Overview of 'Gilmore Girls' Season 4

Episode 1 - Ballrooms and Biscotti

Release Date: 2003-09-23

Lorelai and Rory return from their whirlwind tour of Europe; Taylor and Luke have it out over the new soda shop; a very pregnant Sookie updates Lorelai on the latest baby news; Taylor doesn't take it well when Rory declines the privilege of being the Stars Hollow Ice Cream Queen; mother and daughter get caught up in a flurry of activity after Rory realizes that she wrote down the wrong date for freshman orientation, and she only has two days to get ready for Yale, instead of the week she was planning on; Emily is upset when Lorelai misses Friday night dinner and retailates by turning it into a four hour extravaganza, complete with ballroom dancing videos before the souffle course; Lorelai is shocked when Luke finally tells her what happened on his cruise with Nicole.

Episode 2 - The Lorelais' First Day at Yale

Release Date: 2003-09-30

While Luke is willing to lend Lorelai his truck to help Rory move into her dorm, he's not too thrilled when the project turns out to take all day to accommodate Lorelai's last minute shopping trips to keep Rory's room on a par with the rest of the dorm, to say nothing of Lorelai's seeming inability to drive a stick, losing his spare tire, and saddling him with the old mattress from Rory's dorm room; Rory's roommates turn out to be a jock, a 15 year old prodigy sorely lacking in socialization skills, and none other than Miss People Person herself, Paris Geller, who arrives with a life coach in tow; Nicole's partners descend on the diner and threaten to ensnare Luke in a morass of paperwork and legal complications when he refuses to hire a lawyer or even discuss accepting a settlement; responding to Rory's attack of homesickness after just four hours, Lorelai returns to Yale and sets up a dorm-wide takeout food test to judge the quality of the local restaurants, their delivery speed, and

Episode 3 - The Hobbit, the Sofa, and Digger Stiles

Release Date: 2003-10-07

To help meet the expenses of opening the inn, Lorelai and Sookie decide to become caterers on the side, with their first assignment being a ""Lord of the Rings"" theme party. At Yale, Rory returns from class to find that Emily has redecorated their rooms. Meanwhile, Richard ponders a proposal to take on a new business partner.

Episode 4 - Chicken or Beef?

Release Date: 2003-10-14

Back home for the weekend, Rory has an uncomfortable encounter with Dean, her ex, and ends up getting invited to his wedding the next day. Meanwhile, Lorelai and Sookie visit Michel at his trendy new workplace, but run into problems getting the permit they need to begin construction on the inn.

Episode 5 - The Fundamental Things Apply

Release Date: 2003-10-21

Rory accepts a classmate's invitation to go out on her first date since breaking up with Jess, while her roomates engage in a war of wills. Meanwhile, Lorelai invites Luke over to share the traditional Gilmore movie night she used to have with Rory, although she is somewhat disturbed after discovering that the designer she just hired to decorate the inn used to work for Emily.

Episode 6 - An Affair to Remember

Release Date: 2003-10-28

Emily offers Lorelai and Sookie the job of catering the party to launch Richard's new business venture, then runs them ragged with demands. Meanwhile, at school, Rory finds that her roommates' activities are preventing her from studying.

Episode 7 - The Festival of Living Art

Release Date: 2003-11-04

Sookie and Jackson decide to have a home birth and enlist the services of a formidable midwife; when Stars Hollow mounts a festival of living pictures, Kirk goes way overboard in getting into character for his role as Jesus in ""The Last Supper"", while Lorelai has a bad case of stage fright; Lane, Zach, and Brian finally find an awesome guitarist to replace Dave, but wonder if he isn't too old to join the band; Nicole asks Luke if they can postpone the divorce and start dating again; Jackson's brother Beau, who's come to provide moral support during the delivery, is less than enchanted with Stars Hollow, and is right behind Sookie in expressing extreme frustration with the tardiness of the baby's arrival; as he escorts Lulu through town, Kirk proudly and repeatedly reminds everyone in Stars Hollow that he has a girlfriend.

Episode 8 - Die, Jerk

Release Date: 2003-11-11

Richard and Emily hold widely differing points of view on the success of their business trip to Atlantic City; spurred on by her editor, Rory writes a strongly opinionated dance review that leads to a dining hall confrontation with the ballerina; even though she continues to resist his interest in her, Lorelai can't help but be impressed by Jason's smooth moves as he manipulates a frosty Emily into inviting him for Friday night dinner so that he can woo Lorelai; Lane and Dave have a long distance argument over pottery; Michel is back on the staff of the still-under-reconstruction Dragonfly Inn, but his one sneeze has Bruce erecting barriers to his attending a staff meeting which includes an overly-protective new mother Sookie and baby Davey; when she learns that Nicole and Luke have put their divorce on hold and have resumed dating, Lorelai becomes so flustered that she has an argument with Luke; Richard estatically roams throughout the house with his laptop after he goes wireless with

Episode 9 - Ted Koppel's Big Night Out

Release Date: 2003-11-18

Rory and Paris have lunch at Yale with Richard, who introduces them to his friend, Professor Asher Fleming; during Friday night dinner at the Gilmore residence, Lorelai asks for an invitation to the Yale-Harvard game even though Rory clearly gives her an out; Emily is irritated when Lorelai shows up for the game wearing Harvard colors; the Gilmores tailgate in style with flasks, an RV, a BBQ, and servants to wait on their guests; Emily is upset when Pennilyn Lott, Richard's first girlfriend, shows up and asks about the Inn, and Richard is forced to confess that he has continued to have a semi-annual dinner with Pennilyn the entire time that he and Emily have been married; Lorelai takes Jason up on his earlier offer of a dinner date, but they end up leaving the stuffy restaurant and having a great time dining al fresco at a local grocery store; Rory walks back to the dorm after the game and discovers Paris kissing Asher Fleming.

Episode 10 - The Nanny and the Professor

Release Date: 2004-01-20

Luke becomes overwhelmed by Lane's work ethic when he hires her to work at the diner; Michel exhibits a profound jealousy of Tobin; Emily and Richard find the treats they brought home from Switzerland are widely panned; Rory is less than thrilled with the new man in Paris's life, especially when she learns that he's teaching her contemporary political fiction class; as Lorelai and Jason grow closer, she begs him to keep their relationship a secret from her parents; Rory's talent for millinery combines with her talent for writing to win her a position on the ""Daily Yale""; inexplicably, Sookie and Jackson allow Michel to babysit for Davey, forcing Lorelai to come to the rescue when Michel, not being one to fail to disappoint, needs to get himself and Davey out from under a problem; Richard becomes intensely irritated when the Chez Gilmore walking tour benefitting the Historical Society overstays its welcome.

Episode 11 - In the Clamor and the Clangor

Release Date: 2004-01-27

Lane sneaks out of the house when Gil gets the band a 1:00 a.m. gig at CBGB's; Luke and Lorelai take matters into their own hands when newly restored church bells turn out to be less welcome than originally anticipated; Rory gets personal with William during a political discussion when she suspects that he's been spreading embarassing stories about her; Lorelai is initially distressed when she learns that Luke has moved to Litchfield to live with Nicole, but a visit to his apartment over the diner dispells her worries; Lane and her mother have a long-overdue talk with life-changing consequences after Mrs. Kim discovers her daughter's secret life.

Episode 12 - A Family Matter

Release Date: 2004-02-03

Luke has his hands full as family members return to Stars Hollow: Liz for her high school reunion, and Jess for his car; Lane busies herself at Yale by being the suite's Helpful Hannah; Lorelai agrees to accompany Jason on an office furniture shopping trip on his morning off, but the press of international business calls keeps getting in the way; Jamie's in town, and Paris keeps avoiding him; Lorelai and Jason agree that Emily and Richard need to be told about their relationship, but Lorelai just can't bring herself to do it after Emily mocks both Jason and the idea that he would ever hit it off with her daughter; Rory's finally speaking her mind on Paris's romantic entanglements backfires when Paris decides she has a future with Asher and breaks up with Jamie; Rory becomes concerned that her mother is having financial problems; when Lorelai and Rory discover Jess sleeping in his car in the freezing cold after an argument with his uncle, Lorelai intercedes on his behalf with Luke, who

Episode 13 - Nag Hammadi Is Where They Found the Gnostic Gospels

Release Date: 2004-02-10

Jess's attempts to keep a low profile until Gypsy completes the repairs on his car are put to the test as he keeps bumping into Rory all over town; Taylor puts Kirk in charge of the annual Firelight Festival, and his managerial skills, or lack thereof, place a strain on the preparations; Lane follows Rory back to Stars Hollow and a place on the Gilmore couch for the weekend, but isn't quite ready to face her mother; Emily is in a dither about filling a table at a benefit and enlists the help of Lorelai and Jason, whom she encourages to pretend that they're a couple; Luke is less than impressed by Liz's latest business venture and newly-arrived boyfriend, which prompts Jess to give his uncle an earful about minding his own business; after Lorelai and Liz finally meet, Lorelai gets a renewed perspective on Luke; Liz's high school classmates descend upon her brother and reveal long-held crushes on him; Richard is suspicious when Jason's father greets his son at the benefit and doesn't inq

Episode 14 - The Incredible Sinking Lorelais

Release Date: 2004-02-17

When Trix returns to town and berates Lorelai and Richard for being financial failures, Richard angrily sets his mother straight, to Emily's delight; Lorelai and Sookie explore ways to ease their financial crunch and raise money to pay their construction crew, one of whom is now Dean; Janet and Paris go head-to-head over the constant presence of Janet's boyfriend in the suite; Lorelai and Rory play an increasingly frustrating game of telephone tag; after Paris, Tanna, and Janet complain about close quarters in the suite, Lane moves out of the dorm and in with Lorelai, and gets her job back at Luke's; Lorelai and Sookie have a heated discussion about sharing the responsibilities of opening their inn; Rory is distraught when one of her professors tells her to drop a class because she can't handle her course load; Lane runs into her mother and receives a frosty reception; at the end of a very long, hard day, Lorelai and Rory still can't manage to connect, and end up taking solace in the

Episode 15 - Scene in a Mall

Release Date: 2004-02-24

Kirk branches out from dog sitting for Lulu into a new canine-centered career; Paris goes into germ-phobic overdrive when Rory gets a cold; Lane gets an apartment with Zach and Brian and faces a frigid reception from her aunt and mother, and an overly-eager, non-stop-talking cousin when she packs up her things and moves out; when they realize that their relationship is increasingly being conducted over email and the phone, Lorelai and Rory decide to play hooky and go window shopping in the mall, where they run into Emily in the middle of a shopping binge meltdown; Luke lends Lorelai the thirty thousand dollars she needs to finish construction on the Inn; after Emily confesses that the shopping binge and bickering with Richard stems from her anger at being ignored, neglected, and made to feel useless by her husband, Lorelai reassures her of how much she's accomplished and urges her to talk to Richard, but Emily can't seem to make the connection with her husband she so desperately desire

Episode 16 - The Reigning Lorelai

Release Date: 2004-03-02

The rift between Emily and Richard widens when he goes on a golf date with clients instead of accompanying his wife to the funeral of her best friend; Doyle goes on a theft and plagiarism rant; Trix dies suddenly; Michel offers Lorelai a hug in consolation, which weirds them out so much that they agree not to share any more warm and fuzzy moments; stricken with grief and guilt, Richard is inconsolable; Emily calls it quits on arranging Trix's funeral and drops everything in her daughter's lap after finding a letter in which her mother-in-law pleads with her son on the eve of his wedding to Emily to marry Pennilyn instead; Luke and Nicole have all of Stars Hollow listening in and reading lips as they quarrel; worried about her parents and frantic over fulfilling Trix's exacting requirements for her funeral, Lorelai has a meltdown while shopping for Trix's funereal undies; after the service, cousin Marilyn (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Trix) regales family and friends with ta

Episode 17 - Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doin' the Twist

Release Date: 2004-04-13

Rory, Paris, Janet and Glenn escape a Dickensianly cold winter in Connecticut and head to Florida, where they run into Madeline and Louise, who show them the spring break ropes; Jason gives Lorelai the key to his apartment as a symbol of his commitment to their relationship; Lorelai bails Luke out of jail after he's arrested for beating up the car belonging to the man he suspects is having an affair with Nicole; Lorelai and Rory get the dubious honor of the first ride in Kirk's latest venture, the Stars Hollow pedi-cab.

Episode 18 - Tick, Tick, Tick, Boom!

Release Date: 2004-04-20

Luke makes a bigger fuss than Davey when Sookie and Jackson bring their son into the diner; all of Stars Hollow is amused when Taylor returns from his Caribbean cruise with a drastic change in his appearance; Richard and Emily are stunned when Floyd informs them that Lorelai and Jason have been dating for months; Luke comes to the rescue when Kirk's failure to make a map of the Easter eggs he hid in the town square gets Taylor's nose out of joint; Richard and Jason discover that Floyd's peacemaking overtures are a disguise for his plan to ruin Richard financially by suing them for stealing his clients; while shopping with Lane in Doose's, Rory has harsh words about Lindsay as she relates her quarrel with Dean over his plans to drop out of college to earn more money to buy a house, unaware that his wife is listening in the next aisle; Richard resolves his problems with Floyd at Jason's expense; Dean and Rory agree to continue their friendship despite Lindsay's demand that they stop spea

Episode 19 - Afterboom

Release Date: 2004-04-27

Luke finalizes his divorce; the band's latest gig is a big hit, but leaves Lane feeling lonely; as the Dragonfly Inn nears its opening date, Michel gives travel agents the grand tour and Sookie is back in the kitchen, if not on her feet; Doyle clues Rory in on Asher's reputation as a serial student dater; Lorelai and Richard have it out over his treatment of Jason; Lane is upset to discover that her mother has taken in a Korean exchange student who could be her double, and confronts the girl when she sees her wearing her old clothes; when Jason decides to sue Richard after discovering his treachery, Lorelai breaks up with him; afraid that Richard's actions will put a rift in their relationship with Lorelai and Rory, Emily asks her husband to reconsider, but he brushes her off; Asher is displeased when Rory questions whether the ""A"" he gave her for a paper she thought she did poorly on has any connection to her friendship with Paris; after Richard and Emily act very strangely during Fri

Episode 20 - Luke Can See Her Face

Release Date: 2004-05-04

Jackson's devotion to his wife and her famous zucchini soup set the stage for the perfect antidote to the stress surrounding the opening of the Inn; Luke unwittingly comes to the rescue when Sookie tries to set Lorelai up with the poultry supplier; Liz returns to Stars Hollow to announce that she's getting married in the town square in a week; Paris and Asher decide to travel to England together during the summer; T.J. has a tumultuous bachelor party; at Luke's request, Jess changes his mind about attending his mother's wedding and returns to Stars Hollow for the festivities; Rory tries to hide her discomfort when Lorelai tells her about overhearing a fight between Dean and Lindsay; a self-help tape helps Luke clarify his thinking, and a talk with Jess gets him started on the path to having the relationship he's been looking for all along.

Episode 21 - Last Week Fights, This Week Tights

Release Date: 2004-05-11

As Stars Hollow prepares for the Renaissance-themed wedding of Liz and T.J., Kirk feels slighted when Miss Patty chooses someone else as the maypole dance captain; Lorelai discovers an equine visitor in the Dragonfly Inn's lobby; Rory's suite mates depart for summer vacation; Lorelai urges Mrs. Kim to call Lane; Lorelai unsuccessfully attempts to get Emily to admit to the separation during Friday night dinner; T.J. revels in the wonders of tights, but discovers their main drawback during the ceremony; Mrs. Kim gets some good advice from Lorelai after initially fleeing in horror at the sight of Zach and Brian and Lane's shabby apartment, and eventually returns for tea armed with a game plan; Rory calls Dean to rescue her from the disastrous date Emily has arranged for her with the son of a friend; Luke and Lorelai share significant glances during a slow dance at the wedding, which prompts Luke to ask Lorelai out on a date; Jess expresses his gratitude to Luke before saying goodbye; Ro

Episode 22 - Raincoats and Recipes

Release Date: 2004-05-18

Momentous changes are in the air as: the Dragonfly Inn approaches opening day by having a shakedown weekend; Rory and Dean take a major step forward in their relationship, to Lorelai's dismay; Emily and Richard admit that they're separated; Kirk decides to let Lulu in on the deep, dark secret of his night terrors; Jason appears at the Inn to plead his case with Lorelai, to no avail; Luke answers Lorelai's question about the status of their relationship when he makes it passionately clear to Lorelai that they're dating, to which she enthusiastically agrees.