I’m aware that this episode has been discussed to death and that I have nothing new to add to the conversation. But I’ve just rewatched it, so bear with me.

Overall, I hate this episode way less than I remember? It didn’t bother me as much this time round. I would even say that it was enjoyable for the most part.

With years, I’ve become more sympathetic to Dean’s* stance in this episode, primarily because of his family. Hearing Lorelai and Rory mock a traditional family probably felt like a mockery of his mom to him and that’s gotta hurt, a lot. I wish he was more open to hearing Rory’s perfectly reasonable explanation of why she didn’t mean to imply anything about his mom, who lives in a different day and age, but oh well.

Rory’s argument about Donna Reed at the end of the episode still makes me roll my eyes, though. I’m actually annoyed not with Rory but with the writers for coming up with this argument. The fact that Donna Reed was an uncredited producer and director of a show that romanticized gender roles in 1950s, when American women lacked legal rights, reflects well on her how exactly? (Btw, I'm not commenting on Donna Reed, the actual person, because I know nothing about her, just on the idea of her as presented by the episode.)

*On an unrelated note, when I posted about the retconning of Dean’s early characterization a few days ago, someone here rightfully pointed out that it started not in s2 but in mid s1. Rewatching it now, I can totally see it. They’re definitely no longer trying to present him as the cool city boy like they did at the beginning.