Originally aired October 9, 2001 – November 20, 2001.
The second season of Gilmore Girls begins nearly immediately after the first season’s conclusion. The first four episodes take place over the summer and boy, is it a summer to remember.
Lorelai should be happy and has even accepted Max’s proposal. However, things aren’t as smooth as they should be for the elder Girl. Firstly, Emily is upset that her daughter never told her about the engagement and then everything becomes a big hoopla regarding the wedding. On the night of her engagement party she finds herself calling Christopher instead of Max, which makes her realize she is not head over heels in love with Max.
She calls off the engagement.
This monopolizes the first handful of episodes and really takes away from Rory, whose story is the one that I’d always rather see because it is more relatable to me. This first batch of episodes finds the high school junior coming into her own even though she still has Paris to deal with. The arrival of Luke’s nephew Jess spices things up, but only in the final episode of this batch (“The Ins and Outs of Inns”). He’s been causing trouble in town and Rory finally gets on his case. She is pleased to see he is responding and the two share a quick, smiling glance. Poor Dean.
All in all, it was a slow burning process to get back into the swing of things. Some may consider this boring, but I feel that the crawling pace of the show’s arcs combined with the fast-pace witty dialogue and not too over the top drama is what made the show so successful.
The one major development involves Lorelai and Sookie finally going ahead with their plans on the inn, which takes a while, but at least a major subplot not involving romance is developing. Other noteworthy tidbit is that the constant rotation of Emily’s wait staff is in full effect. It’s a fun little piece of the show that fans will enjoy.
Oh and how hip is Rory for listening to the Shins’ “New Slang” in an episode from October 2001. Very hip.
ADAM VITCAVAGE 