EMILY: It was that car, wasn’t it? The one her boyfriend made. Richard was dead set against letting her drive that death-mobile.
Richard’s concerns about the car now seem pretty valid. Not that a different car would have stopped Jess from swerving to hit a small animal, but a new car would have had airbags and modern safety features that might have stopped Rory from getting hurt at all in a minor accident. It’s also possible Rory would have been more wary of letting Jess drive a new car. And if Lorelai had forbidden Rory from having a car at all, then obviously there would have been no way for Jess to crash it.
Lorelai wouldn’t let her parents buy Rory a new car when she started attending Chilton, which now seems a bit unfair. She allowed Dean, her seventeen-year-old boyfriend, to build her a car instead, which was actually a much bigger gift from him than a new car from her grandparents, with way more strings attached. To an extent, Emily is justified in her anger, and correct that Lorelai, however unwittingly, helped bring the situation about by the choices she made.
Note that Emily calls a dangerous car a “death-mobile”, in a similar way to Lorelai’s description of a black limo as a “Luca Brasi-mobile“.
LORELAI: She [Karen] seems to be working out well.
RICHARD: Well, she’s no . . . Margie, but we’ll see.
Richard comes this close to saying his efficient new secretary, Karen, is “no Lorelai”. Because although Lorelai was just meant to assist Richard get started in his new business, the “help wanted” of the title was, of course, Lorelai herself.
Richard has come to have a new respect for Lorelai as a working woman, after many years of seeing her as a failure. At last he can see that running an inn does actually require business skills! He’s always had a tendency to see the executive manager of an inn as little more than a maid with higher salary.
Before leaving for Hartford, Lorelai grabs a burger from a take-out place that is just a window in a wall, called KC’s Annex. It’s next to an art gallery that I don’t think we ever hear about. The burger is disgusting, according to Lorelai, and she is going to starve to death if Luke doesn’t get back soon (even though Stars Hollow has more food options than is economically plausible!).
This looks like the same take-out window where Lorelai bought fiesta burgers for herself and Max when they were on a date in Stars Hollow. (The menu is identical, and they both have a green window frame in a red brick wall). It might be where Lorelai and Rory buy their hotdogs, fries, and thickshakes that they bring to town meetings, as they aren’t from Luke’s.
It seems the food from KC’s is fine, as long as you know Luke’s is available as a regular option. The idea of being stuck eating nothing but KC’s is a horrible one. Lorelai drives past Luke’s, which is still closed, just as a reminder of what she is missing.
LORELAI: Dad, I cannot come back here tomorrow … I didn’t mean that to sound so harsh. I just . . . I meant –
RICHARD: I know exactly what you meant to say, Lorelai. I got the message. Well, I won’t keep you any longer, I know how busy you are.
Lorelai only offered to give her father a hand with his office for one Saturday afternoon, but it is now Thursday, and Lorelai is still there. She has helped him buy office supplies, set up the phone system and the heating system, arranged for a DSL line to be installed, got him a tab at the lunch place across the road, and organised interviews for secretarial candidates while filling in as a secretary herself.
Now Karen has come along, who seems like she would make a perfect secretary, and Lorelai’s job is surely done. Yet Richard doesn’t want her to leave. He’s being selfish and completely unreasonable – Lorelai has an actual job to do, for a start – but you can see he is adoring having Lorelai around, and learning to appreciate her briskly efficient head for business. This is the flip-side to “Richard in Stars Hollow” when he did nothing but criticise his daughter. With “Lorelai in Hartford”, suddenly Lorelai has become indispensable to him.
This is the second time in less than a month Lorelai has taken off from her own job in order to work for free for a friend or relative! How is she doing this?
RICHARD: Hm, maybe we should start a tab with them so we don’t have to pay cash everyday.
LORELAI: Already done.
RICHARD: Amazing. You’re like the tiny fellow on that M*A*S*H* program, always anticipating.
M*A*S*H* (an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital), a war comedy-drama television series set during the Korean War in the early 1950s which aired from 1972 to 1983. It was adapted from the 1970 film of the same name, which in turn was based on the novel MASH: The Story of Three Doctors by Richard Hooker, based on the author’s own experiences as a doctor in a field hospital in Korea.
Richard refers to the character Corporal Walter “Radar” O’Reilly on the TV sitcom M*A*S*H*, portrayed by Gary Burghoff. He seems to have extra-sensory perception, appearing at his commander’s side, with whatever paperwork is required, before being called, and finishing his sentences before the officer is anywhere near the end of them. Young and naïve, Radar tends to look up to his superiors as father figures, something Richard would probably like from Lorelai.
Although M*A*S*H* took a while to find its feet, by its second season it was one of the top 10 programs of the year, and stayed in the top 20 for the rest of its run. Becoming an allegory for the Vietnam War, it is considered one of the greatest TV shows of all time, and is still broadcast in syndication.
The hymn they are singing at the Kim house when Lane arrives.
What a Friend We Have in Jesus is a Christian hymn written by Irish-Canadian poet Joseph M. Scriven, a preacher in the Plymouth Brethren movement. He wrote it in 1855 to comfort his mother back in Ireland after hearing she was terribly ill, and only received credit for it in the 1880s. The tune was composed by American attorney Charles Crozat Converse.
Although sometimes criticised for its sentimentality, the hymn remains popular. It has been recorded many times, including by Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Glen Campbell, and Amy Grant. The song features in the film, Driving Miss Daisy, previously discussed.
Lane looks absolutely flushed with happiness as she joins in with the hymn-singing, thrilled with finding her calling in life. It’s a reminder too that Lane has always grown up around music – just not rock music. It feels as if Mrs Kim has unknowingly been bolstering Lane’s passion all this time!
In “Kiss and Tell”, Lane mentioned that it was Sing Your Favourite Hymn Night at the Kim house on the day that Dean first kissed Rory, again linking hymn night with first love. That seemed to be a Thursday evening, suggesting it is Thursday now, and a week after the car accident that Jess and Rory had. (Of course, the Kims could have changed their hymn night in the interim). It’s clearly not night time, but “hymn night” actually seems to be held in the late afternoon (or early evening in the winter months, as it gets dark earlier then).
RORY: And even if you do buy a drum set, where are you gonna play it?
LANE: I don’t know, I don’t know any of this. But I will figure something out, because I am Keith Moon, I am Neil Peart, I am Rick Allen, with and without the arm, because I am rock ‘n’ roll, baby!
Keith Moon (1946-1978) [pictured], English drummer for rock band The Who. He was noted for his unique style of playing and his eccentric, often self-destructive behaviour, and addiction to drugs and alcohol. His drumming style emphasised tom-tom drums, cymbal crashes and drum fills, and was one of the earliest rock drummers to use double bass drums. He had a reputation for smashing his drum kit on stage. He was posthumously inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1982, and is regarded as one of the greatest drummers in history. Keith Moon used a DW drum kit with Zildjian cymbals.
Neil Peart (1952-2020) Canadian musician, songwriter, and author, best known as the drummer and lyricist for the rock band Rush. His drumming was renowned for its technical proficiency and his live performances for their exacting nature and stamina. Initially inspired by rock drummers like Keith Moon, Peart became influenced by jazz and swing bands. He was inducted into the Modern Drummers Hall of Fame in 1983, making him the youngest person to receive this honour. He used a DW drum kit.
Richard “Rick” Allen (born 1963), English drummer for the hard rock band Def Leppard since 1978. In 1984 his left arm was amputated after a car accident but decided to continue drumming, although he didn’t perform live again until 1986. He uses Zildjian cymbals.
Lane had already talked about becoming a drummer, but I think we are meant to assume that this dream has solidified for her – not I’d like to be a drummer, but I am a drummer. It does seem slightly odd that her drummer idols are now from classic rock bands, when previously she looked up to drummers in punk and alternative rock bands. The writer seems to have chosen drummers who used the same equipment Sophie has for sale in her store.
Rory gives Lane very little encouragement in her drumming dreams, although the questions she asks Lane are quite reasonable. It’s disappointing though that she tells Jess he can do anything he wants, and to reach for the stars, while Lane gets cold water poured on her ideas. Either she only encourages boys that she’s attracted to (Dean also got a lot of unwanted encouragement to improve himself), or she only encourages academic goals, not creative ones. Happily, Lane’s mood is not dampened one little bit by Rory’s reality check.
BABETTE: I met this guy once – gorgeous, tan, looked just like Mickey Hargitay. We had coffee, he gave me a pamphlet. Next thing you know, I’m wearing a muumuu, playing a tambourine, jumping up and down at the airport.
Miklós “Mickey” Hargitay (1926-2006), Hungarian-born bodybuilder, actor and the 1955 Mr Universe. He was married to actress Jayne Mansfield from 1958-1964, and they made four films together, including Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957). He is the father of actress Mariska Hargitay.
Babette sometimes alludes to the terrible experiences she had with men before fortunately meeting Morey, which she has no compunction about sharing with Rory. The previous season, she told Rory about the time she got pushed out of a car, and this season she tells Rory about how she was lured into a cult! For such a bright and bubbly character, she has a very dark past.
I think the cult that Babette is describing are the Hare Krishnas, who tended to recruit new members at airports in the 1970s, and often used tambourine music and dancing to attract interest. They didn’t actually wear muumuus, but Babette might have thought their orange robes looked like muumuus.
Coffee maker (Lorelai rejects a German-made one because in her mind, Germans are all Nazis!)
Pens
Liquid paper
Paper
Stapler and staples
Post-It notes (Richard buys a pack for Emily, who uses them to remind her of upcoming events)
Hole punch
Richard has been in business for over thirty years, but he has no idea what office supplies to buy, or even how to go shopping for essential items. That was a task that women always did for him – his mother, his wife, his secretary, his maid, and now, his daughter is helping him. At least this time Richard is along for the ride so he can see the process in action.
(The fictional business where they buy the office supplies is called Office Barn.)
Rory waits for Dean to come home from Chicago that evening, sitting on the porch, in a mirror image of when Dean waited fruitlessly for Rory to come home from Friday Night Dinner. When his dad brings Dean home, presumably from the airport, Rory hands him a letter where she has written down what happened to the car.
It’s a quick way to avoid lots of superfluous dialogue, but it makes Rory look a little cowardly that she couldn’t talk to Dean directly. Are we meant to think that she was too scared to talk to Dean, or that she didn’t feel confident Dean would listen to her all the way through?
Dean does read the letter all the way through, while yelling and kicking a duffle bag, which seems a bit threatening. However, once he is assured that Jess has really and truly left town, he just asks Rory to join he and his family for dinner. Later they watch TV with Dean’s sister, Clara.
It seems odd that Dean doesn’t have any other questions or comments about the accident or about the car – he seems to think the only thing wrong with his relationship with Rory was Jess, and now he’s gone, they can get back to normal.
Rory didn’t seem to have met Dean’s family in the first six months or so of them dating, but she is obviously very familiar with them now.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 