Footnotes to the TV series
[Lorelai and Rory walk down the sidewalk]
RORY: The best laid plans.
An idiom from a Robert Burns poem, previously discussed.
Lorelai’s plans to get away with not eating anything at the Kims’ was foiled by Mrs Kim watching her like a hawk until she ate her tofurkey.
Mrs Kim asks Dave to play “Hymn 17” while they eat dinner. Lane was hoping to persuade her mother to let Dave eat Thanksgiving dinner with them, but alas, she has apparently hired Dave to play while they eat.
I’m not really sure about this one, but in the Seventh Day Adventist hymnal, No. 17 is “Lord of All Being, Throned Afar”, written and composed by Oliver Wendell Holmes . The lyrics are quite interesting if you read them as pertaining to Lane and Dave’s situation:
Lord of all being, throned afar,
Thy glory flames from sun and star;
Centre and soul of every sphere,
Yet to each loving heart how near!
Yet to each loving heart how near!
Sun of our life, Thy quickening ray
Shed on our path the glow of day;
Star of our hope, Thy softened light
Cheers the long watches of the night,
Cheers the long watches of the night.
Our midnight is Thy smile withdrawn;
Our noontide is Thy gracious dawn;
Our rainbow arch, Thy mercy’s sign;
All, save the clouds of sin, are Thine,
All, save the clouds of sin, are Thine.
Lord of all life, below, above,
Whose light is truth, whose warmth is love,
Before Thy ever-blazing throne
We ask no lustre of our own,
We ask no lustre of our own.
Grant us Thy truth to make us free,
And kindling hearts that burn for Thee;
Till all Thy living altars claim
One holy light, one heavenly flame!
One holy light, one heavenly flame!
Yes, their loving hearts are near (nearer than Mrs Kim realises!), and they hope for the day that truth will make them free. It feels like an ardent prayer for mercy upon them so that their “kindling hearts” will eventually be “one flame”.
Dave plays the opening riff to this David Bowie song just before he begins the hymn. It is a little nod to Lane, who is a Bowie fan, and possibly a reference to his own name.
“The Man Who Sold the World” is the title track to Bowie’s third studio album, which was released in 1970 in the US and 1971 in the UK. Its lyrics are cryptic and evocative, based on several poems, and the vocals are haunting. It wasn’t released as a single, and only gained attention when it was covered by other artists, such as Lulu, Midge Ure, and Nirvana, whose version brought it to a new audience. It is now considered one of Bowie’s best songs.
MRS. KIM: Try the tofurkey. Turkey made from tofu.
Tofurkey is a vegan meat substitute made from tofu and wheat protein, made into a loaf, filled with stuffing and flavoured with herbs and spices. As a brand name, Tofurky is made by Turtle Island Foods in Hood River, Oregon. It is stuffed with mushrooms and wild rice, and has been available since 1995.
LORELAI: Young-Kwan, good to see you. Hee-Jin, hi. Oh, I love your hair. Su-Nam, hi. Hi. Ho-Kyung, Won-Kyu, great to see you, hi.
Young-Kwan – a male name meaning “brave and strong”. In A Year in the Life, one of Lane’s sons is named Kwan, so it is possibly a family name.
Hee-Jin – a female name meaning “precious pearl”.
Su-Nam – a male name which can be translated as “man of a long lifespan”. Lane said she had a cousin called “Nam”, I am not sure if this is the same person or not.
Ho-Kyung – a unisex (?) name which can be translated in several ways, including “bright and respectful”.
Won-Kyu – a unisex (?) name which can be translated as “first and standard”. I have only ever seen it the other way around, Kyu-Won, when it is usually male.
Notice how familiar Lorelai and Rory are with the Kim relatives, knowing their names, and comfortable enough to make polite small talk. They look genuinely happy to see Lorelai and Rory. Although we rarely see it, the Gilmore girls must often attend family gatherings at the Kim household.
The Kim family members are played by Peter Kim, Jennifer Bolton Lee, Janet Song, Kim Kim, Alexis Rhee, Greg Joung Paik, Jae Woo Lee, Sunny Bonner, John D. Kim, and April Moon. None were very experienced at this point, but Rhee and Song have gone on to have long careers, appearing in some well-known and popular productions.
Note: I know nothing about Korean names, so feel free to rip this apart!
LANE: That is not Dave Rygalski … I mean, not the one that I’m in a band with. That is Dave Rygalski, local Christian guitar player that my mom and I met very briefly and innocently at the dance marathon, and that I coincidentally ran across again when I found his ad seeking Christian guitar accompaniment gigs up on our church bulletin board.
Lorelai and Rory notice that Dave is playing guitar at the Kim’s Thanksgiving dinner. Lane quickly explains that she has set up another zany scheme, whereby Dave came all the way to Stars Hollow at five in the morning in order to have a five minute conversation with Mrs Kim and eat faux egg sandwiches. Lane then put a fake ad up for Dave on their church bulletin board, and pretended to find it in front of her mother.
This is the kind of thing Henry couldn’t put up with (and who could blame him?), but Dave willingly goes along with it, in the faint hope that Mrs Kim might let them date some day. He obviously really likes Lane.
LORELAI: I hate hiding from people, especially when I don’t wanna hide from them. You were a pal. You were so good to Rory. You were the best first boyfriend a mother could’ve hoped for … It’s okay to keep avoiding me if you want. I just wanted you to know that you don’t need to, okay? Just because you and Rory broke up doesn’t mean we did.
More inappropriate comments from Lorelai to Dean. If Lorelai and Dean “don’t need to break up”, what is it exactly they are not breaking up from? Because if their relationship was Mother of Rory and Rory’s Boyfriend, then yeah, it is going to break up when Rory and Dean do. Otherwise, Lorelai is suggesting that their relationship was something more than this.
It really feels as if Lorelai is trying to keep Dean hanging around for Rory, in hopes that they will get back together. A pretty terrible thing to do to Rory, and certainly unkind to Dean.
LORELAI: So you pulled the Thanksgiving shift, huh?
DEAN: Yeah, I get time and a half.
When doing overtime, time and a half means that the employee will be receiving an extra 50% of their income on top of their usual pay. It is common when working hours outside the usual forty-hour week, such as holidays.
LORELAI: Well, here’s hoping your cat exposes itself to you soon.
KIRK: From your mouth to God’s ears.
From your mouth to God’s ears is an idiomatic Yiddish saying, indicating that the speaker wishes whatever has been to come true. Although similar such proverbs can be found in the Bible, the expression only seems to exist in Jewish/Yiddish literature from the middle of the 19th century. The saying is also common in Arabic, and this is possibly its origin.
Kirk’s new cat, also named Kirk, is predictably very quirky, needing an announcement before anyone enters the room it is in, and disliking having a food bowl placed in front of it. It attacks savagely if anyone annoys them.
The show really liked featuring quirky pets. In a future season, Lorelai herself will get a very quirky dog.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 