Lorelai’s Fight with Sookie

Lorelai is so disturbed by Mia’s news about selling the Independence that she begins backtracking on her plans to open her own inn, to Sookie’s dismay. Logically, it doesn’t make much sense – if Mia is going to sell, Lorelai and Sookie should be fast-tracking their plans, not shelving them. Mia even said they should make their move sooner rather than later.

A lot of Lorelai’s angst about the Independence being sold is the thought of her home being changed. Her special relationship with Mia would be severed, and the new owners of the inn could very well be faceless corporate types that turn it into a chain (always treated as some sort of ultimate horror on the Gilmore Girls).

For Sookie, who isn’t so emotionally invested in the Independence, the news is positive. Mia won’t be upset about them starting their own inn, and even if the Independence changes, they have their own lives to lead. She’d prefer the inn didn’t lose all its charm, but she’s sensible enough to realise that they can’t control what happens, and to focus on their own plans.

This difference in how they feel is enough for Lorelai to begin passively-aggressively attacking Sookie, and to shoot down any suggestions she has on how to improve things. Sookie wonders why they don’t buy the Independence, and Lorelai says they can’t afford it – even though she never asked Mia what she would sell the inn for.

Sookie asks if they should look for another inn to buy, and Lorelai says she doesn’t have time to look for a new location (because if someone doesn’t just randomly show you an inn, it’s too much hard work? Did either of them even check the real estate guides for the area?).

Finally, Lorelai begins criticising Sookie as a potential business partner. She is unreliable, not punctual, and keeps changing the menu, which would send them broke. Sookie is naturally devastated, but Lorelai’s criticisms seem like valid concerns. Even Sookie doesn’t have any comeback except to say Lorelai already knew all these things before. She doesn’t make any promises to change or improve, or suggest other ways she is going to support Lorelai to offset her flaws. In fact, Sookie’s flakiness is actually a problem when they do become business partners.

Notice that Lorelai tries to back out of their business deal by saying the “timing isn’t good” – the same weak excuse Rory made to Lorelai when she tried to wriggle out of going to Chilton.

“He’s been scraping that outline off the cement for two days”

RORY: Hey, I’m gonna go check on Dean. He’s been scraping that outline off the cement for two days now.

You might think that chalk would wash straight off pavement, but actually water only removes most of the chalk. Little particles get into all the tiny crevices and pores in the cement that require vigorous scrubbing. Yes, Taylor is that fussy! 99.5% clean is not good enough!

He also seems to be making Dean clean the pavement in the dark and after the store is closed, which surely can’t be legal, and certainly isn’t practical. I can’t help thinking this episode did not endear Jess to Dean even before jealousy entered the picture.

Field Trip

MIA: Well, I must say that was quite exciting.
LORELAI: A little disturbing. I think the whole town needs a field trip.

A field trip is an excursion by a group of people away from their normal environment, most usually used in the context of education (what might be called a school trip or school tour in other countries).

Lorelai seems to be saying the whole town needs to get out of town, so they can learn how other people live. It’s the closest she gets to saying they should try to see things from Jess’ point of view, and she does seem to be bothered by how the town reacted to him.

“I’ve lived in this town my entire life”

LUKE: Look, I’ve lived in this town my entire life, longer than most everybody here.

Luke’s is presumably only in his early thirties, and yet he’s already lived in Stars Hollow longer than most of the people at the town meeting, a sizeable proportion of whom are fairly elderly. There’s obviously many residents who have moved there from somewhere else. (Bootsy is quick to remind Luke that he’s lived there slightly longer, being five weeks older, and we know Fran Weston has been there all her life).

Sulu

BOOTSY: This goes way beyond the Jess matter, Taylor. Luke’s been on my case since the first grade when he wrongfully accused me of sabotaging a clay imprint that he made of his hand.
LORELAI: Ooh! Think hard, was he dressed like Sulu?

Lieutenant Hikaro Sulu is a character in Star Trek, played by George Takei in the original series. He is the ship’s physicist, third officer, and senior helmsman. He wears the same uniform as everyone else, so I’m not sure what Lorelai means about “dressed like Sulu”, unless she means “dressed like a Star Trek crew member”.

We now learn that as well as having an antagonistic relationship with Taylor, Luke also has a long-standing problem with Bootsy, his former classmate, going back to first grade. How many enemies does Luke really need?

Andrew at the Meeting

Andrew from Stars Hollow Books is at the meeting, and says that his son told him about Jess setting off the fire alarms at the high school. We now discover that Andrew is the father of a boy, presumably a teenager. (He makes it sound as if he only has one son, although there may be daughters as well). He’s sitting next to Bootsy, as if they might be friends (or both in the trade of selling reading materials, so have something in common).

The Crimes of Jess, According to the Town Meeting

Stole money from the bridge fundraising jar (money was returned)

Stole a gnome from Babette (gnome was returned)

Hooted one of Miss Patty’s dance classes (it’s not really clear if he hooted a horn or hooted in derision, either way, they’re just little girls, so kind of yuck)

Stole a hose from Fran’s front yard (was this payback for refusing to sell her inn to Rory’s mother?)

Set off all the fire alarms at the high school

Drew a chalk outline outside Doose’s Market so that Taylor lost business

The viewer might be getting the impression that Jess, although clearly a pest and a nuisance around town, is hardly committing any major acts of villainy. For some reason, the police don’t seem to be getting involved, even for petty theft, misuse of a fire alarm, or vandalism, and perhaps this lack of police action is one of the things fuelling the town’s frustration. It may also be spurring Jess on to further mischief, if he’s mostly doing this for attention or to prove he’s a “bad boy” so he’ll be sent back to his mother.

“You were special”

MIA: Not one thing to recommend hiring her. Just that … how do I put it and remain a lady? … that ‘who cares’ look in her eyes, so I gave her any job. The other maids hated you.
LORELAI: Yeah, well they were all so slow.
MIA: You were special.

This helps explain why Mia hired Lorelai, even though she had no experience or references. Not only a vulnerable figure, a teenaged mother with a baby, but one who didn’t want to be pitied or beg for help: only to be given the chance to earn enough for herself and her daughter.

Lorelai repaid Mia by being a hard-working and enthusiastic employee – so much so that the other maids were resentful of her. I suspect that years spent watching Emily’s maids get castigated and fired for minor errors gave Lorelai the motivation to pay attention to detail. This good attitude and work ethic no doubt soon led to promotions, raises, and bonuses at the Independence.

Neighbourhood Watch

TAYLOR: I speak for the Stars Hollow Business Association, the Stars Hollow Tourist Board, the Stars Hollow Neighborhood Watch Organization, and the Stars Hollow Citizens for a Clean Stars Hollow Council.
LUKE: All of which are you.

Neighborhood Watch is an organisation for civilians devoted to preventing crime and making neighbourhoods safer. In the US, it developed in the late 1960s in response to the rape and murder of a female bartender in Queen’s, New York, who was stabbed outside her apartment building. According to media reports, thirty-eight people saw or heard the attack, and none came to her aid or called the police, so that law enforcement agencies encouraged communities to get more involved in reporting crimes (although in fact the media exaggerated the story – there weren’t so many witnesses, somebody did call police, and another held her while waiting for help to arrive). Neighborhood Watch was a new iteration of the town watch from colonial America.

Taylor’s comment provides a nice little roll call of the major community organisations in Stars Hollow – all apparently spearheaded by Taylor. Taylor can legitimate claim that Jess’ prank is pertinent to all these organisations. He committed a crime, which Neighbourhood Watch needs to keep an eye on, he defaced the pavement, in violation of keeping Stars Hollow clean, and as a result he has made Stars Hollow less desirable for business and tourism. Ingenious!

Taylor’s Investigation

TAYLOR: Three people have reported seeing Jess in that area late last night, skulking, lurking.
LUKE: There were a lot of people out late last night. I know because I fed some of them. I’ll give you their names so you can add them to your suspect list.
TAYLOR: Another person witnessed Jess walking out of an arts and crafts store two days ago with what appeared to be chalk.

Since the police have refused to show any interest in the prankster who stole their police tape, Taylor has done his own investigating. I’m not sure why lurking around the site late the previous night is so suspicious, the prank was done in the late afternoon, unless we’re meant to think Jess was gloating over it hours later or something. But carrying chalk from the arts and crafts store looks like a clear piece of evidence. And one piece of circumstantial evidence is enough to convict Jess in the Taylor-led court of public opinion.

Still nobody has anything to say about the police tape being stolen, which actually would constitute a slightly more serious crime. Did Jess steal it, or did the police simply allow him to take it, so they would have something to do? It must get pretty boring being a cop in Stars Hollow, after all.