“Tomorrow’s Saturday”

RORY: I’m gonna go study before the food gets here.
CHRISTOPHER: What? Tomorrow’s Saturday.

At this point we discover, surely to our astonishment, that it is now Friday evening. To recap the events of the day:

Lorelai and Luke unloaded their paint, and made plans to paint the diner on Friday. We now know that it was already Friday then, but for some reason they don’t say “next Friday”, or “in a week’s time”. Despite having a whole week to do the painting, Lorelai decides on Friday, which is not only the day she goes to business class, but Friday Night Dinner with her parents! She says this doesn’t matter, as she can “get out early” for a special occasion. That Emily would consider painting Luke’s diner a “special occasion” is highly dubious.
Lorelai and Rory went to the market to buy fruit as Lorelai felt under the weather and was worried about her nutrient intake (maybe this is how she stays healthy – she eats just enough fruits and vegetables not to get sick). Lorelai and Rory met Christopher in the street.
Christopher came to stay with them, and they ordered Chinese food for dinner while Rory did her homework.

So what the heck happened to Friday Night Dinner? Did they skip it that week? And is Lorelai even attending business class any more? And if this is Friday, March 9 then we will definitely run out of Friday nights before the end of the month.

(Also take note that Christopher is completely unaware of his daughter’s study habits or zest for academic life. He really knows nothing about Rory, and they can’t have ever had a proper conversation before).

“I can’t eat like that and look like her”

MICHEL: But I can’t eat like that and look like her. [gestures to Lorelai eating a rich omelette]

Michel surely speaks for most of the audience at this point: it drives many fans up the wall that Lorelai lives on sugary, fatty food and still looks amazing – thanks to the magic of television. In reality, Lauren Graham has reportedly been on a diet to stay slim since she was eleven years old (so if you want to look like Lorelai, start dieting at the beginning of puberty).

Sure it’s fiction, but sometimes people ask how Lorelai could eat such an unhealthy diet and remain slender in real life. The average person definitely wouldn’t, but here are some ways it might be possible, in any combination of factors:

1. Genes. Around 5% of the population are lucky enough to be genetically predisposed to remain slim no matter what they eat. Lorelai could be one of those fortunate few. These people tend to remain around the same size as adults as they did in high school, and Lorelai still wears clothes from when she was 17, so it seems possible.

2. Coffee. Lorelai drinks massive amounts of very strong coffee every day, and coffee is known to speed up the metabolism and suppress the appetite, leading to overall weight loss. Furthermore, it is a diuretic, so that coffee drinkers can keep off the “water weight” that doesn’t actually weigh much, but gives a bloated, puffy appearance.

3. She burns up all the excess calories. Although Lorelai rarely does any formal exercise, she walks a lot around Stars Hollow, and she is later said to have an extremely brisk natural walking pace. She is also a very busy, animated person who may be burning up excess calories through everyday physical movement without even thinking about it. This would also give her a reasonable level of very basic physical fitness – Lorelai seems to accomplish all her daily tasks with ease, and rarely seems tired.

4. Binge eating. Lorelai may binge on huge quantities of unhealthy food once or twice a month, but in between eat very little. To outsiders, it would look as as if she was eating 5000+ calories a day, but it could average out to as little as 1200 calories a day, and some days she might eat only eat 400-800 calories. Her fridge often seems to be empty, suggesting there’s a lack of food constantly at hand to tempt her. Those snacks that Sookie makes her at the inn, such as muffins and omelettes, could be all she eats on some days thanks to her appetite-suppressing coffee.

5. It’s all talk, no action. We constantly hear about Lorelai’s huge appetite, but we never actually see her eat anything much. She’ll sit down in front of a burger and fries, but be suddenly called away or storm off before she takes a bite. Or she and Rory will have a table filled with sugary snacks, then in the next scene the table will be cleared and the snacks are gone. Did they eat them all? Or just take a handful and put the rest away? Lorelai and Rory always have tons of leftovers from their junk food binges, suggesting they don’t really eat that much in one sitting. People with big appetites don’t usually have leftovers – they eat everything at once.

6. She’s “skinny obese”. Even if Lorelai is eating far less calories than it looks like, there’s no denying her diet is generally unhealthy (luckily she gets more nutritious food at Friday Night Dinners and from Sookie). People who eat poorly but maintain a normal weight by whatever means can have what is called “skinny obesity” – they look perfectly fine, but their internal organs are surrounded by toxic fat. Michel does warn Lorelai that her diet could kill her, but she isn’t concerned. On the other hand, there’s no evidence that Lorelai’s poor diet is making her unwell: she’s energetic, vibrant, looks healthy, and never seems to have any illness more serious than a headache or allergies.

(See here for more on the purpose of junk food in the themes of Gilmore Girls).

“Honey, you’re home”

RORY: Honey, you’re home. Well, say something.
DEAN: Trick or treat?

When Rory welcomes Dean wearing her 1950s housewife outfit, she inverts the traditional sit-com catchphrase, “Honey, I’m home!”, perhaps most associated with The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-1966). Dean doesn’t know what to say, except “Trick or treat?”, the Halloween catchphrase – showing that he recognises Rory is in costume.

Where Rory’s outfit comes from is a complete mystery. It doesn’t look like a collection of clothes she or Lorelai would have at home, and besides she’s been at Babette’s (the dress at least can’t be Babette’s – she and Babette are completely different heights). Did she make a quick stop at a vintage clothing store on the way back from Lane’s, or borrow the clothes from the costume box used for Stars Hollow theatre productions?

In an episode where very little actually makes sense, the dress it just one more unexplained element. It’s almost like those cartoons where characters can pluck anything they need from the air, such as a hammer or a bouquet of flowers.

Dean’s Phone Call

RORY (on Babette’s phone): Hello?
DEAN: Um, I wasn’t sure if you still wanted me to come over.
RORY: Oh, I do. I do, I absolutely do.

It isn’t clear how Dean knows Babette’s phone number, as Rory didn’t leave it when she rang Dean’s house. It suggests that once he knew that Rory was house-sitting for Babette, he immediately looked her number up in the phone book, and programmed it into his cell phone. Which is a little creepy.

The show tries to make it look as if Rory is sitting in the nude waiting for Dean, even though that doesn’t make any sense. Why would you get naked (while wearing a hair band) while waiting for your boyfriend to come over, especially if you’re not sure he’s even coming? Wouldn’t you look pretty silly if (for example) your mother who lives next door popped over to see how you were getting on in the meantime? And isn’t it kind of gross to sit on your neighbours’ furniture in the nude while they’re away?

However, what Rory is actually wearing and planning doesn’t make much sense either: what would she have done if Dean hadn’t arrived at that point? And Dean’s stalkerish phoning from just outside the house will backfire on him in a future season.

Sunday Best

Troubadour Bus

This is the song that the town troubadour is singing when Rory gets off the bus and is met by Dean. It is the first appearance of the troubadour in the show, played by indie rock singer Grant Lee Phillips, and named Grant in the credits.

It is ambiguous whether the troubadour is actually meant to be the real Grant Lee Phillips who (like many other other celebrities) also exists in the Gilmore Girls universe, or whether Phillips is playing a fictional character who just happens to have the same first name. Perhaps he is a sort of parallel universe version of himself.

Sunday Best was a bonus track on the Australian release of Phillips’ 2001 album Mobilize, however that was months after this episode aired.

Monty

RORY: So did you guys find it okay?
PARIS: There’s no sign on this street.
RORY: I know, that’s why I told you to turn right at the big rooster statue.
PARIS: I thought you were kidding.
LORELAI: Oh no, we never kid about Monty.

There are numerous examples of big statues across the United Statues, often of ordinary things like animals and fruit. They are generally used as roadside attractions or as markers for a particular business. Stars Hollow seems to have one of a big rooster, affectionately known as “Monty” (by the Gilmore girls at least, who love to give names to inanimate objects), which marks the turn off to the Gilmores’ street, as the sign has quirkily fallen down or disappeared, and never been replaced. I feel as if the officious Taylor would not allow that to happen, but perhaps his powers were not yet so all-encompassing.

Rather disappointingly, this giant rooster is never shown, or discussed again, and it is not known why it was erected, or even if it was taken down at some point. We learn in the next episode that the Gilmores’ friend and neighbour Miss Patty raises chickens, and it is possible that Monty is there as a marker for her (hypothetical) side-business of selling eggs and/or poultry. It could be a marker for another type of rural business, or possibly Stars Hollow or its county is particularly famous for its poultry.

There is a big rooster statue in Salem, Connecticut [pictured], about an hour’s drive away from the area where Stars Hollow seems to be, so it’s perfectly plausible for Stars Hollow – this one is unusual for being painted black instead of the more usual white, and is a marker for a grain and feed store. Big rooster statues are common in California, where Gilmore Girls was written.

Affair

Louise says they can’t meet at her house to study as her mother is having an affair.

Nobody comments on this or asks why it affects them meeting – does Louise’s mother need the house to herself all weekend for her affair? Couldn’t she meet her lover elsewhere, or simply skip seeing him for a single afternoon? What does Louise’s father do on the weekends while the house is off limits to other family members’ activities in order to accommodate his wife’s affair? Has the house somehow been tainted by “affair-ness” so that nobody is ever allowed to visit?

These questions shall never answered. As Louise’s story doesn’t make sense, she may be making up an excuse that nobody will question out of embarrassment.

“Your name wouldn’t be Lithium?”

[Rory sitting on a bench reading. Dean come out, sees her and goes and sits with her]
DEAN: Is there anything in there about me?
RORY: I don’t know. You name wouldn’t be Lithium would it?

Rory is reading The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, edited by Karen V. Kukil. It was first published in 2000. The American poet, novelist, and short story writer Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) suffered from clinical depression which at times was severe.

Plath was hospitalised in a psychiatric ward for several months while in college, receiving electroconvulsive therapy, and required intermittant psychiatric support for the rest of her life. She died a suicide at the age of 30.

Rory may have been drawn to Sylvia Plath’s life story because she was highly driven academically, and a star student in both high school and college. She easily won prizes for poetry, short story-writing, and journalism, and one of her early writing achievements was being chosen as part of a group of college-aged guest editors for fashion magazine Mademoiselle.

On a darker note, among the several factors that pushed Plath into her first suicide attempt was a rejection from a Harvard summer school writing class. Sylvia Plath is a potent example to Rory of the pressures an ambitious young woman might face at college.

I’m actually not sure what Rory means by her comment, as to my knowledge Sylvia Plath was never treated with lithium. It may be an error by the writer (Amy Sherman-Palladino). In any case, it’s impossible not to feel that her quip is completely wasted on Dean.

Lane’s New CDs

For the purposes of this episode, it is important that we understand Lane is a fanatic about popular music. Just in case we forgot that, the episode begins with Lane visiting Rory to show her the big stack of new CDs she has just bought.

The Best of Blonde is the first compilation album from the American new wave band Blondie, which was released in 1981. The album went to #30 in the US, but was much more successful around the world, getting to #4 in the UK, and #1 in Australia and New Zealand.

Kraftwerk is a German electronic music band formed in 1969, founded by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Pioneers in electronic music, they were among the first to popularise the genre, and has been highly influential in synthpop, techno, ambient, hip-hop, and club music. Their 1974 album Autobahn was their first to fully embrace the electronic sound, and the title track became a surprise hit around the world. The album got to #7 in Germany, #5 in the US and #4 in the UK.

Young Marble Giants were a Welsh post-punk band formed in 1978, with Alison Statton providing vocals for the instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham. Their minimalist sound was in sharp contrast to the aggressive punk rock dominating the era. They only released one album – Colossal Youth, which came out in 1980. It is one of the most highly-regarded indie recordings of all time and a major influence on Nirvana.

Among the CDs you can see a copy of Up on the Sun, the 1985 album by American rock band the Meat Puppets. The album has a more psychedelic feel to their earlier hard rock punk albums. The band was a great influence on bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Dinosaur Jr.

You might wonder how Lane managed to afford all the CDs she bought. She worked part-time at the antiques store, and later we learn her parents paid her $100 a month in wages. It seems that Lane also bought most of her music second-hand, and says that she loves a bargain. Later on, we find that Lane buys her CDs from Amazon, the same place Rory buys her books.

Skippy the Hamster

Lorelai’s mistreatment of Rory’s childhood pet hamster is Rory’s reason to not allow her to get a dog, a nice reversal of the usual parent-child relationship.

It’s interesting that Rory says that Lorelai doesn’t need a dog as she has her, suggesting that Rory sees herself as more of a pet than a daughter. It is only when Lorelai no longer has Rory that she gets a dog – although she treats it more like her child than her pet.

It is not known when Rory might have had a pet hamster. They didn’t get their own house until Rory was eleven, suggesting it might have been after that. However, by that stage Rory should have been old enough to care for her own hamster, so that Lorelai wouldn’t need to do anything. If Rory had a hamster during the mysterious “lost years” between perhaps four and ten, we don’t know what circumstances Lorelai and Rory lived in, but whatever it was, it apparently allowed pets.