Footnotes to the TV series
RORY: Boy, it’s pretty out tonight, isn’t it?
JESS: Sure is.
RORY: Like a snow globe.
It was something of a theme of Gilmore Girls that Stars Hollow was a magical snow globe town in winter. Possibly a sly nod to the fact that the town is on a set, a closed artificial environment, like a snow globe.
FRANCIE: Hey, no one is denying Gidget a chance to snag Moondoggie for the clambake, but the rest of us have things to accomplish.
A reference to the film Gidget, previously discussed. In the film, Moondoggie (played by James Darren) was Gidget’s love interest and eventual boyfriend. They didn’t really attend a clambake, but a luau. Presumably Francie thinks a clambake is the closest thing to a luau in New England.
FRANCIE: The Wadsworth Mansion has just had a cancellation, which means that we can get it for prom, if we move quickly.
The Wadsworth Mansion at Long Hill Estate is a real historic venue in Middletown, Connecticut, about 16 miles north of Hartford. Built in 1911 for businessman Colonel Clarence Wadsworth, it is now owned by the city of Middletown, and is open to the public. After extensive renovations, it became possible to hire it out in 1999, and today it costs around $5000 for an evening, but catering costs extra (about $100 a head). Rory is concerned about it being too expensive, but it is used as a senior prom venue. Perhaps by schools that didn’t blow their budget on an expensive telescope.
FRANCIE: I saw her walking off with . . . who was that, her brother?
LOUISE: Paris doesn’t have a brother.
FRANCIE: Really? Well, she certainly seemed to know him.
Jamie is hanging around Chilton, being a distraction to Paris again and giving Francie an opportunity to take her down a peg. Princeton doesn’t go back after the Christmas break until mid-January, suggesting this episode takes place in the first half of the month.
However, it’s something of a mystery what he is doing in Hartford, which is a fair distance from Philadelphia. Is he staying with Paris, since she spent Christmas with his family? And why is Chilton letting him turn up during the school day? Don’t they have any security? Why are they letting Paris leave with him? What ever happened to Chilton being a really strict school?
RICHARD: Wonderfully. They’re spoiling me rotten. [takes Emily’s hand] Emily got me the most beautiful humidor. It’s from 1917, and was owned by a lieutenant in World War I.
TRIX: You know, your father had a humidor that was owned by Victor Hugo. I still have it if you’d like it.
RICHARD: Well, I’d love it [drops Emily’s hand]
Victor-Marie Hugo (1802-1885), French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career spanning more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the greatest French writers of all time. His most famous works are The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).
Victor Hugo was a keen smoker, even saying that “Tobacco … converts thoughts into dreams”. I presume he smoked cigars, although it seems pertinent to mention that Victor Hugo is a famous brand of cigars. Is it possible that Richard’s father actually owned a humidor that was made by the company, I wonder? It seems much more likely.
Richard always seems to choose his mother over Emily. Even after he tries to show Trix what a thoughtful gift Emily has chosen for him, he drops her hand and says he’d prefer to have his father’s humidor instead. He can be very hurtful to Emily, and shows her no loyalty when it comes to Trix.
EMILY: So, Mom, if you’re going to be here for awhile, I can plan some things for you to do, some outings you might enjoy.
TRIX: Like what?
EMILY: Like the arboretum.
Emily may possibly refer to the Kim Arboretum in Elizabeth Park in West Hartford. It only received official arboretum status in 2019, but the trees themselves were planted more than a century before, with some trees growing naturally even earlier. Could it have been referred to as the arboretum even before official status was conferred, I wonder?
Richard’s mother Trix unexpectedly arrives on Richard’s birthday, both to visit her son and take care of some business. Emily is horrified and begins having a meltdown, but Lorelai decides to support her mother through this crisis. Previously she took a slightly malicious pleasure in watching her grandmother torture her mother – on the last visit, which took place in “The Third Lorelai”, Trix also ended up disgusted with Lorelai, so it seems that she now sees her mother’s point of view a little better.
RICHARD: Oh, I must say, I am a very spoiled man. Chuck Berry, and the complete History of the Peloponnesian War.
LORELAI: Well, sure, ’cause a partial history would skip all the dirty stuff.
RICHARD: I especially like the way you wrapped the books in a bow tie. It’s very, very clever.
The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, a historical account of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which was fought between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Athens). Written by historian and classical scholar Donald Kagan, a professor at Yale University, the book comes in four volumes. Lorelai has bought Richard all four volumes, hence it is the “complete” version. Lorelai has wrapped the books in the bow tie which was her original present for her father – Rory almost certainly suggested the books.
DEAN: I don’t know, Rory. Maybe . . . maybe, um . . . is there a way we could be friends? … If you want to.
RORY: Oh, I want to. I really want to. But –
DEAN: Don’t ask me how I’m gonna deal with him. I have no idea.
Although Rory was initially reluctant to have coffee with Dean, and refused to eat anything, by the end of this scene they are chatting easily, and she is smiling and sharing his custard pie. When Dean asks if they can be friends, she says she really wants to, with Jess being relegated to a “But – “.
Rory was friends with Jess, which gradually damaged her relationship with Dean until they broke up (again). Now she agrees to be friends with Dean while going out with Jess – what could go wrong? Of course, Dean is very much wanting it to go wrong, in order to cause Jess the same sort of problems he believes Jess caused him.
It does feel typically unfair that just as Rory is starting to feel more relaxed and confident with Jess, Dean worms his way back into the picture. Because drama.
DEAN: Yeah. You know, um, I wanted to tell you I applied to Southern Connecticut State …
RORY: Wait a minute, you do know that Southern Connecticut State is a four-year college?
DEAN: Yeah, I read that in the brochure.
RORY: But what happened to ‘I’m going to community college’?
Southern Connecticut State University, previously mentioned. It is located in New Haven, the same city as Yale. It feels as if the show was setting up a future plot line where Rory and Dean were both at university in the same city, but nothing ever came of it. Perhaps Dean changed his mind, or perhaps Jared Padalecki’s commitments to filming Supernatural meant that this idea fell by the wayside.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 