Jess Refuses to Go to the Winter Carnival

RORY: Come on, let’s go to the carnival.

JESS: I don’t go to these stupid town things. [puts an arm around her]

RORY: You went to the Bid-A-Basket festival. You went to the dance marathon.

JESS: That was when I was trying to get you. I now have you. That means I don’t have to go anymore.

Well, here’s a chance to do something together besides kissing: Rory asks Jess to attend the Winter Carnival with her. However, it turns out he is quite resistant to the idea, saying that he doesn’t go to “stupid town things”.

When Rory points out that he went to the Bid-on-a-Basket festival and the dance marathon, he says: “That was when I was trying to get you. I now have you”. It’s honest and blunt, but also rather chilling. It makes it sound as if Jess was never really interested in Rory, except as a prize to be won. And being told only two months into a relationship that the other person no longer feels like they have to make an effort for you is pretty harsh.

Jess hasn’t had the best relationship models, so you can understand why he might not be the most romantic boyfriend in the world, but this can’t be what Rory was hoping to hear.

Rory and Jess Kiss in Public

[Jess and Rory are walking through the town square, kissing]

It’s about two months since Rory broke up with Dean, and by now she is comfortable enough to be seen kissing her boyfriend Jess in public. It feels as if the relationship between Rory and Jess is nothing but kissing, actually. Do they do anything else?

When they were friends, they read books and talked about books and went book shopping – whatever happened to that? Is it happening offscreen, or are we meant to think that now they’re in a relationship, Rory and Jess don’t bother any more?

Dean Brings Back Rory’s Stuff

LORELAI: Not weirded out, even a little?

RORY: Why would I be weirded out?

LORELAI: Well, Dean coming over, bringing your stuff back.

RORY: No, I’m fine.

LORELAI: Okay. Although, you know, if you were weirded out a little, it would be okay. It wouldn’t mean that you don’t like Jess, or that you made a mistake. It would just mean the guy who was in your life for two years isn’t there anymore.

Dean drops off his “Rory box” of mementos, in order to return them to Rory. Although Rory brushes off Lorelai’s concerns that she might feel “weird” about it, when she takes the box to her room, she seems unable to open it and deal with the contents. She sits on the bed and eyes it with an unhappy, regretful (remorseful?), expression.

Note how Lorelai doesn’t miss a chance to mention not liking Jess, or making a mistake, even while trying to comfort Rory. We never see Rory return her “Dean box” to Dean – but then again, Lorelai told her that such memory boxes were to be kept as a lifetime reminder of a previous relationship.

The Bathtub Scene from Annie Hall

LORELAI: I have a spider whose previous credits include the bathtub scene from Annie Hall trapped under that cup.

The film Annie Hall, previously discussed and frequently mentioned.

In the movie, there is a scene where Annie calls Alvy to come over to her apartment at 3 am even though they have broken up – which turns out to be because there is a spider in her bath. It turns out to be two very large spiders. After Alvy deals with the spiders, he and Annie get back together.

It’s interesting that Lorelai references this scene to Dean, who has broken up with Rory and now unexpectedly turned up at her house. It seems like she thinks of it because she wants Rory and Dean to also get back together, as if Dean killing the spider will somehow bring Rory back to him, as Alvy gets Annie back.

Cigar Humidor

EMILY: I bought him a cigar humidor … It’s gorgeous. [sits down] It belonged to a lieutenant in the army in World War I. Apparently, he kept it in his field office in France. There are carvings in the bottom that the dealer said could possibly be coded messages.

A humidor is a humidity-controlled box used for storing cigars, cigarettes, cannabis, or pipe tobacco. Either too much or too little humidity can be harmful to tobacco products; a humidor’s primary function is to maintain a steady, desirable moisture level inside; secondarily it protects its contents from physical damage and deterioration from sunlight.

Even though Emily disapproves of Richard’s cigar club, she still buys him a beautiful and expensive antique humidor for his cigars.

Jamie Loves Paris

RORY: Okay, skip to the end, I can’t take it. How did it turn out?

PARIS: He told me he loved me … I never thought I’d hear a boy tell me he loved me … He invited me back up for Easter break.

After spending Christmas together, Jamie tells Paris that he loves her, and invites her to spend Easter in Philadelphia with his family. Paris is thrilled and disbelieving, but she never says that she loves Jamie, or indicates that she reciprocated with her own love confession. It may be that Paris is more in love with love, and the idea of having a nice boyfriend, than she is with Jamie himself, or that she simply doesn’t trust her own feelings.

Paris’ Christmas With Jamie

PARIS: I met his parents … He bought me a ticket, and I took the train to Philadelphia, and he met me at the station, and I spent Christmas with him and his family … It was perfect. They had a Christmas tree twelve feet tall … And they had tiny wreaths hanging from every doorknob, and mistletoe and candles everywhere.

Paris has never celebrated Christmas (she’s Jewish), and her parents always go out of town for the holidays, leaving her alone with her nanny. This miserable time of year for her is transformed into a veritable Hallmark card come to life when Jamie invites her to spend Christmas with his family in Philadelphia. She loves everything about Christmas, and is virtually floating on air after the holidays.

Philadelphia has been mentioned several times in Gilmore Girls. Paris would have quite a long train trip to visit Jamie – it’s four and a half hours by train from Hartford to Philadelphia, with a change at New Haven.

Paris is Distracted

PARIS: What did he talk about? … I didn’t take notes. I didn’t pay attention. I’m going to. . .

RORY: Borrow my notes and be just fine. [hands her notes to Paris] …

PARIS: I can’t believe I zoned out for the entire class.

This is continuing the theme of Paris not being able to pay attention to her schoolwork because she has a boyfriend. Unlike Rory, who is on her second boyfriend, and still going strong academically. She is even carrying Paris by giving her notes for the class.

“This is my town”

DEAN: This is my town, I’m not hiding. And I don’t have be remotely calm around you anymore, and I like that feeling. I like it a lot. Happy Thanksgiving, Jess.

Dean arrived in Stars Hollow only a year before Jess did, and Jess has family connections in the town, yet Dean now takes possession of the town – it’s his town, and Jess is the interloper. He warns Jess in no uncertain terms that he is not going to gracefully step aside and give Rory and Jess the space they need to form a good relationship.

I don’t think Jess did have a good Thanksgiving, really. He only saw his girlfriend for a short time, and she was too shy to give him more than a peck. When she came back, it was just to kiss him and say, “Later”. Both his girlfriend’s mother and his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend have let him know he’s been watched by them. And he gets stuck with garbage duty.

Dean’s Thanksgiving wasn’t great either. He has no girlfriend, he had to work on Thanksgiving, and may have taken the shift to avoid his family, because he either hasn’t told them about Rory yet, or doesn’t want their pity.

Rory and Lorelai have a pretty rotten Thanksgiving as well, and Sookie’s is a nightmare. Only Lane and Dave have a happy Thanksgiving in this episode, and it’s about time Lane gets a happy story line!

“Rory’s got a nice little hold of you, huh?”

JESS: I’m not gonna fight you, Dean … ‘Cause if I fight you, Rory’s gonna think it’s my fault, so just forget it, okay? Just forget it. Go home. Let it rest.

DEAN: So Rory’s got a nice little hold on you now, huh?

Any ideas that Dean might just be a nice boy who has been pushed to his limits by the shenanigans of Rory and Jess are well and truly put to bed here. In his first confrontation with Jess since he broke up with Rory, Dean shows himself to be mean and spiteful, playing mind games with Jess to try to convince him that he is as manipulated by Rory as Dean was.

Dean seems to take relish in the role reversal that he and Jess have now. Just as Dean had to keep his jealousy and irritation in check when Rory hung out with Jess, so Jess now has to behave himself around Dean, lest Rory blame him.