Category: S1Ep19: Emily in Wonderland

“Whopper over kimchi”

LANE: No, they’d [Henry’s parents] know.
RORY: Know what?
LANE: Know that I listen to the wrong music and wish I could go blonde without looking like an idiot. Or that I’d take a Whopper over kimchi in a heartbeat.

The Whopper is the signature hamburger at the American fast food chain Burger King. It’s a hamburger patty on a sesame seed bun with lettuce, tomato, sliced onion, mayonnaise, ketchup, and pickles. You can add optional ingredients such as cheese, bacon, or mustard at your request. There is a Burger King in New Britain, just south of Hartford – presumably Lorelai and Rory took Lane to Burger King at least once.

Kimchi [pictured] is a traditional Korean side dish made from salted and fermented vegetables, most commonly cabbage or radishes, combined with seasonings such as chilli, garlic, and ginger. A staple food in Korea, the origins of kimchi date back at least 2000 years, although the chilli wasn’t added until the 17th century. It is the national dish of North and South Korea.

Rachel and Lorelai at The Dragonfly

Rachel drives Lorelai to the old abandoned inn, The Dragonfly. I don’t know where she got the car from, since she arrived in Stars Hollow by plane, and that isn’t Luke’s vehicle that she’s driving. Maybe Rachel bought her own car after she arrived in Stars Hollow.

Lorelai tells Rachel that she and Sookie have had the ambition of opening their own inn for a “couple of years”, and that they are saving up towards that goal. Unfortunately, they are not even close to their target amount, so it looks as if their dream will be deferred for several more years at least.

It’s hard to see how Lorelai can save toward the inn when she is (presumably) still paying off her mortgage, is saving for a trip to Europe, and saving to pay her parents back for funding Rory’s private school education. (She should also be saving for Rory to go to Harvard, but probably isn’t.)

Maybe if Lorelai stopped buying take away for every meal and multiple coffees every day, they could save faster?

Charlie’s Angels

(Emily pulls a plate out the cabinet.)
EMILY: There are women in bikinis on them.
RORY: The original Charlie’s Angels. It took us years to get a complete set. You can find the Kate Jacksons and the Shelly Hacks pretty easily. Even the Cheryl Ladds. But the Farrah Fawcetts and the Jacklyn Smiths are a little harder to come by, but still accessible. The real trick however is to find the Tanya Roberts. We have three.

Charlie’s Angels is a crime drama television series which was originally broadcast from 1976 to 1981. It follows three women who are private investigators working for a never-seen boss named Charlie Townsend, who communicates with them via speakerphone.

The original stars of the show were Kate Jackson (Sabrina Duncan), Jaclyn Smith (Kelly Garrett), and Farrah Fawcett (Jill Munroe), earlier discussed. With casting changes came Cheryl Ladd (Kris Munroe), Shelley Hack (Tiffany Welles), and Tanya Roberts (Julie Rogers).

Despite mixed reviews, Charlie’s Angels was hugely popular for its first two seasons. It still has a cult following through reruns, DVD, and film and television remakes.

The Grapes of Wrath

RORY: I know, it’s [the fridge] a little sparse.
EMILY: It’s The Grapes of Wrath.

The Grapes of a Wrath is a 1939 novel by American author John Steinbeck. Set during the Great Depression, the book follows the failing fortunes of an Oklahoma family of tenant farmers driven from their land by drought. Seeking a better life in California, they instead find themselves exploited as cheap labour to the point of starvation.

The Grapes of Wrath was the best-selling book of 1939, and was relentlessly reviewed, criticised, debated, banned, and even burned. It won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and was a major factor in Steinbeck winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. It is regarded as one of the best books ever written, and a classic example of The Great American Novel.

The Grapes of Wrath was made into a celebrated film in 1940, directed by John Ford, and starring Henry Fonda. It is considered to be one of the greatest films ever made.

Boo Radley

LORELAI: You want him [Rune] to live here?
SOOKIE: No! Well, what about the old potting shed?
LORELAI: The old potting shed? That’s where Rory and I lived when she was a baby. It has memories and little rosebud wallpaper. I don’t want Boo Radley touching my rosebud wallpaper.

Arthur “Boo” Radley is a character in To Kill a Mockingbird, the 1960 novel by American author Harper Lee. He is a recluse who has been isolated from the townspeople since he was a teenager, and many rumours surround him. Boo Radley was apparently based on a real life neighbour of Harper Lee when she was a child. In the 1962 film version, he is portrayed by Robert Duvall [pictured].

Lorelai is saying that Rune is the town weirdo, like Boo Radley. The fact that she sees him this way shows that on some level, she is starting to accept him as a resident of Stars Hollow. (She can’t help it – she loves Stars Hollow, and on some level, everyone who lives there, even Rune).

It’s notable that after this Lorelai appears kind and friendly to Rune, a man she dislikes, who has been nothing but insulting to her, and is spreading rumours that imply she is his ex-girlfriend. Is she just being loyal to Sookie, or is there some fellow feeling with Rune, the black sheep of his family who has come to Stars Hollow with almost nothing? She gives Rune the same start she was given – an entry-level job at the inn, and some very basic free accommodation.

This is also the first we hear of Lorelai and Rory living in the potting shed at the Independence Inn, which will be important later in the episode.

Graham Cracker and Broiler

JACKSON: Or take a graham cracker, spread a little [jam] on it, break up a chocolate bar, throw it in the broiler for a couple of minutes, and you’re gonna be singing show tunes all evening.

A graham cracker is a type of cracker which is made from coarse wholemeal flour and sweetened with honey; it is very similar to a digestive biscuit. Graham crackers were inspired by the teachings of the Rev. Sylvester Graham, who preached the importance of a wholefood vegetarian diet – one of the first vegetarian movements in the US. The crackers were first marketed to Graham’s followers, but he didn’t invent them or profit from them. They are now made by a variety of brands, and can also be home made.

A broiler is the American word for the grill on the top of the stove – in American usage, grilling means the heat comes from below, while broiling means the heat is coming from above.

So if you would like to try out Jackson’s recipe, take a digestive biscuit, spread a bit of home made raspberry and peach jam on it, cover it in a broken up chocolate bar, and pop it under the grill for two minutes until the chocolate melts.

Jam

JACKSON (to Lorelai): Yeah, and I also brought some of my raspberry peach jam. I think you’re gonna like it. Put it on ice cream.

This might confuse some non-Americans, because one of the earliest Americanisms often learned is that in the US they call jam “jelly”, and jelly is “Jell-O“. So what does Jackson mean by “jam”?

The US Food and Drug Administration has some very clear rules on what constitutes “jelly” or “jam”. Jelly is made from the clear juices of fruit, then boiled with sugar and pectin so that it sets into a spreadable consistency. Despite the name, it doesn’t have gelatine in it, and is much sweeter than the fruit jellies made in the UK that are eaten with meat (eg bramble jelly). For some reason, jelly is considered a food more suitable for children, or is more popular with children.

Jam is made from boiling mashed fruit with sugar until it is able to set into a spreadable consistency (it’s basically what everyone calls jam). It may not need pectin to make it set, as many fruits already have pectin in them. For some reason, it considered more suitable for adults than jelly, or is more popular with adults. It is usually of a runnier consistency than jelly, which is why Jackson suggests using his raspberry and peach jam as a topping for ice cream.

In Star Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers, we learned that Jackson planned to begin making his own jams, preserves, and tomato sauce – the jam he gives Lorelai must be an example of what he has made so far.

Yoko

LORELAI: Explain Yoko, because he’s [Rune] out there with the normal people and he’s going to scare them.

Lorelai is referring to Yoko Ono, previously discussed. (The Japanese conference guests may have put her in mind of the Japanese artist and singer.)

Thank you to blog reader Marycontraire for pointing out that Lorelai’s comment directly relates to the entry for The Lost Weekend.

“The lost weekend” was John Lennon’s name for the eighteen month period between 1973 and 1975 he was separated from Yoko Ono and living with a companion named May Pang. Musically it was a productive time for him, but also marked by some outrageous behaviour from Lennon while drunk or stoned. He likened this period to the film The Lost Weekend about an alcoholic.

Lorelai’s comment doesn’t exactly make sense, as Sookie isn’t in the same situation as Yoko Ono at all, but is typical of her riffing on pop culture without bothering whether it is actually pertinent to the case.