Back in the Saddle Again

Season 2, Episode 18, Aired
EDIT

Episode Summary

Rory asks Richard for help in creating and marketing a first-aid kit for Chilton's annual Business Fair, which leads him to realize that he is unhappy in retirement and wants to start a second career; fresh from having underbid on Rory's lunch basket and the loss of the bracelet he made for her, Dean goes overboard in trying to be close to Rory, afraid that she is losing interest in him, and finally becomes resigned to her affection for Jess; at first, Michel is ecstatic when his flamboyant mother Giselle visits, but after Lorelai causes problems for him when she reveals to Giselle that Michel has been holding back from his mother, Michel quickly is driven crazy by his mother's incessant questioning.moreless
8.8
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Great
245 votes
  • Your Rating: 10
    "Perfect"
  • Your Rating: 9.5
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 9
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 8.5
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 8
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 7.5
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 7
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 6.5
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 6
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 5.5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 4.5
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 4
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 3.5
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 3
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 2.5
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 2
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 1.5
    "Abysmal"
  • Your Rating: 1
    "Abysmal"
Rate It

Watch Online

Amazon
Buy
iTunes
Buy

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Fan Episode Reviews (7)

See All

  • Rory recruits Richard to help with her economics project and he and Paris get along smashingly. Also, Dean fears he is loosing Rory and tries desperately to hold on to her. Lorelai cause trouble between Michel and his mother, Giselle.moreless

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By mcwilly104, Mar 04, 2009 Report Abuse
    Madeline: (points to Brad) Well, he looks like he's built one! Brad: I've never built a robot! Louise: (leans over toward him) But you've tried haven't you? Brad: (reluctantly) Yes I have. There is some classic Madeline and Louise quotage in this episode. They are, once again, hilarious. Paris is particularly neurotic and by the end of the episode, I wanted to smack her, so I guess the writers did their job. And alas, sweet Dean. How sad he is in this episode. His desperate attempts to keep Rory in his life are heart-wrenching and they do a very good job of illustrating their growing distance from each other. Also, the mom from The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air guest stars. Is it sad that her only two television roles have been playing someone's annoying mom? Yes. But was it fun to see her back on TV again! No, not really. But I figured I'd mention it anyway.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    1 1

  • Richard helps Rory with something at school. Great episode, Dean finally realised!

    9.3
    "Superb"
    By stewie1423, Jun 01, 2008 Report Abuse
    Great episode. It was entertaining to see Richard get so involved and excited in the project with Rory. It was very amusing when he and Paris would talk 'Top notch' and all that. How Paris had helped Richard set up an actual business meeting and how she said to Rory how funny he was.
    Emily's outburst at him was also amusing, when he turned the music on and she shouted 'I'm so disappointed'.

    Then at the fair you could sense trouble as Richard was acting like this was something big, not just a school project. When they lost and Richard confronted the headmaster, I guess it was a sad scene, seeing Richard be humiliated like that. But luckily he turns out to be fine and decides to run his own business, due to his major dislike of retirement. Emily's surprise was done well.

    Sookie shouting down the phone was funny, Lorelai told her to be calm and she did the opposite. The word of mouth thing about the wedding was amusing as well. Michel's mother, very strange storyline, his outburst at Lorelai was great. Lorelai's advice to Dean (Who called 14 in 3 hours) was good, he did seem so disappointed and sad.

    Rory at the end, was she lying about going to see Lane , I don't think so, just a thought that maybe she was going to Jess. End was brilliant, Dean said to Lorelai 'She likes Jess, doesn't she' Lorelai doesn't reply and he walks off.

    Can't wait to see how that turns out, will the love triangle get even more dramatic.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    0 0

  • He is back!

    9.4
    "Superb"
    By karatiz, Sep 06, 2007 Report Abuse
    Richard has too much free time...
    Rory has a project for school and asks Richard for consulting, Emily talks to him and he says yes.

    The project is for a 1st aid kit, the RX2002, good idea, too bad they don't win.

    Giselle, Michel's mother, is in town and they are really looked a-like. Like mother, like son lol

    The school project makes Richard happy, he finally is doing something he likes since he quit his job. And when they lose for the stupid alarm thing, he gets really sad.

    The best is the idea he has later... Go back to work, I think is going to be great.

    And poor Dean, they are getting apart and he finally gets it.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    0 0

  • richard helps rory with a school project and michels mother comes to visit.

    9.8
    "Superb"
    By amfarley84, Jun 14, 2006 Report Abuse
    this was such a great episode. i thought that richard helping out rory was a really good idea i figured that he made a great chocie because he has been in the buiness world for over 30 years and it was a buiness project i liked that at first he was saying that he was there just to observe but after he heard a great idea he got really into the project. i thought that it was caring and kinda funny that Richard got so outraged that the groups project did not get first place. i thought that Giselle michel's mother was really great she was funny and seemed very caring towards her son. i thought that it was funny that michel did not tell his mother that he did not eat carbs and that sookie told his mother that he didn't.
    moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    0 0

  • Dean's face is heartbreaking

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By Starlet2586, May 09, 2006 Report Abuse
    This episode wasn't necessarily pivotal in a plot standpoint, but the look on Dean's face at the end of this episode when he FINALLY realizes that Rory and Jess have a "thing" is absolutely heartbreaking. Poor Dean who has always been nothing but the perfect boyfriend to Rory is realizing that his picture-perfect relationship is going down the tubes.

    DO YOU AGREE?

    0 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Lorelai is astonished at Michel's great relationship with his mother. She finds it difficult to fathom someone having such a close relationship with their mother, given her relationship with her own mother. Though, Lorelai and Rory have an extremely close relationship. Why then was it such a foreign concept to her? Edit

    • At the beginning of this episode Emily tells Richard that in no uncertain terms would they begin supper without him; that in thirty seven years of marriage, she had never started dinner without him. That, however, is not true. In the season 1, episode 18, "The Third Lorelai", the Gilmore women are clearly eating dinner when Richard comes in apologizing for being late. Earlier in this season, in the episode 2, "Hammers and Veils" Emily, who is upset with her daughter for not sharing her upcoming engagement with her, starts dinner without him claiming that they need to be finished early because he has a 6 a.m flight

      Edit
    • When Rory and Lane are talking, Dean stops them to talk to Rory. Rory's hair then changes several times. First, the back of her hair is pushed up on her right shoulder, but a split second later, it's straight down her back. Later in the scene, Rory's hair is gently flying backwards because of the wind, but the very next time the camera is on her, the wind has stopped and her hair is back to being straight. Unless Rory fixed her hair after the wind blew, it wouldn't have been straight. Finally, her hair also changes from all of it being behind her hair, to some of it, then all of it, and so on. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • German episode title: "Auf ein Neues", meaning "Let's Try Again!". French episode title, "Projet d'Economie", meaning "Business Class Project". Edit
    • On the way into the second Friday night dinner in this episode, Lorelai jokes that Richard gets taller when he gets mad, using the example of when she told him she was pregnant. But in episode 1.6 "Rory's Birthday Parties," she told Rory that when she told her parents, "It was the only time they ever looked...small to me." Edit
    • Lorelai's Book List: Motley Crue by Seamus Craic Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Lorelai: You have a new special. Luke: I sure do. Lorelai: Nice. What is the special omelet? Luke: You won't like it. Lorelai: How do you know? Luke: Because you've been eating here for years and I know what you like, and you won't like it. Lorelai: Can I at least hear what it is? Luke: Fine. It's three eggs with bits of bacon. Lorelai: I like bacon. Luke: Cubed tomatoes. Lorelai: Sounds good. Luke: Swiss cheese and a dash of oregano. Lorelai: A dash, he says. Luke: I've got other customers here. Lorelai: I'm gonna go with the special omelet. Luke: Okay. Lorelai: With a side of bacon. Luke: There's bacon in the omelet. Lorelai: Oh, then skip the bacon. Luke: The side of bacon? Lorelai: The bacon in the omelet. Luke: Hold the bacon. Lorelai: Can I get Jack cheese? Luke: On the side? Lorelai: Instead of Swiss, Swiss is so stringy. Luke: Fine, Jack cheese. Lorelai: Also, I think I'm allergic to oregano so hold that, too, and some coffee. Luke: So, just the eggs, tomatoes, and Jack cheese. Lorelai: Not too many tomatoes. Luke: Light on the tomatoes. Lorelai: Very light, just a teeny-tiny amount, practically none. Luke: I'm skipping the tomatoes. It's an omelet with Jack cheese. Lorelai: Perfect. Luke: You did this on purpose. Lorelai: Did what? Rory: French toast for me. (to Lorelai) That was cruel. Edit
    • Lorelai: Do you want a soda? Dean: No, thanks. I'm gonna go. Uh, don't tell Rory I was here, okay? Lorelai: Hey, I'm just sitting here at the table talking to myself. . .again. Edit
    • (Lorelai is sitting on the couch reading as Rory walks through the front door. The phone is ringing) Lorelai: Agh! Rory: Hey. Lorelai: Gah! Rory: Mom! (answers the phone) Hello? (hangs up) That ringing is not in your head, you know. Lorelai: Uh, you've gotta read this Motley Crue book. I swear, you get to the point where Ozzy Osbourne snorts a row of ants and you think, it cannot get any grosser, and then you turn the page and oh, hello, yes it can! It's excellent! Rory: Why didn't you answer the phone? Lorelai: Because I firmly believe that once you've experienced something five thousand times, you need to move on. Rory: What are you talking about? Lorelai: I knew who it was. Rory: Who was it? Lorelai: The same person who's called the machine so many times now that I actually heard it sigh. Rory: Dean? Lorelai: Dean the determined. Rory: Oh man. (phone rings again) Lorelai: Five bucks says I know who that is. Rory: (answers the phone) Hello? Richard: Rory, it's your grandfather. Rory: Oh, hey Grandpa. Lorelai: He did that on purpose. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Episode title: Back in the Saddle Again -Popular expression concerning when someone returns to a job or hobby that they have not done in awhile. As well as a hit song from Aerosmith, in the 70's. Edit
    • Michel: You do know what happens when you assume, don't you? Lorelai: What? Michel: I don't know. Something about a donkey. It's a stupid American phrase! The expression Michel means is "When you assume, you make an ass out of U (You) and ME." Edit
    • (when Richard, her father, walks into the dining room, late for dinner, wearing a pair of mechanics' overalls) Lorelai: Hey, no one told me it was Casual Friday! In the USA, places of business which have relatively high standards for dress often allow for a relaxation of them on Fridays, hence the phrase, applying in this case to someone dressed beneath their usual standards or, alternately, inappropriately for the circumstances. Since their dinners occur on Fridays, and Emily considers the dinners to be semi-formal, this comment is doubly appropriate. Edit

Show Forums

See All
Last Activity
Replies

Watch Gilmore Girls Full Episodes

See All

Related Shows

Season 2 Episodes

See All
Ep 22
I Can't Get Started
Ep 21
Lorelai's Graduation Day
Ep 20
Help Wanted
Ep 19
Teach Me Tonight
Ep 18
Back in the Saddle Again
Ep 17
Dead Uncles and Vegetables
Ep 16
There's the Rub
Ep 15
Lost And Found
Ep 14
It Should've Been Lorelai
Ep 13
A-Tisket, A-Tasket
Ep 12
Richard in Stars Hollow
Ep 11
Secrets and Loans
Ep 10
The Bracebridge Dinner
Ep 9
Run Away, Little Boy
Ep 8
The Ins and Outs of Inns
Ep 7
Like Mother, Like Daughter
Ep 6
Presenting Lorelai Gilmore
Ep 5
Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy
Ep 4
The Road Trip to Harvard
Ep 3
Red Light on the Wedding N...
Ep 2
Hammers And Veils
Ep 1
Sadie, Sadie

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

TV Listings

Full Listings
BROWSE | Shows | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | TV.com Blog

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use