Gilmore Sounding Board no. 150

The Pre-Game Show

Gilmore Girls is new again — tonight at 8 on The CW — with its 150th episode, “It’s Just Like Riding a Bike.”

Let’s all meet back here — at the bottom of the post — to talk about it after it airs.

In the meantime, The CW describes it like this:

Lorelai (Lauren Graham) stops into Luke’s (Scott Patterson) diner for breakfast for the first time since their break-up, but finds they are awkward and uncomfortable together. Later, Lorelai’s Jeep breaks down and she asks Luke to help her shop for a new car. While they look at cars, Lorelai and Luke’s irritation with one another finally explodes into a fight, which Lorelai secretly takes as a good sign.

Meanwhile, Paris (Liza Weil) gets accepted to numerous law schools and medical schools, and decides she must break up with Doyle (guest star Danny Strong) so their relationship won’t influence her choice of a graduate school. Finally, Rory (Alexis Bledel) gets a surprising letter that will impact her future plans.

Melissa McCarthy, Yanic Truesdale and Sean Gunn also star. Lee Shallat Chemel directed the episode written by Jennie Snyder.

You can watch a preview of tonight’s episode — or go behind the scenes with a short director’s clip — right here.

Or maybe you’d be interested in taking a tour of Stars Hollow with Kirk.

And. Did you ever read this report from Michael Ausiello at TV Guide, who talks about the possibility of another — albeit shortened — season? The new Entertainment Weekly (with the Spider-Man cover) also mentions this possibility; hopefully an official announcement will be coming soon (though I’m sure they’ll keep us guessing as long as possible).

The CW has released this photo of Lauren Graham from the episode:

Oh, Lauren. There’s a lot of love in this tired old heart, and it’s all for you. Come see about me, won’t you?

In other news, Lauren is starring alongside one of my other heroes — Mr. Steve Carell — in this summer’s Evan Almighty. You can check out the trailer here.

Previous Gilmore Girls coverage:

Gilmore Sounding Board no. 145

Gilmore Sounding Board no. 146 and 147

Gilmore Sounding Board nos. 148

Gilmore Sounding Board no. 149

See you here tonight after the show.

The Review

“Doorknobs.”

“As in, dead as?”

Ha! I love it.

First things first, Lorelai’s outfit in the first scene when she goes to Luke’s diner. Flabbergasting with a side of SHAZAM! The scarf thingy. The boots. My heart. Oh my.

And in typical Stars Hollow fashion, Kirk’s spouting off the usual (but always endearing) Kirk nonsense, and Babette and Miss Patty are doing their usual (though ultimately loving) gawking, which throws Lorelai off a bit, which throws Luke off a bit, and it’s a disaster from top to bottom. Which is why I think sending them car shopping together was brilliant, because it got them together in an environment where they could both really be themselves and, more importantly, where they could annoy each other to the point of arguing. Watching Luke get fired up is always fun, and I loved watching Lorelai beaming at each of Luke’s frazzled escalations because she was seeing not only Luke but the Luke that Luke is when he’s with Lorelai. I think they’re both still holding a lot in. Especially Luke, so it was good to see him in particular getting some of that stuff out of his system. (I could learn a lot from that myself; I do more bottling than Coca-Cola.)

Even better than the fight itself was its hours-later conclusion, with Luke showing up at Lorelai’s house in typical Luke fashion with a typical Luke solution to a typically Lorelai problem. Brilliantly played, especially by Ms. Graham, who was so adorable in her bickering with Luke. I particularly enjoyed the whole bit about Luke insisting on a bell and Lorelai yelling “I want a horn!” like a spoiled teenager. It’s so good to see them bickering, and it’s cute that Lorelai realizes that all the picking and bickering means that things are heading back to normal between them.

Because, quite simply, these kids need each other. And they’re perfect for each other. It’s why I haven’t minded all of the detours that David Rosenthal has taken the characters on this season, because in the process they each survived their own separate but equally meaningful journey to get to where they are now. I’ve felt that they’ve been slower in bringing Luke back around, but the ending of tonight’s episode was a major Luke Danes victory on par with the scene several episodes ago where he showed up at Anna’s house to let her know that he was by-God gonna fight to keep April in his life. (Moments like that are what good television is made of.)

I watched this one with my friends Sarah, Melissa, Courtney and Bob. When Lorelai was asking Luke about his upcoming boat trip with April, Courtney said that a great final scene for the show would be the boat trip. Luke and April and Lorelai and Rory — on a last little hurrah with her mom before going off on whatever adventure she finds — all drifting away from the dock on Luke’s boat would be a sweet little ending indeed. (The final episode of this season — and possibly the series — is called “Bon Voyage.” That’s a very nautical title. Interesting.) And Luke and Lorelai wouldn’t even have to be together together yet, but we’d know that it was inevitable. I guess it all depends on a) whether this is truly the final season and b) how much they can/should/will accomplish in the last three episodes we have this season (and maybe forever).

I’m getting dizzy just thinking about it all.

So.

In the meantime.

Other highlights: I loved it that Luke wasn’t even fazed by Jackson answering Lorelai’s door in pajamas. That was so funny, and so very Stars Hollow. (And it’s always good to see Jackson.) I’m also glad they didn’t beat us over the head with the “every broken house can be fixed” metaphor they were getting at with Lorelai’s accidentally demolished doll house. (The band-aid on Jackson’s forehead got a big laugh from being so subtle.) And I liked the acting — particularly from the criminally underrated Melissa McCarthy — in the scene where Sookie and Jackson had their nicely written heart-to-heart about her fears about being a mom again so soon.

Lorelai biking around was adorable. (And it made me wonder what I’ve got to do to ride bikes with Lauren Graham. I mean, seriously. This could be the best courtship ever.) I think it’s hilarious when Doyle gets exasperated, and I loved his defiant speech to Paris about how she’s “exciting” and “infuriating.” So good. I love how everything with them is so melodramatic.

And then the heart-breaker of an ending, with our girl Rory Gilmore not getting the internship she so desperately desired. That was some excellent direction, too; we’d gotten so used to every one of Paris’s letters starting off with “We’re please to inform you …” earlier in the episode that part of me actually expected the slow camera pan to land on those exact same words on Rory’s. It hurts to see Rory hurting, but she’s the sweetest kind of dreamer with the talent to make anything happen. Which in itself can be kind of a curse; in a world full of options, where do you even begin to figure out which path — much less a particular outcome — is the right one?

As the season draws to a close, I think that, for once, Lorelai’s future is more certain than her daughter’s. Lorelai has learned a lot from Rory this season, and I hope she takes the time to let Rory know that as they work through whatever’s coming up for Rory.

I love this show.

What did you think? (And when you get a chance, stop by here to read what WordPress’s resident Gilmore has to say in a way that my words couldn’t even hope to approach.)

Food Review: Omar's Gyro

With nothing tempting playing in theaters at the moment, Movie Buddy Numero Uno Melissa and I decided last night to watch Spider-Man (which she’d never seen before) after grabbing gyros at Omar’s Gyro, just a couple of doors down from Wick’s Pizza on Baxter in Louisville.

Best gyros ever.

When we got there, the place was hopping. A mom and two kids, a table of four hipsters and a lady who ordered five gyros to go were all ahead of us, so it took a while to get our gyros. They were worth the wait.

I got the Traditional Beef and Lamb gyro, served on a fresh, toasted pita with grilled onions, tomatoes and romaine lettuce. Gyro sauce was in a cup on the side. Omar — who looks so much like Jeffrey Wright that I’m almost totally convinced he was Jeffrey Wright, perhaps preparing for Basquiat 2: The Art of the Gyro or Felix Leiter and the Lost Sandwich of Greece — sliced the lamb off of some kind of slowly spinning shank on a vertical rotisserie that looked like it should be in the gear box of a meat-powered helicopter.

The meat was perfectly seasoned, tender and lean. Better yet, there was a hearty ton of it crammed into the warm, tasty pita. The veggies were fresh, the onions were grilled to a tee and the gyro sauce made the whole thing come alive.

Melissa got the CQ gyro, which replaced the lamb with fresh chicken soaked in a delicious BBQ sauce. (When he brought out our gyros, he told us he toasted her pita just a little more so that the BBQ sauce didn’t make it soggy. Omar speaks the truth.)

There’s plenty of table seating inside with a few stools at the windows, but we ate at one of the two tables outside after the mom and two kids left. Beautiful day, amazing new food. What else do you need?

How about … fries! I got an order of Omar’s homemade fries, which are “cut fresh daily” and cost only a dollar. Delicious.

I can’t wait to go back again. Other interesting gyros on the menu are the Mediterranean (with mildly seasoned marinated chicken) and the Rasta, which is grilled chicken marinated in Caribbean jerk spices. All gyros are only $5.95. Omar also serves a veggie pita, falafel, hummus, baklava and a Greek salad.

I’m tempted to try one of the chicken gyros next time, but I want another lamb one so badly that I don’t know if I’ll be able to branch out.

Maybe I’ll just have two.

After eating we shot back over to Melissa’s apartment for Spider-Man. It had been a long time since I’d watched it; I usually watch the superior Spider-Man 2 instead. The first one is a little more cartoonish than I’d remembered, but it’s got a massive amount of heart and serves as a really beautiful introduction to the characters. Melissa enjoyed it, expressing particular admiration for the style, size and admirable heft of Willem Dafoe’s hair.

Need gyros? Call on Omar.

More to come.

Ledger/Joker pictures: What’s a WB to do?

Update

First OFFICIAL photo right here!

When it comes to movies, the one I’m living for more than any other is next summer’s Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight.

It’s filming now in Chicago, and you can see plenty of set photos right here on Bill “Jett” Ramey’s awesome Batman movie site, Batman on Film. Jett will be updating the page as photos come in, so keep checking back often.

(Yeah, yeah, I know what I said. But I’m not reading the spoilers, and believe me, there are plenty of them out there. Especially on the Superhero Hype! Boards, which I’m avoiding despite the unbearable urges I’m having to read all of the script excerpts and other goodies lurking inside.)

Of particular interest is this article on The Hype! that features a really blurry photo of Heath Ledger lurking around on set as The Joker.

This, of course, puts Warner Bros. in an interesting position. Do they go ahead and release a publicity photo of Ledger as The Joker now, so that the first really good glimpse we get of him comes from an official source rather than another blurry mess like the photo linked above?

Or, do they say “amateur bootleg photos be damned” and wait as long as they can before revealing a high quality photo of Heath in his makeup and costume? (Batman on Film reports that rather than the typical chalk-white face, Ledger’s Joker will have more of an ashen, grayish tone to his skin that’s more consistent with actual chemical burns and bleaching. It’s going to be disturbing as all hell, much like that shot of The Scarecrow in Begins where the camera just lingers on his mask for a few seconds while Cillian Murphy’s creepy, ice-blue gaze stares out like maniac through the burlap eye slits.)

I think I’d almost argue on the side of making us wait. Let Christopher Nolan and his team do what they do, and let them reveal The Joker on their own terms when they feel the time is right. Because quite frankly, even the best spy photos tend to be of terrible quality. When we finally see Heath as The Joker in all of his insane, scary glory, it’ll make the moment that much sweeter.

I’ll post the first official photo here as soon as Warner Bros. lets it loose. Which, according to the buzz on all the forums, might be sooner than we think.

Either way, Ledger is going to own the role. He’ll be the dangerous, devastatingly intelligent, seductive and utterly terrifying Joker from the comics. And given all the twists in Begins, I can’t wait to see what they do with the character in this movie. Whatever it ends up being, I know the fearless Mr. Ledger will knock it out of the park.

The Dark Knight will give the theater near you a new front door the hard way when the Batmobile puts it on the receiving end of a jet-fueled ramp-less jump on July 18, 2008. I’ll see you there. About 17 times.