It’s been a two-month wait since the building episode and we’re treated to another sort of bottle episode, featuring only three main characters (plus one providing the voice-over), a limited set of … well, sets, a single main patient (plus a minor one for a couple of minutes), a couple of magnificent guests (a one-off…

What a difficult time for the family.

Shocked beyond belief. He was marvellous. Will be missed.

She's a school deputy (or acting headmistress at this point?) without children and who's got no (major) addictions, doesn't travel too much and has no particular interest in buying a lot of equipment. Other than rent and petrol, her monthly expenses are barely more than some wardrobe update every once in a while and…

Rule of drama, I reckon … or he did say something but was ignored… or (alternative character interpretation) he realised Jess was being left out and saw it as a perfect opportunity for his gift to be extra-special.

Another sort of bottle effort, not as solid as the previous one IMO. Loved the ending and wish the guest star would've been more involved. One-on-one pictionary FTW!

Robby's just become my favourite character.

Totally. I'd been fearing they'd do just that.

Remember how much drama stemmed from Richard doing as little as keeping in touch with Pennilyn Lott? How Dean's life got (momentarily) ruined because he cheated? How much Rory resented Logan sleeping with his sister's bridesmaids? But regarding Paul, the whole treatment is basically played for laughs… awful, really.

I was never too fond of M&L (one of them had a really, really, really annoying voice), but I'd have ten hours of them rather than ten seconds of LDB.

Exactly. If they wanted us to realise how great those people are as singers they could've placed a poster somewhere or get Babette or Miss Patty to mention them so then whoever's interested can look them up or watch them on YT or whatever. Forcing them into the narrative: not cool.

The programme's long established Luke doesn't mind too much, as long as he ultimately gets the girl. He's clearly not half as close to Liz and TJ as Lorelai is to Rory; moreover, he at least stands Michel and has known him for years, they're arguably far closer than Lor is to Jess; Lane is a bit of common ground IMO…

Defo! Maybe Lorelai coaching Mrs Kim on how to see that dichotomy as something positive (such as when Lane moved in with two boys). I always loved the Lorelai/Lane bond.

The strength of GG is arguably more on its characters than its stories, and something that was pure gold througouht the first iteration (especially after the first year) was seeing characters bouncing off each other in different permutations. Some seemingly odd pairings were really great including Dean/Jess/Logan,…

IKR - if they were so desperate for ticking as many boxes as possible and appeal to nostalgia, maybe get Max Medina instead or simply have the headmaster (or whoever) remind Paris of her 'I had sex and I didn't get into Harvard' meltdown… maybe the new generations of students made that a meme or something …

IKR - he looked far younger than in 2007 (not that he looked old then, but still…). In the original run, he sort of passed for Rory's father, now he looks more like her brother … will he look like her son later on?

It's a travesty Logan and his minions got more screen time than Caesar, or trophy wife, or Paul Anka (either one), or basically anybody.

I hear you. Luke reminds me of the 'Tico fisherman' tale/myth/legend/fable. Lane is a gorgeous clever and nice girl who seemed to have always been overshadowed by Rory, yet she managed to get her life together roughly a decade earlier. Ivy League, life and death silliness, yatch stealing and killer blue eyes don't…

Yeah, I mean those are just different perspectives and that's absolutely fine. In retrospect, Dean could've/should've addressed his concerns in private and long before that dance marathon, but … rule of drama I reckon, plus the fact they were teenagers anyway. His doubts and jealousy caused him to be more obsessive…

Fitting bookends, especially with the 'you want money' echo (I found myself saying the words out loud with her).