The Definitive Ranking of All 153 episodes of Gilmore Girls

146.

146. Say Goodnight Gracie(Season 3, episode 20)

If we ever wondered why Jess has some slacker loserish tendencies, the arrival of his father cleared those mysteries up. We get to see even more of the joy that is Jess's father in the next episode, but just the snippets that we get here are enough to never make me want to see him again. And to make matters worse, his father's arrival makes Jess even more erratic and flaky toward Rory than he was before. This is the episode where he can't work up the courage to tell her that he's not graduating and can't take her to the prom, and instead he just skips town without saying a word to go find his loser father in California. This episode gets at least a little more credit that the backdoor plot to the Jess spinoff that we get in the next episode,because at least this episode actually focuses a little on what's going on in the lives of the Gilmore Girls, since this is, in fact, their show. Fran dies, leaving the inn open for sale, and Dean gets engaged for some odd reason.

Highpoints: It seems weird to say that we were all happy when Fran, the sweet little cupcake lady, died, but it is nice to finally see Sookie and Lorelai getting to take steps toward accomplishing their dream.And Lane and Dave are absolutely adorable early on!

Lowpoints: Why Jess's father decided to show up now is beyond me, but I certainly could have done without it. And we've learned not to expect maturity from Jess, at least not for a few years, but not saying goodbye to your girlfriend when you leave town is low, even for him.

Bestquote: "I just want you to know that I'm a good person. I don't smoke, I don't drink, I've never gotten a ticket, I'm healthy, I take care of myself, I floss. I never watch more than 30 minutes of television a night partly because I think it's a waste of time and partly because there's nothing on. I respect my parents, I do well in school, I never play video games in case they do someday prove that playing them can turn you into a serial killer. I don't drink coffee. I hate soda because the carbonation freaks me out. I'm happy to give up meat if you feel strongly about it. I don't mind wearing a tie. I enjoy playing those hymns on my guitar, and I really, really want to take your daughter to the prom."- Dave