Season 7, episode 1
The Long Morrow
Rory and Lorelai both wake up without their boyfriend, albeit for different reasons. Paris tutors people for their PSATs by scaring parents into hiring her. Luke tries to make up with Lorelai, but she's done. Taylor sets up a red light camera because the people of Stars Hollow treat the traffic light as a suggestion. Rory doesn't understand why Logan would give her a model rocket as a parting gift. She and Lorelai try their hand at raquetball.
Taylor has Kirk demonstrate how the traffic light works by running a red light, but the camera blinds him and he drives into the diner, which is thankfully empty because Luke was a jerk to customers. Rory figures out the rocket means that Logan doesn't want a stupid misunderstanding to occur where one of them grows old while the other stays young until they meet again. Lorelai tells Luke she slept with Christopher because it's the only thing that will convince him they're over. But she did sleep with Christopher.
Tropes
- Berserk Button: Don't give Luke ultimatums. He can't handle them, even when it's Tom asking about rebuilding his diner.
- Call-Back:
- Lorelai gathers stuff that reminds her of Luke to get rid of, just like Rory did in Season 1 after her breakup with Dean.
- Lorelai gives an "it hurts" rant similar to the one the one she gave to Christopher after he went back to Sherry.
- Rory is worried that Logan thinks they're broken up, like he did in season six when she thought they were just spending time apart.
- Luke suggests going to Maryland to get married, which Lorelai suggested last episode.
- Luke suggests getting a boat captain to marry them. He got married to Nicole on a cruise ship, they got the captain to officiate.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Invoked by Michel when he calls Sookie "Miss La-di-da".
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Babette assumes she just looks like a sleepwalker, figuring Lorelai thought she was sleepwalking when she was looking after Paul Anka.
- Babette describes Becky Bittenberg as having a big mouth, but only to remind Lorelai of which Becky Buttenberg she means.
- Continuity Nod: Lorelai is getting rid of the bop-it.
- Cool Car: Taylor has a t-bird.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Except Lorelai, she can't even cook ice.
- Gossipy Hens: Eileen hear Luke and Lorelai break up because her priorities are 1. listen in on arguments couples are having in public, and 2. getting help for her choking friend.
- Hypocrite: Paris gets mad when she thinks Rory want to use the newsroom over the summer, as she was going to do that.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: Sookie armwrestling Michel pretends to be losing, but reveals she became very strong from all the whisking.
- Irony:
- The camera that catches you running a red light has a flash that blinds you, risking a car accident.
- The couple in the Twilight Zone episode who switched aging processes to the one they thought the other was going through. Logan found it incredibly romantic.
- Literal-Minded:
- Rory thinks "good bye" is a poorly named ritual. She doesn't see anything good about it.
- Lorelai suggests running cross-country, but not across the whole country.
- Logan tells Rory his office has a view to Piccadilly Circus, and she jokes (probably) that he can see clowns and elephants all day. It's just the name of a round public space in London's West End.
- Plot Parallel: Rory and her boyfriend are separated by the Atlantic, while Lorelai broke up with Luke.
- Pun:
- Rory suggests that the gift of a model rocket means that she is Logan's rock in the Eastern Timezone. His rock E.T.
- Lorelai once defused an argument by claiming a spat can be resolved with a spatula.
- Shout-Out:
- Sookie says that lying to Luke about sleeping with Chris isn't Disney, but it's real life.
- Sookie beats Michel in arm wrestling and sings We Are The Champions by Queen.
- Lorelai names Elton John songs to suggest interpretations of Logan's gift.
- After seeing Kirk drive through Luke's diner window, Rory gets the point of films like The Fast and the Furious.
- Lorelai remembers watching Jarhead with Luke.
- Rory thinks Cormac McCarthy is a good choice.
- In Cold Blood is among the books Lorelai throws out as her Luke box.
- Luke recommended Lorelai read Hammerhead Sharks: Demons of the Deep.
- Rory finds a guy on the internet who can explain to her that the model rocket is from The Twilight Zone (1959).
- Lorelai is proud that Rory gets her Chachi reference.
- Rory wants to know if Logan's British secretary is named Moneypenny.
- Strawman Has a Point: Taylor is chided for being too worried about traffic laws, which are there for everyone's safety.
- This Is Reality: According to Sookie, this isn't Disney. In fact, it's Warner Bros, but she claims it's real life.
- Too Much Information: Lorelai doesn't want to hear about Rory and Logan being alone on the couch in the poolhouse.
- True Blue Femininity: Lorelai wears a very blue dress when discussing her break-up with Luke with Babette.
