‘Gilmore Girls’: Luke Solved the Pickle Smell Disaster and Annoyed Taylor in a Hilarious Deleted Scene 

Many a hilarious catastrophe befell the small town of Stars Hollow over Gilmore Girls’ seven seasons, with one of the best being the great pickle train disaster seen in Season 7, Episode 5. Now, a deleted scene reveals Luke Danes (Scott Patterson) as the town’s savior—a turn of events that, of course, sends Taylor into a tizzy.

‘Gilmore Girls’ season 7’s “The Great Stink” 

In “The Great Stink,” news of the pickle train derailment comes by way of waft. However, the true culprit behind the odorous event comes to light during one of Stars Hollow’s town meetings. 

After relaying news of the accident to the townspeople, Taylor Doose (who is the town selectman, a member of the Town Beautification Committee, and a business owner in Stars Hollow) admits that he knew of the incident several days prior to the meeting.

Not wanting to assume financial responsibility for the pickles, Taylor pleads with the townspeople, begging them to withstand the stink so as to avoid the $2,500 clean-up fee. 

Luke quickly becomes the voice of those in opposition, leading the townspeople in a rallying cry for Taylor to fork over the cleanup funds. Taylor woefully accepts the majority vote and promises the stink will be gone within 48 hours. 

‘Gilmore Girls’ deleted scene shows Luke took matters into his own hands

When the smell continues to be too much for the town to bear, Luke steps in to offer some relief. After his daughter, April (played by Vanessa Marano), suggests they utilize the free radicals produced by a fire to oxidize the air, Luke builds a large bonfire in the town square, as seen in the deleted scene (available via YouTube).

When Taylor arrives, spewing objections and inquiring about permits, he and Luke begin arguing, as per usual. But Taylor quickly acquiesces when the rest of the town—s’mores pokers in hand—begin to rally around Luke, and a mob forms. The scene ends when Taylor is run off, and the town returns to its nasal reprieve.

“The Great Stink” was not the first time Luke saved the town from stink in Gilmore Girls

Yet, while the deleted scene from “The Great Stink” is hilarious, it is quite similar to another Taylor-made fiasco from Gilmore Girls season 4. 

In an episode titled “Tick, Tick, Boom!,” the town also suffers from a pungency problem after Taylor orchestrates an egg hunt and leaves Kirk (Sean Gunn) in charge. Weeks later, Taylor discovers that 59 eggs remain unfound. Once again, it is Luke who comes to the rescue, finding the eggs. 

But, despite the similarities between the two episodes, Gilmore Girls definitely subscribes to the idea that repetition is a comedy, so it is not clear why the scene was deleted. After all, Luke and Taylor have a long history as frenemies, and their continued conflict is some of the best comedy in Gilmore Girls, even if much of it boils down to the same issue each time.

“The Great Stink” was hardly the first time Luke and Taylor have been at odds and was definitely not the first—or the last—time Luke saved the day when Taylor’s antics got the town into a pickle.