Tag: Speculation

Cricket Bat

JESS: [to Mrs. Kim] Baseball bat?
MRS. KIM: Cricket.

Cricket, a game played with a bat and ball with two teams of eleven players. Originating in England, it is played in the UK and Commonwealth countries around the world, but is not a widely known sport in the US.

Cricket bats are heavier than baseball bats, which might be why Mrs Kim favours one for a weapon.

Mickey Mouse

JESS: I’m going enough. I’ve been picking up some extra shifts here and there, but I’m fine. It’s Mickey Mouse stuff anyway. What it takes the others hours to learn, it takes me minutes.

Mickey Mouse, informal English meaning “minor, trivial, petty, insignificant”. In use since the 1950s, possibly because of cheap watches featuring the cartoon character.

Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic

RORY: You’re still doing okay?
JESS: Doing my reading, writing, and arithmetic.
RORY: And you’re still going, right?

Reading, writing, and arithmetic, the basic skills taught in schools, and often used as a shorthand to refer to schooling or education in general. They have been referred to together as far back as the writings of St Augustine, in the 4th century.

Jess has not shared with Rory that he is barely (or ever?) going to school any more, showing that their relationship is not as close as Rory might think. From comments by Lorelai, it seems as if Rory only sees Jess on weekends. This is really different from when she was with Dean, but she is in her senior year of high school, and may not have as much time to spend with a boyfriend.

Another difference between her relationship between Jess and Dean is that Rory nagged Dean quite a bit about his academic ambitions, and encouraged him to apply to college. Yet Rory only tentatively asks Jess whether he is regularly attending school, and makes a diffident offer to help him with his work if needed.

Has she learned to be a bit more hands off, or does she lack the confidence to question Jess the way she would have with Dean? Jess is very good at keeping people at an emotional distance, and it looks as if he has done it even with his own girlfriend.

Hank Williams

LORELAI: Hank Williams would be too sad to write a song about me.

Hiram “Hank” Williams (1923-1953), singer, songwriter, and musician. He is regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century. Williams recorded 55 singles that reached the top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western chart, five of which were released posthumously, including 12 that reached No. 1, three of which were released after his death.

Some of his sad songs include “Lovesick Blues”, “Your Cheatin’ Heart”, “We’re Getting Closer to the Grave Each Day”, and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”. Perhaps the one closest to Lorelai’s situation is “A Tramp on the Streets”.

Nomad, The Lonely Wanderer

LORELAI: I’m a nomad … I am the lonely wanderer.

A nomad is someone without a settled home who regularly moves from place to place. Examples of nomads include hunter-gatherers, pastoral herders, tinkers, traders, and itinerants.

Lorelai is possibly referring to the 1963 country song by Slim Whitman, “(I’m a) Lonely Wanderer”. I’m mostly basing this on the fact that she immediately references another country singer.

92nd Street Y or Brick Church

PARIS: It’s partly my parents’ fault, they didn’t brand me properly. I should’ve been at the 92nd Street Y or Brick Church.

RORY: Prep schools?
PARIS: Preschools. It decides everything.

The 92nd Street Y and the Brick Church School are both upmarket faith-based preschools on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City – this may suggest that Paris lived there when she was a small child, her parents moving to Hartford later.

Does this provide a hint of why Paris never quite fit in at Chilton? The other alternative is that she believes her parents should have moved to New York for her preschool education, which is just selfish and impractical enough to be believable for Paris’ character.

The 92nd Street Y [pictured] is a secular Jewish cultural centre which offers a diversity of programs, including a nursery school. The Brick Church is a Presbyterian church which has offered early childhood programs since 1940, and members of the congregation receive preference in the highly competitive application process.

The fact that Paris considers both these preschools as options she could have had suggests that Paris’ mother may be or originally was Presbyterian. Either that, or she has no idea how preschools actually work.

“Stay another night”

LORELAI: Now, at least half the Poe group needs to stay another night, so we’re gonna need to find places to put them up.

I would have thought that if a hotel burns down a day before the end of your visit, that’s the end of your holiday, and you go home. However, perhaps half the Poes need to wait for flights at the airport the next day. With typical warmhearted community spirit, the people of Stars Hollow are prepared to take the fire-doomed Poes into their own homes for a night. Although if you were matched with Taylor or Mrs Kim, you might seriously consider just camping at the airport overnight.

Ricardo Montalbán

MISS PATTY: I was Ricardo Montalban’s receptionist for six months and he never complained.
MICHEL: Who?

Ricardo Montalbán, born Ricardo Montalbán y Merino (1920-2009), Mexican-American film and television actor. Montalbán’s career spanned seven decades, during which he became known for performances in a variety of genres, from crime and drama to musicals and comedy. He starred in Fantasy Island, previously mentioned.

Here we get another insight into Miss Patty’s past life, this time as receptionist to an actor. This may have been in the 1970s or ’80s?

Michel is ignorant of Ricardo Montalbán, even though he was a surprisingly extensive knowledge of American television.