Category: S3Ep13: Dear Emily and Richard

Korean War

[Students are gathered in a meeting room]
MADELINE: I called last night and I asked [Paris] to talk me through the Korean War and she said she was busy.
LOUISE: Oh, she’s definitely got a boyfriend.

The Korean War was fought between North Korea and South Korea from 1950 to 1953. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and rebellions in South Korea. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union while South Korea was supported by the US and allied countries. The fighting ended with an armistice on 27 July 1953, although the war itself technically has never come to an end.

Organ Grinding

LORELAI: Now we just have to figure out how we’re gonna pay for it. Hey, how good’s your organ grinding?

An organ grinder is a novelty street performer who plays a street organ or barrel organ, a French-German automatic mechanical pneumatic organ designed to be mobile enough to play its music in the street. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, they were played as a means of begging for money, while circumventing laws against outright asking people for money.

Napoleon III and Chagall

LORELAI: Okay, then, it’s settled. We’re not staying at any place that wasn’t built for Napoleon the Third’s doctor or doesn’t have a Chagall in the bathroom.

Napoleon III, born Charles Napoléon Bonaparte (1808-1873) the first President of France from 1848 to 1852, and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew of Napoleon I, he was a popular monarch who oversaw the modernisation of the French economy and filled Paris with new boulevards and parks. One of his doctors was the surgeon Félix-Hippolyte Larrey; he owned a small castle, but I have been unable to learn if he had a house built for him.

Marc Chagall [pictured], born Moishe Shagal (1887-1985), Russian-French artist. An early modernist, he was associated with several major artistic styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats, including painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints.

“Dear Richard and Emily”

CHRISTOPHER: Come on, Lor. Let’s get out of here, let’s get away from this place. Let’s take Myra and just bolt. Leave a note on the dining room table. ‘Dear Richard and Emily, I don’t belong here, I’m going somewhere else, I’ll call you when I get there. Love, Lorelai.’

This is where this episode’s title comes from, although Christopher says, “Dear Richard and Emily”, while the episode is called “Dear Emily and Richard”.

“Holly jolly”

LORELAI: Oh God, I hope they [Richard and Emily] go [on vacation] over Christmas. That would be as holly jolly as it gets.

A reference to “A Holly Jolly Christmas”, a 1962 Christmas song written by Johnny Marks. First recorded by the Quinto Sisters, it was featured in the 1964 animated Christmas television special Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

It was sung by Burl Ives, who was also the narrator, and released on the soundtrack album. Burl Ives re-recorded it for his own Christmas album, and released it as a single. Of enduring popularity, the Burl Ives version continues to chart on the current charts, and has peaked at #4 in the years since 1998.

Flashback 1

This episode, one of the more complex in structure, has a series of flashbacks within it. In the first flashback, we see a teenaged Lorelai and Christopher coming to the Gilmore home after school. They are wearing the same uniform, although I don’t think the show ever mentions them attending the same school. We know it is December, because they have finished their midterm exams, and are discussing the upcoming Christmas vacation.

With no adult supervision (Richard and Emily are out, and the maid has been fired, of course), Christopher – naturally – heads straight to the liquor cabinet and pours them drinks. Getting Lorelai drunk seems to be part of his technique.

Christopher reveals that his plan (more of a dream, actually), is to take a year off after graduation and go backpacking around Europe. He asks Lorelai to come with him, and she agrees – just as she and Rory are planning to go backpacking around Europe as soon as Rory graduates. During the conversation, it is clear that Christopher and Lorelai are close friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend, and that Christopher would like something more. By the end of the scene, they are kissing, although it is unclear whether this is the first time or not.

The young Lorelai and Christopher are played by Chelsea Brummet and Phillip Van Dyke. Brummet would later become a regular on kid’s sketch comedy show, All That, and Van Dyke had previously been on several TV shows, including Hey Arnold, and The Amanda Show. His acting career finished in 2003.

Berlin Wall

LORELAI: Wow, these will be an enormous help in planning our trip. Hey, you wanna go see the Berlin Wall?
RORY: Sounds great.

The Berlin Wall, a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the “death strip”) that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses.

You can actually see the Berlin Wall today – at least part of it. The remains of the wall have been left up as an exhibition, and it is one of Berlin’s top tourist sites.