Tag: Callback

Ave Maria

This is the song at James’ wedding, performed by Dave Rygalski, and sung by Ho Kyung.

Composed by Franz Schubert in 1825, it was originally part of his 1825 Op. 52 a setting of seven songs from Walter Scott’s 1810 popular narrative poem The Lady of the Lake, loosely translated into German, where it is known as “Ellens dritter Gesang” (Ellen’s Third Song, in English).

It is often performed and recorded by many singers under the title “Ave Maria” (the Latin name of the prayer Hail Mary, and also the opening words and refrain of Ellen’s song, a song which is itself a prayer to the Virgin Mary), in musically simplified arrangements and with various lyrics that commonly differ from the original context of the poem. It was arranged in three versions for piano by Franz Liszt.

One of Schubert’s most popular works, it has become a fixture at weddings. Although an overtly Catholic song, it is sometimes performed at Seventh Day Adventist weddings, although with a certain amount of disapproval from strict quarters. Apparently Mrs Kim is not as strict in her religion as you might think – perhaps she simply loves beautiful music.

I presume that the pastor performing the wedding service is “Reverend” Melmin (he would actually be a pastor), previously mentioned as helping Mrs Kim select a suitable college for Lane to attend.

Runner

MRS. KIM: This is Ho Kyung, she’ll sing with you … Watch the high notes, she’s a runner.

In singing, a run is when a singer starts off at a very high note and drops quickly down the scale on a single syllable. It’s quite a showy move, designed to feature the vocalist’s performance over the music.

You might remember Ho Kyung from the episode, “A Deep-fried Korean Thanksgiving”.

Stars Hollow Beauty Supply Store

Rory and Lane go to buy cosmetics at the beauty store. Kirk is now working there instead of Shane, making this another of Kirk’s jobs (it raises the question, does Taylor own this business as well?). Kirk does have an interest in beauty products, having created his own line of skin treatments, which was shut down by the EPA.

I don’t know whether Shane has left the job at the store, or if she works there on a different shift. If the latter, her shift has changed, as she previously served the counter at the same time Rory was home from school.

Rory Eats Lunch Alone

[Rory sits alone in the cafeteria. A paper airplane that says “Leper” lands on her table. She tosses it aside and puts on her headphones.]

Once again, Rory is left to have lunch by herself, listening to music, because of her fight with Paris. Although she tells Lorelai that she doesn’t mind eating by herself, she goes to bed extremely early, because she says that having nobody to talk to all day is “tiring”. I think that Rory really means is that it is “depressing”, and she ends this episode feeling lonely and unhappy.

Notice that the Blood Drive is taking place in the cafeteria behind her – the one which Rory tried to have held elsewhere to get back at Francie. Just another little slap in the face for her, as she has truly given “’til it hurts”.

Fencing Class

In this episode, Rory, Paris, Louise, and Madeline have a fencing class. This may remind the viewer that Richard Gilmore was a keen fencing athlete when he was at Yale – something which Emily found very attractive about him.

It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that the James Bond film Die Another Day had come out the previous year, in 2002, directed by Lee Tamahori, and starring Pierce Brosnan as the title character.

It has a notable fencing scene in it [pictured], where James Bond has an unexpectedly aggressive fencing bout with the villain, Gustav Graves, played by Toby Stephens. The fencing instructor in the film is played by Madonna, one of Lorelei’s favourite celebrities (she also sings the film’s theme song). Less than a month after this movie’s release, UK fencing clubs saw an increase in the number of people interested in taking up the activity.

Die Another Day was a box-office smash, and the #6 film of 2002. It received reasonable reviews at the time, but is now considered one of the worst of the films in the series. It was heavily criticised by Pierce Brosnan.

The fencing instructor at Chilton is played by Teigh McDonough, whose background was in the Chicago theatre scene.

Kirk Buys a Cat

LORELAI: Nothing. You buy a cat?

KIRK: Yup. I’m very excited.

In the recent episode “They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They?”, Rory tried to persuade her mother to let Kirk win the dance marathon because he had so little in his life … not even a pet. Two episodes later, he buys a cat. Did Kirk overhear what Rory said, or was it relayed to him? We shall never know, but now he has a cat, with predictably unfortunate results.

Kirk has bought an enormous carry case for the cat, more suitable for a large dog! I’m not sure if that’s trying to tell us the size of the cat (did he accidentally buy a panther?) or Kirk’s incompetence buying cat equipment.

Louise’s Father and the “Manson Girl”

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.

The Banger Sisters

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.