Gilmore Girls 6.06 "Welcome to the Dollhouse"

Gilmore Girls 6.06 "Welcome to the Dollhouse"
Original Air Date: October 18, 2005 (Recap date: April 23, 2008)
Recap & Discussion

Discussion Questions:

• Do you think street names can help with tourism?
• Why didn’t Richard tell Emily about seeing Lorelai?
• Do you think Taylor should have edited the street names to remove any offensive ones? And do you think there were as many streets in 1779 as there are now?
• The Birkin Bag has a huge wait list and is hard to get – does Logan giving it to Rory signify his serious feelings for her?
• Was Taylor avoiding Lorelai, or does he love the street name?
• Is Richard trying to ask Logan if Rory has plans to return to Yale? Or about Rory & Logan getting serious?
• Did Taylor give Lorelai bad street names on purpose?
• Emily used to drop heavy hints about Rory and Logan getting married, so why does she now insist it’s too early for Rory to think of marriage?
• What significance does Emily attach to the Birkin bag?
• Why is Emily sending stuff to Lorelai?
• Does Taylor dislike Lorelai? He seems to be mean and petty to her quite often.
• Is Emily trying to coerce Lorelai to coming to the house?
• Should Lorelai have just paid the fine?
• Why is Emily pushing to get rid of the dollhouse?
• Why does Rory tell Logan she loves him? Do you think Logan loves her back?
• Why is Lorelai donating all the stuff from Emily instead of selling it?
• Do you think Richard went behind Emily’s back to give back the dollhouse? Why?
• Why does Richard go to Lorelai to talk about Rory, not to Emily? Does Emily seem too proud of Rory at the DAR to see what else she could be?

Gilmore Girls Episode Recap:

It’s a town meeting and Taylor has staged a skit about the Stars Hollow from 1779 with Kirk and Andrew playing the parts of the residents. 1779 is the year Stars Hollow was founded, and the point of the skit is how the street names have changed since that time. Taylor wants to revert the Stars Hollow street names to what they used to be.

Taylor says their tourism revenue has gone down, while the revenue in neighboring towns has gone up. Why? They are highlighting their historical charm. Changing street names will cost money, but Taylor says it would be an investment. Gypsy is not fond of printing new business cards, but Lorelai thinks it would be cool. One of his less disastrous ideas to get tourism to Stars Hollow.

Luke is not phased by the idea to change the street name – he actually thinks that it’s a good idea. He now has a Zen approach to Taylor. Lorelai is hanging out at the diner before going to see what the new street names will be. Michel and Sookie meet Lorelai at the diner to all go together. Luke has to pull out some Zen for Michel. Lorelai comes across a photo of Rory in the paper from the DAR event. 

Richard is looking at the same photo of Rory in the paper. Emily buzzes Rory on the intercom to say breakfast is ready – Rory was still asleep. The intercom is stuck at "loud" as well, and the company went out of business decades ago. Emily tells Richard she’s concerned about Logan, not having seen him in a while. She hopes her understanding with Shira was clear and nothing is wrong.

Richard is delivered a paper copy of the claim from the Dragonfly. Richard tells Emily about the fire and about talking with Lorelai. Angry but interested, Emily asks how Lorelai was and how she looked. Emily is annoyed Richard didn’t tell her about it.

Lorelai, Sookie and Michel are hoping for a good street name. But, it’s not Cala Lily Lane or Abbey Road… it’s Sores and Boils Alley. We don’t hear more than "oh no" until they get back to the Dragonfly and Lorelai is trying to place a call to Taylor. Tension is high about the name. Lorelai gets an antique clock in the mail, but she didn’t order it. Sookie is all teary:

"White sauce looks like pus!"

Logan has an orange Hermes bag – a gift for Rory. It’s a Birkin Bag! Rory has no concept of its significance beyond it being a purse with a great new car smell. Rory thinks of using it for her computer, but Logan says for Rory to call Honor to get filled in on why not to do that. Rory doesn’t carry much in her existing purse, so she decides to just toss it all into the new one.

Lorelai finally reaches Taylor, and he says Lorelai is lucky to get Sores and Boils Alley. There was a place to get the sores and boils lanced on the site of the Dragonfly, and maybe even a leper colony. While Taylor goes on about how great that is, Lorelai gets another package. A much bigger one. Lorelai tells Taylor that lances and boils are not good for her business. Lorelai charges for the ambiance. Taylor agrees to think about an alternative. Lorelai pulls a bird cage out of the box.

Rory has received a lot of compliments on her bag. Logan has to retrieve his cell phone from the car – he is expecting a call about a retreat that Mitchum has planned for all the editors. Who will suck up to Mitchum the whole time. Richard notices Logan there, so Logan says he was just dropping Rory off. Richard invites Logan for a nightcap. Both Emily and Richard applaud Logan on being a gentleman and getting Rory home at 10.

Richard makes small talk about Yale and the paper. Richard says it’s good to see Logan and then asks him how Rory is, given she is so busy they don’t often see her. More specifically, "yours and Rory’s life". Logan says nothing special. Richard asks if Rory has any big plans, digging as much as possible about what Rory may be up to. Rory walks to look for Logan and she spots him inside with Richard. Rory goes in feigning that she needs sugar. Rory says she’ll walk Logan back to his car, but we see them instead sneaking back to the pool house.

Rory asks Logan what that was all about. Logan thinks he was being drilled about his intentions with Rory. Marriage. That puts Rory into a panic, as she feels too young for marriage. Logan would prefer they go to his place, to avoid giving her grandparents a visual, but Rory says she’ll take care of it.

There are three more packages for Lorelai at the Inn. Michel thinks it’s Home Shopping Channel stuff. There’s a china figurine set that looks a little familiar to Lorelai. Kirk stops by on behalf of Stars Hollow Tourism with a set of three names that predate Sores and Boils Alley.

Constabulary Road, which is also used in another area of Stars Hollow and is therefore confusing. Chergogagog Manchogagog Cherbonagongamog, an old Indian name. Won’t work. And the last one, Crusty Bulge. Lorelai flips out at all the choices. None of which are legitimate. Lorelai thinks Taylor is setting her up. Lorelai tells Kirk that they are keeping Third Street.

"Decision made. ‘Cause it’s not going to be Crusty Bulge! And it’s not going to be an Indian name that no one can pronounce, and it’s not going to be a name that fifty thousand other people had that caused mass chaos and death in 1492 and oh my God, I just realized where all that stuff is from!"

Emily brings over an old man who installed the intercom system 46 years ago to fix Rory’s intercom. Rory tells Emily that Richard said things to Logan that made him uncomfortable. Things about their future and maybe getting married. Emily seems surprised. Rory says, and Emily agrees, it’s too early to be serious. Emily says she’ll take care of it.

Emily then asks, just between "us girls", how things are with Logan. Rory says they are great and that he bought her a gift out of the blue, a Birkin bag.

"A Birkin bag. Oh, my God. A Birkin bag?"

Emily says it’s a very nice purse. Rory is now concerned if she should use it. Emily says a Birkin bag is meant to be used, and seen. Emily seems to glow at the fact that Logan gave Rory a Birkin bag.Emily says she’ll remember that day for how exciting it is. Emily then runs to make sure the repair guy hasn’t died.

A giant urn was delivered to Luke’s for Lorelai. Lorelai says "she" is good, picking away at the people closest to her. It’s Emily who is sending all the stuff! Lorelai thinks it’s a ploy meant to smoke her out of her "fox hole" to call Emily.

"It started small, you know? A clock, a birdcage, some Victorian figurines, an old telescope. That was just the ground war. She was softening me up. Now comes the aerial campaign. The carpet bombing. And I bet she’ll bomb me with actual carpets!"

Lorelai thinks Emily is sending her stuff from the house she doesn’t want, and expects it to run out eventually. Luke says no, Emily will just start buying things instead. Lorelai says there is no counter move to Emily’s passive aggression. Now Lorelai has to figure out how to get the urn out of Luke’s.

Emily tells Richard she had a talk with Rory, and that the fuss over what Richard said to Logan has been handled. She brushes it off by changing subjects to just how fine Rory and Logan are:

"He’s fine, she’s fine, they’re fine. Very fine. Logan bought her the most beautiful and prestigious handbag in the world."

Emily has hinted for one before. Anyway, Emily is now sure Shira hasn’t messed with Logan & Rory’s relationship. Richard wants to know what he said that caused a problem. Richard says that Logan completely misunderstood, he wasn’t talking about "their" future, and would never dream to interrogate him like that. Richard says it’s too early for marriage, that they’re "babies". Emily points out that Rory is almost 21. And that if they were engaged soon, they’d be married when Rory was 23, the same age Emily was. Richard gets worked up.

"Because we’re us, and Rory’s Rory. She has things to do."

Richard says he was just curious what Rory was up to, that Rory can be so secretive. Emily says there’s a better way to know what’s going on in a girl’s life, and takes him to the pool house. Emily snooped all the time with Lorelai, so has no qualms about it. Although now she realizes she should have looked under the Tootsie rolls she found in Lorelai’s drawer. They split up to search but Emily stops to admire the Birkin bag. Richard is uncomfortable being there and doesn’t even know what they’re looking for.

Kirk is manning the Stars Hollow Visitor Center – Lorelai grabs her free map and is upset that the Dragonfly is not on there. It’s part of historic Stars Hollow! Kirk says not anymore, not after she rejected her historic street name. Lorelai says it’s not fair.

The aerial assault has begun – Lorelai’s front yard is piled full of boxes and furniture and statues. Emily calls Lorelai to asks her if she wants her dollhouse – that she wants to turn Lorelai’s old room into a gift wrapping room. Lorelai suggests the basement, since there must be oodles of space there now.

"I’m doing some house cleaning, and I’ve only sent you things I was going to give you eventually anyway. Now, do you want the dollhouse or not?"

Emily wants to know when Lorelai is going to pick it up. Emily says she can’t store it forever.

There are kids playing in and around the urn at Luke’s, much to his frustration. Luke has finally realized that a new street name will require him to change all his mail. And he’s in violation of a town ordinance since the kids are playing on the urn without a jungle gym license. Lorelai is happy Luke is over his Taylor Zen, as she has a plan to talk about all of Taylor’s abuses at the town meeting. Lorelai is so fueled by her righteous indignation that she refuses coffee.

Lorelai recounts her defiance later to Sookie & Michel. About writing a "strike" sign, which kind of confused the town, and saying

"We, your Dragonfly Inn, are not on the map! We have been tossed off by Taylor jungle-gym-monitoring Doose, and it is not right, and he must be stopped!"

The reference lose the town for a second, but she got them back, and goes on about how she’s turned the Dragonfly into a great establishment. And that leaving them off the map was petty, mean-spirited and bad business. Taylor agrees to put them on the map and let them have Third Street for a $100 donation to the historical society. Lorelai agrees. But then Taylor said "good girl" and patted her on the head. So now they are on Sores and Boils Alley. Lorelai won’t let them pay – she will not be extorted, and they will wear their street name proudly.

Emily calls Lorelai to say that if she wants her dollhouse she needs to come get it before noon tomorrow or it will go to Goodwill. Emily says Lorelai needs to drive there now or it will go. She refuses to store it – it’s "taking up space."

"You know, I can’t believe you. You know this dollhouse means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to you! If you want to be this mean and vindictive, then fine. Give it to Goodwill. Give it away. Light it on fire. I don’t care!"

Logan has snuck around the side of the pool house to avoid being seen by Rory’s grandparents. Rory tells Logan she talked to them and to come around the main door. Rory tells him that both her grandparents are sorry for the confusion, they understand that they are young and not ready for marriage. Logan is relieved. Rory wants to make sure everything is cool between them. But, Rory has more to say:

"I love you."

Logan says "Wow" and pauses.

"The lady who sold that purse to me said this was going to happen."

Rory apologizes for springing that on him, but she wanted to say it, so she did. Rory says she does not expect anything:

"Believe me. I was in the position once where someone said that to me, completely out of the blue, and I was completely thrown. So, don’t worry. You don’t have to respond immediately. I mean, in fact, you don’t have to say anything at all."

Logan admits he’s told a lot of girls he loved them and didn’t mean it, and doesn’t want to do that to Rory. She looks concerned. Logan says that didn’t come out right, but Rory smiles and says he doesn’t need to say anything. They kiss. Passionately.

Luke is helping Lorelai do inventory on all the crap that Emily sent on – to see what can go to Salvation Army. Antiques Luke is sad to see go. Instead of her pizza, Lorelai finds Richard at her door. He has brought Lorelai her dollhouse, knowing she’d want it. Richard also says they need to talk about Rory. Lorelai sighs. 

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