Footnotes to the TV series
Prague, Czech Republic – big ceramic stands
Paris, France – giant papier-mache mushrooms
Belgium – the papier-mache from here was rejected as hack work
Oslo, Norway
Copenhagen, Denmark
Bora Bora, an island group in French Polynesia, popular honeymoon destination [pictured]
Hong Kong – acrobats
After a few words from Lorelai, Sookie suddenly understands that she’s wandered into Emilyland, and that she wants her nice simple wedding with Jackson back. A subplot which ran its course very quickly.
A town meeting takes place in this episode, with the order of business being the retirement of Harry from Harry’s House of Twinkle Lights, and the issue of whether the Second Troubadour has the correct permit to run a farmer’s market in the park across the road from Doose’s Market.
Town meetings are held on the second Thursday of the month, so it must be 11th April.
While Lorelai is helping Luke to organise his uncle’s funeral, Emily meanwhile decides to get involved in Sookie’s wedding. She begins by making a couple of suggestions, with Sookie clearly not wanting to offend her best friend’s mother and a major client. What with Emily’s strong personality and Sookie’s tendency to go along with things to be nice, this escalates, until very soon, Lorelai takes enough interest in non-diner related activities to discover that Sookie is getting samples from celebrity wedding planners.
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.
This song is sung by the Town Troubadour as Lorelai and Rory walk to the diner, talking about Luke’s news about his uncle’s passing.
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go is a 1984 song by British pop duo Wham! Written and produced by George Michael, it was their first #1 UK and US hit, a world-wide smash, going to #1 in many countries, and went Platinum in the US.
The music video shows George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley wearing Katharine Hamnett tee-shirts with CHOOSE LIFE emblazoned on them – a bit of a message for this episode which focuses on death. Apart from that, the Troubadour seems to singing it as an early morning song, to show that people are just starting to wake up and get ready for the day.
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).
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!).
EMILY: You knew this whole evening made me uncomfortable and yet you kept pushing.
LORELAI: I was trying to do everything right. You manipulated me into taking this trip and still I came. You told me I was acting like a teenager, so I tried to be nicer. You said you needed to eat, so I made that happen.
EMILY: Yes, by sitting me at a bar where you practically forced me to engage in inappropriate behaviour.
Emily and Lorelai, who have been in an almost constant state of friction since they left for the spa, finally let loose on each other. You can see that each of them have valid points of aggrievement.
Lorelai feels that she was manipulated into going on a spa weekend with her mother – Emily never gave her a chance to decide for herself by asking, “Lorelai, would you care to go to a spa with me this weekend?”. When there was nothing appetising for dinner, she helped her mother get the courage to go out for steak, and when there was no table available, she suggested they eat at the bar instead, where they had a good time together. When a man asked her mother to dance, she made it seem like no big deal to accept if she chose, and now everything is Lorelai’s fault. Again.
Emily feels that Lorelai has been incredibly ungrateful and immature, sulking and sniping like the spoiled teenager she still is inside while being treated to a luxury spa weekend, and being driven there in a limousine. All things that Emily has organised for Lorelai as a fun treat so they can spend some time bonding – she even cancelled Friday Night Dinner for Lorelai’s benefit, so that she won’t feel that “Ugh, I have to have dinner with my mother and go to a spa with her all weekend!”. Emily agreed to going out for steak, even though she didn’t feel comfortable about it, and sitting at the bar wasn’t respectable.
When Chad asked her to dance, she didn’t really want to as it seemed disloyal to Richard, but felt pressured into it by Lorelai. Although it was okay at first, when Chad got a little too intimate, she was expecting Lorelai to act like a good friend and save her. She didn’t. Lorelai figured her mother was an adult and could handle a man coming on too strongly, the way she would have. She left Emily to sink or swim.
Rory had Paris to protect her from Jess coming onto her, and from Dean’s temper. Emily could have used a friend like that, and unfortunately, Lorelai wasn’t that friend for her.
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby
This is the song playing at the bar when Emily and Lorelai first walk in together. It’s a jazz standard with music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, introduced by Adelaide Hall at the Blackbird Revue in New York, 1928, which later opened on Broadway.
Come Fly With Me
This is the song which is announced as a “salute to the Chairman of the Board”. It’s a 1958 song with music by Jimmy Heusen and lyrics by Sammy Cahn. It was written for Frank Sinatra, the title track of his 1958 album, and became part of his concert repertoire.
Fly Me to the Moon
This is the song which plays when Chad, the “silver fox”, asks Emily to dance. It’s a 1954 song by Bart Howard, originally recorded by Kaye Ballard the same year. Frank Sinatra’s 1964 version is the best known, and became associated with NASA’s Apollo missions to the Moon. “Fly Me to the Moon” was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 1999.
Someone To Watch Over Me
Previously discussed. This is the song which Emily and Chad dance to. It’s a sign that Emily desperately needs Lorelai to watch out for her – which she fails to do.
Stayin’ Alive
The song which plays while Emily and Lorelai argue about whose fault everything has been. It’s a 1977 song written and performed by The Bee Gees for the soundtrack to the film, Saturday Night Fever. The song was a smash hit around the world, going to #1 in the US and multiple other countries, and #4 in the UK. Considered one of the best songs of all time, it was one of the Bee Gees’ signature songs.
The songs at the bar are performed by Marty and Elayne (Roberts), a famous husband-wife lounge act who performed at The Dresden Room, a Hollywood landmark, for 38 years. They also make an appearance in the 1996 film Swingers. Marty passed away in January of this year, aged 89.
We open with the diner in disarray, because Luke’s apartment that he bought in the previous episode is still under construction. In real life, it usually takes months for the sale of a property to go through so you can begin work on it, but this is television, and Luke is already in the middle of renovations.
Jess, wearing a construction helmet, chivalrously brings Rory an umbrella to shield her from the mess. Although Luke gets cranky about Jess making fun of the situation, the umbrella saves Rory from being hit by debris just a minute or so later.
This is the first official sighting of Tom the Contractor, although it is the same actor (Biff Yeager) who played Tom who was the foreman at Rebuilding Together in Hartford where Rory did volunteer work. They have the same name and personality, and obviously look the same, so it seems perfectly possible that they are actually the same character. This is never confirmed, however.
It’s not clear how much time has passed since the previous episode, but Luke complains to Tom about the renovation taking another week, and in 2002 Easter was at the end of March, so perhaps three weeks have gone by and it’s now early April (Thursday 4th April). I won’t be able to keep blog entries in step with events in the show, or I will run out of time. Time gets very stretchy in the last few episodes of the season!
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 