Hanging Up

DEAN: I know this is a stupid question, but why can’t you just talk to him?

LANE: Because yesterday he called to say that they were still looking for a rehearsal space and, uh, that he’d call when he had more news. So now I have to wait until he calls about the band – and in between, I call and hang up on him. Pathetic.

Lane has been calling Dave and hanging up when he answers, just so she can hear his voice. She and Dave are in regular contact even though the band has apparently gone on a break while they look for a suitable rehearsal space (he phoned her just the day before). However, lovesick Lane is still calling him multiple times a day.

Dean finds this behaviour ridiculous, and then he discovers Rory used to hang up on him before they were dating. I’m not sure how she got his number when they’d only spoken a few times, maybe Dean gave her his number straight away (which would surely be a clue he liked her?). Also, why doesn’t Dean remember someone ringing him all the time and then hanging up two years ago?

Poli-Sci

JAMIE: I flunked a pop quiz in poli-sci because I couldn’t stop thinking about you.

Poli-Sci, short for Political Science. A social science discipline dealing with governance and power, constitution and law, and the analysis of political thought, power, and behaviour.

It’s possible that Jamie is doing a Political Science major at Princeton, with plans to work in government and politics when he graduates.

“Find a pirate to sit on”

JAMIE: Yes, talking to you would’ve been a distraction.

PARIS: I know. I heard you already. My God, find a pirate to sit on, okay?

Paris refers to the popular stereotype of pirates having a pet parrot sitting on their shoulder (meaning that Jamie is repeating himself, like a parrot). It stems from the character of Long John Silver in Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson [pictured] – for ever after, the idea that pirates and parrots go together has sunk firmly into our collective imagination.

Although there are no accounts of pirates having parrots in real life, exotic birds would have been very valuable at that time, and well worth stealing. It’s more likely that pirates had parrots as profitable cargo, rather than as pets.

Boxing Helena

PARIS: Look, you don’t have to be nice, you don’t have to tie up loose ends. I get it, I’m a distraction. Now either pull a Boxing Helena, or give me back my hand.

Boxing Helena, a 1993 mystery thriller and body horror film directed by Jennifer Lynch, the daughter of David Lynch. It stars Sherilynn Fenn as Helena, a woman kept captive by a surgeon, played by Julian Sands, who amputates her limbs while holding her captive. The film did poorly at the box office, and received negative reviews, being branded both disturbing and tedious.

Sherilynn Fenn, who was in Twin Peaks, was reportedly Amy Sherman-Palladino’s preference to play Lorelai in Gilmore Girls. She later appears in the show in two different roles.

The Return of Jamie

While Paris is still at Chilton, she sees Jamie, the Princeton student she had a date with in Washington DC. Jamie had her phone number but never called, thinking he didn’t need the “distraction” of having a girlfriend. Unable to think of anything but Paris, he has still not phoned her, but turned up at Chilton to see her.

Characters love showing up impulsively as a romantic gesture on the show – as is the way, Jamie waits patiently until Paris comes outside, and she hasn’t been kept back by a teacher or school meeting, and nobody from the school tries to move him on or report him to the police for hanging around the school gates.

Although Paris is shocked and flustered that Jamie has appeared three months after their date in August (confirming that it is now November), she is quickly persuaded to listen to him, and they go to have coffee together.

Deep-fried Mars Bar

MADELINE: So there’s only gonna be one seventy-fourth anniversary issue ever and we didn’t do anything special for it.

LOUISE: I think the cover was of a deep-fried Mars bar.

A deep-fried Mars Bar is one which has been battered then deep-fried in oil. The dish has been claimed as originating at a chip shop in Stonehaven, Scotland in 1992, although this has been disputed, with others saying it had been sold elsewhere in Scotland in the 1980s. It became a media sensation in the mid-1990s and through the early 2000s as a symbol of unhealthy eating.

The dish isn’t common in the US, and the American Mars Bar is not the same as the one sold in the UK. The Mars Bar sold everywhere else in the world is caramel and nougat coated with milk chocolate. The US version is nougat and almonds covered in milk chocolate. At some point which nobody seems able to identify, caramel got added in there, but the bar was discontinued in 2002. When it was brought back in 2016, it was the “original” recipe without caramel.

Presumably the Franklin was covering the deep-fried Mars Bar as part of the media interest in it.

Spicoli

MADELINE: But you guys already have some decent stuff planned out, right?

PARIS: Madeline – or may I call you Spicoli?

Paris references the 1982 coming-of-age comedy-drama Fast Times at Ridgemont High, directed by Amy Heckerling (in her directorial debut). The screenplay is by Cameron Crowe, based on his 1981 book Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story – Crowe went undercover at a high school in San Diego and wrote abut his experiences.

The ensemble cast includes Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brian Backer, Robert Romanus, Phoebe Cates, and Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli [pictured], a permanently stoned surfer – Paris is suggesting Madeline is out of touch with reality as if she is on drugs. The film also marks early appearances by several actors who later became stars, including Nicolas Cage, Eric Stoltz, and Forest Whitaker (the first two in their feature film debuts).

The film initially had modest commercial and critical success, but was a sleeper hit due to word of mouth, and over time became more popular through television broadcasts and home video releases. It is now regarded as a classic and iconic film, and one of the best comedies, as well as one of the greatest high school movies.

The soundtrack to the film peaked at #54 on the album charts and features the work of many quintessential 1980s rock artists, including Jackson Browne, The Go-Go’s, and Jimmy Buffett.

Asparagus

EMILY: And if you’d like, later on, you can make my asparagus talk.

LORELAI: Well, maybe next week.

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis), a plant cultivated as a green vegetable since ancient times, and was introduced to North America by the Dutch in the 17th century. It is native to maritime areas of Europe and western Asia, and will grow in soil too saline for anything else. The young shoots of the plant are usually prepared as an appetiser or side dish

Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, and Eddie Fisher

LORELAI: Apparently, Miss Patty showed his wife a picture of me, and she thinks I look like Elizabeth Taylor, which makes her Debbie Reynolds, and Stanley Eddie Fisher.

Actress Elizabeth Taylor, previously discussed and frequently mentioned. This is the second time Lorelai has been linked with Elizabeth Taylor (although, so has Miss Patty).

Singer and actor Edwin “Eddie” Fisher (1928-2010) was Elizabeth Taylor’s fourth husband. His first wife was actress and singer Debbie Reynolds (born Mary Reynolds, 1932-2016), a close friend of Elizabeth Taylor. Married in 1955, Fisher and Reynolds divorced in 1959 when it was revealed that he had been having an affair with Taylor. It caused a huge scandal at the time. Eddie Fisher and Elizabeth Taylor were divorced in 1964, and she and Debbie Reynolds reconciled and resumed their friendship some time in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

We learned earlier that Miss Patty carries a photo of Lorelai in her wallet in order to show it to men who might be interested in dating Lorelai. Now she’s apparently showing it to other women to make them jealous. What is it with this creepy obsession Miss Patty has with Lorelai?