Footnotes to the TV series
SHERRY: Gigi, short for Georgia. The two Gs.
Another reference to the film Gigi, based on the novella by French author Colette, previously discussed. In the story, Gigi is short for Gilberte.
An ingenious fan has noted that if you change the Ls in Lorelai’s name to Gs, then it becomes an anagram of Georgia. Whether this is deliberate or a coincidence, I cannot say.
EDIT: Thanks to keen-eyed blog reader Melissa Adams-Cauble for noting that I’d gone G-crazy and changed name to game!
SHERRY: Well, it’s a work-in-progress. It was so bachelor pad before: rock posters, modular furniture, magazines everywhere.
When Sherry leads Lorelai and Rory into the apartment she shares with Christopher, we can see it is the same one they lived in at Christmas 2001, even though Christopher told Emily and Richard he and Sherry were looking to buy a new place of their own. The buying a new place story was another of Christopher’s untruths, because Sherry says nothing about them hoping to buy another home, and talks of this one as a work-in-progress, as if she hopes they will continue improving the one they already have.
The odd thing is that Sherry talks about the apartment as if it was one Christopher lived in alone before he got with Sherry, calling it his “bachelor pad”. That doesn’t fit in with the story we heard from Christopher, which is that he lived in Berkeley until he met Sherry, after which he relocated to Boston to be with her – and would have presumably moved in with her, or they would have moved into a place together.
From what Sherry says, Christopher was already living in Boston by himself, and Sherry moved into his apartment (where did she live before that he didn’t move in with her, when she apparently makes more money than he does? With her parents?). Did Christopher meet Sherry in California, and then move across the country and get an apartment in hopes of being with her? Which is weird and stalkerish, and seems like way more effort than Christopher would put in? Or did he move to Boston independently, and meet Sherry there?
It seems as if Christopher cannot tell people one simple thing which is verified by someone else. It’s as if everything about him is a lie. Christopher as a character barely exists.
TAYLOR: Well, fine, if you feel like that, maybe I will just stop showing up altogether. Maybe I’ll convert to something else and give them my generous weekly donation …
REVEREND SKINNER : Maybe the Shakers in Woodbury would take him.
RABBI BARANS: Yeah, he’s already got the beard. Can you make furniture, Taylor?
The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a Christian founded in England in the 1740s. They emigrated from England in the 1770s and settled in Revolutionary colonial America. They were initially known as “Shaking Quakers” because of their ecstatic behaviour during worship services.
They practice a celibate and communal utopian lifestyle, pacifism, charismatic worship, and their model of equality of the sexes. They are also known for their simple living, architecture, technological innovation, music, and furniture.
In real life, there are only two Shakers left in the US, Arnold Hadd and June Carpenter, who live in the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community in Maine [pictured]. The idea of them living in nearby Woodbury is purely fictional. Of course, the reverend and the rabbi may just be teasing Taylor.
KIRK: Man, I wish my mom would let me have a car . . . or a bike . . . or my roller skates back.
Kirk complains about not being allowed to have a car, but in “I Can’t Get Started”, he said his car was blocked in by Christopher’s Volvo at Sookie’s rehearsal dinner. Possibly he was actually his mother’s car, or it was another of Kirk’s stories.
JESS: Sign this. [hands him a piece of paper]
LUKE: The registration?
JESS: I’m still a minor.
It’s now late October to early November, and Jess says he still hasn’t turned eighteen yet, which means his birthday must be either in November or December, making him a month or two younger than Rory.
Yet when Jess moved to Stars Hollow in September 2001, Luke said he was seventeen, meaning his birthday had already occurred by then. Either he has a movable birthday (like Rory), or Luke meant that he would turn seventeen within that calendar year. Parental figures love rounding their kids’ ages up on this show.
LUKE: Jess, where did you get the money?
JESS: … Remember I work for you?
LUKE: … I don’t pay you enough to buy the car.
JESS: I saved up my pennies and I bought the car from Gypsy. She gave me a good deal. That’s how I got the car.
Luke has trouble understanding how Jess was able to buy a car. Lorelai helpfully suggested that Jess probably stole it, and with the uncanny ability Jess has to mind-meld with Lorelai, he also teases Luke by saying he mugged someone.
I’m not sure why this is all such a mystery. Jess’ car may be roadworthy, but it’s in poor condition otherwise, and Jess says Gypsy sold it to him at a bargain price. That could have been as low as $500, and is unlikely to be more than $1000.
Jess has been working at the diner every day for about a year, which was probably a full-time job over summer vacation, probably getting around $4 an hour. As little as 125 hours work could have paid for the car, and Jess, like Luke, has frugal habits, and is probably a good saver. (He also cleaned Lorelai’s gutters, and may have taken on other chores around town).
Even though there’s nothing at all unbelievable about Jess having an old car, it does get explained later in the episode.
MISS PATTY: [The Town Loner’s] a bit creepy …
LORELAI: But he’s our Boo Radley, and we don’t have a Boo Radley, unless you count the troubadour or Pete the pizza guy or the guy who talks to mailboxes.
Boo Radley, character from To Kill a Mockingbird, previously discussed.
We learn here that Lorelai sees Pete the pizza guy as one of the town “outsiders”, along with the town loner, the town troubadour, and the (unknown) guy who talks to mailboxes. This might come as a surprise, since running a pizza restaurant and delivery service does not seem like something that would isolate a person from their town or be a suitable job for a hermit. It does seem very typical of Lorelai to choose someone considered a bit eccentric to be their regular pizza provider though.
In an earlier season, Lorelai nominated Jackson’s cousin Rune as a “Boo Radley”. She doesn’t mention him in this context, and in fact Rune is never seen or mentioned again. He was only meant to be staying in town temporarily, so presumably he left sometime after Christmas of 2001.
Here we are at another town meeting, which used to be on Thursdays, and then mysteriously were held on a Saturday this season. I don’t know what day it is now, but it is neither Thursday nor Saturday. They’re just sticking a town meeting in whenever they feel like it.
LORELAI: I once told a store my name was Squeegy Beckinheim just to see how many catalogs they would sell my name to, and apparently my name is to catalog companies what Brooke Shields’ picture is to Chinese restaurants.
Brooke Shields (born 1965), actress and model. She began her career as a child model and gained critical acclaim at age 12 for her leading role as an underage prostitute in the film Pretty Baby (1978). She continued to model into her late teenage years and starred in several dramas in the 1980s, including The Blue Lagoon (1980), and Endless Love (1981).
She returned to acting in the 1990s and appeared in several films, as well as starring in the TV shows Suddenly Susan and Lipstick Jungle. She is currently a voice actor on animated TV show Mr Pickles, and its spinoff, Momma Named Me Sheriff.
Lorelai refers to the practice of restaurants putting up photos of their famous customers, and sometimes, famous people they wish were customers. Brooke Shields may have eaten at a lot of Chinese restaurants when she was young – she was brought up by a “bohemian” single mother, and like Lorelai and Rory, they often had Chinese food for dinner. Brooke Shields does have a regular Chinese restaurant – Mr Chow, which opened in Manhattan in 1979, and became an upscale hotspot in the 1980s. Her favourite Chinese food is chicken sticks and fried seaweed.
In the opening scene, Lorelai’s mug has the World Wildlife Fund logo on it, while at the same time, Rory tells Lorelai all the catalogues she has accumulated are equal to starting a forest fire. Lorelai’s sudden desire to cut down on all the catalogues may be due to environmental concerns sparked by buying the mug. As she is also making her own seashell-shaped candles in this episode, she may be going through a mildly hippie phase.
The World Wildlife Fund is the North American name for the World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF). It’s an international organisation founded in 1961 that works for wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It is the world’s largest conservation organisation, with over five million supporters worldwide, working in more than 100 countries and supporting around 3,000 conservation and environmental projects.
LORELAI: We had a really, really, really, really, really bad time. I swear, it was one of the worst times I’ve ever had, it was awful. Do you remember skiing with the Danners and their Dobermans? … This was worse.
The Doberman, often called a Doberman Pinscher in North America, is a large breed of dog originally bred in Germany in the late 19th century. They have long muzzles, often have a muscular and intimidating appearance, but are quite graceful as well. They make excellent guard dogs, and are often thought of as aggressive and fierce, even though there are less attacks by Dobermans than other breeds.
You may remember that Chase Bradford, the Gilmores’ former neighbour in Hartford that Emily fixed Lorelai up with on a surprise date, had parents who owned Dobermans. They must have been a popular dog to own in the Gilmores’ social set at the time. Maybe because they were wealthy people who had property that needed guarding.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 