Footnotes to the TV series
LANE: And then I was thinking that this date could maybe happen this weekend.
RORY: Huh.
LANE: Sunday preferably.
RORY: Well –
LANE: After church.
Lane makes it sound as if the date will be the evening after church on Sunday, but as a Seventh Day Adventist she would attend church on Saturday. She must mean the date will be on the day after church – at least that’s the only way her statement makes any sense.
LANE: So anyhow, I was wondering if you could talk to Dean about maybe talking to Todd about me.
RORY: I guess.
LANE: And then maybe you could ask Dean to ask him out – for me.
It’s something of a puzzle why Lane doesn’t already know Todd well enough to ask him out herself since they have been attending the same small town high school for two years together. It’s possible that Todd is a relatively new student, starting the same year as Dean, in September 2000. Even so, she’s still had several months to talk to him a few times and decide whether she really likes him, or is just attracted to him. We must assume that Lane’s social skills with the opposite sex are very poor, as the incident with Rich Bloomenfeld demonstrated.
While Rory and Lane are talking and listening to music, Lorelai comes in to complain that she has to study for a big test on “the Walmart phenomenon” to be held on Friday (it’s a new semester at college, and her classes have changed from Tuesday and Thursday to Friday and some other day: somehow going to night school on Fridays will not clash with Friday night dinners).
Walmart is a multinational retail company which operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores, founded in 1962. It is the world’s largest company by revenue, and the largest employer in the world.
When looking at the “Walmart phenomenon”, a business studies class might examine the profitability of the company and the methods by which they keep prices low, but also how that could impact on the wider community. For example, foreign product sourcing could hurt the US economy, low prices might force smaller stores out of business, and low wages mean that workers often need welfare payments as well to survive, placing further pressure on the economy.
This is the song that Rory puts on the CD player after saying she had to listen someone named Claudine Longet.
God Only Knows was written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher for American rock band The Beach Boys; it was recorded for their 1966 album Pet Sounds. It has been critically acclaimed as showing that rock music is an art form, and often selected by both musicians and critics as their favourite song. Released as a single, it got to #39 in the US charts, but did best in the UK where it got to #2.
The version that Rory and Lane listen to is by French singer Claudine Longet. It is from her 1972 album Let’s Spend the Night Together.
LANE: A very misunderstood artist and the Beatles would’ve broken up anyways.
RORY: Have you shared this theory with anyone?
LANE: I know it, Yoko knows it, Sean knows it. Julian’s still in denial but what can you do?
Yoko Ono (born 1933) is a Japanese artist, singer, songwriter, peace activist, performance artist, and film-maker. She is famous for being the second wife of British singer-songwriter John Lennon, one of the Beatles. They met in 1966 and began a relationship while John was still married to his first wife, Cynthia, and were married in 1969.
The Beatles disbanded in 1970, and it is common to blame Yoko Ono as one of the primary causes of the band’s break up. Lennon and Ono spent all their time together, even when The Beatles were recording, which went against the band’s unspoken agreement not to allow wives or girlfriends into the studio. Ono frequently made comments and suggestions on the recording process, encouraged by Lennon, but to the other band members’ irritation.
However, The Beatles had experienced a number of stresses, including the death of their manager Brian Epstein in 1967, and the rise of George Harrison as a composer in his own right, with each member of the band beginning to have solo projects of their own. Although Ono placed further pressure on the band and contributed to feelings of ill-will, Lane is correct that The Beatles would have broken up anyway.
Sean Lennon (born 1975) is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, while Julian Lennon (born 1963) is the son of Lennon and his first wife Cynthia. One reason why Lane says Julian might be “in denial” is that Julian was excluded from his father’s will, with the majority of the estate going to Ono; Julian sued the estate and in 1996 reportedly accepted a settlement of £20 million.
Despite the many factors working against their relationship, Julian is said to be on polite terms with Yoko Ono, and gets on very well with Sean. I’m not sure Julian has ever expressed an opinion on whether Ono broke up The Beatles (and by this stage, probably doesn’t care anyway).
Yoko Ono made several albums in collaboration with John Lennon, while also releasing solo albums – her solo debut album was in 1970. Although critics dismissed her work for many years, in November 2001 she brought out a concept album which was critically acclaimed, so Lane (and the show) was slightly ahead of the trends by recognising her as a misunderstood genius.
Once again, Lane demonstrates a sympathy for creative artists of Asian heritage. Perhaps she can picture herself as another Yoko Ono, bringing out avant-garde pop music with a feminist slant to it.
For the purposes of this episode, it is important that we understand Lane is a fanatic about popular music. Just in case we forgot that, the episode begins with Lane visiting Rory to show her the big stack of new CDs she has just bought.
The Best of Blonde is the first compilation album from the American new wave band Blondie, which was released in 1981. The album went to #30 in the US, but was much more successful around the world, getting to #4 in the UK, and #1 in Australia and New Zealand.
Kraftwerk is a German electronic music band formed in 1969, founded by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Pioneers in electronic music, they were among the first to popularise the genre, and has been highly influential in synthpop, techno, ambient, hip-hop, and club music. Their 1974 album Autobahn was their first to fully embrace the electronic sound, and the title track became a surprise hit around the world. The album got to #7 in Germany, #5 in the US and #4 in the UK.
Young Marble Giants were a Welsh post-punk band formed in 1978, with Alison Statton providing vocals for the instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham. Their minimalist sound was in sharp contrast to the aggressive punk rock dominating the era. They only released one album – Colossal Youth, which came out in 1980. It is one of the most highly-regarded indie recordings of all time and a major influence on Nirvana.
Among the CDs you can see a copy of Up on the Sun, the 1985 album by American rock band the Meat Puppets. The album has a more psychedelic feel to their earlier hard rock punk albums. The band was a great influence on bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Dinosaur Jr.
You might wonder how Lane managed to afford all the CDs she bought. She worked part-time at the antiques store, and later we learn her parents paid her $100 a month in wages. It seems that Lane also bought most of her music second-hand, and says that she loves a bargain. Later on, we find that Lane buys her CDs from Amazon, the same place Rory buys her books.
This 1986 song by English rock band XTC is playing in the background during the opening segment while Rory and Lorelai get ready for school/work.
The song is from the band’s album Skylarking; it is their best known album and generally regarded as their greatest work. It was initially ignored in the UK, but managed to get to #90. In the US, it became a hit on college radio and reached #70. Today it is regarded as one of the best albums of the 1980s.
Earn Enough For Us was never released as a single, but is the first track on the second side. The song is about a man struggling in a demeaning job to support himself and his wife in a ramshackle house. Learning that he is about to become a father, he is proud, but also worried about how they will manage financially.
It’s a reminder of the years of struggle to support herself and Rory that Lorelai has been through. The album came out when Rory was two years old, just as Lorelai began living in Stars Hollow as a single mother and working as a maid. Maybe it was a song that helped her get through those difficult early years.
By the end of the episode, Lorelai has received what she said she wanted – she and Max have taken a break from their relationship. Moreover, she doesn’t need to feel guilty as it was he who asked for some space to think things through. And she shouldn’t feel rejected either, as Max has indicated he really does like her, but that things have become too complicated for him.
Of course getting her wish does nothing to make her feel better, and leaves her heartbroken. To her credit, Rory comforts Lorelai in her misery, even though Lorelai has treated her really badly as well during this episode. Hopefully she apologised to Rory off-screen, as we never see her do so on the show.
MAX: I’m the one that started the kiss.
LORELAI: And I’m the one that knocked it up to NC-17.
In the US, a rating of NC-17 means that a film is not suitable for children, and nobody aged 17 or under will be admitted to a movie theatre. It replaced the X-rating on films in the 1990s.
Lorelai is saying that their kiss is something the children shouldn’t have been allowed to see.
LORELAI: I freaked out. I’m so sorry. I never meant to treat you like that; I’m not very good at this, ask Skippy.
When she apologises to Max for the awful way she treated him, she mentions Skippy the hamster, that she abandoned rather than care for. Skippy was also treated appallingly, and Lorelai recognises that the hamster is symbolic of the way that she tends to dump people rather than deal with any problems in the relationship.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 