Tag: Oh Really?

Flashback 1

This episode, one of the more complex in structure, has a series of flashbacks within it. In the first flashback, we see a teenaged Lorelai and Christopher coming to the Gilmore home after school. They are wearing the same uniform, although I don’t think the show ever mentions them attending the same school. We know it is December, because they have finished their midterm exams, and are discussing the upcoming Christmas vacation.

With no adult supervision (Richard and Emily are out, and the maid has been fired, of course), Christopher – naturally – heads straight to the liquor cabinet and pours them drinks. Getting Lorelai drunk seems to be part of his technique.

Christopher reveals that his plan (more of a dream, actually), is to take a year off after graduation and go backpacking around Europe. He asks Lorelai to come with him, and she agrees – just as she and Rory are planning to go backpacking around Europe as soon as Rory graduates. During the conversation, it is clear that Christopher and Lorelai are close friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend, and that Christopher would like something more. By the end of the scene, they are kissing, although it is unclear whether this is the first time or not.

The young Lorelai and Christopher are played by Chelsea Brummet and Phillip Van Dyke. Brummet would later become a regular on kid’s sketch comedy show, All That, and Van Dyke had previously been on several TV shows, including Hey Arnold, and The Amanda Show. His acting career finished in 2003.

Paris and Nicky Hilton

RORY: We have travel books.
LORELAI: No, sweetie, these aren’t our kind of travel books. These are Paris and Nicky Hilton’s kind of travel books.

Paris Hilton (born 1981), media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer, and Nicholai “Nicky” Rothschild (born Nicholai Hilton in 1983), American socialite, fashion designer and model, younger sister of Paris [Nicky is on the left]. The granddaughters of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels, they were famous for being glamorous wealthy heiresses in the 1990s and early 2000s.

I somehow feel that Paris and Nicky would not need a guide book to find a good hotel …

An Invitation to the Birth of Georgia

RORY: I have been cordially invited to Sherry Tinsdale’s C-section … [reads from invitation] Friday, February seventh, six o’clock p.m. Join the girls for a toast, a hug, a wave to the mommy as they wheel her off, dinner at Sushi Sushi, and then back to the hospital for a formal viewing of brand-new baby Georgia. RSVP at your earliest convenience. P.S. Gifts are not necessary, but always appreciated.

I am stunned to inform you that the 7th of February reallly was a Friday in 2003, meaning that the writers of the show have somehow managed to find a calendar (maybe on the wall, maybe on their computer), and we are now getting real world dates in the show! Pretty exciting stuff.

Internal evidence tells us that the date in this scene is either Saturday the 25th January or Sunday 26th January. Unfortunately, that cannot be tallied with the number of Friday Night Dinners we’ve had, and we are already three weeks behind schedule. At this rate, Rory will be graduating in August.

Sushi Sushi does not exist in Boston, although there are many sushi restaurants there in the real world.

“Talk into the clown”

[Dean walks up to the counter]
DEAN: I gotta place an order.
JESS: Talk into the clown.
DEAN: I am.

A reference to the clown head at Jack-in-the-Box fast food restaurants that customers spoke into to place their order at the drive-through service. This option existed from the early 1950s to the early 1980s. It seems slightly odd this is a handy reference for someone born in 1984. Dean gets in a lot of insults to Jess in this scene.

Richard and Emily are Horrified

Upon learning that Lorelai and Rory are planning to backpack around Europe and stay in hostels after graduation, Richard and Emily first of all think they are joking, then throw a fit about it as unsafe and reckless.

The only trouble is, Rory already told her grandfather that’s what they were planning in “Kill Me Now”, and he said it was a great idea. And in “Rory’s Dance”, they talked about staying in hostels while having dinner with Emily, and she didn’t say anything. Suddenly it’s a major problem.

I guess you could justify this by saying that they were simply humouring Lorelai and Rory before, and now they are giving their real opinions, or that they didn’t understand before, but they behave as if this is entirely new information, not information they previously ignored or misinterpreted. It feels like a retcon.

Travel Books

Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door

Rick Steves self-published his first European travel guide in 1980, and it found a traditional publisher in 1982. He advocates independent travel, and urges travellers to visit less touristy places (Lorelai and Rory apparently ignore this advice). He hosts travel shows on TV and radio, has his own tour business, a travel website, and of course, writes numerous travel guide books.

The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget

Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book publisher; their first title was the 1982 Rough Guide to Greece. Initially aimed at low-budget backpackers, the guidebooks have incorporated more expensive recommendations since the early 1990s, and are now marketed at all budgets. This makes it seem like a rather outdated reference for this episode, although it was probably a book that Lorelai considered in the 1980s, when she first thought about going to Europe as a teenager.

Jayne Mansfield

LORELAI: The cork fell off my hook and Jayne Mansfield over here bit … Not the brightest fish in the pond, but she’s awfully pretty.

Jayne Mansfield, born Vera Palmer (1933-1967), actress, singer, nightclub entertainer, and Playboy Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s, Mansfield was known for her personal life and publicity stunts. Her film career was short-lived, but she had several box-office successes and won a 1956 Theatre World Award for Will Sucess Spoil Rock Hunter?, and a 1957 Golden Globe Award for The Girl Can’t Help It [pictured].

Mansfield was married three times, including to Mickey Hargitay, previously discussed. She is the mother of actress Mariska Hargitay. When Jayne was killed in a car accident at the age of 34, Mariska was one of three children asleep in the back seat, who survived with minor injuries.

Although Lorelai has called the fish Jayne because she’s not very bright, Jayne Mansfield had a reported IQ of 149, received solid if unspectacular grades at school, attended acting classes at several universities, and spoke five languages.