Footnotes to the TV series
6 hamburgers – 3 with cheese (2 Cheddar, 1 Swiss), 2 plain, 1 with chilli, cheese and onions on the side
3 ham on rye toasted sandwiches – 1 with mustard, 1 with mayo, 1 with both
4 hot dogs
2 egg and salad sandwiches on white bread
1 chicken and salad sandwich on whole-wheat (wholemeal) bread
1 chef’s salad with ranch dressing
5 lots of French fries
5 lots of onion rings
2 lots of chips (potato crisps or potato chips)
Enough pickles on the side for everyone to have some
JESS: Give me your order and get out.
DEAN: Service with a smile.
Service with a smile, a piece of customer service advice that seems to date to the 1930s. McDonald’s has used it as a slogan in the past, although again, this seems a slightly dated reference for Dean to use as a teenager in 2003.
[Dean walks up to the counter]
DEAN: I gotta place an order.
JESS: Talk into the clown.
DEAN: I am.
A reference to the clown head at Jack-in-the-Box fast food restaurants that customers spoke into to place their order at the drive-through service. This option existed from the early 1950s to the early 1980s. It seems slightly odd this is a handy reference for someone born in 1984. Dean gets in a lot of insults to Jess in this scene.
The book Luke is reading in preparation for his date with Nicole the following Friday. The book appears to be fictional.
Jess says he’s never seen Luke read a book before, implying that the book we saw on Luke’s bookshelves earlier is actually owned by Jess.
DEAN: Tom, I brought over the nails you asked for.
TOM: Good. Get the guys’ lunch orders, will ya?
DEAN: Already done.
TOM: You’re a good kid, Dean. You hardly bug me at all.
As Taylor’s employee, Dean is now helping Tom the Contractor, who is doing the renovations for Taylor at his new business. Tom seems quite impressed with Dean’s attitude, and in a later season, he ends up actually employing Dean.
EMILY: My first trip to Europe, I went to Paris and stayed at the Ritz.
The luxurious Hôtel Ritz in Paris, previously mentioned. Emily spent her honeymoon in Europe, but it is possible she went to Europe earlier than that.
RORY: Looks like Italy for us!
LORELAI: Mamma mia!
Mamma mia, an Italian interjection of surprise, literally meaning “my mom/mum”, possibly in reference to the Virgin Mary.
Lorelai may be thinking of the 1975 ABBA song, “Mamma Mia”, from their self-titled third album. It went to #32 in the US, but was #1 in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Switzerland, and West Germany. It is widely considered one of their best songs, although in a deleted scene of Gilmore Girls, Lorelai refers to it as an earworm.
It is possibly a little insensitive to say this is front of Emily, given that Lorelai ran away from home to work for Mia, who she regards as a beloved mother figure.
RORY: But we want to be spontaneous. Jump a train to Paris, head off to Spain.
LORELAI: Oh no, it’s raining in Spain. But since the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain . . .
Lorelai quotes from the song, “The Rain in Spain”, from the musical film, My Fair Lady, previously discussed.
The line is used in the film purely to teach elocution, and is not geographically accurate. The plains in Spain are parched and arid, and most of the country’s rainfall is in the north.
Upon learning that Lorelai and Rory are planning to backpack around Europe and stay in hostels after graduation, Richard and Emily first of all think they are joking, then throw a fit about it as unsafe and reckless.
The only trouble is, Rory already told her grandfather that’s what they were planning in “Kill Me Now”, and he said it was a great idea. And in “Rory’s Dance”, they talked about staying in hostels while having dinner with Emily, and she didn’t say anything. Suddenly it’s a major problem.
I guess you could justify this by saying that they were simply humouring Lorelai and Rory before, and now they are giving their real opinions, or that they didn’t understand before, but they behave as if this is entirely new information, not information they previously ignored or misinterpreted. It feels like a retcon.
Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door
Rick Steves self-published his first European travel guide in 1980, and it found a traditional publisher in 1982. He advocates independent travel, and urges travellers to visit less touristy places (Lorelai and Rory apparently ignore this advice). He hosts travel shows on TV and radio, has his own tour business, a travel website, and of course, writes numerous travel guide books.
The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget
Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book publisher; their first title was the 1982 Rough Guide to Greece. Initially aimed at low-budget backpackers, the guidebooks have incorporated more expensive recommendations since the early 1990s, and are now marketed at all budgets. This makes it seem like a rather outdated reference for this episode, although it was probably a book that Lorelai considered in the 1980s, when she first thought about going to Europe as a teenager.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 