Category: S3Ep10: That’ll Do Pig

Jess Refuses to Go to the Winter Carnival

RORY: Come on, let’s go to the carnival.

JESS: I don’t go to these stupid town things. [puts an arm around her]

RORY: You went to the Bid-A-Basket festival. You went to the dance marathon.

JESS: That was when I was trying to get you. I now have you. That means I don’t have to go anymore.

Well, here’s a chance to do something together besides kissing: Rory asks Jess to attend the Winter Carnival with her. However, it turns out he is quite resistant to the idea, saying that he doesn’t go to “stupid town things”.

When Rory points out that he went to the Bid-on-a-Basket festival and the dance marathon, he says: “That was when I was trying to get you. I now have you”. It’s honest and blunt, but also rather chilling. It makes it sound as if Jess was never really interested in Rory, except as a prize to be won. And being told only two months into a relationship that the other person no longer feels like they have to make an effort for you is pretty harsh.

Jess hasn’t had the best relationship models, so you can understand why he might not be the most romantic boyfriend in the world, but this can’t be what Rory was hoping to hear.

Rory and Jess Kiss in Public

[Jess and Rory are walking through the town square, kissing]

It’s about two months since Rory broke up with Dean, and by now she is comfortable enough to be seen kissing her boyfriend Jess in public. It feels as if the relationship between Rory and Jess is nothing but kissing, actually. Do they do anything else?

When they were friends, they read books and talked about books and went book shopping – whatever happened to that? Is it happening offscreen, or are we meant to think that now they’re in a relationship, Rory and Jess don’t bother any more?

Dean Brings Back Rory’s Stuff

LORELAI: Not weirded out, even a little?

RORY: Why would I be weirded out?

LORELAI: Well, Dean coming over, bringing your stuff back.

RORY: No, I’m fine.

LORELAI: Okay. Although, you know, if you were weirded out a little, it would be okay. It wouldn’t mean that you don’t like Jess, or that you made a mistake. It would just mean the guy who was in your life for two years isn’t there anymore.

Dean drops off his “Rory box” of mementos, in order to return them to Rory. Although Rory brushes off Lorelai’s concerns that she might feel “weird” about it, when she takes the box to her room, she seems unable to open it and deal with the contents. She sits on the bed and eyes it with an unhappy, regretful (remorseful?), expression.

Note how Lorelai doesn’t miss a chance to mention not liking Jess, or making a mistake, even while trying to comfort Rory. We never see Rory return her “Dean box” to Dean – but then again, Lorelai told her that such memory boxes were to be kept as a lifetime reminder of a previous relationship.

Buick

LORELAI: I have a spider whose previous credits include the bathtub scene from Annie Hall trapped under that cup.

DEAN: The size of a Buick?

Buick is a division of the US car manufacturer, General Motors. In the North American market, Buick is a premium automobile brand, selling luxury vehicles positioned above GM’s mainstream brands, while priced below the flagship luxury Cadillac division.

Dean is quoting from Annie Hall, when Alvy describes the spider as “the size of a Buick”. He obviously knows the film, and probably watched it with Lorelai and Rory.

[Picture shows a 1977 Buick – the same year Annie Hall was released].

The Bathtub Scene from Annie Hall

LORELAI: I have a spider whose previous credits include the bathtub scene from Annie Hall trapped under that cup.

The film Annie Hall, previously discussed and frequently mentioned.

In the movie, there is a scene where Annie calls Alvy to come over to her apartment at 3 am even though they have broken up – which turns out to be because there is a spider in her bath. It turns out to be two very large spiders. After Alvy deals with the spiders, he and Annie get back together.

It’s interesting that Lorelai references this scene to Dean, who has broken up with Rory and now unexpectedly turned up at her house. It seems like she thinks of it because she wants Rory and Dean to also get back together, as if Dean killing the spider will somehow bring Rory back to him, as Alvy gets Annie back.

Cigar Humidor

EMILY: I bought him a cigar humidor … It’s gorgeous. [sits down] It belonged to a lieutenant in the army in World War I. Apparently, he kept it in his field office in France. There are carvings in the bottom that the dealer said could possibly be coded messages.

A humidor is a humidity-controlled box used for storing cigars, cigarettes, cannabis, or pipe tobacco. Either too much or too little humidity can be harmful to tobacco products; a humidor’s primary function is to maintain a steady, desirable moisture level inside; secondarily it protects its contents from physical damage and deterioration from sunlight.

Even though Emily disapproves of Richard’s cigar club, she still buys him a beautiful and expensive antique humidor for his cigars.

Michel Insults the Hungarians

LORELAI: What did you say?

MICHEL: I don’t know.

LORELAI: What do you mean you don’t know? All you had to say was ‘Welcome to Stars Hollow,’ that’s it.

MICHEL: I know, I thought I did, and then they got angry and threw bread sticks and butter pats.

In the inn, when greeting the Hungarians, Michel says in Hungarian, A te országod tele van csúnya emberekkel. The translation in English is, “Your country is full of ugly people.”

Somehow he confused this with udvözöljük, meaning “welcome”. This doesn’t seem like a simple error or misunderstanding. He must have at least known how to say Stars Hollow!

Jamie Loves Paris

RORY: Okay, skip to the end, I can’t take it. How did it turn out?

PARIS: He told me he loved me … I never thought I’d hear a boy tell me he loved me … He invited me back up for Easter break.

After spending Christmas together, Jamie tells Paris that he loves her, and invites her to spend Easter in Philadelphia with his family. Paris is thrilled and disbelieving, but she never says that she loves Jamie, or indicates that she reciprocated with her own love confession. It may be that Paris is more in love with love, and the idea of having a nice boyfriend, than she is with Jamie himself, or that she simply doesn’t trust her own feelings.

Eight Days of Hanukkah

PARIS: The place smelled like cinnamon all the time, and there was a fire in the fireplace, and a ton of presents. I mean, hundreds of presents. I’m looking at this mound of gifts, and I’m thinking, ‘Eight days of Hanukkah . . . who was the skinflint who thought up that deal?’

RORY: Don’t the eight days symbolize something?

PARIS: Yes, they symbolize eight days of ripping off the little kids who can’t have a Hanukkah bush.

The eight days of Hanukkah honour the eight days that one small portion of oil miraculously lasted during the cleansing and reconsecrating of the Jewish Temple after it had been defiled. It is traditional to light candles, pray, and sing songs during Hanukkah, as well as eating foods fried in oil. Gift-giving isn’t a traditional part of Hanukkah, although children are often given money, special gold coins, or chocolate coins.