Footnotes to the TV series
RORY: Well, I don’t know. I mean, I know it’s weird, but I kind of wanna see Georgia. She’s sort of my sister.
LORELAI: She’s more than ‘sort of’ your sister.
Georgia is Rory’s half-sister, but she already doesn’t feel very close to her because she’s Christopher’s daughter, and she and Lorelai have been fairly distant from him since Sherry got pregnant and Christopher dumped them.
LORELAI: You have to RSVP to a C-section.
RORY: And bring a gift.
LORELAI: I wonder if Laura Mercier makes Demerol.
Laura Mercier Cosmetics, French and American cosmetics and skincare line founded in 1996 by French celebrity makeup artist, Laura Mercier.
See Demerol.
RORY: I have been cordially invited to Sherry Tinsdale’s C-section … [reads from invitation] Friday, February seventh, six o’clock p.m. Join the girls for a toast, a hug, a wave to the mommy as they wheel her off, dinner at Sushi Sushi, and then back to the hospital for a formal viewing of brand-new baby Georgia. RSVP at your earliest convenience. P.S. Gifts are not necessary, but always appreciated.
I am stunned to inform you that the 7th of February reallly was a Friday in 2003, meaning that the writers of the show have somehow managed to find a calendar (maybe on the wall, maybe on their computer), and we are now getting real world dates in the show! Pretty exciting stuff.
Internal evidence tells us that the date in this scene is either Saturday the 25th January or Sunday 26th January. Unfortunately, that cannot be tallied with the number of Friday Night Dinners we’ve had, and we are already three weeks behind schedule. At this rate, Rory will be graduating in August.
Sushi Sushi does not exist in Boston, although there are many sushi restaurants there in the real world.
RORY: I got the flags and . . . he changed his mind again.
LANE: He’s worse than my mother at the Glory of Easter T-shirt stand.
Glory of Easter, an annual evangelical drama which begun in 1984 and went on until 2012. It took place at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California [pictured, now a Catholic church], suggesting that the Kim family went to it at least once, where Mrs Kim could not decide between all the tee-shirts available for sale.
I think this is the first time we’ve seen Lane working at the Independence Inn to help prepare for a function. Perhaps Mrs Kim is allowing her more freedom, or perhaps now she’s eighteen she can be employed at the inn without any worry about labour laws. In either case, this is another possible income stream for Lane.
This is book that Jess has lying on the counter – the first volume of Dante’s Divine Comedy, previously discussed. It’s a Penguin Classics edition.
Rory has already been identified as reading this book, so it’s very likely she has recommended it to Jess, or even lent it to him. Jess said he didn’t like poetry, yet here he is reading a book which is entirely in verse!
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.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 