TROUBADOUR #2: A lot of vegetable soup being eaten tonight, yesiree. Hope I don’t put the good people at Campbell’s out of business.
The Campbell Soup Company, trading as Campbell’s, processed food and snack company that is the largest in the US, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup. The classic red and white design of their soup cans have become American icons, and famously the subject of pop artist Andy Warhol’s series of prints [pictured]. The company was started in New Jersey in 1869 by Joseph A. Campbell and Abraham Anderson.
Of course the Second Troubadour/Second Market Guy won’t put Campbell’s out of business – they are massive. He is referring to putting Taylor out of business, and this is another jab at him.
TAYLOR: That’s Babette with an armload of rutabagas.
Rutabaga (Brassica napus) is the common US term for the winter root vegetable which is often called a swede in much of England, Australia, and New Zealand, a neep in Scotland, or a turnip in some parts of England, Ireland, and Canada. In some parts of the US, this vegetable may be known as a Swedish turnip or a yellow turnip.
Rutabagas are believed to have originated in Scandinavia or Russia, and were introduced to Britain in the late 18th century, coming to North America in the early 19th century. They aren’t widely eaten in the US, but may be found in stews and casseroles, or served mashed with carrots. They are often found in the New England boiled dinner, a traditional meal of corned beef with cabbage and root vegetables.
LORELAI: I know. He’s been sitting there like the final days of Dick Nixon for almost an hour.
Richard Nixon (1913-1994), 37th President of the US from 1969 to 1974. The Watergate Affair, the name used to describe the secret and illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration, was brought to light by reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward in The Washington Post in 1972.
Nixon had hoped to weather the storm by refusing to leave, but impeachment hearings against him opened in May 1974. With loss of political support, and the near-certainty he would be impeached and removed from office, Nixon resigned on August 9 1974.
Lorelai may be specifically referring to the 1976 non-fiction book, The Final Days, by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, describing the last months of Richard Nixon’s presidency. It was a major commercial success, and was made into a television movie of the same name in 1989, with Lane Smith as Richard Nixon.
TAYLOR: But I’ve got turnips – good ones, too. They’re not as big as that crinite freak’s turnips, but who needs bloated turnips?
Crinite is a technical term meaning “covered in tufts of hair”!
(Rory is out of her school uniform, so it seems to be the weekend now, unless she’s just given up going to school? I guess the previous day was Friday then, unless Lorelai and Rory have now been working multiple days at the diner. Ugh, I have no idea how time works in this episode!).
LORELAI: It’s an upside down world where the Horchow House is considered low-rent and diamonds less than twenty-four carats are Cracker Jack trinkets and Bentleys are for losers who can’t afford a Rolls.
Horchow House
I think Lorelai is referring to The Horchow Collection, a mail order business for luxury goods started in 1971 by Broadway producer Samuel Horchow.
Cracker Jack
A brand of caramel-coasted popcorn and peanuts, well known for containing a mystery item, a toy novelty item of low value. The first lot of Cracker Jack was sold in 1896. A 24-carat diamond is the highest quality there is.
Bentley
A British manufacturer of luxury cars, founded in London in 1919, and a subsidiary of Volkswagen since 1998.
Rolls
Referring to Rolls-Royce, a British luxury car business established in 1904 in Manchester through a partnership with Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. It changed a number of times, and in 1998 was bought by Volkswagen. The Rolls-Royce trademark was bought by BMW in 2003, and has no direction connection with the original company.
SOOKIE: Oh, it’s this company’s sample place setting. Emily set me up with them. They did Celine Dion’s wedding, and Steven Spielberg’s daughter’s Jack Russell Terrier’s Bark Mitzvah.
Celine Dion, previously discussed. She married her manager, Canadian music producer René Angélil, in 1994 [pictured]; they first met in 1980, when Dion was 12 and Angélil was 38. They remained married until Angélil’s death in 2016.
Steven Spielberg (born 1946), film director, previously mentioned. He is one of the most commercially successful directors of all time. He has four daughters (Jessica, Sasha, Destry, and Mikaela), but I can find no reference to any of them having a Bark Mitzvah for a Jack Russell – although the Spielberg family does seem very attached to their pet dogs, so it’s not wildly unbelievable.
A Bark Mitzvah is a fun coming-of-age celebration for pet dogs with Jewish owners, held as a joke counterpart to the Bar Mitzvah, previously discussed. The first one was held in 1958, and although some rabbis find the idea offensive, they continue to be popular.
While Lorelai is helping Luke to organise his uncle’s funeral, Emily meanwhile decides to get involved in Sookie’s wedding. She begins by making a couple of suggestions, with Sookie clearly not wanting to offend her best friend’s mother and a major client. What with Emily’s strong personality and Sookie’s tendency to go along with things to be nice, this escalates, until very soon, Lorelai takes enough interest in non-diner related activities to discover that Sookie is getting samples from celebrity wedding planners.
TROUBADOUR #2: Don’t like to be touched, that’s cool. Got a little David and Lisa thing happening?
David and Lisa, 1962 drama film directed by Frank Perry. It is based on the second story in the 1961 novella Lisa and David by a psychiatrist named Theodore Isaac Rubin; the screenplay is written by Rubin’s wife, Eleanor Katz. The story is about a bright young man named David (played by Keir Dullea) who cannot bear to be touched; while in a mental health treatment facility, he befriends a girl named Lisa (played by Janet Margolin) who has a split personality.
David and Lisa received positive reviews from critics. It was made into a stage play in 1967, and into a television film in 1998, produced by Oprah Winfrey.
Note the implication from the Second Town Troubadour/Second Market Guy that Taylor must have serious mental health problems if he doesn’t want to be hugged. It’s just the start of the trolling that Taylor is about to be subjected to!
TAYLOR: Wait a minute, I know you. You’re that long-haired freak that wanted to be town troubadour even though that weird brown-corduroy-jacket-wearing freak was already it.
TROUBADOUR #2: That’s right, good memory! How are ya? [hugs him]
Last season there was an episode where the town had a meeting to decide whether they wanted to keep the mysterious Grant as their only Town Troubadour, or allow another guy to also play music around town. Thanks to an impassioned speech by Rory, the town voted in favour of Grant.
The other Town Troubadour, played by Dave Allen, isn’t from Stars Hollow, but runs a Kinko’s printing business in Groton, an hour or so away. He has now returned to be a Second Market Guy to Taylor, setting up his own fruit and vegetable stand in the park opposite Doose’s Market.
Why this man was originally drawn to Stars Hollow remains a mystery.
How are Lorelai and Rory helping out at the diner on a day when Luke is busy and his assistant Caesar has a day off? Don’t they have a job and school to go to? And Rory went and got Jess to help as well, are we meant to assume that Jess is just skipping school for the rest of the day? (I’m also interested as to who did the cooking on that first day – the Gilmore girls famously refuse to cook, and with Caesar off work and Luke busy, was Jess the chef for the day?).
I can see maybe Lorelai could have the freedom to work at the diner during the rush hours, but Rory needs to catch a bus, and she’ll be in Hartford all day. Plus she has homework to do after school, and didn’t they come to the diner to have breakfast? When are they going to get to eat? Also, what day of the week is this? It seems to be Friday, so do they have a Friday night dinner to get to in the evening, or will Luke be back at the diner by then?
Are we meant to assume that Lorelai and Rory just helped out in the diner before work/school for twenty minutes or so? Because that’s not very much help at all. Time just sort of stops existing for the first half of this episode – a hallmark of those written by Daniel Palladino.
By the end of the episode, it seems as if Lorelai and Rory are virtually running the diner for Luke, with the reluctant help of Jess, and I suppose Caesar, once he returns from his day off. Although they can barely navigate their own kitchen, this does make some sense, because Lorelai manages an inn, and Rory helps out there part-time, so they do understand customer service. Lorelai in particular is apparently so good at it that she becomes something of a drawcard at the diner, her natural talent and people skills shining forth once again.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 