Tag: Character Insight

Petri Dish

LUKE: When you date a girl like Rory, you’re involved with her whole family. Just like that last girl you dated, you were involved with her whole Petri dish.

Petri dish, a shallow, transparent lidded dish that biologists use to grow cell cultures, such as bacteria, fungi, and moss. The container is named after its inventor, German bacteriologist Julius Petri.

Everyone is so horrible about Shane on this show. Even Luke, who (rightly) urged Jess to be nicer to Shane when they were going out, now he speaks of her family as nothing more than bacteria!

Swan Attack

JESS: I was attacked by a swan. Okay, you happy? A stupid swan.
LUKE: Now, how ’bout the real story?

Luke professes disbelief that Jess’ black eye came from a swan attack. Swans are notoriously aggressive during breeding season, and can do some damage when provoked – generally of the bruising variety, rather than breaking bones or anything. Breeding season is April to June, and this is February, but if you’re unlucky, swans can attack at any time.

I’m not sure why Luke doesn’t believe Jess at first, nor why Jess is too embarrassed to tell Rory the truth. For that matter, why is everyone so sure that Dean gave Jess the black eye? Had it happened before? Does Dean seem that dangerous? And if she believes Dean did hurt Jess, why is Rory angry at Jess, rather than Dean?

An interesting point to ponder: most swan-related injuries actually occur when the person is running away from the swan – falling over and cutting their knee, or getting a branch in their eye running through trees. (In one unfortunate case, drowning while trying to escape). Is it possible that this is really how Jess got a black eye, and is this why he is so embarrassed?

In a Young Man’s Mind

This is the song playing when Dave, Zach, and Brian run into Mrs Kim when their car is stuck at the red light.

“In a Young Man’s Mind” is a song by the garage rock band The Mooney Suzuki, from their 2002 album, Electric Sweat. The song was released as a single in 2003.

Part of the lyrics say:

A kid with a guitar
What does he wanna do?
We’ll be like Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page, and Hendrix too
We’re gonna learn how to play
And practice it everyday
But I was really feelin’
I might come a lady’s way

In a young man’s mind
It’s a simple world
There’s a little bit of music
And the rest is girls

Something of a comment on the guys in the band!

When Mrs Kim asks what Dave is doing with these alarming-looking boys, he pretends that he is also in a Christian band, and they are his bandmates. Mrs Kim warns him that Lane has a crush on him, and says she is interested in hiring them some time. Dave gets away with it for another day, although the squeaks are getting narrower.

Lord Jim

EMILY: Oh, and that attitude – I wanted to slap that monosyllabic mouth of his. And God forbid they’re in another accident together or his heap of a car breaks down and Lord Jim has decided cell phones are beneath him and they’re stranded in the middle of nowhere. How can you let this happen? He had a black eye. He belongs in jail!

Lord Jim, 1900 novel by Joseph Conrad. The novel features a young British seaman named Jim, who is working on a steamship where the captain and crew abandon the passengers when the ship begins sinking. Although Jim argued for the passengers being saved, he leaps into the rescue boat with the rest of the crew.

Wracked with guilt, Jim finds other jobs on ships, but leaves abruptly once his disgrace becomes known. After getting into a fist fight in Bangkok, Jim is offered the chance to redeem himself by becoming a trade representative in a village on a remote island that that is shut off from most commerce. He becomes successful here, and called “Lord Jim” by the villagers, but comes to grief two years later.

Jim doesn’t seem terrifically similar to Jess, and I can only think Emily is thinking of the fist fight (which Jess didn’t get into, but she thinks he did), and the life of disgrace which leads him to find sanctuary in a remote village (which is how she apparently sees Stars Hollow!).

Emily Lets Loose

Rory was so upset over her fight with Jess that she stayed with Emily overnight. When Lorelai asks to speak to Emily, Emily tells her what she really thought of Jess – she was horrified and disgusted by his behaviour, and thought he was abominably rude. She is also still angry about the car accident, which she completely blames Jess for.

Just as Richard saw Dean as not good enough for his precious granddaughter, Emily sees Jess as not good enough for Rory. But she is taking her own advice to be polite and welcoming to Jess, because she doesn’t want to alienate her granddaughter. And of course, it is all Lorelai’s fault for allowing Rory to date Jess!

Wal-Mart

EMILY: So, Rory tells me you’re part of the Wal-Mart corporation .. They sound like wonderful stores … We’ve never actually been inside one, but we own the stock.
JESS: Thanks for the paycheck.

Wal-Mart, previously discussed.

A very Emily thing to say here – she’s never been in a Wal-Mart, but she owns stock in the business, she tells Jess, who works for Wal-Mart. Quite a way to put him in his place. We Gilmores own you, Mariano!

Big Rig, Bennies and Goofballs

EMILY: There was something with a big rig. Oh, those things, they scare the life out of me. And apparently, all the men who drive them are hopped up on bennies and goofballs.

Big rig, informal English for a large truck, an 18-wheeler – otherwise known as a semi-trailer truck, a semi-trailer, a semi-truck, or just a semi.

Bennies, slang for the drug Benzedrine, an amphetamine used recreationally since the 1920s.

Goofballs, slang for tranquilisers or sleeping pills, used as a recreational drug. Note that you can’t really get “hopped up” on sleeping pills, and taking them alongside amphetamines seems counterproductive, suggesting that Emily’s knowledge of the drug scene is limited. I think this is her attempt to seem cool and hip in front of Jess.

Jess Has a Black Eye

When Jess finally gets there (he really did get stuck in traffic) he has a black eye, and refuses to say how it happened. Emily only expresses polite concern, and is otherwise perfectly charming to him.

Rory however, absolutely flips. She is convinced that Jess has got into a fight with Dean, because the two of them talked together at Miss Patty’s. This is very unfair of Rory to make such an assumption, when Jess already told her he wasn’t upset about her talking to Dean – only bothered that he had to find it out from town gossip. But she is so angry with Jess for turning up to Emily’s dinner, late and with a black eye, that she is is no mood to be fair.

Jess is Late

Rory arrives at her grandmother’s house after school – she seems to have brought a change of clothes with her, as she is not in her uniform. Jess is late to get there, but Emily, ever the gracious hostess, says that Jess probably got into bad traffic on Interstate 84, and professes to find it refreshing that Jess doesn’t have a cell phone, and thus can’t be contacted or call them.

It is Rory who is upset and embarrassed over Jess’ tardiness. You can tell she was hoping Jess would make a good impression on her rather snooty grandmother, which seems extremely unlikely.