‘Gilmore Girls’ Season 6: 4 Must See, Absolutely Essential Episodes

Estranged from her mom (after that whole yacht stealing/forced community service/dropping out of Yale debacle), annoyed with Logan for being, well, Logan, and struggling to find herself, Rory is finally woken from her dopey slumber thanks to one Jess Mariano. Luke sponsors an, uh, aggressive girls’ soccer team and Lorelai, who is becoming more and more upset by her separation from Rory, takes those feelings out on her dog, Paul Anka.

When Jess lands in town to show Rory the book he wrote (Jess grew up! Jess wrote a book!) the two head out for dinner when Logan shows up and invites himself along. The trio head to The Pub where Logan is an elitist jerk, Jess is passive aggressive (he may have grown up but he is still Jess, after all), and Rory is beyond pissed. After a very rare angry Jess monologue where he exclaims, “Why did you drop out of Yale?!” Rory confronts Logan and storms out of the restaurant without a second thought.

Lorelai, meanwhile, is depressed and missing her kid. When Paul Anka shows signs of being sick — in the very typical dog way of lining shoes up in the hallway — Lorelai transfers all of her feelings of inadequacy onto the pup. This leads to a heartbreaking scene where Lorelai laments her feelings of being a bad dog parent to Paul Anka (read: a bad real parent to Rory) to a supportive Luke whilst sobbing in Rory’s room. This is a highly emotional episode with both girls’ in limbo, the crumbling of Rory and Logan’s relationship, and Rory’s dismissiveness of Jess, but it is the final step in getting the Gilmore girls’ back where they belong — together.

[Watch “Let Me Hear Your Balalaikas Ringing Out” on Netflix]

Thanks to a giant push from Jess, Rory finally takes her life back by getting a job at The Stanford Eagle Gazette, re-enrolling herself at Yale, and reuniting with her mom. Lorelai, thrilled at the return of Rory, rushes to Luke and declares that they can finally set a date for their wedding. Luke smiles and nods, but a new development in his life — a newly discovered pre-teen daughter! — negates his excitement.

The mother-daughter duo is back in full force, mostly due to Lorelai writing down everything that she wanted to share with Rory during their separation. But just when things are turning around for Rory and Lorelai and, seemingly, Luke and Lorelai, Luke gets a visit from a frizzy haired, bicycle riding, pre-teen version of Anne Hathaway circa The Princess Diaries — before the makeover. April Nardini announces that she’s doing a more scientific version of Mamma Mia for her science fair by using DNA testing to determine which of three men is her father. Luke is — unfortunately? — the lucky winner.

The title of the episode is twofold — Rory is obviously the prodigal daughter, but April appears to be moving in on her territory to become Luke’s biological prodigal daughter. The episode is one of highs and lows; we’re thrilled that Rory and Lorelai are back together, but it appears that it may be at the expense of Lorelai and Luke’s relationship. And then there’s April. Widely hated among Gilmore fans and oftentimes — perhaps unfairly — blamed for the eventual demise of Luke and Lorelai, April is a giant curve ball thrown into the final two seasons’ and one that has mixed results at best.

[Watch “The Prodigal Daughter Returns” on Netflix]

After what shall henceforth be known as The Jess Incident, Logan has been busy trying to win Rory back. He succeeds when Rory agrees to a dinner date with him, but when drama befalls The Yale Daily News their date is cancelled. Lorelai is trying to deal with the fact that April’s presence is putting a hold on her engagement. When Richard and Emily find out that they’re not going to be paying for Yale anymore it is the catalyst for the biggest Friday Night Dinner fight ever.

After gifts including a personal coffee cart, books, and finally a signed letter from Lorelai, Logan is pumped for his date with Rory. When Paris gets on the express train for crazy town though, Rory flakes on their date in favor of saving the paper. Her efforts are almost moot when they nearly miss their deadline at the printer, but Logan works some of that Huntzberger magic, saves the day, and wins (back) Rory’s heart. Lorelai’s frustration with April’s existence and Luke’s inability to commit is seen rapidly rising throughout the episode and certainly foreshadows things to come.

After Chris reveals that his grandfather died – one of those not-so-sad deaths apparently — and left him a ton of money, Rory jumps at the chance to have dear old dad foot the bill for Yale rather than be indebted to her grandparents’. When that news reaches Richard and Emily though, it results in an equal parts hilarious, frustrating, and upsetting nearly five minute scene where Emily declares everything from “Children need a mother and a father!” to “I only wanted to time-share a plane, Lorelai!” to “I told Shira Huntzberger she’s a two-bit hussy.” It’s the fight to end all fights and just what the Gilmore clan needed to reinstate their weekly dinner.

[Watch “Friday Night’s Alright For Fighting” on Netflix]

In the final Palladino made episode — Until November 25th that is! — Logan graduates and heads off to London, Luke and Lorelai have the fight, and  Lorelai turns to an old flame when her relationship with Luke crumbles.

This is perhaps the most upsetting Gilmore Girls episode ever, but it made it onto this list as required viewing because it sets up all of season seven and has ramifications that last through the end of the series, and likely the new series as well. When Lorelai gives Luke an ultimatum — elope now or lose me forever — he choses wrong while hanging on to his flimsy excuse that he has April to consider; that left me crying my eyes out. When Lorelai storms off and into the bed of Christopher, that left me heartbroken. I, an avid #TeamJess supporter, was fairly apathetic about Logan taking off for London, but residual hate of Mitchum Huntzberger and on par performances from Alexis Bledel and Matt Czuchry made even that emotional.

It’s a doozy of an episode and one that left David S. Rosenthal, the new showrunner of post-Palladino Gilmore — with a quandary of epic proportions: how to make that last shot, one that features Lorelai in Chris’s bed, make sense while at the same time quickly getting Luke and Lorelai back together like literally everyone wanted. Rosenthal found it an impossible and, to the fans at least, disappointing task that left Luke and Lorelai in limbo until the next season finale.

[Watch “Partings” on Netflix]