Emily in Wonderland

Season	Episode
1	19

INFO

Airdate

26 April 2001

Written by

Linda Loiselle Guzik & John Stephens

Directed by

Perry Lang

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Emily in Wonderland is the 19th episode of Season 1 of Gilmore Girls.

Synopsis[]

Rory (Alexis Bledel) invites Emily (Kelly Bishop) to Stars Hollow for some antiques shopping and a tour of the town. At first, Emily seems hesitant, but she trades in her heels for sneakers to see the sights. Meanwhile, Lorelai (Lauren Graham) struggles with finding a job for Sookie's (Melissa McCarthy) friend Roon (guest star Max Perlich) and building her friendship with Luke's (Scott Patterson) girlfriend, Rachel (guest star Lisa Ann Hadley).

Recap[]

In the middle of the Friday night dinner (from which Richard has been mysteriously absent, lately), Rory announces that she needs baby pictures of Emily and Richard, and Lorelai, for a school project about family history. Lorelai does not want to give up any embarrassing goods; in fact, when she was 7, she burned all of her baby pictures. And it is because as a child, Lorelai had an unusually large head. It was so big that it affected her balance, or so Emily says. Lorelai insists on changing the subject, so Emily starts ranting and raving about how difficult it is to find good antiques. Rory suggests that Emily checks out Lane's parents' store in Stars Hollow, which then turns into an invitation for Rory to show her grandma around town on Saturday. Lorelai, of course, will have to miss this little outing. It is a crying shame, really.

Over at Luke's, Lorelai and Rory grab some chow before Emily and Rory hang out. When Rory tries to get Lorelai to take a break at noon for lunch, it is a no go. Even if she was free, and she probably really is, Lorelai would not choose to have lunch with her mom, Friday night dinner is enough. Suddenly, Rachel approaches the table carrying photos from the Firelight Festival, thinking there might be a book in there somewhere, i.e. faces in small town America. One of the most memorable photos in the bunch is a shot of Luke and Lorelai. When Rachel points out how darn beautiful Lorelai's eyes are, Luke just stutters and stumbles over his words, then walks away. Another photo of interest is an old abandoned inn called Dragonfly. This leads Lorelai to think about buying it, renovating it, and running it herself. Rory bails when Lane pages with 911, leaving Rachel to drag Lorelai out to see Dragonfly. When Luke sees that the two women in his life might be hanging together, he is totally weirded out. He even spills coffee all over the table.

At the Independence Inn, Lorelai gets really annoyed when she spies Rune in the lobby. (Rune is Jackson's cousin who was unbelievably rude to Lorelai on a past date.) While the guy was just supposed to stay one weekend, he never left and Jackson does not have the balls to throw him out. Then, horror of horrors, Jackson comes in with "thank you jam". What? Lorelai has not been informed, unbeknownst to Jackson, of the favor that Sookie and Jackson desperately need, namely that Lorelai give Rune a job, and some board, at the inn. Lorelai reluctantly agrees to give him a handy man job and let him stay in the potting shed, but only for Sookie's sake. Later, Emily arrives for her tour of Stars Hollow. Of course, she is horrified to find an empty refrigerator and Charlie's Angel dishes in the cupboard. And when Rory suggests they walk though town, it takes some convincing to loosen up Grandma. Lorelai and Rachel talk about what they want to do with their lives; Lorelai admits that she and Sookie would love to run their own inn, while Rachel admits she is ready to settle down, with Luke. Now that is a real surprise and one that does not sit well with Lorelai at all.

With sneakers on her feet, Emily says she feels like a horse. She is convinced that everyone is looking at her. When they get to Lane's parents' antique store, Emily balks at first but then falls in love with the place. She explores, leaving the girls to discuss Lane's latest problem, that it has been a week since the party and Henry has not called. The paranoia is setting in, and Rory tries her best to squash it. Then, they watch Emily and Mrs. Kim spar like the Williams sisters. A sale is made, and Emily is starting to love her sneakers. When Rune walks in announcing that he now works at the inn, Michel is absolutely horrified. While Lorelai shows Rune his room, Rory and Emily arrive, and Emily is totally impressed with the place. She charms Michel with her fluent French before Lorelai finds them and is shocked by her mom's jogging shoes, and the fact that Rory and Emily ate at Teriyaki Joe's. What the heck is going on here? Rory continues the tour by showing Emily the potting shed and revealing it is where Rory and Lorelai lived when they first moved to Stars Hollow. Emily takes one look around and becomes so upset that she feigns illness and leaves immediately.

Later, Lorelai is summoned by Rachel at Luke's apartment, and discovers that Rachel will be leaving Stars Hollow soon because she cannot convince Luke that she is here for good this time. Rachel has been trying so hard but no matter what she does, it seems that Luke is just waiting for her to screw up. So, then she asks Lorelai if she could up out by giving Luke some words of wisdom. Namely, that he really should give Rachel a chance. Lorelai agrees but looks visibly uncomfortable. Back at the Gilmore home, Lane and Rory are studying and discussing, rather analyzing, the message that Henry left on Lane's answering machine. On the surface, it was a good message, but Lane digs deep for some crazy, paranoid subtext, and convinces herself that if she calls him back, they shall have one date, then another, and another until she is forced to introduce him to her parents. Oh the humanity! Then, Emily calls and asks Rory a bunch of totally random questions; like what her favorite color is, her favorite flowers, and even who she likes better, Nsync or Backstreet Boys. Emily will not say what her motivation here is, but all will be revealed on Friday night.

As Lorelai leaves, she stops for a cup of java from Luke's and then looks for an opportunity to talk about him and Rachel. She ends up talking about the fact that Luke does not like Lorelai and Rachel hanging out. And it is because Luke is convinced Rachel will leave, so, you know, do not get too attached. So, Lorelai does her duty, but Luke does not exactly like her telling him what to do. They bicker until Lorelai asks Luke why he would push Rachel away. Is it because he does not love her or she is not what he wants? Is there, perhaps, another reason why he would not believe that Rachel really wants to settle down? Luke denies that there is some other reason (this is all veiled innuendo about Luke and Lorelai possibly having feelings for one another that both would rather die than admit) and agrees to give Rachel a chance. During movie night, Rory and Lorelai take in the flick Queen of Outer Space and spot Luke and Rachel. It prompts Lorelai to ask Rory if she thinks Luke and Rachel are meant to be together. Rory says yeah, but Lorelai worries that she might have given Luke the wrong advice. Only time will tell.

On Friday night, Lorelai and Rory arrive and get one big surprise. Emily drags Rory upstairs to show her a room that will now belong to Rory. Since she spends so much time here already, she should have a nice space filled with the things she likes. Rory thanks her and heads down stairs, leaving Lorelai and Emily to argue about hidden motivations. After Lorelai briefly gets freaked out, she apologizes, but Emily is now on a rampage, blaming Lorelai for letting Rory live in a shack with shovel propped up against the sofa. Bottom line: Emily is outraged that Lorelai would have lived in a cardboard box, a gutter, anywhere else, as long as she did not have to be near Emily and Richard. Lorelai gently tries to explain why she did what she did, but Emily does not want to hear a word of it. Post dinner, Rory demands the scoop because Lorelai did not talk at all on the way home. Rory feels bad; she should not have taken Emily to the shed. It is not Rory's fault, and Lorelai running away from her parents is always going be a big deal no matter what. This prompts Rory to wonder if Lorelai and Emily could ever really talk about what happened. Lorelai does not believe her mother will ever actually listen. But if Lorelai will not talk and Emily will not listen, how is anything going to change? The girls stop at Luke's for coffee and pie. Rachel thanks Lorelai for what she said to Luke. He gave her a drawer in his dresser and even a set of keys. Wow! It worked. So, it looks like Rachel will be in Stars Hollow for a while. And as Rory and Lorelai drink their coffee, they both realize it tastes different. As the show ends, Rory and Lorelai sit in front of Dragonfly and daydream about owning the place one day.

Starring[]

Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore

Alexis Bledel as Rory Gilmore

Melissa McCarthy as Sookie St. James

Keiko Agena as Lane Kim

Yanic Truesdale as Michel Gerard

Scott Patterson as Luke Danes

and Kelly Bishop as Emily Gilmore

Special Guest Star: Max Perlich as Roon

Recurring cast: Emily Kuroda as Mrs. Kim; Jackson Douglas as Jackson Belleville; Sean Gunn as Kirk Gleason

Guest starring: Lisa Ann Hadley as Rachel

Co-Starring: Kathryn Grant as Japanese Translator

Trivia[]

Luke makes a commitment to Rachel.

CONTINUITY

Lorelai stated in Rory's Birthday Parties that Richard and Emily visited her and Rory when they were living at the inn. Apparently they never actually saw their quarters.
Lane said it has been a week since the party, but it has actually been 2 weeks. The party was on a Saturday, a week passed when the next Saturday Lorelai had dinner with her parents and Paris went on a date, then another week passed, guessing that day it was Saturday since the day before Rory and Lorelai had dinner with Emily.

ERRORS

When Michel meets Emily at Independence Inn his hands, holding Emily's hand, are changing within the shots—right hand when he is on the screen, left when Emily is.