Prince

LORELAI: I sat her [Emily] down to listen to a Prince song once, and she looked like she was having a stroke.

Prince, born Prince Nelson (1958-2016) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician, previously mentioned. His first album, For You, was released in 1978, and his breakthrough was the 1982 double album, 1999, with hit singles such as his signature song 1999, and Little Red Corvette. His most successful album is the 1984 Purple Rain, the soundtrack to the musical film of the same name. When Doves Cry, the first single from the album, became his first #1 hit.

It is unclear which of Prince’s songs the teenaged Lorelai might have played for Emily, but it’s most likely one from 1999, which came out when Lorelai was fourteen (it was possibly the title track). By the time Purple Rain was released in late June 1984, Lorelai would have been six months pregnant, and probably past the point of trying to bond with Emily over pop music.

The incident is one based on Amy Sherman-Palladino’s own life – her mother was likewise horrified when Amy played a Prince song for her.

Rory Shows Emily the Potting Shed

(Rory opens the door and walks in. Emily looks in from the doorway.)
RORY: I know it’s looks small, but it’s really pretty. Come on. See, we had our bed right over there, and Mom put up this really pretty curtain around the tub so that it looked like a real bathroom. And we would just sit outside at night when the Inn would have parties, and we’d just listen to music and feed the ducks and . . . (Emily walks away) Grandma? Grandma wait, what’s the matter?

This is the potting shed next to the duck pond at the Independence Inn that Lorelai and Rory lived in when they first moved to Stars Hollow, as they had no money for accommodation (like the Holy Family, there was “no room at the inn”, and they were put in an outbuilding, so Baby Rory was just like Baby Jesus).

The shed is sturdy but rustic, and is stocked with gardening tools and plants, like any potting shed: it isn’t clear if those things were there while Lorelai and Rory lived there. Their bed is no longer there (they must have shared a single bed together), but the bath has been left, including the curtain that Lorelai put around it to serve as a bathroom wall. Lorelai mentioned that it has rosebud wallpaper, but the shed is painted white inside and doesn’t look as though it’s got the kind of walls that you could easily wallpaper.

It looks impractical for bringing up a baby, and we learn later that they moved to Stars Hollow in the autumn, so it would have been very cold as well (we don’t know what they used for heating). We don’t know how long they lived in this temporary accomodation, but long enough for Rory, who was only a baby when they came to Stars Hollow, to have some memories of it, and long enough that the weather became warm enough for them to sit outside at night. I would guess at least a year, and possibly two. Who looked after baby Rory while Lorelai was working is unknown.

This is the first time that Emily has ever seen the potting shed, and she is clearly distraught to discover the conditions her daughter and granddaughter lived in. Lorelai told Sookie that her parents visited them a few times at the inn while Rory was a baby, but they never saw where they slept at night. Lorelai was probably clever at keeping them away from the shed, but their lack of curiosity is surprising. Perhaps they were scared to push it in case Lorelai ran even further away.

In this case, it is Emily who runs away, too upset to spend any more time with Rory or even say a proper goodbye to her. This incident serves as a device to keep Emily at a distance from Stars Hollow. Emily was having a good time with Rory, and was fitting in well with the townspeople, finding that she had things in common with Mrs. Kim and Michel. By showing her in the potting shed, it explains why Emily doesn’t visit Stars Hollow more often in the future.

Where they lived between the potting shed when Rory was a baby/toddler, and moving into their own house when Rory was eleven, is a complete mystery and never mentioned. Perhaps Lorelai saved up enough money to rent a cheap apartment for them, but renting would make it hard to save for a house. They could have lived in a friend’s house (with Sookie?), but if so, nobody ever refers to it.

In real life, it wouldn’t be legal for anyone to live in the potting shed under Connecticut zoning laws, but I’m not sure that would stop Lorelai anyway – rules were made for non-Gilmores!

“I work here”

EMILY: Do you spend a lot of time here? [at the Independence Inn]
RORY: Yeah. I work here a couple afternoons a week, and I help out with special occasions. They have a lot of weddings here.

We learn that Rory, on top of her heavy school workload, also works part time two afternoons per week at the Independence Inn. This is different to what Rory told Headmaster Charleston in The Lorelais’ First Day at Chilton, when she said that she sometimes worked at the inn after school, so on weekdays. In the Pilot, Lorelai suggested she might want to help out and “earn some extra money” when Rory had a day off between changing schools, which could mean on top of the usual work she did at the inn, or to suggest that Rory helped out sometimes when she had free time.

It’s possible that Rory took on more regular work at the inn once she turned 16 (in Connecticut, there is a limit as to what kind of jobs a child under 16 may perform, although it is legal to work from 14 onward). As Rory doesn’t get home until nearly five pm from Hartford on weekdays, I can only think the two afternoons she works must be Saturday and Sunday – although it’s Saturday afternoon in this episode and Rory isn’t working, so I don’t know. She also says she works extra hours on the numerous weddings, which would mostly be on weekends anyway.

Maybe Rory works for just an hour or so after school twice a week. We never see her at this regular part-time job, so it’s hard to say how she manages her schedule. The job doesn’t seem too onerous, as it never seems to conflict with homework or social life (nor do we ever see Lorelai and Rory arriving home from work at the inn together). It’s possible that Rory is exaggerating her work schedule to impress her grandmother.

Yoko

LORELAI: Explain Yoko, because he’s [Rune] out there with the normal people and he’s going to scare them.

Lorelai is referring to Yoko Ono, previously discussed. (The Japanese conference guests may have put her in mind of the Japanese artist and singer.)

Thank you to blog reader Marycontraire for pointing out that Lorelai’s comment directly relates to the entry for The Lost Weekend.

“The lost weekend” was John Lennon’s name for the eighteen month period between 1973 and 1975 he was separated from Yoko Ono and living with a companion named May Pang. Musically it was a productive time for him, but also marked by some outrageous behaviour from Lennon while drunk or stoned. He likened this period to the film The Lost Weekend about an alcoholic.

Lorelai’s comment doesn’t exactly make sense, as Sookie isn’t in the same situation as Yoko Ono at all, but is typical of her riffing on pop culture without bothering whether it is actually pertinent to the case.

Ichiro Motors

This is the Japanese business whose employees are staying at the Independence Inn in Stars Hollow for a conference in this episode.

It is a fictional motor manufacturing company which may have been named after Ichiro Suzuki (born 1937), the Japanese engineer who worked for Toyota and designed the first Lexus, as not only was he involved in the car industry, but his surname is that of a Japanese motor manufacturer.

“The Armbrusters”

LORELAI: God, where is this [inn] again?
RACHEL: Uh, it’s kind of behind the mill. You go over the little footbridge with the mean duck family living under it.
LORELAI: Yes, the Armbrusters.

Lorelai seems to have made a name up for the “mean duck family” under the bridge. Armbruster is a German surname meaning “crossbow”, but in English it sounds a little like “arm bruiser”, which might be what Lorelai is thinking of.

Cambodia

EMILY: Won’t you have dessert?
TRIX: I once travelled to a small village in Cambodia. I did not eat dessert there either.

Cambodia is a country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It was under the control of France during the 19^th century, and became independent in 1953. Cambodian desserts are actually quite famous, but perhaps the small village Trix went to was too poor to have any dessert, or not up to Trix’s standards – as a slam to Emily, most likely the second.

Trix doesn’t like travel, but somehow made it all the way to Cambodia. Possibly her dislike for travel only came on late in life.

Trix

We finally meet Richard’s mother Lorelai Gilmore (Marion Ross), who he calls Trix as her special pet name. It seems to be a Gilmore tradition to have a nickname that’s unrelated to your real name, as neither Rory nor Trix are actually short for Lorelai. Trix is a stereotypical scary old lady who frightens even Lorelai into good behaviour, and turns Emily to jelly.

It is notable that Trix and Richard are very close, just like Lorelai and Rory, while Trix despises Emily. Trix treats Emily the same way Emily treats Lorelai, which doesn’t quite make sense unless Emily’s mother died when she was fairly young, and Trix is her main “mother type” relationship.

If the family pattern continues through to the next generation, it suggests that Lorelai will dislike the man that Rory marries and constantly give him a hard time for not being good enough for her daughter. This doesn’t seem unlikely, as Lorelai was never a huge fan of any of Rory’s boyfriends.

Furthermore, it suggests that Rory will have a distant relationship with her child, as Richard does with Lorelai. Again, this isn’t implausible, as Rory has a colder personality than her mother, and doesn’t seem to really like children. If Rory’s husband is as hard on the child as Emily is on Lorelai, then we can expect another rebellious teenager to emerge – that only Lorelai can control.

“So tell me more about her”

RORY: So tell me more about her [her great-grandmother] …
LORELAI: Well, let’s see. She moved to London when Grandpa died but she didn’t like to travel, so once a year Mom and Dad would go to visit her, usually leaving me behind, much to my relief by the way, and that’s it.

We don’t know when Richard’s father died, but it was clearly a long time ago, possibly before Lorelai was born. It seems strange that someone who doesn’t like to travel would move overseas to live.

Richard and Emily said they can only afford to go to Europe every two years, but Lorelai says they saw Richard’s mother in London every year. Maybe they used to have more money when Lorelai was a child, or prices were cheaper? Because Lorelai says they “usually” left her behind, it means that she must have been to London with her parents at least once.

As her grandmother is the only one who can seemingly control Lorelai and scare her into uncharacteristically meek behaviour, it makes the viewer wonder if Lorelai would have gone off the rails as a teenager if Richard’s mother hadn’t moved to London. I suspect not, and Gilmore Girls would never have happened.

Madonna

LORELAI: I still can’t get over that I’m related to God. It’s gonna make getting Madonna tickets so much easier.

Madonna (born Madonna Ciccone in 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. Regarded as the first multi-media pop icon, she is is known as the Queen of Pop. Her debut album was released in 1983 to immediate success, and was followed by several best-selling albums; her 1998 album Ray of Light won Best Pop Album at the Grammys. Many of her songs have gone to #1 in the charts, including Like a Virgin, Papa Don’t Preach, Like a Prayer, and Vogue. She is the best-selling female recording artist of all time, and in the US is second only to Barbra Streisand. She is the most successful solo act of all time, and the highest-grossing solo touring artist of all time. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

This is the third time that Lorelai has mentioned Madonna, and I think it is safe to assume that she is one of her favourite singers, especially as Madonna first became a star when Lorelai was a teenager.

Madonna had her Drowned World Tour tour in 2001; she was due to appear in New York at Madison Square Garden during July 25-31 that year. Lorelai’s comment suggests that she may have been trying to obtain tickets to the event. Gilmore Girls episodes didn’t cover this period of the year, so it’s possible that Lorelai and Rory did make it to the concert.