Category: S3Ep9: A Deepfried Korean Thanksgiving

Jammed, Shanghaied

LORELAI: We got jammed. Shanghaied by my mother and what with the other things we have going . . . well, too many commitments, not enough us.

Jammed: I think Lorelai means “jammed” as in a traffic jam or a logjam – stuck, and with so many things on that they have no room to move. Please correct me if you think this is wrong!

Shanghaied [pictured]: Also known as “crimping”. The practice of kidnapping people to serve as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence. The name probably came about because Shanghai was a common destination for ships with abducted crews. The practice flourished in the mid-19th century, in port cities such as Liverpool in the UK, and San Francisco in the US. Although there were many attempts to crack down on it, only the widespread use of steam vessels instead of sailing ships rendered the practice unnecessary, as steamships don’t require such a large crew. Once it was made a federal crime in 1915 the practice was entirely stamped out.

Wednesday Usual

LUKE: Don’t bother, saw you coming, already ordered your Wednesday usual – the French dip, extra fries, the every-Wednesday cherry pie.

We know the Gilmore girls like their food routines, with every Wednesday being the day they have a Danish pastry and coffee for breakfast. Wednesday for dinner, which is always at the diner, they order extra fries with their dinner and French [onion] dip to have with them, and cherry pie for dessert.

Hm, cherry Danish for breakfast and cherry pie for dinner? What is it about Wednesdays and cherries with these girls??? And having a set menu on Wednesdays in general? Perhaps it’s meant to be a sort of midweek lift.

Kirk Buys a Cat

LORELAI: Nothing. You buy a cat?

KIRK: Yup. I’m very excited.

In the recent episode “They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They?”, Rory tried to persuade her mother to let Kirk win the dance marathon because he had so little in his life … not even a pet. Two episodes later, he buys a cat. Did Kirk overhear what Rory said, or was it relayed to him? We shall never know, but now he has a cat, with predictably unfortunate results.

Kirk has bought an enormous carry case for the cat, more suitable for a large dog! I’m not sure if that’s trying to tell us the size of the cat (did he accidentally buy a panther?) or Kirk’s incompetence buying cat equipment.

Four Thanksgiving Dinners

RORY: But how are we going to go to four Thanksgiving dinners?

LORELAI: It’s not four, is it?

RORY: Lane’s house, Sookie’s, and we always stop by Luke’s . . . that’s three, and Grandma and Grandpa is four.

This episode’s plot is laid out here – the Gilmore girls have to eat four Thanksgiving dinners. Rory’s statement makes it seem as if they usually have three Thanksgiving dinners each year, but somehow a fourth Thanksgiving dinner is a step too far!

Coldcock

[Lorelai and Rory are walking down the sidewalk]

RORY: So she coldcocked you, huh?

To be coldcocked is American slang meaning to be struck so forcefully that you are knocked unconscious. It appears to date to the early 20th century, but the origin is not known. The “cold” part is obviously from being knocked out cold, but no one can agree on the “cock” part.

The sign says it is the Autumn Festival again, which is supposedly the first weekend in November, but possibly continues right through until Thanksgiving.

“Harvard is going to be expecting Thanksgiving shelter work”

PARIS: Harvard is going to be expecting Thanksgiving shelter work. They’ll know I called too late and it will totally impugn my organizational skills.

Paris said earlier that she had already sent her Harvard application in weeks ago, so I’m not sure how Harvard would know what she was doing over Thanksgiving, or how it could make a difference at this point as to whether she gets accepted or not. Paris has always put far too much faith in volunteering as a path to university acceptance.

Wes Craven

PARIS: My Thanksgiving is turning into a Wes Craven movie.

Wesley “Wes” Craven (1939-2015) film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and editor. Craven is recognised as a master of the horror genre due to the influence of his work. He is best known for his pioneering work in the genre, particularly slasher films, where he mixed horror cliches with humour and satire.

He was the the creator of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise (1984–2010), and the director of the first four films in the Scream franchise (1996–2011). He directed cult classics such as The Last House on the Left (1972) and The Hills Have Eyes (1977), the horror comedy The People Under the Stairs (1991), and psychological thriller Red Eye (2005).

Craven received a Scream Award, a Sitges Film Festival Award, and a Fangoria Chainsaw Award. In 1995, he was honoured by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films with the Life Career Award. In 2012, the New York City Horror Film Festival awarded Craven the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Louise’s Father and the “Manson Girl”

LOUISE: I’m having [Thanksgiving] dinner with my dad.

MADELINE: Isn’t he still in jail?

LOUISE: Yes, but his company donated some treadmills for the inmates so he swung a special trailer for dinner that they’re gonna set up for us in the parking lot. We have it for about two hours and then one of the Manson girls gets us.

In the episode “Back in the Saddle”, Louise mentioned that her father was due in court, on mysterious charges (she didn’t bother finding out what he had been arrested for). Now it’s seven months later, and Louise’s father is undertaking his sentence – for whatever it was. Madeline refers to it as “jail”, rather than “prison”, possibly suggesting a shorter, lighter sentence (although sometimes people use the word jail for both jail and prison, so that’s not certain at all).

It does sound as if Louise’s father is in a low or medium security facility, since he is permitted to spend his Thanksgiving dinner in a trailer in the parking lot with his daughter (and possibly other family members, it seems unlikely only Louise would go and see him). These trailers are a reward for good behaviour given to model prisoners, so Louise’s father is clearly well-behaved – even the donation of treadmills to the prison would not be enough on its own. Connecticut is one of only four states that allow extended visits like this (the others are California, New York, and Washington).

Louise says the trailer then goes to “one of the Manson girls”, referring to the female members of the Manson family who were convicted for their crimes. In real life, they were incarcerated in California, and in high security prisons, so this could not have really happened. (Squeaky Fromme was in a high security mental treatment facility in Texas).

Interestingly, there is a state prison in Cheshire, Connecticut called the Manson Youth Institution, for men under the age of 21. Louise can’t be referring to that either, as they are young men, not women, and they are not permitted visits such as she describes.

It is just possible that Louise’s father is being held at the federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut [pictured], a medium and low security prison and satellite prison camp which has facilities for both male and female inmates – so if Louise’s dad’s trailer wasn’t going to a “Manson girl”, it could feasibly be going to a female prisoner, at least. The facility in Danbury has often featured in pop culture, including Orange is the New Black.