MRS. KIM: Reception at Elks Lodge. Two hundred guests. Food goes fast. Let’s move.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City which borrowed rites and practices from Freemasonry. They focus on social activities, charitable causes, and patriotic events. Until 1973 they were an all-white orgnisation, and they only admitted women in 1995.
In real life, there are numerous Elks Lodges in Connecticut, including one in Hartford [pictured] – which you really can hire for weddings. I think this one is meant to be in Stars Hollow, which maybe seems a little small to have an Elks Lodge.
This is the song at James’ wedding, performed by Dave Rygalski, and sung by Ho Kyung.
Composed by Franz Schubert in 1825, it was originally part of his 1825 Op. 52 a setting of seven songs from Walter Scott’s 1810 popular narrative poem The Lady of the Lake, loosely translated into German, where it is known as “Ellens dritter Gesang” (Ellen’s Third Song, in English).
It is often performed and recorded by many singers under the title “Ave Maria” (the Latin name of the prayer Hail Mary, and also the opening words and refrain of Ellen’s song, a song which is itself a prayer to the Virgin Mary), in musically simplified arrangements and with various lyrics that commonly differ from the original context of the poem. It was arranged in three versions for piano by Franz Liszt.
One of Schubert’s most popular works, it has become a fixture at weddings. Although an overtly Catholic song, it is sometimes performed at Seventh Day Adventist weddings, although with a certain amount of disapproval from strict quarters. Apparently Mrs Kim is not as strict in her religion as you might think – perhaps she simply loves beautiful music.
I presume that the pastor performing the wedding service is “Reverend” Melmin (he would actually be a pastor), previously mentioned as helping Mrs Kim select a suitable college for Lane to attend.
Throughout this scene, Rory and Lane do the hair up and make-up for cousin James’ bride from Korea – a woman who remains nameless, and is played by Jessica Shim in her first role. She would go on to a smattering of small TV roles.
The bride is unable to speak English, but Lane speaks Korean, and exchanges a few words with her, asking if she likes her hair (not really, is the answer), and getting her water when she asks for it. Neither Lane nor Rory make any attempt to include her in their conversation, give her any comfort, or even try to teach her just one or two words of English.
She has come from another country, doesn’t speak any English, and is marrying a stranger described as “quiet and skulky”, which sounds like code for lacking the social skills to attract a wife among his peers. Cousin James is played by stand-up comedian and actor E.K., and whatever James’ possible faults, he is at least attractive.
Lane and Rory discuss an unhappy marriage which began with a wedding at the Kim house, between Min Cha, and the “mean man” she married, Wan Nam. There were seven years of Min Cha being told she was stupid and ordered around like a slave before she snapped and attacked her husband. They now live separate lives in the same house, still married.
The chances of the Korean bride having a happy marriage and happy life in America seem quite slim, yet Rory and Lane express no pity over her situation (and not really any for Min Cha either). She is marrying into Lane’s family, yet receives little welcome or signs of kindness from anyone. Mrs Kim doesn’t even bother speaking Korean to her, or in front of her, while talking about her.
It’s rather chilling that Rory and Lane get to have a heartwarming bonding scene together all while virtually ignoring this young woman, doing her up like a doll, and treating her as if she barely exists. She is a prop in the scene, rather than another actor.
LUKE: Why didn’t you tell me? LORELAI: I don’t know. I just felt stupid getting rooked into the thing in the first place, and then . . . plus, you don’t wanna hear about my personal life.
Rook, informal language meaning to cheat or swindle, especially in a game of cards. The word in this sense dates to the 16th century, and is assumed to be after the bird, a member of the crow family, regarded as very cunning.
I can’t see how Lorelai was actually tricked into going fishing – Alex asked if she liked fishing, and she said yes! Maybe she means she tricked herself. After all, she was the only one who was in any way deceptive.
HEADMASTER: Now, I’d like to know what is actually driving this recent rash of infighting. Oh, goody, I get to guess. Well, let’s see, perhaps you’re arguing over the same boy? PARIS: Sure, we’re girls, so we could only be arguing about a boy, right? Sexist, white-haired –
Paris rightly complains at the headmaster’s sexist stereotyping that two girls can only be fighting over a boy, but in teen dramas of the 2000s, that’s exactly what happened. Most of the time if two girls fought or didn’t get along, it was because of a boy
In fact, Paris initially disliked Rory because her crush Tristan flirted with Rory, and it was only after Tristan moved schools that their friendship really blossomed. And in this case, they sort of are arguing about a boy – Paris said the thing she couldn’t forgive was that Rory discussed Paris’ boyfriend Jamie with Francie (which didn’t actually happen).
LUKE: Okay, Thelma, Louise, possibly there’s another way to learn to fish. LORELAI: The Fishing Channel.
There isn’t really a Fishing Channel in the US – there’s one in the UK, though. American fishing shows are usually hosted by the Discovery Channel. Lorelai just assumes or guesses there is one, like the Cooking Channel and the Home and Garden Channel.
PARIS: At the beginning of this year, when we were sworn in as your government representatives, we placed our hand on a bible and we took an oath.
We saw the student council sworn in, and they actually swore on the Chilton student handbook, not the Bible. It’s possible Paris considers the handbook of equal standing to the Bible.
The Kim family are planning a wedding for Lane’s cousin James, said to be “quiet and skulky”, so the family arranged a marriage for him with a girl from Korea who “doesn’t speak a word of English”.
This sounds absolutely awful for the young woman, coming to a country where she doesn’t speak or understand the language, to marry someone she’s never met. Amazingly, Rory and Lane express zero sympathy or concern for her, Rory even quipping that she hopes they make air holes in the box she’s shipped out in, as if she’s an animal.
Dave will be playing at the wedding, and during the conversation, it turns out that Rory has attended many weddings at the Kim household – so many that Lane says she is accepted as an honorary member of the family. We don’t see Rory and Lane together that much, so this is a nice way to tell us that in fact they are very close and have shared many important times that aren’t shown onscreen. It doesn’t really gel with the way Mrs Kim treats Rory in the show – certainly not like a family member (mind you, she’s not very warm to her actual family members).
Notice that the book Rory is carrying in this scene is Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman. Rory is shown reading this book all the way back in “Red Light on the Wedding Night”, so eighteen months later she is either still reading it, or is re-reading it. Although re-reading books is common, is re-reading biographies all that common, I wonder? I feel as if they are getting a bit lazy in finding new books for Rory to read (or be shown reading).
ALEX: Ready to try another? I hear there’s one from Peru that comes with a Surgeon’s General warning.
Peru, a country on the west coast of South America. Despite Alex’s warning, Peruvian coffee is said to be mild and light in flavour.
The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. The US surgeon general is nominated by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate.
In 2003, the Surgeon General of the US was Richard Carmona (born 1949); he was in the post from 2002 to 2006. In 2014 he wrote a book called 30 Days to a Better Brain, where he actually promoted coffee as a healthy drink that could improve mood and memory.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 