In ‘Forgiveness and Stuff,‘ when Richard is in the hospital, Lorelai comes to the realization that she has no really great memories of her dad. When Luke tells Lorelai she’s a great mom, Lorelai realizes it’s the “daughter part” she has to work on. And I’m sure that Lorelai means with both of her parents.
Image: TheWB.com
So, looking forward, what steps do you think Lorelai took to be a better daughter?
And let’s just take one small moment to pay homage to the blue baseball cap and it’s complexity of meaning for Luke & Lorelai, shall we?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LE20gUl4gE]
Watch this episode of Gilmore Girls on TheWB.com here.
She was there for Emily when Grandma was giving her a hard time.
“Do what I do Mom…”
Lorelai was also there for funeral arrangements when neither Emily or Richard were not able to do it.
I think Lorelai got better at being a daughter by the end of the series. In the series finale, Emily was trying desperately to find a way to stay in Lorelai’s life after she found out Rory was leaving by trying to lend her money for improvements to the Inn. Lorelai saw through her attempts and said they may as well continue their Friday night dinners. In the beginning, she used to try finding any excuse she could to get out of the dinners. In one episode, I believe it was “Kill Me Now,” Lorelai told Rory she could get them out of dinner since Rory went golfing with Richard.
Lorelai’s relationship with her parents was always one step forward, three steps back. But I believe she made progress towards being a better daughter over the years!
Lorelai became a better daughter and Richard and Emily become better rounded parents over the course of the show. That is because as they were more a part of each other’s lives they saw beyond the past memories they had of each other as impossible to deal with and recognized the good qualities as well as the aggravating negatives they previously dwelled on. Not all that surprising since as fully rounded adults they were more able to see each other as equals and accept the good and bad in each other.
Lorelai was trying to be a better daughter but everytime she tries to be good her parents would knock her down a level. But she was an awsome mother to Rory. Yes her parents try to act so improtant in Lorelais life and try to tell her what to do but Lorelai did waht ever she wanted truth be dammed. Lorelai was a good daughter just she was a rebel cause they didn’t give her the space she needed.
One of my all-time favourite episode. Especially because we get to see Luke and Lorelai getting closer. The hat she gives him is really symbolic of their relationship. Proof of that is that Luke will take it off after their second breakup in season 7.
Their scenes together in this episode are just brilliant.
As for Lorelai being a better daughter I really think she improves over the years. Not that she was really bad before. It’s just that she was estranged and still thought of her parents as people who were ashame of her pregnancy and were trying to smother her.
Richard and Emily get better too, so it can only lead to a better relationship between the three of them. They end up realizing they mean a lot to each other and can actually be there for one another.
That’s a great evolution to watch throughout the show.
Great topic, Arieanna. This episode is definitely a huge turning point in how she tries to change for Richard and Emily (and it’s really sad that they cut the scene on the Season 1 DVD between her and Emily sharing a laugh instead of all the handbells practice in town).
The previous episode really ratcheted up the sympathy for Lorelai by Emily’s attack — to me that was the most important part of that episode, how tragic it is that Emily cares and wants so much to be close to Lorelai but blows it by her condescension and her mouth. So Lorelai’s exclusion from Christmas continues to build the sympathy for her.
But watching her behavior in front of Richard when she can barely bring herself to go see him shows how much she is underdeveloped as an adult. Lauren Graham does a brilliant job making her look like a pitiful little girl when she faces Richard in bed. It’s really well done.
And I don’t think enough significance is given to her admission in Luke’s truck. For all the talk of how horrible her childhood was, many many people have had it MUCH worse than having everything you could want in a safe home with “cold” parents — the worst can be said about them is that they’re not affectionate enough and as “fun” as Lorelai in giving her “space.”
Especially when you compare Emily’s acceptance of Lorelai when she got pregnant (as shown in Season 3) compared to Lorelai’s ostracism of Rory when Rory dropped out of Yale, I think Amy Sherman Palladino quite brilliantly was showing that Lorelai was NOT the better parent in many many ways. She’s still acts like a spoiled child far too often … she ran away from Emily and Richard just as she walks away from Rory five seasons later.
It’s after this episode that Lorelai tries more and more to speak like an adult to Emily and Richard. Clearly those two still haven’t had closure on how her running away hurt them and it keeps real reconciliation from having, but there are gestures … Lorelai going to Emily after Richard is forced into retirement to be there for her is a beautiful moment on Season 2, as is her helping Richard launch his own business.
The awkward progress in her relationship with her parents is definitely one of the strengths of the show, and kudos to Kelly Bishop, Ed Herrmann, and Lauren Graham for making it all so believable.
I read in one of this message that she talks like there is a ready a movie out is there please let me know if its out of its not been made yet. thanks