TVSquad

A lot happened in this episode – Taylor renamed all the streets in "Historic Stars Hollow"; Emily started mailing Lorelai antiques to "smoke [her] out" of their fight; Richard accidentally pressured Logan into marrying his granddaughter. But above all else, this episode will be remembered for one thing and one thing only:

This was the one where Logan gave Rory a Birkin.

It's not as dirty as it sounds. A Birkin is a purse, made by Hermes. They are extravagantly expensive (in the four to six figure range, depending on when it was made and out of what); they are always in demand, and they never go out of style. Owning a Birkin is a big deal; getting one as a "just because" gift from your boyfriend is almost unheard of.


At the start of the episode, Emily assumes that Logan and Rory are havig problems, because she hasn't seen him around - and, of course, because Rory's been sleeping until 8:30. But when she hears tell of the purse, Emily becomes as cheerfully flummoxed as Emily Gilmore ever gets. "That's a VERY nice purse," she tells Rory. "A Birkin bag! A Birkin bag for Rory! I'm just saying, Richard never bought ME a Birkin bag. Oh, this is exciting!"

The bag forces the issue of where Rory and Logan are in their relationship. Now, I don't know very many rich people, and I've certainly never dated anyone with the means to obtain accessories that have their own wait lists. But does one buy one's girlfriend an Hermes bag if they think they're in a casual relationship? If they're just "hooking up", or "hanging out", or doing whatever it is the young, attractive people do nowadays?

But you've seen the promos, if not the episode – you know that Rory says "I love you," and Logan doesn't exactly respond in kind. In fact, he says, "The lady who sold this purse to me said that was going to happen." It wasn't all that bad – Logan went on to say, "I've told a lot of girls I love them before and I didn't mean it, so I'm not going to do that to you. Woah ... that didn't come out right." They end the scene with a big kiss, but if I were Rory, I'd be immeasurably confused. If Logan doesn't love her, what earthly reason might he have to buy her a $10,000 purse – and in hot pink, no less!