The 25 Days of Christmas Episodes – Day 8 – Gilmore Girls “Santa’s Secret Stuff”
The Gilmores and stupid Christopher bring home their spindly little Christmas trees. Turns out, you don’t have much to pick from a week after Christmas. And yes, I said “trees”. There’s one in the kitchen, for cry Pete! Rory and Lorelai tell stupid Christopher about their Christmas traditions, and he feels left out when they hate his new traditions. As they should, because he is stupid.
In non-holiday plotlines, ex fiancée Luke asks Lorelai to write a character reference for him in a custody hearing. Lorelai agrees, because Luke is awesome. This is kind of the main plot of the episode, despite how it’s not really seasonal. Anyway, letter writing is hard for Lorelai, because there are still all sorts of feelings involved. Oh, it’s worth noting that in the previous episode, Luke and Christopher actually got into a fistfight. Luke totally won.
A chance meeting while Christmas shopping brings some tender, yet awkward, reminiscing with Lorelai and Luke, and that motivates her to finish Luke’s character reference. And we all know that very soon Christoper is going to discover that character reference, flip out over it, and leave. So even if this episode is steeped in Lorelai/Luke awkwardness and Luke/April awkwardness, there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
Best Line – Lorelai Gilmore on what’s going through her mind when she tries to write Luke’s letter: “Unitard, hockey puck, rattlesnake, monkey, monkey, underpants.”
Christmas Tropes:
Santa Claus – Lorelai explains to four-year-old Gigi why she has a Santa Claus costume in the house: “I used to do Santa’s dry cleaning”.
Trimming the tree – They’ve got a house full of trees and a living room full of ornaments. When the Gilmores trim trees, they stay trimmed!
Gifts – Luke’s daughter April gives him a plaster mask made from a cast of her face. Luke gives her a rock polisher, which she already has, so they exchange it for a microscope.
Reindeer Sweater – Lorelai’s sweater features not only two reindeer, but Santa Claus and a snowman. Rory’s only has a snowman, but it’s huge.
Celebrity guest – Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach appears in his recurring role as Gil. It shouldn’t count, since he’s on a lot of episodes, but he does talk at length about breast pumps.
Learning a lesson – Christopher is stupid. At least, that’s the lesson I learned.
Cheer-o-meter Score: At the time, it was fairly depressing because of all the relationship woes, but now that we know that it’s that character reference letter that ends Lorelai’s marriage to Christopher, it’s easier to enjoy their belated holiday enthusiasm. In fact, knowing that Chris is on his way out the door makes this episode a 9.
