Speaker 1: I am all in again.
Speaker 2: Oh let's.
Speaker 3: Hi.
Speaker 1: I am all in again with Scott Patterson and iHeartRadio Podcast.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, I Am all in Podcast one
Speaker 1: eleven productions. iHeartRadio Media, iHeart Podcast. We are gonna recap
Speaker 1: Season one, episode fifteen. Christopher returns with the one and
Speaker 1: only Grant Lee Phillips, who was, as you know, the
Speaker 1: town Troubadour. Grant is here, A welcome friend.
Speaker 2: Good to see you again. You're over the.
Speaker 1: World playing your word songs to adoring audiences. It's good
Speaker 1: to have you. Thank you for your time. I know
Speaker 1: you watched this episode. What was your overall impression of
Speaker 1: this episode?
Speaker 2: Goodness? I yea christ talking. Christopher returns. I gotta say, Scott,
Speaker 2: I found it, uh somewhat bittersweet. The bitter part being
Speaker 2: that I was not in this episode, and I feel
Speaker 2: very bitter about it. The sweet part being that, you know,
Speaker 2: it had a lot of other great things going for it. No,
Speaker 2: this is this is really early on in the in
Speaker 2: the pageant of Gimire girls, isn't it.
Speaker 1: Christopher returns, Uh, you know, Rory's happy that her dad's back,
Speaker 1: and right Laurliz is a little hesitant, but seems kind
Speaker 1: of like open minded and somewhat positive about it.
Speaker 2: But right, but I think overall.
Speaker 1: She remained skeptical, skeptical and questioning why he's really there.
Speaker 1: Richard has more faith in Christopher, according to Laura La
Speaker 1: and she keeps telling Rory this and and and he
Speaker 1: comes in like mister motorcycle, cool guy. Let me ask
Speaker 1: you this, do you think they were setting up Christopher
Speaker 1: because that's a big entrance. And I was discussing this
Speaker 1: earlier with the podcast team with Jackie and and Emma,
Speaker 1: and we all agreed that they really set up this
Speaker 1: entrance for Christopher to come in like this, you know,
Speaker 1: like almost like Marlon.
Speaker 2: Brando automobile cycle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I mean like like obviously softer version, but
Speaker 1: super cool, super hot guy. Right, and he gets off
Speaker 1: his Indian motorcycle and hey, I'm here with my perfect
Speaker 1: hair and my chisel giant all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: Do you think that they were trying to make this
Speaker 1: guy because we know how the fans feel about him,
Speaker 1: and it's not good, not good.
Speaker 2: I can see that.
Speaker 1: Do you think that Amy and Dan were setting him
Speaker 1: up to be a legitimate rival to Luke or to
Speaker 1: whomever she ends up with, or do you think they
Speaker 1: knew that, you know, he was he was not going
Speaker 1: to be well received by fans.
Speaker 2: I believe they well, I think at the same time,
Speaker 2: he rides in, like you say, right on the white Horse.
Speaker 2: But on the other hand, we see that he's not
Speaker 2: necessarily being upfront, maybe with Laura Lyon right his family,
Speaker 2: with Richard Emily. We also see you know, the sort
Speaker 2: of the unconscious of the town, a tailor on his
Speaker 2: very large cell phone or whatever, the walkie talking. So
Speaker 2: there's you know, it's kind of like the town. It's
Speaker 2: kind of a sweet sweet element has their back and
Speaker 2: they're watching making sure they're like the family kind of
Speaker 2: like looking over like is this we don't know about
Speaker 2: this guy? So we're getting our signals from those who
Speaker 2: are very close, you know, that we maybe shouldn't have
Speaker 2: complete trust and Christopher just yet, you know, right.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll get back to that. But that's the opening question,
Speaker 1: right It's like, is this intentional? Because he does have
Speaker 1: some obvious flaws and they reveal themselves that he cannot
Speaker 1: be trusted, that he lies in this kind of thing. Still,
Speaker 1: still the question remains, all right, so now We're experiencing
Speaker 1: some small town of softball game. Luke's on the mound,
Speaker 1: Dean is coming to the plate, and Rory brings and
Speaker 1: you know, Sean Gunn is there doing this hilarious interpretation
Speaker 1: of hackling both Jared and myself until Luke has had
Speaker 1: enough and he's he's like, all right, that's my favorite.
Speaker 1: Eric runs away, but Christopher shows up with Dean meets him.
Speaker 1: You know, it's all this like, how is this guy
Speaker 1: going to fit into this town?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Miss Patty meets him. She does her usual you know,
Speaker 1: uh look, looks over the attractive young man, but then
Speaker 1: she pulls out her phone once they walk away, like hey,
Speaker 1: you know, which really adds to the small town flavor
Speaker 1: and charm of the show. That's kind of exactly how
Speaker 1: it happens in it, and painful to watch was when
Speaker 1: they go into the bookstore and he tries to buy
Speaker 1: her the English Oxford Dictionary, right, and his card has declined, right,
Speaker 1: and it's like, boy, gosh, it's just this guy and
Speaker 1: this is the first time we've seen him. Nobody knows
Speaker 1: what to expect. So they bring in this sort of
Speaker 1: perfect guy on a motorcycle. The you know, the perfect
Speaker 1: kind of metro sctual guy, right, all cleaned up, right,
Speaker 1: there's there's no there's no metallica t shirts torn and
Speaker 1: and there's no beard, there's no long hair, there's no attitude,
Speaker 1: there's no chain wallet. You know, it's just like friendly
Speaker 1: guy and he can't pay for the darn dictionary. Let's
Speaker 1: his daughter down right away. So now I'm beginning to
Speaker 1: think this is all intentional. They were trying to create
Speaker 1: the most unlikable character on the show and in recent
Speaker 1: television memory. I think they really are aware of how
Speaker 1: the audience reacts so at this point, because you can't
Speaker 1: give this guy this many flaws and expect anybody to
Speaker 1: root for him, right, or that relationship right anyway, So
Speaker 1: all right, so we going to the diner. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: Luke immediately dislikes Christopher.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, oh yeah, you.
Speaker 1: Know, calls him a punk. He uses a cell phone.
Speaker 1: It's just like it's so obviously just to set up
Speaker 1: for future conflict. Yeah, and the guy just completely disregards
Speaker 1: the rules, doesn't care. Nobody can be this uptight. I'm
Speaker 1: just going to use my cell phone. And then I
Speaker 1: think the most interesting part of that scene was that Laurel.
Speaker 1: I actually took the phone and talked on the phone
Speaker 1: in violation of Luke's rules. Right, it's sort of disrespecting the.
Speaker 2: Man, right, right, right, because you know, you just.
Speaker 1: Don't do that there, right. What do you think of
Speaker 1: all this so far? Are you liking him? How are
Speaker 1: you feeling about Christopher so far?
Speaker 2: Well? I feel like there's an obvious amount of deflection
Speaker 2: going on with Christopher. You know, we really don't get
Speaker 2: to know him. There's always some kind of you know,
Speaker 2: something that that occurs, the conversation will shift, so we
Speaker 2: never really find out what Christopher has going on out
Speaker 2: in California or what he doesn't have going on, right,
Speaker 2: you know, we don't really know him. I guess it's
Speaker 2: the case, you know, before he comes forth and proposes,
Speaker 2: right presents all of this, you.
Speaker 1: Know, I mean, that's a desperate active as desperate man.
Speaker 2: Right, true, true, Yeah, And we don't know Strob or Francine,
Speaker 2: and I don't feel like I'm guessing maybe they did
Speaker 2: they come back on the on.
Speaker 1: The I can't imagine that they would would appear after that.
Speaker 1: I mean, Richard literally grabbed strobes lapels and pulled him
Speaker 1: in and.
Speaker 2: Said you know, he nearly came to fisticofs it. Really,
Speaker 2: Richard would duel. I think ed Herman was so great
Speaker 2: in this God that that was really really nice to
Speaker 2: see Edward up there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What a master craftsman, What a master of his craft. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just everything was pitch perfect. The guy was just so great.
Speaker 1: So now Emily invites the phone person. The purpose of
Speaker 1: the phone call that violates Luke's rules is Emily inviting
Speaker 1: Christopher and Fred knight dinner. It's a family gathering. And
Speaker 1: then we cut immediately to them all standing outside waiting
Speaker 1: to cross into the cross the door into a into
Speaker 1: that strange Gilmour world that they all fear so much.
Speaker 1: But it is it's you know, it's it's imbued with
Speaker 1: all of these uh you know, positive memories and very
Speaker 1: negative memories for for especially for Christopher and Lorelaia of
Speaker 1: what happened. This is when we find out what happened.
Speaker 1: This is the characteristic of this script of this episode.
Speaker 1: I mean, there there are some laugh out loud lines.
Speaker 1: There just not very many of them, you know, if
Speaker 1: you if you were to count them, and I sometimes
Speaker 1: I count them my favorite episodes and where I think
Speaker 1: this operates best is as a light comedy with overwhelming
Speaker 1: amount of great humor. This wasn't that this was right,
Speaker 1: This was this very serious episode. It just had a
Speaker 1: totally different tone.
Speaker 2: True.
Speaker 1: Richard Emily are obviously thrilled to see Christopher, right, and
Speaker 1: Ed wants to hear about the company, and Christopher's evasive
Speaker 1: and he doesn't want to jinx the good success that
Speaker 1: he's been experiencing and he's got, according to him, hundreds
Speaker 1: of employees. What he described it made me very suspicious
Speaker 1: in the beginning, right, because I know too much about him.
Speaker 2: Right, although we do enjoy, you know, the trademark references
Speaker 2: that are so Gilmore. We got a shout out to
Speaker 2: Fred and Mertz right, the offspring, you know, I think
Speaker 2: me and you mentioned metallic, I think Metallica.
Speaker 1: Right, right, Metallica, He's an offspring.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Tolstoy, I mean, you know.
Speaker 1: Goodness, all of it. Right, What do you think about
Speaker 1: this whole scene? I loved the scene. I thought I
Speaker 1: think I thought it was great dramatic writing, you know,
Speaker 1: the big blow up scene. What do you think about this?
Speaker 2: The blow up scene? Are you talking about Richard.
Speaker 1: Emily's uh yeah, when Christopher and Rory and Laurel I
Speaker 1: walk into the living room and have drinks with Richard
Speaker 1: Emily and then Strobe and Francine show up and it
Speaker 1: all turns.
Speaker 2: Basically just shows them the door, right sort of. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean you get you get a real strong sense
Speaker 2: of of who Richard is, you know, what it means
Speaker 2: to be a Gilmore as you know he might say,
Speaker 2: and his sense of pride, his you know, he talks
Speaker 2: about it the protection of his family, you know, but
Speaker 2: it's also kind of his family is, you know, in
Speaker 2: terms of him and his identity as well. Yeah, that
Speaker 2: was I mean, that was meaningful. Also interesting to see
Speaker 2: this this other softer dynamic with Emily, who can be
Speaker 2: obviously somewhat cold and harsh in terms of Laurli, but
Speaker 2: with Rory there's that really there's a really meaningful moment
Speaker 2: where she tells Laura Lai, you know that yeh, family
Speaker 2: has you know, we have our problems, but it's not
Speaker 2: you are not to blame, you know. I thought that's
Speaker 2: a great, great thing because I think kids often do
Speaker 2: kind of internalize such things, right we Yeah, I thought
Speaker 2: that was a really great moment.
Speaker 1: Amazing, The amazing part of this scene was that it
Speaker 1: had such a blind spot in it, and the blind
Speaker 1: spot was from everybody's point of view except for Strobe
Speaker 1: and Freancy. Everybody had this sort of blind spot that
Speaker 1: they didn't factor in that Strobe was going to come
Speaker 1: in and do what he did, and that was he
Speaker 1: justified in doing it. This is, you know, he doesn't
Speaker 1: have a lot of contact with his son, right he
Speaker 1: considers his son of failure. He comes in immediately Laurel
Speaker 1: I is, you know, trying to drop some jokes that
Speaker 1: you can tell that. It's like, wait a minute, she's
Speaker 1: they're inappropriately rude with her right away when they're standing up.
Speaker 1: So it's like, why we love this character. We love
Speaker 1: law She's she's she's done this, she's raised this great kid. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, she's she's she suffered a horrible fate at
Speaker 1: the hand of her her parents, and and this guy's
Speaker 1: laying into her man and so is the mothers. You know,
Speaker 1: just judging, judging, judging. We didn't did you see this coming? This, this,
Speaker 1: this Strobe attack on Lorelei. No kind of makes sense,
Speaker 1: doesn't it. It's like, if he's going to lash out
Speaker 1: at somebody, here's his opportunity. Emily didn't see it. Richard
Speaker 1: didn't see it when they made the invite, and he said,
Speaker 1: we used to be uh, very very close with this couple,
Speaker 1: but we haven't seen them in years.
Speaker 2: He wonder why. Yeah, And it is one of those
Speaker 2: things where it's it's sometimes easier to to focus all
Speaker 2: of you your bad feelings, not on your own your
Speaker 2: own offspring, but on Laurai, you know, kind of blaming
Speaker 2: Lauraai for whatever course Christopher's life is.
Speaker 1: Well. I think Strobe has had plenty of those discussions
Speaker 1: with Christopher. Well, probably so, and I think he will
Speaker 1: continue to look at his own son as somebody who's
Speaker 1: just ruined all of their lives. Yeah, with one stupid act.
Speaker 1: But now is his chance to really fix his sights
Speaker 1: on LAURREALI do you think it was justified?
Speaker 2: Was Stroke justified in his Yes?
Speaker 1: Was he justified?
Speaker 2: Oh? No, I don't believe so, not at all, No,
Speaker 2: not at all, you know, And I think you kind
Speaker 2: of see this particular note being struck throughout, you know,
Speaker 2: throughout the episode. But you know, you know, it would
Speaker 2: be quite easy for a character like Laurli to be
Speaker 2: to be judged by society she's single woman raising her daughter,
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, she's irreverent and she has to
Speaker 2: you know, deal with all deal with all of the
Speaker 2: blowback from that, you know, all of this kind of
Speaker 2: class stuff that the Strobe, the Strobe and France scene
Speaker 2: with her, and then her own parents as well. You know.
Speaker 2: But you know, Lorelai is like a great number of us,
Speaker 2: just trying to trying to get by and do her life,
Speaker 2: and her her real kind of heart is with raising
Speaker 2: her daughter and experiencing her life. And I think that
Speaker 2: that really resonates man. You know.
Speaker 1: So the Strobe character and his speech.
Speaker 2: To her, his abuse of her, yeah.
Speaker 1: In front of her own daughter, Yeah, and parents, is
Speaker 1: exactly why she left the Fold in the first place.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1: Because that's what Emily and Richard.
Speaker 2: Were like, Yeah, yeah, right. It is kind of funny right.
Speaker 1: Now Richard has to experience it himself instead of doling
Speaker 1: out the abuse as you can only imagine sixteen years
Speaker 1: prior to the volume and the ferocity of that abuse.
Speaker 1: Since a sixteen year old girl who made a mistake,
Speaker 1: who didn't want to marry that guy, all just perfectly understandable,
Speaker 1: just wants to get away from this insanity and these
Speaker 1: crazy people like Strobe, like Richard was, like Emily was,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, just wow, Richard, I guess, I guess
Speaker 1: I've been excommunicated by this family if I don't go
Speaker 1: along with their dictates. So I'm going to go here
Speaker 1: into a very safe place and have a lovely little life, yeah,
Speaker 1: where I get to experience all of the things that
Speaker 1: I never had as a child. I was given plenty
Speaker 1: of material things I was we had all the money
Speaker 1: in the world, and the trips to Europe and this
Speaker 1: and that, but it's not what fed me, not what
Speaker 1: not what I needed. So I think it's like that
Speaker 1: town raised laurel I as much as it raised Rory.
Speaker 1: It gave that town and those people gave them everything
Speaker 1: they needed so that larel I could be a great mother.
Speaker 1: It's actually very moving, it is. I think it's a
Speaker 1: very very important scene. And I think the purpose of
Speaker 1: this episode was to really let the audience know early
Speaker 1: on what awful people these are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, I agree, Yeah.
Speaker 1: This this generation like and I used to defend it
Speaker 1: on the first go round. I used to defend it,
Speaker 1: but now I see, having seen the seven episodes, now
Speaker 1: now I see what an extraordinary, uh person lorel I is,
Speaker 1: and what an extraordinary daughter, and how awful awful these
Speaker 1: people are to her all of the time. And the
Speaker 1: classified is just so stark because it's like she's not
Speaker 1: even their daughter anymore. It's like she's cut off any
Speaker 1: DNA that she shares with her mother and father. It's like,
Speaker 1: there's no chance I'm going to end up like this anyway.
Speaker 2: Very interesting it is, you know, And I think in
Speaker 2: that moment where Richard observes all of this happening their home,
Speaker 2: there's an opportunity for him to see himself and for
Speaker 2: Emily to see herself and Francine is true and you
Speaker 2: know a little bit of a little mini character evolution there,
Speaker 2: you know, like wow, is that? Like you know, maybe
Speaker 2: later that night they went that's not right. Maybe we
Speaker 2: maybe we did think about like you know.
Speaker 1: But also when she when she goes into Richard's study
Speaker 1: and thanks him for defending her, Yeah, he stands up
Speaker 1: and he does the unexpected you know, save it and
Speaker 1: do you know what you put us through?
Speaker 2: Oh? Right now, that was an unexpected turn. I did
Speaker 2: not I did not see that coming.
Speaker 1: But great writing, just great and and you know, he
Speaker 1: he lays it out on the line for her. He said,
Speaker 1: do you know what this did to your mother? She
Speaker 1: couldn't get out of bed for a month, As if
Speaker 1: that was the important part of what happened. It wasn't
Speaker 1: about caring for their daughter. It wasn't about doing the
Speaker 1: right thing for their daughter and listening to her and
Speaker 1: dealing with the problem as a family who cared for
Speaker 1: each other. It was about Emily's issue. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: where is the nurturing, supportive mother of a sixteen year
Speaker 1: old who's in crisis? Right, who's having a real life crisis.
Speaker 1: I mean, wow, So that just shows you. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be doctor Scott diagnosing people on
Speaker 1: I mean, is she a little bit of a narcissist?
Speaker 1: I would say, so, don't tell anybody.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean I think that's just what what
Speaker 2: you know has. I don't know, you know a lot
Speaker 2: of times I have I've been asking why, what what
Speaker 2: is it about this show that continues to bring in viewers?
Speaker 2: You know, I think it's because at its core, it's
Speaker 2: such good writing, and it is it resonates, you know,
Speaker 2: we we identify some of these uh, these archetypes, some
Speaker 2: of these personality works.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of Emily's out there in many different forms.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, everywhere. Yeah, it's always about them.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then when if they perceive rejection, if they perceive
Speaker 1: they are being rejected anyway, they flip out. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: mask comes off. You know. Interesting boy, interesting characterizations, interesting characters,
Speaker 1: well thought out. Yeah, all right, now Christopher and Laurela.
Speaker 1: I end up on the balcony.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, of her old with a bottle of booze.
Speaker 1: But of course, you know, he pulls out a bottle
Speaker 1: of the bottle of bathtub gin. Thanks Christopher, how did
Speaker 1: you afford? I guess, I guess that was the last
Speaker 1: charge on his card before it went belly up, bought
Speaker 1: a bottle of booze. Did this scene make you particularly
Speaker 1: nauseous as it did as it did me? Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say a wee bid. Yeah, it's a tragedy,
Speaker 2: a romance comedy at that.
Speaker 1: But you know, oh, I.
Speaker 2: Can't have one without the other. I guess, I don't.
Speaker 1: Know, And it was I don't know. There's just something
Speaker 1: about that scene. It's just it's very what do they
Speaker 1: say today, cringe? Very cringe? Right, I think, very difficult
Speaker 1: for her to play. You know, it just does something
Speaker 1: to her character that well, I'm just gonna say it. It
Speaker 1: was kind of gross. It really was. Let's just face it.
Speaker 1: It was. It was up to that point in the series.
Speaker 1: You're like, you know, you haven't felt nauseous before, but
Speaker 1: that was nauseating to take that wonderful character and place
Speaker 1: her with such a shlub that it's like, Wow, that's
Speaker 1: just gross.
Speaker 2: I'm sensing all of this, this great tension and what
Speaker 2: you know, sparks between Luke and Loralai in this in
Speaker 2: this particular episode. I mean, this is season one, right,
Speaker 2: so I mean, oh, yeah, they're setting that up. They're
Speaker 2: setting it up, right, she they're setting up that up.
Speaker 2: Who does doing everything up for her morning? Joe and
Speaker 2: her pajamas? Still the scene just after.
Speaker 1: Right, But I like but I like her reaction. The
Speaker 1: thing that's redeeming about the the gross scene was that
Speaker 1: she realized that she'd made a huge mistake. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: that you know, listen, first loves, they're tough, right, You
Speaker 1: never forget about those people. You never stop thinking about
Speaker 1: those people from time to time, I guess, and that
Speaker 1: was hers Whether we like it or not, you know,
Speaker 1: and in defense of her character, you know, what a
Speaker 1: what a what a position to be in after having
Speaker 1: gone through that kind of again, right, that had to
Speaker 1: have triggered her. So it's sort of maybe put her
Speaker 1: back in her childhood trauma at sixteen because Strobe Richard
Speaker 1: or Emily yelling at her in the same way that
Speaker 1: Strobe did. You know, as you can just hear Emily
Speaker 1: and Richard screaming at her, You've ruined our lives, You've
Speaker 1: ruined your life. Why won't you marry this man? And
Speaker 1: I mean, are you kidding me? You're going to raise
Speaker 1: the baby and it's going to ruin our lives. It's
Speaker 1: pretty much all about them. So here she is reverting
Speaker 1: back to that old behavior. And when she when it's over,
Speaker 1: when it's finished, she's Laurel I again, she's a mother.
Speaker 1: She she she gets out of her trauma a little
Speaker 1: bit and says, oh, okay, this was stupid, this was
Speaker 1: a bad idea. Let's get out of here. And they're
Speaker 1: silent on the car ride home basically, but Rory picks
Speaker 1: it up. She can pick it up. She senses something happened. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: and then it all comes out in the kitchen, right,
Speaker 1: It all comes out in the Metallica versus Offspring conflict
Speaker 1: scene between Christopher and Lorelei. He admits that he lied
Speaker 1: about his company, and it's just such a letdown. I mean,
Speaker 1: the guy's such a letdown right away. So I mean,
Speaker 1: if we were, if we were to paint a picture
Speaker 1: of a cool modern dude, you know it would be him.
Speaker 1: But boy do they There's so many flaws to this guy.
Speaker 1: He's not really redeemable. And I think they it's a
Speaker 1: smart thing to do for a character because it adds
Speaker 1: so much negative tension to the narrative. And you actually
Speaker 1: do want people hating on him. You do want that
Speaker 1: because then they just root harder for Luke and Moreley.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Anyway, that was that was a pretty epic fight. I
Speaker 1: thought when it got into the Metallica h Offspring thing,
Speaker 1: it got a little silly because it was it was supposed.
Speaker 1: I wanted to escalate further, you know, and keep it real. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because she was really rejecting him. She was like reclaiming
Speaker 1: her adulthood, she was reclaiming her life and why she
Speaker 1: walked away from all of it, from him, from her
Speaker 1: parents and made a great life for herself and her daughter.
Speaker 1: I mean, she's doing great. Her daughter's in you know, Yale,
Speaker 1: going to Yale, she's going to private school. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: she shouldn't need this guy. Yeah, she shouldn't need this BS. Yeah,
Speaker 1: from this creepy, gross guy, right, you need it? In fact,
Speaker 1: she doesn't really need a man, does she does?
Speaker 3: She?
Speaker 2: Laura's a very strong character.
Speaker 1: You need or want need versus one, right. I mean
Speaker 1: it's like she's kind of in this perfect place and
Speaker 1: then this guy and you know, the Luke luc and
Speaker 1: Laurel a discovering each other and it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: fun to watch, you know. Yeah, and you know, we'll
Speaker 1: see how that plays out. But she doesn't need this guy.
Speaker 1: I mean, all he's going to do is drag her down.
Speaker 1: Marry me with his little puppy dog face, right, marry me.
Speaker 1: It's like what marry you? He disappeared for sixteen years
Speaker 1: what you call once a week? Do you think that's
Speaker 1: being a father?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Right? Does he have a sidecar on his ev.
Speaker 1: If there's one thing I can't stand, it's crap fathers
Speaker 1: I can't stand, and he is one.
Speaker 2: It's interesting that I mean, she is a very strong character,
Speaker 2: and yet it demonstrates that you can be a strong
Speaker 2: character and still have doubt, insecurities, be faced with all
Speaker 2: the challenges that we you know, any of us in
Speaker 2: our life. But it's like that thing where you know,
Speaker 2: a person who's heroic isn't isn't necessarily that they aren't
Speaker 2: aware of the dangers before the more the challenges, you know,
Speaker 2: or their own limitations just how we deal with those things,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: But I mean they have to give her some flaws. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's just sup perfect up to this point. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: here it is. Here's her Achilles heel. Here it is,
Speaker 1: here's how it went down. We're gonna gross you out
Speaker 1: with this scene. And she ain't perfect, which is good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it would it could be very difficult to resist,
Speaker 2: you know, someone like Christopher when you have parents like
Speaker 2: Emily and Richard. You know, I'm sure that's the case,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: I mean he couldn't even stand up to his own
Speaker 1: mother when she was berating him over his time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's to for fix your tie the way.
Speaker 2: They That was sad. That was a sad scene.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a thirty two year old guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's thirty two and he's still being shamed by his parents.
Speaker 2: He's thirty two and Lorelei's sixteen in this particular.
Speaker 1: Episode, right, I think they both were sixteen in this people.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize that slowing the math.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, anyway, you know, now we talk about a
Speaker 1: little bit. It really was maybe one of the deepest
Speaker 1: explorations into both their psychees and giving us this historic
Speaker 1: historical background, which is really important for the storytelling. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it was just beautifully, beautifully acted and beautifully written.
Speaker 1: But boy, they're really setting they continue to set the
Speaker 1: table for future episodes. Yeah, it's just great storytelling. These
Speaker 1: these two are just such great storytellers.
Speaker 2: I always found that to be a fascinating dynamic about
Speaker 2: Gilmore Girls, that you have this sort of that dynamic
Speaker 2: of Laura Lai and her parents l and Rory. How,
Speaker 2: how how her relationship with her parents, how it filters everything,
Speaker 2: the things that she avoids, the things that she might
Speaker 2: not you know, immediately recognize, you know, all of that.
Speaker 2: You know, it's sort of that generational type of thing.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: She wakes up right, Yeah, she runs the diner. She
Speaker 1: apologizes to look right, and he realizes why, and she's
Speaker 1: not gonna lie to them. I like that she's not
Speaker 1: gonna lie to them. Something came up someone he knew.
Speaker 1: They didn't have to talk about it. He knew, right right,
Speaker 1: he knows what he's up against. She's this extraordinary woman, strong, independent,
Speaker 1: you know, brilliant, beautiful, and he knows, he knows.
Speaker 2: Is that dumb?
Speaker 1: And that was that he just went went inside. And
Speaker 1: that's a little depressing because we were on the luke
Speaker 1: morelight train there and stopped, and you know, we feel
Speaker 1: a certain way about that. But then she comes. The
Speaker 1: very last scene was very moving. I played it three
Speaker 1: or four times.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: We cut to Luke walking down the street looking into
Speaker 1: his diner, opening the door, and there's Laurel I paint
Speaker 1: all over her face, having done the job for him.
Speaker 1: It was a beautiful gesture and it meant I'm still here.
Speaker 1: I like you, I want to continue this. I'm sorry. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a huge gesture. And I don't care who
Speaker 1: you are. You know, you're you're gonna you're gonna like
Speaker 1: that gesture. You're gonna be like that's impressive. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: that's just again great writing. So anyway, you know, Laura,
Speaker 1: Laura La I rehabilitating the situation and showing that she
Speaker 1: cares for this man and and wants to be a
Speaker 1: great friend, and you know, you know, maybe there's some
Speaker 1: potential there. She doesn't know, she's she's not in a
Speaker 1: place right now where she wants to dive into a relationship,
Speaker 1: but she certainly sees some value in this man, right right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: interesting foreshadowing because I think in the next episode we're
Speaker 1: going to see Rachel show up.
Speaker 2: For remind me, Rachel is a past Luke's ex.
Speaker 1: Yeah, broke his heart, busted his hard to put. Uh huh.
Speaker 2: What kind a vehicle that she drive?
Speaker 1: I do not I don't know. She's a she's a
Speaker 1: world traveling photographer. Oh right, okay, I don't know what
Speaker 1: kind of vehicles she drives. Probably a rental car, I
Speaker 1: don't know. Uh, But anyway, Christopher and maybe an even
Speaker 1: grocer scene. They're really grossy what that lessing? I'm leaving? Yeah,
Speaker 1: because you see it's so painful to watch, because I
Speaker 1: really feel sorry for Rory. I mean, this is her dad.
Speaker 1: Her dad is just like the guy ain't interested in her,
Speaker 1: you know, he's just like playing.
Speaker 2: It being a dad.
Speaker 1: He was interested in her. He would have been interested
Speaker 1: in her from day one. Yeah, and help her and
Speaker 1: made sure he was there in town and raise her.
Speaker 2: So he gets on the motorbike first, he says.
Speaker 1: No, no, no matter what anybody told him, whether to stay away,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do this on my own. He would have
Speaker 1: found a way to ingratiate himself and to make himself.
Speaker 2: Helpful.
Speaker 1: And even if it's in the periphery. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: you got a fight to be in your kid's life sometimes, right.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, Yeah, that's a good fight. Yeah, I was.
Speaker 2: I found that my my blood pressure, my pulse was racing,
Speaker 2: my heart was racing. As Christopher the final scene, he
Speaker 2: gets on the motorcycle, right and it's like wow, and
Speaker 2: they have that that moment where he does rory something
Speaker 2: and he just say, well, you give it another you
Speaker 2: give me a chance. He's like, nope, Metallica, it's still
Speaker 2: you know the joke, and then you all right, hops
Speaker 2: in the motorbike and it's ready to sail up. I
Speaker 2: I leapt to the conclusion, and I'm glad I was
Speaker 2: wrong that we were going to go to the end
Speaker 2: of the movie Pollock where you see Christopher right off,
Speaker 2: and then cut to Christopher in a ravine or.
Speaker 1: Something like that.
Speaker 2: Christopher was a head on collision truck something something really
Speaker 2: brutal like that. And it's like, but they didn't go
Speaker 2: that rat that's kind of It's probably for the best, right.
Speaker 1: But the thing I found most disturbing in this entire
Speaker 1: episode was in that scene was that he used his
Speaker 1: daughter that he doesn't particularly care no to send a
Speaker 1: message to Glorile I trying to be all cutesy, right,
Speaker 1: and then she sent a message back. I mean that's
Speaker 1: when I really wanted to volop. Yeah, It's like, is
Speaker 1: this guy kidding? Yeah, And it's it's just go away,
Speaker 1: you know, getting her hopes up like that, instead of
Speaker 1: being a man about it and and you know, really
Speaker 1: earning that spot. Yeah, you know, being a solid guy,
Speaker 1: like like you know, move there, get a regular job,
Speaker 1: be in town, be there, right, you know, don't be
Speaker 1: this hand grenade that shows.
Speaker 2: Up every once in a while, right right, with.
Speaker 1: This needy, desperate, whiny stuff. I just God triys me crazy.
Speaker 2: Is this also Scott or is this also Luke?
Speaker 1: Both?
Speaker 2: Both? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I hate deadbeat dads. I can't stand him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there ought.
Speaker 1: To be laws against these people. You bring a child
Speaker 1: into the world, you know, step up.
Speaker 2: I'm with you. Step up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a life you have to tend to.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Anyway, Grant, Yes, your first appearance was episode fourteen, the
Speaker 1: one before Damn Don and Reed. How did you get
Speaker 1: this job? Tell us a little bit about how you
Speaker 1: got Did she call you?
Speaker 2: No? No? My My understanding is is that Amy and
Speaker 2: Dan they were fans of Grantly Buffalo, the band that
Speaker 2: I had, you know, before I went off on my own.
Speaker 2: They were, you know, they were following what was just
Speaker 2: the beginning of my solo career, you know, uh the
Speaker 2: nineties were was spent with Grantly Buffalo on the road
Speaker 2: recording this and that, and right there around y two
Speaker 2: K kind of went off on my own, and uh
Speaker 2: so I was kind of wide open, you know, I
Speaker 2: had a new record. I was just very very open
Speaker 2: to like whatever whatever was going to come my way.
Speaker 2: And that's when I happened to get that that call
Speaker 2: that would I be interested in this part? And it
Speaker 2: was It really came out of that that that organic
Speaker 2: and I had no idea that it would you know,
Speaker 2: kind of snowball into several several episodes, several seasons.
Speaker 1: You know, can you do me a favorite? Can you
Speaker 1: lean into the microphone and said, whatever is going to
Speaker 1: come my way again?
Speaker 2: Whatever's going to come my way.
Speaker 1: That's why you're at what you do, because you can
Speaker 1: just say something and it sounds like a lyric. That's remarkable.
Speaker 2: We're never gonna come man than you.
Speaker 1: Are you still living down in Nashville.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you can kind of see this is this
Speaker 2: is what it's been looking like. Here my my, my
Speaker 2: zoom background. Yeah. Yeah, we've we've got a little bit
Speaker 2: of snow still on the ground. It's beautiful, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I do. I do get very homesick for what was
Speaker 2: my home in Burbank. So when I watch Gilmore, well,
Speaker 2: I'm seeing, yeah, the light and I'm seeing the town,
Speaker 2: and I'm remembering that I could have drove off around
Speaker 2: Miss Patty's and down the lane and I could have
Speaker 2: been home in Burbank in about five minutes from there.
Speaker 2: I would have stopped by Piqito Moss and got my
Speaker 2: Moscallattas or whatever.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I miss I missed the great Mexican food and uh,
Speaker 2: you know, but yeah, I miss it all. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: brought good, good memories watching last night, and I haven't
Speaker 2: seen all of the episodes, but I wasn't in so boy,
Speaker 2: I've got a lot of catching up to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let me ask you this. Did Amy or Dan
Speaker 1: give you any or a lot of direction for the characters?
Speaker 1: You pretty much have creative freedom on what to do?
Speaker 2: Uh? Well, I think uh, I think it was it
Speaker 2: was all on the page generally, you know. I came
Speaker 2: in like everyone else and did the table read. But
Speaker 2: otherwise I showed up, you know, dressed myself, and I
Speaker 2: kind of felt like, Okay, well I'm I'm as I understand,
Speaker 2: I'm a troubadour. I'm a you know, I'm a folk
Speaker 2: singer on the street corner, sort of a one man
Speaker 2: Greek choir. Sometimes the songs that I sing dovetail with
Speaker 2: the drama and the storyline. But I'm also in that
Speaker 2: legacy of the you know, seeing my shirt, I have
Speaker 2: a listen to Woody Guthrie. Uh, listen to Woody Guthrie.
Speaker 2: So it's that, you know, it's that really wonderful character
Speaker 2: to play. And when I initially showed up, I had
Speaker 2: built this rig a microphone that was attached to a
Speaker 2: harmonica holder and it had a strap going to a
Speaker 2: pig nose amp and my guitar and the whole contraption
Speaker 2: was kind of just clumsy. But i'd I'd seen some
Speaker 2: great performers down in Venice Beach do that type of thing.
Speaker 2: You know. Harry Perry was when of the we used
Speaker 2: to skateboard around and he wore a turban and played
Speaker 2: an electric guitar. So I thought, that's that's the kind
Speaker 2: of spirit this guy. He's in essents, you know, just
Speaker 2: that you want to do that. You know. I had
Speaker 2: done some of it when I was young, you know,
Speaker 2: and I even did it on Venice Beach before I
Speaker 2: ever signed a record deal for one day and I
Speaker 2: got very badly sunburned, and I said, enough of this.
Speaker 2: But because it's always it's always autumn and stars hollow,
Speaker 2: you know, I didn't have that issue much much more
Speaker 2: of the opposite. Playing the guitar at five in the morning,
Speaker 2: with the streets being hosed down to make sure that
Speaker 2: it was there was enough black ice, you know, and
Speaker 2: all of that. But yeah, they said, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: read these words.
Speaker 1: Those busking days make your bulletproof, don't they?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what when I was. When I was
Speaker 2: a teenager, I did a fair amount of acting in
Speaker 2: a just a wonderful, wonderful theater. It was called Pollardville,
Speaker 2: and we would perform Vaudeville type sketches, so sketch comedy
Speaker 2: and you know, the olio. It's kind of like a
Speaker 2: variety show. And I do that don't feel high school
Speaker 2: and you know, and before that, I had been a magician,
Speaker 2: so I'd kind of grown up and as though I
Speaker 2: were living in the eighteen hundreds anyhow, So that was
Speaker 2: that was kind of my preparation for this character. And
Speaker 2: in some ways I had I had no idea, but
Speaker 2: it sort of was though.
Speaker 1: You know, all right, so if the show we're still
Speaker 1: on today, if we've had a twenty we're entering our
Speaker 1: twenty fifth season, which probably could have happened if we
Speaker 1: hung in there, what song would you love to perform
Speaker 1: today as the town Troubadour. Let's say you were going
Speaker 1: to work tomorrow to film episode you know two thousand
Speaker 1: of that would be too, episode four hundred or five
Speaker 1: hundred of Gilmore Girl.
Speaker 2: Oh that's a good question.
Speaker 1: What are your own?
Speaker 2: I mean I mostly performed my own songs, you know,
Speaker 2: you don't do a lot of covers. I know. I
Speaker 2: never You know, it don't always seem like an exotic
Speaker 2: thing to be in a band that played cover songs.
Speaker 2: But I just could could never pull that off. So
Speaker 2: I've I've just always written my own songs. But I
Speaker 2: did play a couple of covers on the show. You
Speaker 2: Know Me and Julio down by the school Yard was one, right,
Speaker 2: one of the covers. Uh, what's the song? The great
Speaker 2: Paul Simon's song.
Speaker 1: Briche over Tarbo Waters.
Speaker 2: No, I wouldn't be going for those super high notes
Speaker 2: my little town know that song? Oh sure, that's a
Speaker 2: great one, although it's a little bit dark come to
Speaker 2: think of it. You know nothing about the dead and
Speaker 2: dying back in my little town. Never mind, this is why,
Speaker 2: this is why I don't get to do the covers
Speaker 2: I would. I would probably do a song off my
Speaker 2: upcoming record heard Scott, thank you for that that bridge
Speaker 2: plug away Now, I haven't. I have a new album
Speaker 2: coming out, and it's going to be out and it
Speaker 2: looks like the Fall. I haven't haven't quite announced it yet,
Speaker 2: but I've got a tour getting all lined up and nice,
Speaker 2: hitting the road, going to Europe, going around the States
Speaker 2: in the Hour of Dust, yeah is the title, and
Speaker 2: yeah it's a dusty number, one of those I'll boppy.
Speaker 1: Okay, ready, So where are you going to be touring
Speaker 1: in Europe when when.
Speaker 2: The first dates? Uh, we'll probably, as I understand, being
Speaker 2: the UK. And I'm you know, I've got a great,
Speaker 2: great fan base there Scandinavia and off off and running
Speaker 2: you know, all over the place, you know, and I'm
Speaker 2: still discovering places that I never have I got to yet,
Speaker 2: you know, here in the States and abroad. The fact
Speaker 2: that I could, I could be in Burbank and you know,
Speaker 2: five minutes later, I'm in Starslow, which is a wonderful
Speaker 2: gift as well, you know, And because I wasn't on
Speaker 2: the road, I could be working on the show. You know.
Speaker 2: Even though it's it's you know, compared to the time
Speaker 2: that the rest of you, you know, you spent on
Speaker 2: the show, it's still you know, it made a major
Speaker 2: impact in terms of the quality of life. You know,
Speaker 2: it's because it is difficult to tour as as wonderful
Speaker 2: as it is. A step on any stage, you know,
Speaker 2: and see the world and all of that stuff.
Speaker 1: But you're going to hit UK. You're going to be
Speaker 1: in Scandinavia.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the US, Oh goodness. These days I try to
Speaker 2: make it to France and Italy and I haven't been
Speaker 2: to Australia, And sometime I try not to think too
Speaker 2: much about it because, as you said, if I, if
Speaker 2: I see those dates lined up forever and never and
Speaker 2: it just looks like the titles to Star Wars where
Speaker 2: they just kind of go off into the distance, I
Speaker 2: get a little anxious. The vergo in me as you
Speaker 2: as you can understand. H.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we'll have a wonderful tour.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1: What's your website so people can download your music because
Speaker 1: it's wonderful stuff.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, Scott. You can go to Grantlyphillips dot
Speaker 2: com and you find the music of Grantly Phillips. And,
Speaker 2: speaking of myself an alert person, that's so weird on
Speaker 2: all of your you know, your various platforms, you know, streaming.
Speaker 1: Platforms, guys and gals, do yourself a favor. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: introduce yourself if you haven't already. Uh to this man's
Speaker 1: incredible music, incredibly personal, incredible, incredibly lofty songwriting, A real
Speaker 1: talent and I'm jealous of you Europeans. I'm still yet
Speaker 1: to see one of your Why are you going to
Speaker 1: perform in the United States?
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I it'd be. The first dates are in September,
Speaker 2: as I understand, kind of coincide with the release of
Speaker 2: the new album. Yeah, what about California? Yeah, yeah, I'll
Speaker 2: do some dates in California. I was out there in
Speaker 2: November where I recorded and played a show at McCabe's
Speaker 2: a couple months back, and that was great. All right,
Speaker 2: now where are you at? Are you in California these days?
Speaker 1: I am I'm a Southern California. We got out of LA,
Speaker 1: but we're still in southern California. Nice. Closer to the
Speaker 1: closer the beach, buddy, close to the beach.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all the best, my friend, Thank you the time greatly. Phillips,
Speaker 1: Ladies and Gentlemen. Next episode star Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers,
Speaker 1: Episode sixteen, Season one. We will see you next time,
Speaker 1: and remember where you lead.
Speaker 3: We will follow all the best day safe dotcase.
Speaker 1: Everybody'll forget. Follow us on Instagram at I Am all
Speaker 1: In podcast and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.