David and Lisa

TAYLOR: Let go of me!

TROUBADOUR #2: Don’t like to be touched, that’s cool. Got a little David and Lisa thing happening?

David and Lisa, 1962 drama film directed by Frank Perry. It is based on the second story in the 1961 novella Lisa and David by a psychiatrist named Theodore Isaac Rubin; the screenplay is written by Rubin’s wife, Eleanor Katz. The story is about a bright young man named David (played by Keir Dullea) who cannot bear to be touched; while in a mental health treatment facility, he befriends a girl named Lisa (played by Janet Margolin) who has a split personality.

David and Lisa received positive reviews from critics. It was made into a stage play in 1967, and into a television film in 1998, produced by Oprah Winfrey.

David and Lisa is one of the DVDs we can see at Stars Hollow Video in “Richard in Stars Hollow”.

Note the implication from the Second Town Troubadour/Second Market Guy that Taylor must have serious mental health problems if he doesn’t want to be hugged. It’s just the start of the trolling that Taylor is about to be subjected to!

The Return of the Second Town Troubadour

TAYLOR: Wait a minute, I know you. You’re that long-haired freak that wanted to be town troubadour even though that weird brown-corduroy-jacket-wearing freak was already it.

TROUBADOUR #2: That’s right, good memory! How are ya? [hugs him]

Last season there was an episode where the town had a meeting to decide whether they wanted to keep the mysterious Grant as their only Town Troubadour, or allow another guy to also play music around town. Thanks to an impassioned speech by Rory, the town voted in favour of Grant.

The other Town Troubadour, played by Dave Allen, isn’t from Stars Hollow, but runs a Kinko’s printing business in Groton, an hour or so away. He has now returned to be a Second Market Guy to Taylor, setting up his own fruit and vegetable stand in the park opposite Doose’s Market.

Why this man was originally drawn to Stars Hollow remains a mystery.

Jeannie and Major Healey

JESS: I’m in the middle of something.

RORY: Just assume that Jeannie’s gonna get Major Healey out of whatever scrape he’s in.

As the theme music playing tells us, Jess is watching I Dream of Jeannie, a fantasy sitcom created by Sidney Sheldon, starring Barbara Eden as a 2000-year-old genie named Jeannie, and Larry Hagman as Major Tony Nelson, the astronaut she falls in love with. Bill Daily played Tony’s best friend, Major Roger Healey, who was girl-crazy and often entered into get-rich-quick schemes, requiring Jeannie’s assistance to sort everything out. The show was originally broadcast from 1965 to 1970, but but often shown in reruns.

I Dream of Jeannie was created as a deliberate rival to Bewitched, both having pretty blonde magical beings as the focus of the show. It is amusing that Jess apparently prefers I Dream of Jeannie, while Lorelai seems to be a fan of Bewitched.

The classic theme music which you hear Jess listening to was composed by Hugo Montenegro with lyrics by Buddy Kaye. It replaced the original Season 1 theme music, a jazz waltz composed by Richard Weiss. Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote a theme for the show, but it was never used.

(The show is set in Florida, the same place Louie retired to).

Louie Danes

Luke’s Uncle Louie has died shortly before this episode opens, at the age of 85. Louie was the brother of Luke’s father, William Danes, and lived in Stars Hollow until he retired and moved to Florida. This episode focuses on Luke’s efforts to organise Louie’s funeral.

(The episode never says this, but it seems possible that Luke was given the name Lucas because it sounds similar to his uncle’s name of Louis).

Veal

LORELAI: If you had your way, Mother, you’d lock us up like veal. That’s what she wants, veal children.

Veal is the meat of calves, rather than beef, which comes from adult cattle. In the past, many calves raised for veal in North America were raised in small crates, often tethered, which is what I think Lorelai means by keeping them locked up like veal. In the 2000s, this cruel practice began gradually to be abandoned in favour of slightly less cruel practices, and by 2017, all members of the American Veal Association raised their veal calves untethered in pens, not crates.

Note that Lorelai implies that both herself and Rory are Emily’s children, as if they are sisters, rather than mother and daughter, and as if Lorelai is still a child.

(Lorelai enjoyed a meal of ossobucco made by Max, a veal dish).

“Rory wouldn’t lie”

LORELAI: She had nothing to do with Jess coming over. Believe me, she did not want him there.

DEAN: That’s what she told me. And Rory wouldn’t lie, right?

As Lorelai and Dean assure each other that good, honest, pure Rory (the sweetest kid in the world) would never lie about wanting Jess, they watch through the window as Rory giggles and flirts with him while paying for breakfast.

Rory was certainly being truthful about not inviting Jess to the house, or even inviting him to dinner – he invited himself, and manipulated the situation so he could stay. But as for not wanting him there, actively wishing he hadn’t come? Well … if that wasn’t a lie to Dean, then she is definitely lying to herself.

And it’s going around, because Dean and Lorelai are desperately lying to themselves as well.

“You lied”

RORY: I don’t think Luke knew anything about the food last night … Which means you lied about why you came over.

Rory is positively delighted to discover that Jess came over with the food just because he wanted to. In her mind, she is only enjoying catching him out in a lie and watching him squirm, but on some level she must also be happy to know that Jess actively sought out her company for an evening.

“Crazy mad”

LORELAI: Wow, he must’ve been crazy mad last night.

RORY: I’d say that was a fair assessment.

Apparently knowing that her daughter’s boyfriend was in an insane rage the night before isn’t something Lorelai feels she needs to worry about! And now Dean has taken Rory hostage for the entire day, and she has to have dinner with his family as well. Doesn’t she look thrilled about it?

Mother and Daughter in Parallel Lives

This episode is another one where we see Lorelai and Rory in parallel situations. In “There’s the Rub”, both Lorelai and Rory have their personal boundaries disrespected.

Lorelai thinks she is being offered free vouchers to a luxury spa, only to discover what she’s really getting is a weekend away with her mother – who books every single activity for them at the same time, even a couples massage!

Meanwhile, Rory thinks she’s getting the house to herself for an evening. Paris tries to guilt trip Rory into letting her come over to study by reminding her how lonely and neglected she is. When Rory sensibly but kindly resists, Paris just turns up anyway. Then Jess arrives with food, unbidden, and invites himself to dinner, so that Rory has to ask Paris to stay the night as a chaperone. Then Dean decides to stick his nose in, despite being explicitly told to stay away. (Dean is the only character who doesn’t manipulate his way in, because he already feels entitled to Rory’s company).

If everyone had respected Lorelai and Rory’s boundaries, Lorelai would have received two vouchers for a spa weekend, and taken Sookie, and Rory would have been free to do laundry, eat Indian food, and fall asleep in front of the TV in her pyjamas. Which would be nice for them, but not exactly compelling television.

Luckily, both Gilmore girls end up gaining something by allowing others to force their way into their lives – if only the knowledge that people really do want to be closer to them.

(Note that the boundary-pushing continues even in the penultimate scene, when Kirk tries to take their table from them in the diner before they are ready to leave. After everything they’ve been through, the Gilmore girls are hogging that table, no matter what!).

“Rory would never steal”

EMILY: Did you ever steal a robe with Rory?

LORELAI: No, Rory would never steal. She’s far too moral for that.

This is a complete, utter, and quite deliberate lie. Rory and Lorelai stole glasses from a Holiday Inn together, she boasted to Lorelai about stealing a towel from the country club she went to with Richard, and in this very episode, she tells Lorelai to steal soap from the spa before she comes home. Apart from trying to make Emily feel special and as if they could have a bond that Lorelai and Rory don’t, Lorelai doesn’t want to tarnish the image Emily has of the perfect angel granddaughter.