Batcave

LORELAI: So, uh, what do we do about the Batcave?

The Batcave, the underground headquarters of the superhero Batman.

Joe Namath

RORY: Will the man [Ozzy Osbourne] never be able to live that down?
LORELAI: Well, Joe Namath will forever be wearing pantyhose.

Joseph “Joe” Namath (born 1943), former American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets.

Nicknamed “Broadway Joe”, Namath became a media icon who attracted mainstream popularity outside of sports. He advertised several products, including Hanes Beautymist pantyhose, which he famously wore in the commercials [pictured].

OzzFest

RORY: It was a bat, wasn’t it?
LORELAI: Wearing an OzzFest T-shirt, I believe.

Ozzfest, music festival tour of the US (sometimes Europe and later Japan), featuring performances by heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, and was held almost annually between 1996 and 2018 before being revived in 2022. Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath played the tour several times over the years.

At the most recent OzzFest relative to this episode, the tour was in Hartford on July 13. As Lorelai is a heavy metal fan, and at a very loose end over the summer, is it possible she went to it, and really does have a tee-shirt? Or, if she meant the bat was wearing a tee shirt already in the garage, she (and maybe Rory) could have gone to OzzFest 1999 [1999 tee shirt pictured], which was in Hartford on June 19. If so, it means Lorelai bought her Jeep later that year.

Lorelai connects a bat to the OzzFest musical festival because in 1982, Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a bat at a concert in Des Moines. Stories vary as to whether the bat was alive, dead, or made of rubber, but Osbourne said the bat was alive, and gave him rabies. In 2019 Osbourne commemorated the anniversary of the bat incident by offering a toy bat with detachable head for sale on his personal web-store. The site claimed the first batch of toys sold out within hours.

Doctor Dolittle

RORY: And even then, I think we only got as far as opening the door before something flew out and scared you.
LORELAI: Yes, it scared me while you stood by calmly like Doctor Dolittle chatting with the bat.

Doctor Dolittle, previously discussed.

“Four years”

LORELAI: What? It has not been four years since we’ve stepped foot inside our own garage.
RORY: It was when we got the Jeep.
LORELAI: That wasn’t . . . yes, it was.

This is the first scene we’ve ever had of Lorelai’s garage, which has never been mentioned before. The show explains that’s because Lorelai and Rory haven’t been near it since 1999 – and even then they only got in the door, then ran away when a bat flew out. These two really don’t handle nature very well.

Later in this very scene this version of events is contradicted when Rory says that two years ago, in 2001, she boxed up items from the attic and put them in the garage. They were meant to be collected by a charity, but Lorelai couldn’t be bothered waiting for them, so the boxes remain there.

According to their recollection, Lorelai bought the Jeep in 1999. It’s actually a 2000 model.

Lorelai Out of Water

A twist on the familiar idiom, A fish out of water, referring to someone who feels awkward or uncomfortable in an unfamiliar environment. The earliest known example comes from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1483, and was about someone riding a horse, which they weren’t used to.

In this case, the episode is actually about fishing – something Lorelai knows nothing about.

Alex Asks Lorelai on a Date

In an episode where everyone seems to end up having a bad time – Emily, Rory, Paris, Sookie, Jackson – Lorelai’s love life provides a bright spot when Alex, the friend of Sookie’s friend, asks her on a coffee date, and she accepts. Her relationship with Max also began with a coffee date, and look how that turned out. Come to think of it, Alex and Max both end with an X!

“You cheated on me!”

JACKSON: You cheated on me!
SOOKIE: No.
JACKSON: Oh my God.
SOOKIE: I just flirted accidentally!

Sookie makes Jackson’s favourite meal and puts his favourite album on, so of course he reaches the obvious conclusion – she’s been unfaithful to him. Sookie doesn’t help matters by acting as guilty as if she had been, and says that she “flirted accidentally”, even though Lorelai told her she didn’t. The episode ends miserably for the temporarily feuding couple.

Bad Moon Rising

This is the song that Sookie puts on for Jackson, because it’s one of his favourites, although she is not a fan.

“Bad Moon Rising” is a 1969 song written by John Fogerty, and performed by his band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, often known as CCR. Fogerty was inspired by scenes of a hurricane in the 1941 fantasy film, The Devil and Daniel Webster, and the apocalypse that Fogery claimed was going to be visited upon us.

It was the lead single from their Green River album, received glowing reviews, and went to #2 in the US and #1 in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa. It is considered one of the greatest rock songs of all time.

Jackson’s Favourite Dinner

Lamb chops with Sicilian olives, rosemary, and garlic

Warm potato and chorizo salad (chorizo is a type of spicy Spanish pork sausage)

Cornbread (a quickbread made with cornmeal with origins in Native American cuisine)

Home made beef jerky (lean meat cut into strips and then dried)

Fried marshmallow pie (this only seems to exist as a Gilmore Girls-inspired recipe, suggesting Sookie invented it! It has been created as small hand-held pies with fried marshmallow filling inside flaky pastry, covered in glaze)

Note the specification of Sicilian olives, in line with the themes of the Mafia and betrayal in this episode, suggesting that Jackson feels really wounded.