Footnotes to the TV series
LORELAI: You know this is a real crossroads kind of situation. It’s like “to perm or not to perm.” I’m really confused.
Lorelai is making a play on the famous line, “To be or not to be”, from Prince Hamlet’s soliloquy in the William Shakespeare tragedy Hamlet (1603).
LUKE (to Lorelai and Sookie): How do you guys get any work done?
Surely a wink to the audience, who soon notice that Lorelai and Sookie seemingly have hours free every day to attend bake sales, go to the diner, stroll around town, drink coffee, and chat endlessly about their relationships and day to day lives.
LORELAI: He [Jim Carrey] is funny but I didn’t mean funny, funny. I’m being philosophical.
SOOKIE: Oh. Very serious face. Jean-Paul Sartre.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) was a French philosopher, writer, and critic. Highly influential, he was a leading figure in 20th century Marxism, existentialism, and phenomenology, and was famous as the lover of fellow philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. His best known work is Being and Nothingness (1943). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, but declined to accept it.
LORELAI: Life is a funny funny thing, huh?
SOOKIE: Yeah I love that Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey (born James Carrey in 1962) is a Canadian-American actor and comedian famous for his energetic slapstick performances. His first leading role was in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), and he continued taking lead roles in film comedies through the 1990s. He was praised for his performances in slightly more serious roles in The Truman Show (1998) and Man on the Moon (1999).
MAX: So anyhow my uncle watches this girl, waiting for the right moment to approach her. Next thing he knows, he gets drafted.
LORELAI: Oh, going for Kleenex.
Kleenex is a brand name for tissues, first sold under the name in 1924. So popular are they that the brand name is often used to refer to the product itself.
LORELAI: Do you like rap music?
MAX: Yeah.
LORELAI: Me too.
Lorelai is often shown listening to music in Gilmore Girls, and talking about her favourite musical artists, yet we never hear any more about her supposed love of rap music. It seems very unlikely that either Max or Lorelai is a big fan of rap music.
MAX: (to waitress) Do you have any hemlock back there? Arsenic, something quick?
Both potentially deadly poisons. The plant hemlock was used to execute the philosopher Socrates after he was found guilty of impiety. Arsenic was once a popular choice as a murder weapon because it is odourless and not easily detected, until a test for it was devised in the 19th century.
MAX: I think we should date.
LORELAI: Why?
MAX: Because I think we both want to.
LORELAI: Well I want to be in the Bangles but that doesn’t mean I quit my job and get a guitar and ruin my life to be a Bangle, does it?
The Bangles are an all-female American pop-rock band formed in 1981. Their classic line-up is Michael Steele, Susanna Hoffs, Debbi Peterson, and Vicki Peterson. They are best known for their 1980s hits such as Manic Monday and Walk Like an Egyptian.
Max talks about The Bangles being broken up, and while they did break up around 1990, they re-formed in 1998 and are still together. Lorelai and Max don’t seem to be aware of this yet. The Bangles breaking up and getting back together mirrors Lorelai and Max’s future relationship.
This is the first time we learn of Lorelai’s love for The Bangles, and her desire to be in the band.
Kirk (Sean Gunn) finally makes an appearance – after being Mick and a swan guy, he is now the new assistant manager at Doose’s Market, and named Kirk. However, this is a Kirk who doesn’t know who Miss Patty is: he’s Kirk, but not as we know him.
Note that Kirk is the middle name of Edward Hermann, who plays Richard Gilmore! Another possible inspiration is Captain Kirk from Star Trek.
This 1999 supernatural horror film was M. Night Shyamalan’s first major movie, and his biggest cinematic success, both critically and commercially. The story about an isolated young boy and his equally troubled psychologist became famous for its plot twist and “I see dead people” catchphrase. Like other Shyamalan movies, it is set in Philadelphia. It was the #2 film of 1999, and is one of the highest-grossing horror films of all time.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 