The third season of Gilmore Girls , an American comedy-drama television series , began airing on September 24, 2002 on The WB television network. The season ended on May 20, 2003, after 22 episodes. The season was aired on Tuesday nights at 8 / 7c.
Overview
The season opens with Lorelai having to break the news to Richard and Emily that she and Christopher are not getting back together, although this does result in her mending her rift with Luke. Rory is estranged from Christopher for a time but later gets back in touch, resulting in the girls attending Sherry’s baby shower and supporting her in labor until Christopher arrives. Alex, the business partner of an old friend of Sookie’s, and having a brief meeting with Max. Lorelai has trouble getting back into dating, receiving a dinner invitation from Kirk, intermittently dating
Jane and her girlfriend Shane. Jane and his girlfriend Shane. Jane and his girlfriend Shane. Rory and Jess get together, and the positions are reversed when Dean starts dating one of her old classmates, Lindsay Lister, and they become engaged. Jess takes a job at Wal-Mart to take extra shifts. Rory and fighting with Dean. After a visit from his estranged father Jimmy, he leaves town without telling Luke or Rory to stay with him in California.
Lane finds a band to be drummer with and Lorelai and Rory let them practice in the garage. Lane starts dating bandmate Dave Rygarski in secret, using her mother’s preferred prom date. Young Chui as a cover, until she gets drunk at a party, rings her mother and tells her everything. Dave pleads their case and Mrs Kim lets them go to the prom together. Paris starts dating Jamie, a student from Princeton that she and Rory met in Washington, but falls out with Rory when she thinks she has told Francie about Francie about them. However, it is Rory that Paris turns to when she sleeps with Jamie and fails to get into Harvard. Taylor’s solicitor Nicole Leahy. Taylor’s solicitor Nicole Leahy.
Richard takes the girls on a trip to Yale, where he has secretly set up an interview for Rory. Lorelai is incensed, especially when Rory makes Yale one of her backup applications, but they both realize it is where Rory really wants to go. Richard gives Lorelai $ 75,000 from an investment he made her Rory’s school fees. Emily interprets this as her cutting ties with them and they fall out. The windfall results in Rory being refused financial aid. The Independence Inn is located in the heart of Lorelai. Lorelai and Sookie renew plans to buy the Dragonfly Inn after Fran dies. Sookie discovers she is pregnant.
In the final season, Lorelai and Rory are planning to go backpacking in Europe while Luke is planning to go on a cruise with Nicole. Independence Inn is closed and Lorelai is unable to afford Rory’s university fees. Rory borrows the money from Richard and Emily in return for reinstating Friday night dinners and Lorelai and Sookie are able to buy the Dragonfly. Rory gives the valedictorian a speech at graduation, paying tribute to her grandparents and Lorelai, and the season ends with Rory and Lorelai looking around Chilton for the last time.
Cast
Main article: List of Gilmore Girls characters
Main cast
- Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore
- Alexis Bledel as Rory Gilmore
- Melissa McCarthy as Sookie St. James
- Keiko Agena as Lane Kim
- Yanic Truesdale as Michel Gerard
- Scott Patterson as Luke Danes
- Jared Padalecki as Dean Forester
- Liza Weil as Paris Geller
- Milo Ventimiglia as Jess Mariano
- Sean Gunn as Kirk Gleason
- Kelly Bishop as Emily Gilmore
- Edward Herrmann as Richard Gilmore
Recurring cast
- Teal Redmann as Louise Grant
- Shelly Cole as Madeline Lynn
- Liz Torres as Miss Patty
- Jackson Douglas as Jackson Belleville
- Adam Brody as Dave Rygalski
- Emily Kuroda as Mrs. Kim
- Michael Winters as Taylor Doose
- Sally Struthers as Babette Dell
- Scott Cohen as Max Medina
- Todd Lowe as Zack Van Gerbig
- John Cabrera as Brian Fuller
- Dakin Matthews as Headmaster Hanlin Charleston
- Tricia O’Kelley as Nicole Leahy
- Biff Yeager as Tom
- Emily Bergl as Francie Jarvis
- Arielle Kebbel as Lindsay Lister
- Rose Abdoo as Gypsy
- Mädchen Amick as Sherry Tinsdale
- Alan Blumenfeld as Rabbi David Barans
- Mike Gandolfi as Andrew
- Jim Jansen as Reverend Archie Skinner
- Grant Lee Phillips as Grant
- Ted Rooney as Morey Dell
- Aris Alvarado as Caesar
Guest
- Marion Ross as Lorelai ‘Trix’ Gilmore the First
- David Sutcliffe as Christopher Hayden
Episodes
| No. overall |
No. in season |
title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
US viewers (millions) [1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44 | 1 | “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days” | Amy Sherman-Palladino | Amy Sherman-Palladino | September 24, 2002 | 175001 | 5.7 |
| Amidst her sadness about Christopher, Lorelai has an intriguing dream about Luke. Rory returns from Washington to realize that she may have feelings for Jess, but a chance encounter at the first annual Hollow End of Summer Madness Festival makes her realize that he may have moved on to someone else. Relationship quarrels abound – Sookie and Jackson over decorating their house, Lorelai and Rory over Jess versus Dean, Emily and Richard over Lorelai and Christopher – are on the path to resolution. Rory once again guides Paris through the rocky shoals of preparing for a date. | |||||||
| 45 | 2 | “Haunted Leg” | Chris Long | Amy Sherman-Palladino | October 1, 2002 | 175002 | 5.8 |
| To Lorelai’s horror, Kirk asks her to be encouraged by Luke. Emily’s Lunch with Luke’s Lits at Badly. Christopher shows up uninvited at Lorelai and Rory before Emily asks him to leave. Rory and Jess and Rory are in love with each other. Francie targets Paris and Rory for a world of trouble if Rory does not stop Paris from running the student council like a dictatorship. | |||||||
| 46 | 3 | “Application Anxiety” | Gail Mancuso | Daniel Palladino | October 8, 2002 | 175003 | 5.2 |
| Rory’s application for Harvard arrives, plunging Rory, Lorelai and Emily into a frenzy. A Chilton seminar on college applications only adds to Rory’s anxiety and sends Paris into a tizzy. Taylor steamrollers Luke into a soda shop next to the diner. Lane places an ad in the paper for a band and finds a musical soul mate. Lorelai and Rory have dinner with a Harvard alumni and her family that assures her chances of acceptance. Dean has a talk with Rory about their future after she goes to Harvard. | |||||||
| 47 | 4 | “One’s Got Class and the Other One Dyes” | Steve Robman | Daniel Palladino | October 15, 2002 | 175004 | 5.4 |
| Lorelai’s stint in the Hollow High School local business success speakers forum gets derailed by some controversial personal questions, much to the delight of Luke and the consternation of some PTA mothers. Luke and Jess argue about the women in and out of their lives (and their closets). Lane alleviates her frustration about the strings of her household and the future of her band through a colorful, if temporary, display of independence. Rory runs into Shane one too many times and succumbs to a severe bout of snarkiness. | |||||||
| 48 | 5 | “Eight O’Clock at the Oasis” | Joe Ann Fogle | Justin Tanner | October 22, 2002 | 175005 | 5.5 |
| Lorelai waits for Emily’s society, she wants to get her hands on her. After a disastrous first date, Lorelai turns down an invitation to another, not realizing that Emily and Richard have a lot invested in her dating this sound of their friends. After Lorelai and Rory agree to water their new neighbor’s lawn while he’s out of town, Jess comes to Rory’s rescue when the lawn’s sprinkler system malfunctions. | |||||||
| 49 | 6 | “Take the Deviled Eggs …” | Jamie Babbit | Daniel Palladino | November 5, 2002 | 175006 | 5.5 |
| Lorelai Rory drivers to Sherry’s baby shower in Boston and finds herself dragged into the festivities against her will. Miss Patty gets a new beautiful. Jess comes home with a car and Luke tries to find out where he got the money to pay for it. One of the Hollow’s most eccentric citizens’ requests for a demonstration in the town square. | |||||||
| 50 | 7 | “They Shoot Gilmores, Do not They?” | Kenny Ortega | Amy Sherman-Palladino | November 12, 2002 | 175007 | 5.7 |
| Lorelai is determined to win the Hollow Dance Marathon and wrestle the trophy from four-time champion Kirk, but has trouble getting a partner until she finally convinces Rory to help her dance her way to victory. Jess keeps his eye on Rory. Jess and Shane, Jess and Shane. Lorelai breaks her heel, and Dean takes her place while Luke plays shoe repairman. On the dance floor, Dean realizes that Rory is attracted to Jess and breaks up with her. Rory tearfully runs off, followed closely by Jess, and Kirk is declared the winner once again. | |||||||
| 51 | 8 | “Let the Games Begin” | Steve Robman | Amy Sherman-Palladino, Sheila R. Lawrence | November 19, 2002 | 175008 | 5.7 |
| In the aftermath of the Dance Marathon, Kirk parades around the Holly with the trophy until someone steals it, while Lorelai and Rory painfully inch their way towards Luke’s. After Lorelai tells Luke about Rory and Jess, he breaks up their first kiss as a couple and then lays down some ground rules with Jess about dating Rory. Lorelai and Rory are the first to find out what they are and what they do. Back from New Haven, Lorelai and Rory head for Luke’s, and Jess and Rory finally get kisses. Rory visits Dean to apologize and tell him what she misses his friendship. Late at night, Lorelai and Rory each curl up with some bedtime reading – the Yale brochure. | |||||||
| 52 | 9 | “A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving” | Kenny Ortega | Daniel Palladino | November 26, 2002 | 175009 | 5.4 |
| It’s Thanksgiving and Lorelai and Rory have dinner at four different places: the Kim’s, where Lane has managed to get Dave invited and Lorelai is forced to eat tofurkey; Luke’s, where Luke and Jess make it a foursome with Lorelai and Rory; Sookie’s, where Jackson and his family have deep-fried the turkey, the lawn and just about everything else; And Emily and Richard’s, where, to Lorelai’s horror, Rory reveals that she has applied to Yale. Kirk gets a cat, with disastrous results. Dave asks Lane out, and then kisses her. Paris is afraid her difficulty getting her acceptance to Harvard. Dean faces off with Jess and lets him know that’s no more “Mr. Nice Guy” for Mr. Forester. | |||||||
| 53 | 10 | “That’ll Do, Pig” | Jamie Babbit | Sheila R. Lawrence | January 14, 2003 | 175010 | 5.5 |
| Lorelai’s grandmother arrives in Hartford, United Kingdom, United States,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Rory declares war on Francie after she pulled a runaround in Paris with the Student Council. Paris finds herself in love after spending Christmas vacation with Jamie’s family. After Rory and Dean bump into each other a few times, they decide to be friends again. Jess initially declines Rory’s offer to expect the Hollow High Holmes Carnival, but changes his mind after they run into Dean and his sister Clara, who invites Rory to join them. Jess gets Dean alone at the carnival and lets him know what he’s wise to get Rory back. | |||||||
| 54 | 11 | “I Solemnly Swear” | Carla McCloskey | John Stephens | January 21, 2003 | 175011 | 4.8 |
| Lorelai and Sookie are looking forward to attending a seminar with Sookie and her business partner. Lorelai unsuccessfully resists being deposed when her mother is sued by a maid for wrongful termination. After Rory and Francie butt heads at the student council meeting, Francie proposes a truce and then immediately to Paris that Rory is trying to undermine her. Paris is crushed that her best friend has betrayed her and lashes out at her during their fencing class, leaving Rory ostracized by the rest of the student body. | |||||||
| 55 | 12 | “Lorelai Out of Water” | Jamie Babbit | Janet Leahy | January 28, 2003 | 175012 | 4.9 |
| Luke is opposed to having Taylor’s attorney Nicole oversee the paperwork for the construction of the new soda shop until he meets the attractive redhead, which takes as immediate a shine to Luke as he does to her. Lane’s clever scheme to get her mother’s permission to wait for the prom horribly backfires. Luke offers to teach Lorelai the fine art of angling after Alex invites her to go fishing. Rory and Lorelai clear out their garage for Lane’s band and Lorelai gains a new admire from the band. Lane and Rory have some hearts-to-hearts about the men in their lives. Harvard for each of them. Harvard for each of them. Harvard for each of them. | |||||||
| 56 | 13 | “Dear Emily and Richard” | Gail Mancuso | Amy Sherman-Palladino | February 4, 2003 | 175013 | 5.3 |
| Luke and Nicole have a successful first date. Jess and Dean trade verbal blows. Sherry goes into labor with only Lorelai and Rory for company until Chris shows up at last minute. Lorelai has flashbacks about her pregnancy and Rory’s birth. Lorelai introduces Emily to modern entertainment technology by getting her a DVD player and a couple movies. Richard and Emily decry Lorelai’s and Rory’s plans to backpack through Europe. The war between Paris and Rory continues when Paris picks a photo of the “Franklin” staff for the yearbook that has the worst possible shot of Rory. | |||||||
| 57 | 14 | “Swan Song” | Chris Long | Daniel Palladino | February 11, 2003 | 175014 | 5.1 |
| Emily guilts Rory into bringing Jess to a Friday night dinner which turns out to be an unqualified disaster. Lorelai, Alex, Sookie and Jackson go to New York for the weekend. Jess gets a black eye in an altercation with an opponent he is too embarrassed to reveal to anyone Luke. Zack and Brian realize that Lane and Dave are hiding something from them, but miss the mark on the true nature of the secret. Rory and Jess have their first argument, and Luke helps patch things up. | |||||||
| 58 | 15 | “Face-Off” | Kenny Ortega | John Stephens | February 18, 2003 | 175015 | 5.3 |
| The Doose clan invades the Inn for their family reunion. Trix comes for a short visit and drives Emily crazy until Emily finally finds something scandalous to hold over Trix’s head. Lane and Dave cook up a fake-date scheme with Young Chui to get Mrs. Kim to allow Lane to date Dave, but neither Young girlfriend or Dave is immune to a little jealousy. Kirk’s hopelessly inept play-by-play. Kirk’s hopelessly inept play-by-play. After Jess’s too laid-back attitude to going out leaves Rory’s home for the most part of the weekend, she takes Lorelai’s advice and heads for the hockey game, which she has a new girlfriend, Lindsay. | |||||||
| 59 | 16 | “The Big One” | Jamie Babbit | Amy Sherman-Palladino | February 25, 2003 | 175016 | 5.7 |
| Rory and Paris compete for the honor of speaking at Chilton’s Bicentennial. Sookie and Jackson get some very good life (and diaper) changing news. Paris and Rory reconcile. Lorelai runs into Max and it’s apparent that they’re not quite over each other yet. Paris is the first time she has ever had a chance to get to know Jamie is the cause. Rory’s college accepts letters finally arrives. Paris is not sure what to think about the latest development in her relationship with Jamie. | |||||||
| 60 | 17 | “A Tale of Poes and Fire” | Chris Long | Daniel Palladino | April 15, 2003 | 175017 | 4.0 |
| A fire at the Independence Inn forces Lorelai to relocate its guests to her own house and those of her friends, and leaves her spending the night at Luke’s, where she reveals her dream of being married to him and pregnant with their twins. Sookie invaders Luke’s is a great place to go for a romantic getaway. Questions arise about Jess’ expectation at school when he receives the Employee of the Month award from Wal-Mart, and Luke discovers that he’s working there more than full time. Lorelai and Rory start picking up and somewhat unfriendly vibes coming from Nicole and Lindsay. Rory visits Paris, who’s missed the day of school to take to her bed and hide from the world, and prompts her to stop watching soaps, call Jamie, Tell her parents about Harvard, get a life plan, and rejoin the land of the living. Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, Rory has a heart-to-heart with Lorelai and Yale choices. | |||||||
| 61 | 18 | “Happy Birthday, Baby” | Gail Mancuso | Amy Sherman-Palladino | April 22, 2003 | 175018 | 4.6 |
| Emily and Richard rejoice when Rory announces her decision to expect Yale. Kirk sustains baking-related injuries when Rory secretly enlists the help of her fellow Stars Hollows to the world’s largest pizza for her mother’s birthday party. Michel and Tobin, Lorelai, the best present, and the best of the best. Luke confronts Jess about skipping school to work at Wal-Mart, but is blown off as usual. When Lorelai decides to use the money to pay back her parents for Rory’s Chilton tuition, Emily becomes furious with Richard for giving Lorelai the money, fearing that the repayment of their loan is a sign that she will never see either Lorelai or Rory again. | |||||||
| 62 | 19 | “Keg! Max!” | Chris Long | Daniel Palladino | April 29, 2003 | 175019 | 5.3 |
| On their first free Friday night, Lorelai and Rory are at a loss over the evening, while Emily and Richard are at the party they’re hosting. Lorelai is appointed Grad Night Treasurer and runs into a playing-it-cool Max at her first Chilton Booster Club meeting. Lane’s band gets their first gig at a party and rocks house, but Dave rocks Lane’s world when he flips out after discovering that Young Chui is in love with her. A despondent Lane indulges in a little too much beer, and then drunkenly calls her mother and confesses all. The staff at Luke and Nicole were very friendly and helpful. The room was spacious and clean. I ss’ | |||||||
| 63 | 20 | “Say Goodnight, Gracie” | Jamie Babbit | Janet Leahy, Amy Sherman-Palladino | May 6, 2003 | 175020 | 4.9 |
| Fran Weston dies and Lorelei and Sookie try to buy the Dragonfly Inn. Rory and Jess try approaching each other, but fail to talk. Dean tells Rory that he’s engaged to Lindsay. Mrs. Kim agrees to let Lane go to the prom with Dave. Luke finds out about Jess and Dean’s fight at the party and gets even angrier at Jess. Jess’ father comes to Stars’ Hollow and Luke ‘s Jess even harder for Luke. | |||||||
| 64 | 21 | “Here Comes the Son” | Amy Sherman-Palladino | Amy Sherman-Palladino | May 13, 2003 | 175021 | 5.0 |
| Jess heads out to Venice, California to Hollow Stars. The rift widens between Lorelai and Emily. Luke tells Lorelai that Jess took off for good. Lorelai waits for the right moment to break the news to Rory, who is stressing over finals and graduation.
Note: Reviews This was to be a backdoor pilot for a spin-off called “Windward Circle” That Would we focus Jess living in Venice, California and befriending a group of skateboarders. However, the WB did not pick up the series. |
|||||||
| 65 | 22 | “Those Are Strings, Pinocchio” | Jamie Babbit | Daniel Palladino | May 20, 2003 | 175022 | 5.5 |
| Rory finally learns her mother can not afford to buy the Dragonfly Inn since financial aid for Yale did not come through. She decides to take matters into her own hands with a quick visit to her grandparents right before graduation. Luke has second thoughts about a trip with Nicole after something Lorelai tells him. Jess makes silent contact with Rory after her graduation ceremony from Chilton. | |||||||
DVD release
| ‘ The Complete Third Season [2] | ||||
| Set details | Special features | |||
|
|
|||
| Release dates | ||||
| North America | United Kingdom | Continental Europe | norway | australia |
| May 3, 2005 | July 17, 2006 | April 12, 2006 | June 28, 2006 | July 5, 2006 |
References
- Jump up^ ” ” Gilmore Girls “USA ratings” .
- Jump up^ Lecter, Scott (May 15, 2005). “Gilmore Girls: The Complete Third Season” . DVD Talk . Retrieved February 20, 2012 .