Moments later, we see Lorelai arrive at the diner. Luke rushes out to tell her that the party actually got worse after they hung up. Luke forgot that the radio part of his clock radio was broken: "And then the buzzer alarm went off at one point, and there was a slight uptick in the mood, but I think it's too late!" Lorelai says that it isn't too late, but Luke's afraid that he heard the word "mutiny" bandied around in there. She assures him that it's not too late, and moves to go in. He stops her, asking where the party stuff is. "Oh, my God," she says. "I left the circus elephants in my car and I didn't crack a window!" Luke: "Seriously. Where is the party stuff?" Lorelai just smiles and tells him to follow her lead.

Lorelai bursts in the door of the diner, all bubbly, introducing herself and thanking the guests for holding off on the heavy partying until she arrived. This is met with blank stares, but she soldiers on, calling for the birthday girl to stand front and center. "You know," Lorelai says, placing a tiara on April's head, "I met you briefly. You were filling salt and pepper shakers." April says she remembers, and that Lorelai had been wearing all black and had really blue eyes: "They aren't quite as blue today, but I think that's just the light thing." Weird and random. Lorelai crowns the birthday girl and has the rest of the partygoers line up behind her, in a single file, holding hands. "Oh," says April helpfully. "We already went to the bathroom." Lorelai says she knows, but that this is going to be so much better. She instructs the skeptical Luke to bring up the rear, and leads them all out the door, while Luke gives further safety recommendations.

Lorelai leads everyone at a full trot in a serpentine pattern down the sidewalk and into the beauty shop, where two ladies, Allison and Leslie, are waiting for them. Lorelai introduces April, the birthday girl, and they say hello to her. Leslie -- not looking at April AT ALL, nor at anyone else that I can tell -- says "Oh, you are adorable!" Since she says it to no one, it is super-weird and spooky, and I am sure the girls are all afraid that she is about to cook and eat them, but they are distracted when Lorelai gives them all baskets and tells them to pick out all the stuff they want, because they're all getting makeovers! Luke -- who is so relieved that April is having a good time now that he doesn't care that his party budget just went from $40 to, like, $500 -- tells Lorelai that she's a genius. "Well," she says, "thirteen-year-old girls and makeup. It's like betting on Secretariat." Luke says he never would have thought of anything like this himself. "That's why I'm the yin to your yang," says Lorelai, shrugging. "The Emack to your Bolio." She picks up a spray can, asking which of the girls wants hot pink highlights. They all scramble around her.