Footnotes to the TV series
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!
LORELAI: She [Emily] bit me, incapacitated me with her poison, and devoured me whole.
A callback to Natalie telling Lorelai that Emily was known as “The Cobra”. While Natalie seemed to think cobras kill their prey by squeezing (that’s pythons), Lorelai seems to have a better understanding of how cobras actually kill. Maybe someone wrote in to the show.
[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.
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.
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: 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.
RORY: So, changing the subject . . .
PARIS: Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, literally “praise ye Yahweh!” in Hebrew (often translated as “praise the Lord”), an interjection used as an expression of gratitude and adoration in Jewish and Christian prayers. In modern English, often used as an expression of joy or relief.
MADELINE: I mean, reticulum? Come on.
LOUISE: Plus, the Golgi body. I mean, is it me or is that majorly pornographic?
PARIS: My life with the Banger sisters.
The Banger Sisters, a 2002 comedy film directed by Bob Dolman , starring Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon as two middle-aged women who used to be friends and groupies when they were young. During the film, they have one night together of remembering their youthful hijinks. The film was commercially successful and received average reviews. The performance of the two leads was praised, but the plot was judged to be thin and predictable. The film came out in September.
Paris seems to be already imagining Madeline and Louise in their middle age. Compare with Paris calling Madeline and Louise the Pigeon Sisters.
MADELINE: That was really distracting.
PARIS: Oh. Well, by all means, Madeline, you should point out to the faculty that their annoying custom of teaching is distracting you from more important things like nail filing and daydreaming about marrying Ryan Phillippe.
Matthew Ryan Phillippe (1974), actor. After appearing in the soap opera One Life to Live, he came to fame in the late 1990s with starring roles in films including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Cruel Intentions, and 54. In the 2000s, he appeared in several films, including Gosford Park (2001), Crash (2004), and Flags of Our Fathers (2006). In 2002, his latest film was Igby Goes Down, which came out in September.
Madeline points out that Ryan Phillipe is already married – he married actress Reese Witherspoon in 1999 [pictured together]. They separated in 2006 and divorced in 2008.
TEACHER: The multi-layered membrane systems of the cytoplasm are the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, the rough endoplasmic reticulum, and the Golgi body. Now, the smooth endoplasmic reticulum is concerned with the manufacture of lipid molecules.
Cytoplasm: all of the material within a cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, except for the cell nucleus.
Endoplasmic reticulum: the transportation system of the cell, and has many other important functions. It is made up of the rough endoplasmic reticulum and smooth endoplasmic reticulum.
Golgi body (or Golgi apparatus): a sub-unit of most cells, particularly important in processing proteins.
Lipid: a broad group of molecules which includes fats, fatty acids, cholesterol, and fat-soluble vitamins (such as A, D, E, and K).
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 