The Lorelais' First Day at Chilton
Updated 2000-10-11 17:00:00
Fade in to Rory eating whipped cream from the can as Lorelai paints Rory's toenails. Rory asks why Lorelai is insisting on painting her toes. Lorelai explains that Rory is starting private school and that "everyone knows that private-school girls are bad. And bad girls wear red nail polish." This mother-daughter moment is interrupted by Lane, who runs up the porch carrying the new XTC album, Apple Venus Volume 2. Lorelai jumps up and woo-hoos and runs into the house with Lane. Rory complains about her half-finished paint job. As we hear the album kick up, we can see the shadows of Lane and Lorelai dancing on the other side of the window. Fade to black and opening credits.
While I'm humming along with Carole King, allow me to say that this second episode is a bit slower than the first and has some of the strangest transitions to commercial that I've ever seen.
Rory busts into Lorelai's bedroom and screams that it's 7:10. The "It's 7:10!" screaming argument continues while I get distracted by seeing Sally Struthers listed in the supporting cast in the credits. Lorelai keeps rolling around in the bed while Rory keeps screaming. If I had ever tried to wake my mother up by yelling the time over and over while beating her with a pillow I'd be so grounded that Chilton would have thought I had died. Lorelai says that it can't be 7:10 because she set the clock for 5:45. Rory holds up the blue fuzzy clock and shows the time. Lorelai whines, curses, and wiggles out of bed. Rory is still laying into Lorelai for oversleeping: "Do you know what happens when people are late for their first day?" Lorelai: "It's shorter?" Rory: "For the rest of the year they're labeled The Late Girl." Lorelai: "Oh, so dramatic." Rory continues to whine and yell while Lorelai said she had all sorts of plans to get up early and get coffee and pick up her clothes at the dry cleaners. It's silent for a second as Lorelai realizes that all of her nice clothes are at the dry cleaners. As Lorelai runs around complaining that her clothes are all gone, Rory goes into this very annoying "7:15, 7:16" sing-song brat that if I had tried at her age, I would have been spanked for every minute Lorelai was late and I was whining. Instead Lorelai calls Rory "Time Lady" and tells her to go warm up the car. As they yell at each other down the hall, Lorelai sits down, puts on her socks, and says to her clock, "This is the last time I buy anything just because it's furry."
Lorelai bounds down the stairs pulling her hair into a ponytail as Rory starts to give the time again. Lorelai says, "Don't even think of finishing that sentence." She's wearing a pink tie-dyed tiny top and frayed cut-off denim shorts. She grabs her coat, turns around and asks Rory, "What?" "Nothing. I just didn't know the rodeo was in town." Lorelai storms out of the house threatening to take Rory's baby picture with her to the school. Rory runs after her apologizing, saying that she loves the rodeo.