper Rory is reading. Rory objects that she is in the middle of an article. Paris snaps that if she read faster she wouldn't be.
- When Lorelai incredulously asks if Emily means to date a man, Emily sarcastically replies, "no, a weasel". Later in the conversation, Emily asks if it isn't inappropriate to say "hello" to a someone she doesn't know, and Lorelai replies that it's the socially accepted way to announce that you are open to social interaction – unless you're a weasel, then you announce that by presenting your hind quarters.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Rory is mad that her last call-out didn't stick.
- Captain Oblivious: TJ asks if Luke's pipe cutter cuts pipes.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Jackson doesn't understand that giant scissors are traditionally used by politicians at openings, so when someone leaves giant scissors on his porch he takes it as a threat.
- Richard makes frozen pizza on a cedar plank.
- Lorelai mentions that she hopes Christopher has found the tape tabs on diapers by now, so he won't have to duct tape them to Gigi again.
- Luke asks TJ if he's a jealous man. TJ asks if he means to cut pipes with another man tomorrow.
- Continuity Nod: Marty mentions that his father isn't his real father, a thing we learned five episodes ago.
- Divide and Conquer: They're already separated, but Rory's plan to get her grandparents back together involves this, with her and Lorelai taking one each and talking them into reuniting.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Luke asks TJ if he would be upset if Liz had lunch with an ex without telling him first, as he's unsure if he's right to be upset that Lorelai had lunch with Christopher wihout telling him until after. TJ jumps to the conclusion that Liz had lunch with Art.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Jackson wants Lorelai to buy him bloody Mary ingredients.
- Embarrassing Nickname: The Bathrobe Bandits, recurring guests whom Michel suspects of stealing the inn's bathrobes.
- Funny Answering Machine: Lorelai's informs the caller that she's too exhausted to answer the phone.
- Infodump: How Lorelai finally tells Luke about meeting Christopher.
- Loophole Abuse: Lorelai thinks she's doing this by getting around Luke's no phone policy by using the diner phone behind the counter, but it only makes Luke explain how you can't have a workplace accident somewhere you don't work, and that's all he's insured for.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Rory gives Lorelai the job of making Emily get back together with Richard, but in the attempt Lorelai accidentally encourages Emily to date by teaching her the classic pickup line "hello".
- One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Emily discusses the new arrangement with Rory having dinner with Richard while Lorelai has dinner with her. Lorelai is talking about Emily sitting on the same couch as her.
- Orphaned Punchline: Invoked by Lorelai, who doesn't want to walk in on one of these when she comes back to Rory and Christopher.
- Pregnancy Makes You Crazy:
- Sookie finds it very sad that Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant broke up years ago. She finds it even more upsetting that millions of people have broken up since then.
- Sookie wants milk chocolate and artichokes, which is a rare combination for a gourmet chef. She also wants bell peppers. Taffy and walnuts. Pistachios. Heart of palm.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Michel's underwear is pink.
- Rule of Three: TJ tells Luke three times that his coffee is too bitter.
- Running Joke: Michel informs Lorelai that the infamous Bathrobe Bandits have checked in. When they check out he confronts them about stealing bathrobes, and Lorelai tells the story twice, both times to no laughs.
- Shout-Out
- Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant are broken up. Sookie finds it horribly upsetting.
- Luke has a David Letterman jacket.
- The first time Rory watched The Way We Were, she couldn't believe how it ended.
- Someone left huge scissors at Jackson's, and he takes it as a horsehead in his bed.
- Lorelai tells Luke about her lunch with Christopher by telling him Chris looked at her like she was a Pauly Shore movie when she told the Bathroom Bandits story.
- On her date with Simon, Emily compares Mahler's 7th symphony to The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. Simon agrees that "Molly" can do that to you.
- Lorelai solemnly declares that one of the great things about America is that if you try hard enough, you can find a showing of St. Elmo's Fire on the big screen.
- Andrew McCarthy was better in it than in Less Than Zero according to Lorelai.
- One of Marty's memorized facts is that Audrey Hepburn took a holiday in Rome.
- And that "Rome" is not the name of a The B-52s song, that was "Roam".
- Spit Take: Lorelai chokes on her drink when Emily announces that she wants to date.
- Terrible Pick-Up Lines: As far as Emily is concerned, "Hello", but subverted because it works, and she didn't want it to.
- Verbal Backspace: Lorelai is reluctant to come to Emily's rescue, until Emily threatens to host every DAR function at the Dragonfly until she dies, then she'll be right there.
