Christopher
28 episodes of Gilmore Girls carry this thread, 1d 4h in all — 25 of them are in The Essentials.
Arc membership is derived from each episode's own title and summary text. It shows where a thread is foregrounded, not every episode it touches.
In airing order

An evening of "The Donna Reed Show" reruns infects Dean and both Gilmore Girls -- Dean expresses a longing for the type of family represented by the show, Lorelai helps Luke spruce up the diner with a fresh paint job and new curtains, and Rory dresses up like Donna and fixes a 1950s style dinner for Dean while petsitting Babette's new kitten; when the baby chick that's the subject of Rory's midterm project gets loose in the house, Lorelai frantically calls Luke to help her search the house; both Sookie and Emily force Lorelai to confront her feelings for Luke; Christopher roars into town on his motorcycle, and agrees to stay at Lorelai's and Rory's during his visit.

Wanting to play a greater role in Rory's life, Christopher settles in for his visit and lets Rory give him the grand tour of Stars Hollow. When his parents arrive in Hartford for a visit, Emily invites everyone to Friday night dinner, which turns out to be an unqualified disaster after Richard nearly comes to blows with Christopher's father over critical comments about Lorelai. In the aftermath of the ruined dinner party, Richard retreats to his study to calm down, Emily makes a plate for Rory in the kitchen and reassures her how much she is loved and regarded, and Christopher finds Lorelai on the balcony of her old bedroom and comforts her by repeating a little romantic history. The next morning, Lorelai awakens with a start, horrified that she forgot to help Luke paint the diner after dinner on Friday night. Grabbing a jacket, she races to the diner still clad in her pajamas, and begs Luke's forgiveness. He shrugs it off at first, but appears somewhat wounded when he realizes that Lorelai was with Christopher the night before. When Lorelai returns to the house, Christopher asks her to marry him and she regretfully turns him down, claiming he's not ready for the responsibility of a family quite yet. Christopher returns to California with the promise of doing a better job of staying in touch. The next morning, Lorelai surprises Luke by having the diner completely repainted when he arrives to open up for the day.

Lorelai, Sookie, Emily, Michel, and Rory go to a drag club for Lorelai's bachelorette party; Emily regales the group with stories about the week before her wedding, some of which give Lorelai pause about her own feelings about marriage; when everyone else leaves to call their sweeties, Lorelai calls Christopher instead of Max; later that evening at home, Lorelai announces to Rory that she's calling the wedding off because she's realized that Max isn't the one for her; mother and daughter decide to take a road trip to avoid the sympathies of all of Stars Hollow.

At the urging of her friends, Emily decides that Rory's making her debut at a society ball will be just the thing to get Richard back into the social swing. To Lorelai's amazement, Rory willingly agrees and Emily goes into high gear shopping in preparation. Christopher agrees to escort Rory and Lorelai becomes entranced by his new responsible side, but gets a shock when she learns about his new relationship.

Christopher comes to town on a business trip with his girlfriend Sherry in tow. Since Sherry and Christopher's relationship is getting serious, Sherry wants to begin bonding with Rory -- on Friday night. Without consulting Emily, Lorelai excuses Rory from the Gilmore Friday night dinner, and takes Christopher with her instead. When Emily finds out about Sherry over cocktails, she has a meltdown and rushes off to the kitchen. Lorelai follows her there and finds out that Emily has always envisioned that Lorelai and Christopher would end up together. Now that she sees that this isn't going to happen, Emily blames Lorelai for always keeping him, and everyone else, at arms length. After mulling over her mother's words, the next morning Lorelai tells Christopher that she's always thought that they would get back together, too, and that's why she's never had a relationship that lasted, including the one with Max. Christopher gets very angry, refusing to accept the responsibility for the way Lorelai's romantic life has turned out.

Lorelai's complaint about Taylor's choice for "Movie in the Square Night" lands her the responsibility for picking the evening's entertainment, but her enthusiasm for the task is quickly dampened when Taylor informs her that she must make a choice from a list of free movies which doesn't include any masterpieces; against her better judgment, Lorelai agrees to Luke's request that Rory tutor an about-to-flunk-out Jess; Rory and Jess decide to take a break from studying to get some ice cream, and with Jess behind the wheel, get into a car accident which leaves Rory with a broken wrist and a totaled car; a distraught Lorelai blames Luke for the accident, creating a serious rift in their relationship; Christopher arrives in the middle of the night ready to go after Jess, but he's already left Stars Hollow to return home; Kirk's short film premieres at Movie Night.

Lorelai and Rory have breakfast at Sookie's in an effort to avoid Luke's, but Lorelai can't avoid an awkward encounter with him at Doose's Market, where he fails to pick up on her hints to patch things up; in an effort to help Lorelai through final exam stress, Rory gets her excited about attending her college graduation ceremony and secretly invites Richard and Emily, despite Lorelai's assertion that they'd never agree to attend; after a late night phone call from Jess, Rory impulsively cuts school the next day and visits him in Manhattan; Christopher sends Lorelai a graduation gift basket filled with fun goodies and an expensive necklace; Lorelai is shocked to see Emily, Richard and the film crew accompanying them to her graduation, and must contend with an obnoxious classmate with an attitude about the rich; Rory is furious with herself when she takes the wrong bus home and misses her mother's graduation; when Rory finally arrives home, Lorelai forgives her when she realizes that the trip to New York may indicate that her daughter has fallen in love with Jess, despite her protests to the contrary.

Sookie's wedding draws near, while Lorelai finally relents and goes into the diner, where she apologizes profusely to Luke. Christopher comes to town for the removal of Rory's cast and decides to stay for Sookie's wedding. While Lorelai and Chris seem to be getting along, Sherry drops a bomb. Paris is running for student body president, and employs Rory as vice-president. Jess returns to Stars Hollow and asks Luke if he can stay.

Amidst her sadness about Christopher, Lorelai has an intriguing dream about Luke; Rory returns from Washington to realize that she still may have feelings for Jess, but a chance encounter at the First Annual Stars Hollow End of Summer Madness Festival makes her realize that he may have moved on to someone else; relationship quarrels abound -- Sookie and Jackson over decorating their house, Lorelai and Rory over Jess versus Dean, Emily and Richard over Lorelai and Christopher -- but are on the path to resolution; and Rory once again guides Paris through the rocky shoals of preparing for a date.

To Lorelai's horror, Kirk asks her out on a date after being encouraged by Luke; Emily's lunch with Lorelai at Luke's ends badly; Christopher shows up uninvited at Friday night dinner and quarrels with both Lorelai and Rory before Emily asks him to leave; Rory runs into Jess and they each betray their hurt feelings -- Rory about Shane and Jess about not hearing from Rory all summer; and Francie targets Paris and Rory for a world of trouble if Rory doesn't stop Paris from running the student council like a dictatorship.

Lorelai chauffeurs Rory to Sherry's baby shower in Boston and finds herself dragged into the festivities against her will; Miss Patty gets a new beau; Jess comes home with a car and Luke tries to find out where he got the money to pay for it; one of Stars Hollow's more eccentric citizens requests a permit to mount a demonstration in the town square.

Luke and Nicole have a successful first date; Jess and Dean trade verbal blows; Sherry goes into labor with only Lorelai and Rory for company until Chris shows up at last minute; Lorelai has flash backs about her pregnancy and Rory's birth; Lorelai introduces Emily to modern entertainment technologyby getting her a DVD player and a couple movies; Richard and Emily decry Lorelai's and Rory's plans to backpack through Europe; the war between Paris and Rory continues when Paris picks a photo of the "Franklin" staff for the yearbook that has the worst possible shot of Rory.

Doyle is jealous when Glenn's article gets picked up by the New York Times; Rory discovers that Logan, the son of a newspaper magnate, is also on the staff of the paper; Paris wages a fierce campaign to get the religion beat, and takes an ecumenical approach to alienating the local clergy; desperate for a story idea for her features assignment after several concepts fail to pan out, Rory uncovers a secret Yale society which counts Logan as a member, and enlists his cooperation in getting a story on the group; Sookie becomes upset when the Inn's accountant suggests dropping lunch temporarily to save money and Norman Mailer stakes out a table in the dining room to work and give interviews, and refuses to order anything from the menu except iced tea; Lorelai and Rory show up for Friday night dinner, and when they discover that neither Emily nor Richard are home, decide to order pizza and eat on the living room floor; Christopher calls Lorelai in a panic when Sherry suddenly decides to move to Paris, leaving him unprepared to care for a colicky Gigi; and after freaking out completely over Norman Mailers constant presence Sookie realizes that her extreme emotions and sensitivity in the past days are the result of her being pregnant again. Rory asks Christopher to stay away from Lorelai.

Jackson is the soul of patience as Sookie suffers from mood swings and pregnancy food cravings; Paris' decision to fast for Ramadan to bring authenticity to her writing takes its toll on Rory and Marty; against Lorelai's advice, Michel persists with his plan to foil the bathrobe bandits and nearly gets arrested; Emily decides to start dating again, and calls on a reluctant Lorelai for advice; Jackson is so overwhelmed by his duties as Selectman that Miss Patty is forced to resort to a ruse to get him to preside over the town meeting; Lorelai invites Christopher to lunch at the Inn and decides to surprise Rory by inviting her as well, but it's Lorelai who's surprised by the tension between father and daughter, which erupts into a heated argument out of Lorelai's earshot; Lorelai feels guilty for lying to Rory when her daughter asks about Luke's reaction to the lunch date with Christopher; Luke helps T.J. with some plumbing problems at the new house; Emily appears to have a wonderful time on her date, but bursts into tears when she looks around her empty home at the end of the date; Luke feigns indifference when Lorelai finally tells him about lunch with Christopher, but hints at some ambivalence during a later conversation with T.J.; Marty's timing is off by mere seconds when he attempts to ask Rory out on a date.

Wanting to make peace with Rory, Christopher shows up at Yale, but she brushes off his attempt at compromise. When Lorelai learns that Christopher's father just died, she spends the evening at his place trying to comfort him, then disdains to tell Luke the truth about where she was. Also, Emily & Richard are briefly reconciled when they find and take in a lost dog.

Rory offers to help Logan write an article for the Yale Daily, but she is disappointed when he doesn't invite her to be his date at a book signing party thrown by his father. When Richard sees Emily talking to a man she dated, he rear-ends her car, forcing her to ride home with him. The Gilmores reconcile and decide to renew their wedding vows. Emily warns Christopher that Lorelai and Luke are getting serious and he had better do something quickly if he hopes to end up with Lorelai.

Emily and Richard renew their vows in front of their closest friends with Lorelai as Emily's Maid of Honor, and Rory as Richard's Best Man. Luke gets in a fight with Christopher over Lorelai. Logan comes to the ceremony with a girl that looks like his girlfriend, and Rory gets jealous. Rory confronts Logan and Logan and Rory go a level up from flirting.

Togetherness: Lorelai and Christopher start dating. Rory meets some artistic new friends. April moves in with Luke short-term and Emily gets up close and personal with the local constabulary.

A dill wind. A derailed trainload of pickles lends Stars Hollow a certain air. And that's not the only sour situation: Lorelai and Christopher quarrel about his ex's sudden devotion to motherhood.

A perfect autumn weekend finds Lorelai and Christopher attending Parents' Weekend at Yale - with Richard and Emily. Meanwhile, Luke has a date with a vegan. Yeah, that's going to work out.

In Stars Hollow, Rory is clueless about her future. In Paris, Christopher has his and Lorelai's future all mapped out. In panic mode, Lane discovers her future: She's expecting twins.

Christopher knows exactly how Rory will feel when he and Lorelai tell her they're married: happy! They tell her. How does she feel? Not happy. And when April falls ill, Luke calls the one person he can depend on: Lorelai.

Odd man out! Eager to make Christopher part of Stars Hollow community, Lorelai sets him up on a man date with Jackson. After holding his newborn niece, Luke makes a big decision about April.

Peace on Earth. The Yuletide finds everyone spoiling for a fight: Rory vs. Logan, Rory vs. Lucy, Luke vs. Anna, Luke vs. Christopher, Lorelai vs. Christopher, and Kirk vs. the local middle-school kids.

Big problem: an XXL-sized Lane fears motherhood means the end of personhood. Big secret: Lorelai writes Luke a character reference for his custody case...but doesn't tell Christopher.

This is all a new marriage needs : Christopher finds the reference Lorelai wrote for Luke...and freaks. And what more could an established marriage need? Jackson and Sookie find out.

After Richard's heart attack, Lorelai, Rory and Emily anxiously await news in the hospital waiting room. Then Logan arrives. Then Luke. But - despite frantic repeated phone calls from Lorelai - not Christopher.

Lorelai finally gets up the nerve to tell Emily that she and Christopher are phfffft. And Logan thought he bought an internet company. Instead his dreams of entrepreneurial glory bought the farm.