Lorelai and Sookie go into the kitchen to feed Paul Anka -- he has to eat off his own fork, plastic preferred -- and they realize Jackson has left the barbecue on. Sookie says she can't take another fire, which brings up the subject of the Dragonfly fire and the insurance snafu. Lorelai's going to have to go to her father for help with the policy, since the company is giving her the same runaround Michel received. They don't have time to discuss it any further as hell kind of breaks loose. Martha wakes up and starts crying, Paul Anka barks, and Davey still won't make the necessary motor control advances to turn down the TV volume. During all this madness, Luke is the only one who has no reaction. He continues patiently eating his dinner while Lorelai looks on.

At The Grandparents', Richard is trying to read while Emily frets over the changes Rory has made to the event menu. She gets mad when she realizes he isn't really listening to her. "I'm sorry, Emily," he says, "it takes a second to emerge from Samuel Beckett, he's a strange man." I love Richard when he's written well. Emily is upset that Rory has thrown out the entire menu. She can understand some of it: "I mean, granted, Constance was going with Cornish game hen, been there, done that," she says, "and her fetish for Brussels sprouts is upsetting." Emily is trying not to panic that Rory is making such big changes, but she's worried. She says she's trying to keep out of it. "You're doing a terrific job," Richard deadpans. Emily hits him with the big guns: Rory's not serving salmon puffs! Richard has finally had enough. "Emily, please," he says. "It's Rory. What she tackles, she conquers." While he lists out a stream of Rory's many accomplishments, I have to wonder if he's forgotten that his wonderfully brilliant granddaughter is living in his pool house after quitting Yale because...someone hurt her feelings, and that all it would have taken to set her back on her path was some support in the form of an ass-kicking.