Dead Uncles and Vegetables
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| “Dead Uncles and Vegetables” | |
|---|---|
| Gilmore Girls episode | |
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| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 17 |
| Guest stars | Liz Torres Michael Winters Jackson Douglas Sean Gunn Sally Struthers Steve Eastin Dion Anderson David (Gruber) Allen Grant Lee Phillips |
| Written by | Daniel Palladino |
| Directed by | Jamie Babbit |
| Production no. | 227467 |
| Original airdate | April 16, 2002 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "There's the Rub" | "Back In The Saddle Again" |
Dead Uncles and Vegetables is Episode 17 of Season 2 of the television series Gilmore Girls. It originally aired on April 16, 2002.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
At the Independence Inn, Lorelai and Sookie stand in attendance as Emily carefully and thoroughly ... tastes a bowl of soup. It is for her DAR meeting, she explains. Some of the ladies can be very picky and she wants things to be just right. Sookie seems to understand while Lorelai, naturally, just wants her mother to make a decision before the end of the calendar year. Sookie suggest Emily try the mushroom as it is Jackson's -- her fiancé's -- favorite.
They begin to talk about her upcoming wedding when Michel walks up. Luke is calling for Lorelai so she leaves to take the call. Emily continues the wedding conversation, asking Sookie all about the details of what she has planned so far. Sookie describes a simple ceremony with few frills, but Emily -- gently -- disapproves. It doesn't take long before Sookie agrees to check out one of Emily's suggestions.
Luke and Lorelai are bantering on the telephone when she finally manages to bring him around to the reason he called: He needs her to reserve some rooms at the inn for him. When she asks what the occasion is, he tells her the news: His Uncle Louie has died and he needs a place for several relatives to stay during the funeral. Lorelai is sympathetic and asks Luke if he is okay. Luke says yes; after all, his uncle was 85 years old and apparently died peacefully in his sleep. Lorelai offers to help Luke in any way that she can, but he says that the rooms are help enough.
Later, Lorelai and Rory pass the Town Troubador on the way to Luke's Diner. Lorelai mentions how Luke said he was all right with his uncle's death, but that she couldn't be sure. As they go inside, the diner is a bit chaotic: people asking for their food or coffee, while Luke is trying to talk on the phone, his hands loaded with plates. Lorelai and Rory begin to help out. Rory asks Luke where Jess is and he suggests she try upstairs.
Rory goes up to Luke and Jess's apartment and knocks on the door. She berates Jess for watching television while his uncle needs so much help in the diner. Rory practically takes Jess by the scruff of the neck and drags him downstairs.
While Lorelai is giving Kirk a hard time about his coffee choices, Luke is on the phone with the mortuary in Florida where his uncle's body is. It seems that, since Louie had no wife or family of his own, Luke's father -- Louie's brother -- asked Luke to make sure that Louie got a proper funeral when his time came. That would include a ceremony by the Stars Hollow Revolutionary War Re-Enactors, Luke says, since Louie was a veteran.
The Florida mortuary makes arrangements to ship the body to Hartford. Luke wants to close the diner so he can buy his uncle's coffin, but Lorelai insists on running the place while he's gone. Luke agrees and leaves.
At Doose's Market, Mrs. Cassini asks Taylor where the Brussels sprouts are. He apologizes, explaining how his supplier was out of Brussels this week. She thanks him and says that she'll try across the street. Taylor goes back to his shelves, and then does a double take. "Across the street?" he wonders, and rushes outside.
There is a Farmers Market in the Town Square: Rows and rows of fresh fruits and vegetables are for sale. Taylor demands to see the proprietor, and a tall man with long hair and glasses comes up. Taylor recognizes him: He is the Kinko's manager from Groton who lost his bid to become official Town Troubador. The Vegetable Man doesn't seem to realize the effect his market is having on Taylor. Taylor feels betrayed to see people buying food from anywhere but Doose's.
At the Independence Inn, Lorelai takes some flack from Michel for booking nine rooms for Luke without taking any reservation information. Just as that conversation ends, Lorelai looks up to see Emily walking in. She feels trapped for a moment but it turns out that Emily isn't even there to see her. She came to meet with Sookie, and she is running a little late, so if Lorelai will excuse her? Lorelai, stunned and intrigued, follows her mother into the main dining room.
Sookie is already there, perusing table after table of beautiful flower and china arrangements. What is all this for? Lorelai wonders out loud. Sookie says it is for her wedding, and greets Emily enthusiastically. She and Sookie have been making all sorts of plans. It all sounds, potentially, very expensive. Lorelai is wary, and warns Sookie about what she calls "Emilyland." It is a place where the merely good is never good enough. Sookie says she will take the warning to heart and Lorelai leaves to help Luke with the lunch rush.
At the diner, Rory serves Taylor coffee while he mutters under his breath about turnips and plucks at his temple nervously. Rory warns her mother to keep an eye on him. A man comes in and sits down at the counter. He wants two fried eggs on toast but Lorelai convinces him to change his order to scrambled eggs, just so she can say: "Adam and Eve on a raft, and wreck 'em!" Authentic diner talk, she explains to the poor man. When Kirk comes in for lunch, Lorelai steers him into ordering another meal that exactly matches one of her colorful dinerspeak phrases.
The Vegetable Man comes into the diner, complaining of the cold. Lorelai suggests he try a hot blonde with sand (coffee with cream and sugar). He agrees, and asks her to make it foot's out the door (in a cup to go). He says how the cold weather hasn't stopped customers from coming; he barely has time to stop for coffee. Taylor angrily responds that a proper businessman can take a break, although Kirk adds that it helps when your store is deserted.
Lorelai slips upstairs to bring Luke a burger for his lunch. She goes inside the apartment, and Luke tells her some disappointing news. None of his relatives are coming to Stars Hollow for Uncle Louie's funeral. He says most of them gave him lame excuses, too. Lorelai suggests that, if they don't want to pay their respects, Luke shouldn't want them there. Besides, Louie lived in Stars Hollow most of his life; lots of townsfolk will attend the ceremony, she says. As they finish talking, Rory comes in to tell Lorelai that Jackson is downstairs wanting to speak to her.
As Lorelai passes the lunch counter, she stops to take a woman's order. She then tries to convert it into dinerspeak, but it doesn't work. She goes out to talk to a miserable-looking Jackson. He tells her that the simple wedding he and Sookie planned and agreed on is now ancient history -- all thanks to Lorelai's mother. They both look across the street to see Emily and Sookie measuring the town with tape measures. Jackson says he loves Sookie, and he wants her to be happy, but her elaborate wedding plans are out of control. Lorelai agrees, and said she would try to straighten Sookie out.
Later that night, at a town meeting, Taylor is at the dais. As he self-importantly declares yet another special "day" in Stars Hollow, Lorelai and Rory come in and sit down next to Luke and Jess. While Taylor and Miss Patty confer about the next item agenda, Rory questions Jess's presence, saying that town meetings are for those who care about the town. Lorelai wonders too why Luke has time to be there, but he explains that he needs to speak to the town's war re-enactors about the funeral ceremony.
Now, Taylor and Miss Patty are ready. She takes the dais and the gavel while he sits in the audience. She announces the last order of business: A message from Taylor Doose. Taylor thanks her, and immediately begins to complain about the Vegetable Man. Taylor claims he has the wrong kind of permit for that type of business. Everyone else sees this for what it really is: A bad case of Grocer's Envy. Miss Patty gets everyone to say 'aye,' and adjourns the meeting. Luke yells for Taylor to wait up, while Rory badgers Jess to get back to the diner and help with clean-up.
Luke chases after Taylor and the group of war re-enactors, trying to get them to come to the funeral. They all hem and haw before telling Luke the truth: They all hated Louie. He was rude and mean; he hit on Sy's wife and harassed Kirk's dog. They even threw a party when Louie left town. Luke tries to get them to do the right thing, but they all refuse. He stalks off angrily while Taylor calls him a defensive hothead ... "just like Louie!"
The next day, Sookie is in the kitchen perusing the Internet for wedding information from Prague. Michel is much amused by this but Lorelai realizes that she needs to tell Sookie the truth. Emily-inspired wedding plans are not what Sookie and Jackson should have in mind, she says. Lorelai tells Sookie how upset Jackson was, and what it all boils down to is this: What does Sookie really want? Sookie finally pulls back from the brink and realizes what she had done. She resolves to call Jackson and tell him that the ultra-fancy wedding is off. Lorelai gets a cell-phone call from Luke, and she has to leave.
Luke is at the mortuary with his uncle's body. There's just one problem: The coffin lid won't close. It seems that Uncle Louie's will specifies that he should be buried with several possessions. So many possessions, in fact, that the coffin lid won't close. By now, Luke has had it. He says everyone was right about Louie. He was a selfish, mean, rotten person and that Luke has only done so much so far out of respect for his father's wishes. He storms out of the mortuary, leaving Lorelai with the undertaker.
Later, back at the diner, Rory and Lorelai are still helping out when Luke returns. He tells Lorelai how he walked around Hartford for a while to cool off but then found a way to bury Uncle Louie with all his possessions. The funeral is back on. Luke is going upstairs to change clothes when Emily walks in. She tells Lorelai that Sookie has changed her mind about all their plans, and accuses Lorelai of being behind it. Lorelai says that Sookie and Jackson simply wanted an uncomplicated wedding. She hints that Emily might have had her own ulterior motives: That, in her mind's eye, Emily was planning Lorelai's wedding. Emily denies this, and shoots back that a fancy wedding would be inappropriate, since Lorelai probably would have her reception at Luke's Diner. Emily thus becomes yet another person who thinks Luke and Lorelai should be a couple -- an idea Lorelai strenuously denies.
Finally, it is the day of the funeral. Aside from the reverend giving the eulogy, Luke and Lorelai are the only ones there. Luke is sarcastic, then somber. He wonders if he will turn out like Louie: old, cranky, unmarried and all alone at the end. Lorelai asks him if Louie would have ever done any of the nice things Luke does is in his life every day. Luke is thinking on this when the sound of a drum is heard in the distance. It is Taylor and the Revolutionary War re-enactors. They gather to give Louie his final salute.
Luke and Lorelai return to the diner to find that a wake of sorts has been set up. The Vegetable Man is there. He compliments Taylor on his outfit and then drops a final bombshell: He has closed his business. Taylor is dumbfounded. Why did you put me through all this if the market was only temporary? he asks. The Vegetable Man wisely responds that it was Taylor who did that himself, and walks away.
Rory corners Jess while he is helping himself to food at the lunch counter. She says that she thought her mother organized the wake, but it turns out that she didn't. Rory congratulates Jess on finally doing something nice. Jess says all he did was to unlock the diner door, but Rory acts like he made an important contribution anyway.
At one table, several townsfolk are reminiscing about Louie. Every story they tell has him doing something nasty, or mean, or inappropriate -- but they are funny. Lorelai says she is sorry she never met Louie. "He was ... colorful," Luke admits. The laughter and the sharing goes on.
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