Gilmore Girls 2.09 "Run Away, Little Boy"

Gilmore Girls 2.09 "Run Away, Little Boy"
Original Air Date: November 27, 2001 (Recap date: December 19, 2007)
Photos, Recap & Discussion

Discussion Questions:

• Would you keep ‘Fernando’?
• Did Tristan fall in with a bad crowd after seeing Dean and Rory get back together at the end of the year?
• Paris wants to ace her project – so is it too safe to be choosing Elizabethan?
• Why doesn’t Lorelai consider dating Luke now? Is she afraid of another big loss, or not yet aware of her feelings?
• This the only episode when Dean, Jess and Tristan are in the same town. Who would you choose, at this point?
• How do you interpret Luke’s face after hearing Lorelai went on a date?
• Is Luke upset that Lorelai didn’t notice him?
• Tristan left the rehearsal angry – and got into major trouble. Coincidence?
• Lorelai talks about being bad at dating – is this an apology to Luke? Or an invitation for him to keep trying?
• When Luke says ‘you do’ and smiles at Lorelai, he seems to say more – does it say ‘I love you’ or ‘I realize you need to be just friends, and am ok with that’

Gilmore Girls Episode Recap & Photos:

A delayed wedding present arrives for Lorelai and Max. No return address or card. A designer ice cream maker. Lorelai thinks it would be immoral to keep it – despite Sookie and Rory pleading to.

Romeo & Juliet is to be enacted in groups – the same group as always. Act 5 – the death scene. Tristan is back from suspension regarding taking apart, relocating and attaching a car – he fell in with a bad crowd.

Lorelai is calling around to find who gave the gift. Rory comes home and says she volunteered Lorelai to make the costumes. Rory sets up a 3-way call, minus herself, between Lane and Henry. Lorelai says returning the ice cream maker is closure for her. So Rory will keep helping with the calls.

A younger man at Lorelai’s business class asks her out. Though she declines, she seems pleased.

Shakespeare meeting – Brad is introduced to the group, from another class, to fill in the male perspective. Paris has decided not to rethink the interpretation and will do traditional Elizabethan. Tristan shows up – he was told to pick a group, he picked theirs. It’s the only one free of ex-girlfriends. Paris doesn’t want to give Romeo to Tristan – bitter. But Brad is not going to get them an A. Paris tells Rory she’s Juliet – she can handle the lines and is ‘chaste’.

Michel gets angry at Sookie for not delivering his pancakes – he wants to count the blueberries, she won’t let him. Lorelai tries to donate the ice cream maker, ‘Fernando’, to the Inn, but Sookie says it’s too small. Sookie expresses concern over Lorelai’s reaction to ‘Fernando’. Asks if she’s moving on. Lorelai says she was asked out but doesn’t want anything weird if it doesn’t work out – Sookie reminds her that not every guy has to be the guy. He can be her pre-transition guy.

Paris says the Hall is taken and has found via the net that Miss Patty has a space. Rory is in a panic that Tristan is coming and Dean may see him. Rory thinks that Tristan will tell Dean about their kiss, so Rory thinks she has to fess up. Lorelai uses an example of Dean attacking Tristan in the final scene during the play as a way to caution Rory out of it. It takes Lorelai play-acting Dean’s reaction for Rory to figure out telling him is not such a good idea. It will hurt Dean.

Tristan heads to the market for cigarettes, which panics Rory. Tristan right away taunts Dean about his apron and about being Rory’s Romeo. Which Dean did not know. Tristan makes a mess of the store and tosses down money. Rory runs in and pulls Dean out to apologize for not telling him about… the play. Not about the kiss.

Lorelai is back from her date. They ran out of things to talk about very early. Bad date, but she had fun getting back out there. Is proud to be a casual dater. Luke overhears that Lorelai went on a date. Dean comes and tells Rory he wants to come to her rehearsal. He won’t say he’s jealous – she won’t say why she doesn’t want him there.

Rory asks Tristan not to mention their kiss. He seems to be looking forward to kissing her onstage again. Rory unintentionally hurts Tristan when she says that the kiss meant nothing to her. She lectures Tristan against hanging with the wrong crowd and doing things that are not ‘like him’.

Lorelai’s date, Paul, comes into Luke’s – with his parents and in a South Park tee. Lorelai had raved about Stars Hollow and Luke, so he came to check it out. Paul has even heard, and passed on, about Rachel. Rory laughs, after, about how young Paul is. Luke makes fun of Lorelai too, by asking some young kids to move further from Lorelai. After all, what’s her cutoff?

Tristan makes a point of drawing out the fact that he has to kiss Rory, for Dean’s benefit. And says that this, they’re last kiss, makes him think of their first kiss. At the party. He refers to another scene, but Rory knows what he’s talking about and his hint that she should ‘cry’ here too. Rory tells Dean to leave – they need to get through the scene. Rory yells at Tristan and tells him it’s impossible to be nice to him.

Lorelai is the butt of many jokes. Kirk took pictures. Lorelai is confused at why Luke walked away from their sparring match – he says us ‘older guys’ have to work. He thinks what she did is embarrassing – but won’t say anything. Except that she can live her life as she pleases.

Paris is in a panic – Tristin is not there for the play. He comes – but to apologize. His dad has withdrawn him from Chilton. He got into trouble with his friends – and a safe. He says he doesn’t know why – but has military school to think on it. He says, with true sincerity, that he’d kiss Rory goodbye – but Dean is watching. He calls her Mary one last time. Paris will be Romeo!

Lorelai tells Sookie how confused she is about Luke. First he’s sweet and building her a choopa, then he’s a jerk. Sookie says Luke is into her. That he’s watched Lorelai go from guy to guy. Get engaged, break it off. He’s patiently watched. But in walks a kid and Sookie believes him to think:

"My God, will she date anyone else in the world before she’ll date me?"

Sookie interrupts Lorelais rebuff – says it’s crazy and irrational. But it’s there. To look him in the eye and see for herself. So, she goes up to Luke and asks if he’s good at dating. And admits:

"I don’t have it down either. I’ve never been very good at it, really. I’ve never even really liked it. It’s too much ‘what if.’ I like things I can count on. I mean, actually, with Max – it was the first time I was actually like ‘Hey, here he is. That one person who will always be there for me.’ And then… I turn around, and it’s suddenly… Oops, wrong… keep moving."

Luke asks why she is telling him this?

"I don’t have very many people in my life who are in my life. Permanently, forever. They will always be there for me. I will always be there for them. You know? There’s Rory and Sookie. This town. And… you. I mean, at least I think I’ve got…"

"You do" – Luke

"Good. Just checking."

He smiles on her and asks about Romeo and Juliet.

Image: TheWB.com

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