He’s Slippin”Em Bread…Dig? smartly opens with just Lorelai & Rory, together again, enjoying the simple things. Rory is digging the new bathroom, with two sinks! She’s finally properly introduced to Paul Anka. And Lorelai confesses that she’s been keeping note cards in a hat box for topics of conversation while Rory was gone. They’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
Lorelai then gives Stars Hollow the “Rory Reunion Tour” – starting with Luke’s diner, of course. When Rory innocently asks Luke what’s new, Luke reacts quite strangely. Yet Lorelai & Rory have no idea it’s due to the fact that he recently discovered he has a 12 year-old daughter.
Lane: Mother and daughter are together again…all is right with the world
Lane welcomes her favorite mother-daughter team back, and then excitedly informs Rory that Hep Alien has a shocase gig coming up for record execs. Worried that’s she’s jinxing it, Waiting for Guffman-style, she demands that Rory joins her in a “reverse jinx” shake.
Lorelai is jealous she can’t join in.
The tour continues at the Dragonfly, where Sookie is so overcome with emotion she’s hyperventilating. Even Michel can’t hide his excitement.
Back in the Hep Alien camp, Zach’s writing songs titled every female name but Lane. Lane’s mildly bummed, but Zach’s obviously too caught up in himself to care. Love Sebastian Bach’s mention of later-era Replacements.
Lorelai continues to go through the Hat Box topics with Rory, mentioning Christopher’s call.
They agree that she should find out what’s up.
Christopher: My grandfather died!
Lorelai: And that’s funny how?
Christopher’s rich, but he’s a little too pleased about it. The way he’s acting, you’d think he actually accomplished something on his own. Much like the Gilmores’ Senior, he’s becoming a less appealing character with every visit.
Christopher wants to share his new-found wealth, offering Lorelai & Rory everything under the sun – no strings attached. After talking it over with Rory, they only want one thing: for Christopher to pay for Yale, and get out from under Richard & Emily’s thumb. As Rory explains her reasoning with Lorelai, and all the pressures of living under Richard & Emily’s roof, Lorelai fires back: “You’re not in my league. We can’t swap war stories yet”. Christopher is thrilled with the idea, but I don’t buy that he won’t want more out of this arrangement.
With the band’s showcase right around the corner, Brian mentions he’s got a song titled “Lane”. Zach’s far from cool with it.
He proceeds to turn Axl Rose on the band: adding a tambourine player, wearing a mike headset (not cool on Gwen Stefani or Peter Gabriel), and ruining their show. I never thought I’d say this, but it’s time for Hep Alien to break up and Lane to move on.
Luke can’t keep his secret anymore, and shares the big news with sister Liz. He basically uses her as a sounding board, justifying to himself that this isn’t that big a deal. His daughter doesn’t want anything from him, and he can move on.
The episode concludes with Thanksgiving @ The Dragonfly. The girls, Sookie and Luke get to enjoy the company of the Renaissance Festival crew. Where the heck are Jackson & T.J. though?
While all is right with Lorelai’s universe, Rory gets an unexpected call from Logan’s sister and finds out that she and Logan have broken up. And Luke tries to call the daughter he apparently doesn’t care about.
Rory and Luke return to the dinner table looking like they’ve lost their appetite. And as Stars Hollow settles into its holiday slumber, there are once again more questions than answers…
