By: Sofia Marquez
When you think of Gilmore Girls you don’t really think about Christmas. While some of you are currently amidst your fall rewatch, or you’re watching it for the first time, you can probably only count a couple episodes distinctly Christmas, but there is actually a holiday episode in every season! That is one thing Amy Sherman-Palladino did perfectly, putting every major holiday in every season. In this article, as an ongoing part of my Gilmore Girls series, I will deep dive into all seven (I am excluding A Year In The Life) winter/Christmas/holiday etc. episodes in Gilmore Girls!
Starting from season 1, ‘Forgiveness and Stuff ‘(S1E10) showcases Gilmore Girls’ two finest qualities, family drama, and a smart and funny script. Richard and Emily are hosting their famous, annual (pre) Christmas dinner. Lorelai of course had a fight with Emily previous to this, and was uninvited. Rory attends alone, while Lorelai naturally, spends the evening at Luke’s. Luke being the cold hearted diner owner he is, he makes her a Santa Claus burger, to make her night alone more festive.
The night was fine until Richard started to feel unwell. It turns out to be a heart attack, and he is rushed to the hospital. Now is where each Gilmore Girl goes into their own emotional spiral: Emily trying her best to be the best wife she can be to Richard, Lorelai is trying to find out how she feels with this situation considering the emotional distance between her and her father, and Rory struggles with the thought of losing the grandfather who she only just started to form a relationship with. (It all ends up well though, Richard is fine, they all are happy, everything is okay.)
Season 2 (S2E10), the iconic episode ‘The Bracebridge Dinner’, is a perfect way to celebrate a season 2 Christmas. Jess-Dean drama, Emily-Richard drama, and a plot so Gilmore Girls it’s unbelievable. The extremely wealthy, affluent Bracebridge Group (group of what, I don’t know) wasn’t able to make it to their Renaissance-style multicourse dinner extravaganza, so Lorelai and Sookie are left to figure out what to do with the inn. They have all the food, all the rooms, and nobody to eat or stay in it. So, they invite the town! Along with all of Stars Hollow’s favorites, a couple special guests from Hartford come too! Paris Geller, Rory’s Chilton friend-enemy-friend, and Emily and Richard Gilmore.
Anywho, a quick recap of what actually happens in this episode goes something like this: They all eat a crazy huge dinner prepared by the one and only Sookie Saint James, and with a Jackson starring in the dinner’s theater role of the Squire of Bracebridge. Then, after dinner, during drinks, Richard drops the news that he has retired. Plot twist! Emily throws a fit, but it all works out in the end. During the horse drawn carriage ride, Dean rides with his little sister, making Rory ride alone. Except she wasn’t alone for long, Jess Mariano hops in the sleigh last minute, only adding to Dean’s suspicion that there may be something going on there.
‘That’ll Do, Pig,’ (S3E10) highlights the Rory/Dean/Jess drama season 3 is all about. Stars Hollow High’s (Rory’s previous high school) annual winter carnival is the backdrop to this holiday themed episode. In all of her years, Rory has never once missed a winter carnival, and even now that she was dating Jess, that wasn’t changing. Jess has absolutely no interest in anything Stars Hollow High, but as soon as he finds out Rory’s ex-boyfriend Dean is going to go with her instead, he suddenly decides the winter carnival sounds wonderful. Nothing too crazy happens though, because Clara, Dean’s little sister was there the whole time.
Meanwhile in Hartford, Lorelai is guiding Emily on how not to jump her mother-in-law, Trix (why Richard calls his mother that I will never understand). Medium.com’s quote on how this whole episode shows every Gilmore Girl’s own struggle ties into each other’s is perfect, “[on Rory’s current relationship, Lorelai’s lack of one, and how she is guiding Emily]…Playing to the show;s strong suit of displaying intergenerational female relationships in a complex and humorous way”.
Season 4, ‘In the Clamor and Clangor’ (S4E11) is giving, Rory cuts her brains off with her hair. (In my humble opinion, she totally did). Rory is at Yale now (who else thinks it should have been Harvard?). She got her infamous haircut, and Lorelai is still finding herself as a newly free adult woman. Rory meets this boy who likes the same bands as her while doing her laundry, and awkwardly asks him if he wants to get a coffee with her. He says no, and Rory is left there, alone, because she had never done that before. Later on, news about some crazy girl who is obsessed with the laundry room boy came about. Details entailed, following him around (Rory had seen him multiple times around campus later), and joining his classes (she switched into a class he had happened to be in). She loudly confronts him in one of the cafeterias, but she wasn’t the girl who all these rumors were about. Anyone else think it’s odd to spend an entire episode on a character who never returns?
In Stars Hollow, the church bells are back and more annoying than ever. They’re now ringing every fifteen minutes…Annoying! Luke and Lorelai are teamed up to break the church bells, recovering from a recen fight about Nicole, Lukes ex-wife-ish/girlfriend. Lorelai finally voices what has taken her so long: she really, truly cares about Luke.
‘Women of Questionable Morals’ (S5E11) Season Five’s snow centered episode. Since day one of Gilmore Girls, we’ve established Lorelai’s unconditional love for Snow. She loves it so much that she would jolt up in the middle of the night just because she smells that it’s coming. This episode is centered around the first snowfall, but it takes a turn when it all goes wrong for Lorelai. Newly opened Dragonfly Inn experiences its first winter, and it is one without coffee. The driveway is snowed in, two guests got lost snowshoeing, and it all goes downhill from there actually. To brighten her spirits, Luke literally builds her an ice rink outside her house.
On the crazier side, with the first snow also comes the town’s Revolutionary War reenactment. A new female character has been added to war reanactment’s plot. The person originally set to play her was Kirk’s girlfriend, Lulu, but she ends up getting set, ending in Kirk in a dress, Taylor on a horse, 7 men holding muskets, and 2 second graders narrating the whole thing in the snow for an audience.
Season six’s ‘Just Like Gwen and Gavin’ (S6E12) is perhaps one of Gilmore Girls weakest episodes… The holiday spirit is not awesome here. Once again, at the winter carnival, Lorelai is running a booth with her new dog Paul Anka. The entirety of this episode is spent with the Yale Daily News. Paris is in the midst of her dictator era and is eventually impeached. She takes this poorly, as she does most things. Rory is then elected as the new editor-in-chief. The other plot of this episode is just so annoying and frustrating that I actually skip it (I only do that with 2 other episodes). Lorelai finds out about April, Luke’s daughter who he has been hiding for 2 months. Not much to say because this episode does not bring me tidying joy.
Lastly, (S7E11) ‘Santa’s Secret Stuff’ has arrived. Along with the other one ‘Merry Fistcuffs’ (S7E10)… Okay, where to start. I’m not going to talk too much about Merry Fistcuffs only because it’s just dumb. Luke and Lorelai’s new husband Chris (Rory’s dad) fight, Chris and Lorelai fight, and Emily and Lorelai fight. So, ‘Santa’s Secret Stuff’ will be the big focus. Rory and Lorelai won’t be together this Christmas, because Rory is spending the holidays in London with Logan, so the two swear to hold off ANY Christmas activities until they are reunited.
While the two of them are only now doing Christmas in January, everybody is over it. Their favorite peppermint coffee from Westons was no longer being served. According to Medium.com, “Rory and Lorelai’s belated celebration is representative of Christopher and Lorelai’s entire marriage and season seven in general: a contrived happiness that is ultimately depressing.” I personally think that the new writers (the old ones left after season six) didn’t know how to write a Gilmore Girls Christmas episode, but at least they tried their best.
One happy note is the soon to be end of Chritopher and Lorelai’s marriage, because Lorelai is now writing a character reference for Luke’s custody battle over April (who is moving to New Mexico).
That’s it from me on holidays in the Gilmore World. Have a happy holidays and keep watching Gilmore Girls!