“Why did you put me through all that?”

TAYLOR: Why did you put me through all that hoohah at the town meeting if your vegetable business was just temporary?

TROUBADOUR #2: Actually, you put yourself through it, Taylor. You put yourself through it.

The vegetable stall sub-plot comes breezily to a close with Second Troubadour telling Taylor that he was only doing it on a very temporary basis, selling off all the excess produce from his garden in a few days to make a bit of extra money. How he managed to grow such a large amount of vegetables and fruit all at once is something of a headscratcher, although its superior quality is plausible, since home grown produce is nearly always better than that sold in supermarkets.

It seems that apart from making money, his motivation was to get revenge on Taylor for not allowing him to become a Town Troubadour in Stars Hollow. By setting up a rival fruit and vegetable business across the street from Doose’s Market, he took business away from Taylor and made him panic. And as he says, Taylor “put himself through it”, he knew enough of Taylor to understand how to push his buttons. Why he originally wanted to be a Troubadour in Stars Hollow remains a mystery.

The sub-plot of the bountiful spring harvest is to underscore the death of Louie Danes, who is “harvested” by the Reaper, and buried in the soil, part of the natural cycles of time and the earth.

Louie’s Wake

LUKE: What’s going on?

RORY: It’s kind of like a wake.

When Luke and Lorelei get back from the funeral, they find a wake for Louie in full swing at the diner. No matter how they felt about Louie while he was alive, we see how Stars Hollow comes together to honour the death of one of their own. He may have retired to Florida (and the town threw a party in celebration), but now the town reclaims him as a citizen.

In life Louie was a disgusting rude old man, in death he becomes a “colourful character” that his former victims can now view with humour and affection. More than anything, you can’t help think that people in Stars Hollow just can’t permit an opportunity for a party to slide by. These are the people who threw a wake for a cat, after all!

Notice how many fresh vegetables and salads there are at the wake – the temporary market stall in the park has been a major contributor to the celebration of Louie’s life.

The Stars Hollow Re-Enactors Come to Louie’s Funeral

LORELAI: It’s what your dad wanted.

LUKE: Yeah. Oh, I know Louie would’ve hated this.

LORELAI: That’s just a fringe benefit.

Despite their dislike of Louie Danes, the re-enactors do end up coming to his funeral. It’s not only a tribute to their former fellow member, William Danes, but what Louie is due as a returned war veteran. No matter his many flaws as a human being, he did serve his country, and has earned at least this modicum of respect.

“You are not your uncle”

LUKE: What Taylor said about me being like Louie, a loner, never being married and stuff. I mean, I am getting crankier as I get older, he’s not so far off.

LORELAI: You are not your uncle. I mean, would Louie ever build someone a chuppah, or help fix things around someone’s house without being asked, or make a special coffee cake with balloons for a girl’s sixteenth birthday?

The point of the episode is for Luke to begin questioning whether he is on the same path as Louie – a bit of a cranky loner, unmarried and childless, with only a lonely death ahead of him that will come as a welcome relief to those around him.

Lorelai, who has always been one of the first to criticise him for his loner tendencies, reassures Luke that he is not Louie. Unlike Louie, Luke has a kind heart, and has done many things to help Lorelai and Rory, as well as taking in Jess without asking for anything in return. I think it’s fair to say that Louie would never have bothered so much over an uncle’s funeral as Luke dutifully does for him, either.

Lorelai and Luke have this conversation in front of a wreath of spring flowers, Lorelai wearing a jacket with a pattern of deep red roses, symbolising love, and a pink tee-shirt under it. There’s something slightly romantic or even wedding-like about the look of the scene. It’s certainly not funereal.

Emily’s Wedding Plans for Lorelai

Imperial Russian Winter theme

Snow white roses

Trees with white lights and candles

Snow everywhere

Lorelai arrives in a silver sleigh pulled by white horses

This actually doesn’t seem like a totally crazy idea for Lorelai’s wedding. Lorelai loves the snow, and she adores horses. She organised a horse-drawn sleigh ride for the Bracebridge Dinner, sharing a ride with Luke. It does sound very beautiful and romantic, and I think Emily has picked up on a least a couple of things her daughter would like.

Emily’s Russian-themed winter wedding may have been influenced by the 1965 historical romance film, Dr Zhivago, directed by David Lean, set in Russia during World War I and the Russian Civil War, and based on Boris Pasternak’s autobiographical novel of the same name. The film is beautifully shot and features a sleigh ride through the snow, as well as an “ice palace”.

Dr Zhivago was highly popular, especially with female audiences, the #2 film of the year, and a big influence on mid-1960s fashion. It may have even been Emily’s dream for her own wedding, which she hoped to one day create for her daughter.

In this episode, Emily becomes the first person to predict that Lorelai and Luke will be married one day, showing that she knows her daughter better than Lorelai believes.

“We all hated Louie”

The Stars Hollow Revolutionary Battle Re-Enactors tell Luke that they don’t want to attend Louie’s funeral the next day because they hated him.

Louie always had a scowl on his face, and never said anything nice. He blew smoke from his cigar into people’s faces, and then spit after each puff. He repeatedly hit on Cy’s (crank in the hat) wife, until she lost interest in her favourite soap operas. He kicked Kirk’s pet dog Toto, and after that her mind was affected, so that she couldn’t fetch any more, but just lay down and went to sleep. He never participated in town functions, and when the battle re-enactors gathered (including his own brother, William), he’d throw rock and small tools at them. Unmarried and without children, he was a loner, and only got meaner with age.

When he retired to Florida, the town threw a big party to celebrate (somehow Luke never heard about this big party). Cy made love to his wife that night as never before, and Kirk’s dog gave a happy bark and died, as she was quite elderly by that stage.

Taylor Left Me Twistin’

TROUBADOUR: ‘Cause you left me twistin’ for a long time before you did, Taylor, and it didn’t feel good. I even wrote a song about the experience.

LORELAI: Oh, I heard it. It’s called “Taylor Left Me Twistin’.”

The Troubadour writes songs based on his own experiences in Stars Hollow, and Lorelai and Rory have listened to this one, even offering the Troubadour encouragement, feedback, and advice as to what to add to the song. Apparently they, and perhaps others, are on friendly speaking terms with the Troubadour, even though in the show people just walk right by him. We never see him perform this song in the street, or anything else so personal, but that might happen off camera.

Corky’s Country Cavalcade

RORY: What are you doing here anyhow? This is a town meeting for people who participate in and care about the town.

JESS: Well, Corky’s Country Cavalcade on public access was pre-empted, so I thought I’d check out the next best thing.

Corky’s Country Cavalcade, a fictional rural television program Jess has sarcastically invented to suggest that the town meeting is the closest real world parallel. Coming to a town meeting might mean that Jess does feel more connected to Stars Hollow since Rory has nagged him into helping out at the diner more at a time of family crisis, or that he wants to lend Luke some support. Or he might just want another chance to see Rory … his expression says he does. (Remember when Dean turned up to a town meeting just to see Rory?).

In North America, pre-empted is used in broadcasting to mean that a regular scheduled program has been interrupted or replaced.

Luke’s Family

LUKE: Randy and Barbara don’t wanna miss their brat kid’s rugby semifinal … My sister never even called back. My cousins Paul and Jim, who my dad helped put through college, said they were too exhausted from a fishing trip. And slightly disturbed cousin Franny said she can’t leave because her Petey’s sick.

Randy and Barbara, a married couple with at least one child, who plays rugby, not sure whether Randy or Barbara is Luke’s cousin.

Liz, Luke’s sister

Paul and Jim, cousins, presumably brothers

Franny, cousin, possibly a sister to Paul and Jim? (and yet another Fran/Francine/Franny!)

Uncle Louie didn’t have any children, but Luke seems to have several cousins, although he doesn’t mention any other uncles or aunts. Perhaps they are already dead. It’s possible all the cousins mentioned are siblings, and only one uncle/aunt died before Louie.

Luke booked nine rooms at the Independence Inn for his family to attend Louie’s funeral. He only seems to have needed five rooms for the named family members, suggesting that the other four were for the unnamed relatives who said they couldn’t get out of work for the funeral.

Campbell’s

TROUBADOUR #2: A lot of vegetable soup being eaten tonight, yesiree. Hope I don’t put the good people at Campbell’s out of business.

The Campbell Soup Company, trading as Campbell’s, processed food and snack company that is the largest in the US, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup. The classic red and white design of their soup cans have become American icons, and famously the subject of pop artist Andy Warhol’s series of prints [pictured]. The company was started in New Jersey in 1869 by Joseph A. Campbell and Abraham Anderson.

Of course the Second Troubadour/Second Market Guy won’t put Campbell’s out of business – they are massive. He is referring to putting Taylor out of business, and this is another jab at him.