Gilmore Girls: Knit, People, Knit!
Season 7, Episode 9
I enjoyed this episode more than ones past, probably because things are settling back into the quirky Stars Hollow as the focus. This time there’s a “Knitathon” and all the denizens are busily practicing for it, to the occasional annoyance of Luke. But that’s not to say I’m buying this whole Christopher and Lorelai thing, and I’m seeing some signs that it’s all going to go to heck a few shows from now just to put some drama into the final (and hopefully last) episodes.
Anyhow, the adjustment to Lorelai and Christopher’s sudden wedding continues. Lorelai’s parents Richard and Emily hope to have a party and give Lorelai a strange Kiki Smith painting. Of course, Lorelai retorts with some strange quips, like suggesting a jump-house as a fun idea.
But that’s only a warm-up. Lorelai’s more pressing worry is that her Stars Hollow friends won’t take kindly to Christopher, the newly-wealthy upper class jet-setting outsider. It has something to do with Luke, and the suddenness, but there’s a larger theme that I hope is explored further: the contrast between rich and working class. It’s one aspect of the show that hasn’t totally come to a head yet, and whenever it does it makes for some entertaining viewing (Logan’s outburst at Rory last episode is a good example).
So Lorelai asks Sookie for advice, and the resulting idea is to get Jackson involved. If they start hanging out together, the rest of Stars Hollow may warm to Christopher’s presence. This gives Lorelai something to obsess over, dressing Christopher. Jackson gives Christopher some good farming advice, although I’m not sure about drinking beer from bottles — one or the other could have used a pint glass.
At episode’s end, Christopher makes a public blunder by donating a few Gs to the Knitathon, effectively bringing it to a premature halt. I thought this was a smart way to demonstrate how his best intentions can easily go wrong, a sure sign of thinking money solves everything when it clearly doesn’t.
Meanwhile, Rory makes a good move: moving back in with Paris. Paris has been solely underused this season and even just for laughs (her and Doyle dancing in the other room) it’ll be a welcome change. Rory is also a bit forward with her art pal Lucy’s boyfriend, Marty.
April’s mom informs Luke that she’s moving with April to New Mexico. This sucks for Luke. I think the writers aren’t exactly sure how to proceed with the April plot-line and are looking for an easy way out, if need be. I would actually welcome this to some degree because seeing Luke’s desire to be a “good dad” in the last episode was excruciatingly bad. Of course, it’s a way to have Luke, with no daughter to dote on, to be worked back into Lorelai’s story.
Lastly, Luke’s sister and TJ have their baby. Luke gets a chance to see the new addition, and certainly he’s thinking about his prospects for having a child of his own, inspiring a late night visit.
There’s no doubt we’ll be shown more evidence of Luke’s awesomeness and Christopher’s inadequacy in future shows, setting up a showdown between the two men. I hope it starts with fists (Christopher never got to hit Luke back after being punched in the face), and moves on to Chris tackily using his money as a weapon (a hostile takeover of Luke’s diner comes to mind). Ah, the final gasps of a show looking for a conclusion.