A Meathead Watches Gilmore Girls (“Christopher Returns” and “Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers”)

Sam Wilkinson

According to a faithful reader, I'm Ordinary Times's "least thoughtful writer." So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

Related Post Roulette

21 Responses

  1. Saul Degraw says:

    I will just say that your sarcasm on these is brilliant.Report

  2. LeeEsq says:

    We must remember that the award is for bad sex writing in fiction not good sex writing in fiction. There seems to be something about sex that makes it nearly impossible to write about well in novels or incorporate it tastefully in movies and television. Writers seem to be the most sex-obsessed people on the planet at times.Report

    • Kimmi in reply to LeeEsq says:

      Lee,
      I’ve seen a few do it quite well. if you aren’t going for shlocky melodrama, it’s actually pretty easy.
      Of course, the idea that sex has to be nice and sweet gets thrown out the window…Report

  3. Glyph says:

    If you get into S2 a ways and you are still not feeling it and wanted to switch over to, say, BtVS or Terriers or something, I could maybe do some recapping with you. I enjoy these write ups, but slogging through multiple seasons of something you don’t enjoy all that much seems masochistic.

    Unless you are into that sort of thing, which: no judgement.Report

  4. Michael M. says:

    Congrats! You’ve now made it farther than I did. That and $4 will get you a $4 cup of coffee.Report

  5. Mike Schilling says:

    Christopher and Lorelai have one of those stupid sitcom-y arguments that just about made me give up on the series.

    C: I want to marry you and be a dad to Rory.
    L: You’re not ready.
    C: Yes I am!
    L: No you’re not!
    C: Yes I am!
    (etc.)

    Neither one brings up anything practical, like the fact that they live on opposite coasts, nor does either suggest that Christopher could earn Lorelai’s trust by trying to be a dad to Rory for more than an afternoon.

    In the next episode, Emily, who can navigate any social situation with consummate skill and has incredible insight into her daughter when it come to knowing how to say something hurtful, fixes her up with a guy who’s such an entitled, arrogant putz that even Richard hates him. (But, alas, not so much of one that he’s funny.) Because she thinks that’ll work?

    Rory’s breakup might have worked better if Dean had a character other than being handsome. The Donna Reed episode shows that he’s way more conventional than The Girls, and all the “Rory suggests a book Dean might be able to barely slog through” conversations imply that she lives in her head in a way he doesn’t really get, so he takes her “I have to think about it” as rejection rather than honesty. But his performance doesn’t even suggest any of that. He goes from being Rory’s biggest fan to an angry jerk purely because the plot wants him gone.

    Last observation: Lorelai has a one-evening with Christopher, keeps leading Luke on, and wants to start things back up with Max. How did Rory turn out so well with that kind of role model?Report

    • zic in reply to Mike Schilling says:

      Lorelai has a one-evening with Christopher, keeps leading Luke on, and wants to start things back up with Max. How did Rory turn out so well with that kind of role model?

      What?

      In what way is she leading Luke on other than a world where any overture of friendship from a woman is perceived as a sexual opportunity? That’s just stupid.

      And how did Rory do so well? Because her mother actually bothers to talk to her about these things, instead of having all these unspoken rules that Rory must learn to navigate in order to win her mother’s approval.

      Seriously, I think you’re missing a really big thing here too: men peak sexually in their teens and early 20’s. That’s the age where sex is, regularly, the most intensely felt. Women do the same thing in their 30s. Those 18-year old urges you boys felt Lorilai feels now. And she doesn’t go around jumping men or taking advantage of them; she’s pretty restrained. But her feelings, her longing, and her desire are real and age appropriate. I watched my mother live through this at a similar age (as a single mother), and I went through it happily married. Don’t underestimate the cost of chastity here.

      It would really help if this wasn’t viewed through the lens of purity standards, but through a lens of how women actually are; for they’re real, sexual beings with longings, desires, and needs every bit as compelling as yours; they’re just judged on moral turpitude more easily, considered bad role models because they have those sexual urges.Report

      • Kimmi in reply to zic says:

        Research is wrong on this one, mostly because of reliance on self-report.

        You are measuring a “sexual peak” — of desiring sex. That’s a bit different than measuring when sex is “most intense” though…

        [Also, I’m pretty sure that guys have different reproductive strategies that change when their “peak of sexual desire/intensity” is felt.]Report

      • Damon in reply to zic says:

        The conclusion I got about Lorelai was that she didn’t know what the hell she wanted. And she makes poor choices. I’d explain more but that’d be a spoiler.Report

      • Mike Schilling in reply to zic says:

        Being jealous as hell when Luke’s old girlfriend shows up isn’t a sign of friendship.Report

  6. Michael Drew says:

    If we could occasionally switch up the pic that appears on the mainpage I think my dreams might turn a little less Graham-Bledel oriented going forward. Don’t have to, though.Report