September 26, 2006: Danes' Pains and Automobiles
No matter how many inn reservations Luke Danes made, no matter how much cool stuff he packed for a romantic honeymoon, no matter how long he stood there with those puppy-dog eyes begging for forgiveness, nothing called off his quickie wedding plans faster than Lorelai?s one line: ?I slept with Christopher.? Even I was equally blindsided by her flat, emotionless admission. But that?s probably because I was watching the entire episode on the edge of my couch, judging every line, analyzing every shot, hoping our girls would be handled with care by new show-runner David Rosenthal. But when the screen went dark, and the credits flashed, my eyes immediately welled up. (Yeah, yeah, I?m a big softie. You guys knew that already.) But you know what? Those tears were really, really good news. The show is going to be OK.
Actually, it?s going to be way, way better than OK. David got it down right out of the gate! The real Lorelai never minced words when she was hurting, so of course she was going to tell Luke as bluntly as possible. The new guy also nailed the fast-paced dialogue. (Sookie running around the kitchen extolling her forearm strength, Paris cutting down a mom whose kid needed SAT tutoring.) He also worked in the funny pop-culture refs:
Rory: So Logan and I were on the couch...
Lorelai:
Wah, wah, wah!
Rory: Chachi?
Lorelai: Proud!
And he included the bizarre hilarity that is Stars Hollow. (Kirk crashing Taylor?s classic 1964 Ford Thunderbird into Luke?s Diner after being blinded by the newly installed ?auto patrol? camera flashes.) But most importantly, he worked well with several subtleties, an Amy Sherman-Palladino specialty. That car wreck wasn?t just a ha-ha moment. When the tow-truck driver asked Luke about taking out the car or waiting for the insurance guy to show, he got the same angry diatribe from the night before: ?Don?t pressure me! I don?t like to be pressured. It?s not one or the other. Give me time to think.? Not much to think about, actually: The T-Bird/Lorelai had to be removed from the diner/Luke, and
both need to be fixed.
Want some more symbolism? Did you Google that ep of the
Twilight Zone? Yep, it exists, and it?s a perfect allegory for both Logan and Rory, and Luke and Lorelai: two couples who try to stay in sync for all the right reasons but just can?t seem to get the timing right. Will it take 40 years? We have one season, hopefully more, to find out. I can?t wait.
