‘Gilmore Girls’: 3 Times Richard and Emily Gilmore Were Anything but Relationship Goals
Richard Gilmore (Edward Herrmann) and Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop) certainly had their moments. Beloved by many fans of Gilmore Girls, the TV couple experienced a number of ups and downs during the show’s seven-season run.
One of the program’s steadfast couples — not counting their brief separation — Lorelai Gilmore’s (Lauren Graham) parents and Rory Gilmore’s (Alexis Bledel) grandparents did have some moments when they weren’t exactly relationship goals.
Richard Gilmore kept Rory Gilmore’s meeting at Yale a secret
In Gilmore Girls Season 3 Episode 8: “Let the Games Begin”, the Gilmore family visited Yale. Richard’s alma mater, he was especially excited to give Rory a tour of the campus. Lorelai came along too , thinking the trip was her father’s way of convincing Rory to attend Yale instead of Harvard.
Intentions aside, they had a nice time. They saw the spot where Richard proposed to Emily and the mother and daughter shared one of their rare pleasant moments together.
But everything changed when Richard sprung a meeting with the dean of admissions on Rory. She, Emily, and Lorelai were notably upset and it led to the trip being cut short.
They didn’t believe Lorelai Gilmore about the Huntzberger dinner
Not about their relationship as a couple but their relationship with their daughter, Richard and Emily didn’t believe the Huntzberger family would behave rudely toward Rory. Even when Lorelai told them Logan Huntzberger’s (Matt Czuchry) family told Rory she wasn’t good enough for them they refused to admit anything bad had happened.
It drove an even bigger wedge between Lorelai and her parents. Eventually, Rory moved in with her grandparents after taking time off from Yale. It was only later, at a DAR event which Rory organized, Richard confronted Logan’s father, Mitchum Huntzberger (Gregg Henry), about it. Reluctantly, he admitted the dinner had indeed been terrible.
The fact that it took Mitchum’s confirmation for Richard and Emily to believe Lorelai wasn’t one of their shining moments.
Richard Gilmore kept lunches with Pennilyn Lott a secret
In Gilmore Girls Season 4, Emily learned a major secret about her husband. She found out Richard had been having secret lunches with Pennilyn Lott (Linda Gehringer) for decades.
Not just anyone in their social circle, Pennilyn had been Richard’s fiancée. He broke things off with her to be with Emily but they’d stayed in touch. After Pennilyn mentioned something about Lorelai trying to open her own inn, Richard admitted they’d been having lunch together since he and Emily got married.
Watch all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls on Netflix as well as the 2016 revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
