ANSWERING MACHINE: Ms. Gilmore, it’s Bob Merrimam, your mother’s lawyer. I’m calling about the little matter of this lawsuit she’s involved in. We’d like it if you could give a deposition . . .
The voice of Bob Merrimam is supplied by Seth MacFarlane, friend and colleague of Daniel Palladino from Family Guy. Seth MacFarlane had already had a role on Gilmore Girls.
Bob asks Lorelai to give a deposition in support of her mother’s case against Gerta, the unfairly dismissed German maid. This is where the episode title, “I Solemnly Swear” comes from, because that’s the beginning of the oath taken in legal contexts.
LORELAI: We are so in luck. It was international grab bag night at Al’s. RORY: Cool. Did you peek? LORELAI: And ruin the whole point of the mystery dinner? I think not. Pick.
Another quirky offering from Al’s Pancake World – on certain nights, how often is a mystery, Al offers an international grab bag, where you apparently receive a randomly assigned dinner from any national cuisine.
Who would be interested in this? Certainly not fussy eaters or people with food allergies, at least. To add to the chaos, diners apparently don’t know when it will be international grab bag night, as Lorelai proclaims that they are “in luck” that they happened to be buying dinner on that night.
Lorelai and Rory love this insane tradition because it is a game as well as food. They each pick one of the bags without looking, smell it, then try to guess what it is. Rory guesses hers is Moroccan, which is what she always says, on the basis that if you say the same thing every time, it will eventually be correct. Lorelai takes a cover-all-bases approach by declaring hers is Pan-Asian, with a hint of English Colonial and touches of South African.
Rory strongly implies that the food is old, suggesting that “grab bag night” might be a way of selling off out of date leftovers. It’s quite stomach-churning.
In the end, neither Gilmore girl can identify what food they have bought, and they end up going to Luke’s for dinner. What a waste of time, money, and food!
PARIS: Now Louise, poke John Williams over there and tell her she can cut the score, we’re moving on.
John Williams (born 1932), composer, conductor and pianist. In a career spanning seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognisable and critically acclaimed film scores in cinematic history, including that of Star Wars. Williams has won 25 Grammy Awards, seven BAFTAs, five Oscars and four Golden Globe Awards. With 52 Academy Award nominations, he is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. His compositions are considered the epitome of film music and he is considered among the greatest composers in the history of cinema.
Paris says this because Madeline is humming so that she doesn’t hear the word “blood”, which frightens her.
Xanadu, 1980 musical fantasy film directed by Robert Greenwald, and based on the 1947 film Down to Earth. Olivia Newton-John stars as Kira, a mysterious woman who is actually one of the Nine Muses from Greek mythology, while Michael Beck is a struggling artist who falls in love with her, and opens a nightclub called Xanadu with a former big band orchestra leader, played by Gene Kelly in his final role.
The film was savaged by critics and was a box-office bomb, helping to inspire the creation of the Golden Raspberry Awards (The Razzies) – Robert Greenwald won the inaugural Worst Director at the Razzies that year. However, the movie’s soundtrack album, featuring music mainly by Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra, was a huge commercial success, with the songs “Xanadu” and “Magic” both going to #1. The film has since become a cult classic, and it was adapted into a successful Broadway musical in 2007.
PARIS: Any questions, Mr. Christian? I mean, Mr. Hunter.
Paris refers to Fletcher Christian (1764-1793), master’s mate on board HMS Bounty during Lieutenant William Bligh’s voyage to Tahiti during 1787–1789. In the mutiny on the Bounty, Christian seized command of the ship from Bligh on 28 April 1789. Some of the mutineers were left on Tahiti, while Christian, eight other mutineers, six Tahitian men and eleven Tahitian women settled on isolated Pitcairn Island, and Bounty was burned.
Fletcher Christian was portrayed by Clark Gable [pictured] in the 1935 film version and Marlon Brando in the 1962 film version, both adpated from the 1932 novel, Mutiny on the Bounty, by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall.
Paris is saying that Mr Hunter was mutinous in his support of Francine.
Bedwetter, derogatory slang for a cowardly person. Paris is (very rudely) speaking to Mr Hunter this way, because she sees him as a coward for giving in so easily to Francine at the surprise meeting.
PARIS: Well, there was no way I was letting the class gift be a stupid tree just so Ginger Spice can have her Barbie dream prom.
Geraldine “Geri” Horner, nee Halliwell (born 1972), British singer, songwriter, author, and actress. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls. Their slogan “girl power” was most closely associated with Halliwell, and her Union Jack dress from the 1997 Brit Awards also became an enduring symbol. Halliwell left the Spice Girls in 1998, citing exhaustion and creative differences, but rejoined when they reunited in 2007.
PARIS: Wadsworth Mansion is owned by the Connecticut Daughters of the Mayflower. Most of those biddies couldn’t negotiate an icy sidewalk much less a contract. Took me about five minutes on the phone to get them down to half their asking price.
The Connecticut Daughters of the Mayflower is a fictional organisation. The nearest real world equivalent would be the The General Society of Mayflower Descendants, commonly called the Mayflower Society. It is a hereditary organisation of individuals who have documented their descent from at least one of the 102 passengers who arrived on the Mayflowerin 1620 at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Society was founded at Plymouth in 1897, and there is a Connecticut branch in Hartford, which has both male and female members.
In real life, the Wadsworth Mansion is owned by the city of Middletown, and there is no negotiation of fees for the venue.
PARIS: Why does one pinhead always have to vote for Jerry Garcia?
Jerome “Jerry” Garcia (1942-1995), musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of the Grateful Dead.
He had already passed away at this stage, so the votes for him as commencement speaker were definitely jokes.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 