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The town meeting is also entertaining. It was especially nice to see some side characters speak for a change, but the whole bit about the gay pride parade probably lasted longer than it should have. Also, was Gypsy (Rose Abdoo) trying to out Taylor or herself? Either way, it was weird and unnecessary. The only problem was that because Stars Hollow was so developed and fun, it made the other locales seem bland by comparison. In fact, aside from a couple of establishing shots, the London and NYC scenes appeared completely nondescript.

Lastly, there was a side story with Luke and Emily. It turns out Richard (Edward Herrmann) had left Luke some money to franchise his diner. Because of this, they were looking for possible properties to buy. Having Luke and Emily interact without Lorelai was a nice touch. And while it was funny to see Luke nervous around Emily, the story didn't really add up to much. At no point did it actually feel like Luke's would become a franchise. And like with Rory, this storyline felt a bit contrived. Its main purpose was to set up a conflict between Luke and Lorelai.

And that marks the halfway mark of A Year in the Life. Overall, Spring proved to be a better-balanced episode than Winter. Part of that is because the previous episode had a lot of exposition to cover. But since Spring didn't have that responsibility, it was able to hit the ground running (more or less). It also did a great job of developing story ideas introduced in the previous episode while adding more to the mix.

Lorelai was clearly the episode's MVP. She did most of the emotional heavy lifting while also adding some levity. And fortunately, Rory was mostly able to cancel out her very annoying moments with a couple of moving scenes (at Chilton and the NYC hotel). But Emily was mostly sidelined with a storyline that has zero chance of going anywhere.

It was also a nice surprise that Paris played such a prominent role. In the previous episode she was basically relegated to the role of comic relief. This time around, her story line was more developed. And it will be interesting to see what happens between her and Doyle.

But as great as Spring was, it felt like a transitional episode. This was especially true with Luke and Rory. Their story lines didn't really go anywhere, but they were clearly setting things up for the next episode. With trouble brewing between Luke and Lorelai and Rory moving back home, it's going to be an interesting Summer in Stars Hollow.

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