‘Gilmore Girls’: The 30 Best Episodes, Ranked

(Season 7, Episode 22)
Spoiler Alert: The series finale is the only episode from Season 7 to crack the top 30. After the Palladinos exited the series over contract disputes, the characters never found their footing with the new regime. While the Palladinos ultimately got to wrap the series on their own terms during the Netflix continuation series a few years later, “Bon Voyage” was the original sentimental send-off that fans had waited for. The episode is a love letter to the town and its people, as they rally together to throw Rory a going away party before she leaves for her first full-time job. 

Best last line: “I don’t think this is all for Rory. I think this party is a testament to you, Lorelai, and the home you’ve created here. … It takes a remarkable person to inspire all of this,” said Richard Gilmore (Edward Herrmann, who passed away New Year’s Eve 2014 and was unable to participate in the Netflix series).

(Season 2, Episode 6)
Rory is dragged into Emily Gilmore’s (Kelly Bishop) world when she agrees to be presented at a debutante ball. It’s an excuse to bring Christopher (David Sutcliffe) back into town — this time in a Volvo — and further establishes Lorelai and Chris’ chemistry before he admits to having a new girlfriend. Meanwhile, there is trouble for Richard as he realizes he’s being phased out at work. He takes his frustration out on Emily and her events, which shows the conflicts in their relationship. It’s one of the earliest times that viewers see cracks between the two, which eventually come to a head in Season 5.

Best Christopher/Lorelai Exchange: “Fine. May I have this dance?” Christopher asks Lorelai, who replies, “I don’t know. Do you have a trust fund? Always make sure.”

(Season 4, Episode 16)
Emily and Richard both begin to spiral after Richard’s mother Trix (Marion Ross) passes away. When Emily finds a letter from Trix begging Richard to leave Emily at the altar, she refuses to participate in Trix’s funeral and becomes a bit mad, and smoking and drinking in her robe mid-afternoon. This episode is iconic for nothing else than the complete unraveling of the Gilmore clan. Even in death, Trix makes Emily crazy.

Best Emily-Has-Gone-Mad-Moment: “Personally, I think we should just toss some cheese cubes in the coffin, stuff some toothpicks in her mouth, and let the people go to town,” she says.

(Season 6, Episode 19)
Lane’s (Keiko Agena) wedding is her own, well-deserved episode. As one of the most consistent characters on the show, her wedding is time to celebrate her and her bandmate/husband (Todd Lowe). There is a lot of humor injected throughout the episode — including a mad dash through town to get seats at the wedding — and is a genuinely celebratory episode, despite Lorelai’s drunk meltdown speech during the reception.

Best full-circle moment: “I just discovered today that I’m simply the latest link in a chain of Kim women who hide their real lives under floorboards, away from their mothers,” Lane says, as she’s forced to purge the house of all Seventh-day Adventist references in anticipation of her Buddhist grandmother’s arrival. 

(Season 1, Episode 16)
Rory and Dean’s (Jared Padalecki) three-month anniversary date turns sour when his confession of love goes unreciprocated. First heartbreak is wildly relatable, but also incredibly telling. Dean’s reactions show his insecurities that will eventually morph into his Jess-fueled jealousy, and Rory’s fear of reciprocation is a testament to her fear of unstable relationships (exhibit A: Lorelai and Christopher).

Best inside joke: “You want to explain the meatball thing?” Dean asks Rory after a waiter brings a to-go bag of a single meatball after their dinner. “It’s a mother-daughter thing,” she replies. Rory plans to bring home the extra meatball to Lorelai as a nod to “Lady and the Tramp.”

(Season 1, Episode 9)
Rory gets to show off her hunky boyfriend to her new classmates during Chilton’s school dance. It’s a nice, relatable milestone moment, but ultimately ends poorly as the two fall asleep and unintentionally miss curfew. The moment ends up exposing the generational dynamic between the three Gilmore women, as Emily is with Lorelai to witness the whole thing. Emily digs into Lorelai’s parenting style, and Lorelai become defensive — a reflex that stems from being told she’s a failure for becoming a teenage mom. Lorelai tries to be the disciplinarian and angry with Rory, but it’s clear that she is just embarrassed and ultimately trusts her kid. It becomes a hostile and embarrassing moment for all three and helps establish early on the differences in their relationships.

Best Emily Post/Emily Gilmore moment: “It certainly is not fine,” Emily announces when Dean honks from his car to pick up Rory. “This is not a drive-through; she is not fried chicken.”

(Season 1, Episode 8)
One of the most consistent themes of the series is Lorelai’s fixation with snow. During a particularly wintery night, Lorelai is walking around town and happens upon Max Medina (Scott Cohen). The two spend their first real alone time together, which ultimately sets up the romance with Max arc.

Best retort: “Rory, are you in any way malnourished, or in need of some international relief organization to recruit a celebrity to raise money on your account?” Richard asks when Emily is concerned about Rory’s dinner.

“I’m good,” she replies.

(Season 2, Episode 7)
“Like Mother, Like Daughter” is another generational episode. Rory is told she’s not involved enough in school activities, and accidentally joins Chilton’s secret sorority, The Puffs. Lorelai is told she’s not involved enough in Rory’s school, and somehow joins the school’s fall fashion show fundraiser. The mirrored relationship with the school is a testament of how far removed they’d like to be. Despite that, Lorelai ends up championing the fashion show, and even bring Emily along, culminating in a rare mother/daughter bonding moment as they dance to “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

Most accurate description: “You look like Nancy Reagan,” Rory tells Lorelai after seeing her outfit for the school fundraiser.

(Season 1, Episode 6)
Rory gets two parties for her birthday – each is a stark reflection of the different worlds in which she belongs. The first is a stuffy, formal affair thrown by Emily and Richard while the second is a joyful, celebratory bash hosted at home by Lorelai. Rory’s comfort zone is obviously her home bubble, but she knows she must learn to function in each. 

Best observation: “You’re pleased that the ice man looked at you like a Porterhouse steak,” Emily tells Lorelai after they see Luke.

(Season 3, Episode 13)
This recollection episode helps viewers understand how Lorelai and Christopher grew up. In a series of flashbacks, viewers get an insight into the world of the 16-year-old parents-to-be. It shows how Lorelai became the independent mother that she is, and is juxtaposed to Christopher becoming a parent again, as he and Sherry (Mädchen Amick) welcome their new baby, Gigi, into the world.

Best line: “It’s from my mother. It’s heavy,” Lorelai observes the package on her front porch. “It must be her hopes and dreams for me.”

(Season 4, Episode 21)
Luke (Scott Patterson) finally makes a move! After four long seasons, Luke asks Lorelai out for his sister’s wedding. During the reception, the two dance, and eventually, end the night with making plans again. The song they dance to ends up becoming the soundtrack to their wedding ceremony, which doesn’t occur until the Netflix series.

Best Luke moment: “I can be a movie guy. You like movies,” he says to Lorelai. He listens, he learns! He finally gets the second date.

(Season 6, Episode 13)
There was a brief hiatus of Friday night dinners after the Rory/Emily/Richard fall-out of Season 6. But the reunion brought one of the most well-edited, hilarious montages of the entire series. In a collection of quick cuts, the four Gilmores go from angry, happy, sad, delirious and back again in record time. By the end of the sequence, it feels as if all’s right with the world and the Gilmores have gotten their recent troubles out of their systems. It’s wickedly smart, and the edits alone tell viewers everything they need to know about the family dynamic. In addition to the Gilmore reunion, the episode reunites Rory and Logan (Matt Czuchry), when Logan comes in to save the day at the Yale Daily News.

Best dialogue: Every word spoken during the Friday night dinner scene.

(Season 5, Episode 14)
On the heels of Lorelai and Luke’s blowup during her parent’s vow renewal, the two officially separate. Lorelai spends the subsequent day wallowing, while the town is being divided outside. Taylor (Michael Winters) is splitting the town into pink and blue, and all of the townies are picking sides. Rory rushes to her mother’s side (with the help of Logan’s limo and his driver, Frank) to help and ends up braving the town to tell Taylor off. It’s the most broken viewers ever see Lorelai but brings out the best of Rory as her support system. 

Best townie-confrontation: “Where are they, Taylor?” Rory asks confronting Taylor about his blue/pink ribbon distribution. “Don’t play dumb — the ribbons! Take piano lessons or something.”

(Season 2, Epsiode 13)
The annual basket bidding is the first of many quirky Stars Hollow events to make the list. Miss Patty (Liz Torres) is shamelessly trying to set up Lorelai and positions local men to bid on her pathetically assembled basket. But in standard fashion, Luke rescues Lorelai by outbidding the others. Meanwhile, Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) also outbids Dean for Rory’s basket, and jealousy begins to seep into the Dean/Rory relationship. It’s an early window into the relationships to come: Rory and Jess get their one-on-one time, and Luke and Lorelai are able to talk about substance outside of the diner world.

Best pop-culture reference: “I’d do a silly walk, but I’m not feeling very John Cleese right now,” Dean tells Rory as she goes to have lunch with Jess.

(Season 4, Episode 7)
The Festival of Living Pictures is peak Taylor Doose. He assembles the whole town for an emergency town meeting, only to scramble to create “The Festival of Living Pictures.” It’s another cooky town event and positions Kirk (Sean Gunn) as Jesus Christ for several hilarious anecdotes. It also led the show to its only Emmy award ever, which was given for series non-prosthetic makeup. Besides that, Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) and Jackson (Jackson Douglas) welcome their son Davey in a home-birth. 

Best monologue: Kirk channels his inner-Jesus and starts quoting the bible. “You would fold? Due simply to hardship?”

(Season 5, Episode 13)
Emily and Richard have had their fair share of conflict over the years, but their reunion — and vow renewal — is a sweet one. Despite this, the 100th episode serves much more as a testimony to Emily and Lorelai’s relationship than Emily and Richard’s marriage. Emily invites Christopher to the vow renewal in an attempt to break-up Luke and Lorelai and is ultimately successful. While Luke and Lorelai’s relationship (temporarily) ends, Rory and Logan’s begins in the back room during the ceremony. 

Best interruption: “Grandma wants a picture,” Lorelai says after she barges into a Rory-Logan back room make-out.

“Of this!?” Rory says, half dressed.

(Season 1, Episode 2)
Rory’s first day at Chilton is the first time we get to see her fully immersed in a world outside of Stars Hollow. Her pop culture references live in stark contrast to the other students and she’s a bit of a fish out of water. Even more so is Lorelai, whose comedic lack of clean clothes makes for one of the more entertaining first day of school outfits ever. 

Most relatable moment: “Laundry day,” Lorelai tells the headmaster as she arrives at the school in Daisy Dukes and a tie-dye tee.

(Season 2, Episode 19)
“Teach Me Tonight” brings viewers “A Film By Kirk,” which in and of itself is enough to crack the Top 15 on this list. Even without it, though, the episode has major development for Rory and Jess: Rory is recruited by Luke to tutor Jess in a desperate attempt to straighten the kid out. But after a late-night session, the two take a drive for ice cream and crash her Dean-made car. The ripple effect of the accident is felt around the town. It leads to an explosive fight between Luke and Lorelai, Jess is sent away, Christopher swoops in to play dad and Rory becomes fiercely defensive of her actions. As the residential “good girl,” the town refuses to bestow any sort of responsibility on Rory for her participation in the crash. Instead, that is pushed to Jess and she maintains her reputation — despite her attempt to reallocate the responsibility on to herself.

Biggest Oscar snub: “A Film By Kirk”

(Season 2, Episode 22)
Oy, with the poodles already! The second season finale is a big one for relationships: Sookie and Jackson secure theirs with a wedding, and Christopher and Lorelai have sex (again). It finally seems as if they’re in the right place at the right time — until Christopher’s girlfriend Sherry gets pregnant, which drives Lorelai into a bit of a spiral. Rory cheats on Dean by kissing Jess, leading her to run away to Washington D.C. for the summer and serving as a foreshadow for Rory’s long history of infidelity. 

Most quotable line: “Oy, with the poodles already!” assembled by Rory and Lorelai.

(Season 3, Episode 9)
After over-committing their schedules, Rory and Lorelai have four Thanksgivings to attend. Each dinner is uniquely different and allows audiences to see the dynamic shift from each household. The Kims are formal with the appearance of Dave Rygalski (Adam Brody) and tofurkey, Sookie and Jackson have a deep-fried turkey and lots of drunk relatives, Luke and Jess are casual and comfortable, and Emily and Richard are formal and stuffy as they host the girls and their French friends from out of town. There’s a spectrum of ease in each home, as we watch Rory and Lorelai navigate their comfort levels.

Best Paris Geller moment: “Who are all these jackasses who volunteered anyway?” she says after being rejected to volunteer over Thanksgiving. “They can’t all be students like me. They’re not all putting it on a college application. I get something out of it and these other people don’t get a thing. Talk about selfish.”

(Season 2, Episode 10)
This episode is chock full of community. Lorelai invites her friends and family to the Inn for a period-themed dinner with costumes and old English. It’s one of the rare occasions where all of the town is together, and those characters are blended with Rory and Lorelai’s other life. Emily, Richard and Paris (Liza Weil) all join the festivities, too, which end with sleigh rides around the town. The episode gives a window into several relationship dynamics, as viewers get to see Richard and Emily communicate in a new way after Richard retires and doesn’t tell his wife. 

Best conspiracy theory: “Someone recruited him,” Lorelai says about their rival during the build-a-snowman competition. “Promised him a handsome sum, financed his theatrical snowman accoutrements, so he could snatch victory away from a deserving local in order to bag the contest prize [a set of U.S. quarters] for himself.”   

(Season 1, Episode 1)
The pilot establishes the Stars Hollow that viewers come to will know and love. It acts as the foundation as it introduces the world, the relationship dynamics and gives viewers the first taste of their second home for the next seven years. Its quick dialogue and pop-culture references immediately set the tone for the remainder of the show – within the first two minutes, there’s reference to Jack Kerouac, RuPaul and West Side Story alone. Besides that, viewers get the pleasure of meeting the cast of Stars Hollow — including Luke, Emily, Richard, Sookie, Michel (Yanic Truesdale), Lane, Mrs. Kim (Emily Kuroda), Dean and more.

Best exchange: The first dialogue of the series between Lorelai and Luke: “Please, Luke. Please, please, please,” she says.

“How many cups have you had this morning?” he replies.

(Season 4, Episode 2)
This episode shows the unwavering relationship of the Gilmore Girls. Even when it comes to going to college down the road, Lorelai and Rory can’t bear to be separated. Rory struggles during her first night on campus, and Lorelai swoops in to throw an epic first dorm night at Yale. While their relationship might not be the healthiest (having mom throw a dorm party seems a bit helicopter-y), it makes for some good bits, as Lorelai makes them rank all of the fast food and delivery guys. Also, Paris is back (and she brought her life coach). 

Best catch phrase: “Copper boom!” which arrives from a series of misheard sentences between Lorelai and Rory.

(Season 3, Episode 17)
This episode is one of the best for the Stars Hollow townies. Kirk is printing topical t-shirts of subjects he sees around town (“Babette ate oatmeal!”) and the traveling Edgar Allan Poe Society is passing through with extreme quirk. The humor is juxtaposed with a crisis, as Lorelai’s Independence Inn burns down. But as she scrambles to accommodate her guests, it gives viewers a glimpse into her ability to manage an emergency and opens the door for her to open her own inn. And, after exhaustive pro/con lists, Rory finally settles on attending Yale. 

Best Babette moment: “Hey Michel, I just hit the “F4” and the “Num Lock” key and the one with the little apple on it, and it’s freaking out like it’s on acid or something,” Babette (Sally Struthers) says, searching for technology help.

(Season 2, Episode 4)
On the heels of her breakup with Max, Lorelai physically runs away from her problems. She and Rory pack up the car and hit the road, making their way to Boston. En route, they visit the Cheshire Cat and its iconic wallpaper and eventually land at Harvard. It’s the first time that they get to envision Rory at her dream school and gives both of them a sense of joy to replace the wedding-sized hole. The men in the show come and go, but this episode cements that the Gilmore Girls always stay together.

Best declaration: “I am a grown woman!” Lorelai says.

“Says the woman with a ‘Hello Kitty’ waffle iron,” Rory replies.

(Season 5, Episode 7)
“You Jump, I Jump Jack” features the best version of the Logan-Rory dynamic: Logan’s role as Rory’s college boyfriend is ultimately to push her outside of her comfort zone. His antics and wild-child sensibilities are unfamiliar to her, which ultimately get her out of her meek minded, small-town ways. Her willingness to join alongside him sets the scene for their adventures to come and helps shed the layers of her good-girl exterior. Even without their banter, the carnival-like backdrop is so far outside of the “Gilmore Girls” norm that it makes the episode feel special. 

Best advice: “It’ll be a fun, it’ll be a thrill,” Logan tells Rory before their Life and Death Brigade stunt. “Something stupid, something bad for you. Just something different. Isn’t this the point of being young? It’s your choice, Ace. People can live a hundred years without really living for a minute. You climb up here with me, it’s one less minute you haven’t lived.”

(Season 2, Episode 21)
Rory and Jess always have had a magnetic attraction and turns out it spans state lines. When Rory ditches school to go see Jess in New York, she accidentally misses Lorelai’s business school graduation. While her absence is missed by her mother, it opens up the opportunity for a tender moment of pride with Emily and Richard. The two are physically moved by the ceremony and are able to celebrate as their daughter walks across the stage the way she never could when she was younger.

Best stream of consciousness: “I am sick. I’m ill. I’m cracked. This is not who I am. If I were to write this down in my diary and I would read it, I would be like, ‘Who is this freak? This isn’t me. This isn’t my diary.’ I wouldn’t do this. I wouldn’t skip school when I have finals coming up to go see a guy that isn’t even my guy and end up missing my mother’s graduation, which I wanted to be at so badly. That’s someone else. That’s someone flighty and stupid and dumb and girly. And, I mean, I missed your graduation, which is the worst thing I could have possibly done. I mean, I hurt you and I had to spend hours on a stinky bus next to a guy that was spitting into a can, just thinking about all of the minutes that were going by that I wasn’t at your graduation and they were hurting you, and they should have been hurting you because it was so selfish of this person who wasn’t me to do what she did,” Rory says to her mother.

(Season 4, Episode 22)
Four seasons of build-up culminated into the Season 4 finale episode when Luke and Lorelai finally get together during the opening of the Dragonfly Inn, and Rory loses her virginity to her married ex, Dean. It’s an early slip-up for the golden child of Stars Hollow but sets up that she will make many bad decisions (stealing a boat, quitting Yale, cheating with Logan, etc) still to come. While the episode sets the scene for Rory’s long-running arc, more importantly, it establishes Luke and Lorelai as a couple.  

Best interaction: “What are you doing?” Lorelai asks Luke. “Would you just stand still?” before their first kiss.

(Season 3, Episode 7)
“Gilmore Girls” is at its best when it’s hosting an obscure Stars Hallow function. During the 24-hour dance marathon in this episode, Lorelai’s desperate attempt to beat Kirk leaves her with a broken heel and Rory a broken heart. The Rory/Dean/Jess love triangle finally comes to a head when Dean dumps Rory on the dance floor, and Lorelai ends the episode physically supporting Rory as she leans on her in the wake of their breakup. The backdrop of the episode is 1940s inspired, but the milestone of first heartbreak feels timeless.

Best moment: With Kirk making his victory lap to the theme of “Rocky” in the background, Rory collapses into Lorelai’s arms after her breakup.

(Season 3, Episode 22)
The third season finale positions everyone on a new path. Most notably, Rory says goodbye to Chilton, while simultaneously closing the door on Jess, and Lorelai finally acquires the Dragonfly and is on track for her long-time dream of opening her own inn. It’s a turning point in the show, and it contains one of the most touching moments in the series when Rory delivers her graduation speech. The emotional tribute embodies all that is good about the series: the relationships, the people, the generational connections and the support of a town. It’s wildly sincere, in a show that is otherwise known for its wit.

Best line: Rory’s graduation speech, in which she thanks both her grandparents and her mother: “My second [world] is populated with characters slightly less eccentric, but supremely real, made of flesh and bone, full of love, who are my ultimate inspiration for everything.”