Category: S1Ep19: Emily in Wonderland

Lorelai Shows Rory and Sookie the Dragonfly

In an episode filled with women showing each other various living spaces, it ends with Lorelai taking Rory and Sookie to see the old inn The Dragonfly, as something she and Sookie might be able to buy and renovate.

Notably, Sookie speaks of opening a bed and breakfast, even though in the next series, it turns out that Lorelai loathes bed and breakfasts.

Lorelai says it will be a long time before she and Sookie can buy The Dragonfly, and in the meantime the whole thing might fall down (the front door falls off just in the time they are viewing it). It will be more than two years before Lorelai and Sookie buy The Dragonfly, opening a new chapter in their lives.

The set used for The Dragonfly at Warner Brothers studio is the same one used for the family house on The Waltons, previously discussed.

Rachel’s Coffee

(They both take sips of coffee at the diner)
RORY: Huh. Does it taste different to you?
LORELAI: Yeah. It does.

Lorelai has convinced Luke to commit to Rachel, and now she is staying in Stars Hollow. Unfortunately, Lorelai and Rory notice that the coffee tastes different now that Rachel is making it. Uh oh – they need that special coffee as made by Luke!

Viewers can tell that Rachel probably won’t be staying around very long, because no way can the Gilmore girls go without their favourite coffee. It also suggests that, as Luke and Rachel are using the same coffee beans in the same machine, there is nothing particularly “special” about Luke’s coffee, and that what Lorelai and Rory really love is Luke himself.

“Blah blah blah Ginger”

RORY: You’ve never tried [to talk to Emily].
LORELAI: Oh no, that’s not true. I have tried. I have tried my whole life. But my mother and I, we speak a different language. I talk, I think I’m being clear, and all she hears is “Blah blah blah Ginger.”

Lorelai is referring to a cartoon from Gary Larson’s The Far Side comic series. It shows a man scolding his dog Ginger, thinking that he is giving him very detailed instructions on what not to do, but all the dog can understand is, “Blah blah Ginger blah blah blah blah Ginger blah blah”. (For dog owners – it’s just a cartoon, of course dogs can understand more than their own name).

The Far Side ran from 1980 to 1995 and was syndicated to over 1900 newspapers worldwide. The quirky cartoons were also collected into a series of books, made into calendars, and printed on greeting cards, mugs, and tee shirts, so they were extremely well known. The “Blah blah Ginger” one seemed to be especially popular as a greeting card, and Lorelai may even have received it, or bought it for others.

(There was a cat counterpart to Blah Blah Ginger, where the cat didn’t listen to a single word, not even recognising its own name or hearing “blah blah” – the speech balloon was a total blank).

Saving Private Ryan

LORELAI: It [talking to Emily] would be like the first fifteen minutes of Saving Private Ryan but at least those guys got to be in France.

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 war film directed by Steven Spielberg. Tom Hanks stars as the movie’s hero, while Matt Damon is in the title role. It is notable for its early scenes of the Normandy landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day, which were critically acclaimed for their violently realistic portrayal of World War II battles. In fact, they were so realistic that they triggered PTSD in some returned veterans, and a helpline had to be set up to counsel them.

Saving Private Ryan was the #2 film of 1998, and the top-grossing US film of the year world wide. Receiving widespread critical acclaim, it won five Academy Awards, including a Best Director for Spielberg. It is regarded as one of the best war films of all time, and helped bring about a resurgence of interest in World War II.

Steven Tyler

RORY: Can I ask you a question?
LORELAI: Yes, I would date Steven Tyler.
RORY: Can I ask you a question whose answer wouldn’t horrify me?

Steven Tyler (born Steven Tallarico in 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician, best known as the lead singer of the rock band Aerosmith. He is known for his high pitched screaming and wide vocal range, on stage acrobatics, and colourful stage outfits, including his trademark scarves (this may have appealed to Lorelai, as scarves are among her favourite accessories).

Tyler gained fame during the 1970s, which waned in the early 1980s due to his drug use. After receiving treatment, he staged a remarkable comeback in the mid-1980s, and Aerosmith reached the peak of their success during the 1990s. He is now regarded as an enduring rock icon.

Happy dance

RORY: I just thought if she saw how we lived, and how pretty it was with the lake and the swans …
LORELAI: That she’d do a happy dance?

In slang terms, a “happy dance” is any spontaneous dance done in celebration, or in order to gloat at personal success.

It’s especially known from the Peanuts cartoons by Charles M. Schulz, where Snoopy does an excited happy dance whenever Charlie Brown brings him food. This may have been part of Lorelai and Chris’ performance when they sang Suppertime, from the musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

“10 and 2 hand position”

RORY: You didn’t say anything on the ride home.
LORELAI: I was concentrating.
RORY: So …
LORELAI: Well, I feel I’ve gotten sloppy with this whole “10 and 2” hand position thing.
RORY: Mm hmm.
LORELAI: Yeah seriously, the other day I caught myself doing a “9 and 4.”
RORY: Mom.
LORELAI: Well, if left uncorrected, that can only lead to a “6 and 12”, or worse yet, an “8 and 11”, which is not only dangerous but damn uncomfortable.

Lorelai is referring to the traditional instruction given in driver’s education training to keep your hands on the steering wheel as if one is at ten o’clock on a clock face, and the other one is marking two o’clock.

This information is now outdated, and in fact it was outdated even at the time Lorelai was saying it. Once airbags came in during the 1990s, this way of holding the steering wheel became potentially dangerous, as if you are holding the wheel at “10 and 2” when an airbag deploys, you risk having your fingers or hands crushed, or your nose broken.

Driving instructors now suggest “9 and 3” as a better position, or even “8 and 4”, as being safer and giving better control over the vehicles. Having said that, “6 and 12” and “8 and 11” are clearly wrong, and certainly neither would be comfortable nor safe.

Chequered flag

EMILY: I mean, it [Rory’s bedroom] may not be exciting or bohemian, but at least it doesn’t have shovels propped up against the sofa either, now does it?
LORELAI: I’m sorry. I missed the chequered flag, when did the argument start?

Motor sport races traditionally end with a black and white chequered flag waving to signal their completion. However, Lorelai seems to think that the flag is waved at the beginning of a race, as she wonders where the signal was that she and Emily were about to have a fight. (She can’t think that the fight is over – they are clearly in the middle of one).

Hello Kitty

LORELAI: You bought boy band posters and Hello Kitty notepads.
EMILY: A lovely young girl at the store helped me pick them out.

Hello Kitty is a fictional character created by the Japanese company Sanrio, and originally created by Yuko Shimizu in 1974. Perpetually in third grade and living somewhere outside London, her creators insist she is not a cat despite having cat ears and whiskers (she even has a pet cat). She is recognisable from her ribbon on her head, and lack of a mouth.

Hello Kitty products include dolls, greeting cards, stationery, clothes, accessories, appliances, and computer equipment. There are also Hello Kitty restaurants, a TV series, comic books, and video games. First marketed to pre-teen girls, the market base gradually widened to young adult. It was particularly fashionable in the late 1990s.