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It's always tough to see these two fight, but this one is especially brutal. Lorelai's anger gets the best of her and she cuts extra deep. She even throws in a line about Logan that seems excessively cold. There's also something disdainful about the way she calls Rory “kid.” And just like that, what was supposed to be happy news has torn the Gilmore girls apart.

The two go their separate ways to deal with the fallout. Rory turns to Lane, who as usual is very supportive and kind. On the other hand, Lorelai still has some anger to let out.

Not surprisingly, she goes to Luke's after the blowout and there is tension almost right away. It's clear that Lorelai's anger from her fallout with Rory is spilling over onto Luke. At first their fight rises from the seeds of deceit planted in the previous episode. Lorelai is mad at Luke for not telling her that he and Emily went looking for properties to buy. And Luke is mad that she hadn't shared the fact that her mom stopped going to their therapy sessions. But pretty soon it becomes about more than that. It's a raw and emotional fight that doesn't get resolved. It just ends with Luke storming out.

The writers have always been good at adding small details that make the scenes feel more real. And it was a nice touch, that even as they were fighting, they were cleaning up the tables at the diner.

But apparently, one overlong musical scene isn't enough, and Taylor calls Lorelai to let her know that a new song was written for the musical. Because Lorelai is part of the advisory committee, she is invited to see a preview performance of it. At first, this seems like punishment but this musical piece is a lot better than the last one. It's more than a little on the nose. In fact, the only way it could have been more obvious would be if Violet literally included Lorelai's name in the song. But none of that matters, because Sutton Foster does such an amazing job. The song is genuinely moving and inspires Lorelai to embark on her next adventure because it's “never or now.”

Moved to tears, Lorelai realizes she needs to do some soul searching, and that means going away. But first she has to tell Luke. And what follows is a subtle and heartbreaking scene. Their last fight was explosive and overwhelming. But this is almost the exact opposite. They are both tired and filled with resignation. Lorelai knows what she has to do, and Luke knows that he can't stop her.

Being the Gilmore Girls, sometimes the male actors tend to get overlooked, but Scott Patterson has always been one of the standouts of the show. There's no doubt that he really stepped it up for the revival. And this scene proves just how valuable he is to the show. The scene doesn't have flashy speeches. In fact, there isn't even a lot of dialogue. But Patterson fills every line with fear and distress. Luke feels that he is losing Lorelai and the life they've built together. Worst of all is that he knows he can't stop it.

Overall, Summer proved to be a strong episode almost in spite of itself. As already stated, the first musical scene was way too long and even a bit self-indulgent. It didn't really add much to the story and seemed like a tacked on eulogy for Bunheads (RIP). And its long run time contributed to the pacing problems that seriously brought down the quality of the episode. And the less said about the extended newspaper delivery scene, the better. Watching Rory and Lorelai deliver newspapers all over town to the tune of “These Boots Are Made for Walking” isn't inherently bad. But something like that would have played better if this was a regular season with 23 episodes. But A Year in Life is only four episodes. Granted, the episodes are longer but overall, the running time is a lot shorter so the writers should have taken that into consideration.

And because of the sloppy pacing, the last act feels awkward and rushed. It seems that the writers realized they were running out of time and tried to jam too much in. As powerful as those last scenes were, they might have been even more effective if they were given some room to breathe. As it is, Lorelai goes from one fight to another.

When Summer started, things were looking good, but at the end, just about everyone is at odds with each other. And Lorelai is off to the Pacific Crest Trail to find herself. It seems that things will be at a low point at the outset of Fall, the final episode.

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