December 5, 2006: Let's Get Ready to Rumble! (comm)

Je sais pas si ça vaut le coup, ça me parait plus un commentaire, une analyse qu'une interview... à voir en lisant el truc si le point de vue est intéressant et si ça avaut le coup de le traduire...

December 5, 2006: Let's Get Ready to Rumble!
Ladies and gentleman! In this corner, we have lightweight Christopher Hayden! Prep-school flunkie! Former deadbeat dad! Total metrosexual! Newly minted millionaire! Recently married to Lorelai Gilmore! And in that corner, we have heavyweight Luke Danes! Diner owner! Public-school grad! New father to a teen he didn’t know existed! Total tough guy! Regular middle-class Joe! Recently engaged to Lorelai Gilmore! Let’s get ready to ruuuuuumble!

Now, I’m not one for violence, and I usually look away when things get brutal. But this was one smack-down I was not going to miss. I was shocked that Chris, the kind of guy who gets manicures and facials, could even hold his own against lunky Luke. But he got in a few good punches before Luke socked him right across the jaw, knocking him to the ground. That didn’t stop scrappy Chris from lunging back at Luke. (Nothing says Merry Christmas like two grown men rolling around the town square, taking down the Stars Hollow Christmas Tree and crushing all the decorations.) The best part, really, is that neither one of them won. They both got up, dusted themselves off, circled each other like two rabid dogs, then turned and walked away. Which only means one thing: This ain’t over. Not even close.

We all know why Luke is pissed. He lost his woman, literally, overnight. But Chris? What’s he got against “the diner guy”? (OK, Luke did punch him in the face once, but Chris knew he deserved it, and let it go.) Well, for starters, Lorelai won’t leave the house that Luke rebuilt. Chris did seem pretty cool about staying, but living there has to creep him out just a little bit. And it didn’t help that Lorelai, Luke and Doula made such a happy-looking family. Did you see the look on Chris' face when he saw them together outside the market? (By the way, I stand corrected: Last week I said Chris didn’t want more kids. But that was before he saw his wife cooing over Luke’s newborn niece. Nothing like a little jealousy to get the testosterone flowing.) And I can understand why Chris would be mad that Lorelai planned an entire wedding for Luke (in one day, remember), but she didn’t want to have one with him. (Though he is forgetting a few important things: Luke wasn’t involved in any of the wedding plans; now Lorelai has to deal with pushy Emily. Can you blame her for not wanting a froofy wedding?) But Chris was right about one thing. When Lorelai told her mother she eloped to avoid a wedding, he quickly corrected her. “No, we eloped because we love each other and want to be together forever.” For a second, I actually felt bad for him. Clearly, that’s what pushed Chris over the edge. But that didn’t give him the right to try to punch Luke’s (and Stars Hollow’s) lights out.

Ever since Chris quickly moved in on a fragile Lorelai, someone needed to help her find her footing. And surprisingly, it was Emily Gilmore, the only one smart enough to notice that the marriage is in trouble. When she told Lorelai that marriage is serious business and is all about compromise, she wasn’t exactly imparting pearls of wisdom. But then she reminded Lorelai that her trademark pride and her need to win every argument will destroy the marriage. Those words prove that no one knows her better than her mother, even if Lorelai is loathe to admit it. Perhaps this will send her on the right path. Because neither Luke nor Chris can help her do that.