Category: S1Ep8: Love and War and Snow

Love means redefining relationships

Both Rory and Lorelai have now found a romantic partner – in fact, it seems as if Rory getting a boyfriend is partly what convinces Lorelai that the timing is now right for her to date Max.

But their new romances mean they have to reconsider other relationships. Lorelai must rewrite the rules she made up to protect Rory when she was young. As Rory already knows Lorelai’s boyfriend Max and sees him every weekday, there is no point in keeping him away from her.

Meanwhile, Rory realises that her happiness in having a boyfriend has made her selfish and dismissive toward her best friend Lane. This has brought on the first fight we see Lane and Rory have. Rory knows she shouldn’t take Lane for granted, and vows to make more effort to include her in her life.

Legos

LANE: I mean, you seem to have this really great life going and I don’t really fit in there.
RORY: That’s not true, you totally fit in.
LANE: Yeah?
RORY: I’m talking Legos.

Lego is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by The Lego Group, founded in Denmark in 1949. Lego pieces are interlocking plastic bricks, figurines and various doo-dads that can be fit together in a variety of ways, taken apart, and reused again and again. They are one of the most powerful brands in the world.

(It is usual in the US to refer to the plural Lego bricks as Legos, which sounds grammatically wrong in the rest of the world).

Rory is implying not just that she and Lane fit together tightly like Lego bricks, but that their relationship is capable of change. Life might break them apart, but they will always find new ways to re-assemble their friendship.

World Series

LORELAI: I, uh . . . we had one date. It was a great date, World Series level.

The World Series is the annual championship series for Major League Baseball in the US, contested since 1903 and held in the autumn. For this reason it is sometimes called the Fall Classic.

It sometimes confuses people outside the US as to why it is called the World Series when only one nation is involved. One theory is that it was named after the newspaper The New York World, but this is disputed. Most likely it was just a zippy promotional name.

Judy Blume

LORELAI: Oh, Lane is gonna stay here tonight. She had a really bad teen day and she needs to crash someplace sympathetic … I swear to God, if this wasn’t a major Judy Blume moment, I would kick her cute little butt right out of here.

Judy Blume (born 1938) is a popular award-winning American writer best known for her children’s books and young adult fiction. First published in 1969, she was one of the first writers to cover topics such as racism, religion, masturbation, menstruation, teenage sex, birth control, divorce, and death in order to address common worries for young people that often aren’t openly talked about. Because of this, many people remember the Judy Blume books they read as a child with fondness and gratitude.

Like Lane’s situation, Judy Blume characters often end up at a crisis point of shame or social anxiety where they wonder how they can continue living as they did before.

The Cure

[Lane runs into Rory’s room and puts on loud music.]
LORELAI: Oh, that’s The Cure. I have to go back in there.

The song by English Gothic rock band The Cure that Lane plays when she escapes into Rory’s room after touching her crush’s hair is Pictures of You. It’s from their 1989 album Disintegration, and was released as a single in 1990, when it went to #27 in the UK and #71 in the US, although #19 on the alternative music charts.

Robert Smith was inspired to write the song after a fire broke out in their house. While going through the remains, he came across his wallet which had pictures of his wife Mary in it. The cover for the single has one of the pictures on it.

The song is a reminder of the photos Rory finds of her parents, the remains of their relationship.