Pinky Tuscadero

CHRISTOPHER: And you were the girl in the Pinky Tuscadero tee-shirt sitting right next to me [while he crashed his car].

Carol “Pinky” Tuscadero (Roz Kelly), is an old flame of Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) on the classic American sit-com Happy Days, which ran from 1974 to 1984, and reprised her role in an episode of the Happy Days spin-off, Blansky’s Beauties, which aired 1977.

Pinky was a redhead who always wore a trademark pink scarf, and whose catchphrase was “Think pink”. She was a travelling demolition derby driver who could fix cars, and rode a pink motorcycle; her girl gang were called The Pinkettes.

Although she only appeared in three episodes in 1976 – the planned story line where she would be Fonzie’s long-term girlfriend never worked out – Pinky Tuscadero gained a cult following for being a female “Fonzie” who was cool and tough. She clearly made an impression on young Lorelai.

Porsche

CHRISTOPHER: So you have zero faith?
LORELAI: I’ve known you since I was six, Chris. You’re the guy that crashed his Porsche two hours after his parents gave it to him for his 16th birthday.

Porsche is a German car manufacturer specialising in sports cars, SUVs, and luxury sedans. It’s possible Christopher’s parents bought him a 1984 Porsche 924, a two-door coupe intended to be their entry-level model. It seems like an expensive but not totally reckless gift for a spoiled, rich teenager. In real life, Christopher wouldn’t have had his driver’s licence at sixteen, although I can imagine him just taking the car out anyway.

We learn here that Lorelai and Christopher weren’t just friends before they started dating, they were childhood friends, and have known each other most of their lives.

Rincon

CHRISTOPHER: [sighs] Why does your dad have more faith in me than you?
LORELAI: My father hit his head surfing Rincon a couple of years ago. His judgement’s a little off.

Rincon Beach is a surf spot in California, between Malibu and Santa Barbara, and closer to the latter. It’s one of the most famous surf beaches in California, and is well known around the world. It hosts the Rincon Classic surf event each January, and is mentioned in The Beach Boys’ song Surfing Safari.

Obviously Lorelai is joking – surfing Rincon is one of the last things Richard Gilmore would ever do. The real reason for his misplaced faith in Christopher is explained later in the episode.

“Kind of a big success”

CHRISTOPHER: I don’t know how much your dad has told you but I’m on the verge of kind of a big success; it’s for real this time. I’ve got a company with an actual cash flow, I’ve got employees, I’ve got an accountant, for God’s sake. He wears a tie and says words like “fiduciary” and “ironically”. I mean it’s for real this time, Lor.

This is the Internet start-up business in California that Richard told Lorelai and Rory about in the Pilot episode, approximately six months ago. We now hear more about it from Christopher without ever finding out what exactly the company does, or was supposed to do.

(A fiduciary is a person who holds a legal position of trust in business, typically being in charge of financial assets to either have them in their safe-keeping or to invest them wisely on another’s behalf. Although this would cover many different types of jobs, it is typically used to refer to a trustee who is responsible for the money in a trust fund – it may suggest that Christopher’s accountant is helping him use his trust fund money to pay for his business venture).

Christopher’s reassurance that “it’s for real this time” suggests that he has attempted, and failed, at several businesses previously – or has even flat-out lied about trying to start a business. Little wonder that Lorelai is rather sceptical about it.

“Ducks lined up in a row”

CHRISTOPHER: I’ve been making some changes, especially my career and I think I finally have all my ducks lined up in a row.
LORELAI: You’re opening a shooting gallery.

The phrase “to have all your ducks lined up in a row” means to be well-prepared and well-organised for an expected event. The slang dates to perhaps the 1970s, and may refer to the carnival sideshow game where the object is to shoot at a line of moving wooden ducks in order to win a prize (a “shooting gallery”). Lorelai pretends to take the phrase literally.

“Lawyer up”

LORELAI: Why are you here?
CHRISTOPHER: You’re gonna force me to lawyer up, officer.

In the US, to “lawyer up” is an informal phrase meaning to exercise your right to have legal representation while answering a police officer’s questions.

Christopher is telling Lorelai to back off on asking him questions about why he is there (even though that’s surely a reasonable thing to ask, given the circumstances).

“Tomorrow’s Saturday”

RORY: I’m gonna go study before the food gets here.
CHRISTOPHER: What? Tomorrow’s Saturday.

At this point we discover, surely to our astonishment, that it is now Friday evening. To recap the events of the day:

Lorelai and Luke unloaded their paint, and made plans to paint the diner on Friday. We now know that it was already Friday then, but for some reason they don’t say “next Friday”, or “in a week’s time”. Despite having a whole week to do the painting, Lorelai decides on Friday, which is not only the day she goes to business class, but Friday Night Dinner with her parents! She says this doesn’t matter, as she can “get out early” for a special occasion. That Emily would consider painting Luke’s diner a “special occasion” is highly dubious.
Lorelai and Rory went to the market to buy fruit as Lorelai felt under the weather and was worried about her nutrient intake (maybe this is how she stays healthy – she eats just enough fruits and vegetables not to get sick). Lorelai and Rory met Christopher in the street.
Christopher came to stay with them, and they ordered Chinese food for dinner while Rory did her homework.

So what the heck happened to Friday Night Dinner? Did they skip it that week? And is Lorelai even attending business class any more? And if this is Friday, March 9 then we will definitely run out of Friday nights before the end of the month.

(Also take note that Christopher is completely unaware of his daughter’s study habits or zest for academic life. He really knows nothing about Rory, and they can’t have ever had a proper conversation before).

Memorial Day

RORY: Hey, how’s Diane?
CHRISTOPHER: Uh, Diane is ancient history.
RORY: When I met her at Easter you said she could be the one.
CHRISTOPHER: The one to be gone by Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is a public holiday in the United States to remember those who have died while serving in the armed forces. It’s observed on the last Monday of May, which in 2000 was May 29. It is commemorated with military parades, and by decorating the graves of fallen soldiers with American flags. Memorial Day is considered the unofficial start of summer.

Christopher brought his girlfriend Diane to meet Rory at Easter in 2000, which would have been April 23, telling her that the relationship was serious and possibly permanent. About a month later, the relationship with Diane was over, yet he doesn’t bother telling Rory that until March 2001.

There’s been almost of year of phone calls from Christopher, yet he hasn’t thought to fill Rory in on a significant event in his life such as breaking up with a supposedly serious girlfriend he was thinking of marrying.

The writer (Daniel Palladino for this episode) is keen to drum it in that Christopher is an inattentive father, but it also means that Rory and Lorelai haven’t bothered asking him how Diane is in all that time either – even after she didn’t turn up to Christmas with him (unless Christopher kept fobbing them off with evasive answers).

“He’s never been to Stars Hollow before”

LORELAI: He’s gonna come and go as he pleases babe, you know that.
RORY: … Yeah, but he’s never been to Stars Hollow before.

We discover in this episode that Christopher has never visited Lorelai and Rory before, ever. It’s almost unbelievable that he would come to Hartford once or twice a year to see them, but never once bother to take the half hour drive to Stars Hollow. It’s a real sign that Christopher just hasn’t been interested enough in his daughter.