Rory tells her mother that she had no plan to enter the speech contest for the Chilton Bicentennial, but now Paris is being so annoying and competitive that she actually wants to win so she can rub it in her face.
Lorelai asks why she didn’t plan to enter it, even though Rory has successfully given speeches before, as Vice-President (and for the debating team). She is said by Paris herself to be the best public speaker at Chilton! (Ha).
Lorelai makes a very good point that if Rory is serious about being a journalist and a foreign correspondent (hm, okay), then she should be comfortable with speaking in public, and that this is her chance to step up. This argument persuades Rory to take part.
LORELAI: I don’t know. It’s weird, Sookie must be sick or something. RORY: Sookie never gets sick.
In fact, Sookie said that she had a little bug the week before. Later events suggest this may have been morning sickness, since we never learn exactly what this “bug” entailed. Although only a scriptwriter who has never been pregnant would think of morning sickness as a “little bug”, so I don’t know.
LORELAI: Three more salads – who needs three more salads? RORY: One was enough.
Rory says that the one salad on Luke’s original menu was plenty. However, when Emily ordered lunch at Luke’s in “Haunted Leg”, she chose between the Cobb salad and the Caesar salad, so there were at least two salads on the menu only a few months ago. Perhaps Rory never noticed the second salad option.
Note that Nicole’s love of salad means that she’s one of those women who eat healthily, unlike Lorelai and Rory, making her really uncool and probably a terrible person. In the world of Gilmore Girls, at least.
GRAN: I believe a woman marries for life. If, after your husband is gone, you desperately desire some sort of permanent attachment, add an addition onto the house – a library or a solarium. I have a library and a solarium … However, in spite of all this, I found myself getting lonely. And I don’t care for being lonely, it’s quite annoying. So many years ago, I met a man, and he became my companion. Tonight, both he and I were both publicly humiliated and our relationship altered forever.
A solarium is a sun room, conservatory, patio room, sun porch, or winter garden. The word is Latin for “place of sunlight”, and a solarium is a room which allows the sunshine to enter. A solarium typically offers scenic views as well as a sunny spot, and features glass walls and a glass ceiling.
Trix explains to Emily that although she doesn’t believe in remarriage after the death of a spouse, seeing it as “dishonouring” the late spouse’s memory, she has been in a long-term relationship with someone for affection and companionship.
Trix lived in London for years after her husband died, and has only just moved back to Hartford. So did she meet this man in London, or did they see each other only on brief, infrequent visits to each other’s countries? Or did he follow her back to Hartford so they could continue their relationship, or did she follow him – is he the real reason she moved back?
We never learn anything more about Trix’s boyfriend. Is he married, for example? Has he ever pushed for a more permanent arrangement?
JESS: I got tickets to the Distillers … For tonight. I would’ve been here sooner, but I had to wait in line. So we should probably get going. I mean, we don’t wanna miss anything, right?
The Distillers, punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1998 by Australian-born vocalist and guitarist Brody Dalle. Their self-titled debut album came out in 2000, and their most recent album was 2002’s Sing Sing Death House, which reached #29 on the US indie charts. Its single “City of Angels” went to #13 on the UK rock charts.
In real life, the Distillers did not perform at a concert in Connecticut in February/March of 2003. They played The Big Day Out at the Green in Glasgow, Scotland on March 24 2003, which seems to be their first gig for that year. However, on February 14 2002, the Distillers played at Toad’s Place, a nightclub in New Haven, Connecticut, which may be part of the inspiration for this scene.
The timeline for this seems questionable. Jess went to Rory’s place at 7.30 pm, where Lorelai gave him a talking to. He then apparently drove to Hartford or New Haven, in order to line up and buy concert tickets. He somehow has time to then drive back to Stars Hollow, and catch Rory just as she is leaving the hockey game, which would have finished no later than 9 pm.
Now he and Rory are going to drive to Hartford or New Haven again, getting there around 10 pm to watch the concert. This doesn’t seem to be possible, especially as Rory is shown getting home when Lorelai is still up and having a late night meal in the kitchen.
I suppose if the Distillers were the last act on the bill, and played a very short set of 30-40 minutes or so, then perhaps Jess and Rory could have got out around midnight and made it back to Stars Hollow by 1 am, and Lorelai could still be awake and having a midnight snack then. It seems like a lot of driving around and a lot of money spent for such a short time, though.
The alternative explanation is that Jess had in fact already bought the tickets and arrived at Rory’s house ready to surprise her when Lorelai jumped down his throat. In that case, his story about waiting in line is just that – a story. However, that doesn’t explain where he went afterwards, unless he just sat in the car park and waited for Rory to come out. I find this whole plotline pretty confusing.
When Rory comes home from the concert, she doesn’t tell Lorelai where she has been, or anything much about her night. Can Lorelai not smell smoke on her, or notice any other sign that she has been at a concert? (Cigarette bans in clubs and places of entertainment would not be passed in Connecticut until May 2003).
There is no sign that Rory enjoyed her night out with Jess. When we see her alone in her room, she lies on her bed with a pensive and enigmatic look on her face which gradually becomes sadder and sadder. Her expression doesn’t say “I’ve had a great night out at a cool concert with my boyfriend”, it says, “My ex-boyfriend has found someone new and my boyfriend isn’t living up to my expectations”.
In fact, all the signs point to Rory not being over her break up with Dean, and not being exactly happy with Jess.
RORY: It’s me. I just wanted to let you know that this is the last weekend I spend sitting around like an idiot hoping you’ll call, okay? I’m not going to be that girl. From now on, I want a plan. I mean, a real plan with a time and a place, and I’m tired of hearing ‘Let’s hook up later.’ What does that mean anyway? What’s later? How do I set my watch to later? Later doesn’t cut it anymore, got it? And, yeah, you know, maybe I am spoiled. But guess what? I like being spoiled. I plan to go on being spoiled. And if that doesn’t sound like something that you can or want to do, then fine. I’m sure you’ll find another girl who doesn’t mind sitting around cleaning her keyboard on a Friday night hoping you’ll call, but it’s not going to be me. Oh, yeah, this is a message for Jess.
Having seen Dean with a new girlfriend, one who he is just about to take out on a date after the hockey game, Rory seriously loses it with Jess and leaves him a long ranting message. Finally, she is being honest with him! (Albeit by phone message).
Unfortunately, when Jess turns up with concert tickets, Rory asks him to please erase his phone messages without listening to them. (Er, hey, some of those messages could’ve been for Luke, or something really important …). In other words, she caved in as soon as he made that grand gesture, the one Lorelai warned her not to instantly cave in to the moment Jess made it.
And Rory made the call on a pay phone, even though she’s been seen using a cell phone in this season. Does Rory have a cell phone or not?
RORY: Like once, in fourth grade, we went on a field trip to Mark Twain’s house, and I really wanted this refrigerator magnet in the shape of Mark Twain’s head, but I didn’t have any money, so she bought it for me, and she wouldn’t even let me pay her back.
Mark Twain’s house, previously discussed. This minor incident which occurred when Rory was about nine seems to be the only interaction with Lindsay she can remember.
KIRK: So it’s back to the desert for the Minutemen, perhaps for another forty years. Of course, by then, I’ll be seventy years old. A lot of the rest of you will probably be dead. Taylor, you’ll be dead. Babette, Miss Patty . . . that man there in the hat.
From this we learn that Kirk is thirty years old, and born in either 1972 or 1973, depending on whether he has already had his birthday for 2003, or will be turning 31 later in the year. Sean Gunn who plays Kirk was born in 1974.
Kirk’s prediction that many of the older people of Stars Hollow will probably by dead in forty years seems like a slight echo of the story of the Israelites, where an entire generation had to pass away before they could reach the Promised Land.
After a brief, slightly awkward conversation with her never-before-mentioned old classmate Lindsay, Rory sees her kissing Dean, and realises her ex-boyfriend has moved on. Lane goes to school with Dean and Lindsay, but she has apparently not noticed that they are now together. She addresses this by saying that she “failed” Rory by not keeping tabs on Dean for her.
Lane did used to do a good job letting Rory know what was happening with Dean, but that was back in the days when Rory and Dean were dating. I guess we can assume that Lane is now busy with her own boyfriend, and possibly the relationship between Dean and Lindsay is still quite new.
LORELAI: Hey, Jess. You like music, right? The Beach Boys said it best. None of the guys go steady ’cause it wouldn’t be right to leave their best girls home on a Saturday night. Rory is one of the best girls. She’s the best girl, if you want my opinion, and you don’t seem to have the first idea as to how she should be treated.
Lorelai quotes from “I Get Around”, the 1964 song by The Beach Boys, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. The autobiographical lyrics describe the group’s reaction to their newfound fame and success, as well as their restlessness concerning the status quo, and their desire to find new hip places. Two lines say:
None of the guys go steady ’cause it wouldn’t be right To leave their best girl home now on a Saturday night
Lorelai seems to be suggesting to Jess that he shouldn’t have a girlfriend if he’s too “hip and cool” to take her out on weekends. She never bothers asking Jess what the problem is, what his work schedule is like (he works two jobs, as well as going to school), or wonders why Rory can’t be bothered calling Jess or talking to him if any issues come up.
“I Get Around” became the Beach Boys’ first #1 hit in the US, as well as one of America’s biggest hits since the British Invasion and the beginning of an unofficial rivalry between Wilson and the Beatles. It also topped the Canadian charts and reached #7 in the UK. In 2017, “I Get Around” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 