#also like what rory has accomplished is often Not the character we ever see on screen so there is a very real disconnect for me

[naramdil]

rory is v much cautionary tale about former gifted kids but it never ceases to make me angry the way she turns down the position at the providence journal in lieu of a hypothetical fellowship at the NYT..... like the pure arrogance of it all

[therewatcher-blog]

Best Underrated Scene: Gilmore Girls - 1x08 Love & War & Snow

gOh hello there, I kinda left off doing these, but I want to keep going. Even if it’s just for me. It’s a fun exercise. So here we go, Love & War & Snow. I don’t exactly know why, but this is one of my favorite episodes, especially in season one. It’s one that I’ll consistently rewatch out of context. I think the fact that there is really almost no conflict is just so comforting to me. I also love the introduction of Lorelai’s obsession with snow. It’s one of the things that makes this show so cozy. This mystical connection she has with snow, is like a bit of magical realism sprinkled over this somewhat quietly realistic (if not idealized) show. That mixed with the absurdities of the townies of Stars Hollow just makes for the perfect rewatchable episode. 

I honestly think this episode has a lot of quietly great scenes. Luke and Lorelai’s small interaction and Rory’s dinner with the grandparents are contenders. However, I think the scene with Luke and Lorelai doesn’t have enough in it to make it underrated and Rory’s dinner with Richard and Emily is perhaps maybe too obvious in what it accomplishes. I also think their abrupt end to the reminiscing as soon as they see a picture of Lorelai in her coming out party is maybe a bit over-the-top in it’s awkwardness. We know they have a discomfort in talking about Lorelai’s pregnancy, but you’d think they would better control this clear discomfort when in the presence of their granddaughter who resulted from the pregnancy. It’s just a little bit more than heartbreaking and unfair.   

So moving on to my pick:

The First Stars Hollow Town Meeting:

I don’t imagine too many town meetings will make the list, but I think this introduction to the town’s weekly ritual is seamlessly done in the opening sequence of the episode. It’s also sets up the small D?-plot that follows Luke through the episode. I always like when the cold open has a bit of bearing on the episode rather than being completely without context. 

We open with the town meeting already out of order as Miss Patty attempts to reclaim some control and Taylor complains that no one is listening to him. We know immediately what is happening, but as we will come to learn in the future episodes this course of events is incredibly common which makes rewatching it that much more enjoyable. It’s as if we already have a little inside joke with the characters. 

I think something that struck me even more on watching it this time through is that I still chuckled at a couple places. Taylor is perhaps a frustrating and divisive character, but I think he’s a character who is hilarious because of the hyper-realism of what he’s playing. He’s obsessed with rules and order to the degree of insanity. He enjoys the small power he holds in the town and he uses it to his advantage wherever possible, but ultimately has something resembling good intentions. So when he claims Andrew is “peddling drug paraphernalia to kids” when all he did was sell a lava lamp, I can’t help but laugh. He does make a good point that there is no use for a lava lamp unless you’re on drugs.

Of course, Lorelai enters the scene late, carrying food and drinks for her and Rory (something that we find out in a future episode is not allowed during these meetings - again an inside joke we now share on rewatching) and Rory quickly catches her up to speed on the small town politics surrounding the removal of a no-parking zone sign. Lorelai astutely observes that Taylor only wants the sign removed outside his store so he can park there all day. 

Mayor Harry (a character who only shows up one or two more times, unfortunately) begins a speech about the townspeople being like his children which, from the cutting to stifled giggles and knowing looks between Lorelai and Rory, we can deduce is a speech the town has heard more than once. This flowery language is only used to launch into a small chiding of his “children,” reminding them that "we have leash laws, people!” We can see the GIlmore girls having a blast listening to the small town’s petty grievances and we are put right there with them. 

The mayor shifts gears to the “legendary Battle of Stars Hollow.” As he begins to give the recap of the battle, we hear the girls commenting on Luke who is “shifting in his seat” and “adjusting his hat” in annoyance before he finally jumps up and interrupts the mayor’s recounting of the battle - “Oh for god’s sake! Do we have to go through this every damn year?” Mayor Harry asks who is speaking and Luke answers, “It’s me, Harry, Luke. You’ve known me since I was five years old.” I think this is the first mention of Luke having lived in Stars Hollow his whole life (I could be wrong), which is a fascinating facet of his character. Luke detests change and is stubborn beyond reason, but in this storyline and many of his storylines that boil down to Luke vs. The Town (and/or Taylor specifically), he is often anti-tradition. Or at least he thinks the traditions of his town are silly. That is certainly the case here as Luke argues that the battle reenactment for a battle that never occurred is really just beyond ridiculous and embarrassing. 

“Have any of you ever considered the fact that you’re glorifying a war we fought so we could keep land that we stole?” Luke argues in vain. Oh, woke hippie Luke. How I love you. I said it in a previous post, but they really leave this quality of Luke’s behind as the show continues. I love whenever it pops up and I will try to always note it here. I like to believe it’s always there in some small way even as he starts to become more of a somewhat stereotypical manly man in later seasons. “If you don’t like it here in America, why don’t you go stand in line for toilet paper in the USSR!” Mayor Harry retorts to no avail. “There is no USSR, Harry,” Luke responds. The girls make a quip about the sense of community being so important as Harry and Luke continue to argue and we fade out to the opening credits. 

This is one of the early scenes that really starts to shape the wonderful townie relationships that add color to the show. Luke is more of a townie than a leading man at this point, so it is important to see his relationship to the town fleshed out in this moment. His deep roots as well as his antagonistic feelings regarding the town’s obsessions with tradition are set up in this scene and explored even more in the episode. It’s a light and fun exchange with a few chuckles, but more than anything these meetings become an important and unique backbone to the Gilmore Girls viewing experience. Some of them are zanier than others, this one is certainly more grounded and realistic than some others. But in this first town meeting the seeds for all the different characters and their strong opinions regarding the town, it’s rules, traditions, and festivals is established efficiently through action and dialogue that doesn’t feel overly expository or stilted while offering more of a glance into the backstory of a character who will become increasingly important as the show goes on. All in 3 minutes. Not bad. 

[junker-town]

A 2017 Travelers Championship primer: How to watch, course background, and its strongest field ever

With a loaded field drawing Rory, Jordan, and Jason, the 2017 Travelers is an extremely strong way to follow up the U.S. Open.

There’s usually time to catch your breath after a major championship. Get away, maybe take a break from golf for a few days and refocus. But there’s no time to exhale after this year’s U.S. Open, and that’s because the Travelers Championship is absolutely loaded. The annual stop in Hartford has somehow (we’ll explore that later) drawn Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and Jason Day for the first time.

Those three headliners obviously give this event some juice and are a prime reason to watch just days after the finish of the second major of the season. But this is also a classic event with a longstanding spot on the schedule on a unique course that can yield record rounds in front of some of the Tour’s rowdiest crowds. We’re still reveling in and digesting Sunday at Erin Hills, but with so many big names in Hartford, it’s worth going through the nuts and bolts of what will be a heavyweight event coming this week.

The Course

TPC River Highlands is the perfect post-U.S. Open setup for the PGA Tour. We just got done dissecting and fretting over Erin Hills for a full week, as is custom at the U.S. Open. As a new venue, it was always going to get intense scrutiny. The scores were lower than normal for a national championship and that made some upset, but it was a perfect modern test that rewarded all styles of play, so long as those styles were played well.

From an aesthetic standpoint, no one will confuse TPC River Highlands with Erin Hills. There are trees here and no waist-high fescue lining the fairways and it’s 1,000 yards shorter. It’s also a par-70, not a par-72 stretched out to 7,800 yards.

But this is a course, like Erin Hills, that always rewards different styles of play — not just the bomb-and-gougers that are so prevalent on Tour and often given an advantage each week. A creative masher like Bubba Watson (2010, 2015 champ and regular top-five finisher) can succeed here and so can Russell Knox, last year’s champion who is not exactly known for his length.

This is what we want out of a modern test and why Erin Hills was such a refreshing major championship venue. We wanted options. We want an increased emphasis on strategy. We want all styles of play rewarded if they are played well. When Jim Furyk, never known for his distance but one of the great players of his generation, has the ability to make it around the track with the PGA Tour’s first ever 58, we know we’re at a place that’s more than just a bomber’s paradise.

The par 70 will typically play under 6,900 yards. The marquee stretch is the closing stretch, which seems intuitive but is not always the case on the PGA Tour. Here, however, the final four holes are a perfect mix of scoring chances and potential trouble that can shake up a leaderboard in the final moments.

The driveable par-4 15th is one of the coolest holes on the PGA Tour, set up under 300 yards and forcing the players to make a risk-reward choice. The driveable par-4 has been the hot design and course setup trend for several years now. It makes for exciting TV and strategy, as we saw at Erin Hills’ short par-4 15th all last week. TPC River Highlands’ short par-4 has been a staple and highlight hole for years.

The 15th is not a difficult hole, playing as the easiest on the course last year. But it creates options that range from a potential ace on a par-4 to a messy double bogey that will extinguish your chances. Few need a driver if they’re trying to get home.

The 15th is start of a three-hole stretch around the same lake, a horseshoe that will be spotlighted from the air and which fans post up on for the day to see shots into multiple holes. The driveable par-4 is the one that gets all the attention, but following it is a 170-yard par-3 to a narrow green and a stout par-4 that brings water into play on both the drive and approach. The 18th is a 444-yard par-4 up a chute and into an amphitheater full of rowdy fans.

Birdies are fun. Birdies are good. We don’t need to scoff at low scores. This is what we want the week after the U.S. Open — a test that rewards multiple styles and isn’t par-golf drudgery. This finishing stretch has character and allows for leaderboard movement, and at the end of a round, allows for the potential, at least, for someone to make a big charge.

The Field

We’ll have much more on this throughout the week, power ranking the field and also examining how it was put together. But the Travelers Championship field, for golf nerds and close PGA Tour watchers, has sneakily become one of the bigger stories of the Tour’s season.

It’s loaded at the top, drawing Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Jason Day for the first time to Hartford. Getting one of those commitments makes sense and would be a player announcement that you definitely notice. Getting all three in the same year is crazy.

The three events after the U.S.-based majors — Harbour Town, the Travelers, and Greensboro — have all done an excellent job embracing their spot on the schedule and carving out a strong identity in what seems like a tough week to get top players. But this is a remarkable accomplishment getting these three to the Travelers the week after the U.S. Open and on a crowded PGA Tour schedule. In addition to those three, there’s also old standby Bubba, and young guns Patrick Reed and Justin Thomas, who just broke a 43-year-old scoring record on Saturday at the U.S. Open.

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The U.S. Open just ended, but the field in Hartford might make this the 5th major coming right up next.

This is as strong a field as you could imagine for the week after major and we’re ready to watch superstar bombers Rory and Jason attack this gettable course.

In addition to the headliners, this is also one of those events where the PGA Tour regulars have to make some hay. We’re in a stretch where players need to make money and earn FedExCup points with starts dwindling before the end of the regular season. And in a game where the margins are so small between someone at the top of the world rankings and a Web.com Tour player, it’s often more fun to watch the players with loads of game grinding it out with less spotlight.

Here’s your full field at the start of the week — we’ll dive deeper on some of those headliners and dark horses in the coming days:

Purse

The Travelers purse for 2017 is $6.8 million, paying out $1.224 million to the winner. That’s a $200,000 bump from last year’s purse.

Schedule and how to watch

The Travelers was one of the tournaments most impacted by last year’s manic schedule shaken up to make room for the Olympics. Instead of its usual late-June slot after the U.S. Open, the Hartford stop was moved to August and the week running into the opening ceremonies in Rio. Bubba, Reed, and Matt Kuchar flew straight down there from the Travelers.

Now we’re back to June and a much more normal routine. Here’s your coverage schedule for the week:

Thursday, June 22 / Friday, June 23

TV: Golf Channel, 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. ET

Streaming:

PGA Tour Live Featured Groups, ~7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET

PGA Tour Live Featured Holes, 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET

Golf Channel simulcast stream, 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. ET

Saturday, June 24 / Sunday, June 25

TV:

Golf Channel, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. ET

CBS, 3 to 6 p.m. ET

Streaming:

PGA Tour Live Featured Holes, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET

Golf Channel simulcast stream, 1 to 2:30 p.m. ET

PGA Tour Live/CBS simulcast stream, 3 to 6 p.m. ET