A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving

Season 3, Episode 9, Aired
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Episode Summary

It's Thanksgiving, and Lorelai and Rory have dinner at four different places: the Kim's, where Lane has managed to get Dave invited and Lorelai is forced to eat tofurkey; Luke's, where Luke and Jess make it a foursome with Lorelai and Rory; Sookie's, where Jackson and his family have deep-fried the turkey, the lawn and just about everything else; and Emily and Richard's, where, to Lorelai's horror, Rory reveals that she has applied to Yale. Kirk gets a cat, with disastrous results; Dave asks Lane out, and then kisses her; Paris is afraid her difficulty getting into a shelter will impact her acceptance to Harvard; and Dean faces off with Jess and lets him know that it's no more "Mr. Nice Guy" for Mr. Forester.moreless
9.4
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Fan Episode Reviews (6)

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  • The first time I saw this episode, I didn't really like it - but after a second viewing, I changed my mind.

    8.4
    "Great"
    By HelenaKyle, Jan 21, 2011 Report Abuse
    Cute Dean:I figured I'd just stay out of everyone's way. That that would be easiest. But now, I'm lookin' atchoo and I'm thinkin', 'I'm gonna run from him? The Glad Man?

    Sigh...this was the episode in which Cute Dean had the most lines he's ever had. As I think about this, on the one hand I am happy that Cute Dean had so many lines, on the other hand I'm mortified that the lines written for him were so bad.

    Then again, what more could I expect from an episode with not one but four Thanksgiving dinners and not a whole else going on, not even eating. Sure there were highlights and there were setups for what I'm guessing will be conflict in future episodes, but overall not as satisfying as one would expect from four turkey dinners...only the intense drowsiness that occurs after the consumption of large amounts of turkey.

    This week on the Gilmore Girls: Lorelai and Rory accept invitations to four separate dinners, MamaLane's, Luke's, Sookie's and Emily & Richard's. Before attending the dinners they stop to buy flowers and chocolate for each of their hosts. Rory asks to get the flowers so that she won't have to go into the grocery store to get the chocolate and more importantly run into Cute Dean. I, on the other hand, would love to run into Cute Dean...but I digress.

    Lorelai goes to the supermarket and runs into Cute Dean. Cute Dean is nervous but Lorelai assures him that just because he and Rory are broke up does not mean that he and Lorelai have to break up. Cute Dean seems relieved to hear this and Lorelai gives him a big smile.

    The Gilmores head to MamaLane's house where "Tofurkey" is being served and Dave Rygalski is playing guitar. As the Gilmores marvel at this development Lane quickly explains how she fabricated an advertisement and posted in the church, then pretended to find it and showed it to her mother. MamaLane agreed to hire the "pious" Dave to play guitar during the meal. Lane is happy that Dave is there but also frightened that her mother will scare off Dave. She hopes that her mother will like Dave and then when Lane starts dating him, her mother won't be as opposed. Sounds pretty good in theory. Rory and Lorelai help themselves to some tofurkey and lots of napkins. Sampling of the tofurkey is not shown but Lorelai confirms that MamaLane watched her like a hawk until every bit of tofurkey was ingested.

    The next dinner takes place at Luke's diner. The girls sit at a table with Luke and Jess. Rory and Jess have an awkward kiss. Some eating occurs, Lorelai has some yams and then Lorelai asks for more marshmallows. Luke and Jess then leave the table to get coffee and marshmellows. Lorelai comments on the lame kiss and Rory says that she doesn't know how this "second boyfriend thing" is supposed to work. Lorelai counsels her on the situation and tells her not to worry because she will have hundreds of boyfriends. Rory says she feels like everyone is watching her, Lorelai assures her they are not and then Sally Struthers shatters Rory's brief sense of security by telling her that the kiss was lame.

    On to the next dinner, Sookie's place where Jackson has decided to deep-fry the turkey. Sookie is pretty upset and Lorelai and Rory suggest she drink more beer to help ease the pain of the frying fiasco. Rory and Lorelai don't seem to eat anything, but perhaps this happens offscreen during the commercial. If not then the girls are cheating with that whole "we had to eat four thanksgiving dinners" thing...cause I'm only counting two out of three.

    Finally, the greatest indigestion for Lorelai is saved for last - dinner at Mama and Papa Gilmores...as I type this I cannot ever imagine anyone calling Emily or Richard, "Mama" and "Papa", but anyway. The Gilmores have other guests, it is a pretty formal affair and you know that Lorelai is going to have an outburst sooner or later. She counts down the minutes as they sit down to eat. There is some small talk and unfunny jokes and finally the catalyst for the outburst. Someone asks Rory if she's applied to any other colleges as back-ups. Rory says that she has, this is news to Lorelai and even bigger news when Rory admits that she has also applied to Yale. Signal outburst. Lorelai is hysterical and runs out of the dining room, her mother follows to try and calm her down. Outside, Lorelai complains about the controlling ways of her parents while her mother laments the hatred Lorelai seems to hold for her parents. At this point, it seems that earlier there may have been some consumption of lettuce at the dining table.

    With the dinners over, the girls are on their way home. There is some talking about the whole Yale thing, but not much. The girls drop in at Luke's for something to eat, Luke marvels at how it is possible that the girls can still eat after four turkey dinners. The girls brag about their bottomless pit stomachs, I tally total consumption: one chunk of tofurkey, a few bites of yam, moderate inhaling of the fumes from the fried turkey and a few pieces of lettuce. I'd be hungry too! The girls grab some rolls. Rory steps outside to surprise Jess, who is taking out the trash, with another awkward kiss. More awkward and emotionless kissing, then finally, thankfully Rory leaves. This is about the time Cute Dean is shown in the background, he has witnessed the whole "kissing" thing and he looks mad. If I were Dean, I wouldn't be mad after witnessing that, I'd be laughing, I'd laugh and then I'd feel good knowing that there is no passion between Rory and Jess.

    Instead, Cute Dean marches over to Jess and delivers what could probably rate as the lamest lines in history. "The Glad Man"sigh, need I say more? I wince with pain during the entire delivery, I want to swoop in and rescue Cute Dean from this scene but I can't. The point of the scene Dean is not going to hide from Jess and Rory, the entity.

    Okso let's get to some highlights before I fall asleep all over again:

    - Lane and David, the winners, hands down, for best scene AND best kiss.
    - Paris trying to volunteer at a soup kitchen. Not spectacular, but I really enjoy watching Paris scenes. She's so Paris.
    - CatKirk vs. HumanKirk, guess who loses? Sort of funny, sort of mortifying I wondered if I should be calling the SPCA at some points.

    Rating: One large helping of tryptophan.

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  • It's Thanksgiving and Lorelai and Rory have four dinners to attend. Brilliant episode.

    9.8
    "Superb"
    By stewie1423, Jun 22, 2010 Report Abuse
    This was a really good episode, again I liked the whole concept of it. I'll go through it by the dinner they had, plus the ending. Mrs Kim's dinner was amusing, to see David being the guitar player and Mrs Kim not having a clue that he likes Lane. What was with the tofurkey, sounded disgusting. Lorelai's idea about the napkin sounded amusing. Too bad she had to eat it in the end. Mrs Kim's confusion when Lorelai gave her the chocolate turkey was funny. Dave finally kisses Lane who seems speechless. Hope things work out this time for Lane.

    Then Luke's, it was interesting how disappointed he was when they said they couldn't go. Jess and Rory's kiss, it was amusing how everyone was analysing it. Plus we find out that Luke was waiting for the Gilmore's to start, told by Jess. At the start when he passionately kisses Rory at the market and she took him away because of Dean, I thought that was fair enough. The Kirk cat thing was very funny, all the scare and stories he told, had to announce himself before entering the room, hilarious.

    Sookie's dinner was funny, Sookie's horror at the deep frying. The relatives seemed crazy, as was Jackson. It was great when they came back later and Sookie was drunk, very enjoyable to see her like that. No word on children yet, I wonder .... When Emily came to the inn and Lorelai thought Sookie was joking, this was amusing, as was Sookie's crazy panic at her staff.

    Dinner at Emily and Richards, the French people added a strange vibe to the scenes. A funny one, how Richard kept speaking French. In a way I understand why Lorelai would be annoyed about Rory applying to Yale, but in another way, it's up to Rory. The dinner scene was good, when Lorelai was giving out to her parents and had to apologise to the guests.

    But what was very interesting was the end, Rory finally kisses Jess passionately and goes back inside, obviously he's happy about this. Then Dean appears and claims how happy he is that he doesn't have to be nice with Jess anymore, a threat almost. I wonder what he'll do?

    This was a great thanksgiving episode, very entertaining.moreless

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  • It's thanksgiving. How can they do that???

    9.7
    "Superb"
    By karatiz, Oct 20, 2007 Report Abuse
    Well it's thanksgiving time and Sookie is freaking out by leaving the Inn with Bobby, Lorelai tries to calm her down.
    Emily shows up and invites Lorelai to dinner the next day, thanksgiving...
    Meanwhile Paris is also freaking out because she can't be accepted to volunteer.

    And the big event, the Gilmore Girls have four dinners...They have one at Mrs. Kim, other in Sookie's, the third is with Luke and the last one at Richard and Emily's house. They thought about it and decided to skip Luke's but when they told him, he looked so disappointed that they said they would be there. I don't know who they could but they did lol.

    OK lets see...
    Mrs.Kim served tofurkey and Dave played all night. Later, after the dinner ended, Mrs.Kim paid him and Lane took him his bible that he "forgot". He kissed her!"Bible kiss Bible"

    At Sookie's, Jackson is preparing the turkey and he bought a lot of gadgets. He is going to deep fried the turkey. Later they are all drunk even Sookie.

    At Luke's, Jess and Rory kiss and even Babbette noticed the kiss was a lame-o kiss.They eat and then the girls left.

    At Emily, there are some couples there and at table they start talking about applications and Lorelai discovers that Rory also applied to Yale and Princeton and some other ones.
    The night there ends badly.
    They then return to Luke's, Rory kisses Jess for real and goes into the diner. Dean saw it and confronts Jess.

    Oh and Kirk got a cat, cat Kirk lol. It looks like the cat is a monster, Kirks is all scratched and is sleeping outside.moreless

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  • Dean and Jess...

    9.4
    "Superb"
    By Black_Grace, Jul 17, 2007 Report Abuse
    It's Thanksgiving, and Lorelai and Rory have dinner at four different places: the Kim's, where Lane has managed to get Dave invited and Lorelai is forced to eat tofurkey; Luke's, where Luke and Jess make it a foursome with Lorelai and Rory; Sookie's, where Jackson and his family have deep-fried the turkey, the lawn and just about everything else; and Emily and Richard's, where, to Lorelai's horror, Rory reveals that she has applied to Yale. Kirk gets a cat, with disastrous results; Dave asks Lane out, and then kisses her; Paris is afraid her difficulty getting into a shelter will impact her acceptance to Harvard; and Dean faces off with Jess and lets him know that it's no more "Mr. Nice Guy" for Mr. Forester.moreless

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    0 0

  • Lorelai and Rory attend four thanksgiving dinners.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By amfarley84, Jun 21, 2006 Report Abuse
    i thought that it was really funny that lorelai and rory was invited and attended four Thanksgiving dinners. i thought that it was very selfish of emily to go to the inn and demanded that lorelai and rory to attend her dinner because lorelai is mad at them for what happened when they visited Yale. i thought that it was funny that luke seemed disappointed that lorelai tried to get out of lukes Thanksgiving dinner and that it was nice of lorelai to tell him that they could make it to his dinner it seemed to make him happy. it was really nice when lorelai talked to dean and told him that he does not have to avoid him. the thanks giving dinner at the kim's house was really funny that they had served tufturkey and that lorelai had to to eat it. i thought that the dinner at sookies was funny too and sookie freaking out about jackson deep frying the turkey she tought that it was going to ruin the turkey. i think that the dinner at lukes was good that Luke and Jess waited for them to get there to eat and that Lorelai and babette gave rory a hard time with her giving him a weak kiss as they put it. i thought that it was great at luke with kirk talking about his new cat going psycho. i thought that it was really funny that at the gilmore's dinner that lorelai got into a fight with almost everyone about rory applying to yale. i really liked that lane got asked out by dave after he spent five hours at the kims house playing for them without a break.moreless

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    0 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • In this episode, Lorelai compares Emily to Joseph Stalin. It will happen again in season 5 when Lorelai gives an interview to promote the Dragonfly. She was mad at Emily then for the break up with Luke and she gets carried away when the interviewer questions her about her mother. Edit
    • When Dean confronts Jess on the street, he tells him that he has decided not to just stay quiet and hide from the Jess/Rory relationship. The reason behind his decision is that 'Stars Hollow is his town'. That is a rather bold statement, since although it is true that Dean has lived in the town longer, he only moved there with his family two years earlier. While Jess may have only lived in Stars Hollow for a year, his mother, his uncle and his grandfather were born and raised in Stars Hollow. Clearly Jess and his family have a much stronger tie to the town. Edit
    • Dave, in an attempt to impress Mrs Kim, spends the entire day (at least eight hours based on Rory and Lorelai's schedule alone) playing guitar at the Kim's family dinner. It seems a little strange that Dave, who is only seventeen, would be able to spend the entire day away from home on Thanksgiving. Wouldn't his family want him to be there to spend at least some of the holiday with them? Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • German episode title: "Stress hoch vier", meaning "Stress to the Fourth Power". French episode title: "Y'a De La Friture", meaning "Frying Is In The Air". Edit
    • Michael Des Barres, who played the Gilmores' dinner guest Claude Clemenceau, made his debut in the 1967 film To Sir, With Love, in which fellow dinner guest Judy Geeson (playing Natalie Swope) also appeared. Edit
    • John Aniston (Jennifer Aniston's father) has a guest spot in this episode. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Lane: Oh Mama look Dave left his bible here, I better go take it to him. Mrs. Kim: Wait! Lane: But Mama I might miss him! Mrs. Kim: Give it to me. (Lane Hands her the Bible, she opens to the front page and reads.) Mrs. Kim: "This Bible belongs to God but is being used by Dave Rygalsky." Edit
    • Emily: I've called several times the past few weeks and you've skillfully avoided every call. Lorelai: No, that's not true. I've left messages on your machine. Emily: Yes, messages. And then if I happened to pick up, you'd hang up. Or if the maid picked up, you'd ask for me, then claim you were driving through a tunnel so you might get cut off, and then you'd make garbling noises and hang up. Edit
    • Lorelai: Hey, Sookie. Sookie: Ah, hi there. Lorelai: Are you okay? Sookie:This tastes good.[Pointing to margarita] Lorelai: Yeah, it looks like they're deep-frying – Sookie: Everything. Lorelai: Huh. Sookie:Vegetables, mashed potatoes, butter, pickles, salt, a napkin. Rory:And yet, you're very serene. Lorelai:Uh, you're practically floating. Sookie:Well, you caught me at a good time, ladies. I've already gone through the five stages of grieving. Denial, anger. . .I don't remember these two, but they were served on the rocks with salt! Now, I'm just happily enscotched in acceptance. Enscotched. . . Rory: Ensconced? Sookie: Ensconced – that's it! I do believe I heard Phil suggest throwing Junior in. Lorelai: Junior? Sookie: His nephew. Lorelai: Whoa. Sookie:I chimed in on that one. Lorelai: What happened over there? Sookie: Mm, about a half-hour ago they set the lawn on fire. Lorelai: Ah. Sookie: But Phil says it's okay and everything 'cause it'll grow back twice as lush. Though that's what he said when he broke my salad bowl that I brought back from Belgium. That'll maybe grow back, too, huh? [laughs] Phil is a riot. Am I crying or laughing? Lorelai:Laughing. Sookie: Good. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Lorelai: Even less. Uh, voulez vous couchez avec moi ce soir? That's about it. The phrase was popularized in the '70's in a song by the group LaBelle, featuring Patti LaBelle, et al. It was once again brought to popularity in the 2001 with the remake of Lady Marmalade by Lil Kim, Christina Aguilera and company. This is French for "Would you like to lay with me tonight?". Given the context,as well as the environment she was in, it's so out of place as to be hilarious. Edit
    • Lorelai: Free Bird! "Free Bird" is a song by the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and is shouted as a request by audience members at nearly all concerts. Edit
    • Lorelai: Hmm. He's the grinch and we're Cindy Lou Who. Rory: So, Cindy Lou, what do we do? Reference to Cindy Lou and the Grinch in Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Edit

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