IAAI Town Meeting: Is Luke the Most Stable Person in Stars Hollow? (Season 4 E20 “Luke Can See Her Face”

0:00 I am all in.

0:02 Again! More, more, more.

0:04 I want to kiss you more. More, more, more. I want to kiss you more.

0:17 I Am All In, town meeting with Suzanne French and Tara Sood.

0:22 An iHeartRadio podcast.

0:24 Hello, we're talking about Season 4, Episode 20.

0:27 Luke can see her face, which aired on May 4th.

0:30 2004 we're really how many episodes in this season 22.

0:35 22 i think yeah this i love love love this episode and i so if you're listening to this and you listen to the recap i recap this episode with scott and i that was fun getting to talk to scott about this episode because this is one of my favorite episodes in the.

0:52 Yeah yeah it's a good one there's so much to unpack i mean from like The dean of it all to jest.

1:03 There's a lot. Oh, yeah.

1:05 Yeah.

1:06 I didn't.

1:07 By the way, no clown pillow, I would like to point out. We did get Lorelei's living room, but was it there?

1:12 There was a clown pillow.

1:13 Wait, I didn't see it.

1:13 It was in the scene.

1:15 It wasn't in its regular spot.

1:17 It was, but it was laying flat. It was laying horizontally, and you can see it when Rory leaned over to kiss Lorelai's cheek.

1:25 Oh, that's... When she moved, you could see.

1:27 It behind her by the window.

1:29 Oh, my God.

1:29 I was waiting for it, the whole scene. I think by that point, I was like, well, it's not there, so.

1:34 I didn't notice it, so I... Because I recorded with Scott a little while ago, I watched this episode twice. Right, because Scott and I recorded maybe a week or so ago. And so I didn't see it That time, but I saw it when I watched it to record today. So yeah, it wasn't super obvious because it was just, it was laying flat. So it didn't make its normal appearance.

1:57 Yeah, I was like waiting for it because there were so many angles with it at first in that scene.

2:01 I know. I thought in the opening when she was looking at the door, she's standing at the window. And I thought for sure we were going to see it.

2:09 And then we didn't.

2:11 I know, when the opening scene, I thought it was going to be there. And then we had, because we had that angle. And then when she's sitting with Rory, I, but yeah, if it was the second she moved, I didn't pay attention.

2:19 Yeah, it was real quick. And it was only in the part where she leaned over to kiss Lorelai on the cheek. And so if you weren't like watching that exact instant, you wouldn't have seen. Yeah.

2:28 Huh. All right.

2:28 Well then nevermind.

2:29 It was there. Okay.

2:33 Where should we start?

2:34 Okay. Gosh, I don't know. There was so much that happened here. I loved the scene. So we had the cats on the porch in the opening, but I loved the scene right after that, after that commercial break where she's sitting on the steps outside the diner and it's 5 o'clock in the morning and she's already had all the coffee. That scene was so cute and Luke was supportive of her, but at the same time, what the hell are you doing here at 5.

2:58 O'clock in the morning? And then Kirk comes.

3:01 And then Kirk shows up. It just was I don't know. It was so good. Like it was Soul Stars Halloween.

3:06 It was so good.

3:07 And then when he asked her to change tables, I was like, you have to be kidding me. And then when she changed tables and he's like, oh, Lang's better here.

3:15 Oh my God. It was just, I just love that. Like, cause it adds the quirk, right?

3:20 Like you could have had that whole scene without Kirk and it would have just been a normal scene. And then you had Kirk and you're like, but that's what makes the town.

3:28 Yes, exactly. That specific little thing.

3:31 Because the scene of her just showing up is one thing, but the element of Kirk is like, no, it's why we keep coming back.

3:37 It's that extra little quirk that just makes it.

3:41 For sure.

3:42 I'm trying to see what direction we go in here. There is a lot.

3:46 I mean, should we just jump into the wedding?

3:47 First of all, Suddenly Luke is in this wedding party and he's never met this man before.

4:01 That's one. Also, what a wild bachelor party.

4:05 Yes. Yeah.

4:07 So I, you know, this was a great episode for Luke, right? Because we see how much his family really means to him, even though basically everybody in his life has abandoned him at some point. He still wants that. family connection like he still is doing stuff for his sister and he goes.

4:29 Also he cares about Jess like yeah I think that there's some people like who he may not care about as much but well I take that back he does care about everyone including Kirk like we saw a couple episodes ago when he helped him out with the eggs and stuff but like he loves Jess like he really does and he wants to see that kid succeed so like he goes over and like he's probably sad by like his first of all his living situation good lord yeah Which, sorry, complete sidebar. His hair was styled so weird.

5:00 Yes, it was.

5:01 In that scene. It was like this swoop that we've never seen before.

5:04 And I was like, maybe it was just to make it seem like he's messy.

5:07 But it was just an odd... Yeah, I don't know. We've never seen that. But, I mean, even to jump and just talk about the relationship, when he sees Jess on his couch at the end, he's so happy. Yeah.

5:18 Yeah.

5:19 It was a... I don't know. It was just such a good... Like, all the things happening for Luke, you know, because Liz is always a problem for him. Jess has been a problem and then just, you know, ran away. He just got out of a bad marriage that shouldn't have even happened in the first place. You know, his parents passed on. Like, he just has had all of these various abandonments during his life. But he still is pursuing the idea of being a family and, like, wanting to have his family... And wanting to have them around him.

5:54 And so I don't know, it was just as it was just a sweet episode.

5:58 It really flowed with the divorce into this.

6:01 Yeah, exactly. And especially when he's doing these self help tapes, which seem like they're super out of character for him. Yeah, it just kind of underlies the whole thing that like, you know, he wants to be happy and he wants to have happy people in his life and be happy in his relationships. And then when he has that realization when he's washing the dishes and, like, you know, that.

6:24 I don't know. It's just, I just love this episode. I can't even.

6:27 It was great.

6:27 Especially a great Luke episode. And also, I was thinking that, like, Luke was ahead of his time with audiobooks.

6:33 That, you know, that could be true. I'm trying to think.

6:38 He could have read a book on self-help.

6:41 He could have. I mean, I remember books on tape that were literal tapes.

6:46 I know.

6:47 I know that. But, like.

6:49 In the sense of like were self-helps more on actual tapes? Because I feel like that's a thing from the early 2000s where it was like self-help books or whatever were all audiobooks. They wouldn't be like, oh, you're listening to like an audiobook. I feel like it was all self-help. Was that like an actual thing?

7:06 I don't know.

7:08 I don't remember.

7:08 I'm not sure. I'm not a listening person. I'm a watching person. So I like reading. I don't like audiobooks. So I haven't like paid that much attention. So I don't know.

7:20 Wait, real quick. I remember Jackie, our producer asked us last week.

7:25 About if we looked up who voiced the audio book and I did not.

7:29 Do you know who it was?

7:31 No, I totally forgot to look.

7:33 Jackie, I think you need to jump on. The reveal. It is Daniel Palladino.

7:39 Is it really?

7:41 Yeah.

7:42 No idea.

7:42 Yeah.

7:43 I meant to look that up after we talked about it.

7:46 Yeah, I completely forgot.

7:48 Yeah, it's on Reddit. It's on other things.

7:50 Wait, that's awesome. That's cool. I kind of like that.

7:56 I don't know. I just thought Luke is a more stable guy than we think. He may be angry, but he's the most stable person in that town.

8:05 Yeah, he really is. He doesn't have any aspirations to go out and do anything else. He wants to be in Stars Hollow. um you know with the the people that he views as family.

8:18 So yeah i wasn't even in the beginning where he talks about like not being stressed or something in work was that this episode.

8:26 Uh yes yeah that was when lorelei was in the diner and she was asking him like isn't it stressful to run a business and he's like well right now it is a little bit yeah oh yeah that was in that scene in the early morning.

8:40 But like he never acts stress like he had it all together Right.

8:44 Yeah.

8:45 Yeah.

8:45 Yeah, so he's the most dealable person in Sarasalo, we just realized.

8:49 Yeah, which is weird when you think about it.

9:02 Well, I guess we'll just continue on the Jess part. I like that he finally said he saw Rory.

9:08 Yeah, that was a big moment for him to come clean to Luke about the whole thing because usually Jess is so stoic and reserved and he doesn't show any vulnerability. So that was a lot for.

9:20 Him to talk about. Wait, real quick. Where is his apartment that he's living in?

9:24 I assume New York City.

9:26 Okay, that's what I thought, but I didn't know. Because he said.

9:29 He was a messenger, so that's like a New York City thing. Like a bike messenger probably.

9:33 He literally lived in like a shoebox. God, that apartment stressed me the hell out. Yeah.

9:39 And I was like, oh, my God. Mattress on the floor, just stuff everywhere.

9:43 Right. Anyway, I mean, we're about to get... Is the wedding... No, the wedding's the finale of this season.

9:51 No, the wedding is the next episode because the finale is the Dragonfly opening.

9:55 Oh, you're right, you're right, you're right. Yeah. See, I'm telling you, all these last couple just... just intertwine.

10:00 I know.

10:01 It could have been like a two-hour movie.

10:03 I know.

10:05 Yeah.

10:06 It's hard to stop watching.

10:08 You know, this one I really was like, don't keep going.

10:11 I know. The last one we watched back-to-back, but this one I was like, just just stop here and watch it i have to save it until next week right.

10:19 Exactly i know it was i wanted to just like let it run into like last last week what's it called last week fights this week tights or something yeah so i had it was hard to not just let it keep running.

10:33 Yeah um okay what else uh the asher fly should we go should we stick to the jess luke family or should we go to asher fleming we.

10:43 Can go to asher i guess i.

10:45 Don't really know the way um i just cannot with this whole storyline i just want it to be over but then even more annoying when like the granddaughter shows up and then rory like makes that comment like what did.

10:58 She say like she.

11:00 Called her girlfriend what was the line she like said like your next girlfriend or like something.

11:06 Like that or like like that yeah.

11:08 And then she completely just ran away. But also the granddaughter is like probably the same exact age as Paris.

11:14 Yes.

11:15 If that wasn't eye-opening for Paris, I don't know what is.

11:18 Yeah. I don't know. Paris and this relationship.

11:23 Also, could no one else come to the hospital for him?

11:26 Yeah. I don't know what.

11:29 No one else in that family came.

11:31 Yeah.

11:31 Like, I don't know where they're physically located. But even Paris said, like, he's got two adult children. Like, where are they? Um, and then a random granddaughter shows up. Yeah.

11:42 Like no one else. He doesn't have any living family.

11:44 Yeah.

11:45 I don't know. Or maybe they're in England. Who knows? Maybe.

11:50 Yeah.

11:50 Yeah.

11:50 But like, I don't know. I was like, really? Parents are the ones taking care of him. And also the granddaughter didn't think anything was weird. seeing Paris with him?

11:58 She acted so normal. Yeah, that's exactly what Scott and I talked about. It didn't seem strange to her that he's there with two 19-year-olds.

12:10 Then she has to know that this is common.

12:12 Yeah, she kind of had that look on her face because she wasn't surprised by it at all.

12:16 No.

12:17 Actually, I would have preferred if it became a whole thing. Actually, it would be kind of interesting if she's like, who in the world is this?

12:24 Yeah.

12:25 Yeah. Just one of your students you're hooking up with. If it was like a bomb drop right there, it would have been great.

12:31 Right.

12:32 Yeah.

12:32 We definitely could have used some more drama there, I think.

12:35 It was just an annoying scene.

12:37 Just cringe. Yeah, exactly.

12:39 Yeah, it should have been like a whole brawl with the granddaughter in Paris.

12:46 Or, you know, somebody, like, finds out that Paris and Asher are dating and reports it to the university.

12:52 Oh, yeah. Like, what if, like, a co-worker came, like, one of the people in the administrative office and then was like, this can't happen. Yeah.

13:01 Or if Doyle figured it out, because Doyle has already identified that Asher does this repeatedly. Oh my god, you're right.

13:07 Why did I completely forget that Doyle's even part of this storyline already?

13:11 Yeah, he could have figured that out. Anyways, we're just here rewriting.

13:15 He could have reported it in the newspaper. Oh, yeah.

13:19 Yeah.

13:23 That might look bad because Paris works for the paper, so maybe that would look bad on the paper.

13:28 I don't know.

13:29 He might have wanted to avoid that controversy.

13:31 What if the town paper, not the school paper, but the town found out?

13:37 Yeah.

13:37 Really just blow it up. Anyway, I feel like that's all we have to say about that.

13:43 Yeah, we don't need to talk about Asher anymore.

13:54 And then Dean and Lindsay.

13:55 Yeah. We both just took a breath. She doesn't know what she wants. Do you want your future husband to be working and making money? Or do you want him to be hanging out with you all day?

14:10 Take your pick.

14:12 Right.

14:12 She's still very immature. She's still very much high school-y. To me, like she doesn't understand that you can't go hang out with your friends if you're at work and you can't have the things you want if you don't work and earn money to get them. Like she still thinks like somebody's going to buy this for her, you know, without her having to make any kind of a sacrifice.

14:39 And yeah, so she definitely, you know, I felt I did kind of feel bad for Dean. He's like, you know, I'm working like crazy trying to buy you these things. Like, why are you mad at me? Because I'm not going out with your friends. Like, she was being very immature about it.

14:54 So mature.

14:55 I feel really bad for Dean here. Because this man is working all hours of the day while she literally sits at home. And then she's apparently just, what was she, bored?

15:03 Yeah. She's like, you never call. I just sit at home bored. Like, okay, well, you could go get a job, too. And then you could, you know, afford these things more quickly. But, yeah. So, I mean, I guess they're... They're intentionally like villainizing her so that we understand why Dean is turning away from her.

15:24 But it's not fair to the actress. It's not fair. Well, sorry, the character.

15:29 It's not fair to the character because like we're just being told we should hate her when like the reasons are stupid. Like there is no real reason for me to dislike her except she's just being dumb.

15:42 She hasn't done anything wrong. I mean, she's kind of a victim in the whole thing herself as we find out.

15:47 Oh, well, a hundred percent. I wish it was like a real fight, right?

15:51 Like it just was a stupid fight. It was like, I'm bored at home and you're working it. But then in the same breath, she's like, but you need to be working all day.

16:00 Like, right.

16:02 Like make up your mind. I wish it was like a real fight.

16:04 It's just a stupid fight that would have like resolved within like five minutes with like a normal human.

16:09 But that's again that's the kind of fights that teenagers get.

16:13 Into you know what maybe you have a point saying the immature part be like she's still acting like a kid because like that's the whole point of why they shouldn't get married so it's kind of proving rory's take of like you're getting married too young blah blah but yeah i don't know it's just it works but i wish it was done a little differently yeah that's it yeah i agree Also, I like how Lorelai had to bring this tea to the table.

16:41 Yeah, I thought that was interesting. Like, why did she feel the need to tell Rory about it? Like, she could have just... Because she obviously wasn't meant to overhear it. Like, it wasn't like.

16:51 No, but they tell each other everything, so I wasn't too shocked.

16:54 Yeah, I don't know.

16:55 Considering who it was.

16:56 Yeah, I guess so.

16:58 And we're just coming off of, like, a couple episodes ago when, like, she... Lindsay just found out that Rory and Dean are talking. Yeah. Right?

17:09 Wasn't it a couple episodes ago?

17:10 Yeah.

17:11 Yes. And I wonder if... How much of that Lorelai knew?

17:18 Yeah, because we don't know if Rory told her.

17:22 Right. Exactly.

17:23 Exactly.

17:24 Oh, maybe that's why. I don't think she knows.

17:27 Yeah.

17:28 Now that you say it, I don't think she knows.

17:31 I don't know. It just seems like... You know, Lorelai is, like, the boss of the place, and even though Dean doesn't work for her directly, he works for Tom, it still was, like, unprofessional as the owner of the... You know, like, it was a... She was at work.

17:45 I still think it's more unprofessional that Lindsay came to his workplace and said that.

17:49 Well, yeah.

17:49 Yeah.

17:50 For sure. I mean, but I don't expect Lindsay to be professional. I do expect Lorelai.

17:55 To be professional, but... I think she's professional with everyone else, but I think it's her kid.

17:59 Yeah. So it's... Well, think about it. Like, I'm sure your husband comes home and tells you stuff about work, right?

18:05 Yeah, but not with people that I'm directly involved. You know what I mean? I guess it just was kind of crossing a line for me because she could have just kept that to herself, but she's choosing to gossip.

18:19 Yeah, I guess it's different because of the relationship.

18:21 If it's like, you're just hearing about someone that you know as like, a human who works with your significant other.

18:27 Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's not... Like, you don't even know. You just hear stories. You don't even know this person. I guess it's different. Yeah.

18:33 It's not like, oh, guess what? Rory Bob got in a big fight with his wife. And, you know, like that would be.

18:38 And you're like, okay, cool.

18:39 Who's Bob?

18:39 Yeah, exactly. This is just a little bit different.

18:42 I don't know. It kind of crossed the line a little bit, but... I still just think it's... I don't know.

18:46 I also think, like, doesn't Lorelai know that her daughter is a little sensitive to that subject?

18:50 Right.

18:51 So telling her also seems weird.

18:53 Yeah. Like, what was... What was her point there? Like, what did... I don't know.

18:59 Yeah, like, what was the end goal?

19:01 Yeah, exactly.

19:02 Exactly. Yeah.

19:04 I did have a few, like, minor little call-outs. So, I think probably a lot of people know this, but in case you didn't. So, the guy that played TJ's brother.

19:15 Yes.

19:16 Is his brother in real life. So, I loved that.

19:19 He's the dad from Wizards of Waverly Place.

19:22 Yes.

19:23 And then also... part of the same family, the movie that they, that Lorelai and Rory watched at movie night was Fatso. And that is their dad, Don Deluise, the guy in Fatso is their.

19:36 Oh, I didn't know that.

19:37 Oh yeah. That's like a famous.

19:39 Whoa. That was like inception over there.

19:42 Yeah. So clearly, clearly that was intentional. And then I wanted to call this out because the of the separate uh parenthood rewatch they're on season five so shell the poultry guy also played victor's baseball coach in parenthood i think he was only in like one or two episodes but.

20:06 I watched Parenthood, but I think I've only seen it through twice. I don't remember the details.

20:10 Yeah, that was just one of those things I had in the back of my head. I've only seen Parenthood a couple times.

20:15 Speaking of the poultry guy, the sleeping with the squash. Yes.

20:21 It's so funny.

20:22 And it's like one of those moments in this show where you'll always remember. And I was like, oh, it's this episode. When it came up, I was like, oh, yeah. I remember the storyline very clearly.

20:32 That's one of those phrases that, you know, like sometimes there's quotes from Gilmore Girls that just work their way into your real life.

20:38 It's that one.

20:38 And it's that one. And anytime anybody in the family, like, doesn't understand something, somebody else will pipe in with, he's sleeping with the zucchini.

20:49 Zucchini.

20:49 There we go.

20:50 Not squash.

20:50 Zucchini.

20:51 It's basically like.

20:52 Let me repeat this slowly for you, you idiot.

20:55 It makes no sense, but it does.

20:57 That's like a part of our family's vocabulary on a regular basis.

20:59 That's so funny.

21:01 Oh, my God.

21:01 So you actually do say that?

21:02 Yes. My kids say it in everything. I don't even think they know what it's from.

21:07 That's so funny. They're sleeping with the zucchini. Oh, my God.

21:11 It's so funny.

21:13 And then I did have one other funny little thing. inconsistency from take to take was when, um, in the diner, Lorelai comes in and this is when Jess comes in. She didn't like, she finds out about the wedding and then Jess walks in. She's like, you didn't tell me all this when she's leaving. And she's talking about like how many people in China or whatever. And that's how long her to-do list is. She's holding her purse like by the opening, like by the, by where the zipper is.

21:43 And then when it cuts back to her, now all of a sudden she's holding it by the strap when she walks out the door. Clearly two different takes. Kind of a minor thing, but she's holding it. The zipper's open, and she's holding it by the opening of the bag, and then the second time she's holding it by the handle.

22:02 I will say the last couple episodes, I don't know if you have more, but I didn't really see any major call-outs. No! No! I think the last one you called out was the building, which we realized was the Disney building. But it wasn't even that big.

22:13 Yeah, that was a quick.

22:14 That's just a landscape of.

22:16 Exactly.

22:17 You had to look real fast to see that one. But yeah, they're definitely hitting their groove.

22:22 On top of it.

22:23 I haven't seen a mic drop.

22:25 Scripty's on it.

22:26 Yeah, Scripty is on it. For sure.

22:30 Scripty was hoping to get renewed for season five.

22:34 Yeah, Scripty didn't want to lose her job. Yeah.

22:37 All right, well, next week we're getting right to the second to last episode of the season, season four, episode 21.

22:44 Last Week Fights, This Week's Tights. Great title.

22:49 Yes.

22:51 We'll see you next week.

22:52 Meeting adjourned. Hey, everybody, don't forget, follow us on Instagram at I Am All In Podcast and email us at gilmore at iheartradio.com.