Lorelai's best friend is her daughter, obviously... but thankfully, she does have a few actual adult friends, too. Sookie may not be as huge a part of Gilmore Girls as fans wanted, but she is Lorelai's best friend, business partner, and overall the only other adult character that Lorelai seems to have a real relationship with (that isn't romantic).
Sookie is also a fan-favorite, despite her bizarre clumsiness, because she is so sweetly enthusiastic and charming, and anyone would want a friend who is this supportive. So for those who are missing Lorelai and Sookie, these are some of their best and most important episodes together.
This may seem like either an obvious choice, or a strange one, but it's important for Lorelai and Sookie because it sets their relationship up so well. The episode combines Lorelai's moments as 'boss' (telling Sookie that she needs to be more careful), their dreams for the future (one of their first interactions is to talk about when they own an Inn one day), how much she means to Rory, and that she is Lorelai's best friend (when Lorelai comes to her to tell her the good news about Chilton first). It's the perfect set up for the two of them.
This episode marks the first big fight for these two characters - and it's an important one. The argument comes up when they are both stressing out about the fact that the Independence Inn might end up being sold, but they can't buy it, and the inn they want to buy isn't for sale. Stressed out, Lorelai loses it at Sookie, calling her out for being flaky and unreliable, and Sookie actually stands up for herself... before dissolving in tears. Of course, they make up by the end, but this is a milestone moment for them working together.
This episode puts one of those strange-but-charming Stars Hollow traditions front and center, as the town comes together to auction off picnic baskets. This would seem bizarre in any other show, but here, it works.
Sookie only has a minor role in this episode, as Jackson refuses to bid on her basket (because he's upset with her about a silly conversation earlier), and the Rory/Dean/Jess triangle gets most of the attention. Still, seeing how much effort Sookie puts in to make other people happy is absolutely charming.
Sookie's wedding day is a big one for Gilmore Girls (possibly the biggest wedding in the series, with the only other major competition being Lane and Zack), and of course, she and Lorelai actually may get more screentime than her and her new husband! The episode also focuses on Lorelai and Christopher getting back together (almost), and sees Sookie, on her wedding day, give her friend her undivided attention to talk about it. Then there's Lorelai holding it together for Sookie after Christopher leaves - and overall, just everyone putting each other first.
Usually, Thanksgiving celebrations are reserved for family, so it's impressive that Sookie (and Luke, and the Kims) are expecting Rory and Lorelai to show up for dinner in the first place - and important to note that Sookie is actually one of their favorites. Between her skills in the kitchen (deep-fried turkeys aside) and her hilarity when drowning her deep-fried-sorrows in margaritas, Sookie is a surprising star of this episode.
This season finale is a huge one for Lorelai and Sookie, as it means that they are finally able to actually buy the Dragonfly Inn - after talking about it for so long! And it's all down to Rory, as she is the one who goes to her grandparents to get them to foot the bill for Yale, leaving Lorelai with money to buy the inn.
It's a big one for them, plot-wise, but also personally, as we see how Sookie is willing to put Rory ahead of her own dreams, but also how thrilled they are to be able to actually make it there in the end.
Seeing Lorelai and Sookie work together and set up their inn is a phenomenal part of their friendship - especially when they are united against the common enemy that is Taylor Doose. In this episode, he seems determined to throw every possible administrative headache their way, and
Season four includes a whole lot of the Dragonfly being renovated, being opened, and it's hard to narrow those down to just a few episodes that encapsulate Lorelai and Sookie's incredible friendship. This is the test run opening of the Dragonfly, and it seems that everything that can go wrong, will. From Richard and Emily barely speaking, to Rory sneaking off to have sex with (married) Dean, to Kirk running naked and screaming through the inn in the night, this is not the ideal opening - but it's a great episode for Lorelai and Sookie, as they handle it all with aplomb. They also get to have a sweet moment of 'this is going to work', which just about sums them up.
Sookie finds out she is pregnant again in this episode, and it's a surprisingly Sookie-centric one, especially when the show increasingly started to skew toward Rory's college experience in the later seasons of the show. It's fantastic to see both the dynamic of Lorelai and Sookie's working relationship (especially as a call back to early seasons and their first fight) and it is great to see how they have both grown... but still spend time celebrating each other.
It's nice to see that even when Lorelai is busy running the inn, dealing with Rory's madness, dealing with her own madness when she spent an interview trashing her mother, and having wild sex with Luke... she still takes the time to throw Sookie a baby shower. Of course, they don't actually get to the shower part, as Sookie goes into labor, but this is a surprisingly nice episode for the fact that Sookie isn't forgotten when bigger plotlines show up.
