Gilmore Girls 7.19 "It's Just Like Riding a Bike" Recap

Episode Name: "It’s Just Like Riding a Bike"
Episode Number: 7.19
Air Date: April 24, 2007

Lorelai is standing still in the street. Thinking. She walks forward slowly, building up her confidence, then walks into Luke’s diner. Kirk immediately tells her she cannot have her stool back – in a Kirk way, of course.

Luke comes over and offers her coffee. Babette and Miss Patty say how nice it is to see Lorelai back in the diner. Luke delivers her coffee and asks her how she is. Small talk. They are both simply "good." And then they talk about the weather. Awkward. Then Lorelai asks to get her coffee to go.

Did you check out those wedge boots Lorelai is wearing? So nice!

Lorelai driving down the road in her Jeep. She gets a call from Sookie. Davie and Martha both came down with chicken pox, from another girl at school. Jackson has never had chicken pox, but the Inn is full. Lorelai offers to have him over, but Sookie says he’s a slob. But Lorelai insists.

Lorelai tells Sookie she went into Luke’s. How awful it was because everyone was staring at them. Sookie says things will get better. Lorelai is worried there’s too much history.

Suddenly Lorelai’s Jeep starts doing weird things. Making noises and jumping back and forth. She has to pull over and call for help.

Paris gets extremely excited that Rory is back. Paris has big news. She has responses from Yale Law, Harvard Med, John Hopkins, and other elite schools. She hasn’t opened it yet. She’s superstitious and very nervous. Paris has Rory open the first one. Paris is accepted into Yale Law! They all scream and jump! Paris says thanks to Rory for always being there and being an inspiration. And thanks Doyle for being so patient. The others… Harvard Law – she got in! More excitement. So, Harvard being the best Law school, she’s thrilled.

University of Pennsylvania School of Med. Accepted! Not as much jumping, Paris assumes this doesn’t bode well for the school choice. Not as elite. Paris starts to freak out over the biggest decision of her life. What muse does she follow – law or medicine? And where does she want to live?

Columbia – Accepted. Now Paris is stressed – way too many options! It slips in about Rory and the Reston Scholarship – she’s worried. Stanford – also accepted! Paris goes to sit alone by the window – too much stress.

Sookie brings Jackson over and tells him not to make himself at home. To be good and clean. Lorelai, who was on the phone, comes to greet Jackson. Sookie had to nip out quickly to return to the kids.

Gypsy says Lorelai’s Jeep had "total internal destruction" and she should just get a new one. So, Lorelai plans to take her bike to work the next day. She has not ridden a bike in 12 years. But notes:

"There must be a reason why they have the ‘It’s just like riding a bike’ phrase for a reason"

Lorelai calls Rory while riding her bike – in a dress. The bike has a cute basket with flowers on it. Lorelai says Rory sounds blue. Rory spills on Paris’ good news, plus the good news of all her friends. It seems like all her friends know what they’ll do next year and she does not yet.

Rory notices Lorelai sounds out of breath. Lorelai skipped going to Luke’s today. Rory says that Lorelai should get a Delorian. lol. Rory tells Lorelai to pull over when she hears that Lorelai is riding a bike.

Lorelai is reading from a cars rating book, trying to figure out what she likes. Lorelai tells Sookie how good a house guest Jackson has been. Sookie admits that Jackson has been getting on her nerves lately, so was surprised he did not get on Lorelai’s.

Michel tells Lorelai to take out a second mortgage to get a fancy car. Sookie tells Lorelai to close her eyes and imagine her dream car. Unfortunately, Lorelai is too imaginative and imagines a swan float. Michel then laughs that Lorelai wants to get a used car – he’s a bit of a germaphobe.

Lorelai says that buying a car would be something Luke is good at. She thinks it too early, but perhaps this is the thing they need to get back into it. Something to talk about. Sookie then gets a call from a panicked Jackson…

Lorelai calls Luke to ask him for his help buying her new car. He says today is fine. That was easy!

Luke and Lorelai driving in his truck. She thanks him again for his help. The conversation is still a little tense. April has apparently gone home, but will return in June. More silence. They decide to listen to the radio… a broken radio over talk!

Doyle slams the door. Paris broke up with Doyle!! Doyle calls her psycho and they yell at each other through the door. Rory goes in to see what’s up.

Paris seems quite composed. She says she does not want Doyle to influence her decision. He had not not even attempted to, but she feels that perhaps her decision would be influenced, and statistically college boyfriends don’t last. She moves on to her school rating scale. ‘Unfortunately’, she’s had 3 more acceptances.

Lucy left a message. Celebration for her and Olivia’s new apartment, named ‘Glinda.’ 

Paul Anka, whining at a very broken Lorelia’s doll house. Sookie and Jackson are there. Jackson says he was admiring it. He thought about perhaps making one for Martha. He picked it up to look at the support structure. Then dropped it and fell on it. Sookie is mad since the doll house is the only thing Lorelai liked from her childhood. Sookie grates on him for his clumsiness and his attempt at deceit.

Jackson calls Sookie on her anger. He says she still blames him for lying about the vasectomy. She says eventually that it’s true. She is happy to be pregnant, but when she feels swollen with the baby, or gets worried about their two kids, she gets really worried about having a third, then gets mad and angry. Jackson asks her to forgive him. She does. I think that really cleared the air.

Lorelai is not pleased so far with the choice of cars. It seems like they’ve been there a while. She is just not ‘getting the feeling,’ which Luke doesn’t understand at all. And, Lorelai cannot have a Prius because she and Rory have a pact for no matching cars. Again, something Luke does not understand.

Lorelai gets a call from Sookie. Lorelai makes a reference to Jack Bauer and torture on 24 being better than car shopping with the ex. Lorelai says she should buy a car just to avoid spending time with Luke. The friend thing not working. 12 ‘really bad’s’. Sookie avoids telling her about the doll house.

Lorelai is sitting in a Jeep exactly like her old Jeep. But, to Lorelai, she says it’s different. The new features make it different and she doesn’t get ‘the feeling.’ Luke tells her she’s being ridiculous, that people don’t buy based on ‘the feeling.’ Lorelai says that the only decision that matters is hers, and that sets him off about a past shopping experience on bathroom tiles. Then Lorelai tries to shove food at Luke, telling him he’s hungry. Luke then tells her how messy her purse is.

Luke asks if she’s going to buy a car or not. She says not. And then they argue about what to listen to in the car and Lorelai insists they stop to get him food. It’s a Luke & Lorelai bicker fight!! She loves it!

Lorelai returns on her bike. Sookie & Jackson are on the steps. Lorelai says the bickering was great. More normal after the equal frustration they both felt. Got them ‘over the hump.’ Lorelai talks about all the memories she had in her old car and that she cannot get over it so quickly to ‘move on’ to a new car. Sookie breaks the news that Jackson broke the doll house. Oh, how Lorelai’s face falls! Lorelai is forgiving. Sookie says they are driving all the doll house pieces to a doll house restoration person tomorrow.

Lucy, Olivia, Rory & Paris at a bar, reviewing how their place will be in NY. They call it a ‘doable schleb’. Paris is drinking. A lot. Olivia and Lucy excuse themselves so Rory and Paris can talk. Paris says she misses Doyle. That it’s hard. Doyle had told her that she was not to think about him – just to make her decision. But she found herself thinking about Doyle with every choice. And she wants to make her choice based on the school, not on a guy. She says it was not the time to meet ‘the guy’. It’s too early. Rory says you cannot choose when you meet ‘the guy.’

Paris asks Rory whether Logan factors into her decisions. Rory says they chose to ‘factor each other in’. Paris asks Rory what she would choose – one close to Logan or the NY Times. And Rory admits she would choose the NY Times over anything else. Paris points out that perhaps Rory is like her – she would put her career about her relationship. Rory insists that’s not true, that she figured that if they had to be long distance again, that would be ok. Paris points out that:

"choosing to be apart may be choosing to be apart."

Rory is thoughtful…

Luke drives up to Lorelai’s that night. He knocks, but Jackson is there to open the door. He invites Luke in, but Luke says he’ll wait for Lorelai. Jackson seems excited about his pizza night with Lorelai.

Luke tells Lorelai that he found, through a guy and Craigslist, a Jeep in the exact same year as Lorelai’s, and that it test drove ok. Plus, he negotiated it down. Luke says she could take the engine out and put it in her old car, since the feeling is important to her. He already talked to Gypsy about it too. He went to a lot of trouble to think up this great idea and put it into action! Then he tells her to come by the diner so he can put air in her bike’s tires. She says she wants a horn too. Such cute bickering! And Luke is so sweet!

Paris says she doesn’t know where she’ll be, but does know what she wants to be. She wants to be a doctor. She says as a kid she used to cut the heads off her dolls to see what’s inside.

Doyle comes back. He says he’s changed his mind. Not in reference to the apartment, but in reference to the breakup. Doyle says he loves Paris and there is no way he will let her go - anywhere she goes, he will follow. Paris says they are too young. Doyle says he’s older – and way more mature. Paris accepts him back…

Rory gets her letter from the NY Times about the Reston Scholarship. She opens it… "Dear Ms. Gilmore. We regret to inform you…" Rory is crestfallen.

Tags: gilmore girls, it’s just like riding a bike, gilmore girls recap, gilmore girls season 7