Tag: Character Insight

Rory and Jess Kiss in Public

[Jess and Rory are walking through the town square, kissing]

It’s about two months since Rory broke up with Dean, and by now she is comfortable enough to be seen kissing her boyfriend Jess in public. It feels as if the relationship between Rory and Jess is nothing but kissing, actually. Do they do anything else?

When they were friends, they read books and talked about books and went book shopping – whatever happened to that? Is it happening offscreen, or are we meant to think that now they’re in a relationship, Rory and Jess don’t bother any more?

Dean Brings Back Rory’s Stuff

LORELAI: Not weirded out, even a little?

RORY: Why would I be weirded out?

LORELAI: Well, Dean coming over, bringing your stuff back.

RORY: No, I’m fine.

LORELAI: Okay. Although, you know, if you were weirded out a little, it would be okay. It wouldn’t mean that you don’t like Jess, or that you made a mistake. It would just mean the guy who was in your life for two years isn’t there anymore.

Dean drops off his “Rory box” of mementos, in order to return them to Rory. Although Rory brushes off Lorelai’s concerns that she might feel “weird” about it, when she takes the box to her room, she seems unable to open it and deal with the contents. She sits on the bed and eyes it with an unhappy, regretful (remorseful?), expression.

Note how Lorelai doesn’t miss a chance to mention not liking Jess, or making a mistake, even while trying to comfort Rory. We never see Rory return her “Dean box” to Dean – but then again, Lorelai told her that such memory boxes were to be kept as a lifetime reminder of a previous relationship.

The Bathtub Scene from Annie Hall

LORELAI: I have a spider whose previous credits include the bathtub scene from Annie Hall trapped under that cup.

The film Annie Hall, previously discussed and frequently mentioned.

In the movie, there is a scene where Annie calls Alvy to come over to her apartment at 3 am even though they have broken up – which turns out to be because there is a spider in her bath. It turns out to be two very large spiders. After Alvy deals with the spiders, he and Annie get back together.

It’s interesting that Lorelai references this scene to Dean, who has broken up with Rory and now unexpectedly turned up at her house. It seems like she thinks of it because she wants Rory and Dean to also get back together, as if Dean killing the spider will somehow bring Rory back to him, as Alvy gets Annie back.

Cigar Humidor

EMILY: I bought him a cigar humidor … It’s gorgeous. [sits down] It belonged to a lieutenant in the army in World War I. Apparently, he kept it in his field office in France. There are carvings in the bottom that the dealer said could possibly be coded messages.

A humidor is a humidity-controlled box used for storing cigars, cigarettes, cannabis, or pipe tobacco. Either too much or too little humidity can be harmful to tobacco products; a humidor’s primary function is to maintain a steady, desirable moisture level inside; secondarily it protects its contents from physical damage and deterioration from sunlight.

Even though Emily disapproves of Richard’s cigar club, she still buys him a beautiful and expensive antique humidor for his cigars.

Michel Insults the Hungarians

LORELAI: What did you say?

MICHEL: I don’t know.

LORELAI: What do you mean you don’t know? All you had to say was ‘Welcome to Stars Hollow,’ that’s it.

MICHEL: I know, I thought I did, and then they got angry and threw bread sticks and butter pats.

In the inn, when greeting the Hungarians, Michel says in Hungarian, A te országod tele van csúnya emberekkel. The translation in English is, “Your country is full of ugly people.”

Somehow he confused this with udvözöljük, meaning “welcome”. This doesn’t seem like a simple error or misunderstanding. He must have at least known how to say Stars Hollow!

Jamie Loves Paris

RORY: Okay, skip to the end, I can’t take it. How did it turn out?

PARIS: He told me he loved me … I never thought I’d hear a boy tell me he loved me … He invited me back up for Easter break.

After spending Christmas together, Jamie tells Paris that he loves her, and invites her to spend Easter in Philadelphia with his family. Paris is thrilled and disbelieving, but she never says that she loves Jamie, or indicates that she reciprocated with her own love confession. It may be that Paris is more in love with love, and the idea of having a nice boyfriend, than she is with Jamie himself, or that she simply doesn’t trust her own feelings.

Paris’ Christmas With Jamie

PARIS: I met his parents … He bought me a ticket, and I took the train to Philadelphia, and he met me at the station, and I spent Christmas with him and his family … It was perfect. They had a Christmas tree twelve feet tall … And they had tiny wreaths hanging from every doorknob, and mistletoe and candles everywhere.

Paris has never celebrated Christmas (she’s Jewish), and her parents always go out of town for the holidays, leaving her alone with her nanny. This miserable time of year for her is transformed into a veritable Hallmark card come to life when Jamie invites her to spend Christmas with his family in Philadelphia. She loves everything about Christmas, and is virtually floating on air after the holidays.

Philadelphia has been mentioned several times in Gilmore Girls. Paris would have quite a long train trip to visit Jamie – it’s four and a half hours by train from Hartford to Philadelphia, with a change at New Haven.

Paris is Distracted

PARIS: What did he talk about? … I didn’t take notes. I didn’t pay attention. I’m going to. . .

RORY: Borrow my notes and be just fine. [hands her notes to Paris] …

PARIS: I can’t believe I zoned out for the entire class.

This is continuing the theme of Paris not being able to pay attention to her schoolwork because she has a boyfriend. Unlike Rory, who is on her second boyfriend, and still going strong academically. She is even carrying Paris by giving her notes for the class.

Pose Naked on the Cover of Rolling Stone

[Rory, Lane and Lorelai are walking through Stars Hollow. They cross a street]

LANE: Are you serious? …We can really rehearse in your garage?

LORELAI: In exchange for the promise that you never pose naked on the cover of Rolling Stone no matter how much trouble your career is in.

Rolling Stone magazine has quite a tradition of musicians and actors posing nude or semi-clad on their cover. A few examples are John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1968, Madonna in 1991, The Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1992, and Blind Melon in 1993. Most recently from the perspective of this episode, Christina Aguilera had appeared nude on the cover in November 2002.

In this episode, Lane’s problems finding a rehearsal space for the band are solved when Lorelai generously allows them to rehearse in her garage. Given how noisy bands can be while rehearsing, this is an extremely kind offer on Lorelai’s part.