30. Road Trip to Harvard (Season 2, Episode 4)
On the surface, this is a rather simple episode. After revealing that she doesn't want to marry Max, the Gilmore Girls set off on a road trip to nowhere in particular and end up at Harvard, staying at a very strange bed and breakfast along the way. Upon further examination, there's actually much more to this episode than meets the eye. First off, it's the first real sign of immaturity that we see from Lorelai. Sure, she has the eating habits of a 12 year old and has the tendency to blow off smaller obligations from time to time, but when it comes to the big things, Lorelai is always the responsible one. Here, however, we see her get scared and run away from her problems, and for the first time since the show began, we see the scared, insecure 16 year old that started to whole story come back for a visit. As we continue learning more about Lorelai in this episode, we are also left to wonder if Lorelai is pushing Rory to go to Harvard because she thinks it's what Rory wants or because it's what she wanted before her life changed. We catch her looking longingly at the valedictorian pictures on the walls, stopping on the one who likely would have been a part of her class. She marvels at how easily Rory fits into the college life and wonders if she could have done the same. This episode, again, also gives us more insight into Rory and her immaturity. While on the one hand, it's impressive that a 16 year old would have the courage to speak out in a college class, we also see why it seems unnatural. No one else would have the courage to do so because everyone else would recognize their inexperience and naivety in such a situation. Rory, however, has no problem acting as if she is smarter and more mature than she is, and her youth shows in the fact that she misses the professor's point and her answer sounds immature and is not taken well by the other students. However, this is a very fun episode and provides some much-needed insight into the characters.
High points: The very strange bed and breakfast, Harvard, Sat and forever am at work here, The horse that wanted to bark.
Low points: Immature Rory, Lorelai running from her problems
Best quote: "I ate the fuzzy cert!"- Lorelai
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