Countdown to Gilmore Girls: Eleven Favorites

If you’re anything like me, then November 25th, is circled and starred on every planner, calendar, and countdown app you own. In fact, it might as well be a national holiday. Forget Thanksgiving, Election Day, and Christmas (okay, Maybe not Christmas) because November 25th is basically the most exciting day happening for the rest of the year.

“What’s happening on November 25th?” you might ask if you currently live in your parents’ basement or are not a female between the ages of 14 and 26. I’m so glad you asked! The Gilmore Girls Revival Air Date of course!

In order to properly prepare for November 25th, girls everywhere are binge-watching all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls. But if you don’t have time to watch 126 hours of fast-paced and obscure pop culture references, innumerable Lorelai-Emily squabbles, and completely random but nevertheless adorable New England small town festivals, then don’t worry! I have researched and compiled a list of my favorite Gilmore Girls episodes. All are the perfect mixture of goofy, dramatic, and heart-warming and will have you falling in love with the residents of Stars Hollow and humming the theme song profusely. And eating lots of snacks.

Grab your chocolate chip cookies and get comfortable!

11.  Season 2, Episode 5: “Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy”

Luke’s nephew and New York’s resident bad boy Jess Mariano moves to Stars Hollow. Luke pushes him into a lake. Spoiler: Jess is really, really cute.

10.  Season 4, Episode 2: “The Lorelais’ First Day at Yale”

Rory moves into her dorm at Yale, only to find that her new roommate is none other than Paris Eustace Geller herself. No, don’t groan, I know Paris is secretly your second-favorite character on the show after Taylor Doose. But there’s also a crushing moment at the end of the episode where Lorelai comes home to an empty house, her only daughter now off in college. They play the really sad “la, la, la” song. Yes, you know the one.

9. Season 2, Episode 19: “Teach Me Tonight”

Lot’s of really cute Jess and Rory moments make for a perfect episode. For an added bonus, Kirk directs and stars in his own short film, which premieres at the town movie night. It involves noir tropes and badly choreographed dance moves. Pure gold.

8. Season 5, Episode 3: “Written in the Stars”

Luke and Lorelai go on a date. I cry. Lorelai has a “walk of shame” in front of the entire town. I cry. Paris plans a wake for the elderly Professor Fleming (who she had romantic feelings for). I cry. Rory and Logan meet. I pine over Jess, who has been gone for two seasons now. I cry.

7. Season 2, Episode 10: “The Bracebridge Dinner”

It’s Christmastime in Connecticut and Lorelai plans on a historical dinner where everyone must pretend to be from the 17th century. Things go awry and everyone gets very drunk. It’s as hilarious as it sounds. There’s also a horse-drawn sleigh and lots of Rory-Jess-Dean love triangle drama. 10/10.

6. Season 5, Episode 13: “Wedding Bell Blues”

Emily and Richard renew their wedding vows and have a massive party. You are really happy for them even though you secretly do not like Richard’s mustache. Everyone wears sparkly outfits. Rory and Logan FINALLY get together. Bye, Dean. P.S. lots of Lorelai-Luke-Chris love triangle drama in this one, and Luke gets really protective of Rory, which is adorable.

5. Season 3, Episode 9: “A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving”

A Gilmore Girls Classic. Lorelai and Rory attend 4 different Thanksgiving dinners. Kirk gets a cat and names it Kirk. Lane is in love with band mate Dave Rygalski, played by Adam Brody, but he’s pretending to be a church choir guitar player so her mother, Mrs. Kim, won’t get suspicious. Mrs. Kim is at her finest: “You break it, you buy it. 10% for cousins. 20% off for nephews and nieces.” Meanwhile, Jackson is deep-frying the entire Thanksgiving meal and nobody knows why. It’s a very fluffy, loony episode with all the standard Gilmorisms (minus a town meeting—I love those things).

4. Season 6, Episode 9: “ The Prodigal Daughter Returns”

Luke finds out he has a daughter and a bunch of other irrelevant stuff happens. Nine episodes after the monstrous falling-out between Rory and Lorelai, the two finally reunite—“I was stupid.” “No, I was stupid!” “I was more stupid.” Rory gets a job, returns to Yale, and goes back to being the Rory we know and love. The mother-daughter duo is back at it. Cue massive sigh of relief.

3. Season 4, Episode 22: “Raincoats and Recipes”

Rory does something unbelievably stupid in this episode and you will probably be very annoyed. Then you will forget all about it because LUKE AND LORELAI KISS. OMG YAY.

2. Season 1, Episode 6: “Rory’s Birthday Parties”

Oh, the days of Rory’s bright orange North Face backpack. Rory turns 16 in this episode and wears a bright pink feather boa and there is an absolutely adorable moment where Lorelai crawls into bed with her at 4:03 and they have a best friend heart-to-heart. This episode makes you really, really miss your mom and reminds you why you fell in love with the series in the first place.

1. Season 3, Episode 22: “Those Are Strings, Pinocchio”

The conclusion of Rory’s Valedictorian graduation speech had me in tears:

“…My ultimate inspiration comes from my best friend, the dazzling woman from whom I received my name and my life’s blood, Lorelai Gilmore. My mother never gave me any idea that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted to do or be whomever I wanted to be.  She filled our house with love and fun and books and music, unflagging in her efforts to give me role models from Jane Austen to Eudora Welty to Patti Smith. As she guided me through these incredible eighteen years, I don’t know if she ever realized that the person I most wanted to be was her.” Man, I really love this show.

These are only a few of the many Gilmore Girls episodes that made me laugh and cry. I can’t wait until November 25th! Can you?

Happy marathon-ing!