 Roberts of "Bustle" sees Jess crashing the car Dean built for Rory as "foreshadowing for how he'll also help to eventually destroy Dean and Rory's actual relationship"; Bonaime of "Paste" agrees, saying "there's no better symbol of the Rory/Jess/Dean triangle than Rory's car".Sims of "The A.V.Club" says this episode, along with the following episode "Help Wanted", is the "necessary conclusion" to the show's arc where "Jess annoys everyone" and "Lorelai is weirdly insensitive and unlikable about it", but does not find Jess' "typical bad boy" persona convincing as "the show won't allow him to be truly off the rails, and won't allow his life to be truly miserable".