Category: S2Ep22: I Can’t Get Started

Sookie Freaks Out

Lorelai comes downstairs to get some post-coital snacks for she and Christopher to share, and finds Sookie having a pre-wedding meltdown in the kitchen. We get to see Sookie’s wedding dress and veil, and the wedding cake, which is multi-tiered with a stunning swirl of sugared spring flowers over it.

Sookie quickly gets over her wedding jitters, because of course, she and Jackson are Meant to Be. It’s actually really nice to see the best friend in a romantic comedy-drama get to find love and have the wedding of her dreams, when so often this role is doomed to nothing but comic dating disasters, or kept single so as to be permanently on hand for the main character.

Lorelai and Christopher Kiss

Christopher comes downstairs from his room at the inn – where he could have been staying all the time to visit his daughter Rory – and talks to Lorelai, who is still fussing over the wedding preparations. They kiss, and with very little thought involved, go upstairs to have sex. For a wonder, neither of them have been drinking this time!

Yes, Lorelai is happily trotting upstairs to have sex with someone else’s boyfriend, but if this offends you in some way, you can be assured she is going to be punished for it out of all proportion. This is a show that likes to punish people who have sex. Maybe even Christopher gets punished, not that the thought is likely to anguish anyone terribly much.

Mustard Greens

LORELAI: I’m so happy for Sookie. I mean, it’s like a real live love story, and I saw it all happen. I mean, I hired Jackson. I watched them meet. I watched them have several bizarrely intense arguments over mustard greens. I watched them fall in love.

Mustard greens are the leaves of the mustard plant (Brassica juncea), also known as brown mustard, Chinese mustard, Indian mustard, leaf mustard, Oriental mustard and vegetable mustard. The plant has been cultivated in Asia and Europe for more than 2000 years, and is used in salads, soups, stews, and stir-fries, as well as pickles. It has a bitter, peppery flavour which matches well with beans, lentils, pork, ham, tofu, onions, garlic, and lemon.

“Fourth rung of hell”

RORY: Fourth rung of hell, party of one.

LORELAI: Well, at least my feet won’t get cold.

Rory references the Inferno, the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri’s 14th century epic poem, the Divine Comedy. The Inferno describes Dante’s journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet, Virgil. In the poem, Hell is described as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth.

It is not certain from this whether Rory has actually read the book, although it doesn’t seem unlikely that she has. There are circles of Hell in the poem, not “rungs”, and the fourth circle of Hell is for the miserly, the hoarders of wealth, and those who squandered it – not people gloating over relationship break ups (those are dealt with in the next part, the Purgatorio). However, that could very easily be a bit of artistic licence on Rory’s part.

Lorelai possibly gives away that she hasn’t read the poem when she says her feet won’t get cold. In fact, the final circle of Hell is a huge frozen lake. Hell does actually freeze over. The frozen lake is reserved for the traitors, who remain trapped in the ice, and in the very centre of the lake is Lucifer, who was a traitor to Heaven.

Brad and Jen

LORELAI: So, guess who’s in the process of breaking up?

RORY: Brad and Jen?

Actor Brad Pitt, previously discussed, and his first wife, actress Jennifer Aniston (born 1969), who rose to fame starring as Rachel Green on the sitcom Friends (1994-2004), and is often considered one of the world’s most beautiful women.

The couple began dating in 1998, and were married in 2000. Their relationship was highly publicised, and their marriage often considered a rare success in Hollywood, but they did actually divorce in 2005, a few years after this episode aired.

“Tunneling out of here with a spoon”

LORELAI: Aw, look at you, trying to make Mommy feel like you don’t spend every night tunneling out of here with a spoon.

Lorelai references Escape from Alcatraz, 1979 prison thriller film directed by Don Spiegel. It’s an adaptation of the 1963 non-fiction book of the same name by J. Campbell Bruce, and dramatises the 1962 prisoner escape from the maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island, off the shore of San Francisco.

The film stars Clint Eastwood as Frank Morris, an extremely intelligent criminal who forms an escape plan with a few other prisoners. Over the next few months, they dig through their cell walls with spoons, make papier-mache dummies to act as decoys, and construct a raft out of raincoats. The film implies the escape was successful, although that is not certain (recent evidence seems to suggest the men did survive).

Escape from Alcatraz was a commercial success and well received by critics. It is often considered one of the best films of 1979.

Senior Ditch Day

PARIS: Not that the person who actually wins will even know who Hubert Humphrey is, but hey, I bet they’ll organize one boffo senior ditch day.

Ditch Day, previously discussed.

Boffo, US slang meaning “very good”. It originated from the film trade magazine, Variety.

Note that Paris is wearing one of the 400 campaign buttons that Lorelai made for them, showing Rory’s and Paris’ faces, against what looks like the US flag (as if it’s a real presidential election, not just one for school).

“I have lost. Mr Nixon has won”

PARIS: How’s this sound for a template? I have done my best. I have lost. Mr. Nixon has won. The democratic process has worked its will, so now let’s get on with the urgent task of uniting this country … Hubert Humphrey’s concession speech. Now, other than the part about Nixon, parts of it really seem to apply here.

Paris refers to Hubert Humphrey’s concession speech on 6 November 1968, acknowledging that Richard Nixon had been successful in his bid to become President of the United States by a narrow margin. It ended: “I have done my best. I have lost. Mr. Nixon has won. The democratic process has worked its will. Now let us get on with the urgent task of uniting this country”.

Paris says that Hubert Humphrey probably wasn’t considered very fun either, but this is one of a myriad of things that Paris gets completely wrong. Hubert Humphrey was known for his positive outlook and zest for life, a free spirit who loved every minute of being alive and wanted to make the world a happier place. Even when conceding defeat, he spoke about how much fun the campaign had been. It’s probably one of America’s tragedies that they failed to elect him as President.

Almonds for Table 5

RORY: Do you happen to know where the almonds I made for table five went?

LORELAI: No.

RORY: ‘Cause they were here last night before Sookie’s dinner.

Rory spends six hours wrapping Jordan almonds in tulle as wedding favours for Sookie and Jackson, only for Lorelai to eat some of them, because Gilmore girls are fun and quirky, and do what they want. Good work teaching your daughter that stealing is cute, Lorelai. Keep at it – just a few more examples, and I’m sure the message will sink in!

Also – six hours to make forty wedding favours? How slowly does Rory work? Each one should only take a couple of minutes.