Sour Patch Kids and Milk Duds

RORY: … We could stuff our purses full of Sour Patch Kids and Milk Duds …

Sour Patch Kids are soft candies covered in sugar syrup and sour sugar, which come in a range of flavours; they are made by Allen’s. They were first sold in the 1970s under the name Mars Men; the name was changed in the 1980s to cash in on the popularity of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls.

Milk Duds are caramel candies coated in cocoa manufactured by Hershey; they have been made since 1926. They are called “duds” because they are not perfectly round, but slightly misshapen.

Fondue

RORY: … We could go to the Swiss place for fondue for dinner …

Fondue is a Swiss dish of melted cheese served in a pot over a portable stove, from which two or more people eat by dipping bread using long forks. Variations of fondue have been known since the 17^th century (originally it was more like scrambled eggs with cheese), but it only became the smooth modern creation in the early 20^th century, once cornstarch was introduced to Switzerland. It began being heavily promoted as Switzerland’s national dish in the 1930s to encourage cheese consumption.

Fondue was introduced to the US in 1964 at the World’s Fair, and it became very fashionable in the 1970s. Since the 1950s, the word fondue has been applied to other communal dishes in North America, after Swiss chef Karl Egli introduced them at his Chalet Suisse Restaurant in New York, including the popular chocolate fondue.

We learn here that Stars Hollow has a Swiss restaurant – Stars Hollow seems to have several good restaurants, but everyone eats at Luke’s Diner and Al’s Pancake World.

“It sleeps with the fishes”

RORY: Far, far away from the house, okay? [referring to her box of items that remind her of Dean]
LORELAI: Hey, it sleeps with the fishes.

A reference to the 1972 crime film The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and based on the best-selling 1969 novel of the same name by Mario Puzo. The story is about an Italian-American crime family in New York in the 1940s and ’50s, under their patriarch Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). It depicts the transformation of Vito’s son Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) from an outsider in the family to mafia boss.

The Godfather was the #1 film of 1972, and is one of the highest-grossing films in cinema history. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture, while Marlon Brando received Best Actor, and Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo won Best Adapted Screenplay. It is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, and has been highly influential on gangster films.

In the film, Luca Brasi is the loyal enforcer to Don Vito Corleone. He is murdered by a rival mobster, who sends the Corleone family Brasi’s bulletproof vest with a fish in it, a message that “Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes” (ie his corpse was thrown into a body of water).

It becomes apparent through the series that The Godfather is a favourite movie of Lorelai and Rory.

Lorelai does not make good on her word, hiding Rory’s “Dean memory box” in the hall cupboard. It doesn’t seem like a particularly sneaky hiding place, and Rory finds it later in the season. Rather confusingly, prior to this the doorway in the hall led into the downstairs bathroom. Where the bathroom went is a mystery, but it still exists, as it is referred to several times later.

“Then he’s gay”

(Rory is packing everything which reminds her of Dean into a cardboard box).
LORELAI: Sweater’s brand new.
RORY: Well, he [Dean] saw me in it yesterday and he liked it.
LORELAI: Well, then he’s got good taste.
RORY: He said it brought out the blue in my eyes.
LORELAI: Well, then he’s gay.

Gay jokes are always funny in Lorelai’s world. I think it’s all the 1970s films and television shows she watches, when you could pretty much just say someone was gay and everyone would crack up hysterically.

Nancy Drew

LORELAI: Honey, he did not plan an entire romantic evening complete with dinner and a junkyard, which we’ll get back to later, and then suddenly decide to dump you for no reason.
RORY: How do you know?
LORELAI: Because I have read every Nancy Drew mystery ever written. The one about the Amish country, twice. I know there’s more to the story than what you’re telling me.

Nancy Drew is a fictional girl detective who first appeared in the 1930 novel, The Secret of the Old Clock. She was created by publisher Edward Stratemeyer as a feminine version of the Hardy Boys mysteries he published, and the books are written by various ghostwriters under the name Carolyn Keene. For her independence and forthright nature, Nancy Drew is often seen as a positive role model for girls. Nancy Drew books are universally popular, and still being published.

The book that Lorelai refers to is The Witch Tree Symbol, first published in 1955, and the 33^rd volume in the series. It is set in Pennsylvania Dutch country, and the Amish play an important part in the plot.

“One step away from stalker material”

LORELAI: Okay, forget about the meatball, okay? Just tell me what happened.
RORY: He just broke up with me, okay?
LORELAI: That doesn’t make sense. This is Dean we’re talking about. He’s crazy about you. He calls like twenty-five times a day. Have you seen the cover of his notebook? It’s one step away from stalker material.

Another hint from Lorelai about Dean’s obsessive (and perhaps possessive) nature when it comes to Rory.

“I left your meatball in the car”

RORY: We – we went to dinner and then we walked by the bonfire but it wasn’t lit so we went to this junkyard and we sat in this car and then – oh God!
LORELAI: What?
RORY: I forgot your meatball in the car.

This is the meatball that Lorelai said to save as a memento. It is typical of Rory to get hung up on this very minor detail of things going wrong. Notice that Rory says they just sat in “this car”, rather than letting Lorelai know it was a car that Dean was building for her.

Rory didn’t actually have the meatball in the car Dean is building for her, but possibly she means the car Dean drove her home in.