Category: S1Ep20: PS I Lo…

James Joyce’s Ulysses: A Study

Rory reads this book by Stuart Gilbert while she waits for Lane outside the supermarket. First published in 1930, it’s a guide to James Joyce’s notoriously difficult 1922 novel Ulysses. Stuart Gilbert was the first French translator of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and through that became good friends with the author. His systematic analysis of the novel was written with James Joyce’s approval and input, so it’s seen as the official guide to Ulysses.

Rory must surely be reading Ulysses as well to need this companion book to help her understand it. It seems to be something she is reading for herself rather than for school, as we later learn they have been studying Henry James at Chilton.

“Dean is not in the store on Wednesdays”

LANE: I just thought you’d might like to know for future reference that Dean is not in the store on Wednesdays, so you can mark it down on that little list you’re hiding from me that says where Dean is, so that you can avoid him at any time.

Lane goes into the supermarket for Rory and does her shopping – she needs chewing gum, soda, a copy of The New Yorker, and dental floss. She lets Rory know that Dean is not in the store, so we know that the day is a Wednesday – most likely Wednesday 18 April.

“A couple of weeks now”

MAX: We’ve been having these very successful phone calls for a couple of weeks now.
LORELAI: Yes we have.
MAX: And I think that all the talking has done us a lot of good.
LORELAI: Yes it has.
MAX: So I was thinking that maybe this weekend instead of a phone call, we should have a date.

Lorelai and Max reunited more than four weeks ago, but perhaps they didn’t start talking on the phone straight away, or Max is giving a general estimate. Their first date is scheduled for five weeks after their reunion, so they didn’t rush into it.

Wild Kingdom

LORELAI: Ooh, hey, make a gorilla sound.
MAX: Why?
LORELAI: I want to play Wild Kingdom.

Lorelai is referring to the television program, previously discussed. It’s interesting that Lorelai links sex with Wild Kingdom, because last time this work was referenced, it was in connection with Luke (hypothetically) having sex with her. Becoming sexually aroused seems to have subconsciously reminded her of Luke.

“I have asthma”

KIRK: Okay, did somebody put the “Kick me” sign on my back again?
(Lorelai and Rory are laughing.)
KIRK: It wasn’t funny last week, and it’s not funny now! I have asthma.

Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. Symptoms include coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath, and episodes may occur several times a day, or a few times a week. There is no cure, but symptoms can be reduced by avoiding allergens and irritants (such as tobacco smoke), and using an inhaler with corticosteroids in it.

This is the first time in the show that we learn something about Kirk’s private life. It also shows us that Kirk is the town joke, and something of a whipping boy, so that Lorelai and Rory have no problems making fun of him in public.

Anna Nicole Smith and Mary Kay Letourneau

(Older man walks by.)
LORELAI: Pass.
RORY: Why?
LORELAI: Because I’m not Anna Nicole Smith. Next.
RORY: Two.
(Teenage boy on a skateboard goes by.)
LORELAI: Hmm, pass.
RORY: Why?
LORELAI: Because I’m not Mary Kay Letourneau.

Anna Nicole Smith, born Vickie Lynne Hogan (1967-2007) [pictured] was an American model and actress who first gained fame as a Playboy model, winning Playmate of the Year in 1992. She was perhaps best known for her 1994 marriage to J. Howard Marshall, an 89-year-old petroleum tycoon she had met while working at a strip club. It was speculated that she had married him for his money because of the age difference. Marshall died the following year, and there was a protracted legal case over his will; during it, Smith herself died, gaining no money from his estate.

Mary Kay Letourneau (born Mary Katherine Schmitz in 1962) is an American former schoolteacher who in 1997 pleaded guilty to raping a child, her twelve-year-old student Vili Fualaau, to whose baby she gave birth while awaiting sentencing. Due to a plea agreement, she was sentenced to three months in prison, and was not allowed contact with Fualaau for life. She broke the no-contact order soon after being released from prison, and was imprisoned again, this time for seven years, giving birth to another child in prison. After Letourneau was released in 2004, Vili Fualaau, now an adult, asked that the no-contact order be revoked, and they married in 2005. They legally separated in 2017, although they apparently still live together and are still in a relationship.

“You look tired”

LORELAI: You look tired.
RORY: I just haven’t been sleeping very well lately.
LORELAI: How come?
RORY: Just have a lot on my mind.

It’s a few weeks since Rory and Dean ended their relationship, and she seemed to be coping pretty well. But perhaps that was just because she had a few distractions, such as a surprise visit from her great-grandmother, a group project to work on, spending an afternoon with her grandmother, and getting her own bedroom at her grandparents’ house.

Now that it’s back to normal life with nothing much happening, Rory is having trouble sleeping. When she sees Dean walk past the diner as she and Lorelai play a “who would you marry?” game with passers-by, Rory looks miserable.

PS I Lo…

The title suggests someone who is not quite able to bring themselves to say, “I love you”, and in this episode, both Lorelai and Rory will have to face up to their commitment issues.

The title may be reminiscent of the song PS I Love You, a 1934 popular song written by Johnny Mercer and first recorded by pop star Rudy Vallée. The Beatles had a 1962 song of the same name, the B-side to their debut single Love Me Do, and included on their 1963 album Please Please Me.