Tag: Unsolved Mysteries

Sherry Prepares to Give Birth

SHERRY: Christopher, you’re here! I can’t believe you’re here. I didn’t think you’d make it.
CHRISTOPHER: Are you kidding? You think I’d miss this?

Sherry is being wheeled into the delivery room when Christopher rushes to join her at the last moment. Christopher says he wouldn ‘t miss this, but of course, he already did – he missed Rory’s birth. It must be difficult for Lorelai to witness Christopher showing up for his second daughter’s birth when he wasn’t there for the first. She’s certainly looking rather pouty about it.

Then again, we never see Christopher’s point of view. Did Lorelai tell him she was going into labour and needed to go to hospital, or did she just leave without telling him? Was he given the opportunity to accompany her, or did he simply not know? This is never made clear.

Christopher Arrives at the Hospital

At the eleventh hour, Christopher arrives at the hospital, after being out of town for some mysterious reason, in an area where he couldn’t get cell phone reception for some mysterious reason. Where was he, the middle of the woods? Maybe cell phone coverage was a lot more patchy in the US during the early 2000s?

It is a relief for Rory and Lorelai to see him, because otherwise it would have been them going in with Sherry to watch the birth. It seems almost superhuman of Lorelai to offer to accompany Sherry into the delivery room, when she doesn’t like Sherry, and resents her for being the reason things didn’t work out between she and Christopher.

But as Lorelai told Emily – she wasn’t going to do it for Sherry, but for Rory. Luckily, she never has to do it, but it must bring Rory comfort to know her mother was ready to be there for her is she wanted her.

Flashback 4

Lorelai is eating a sandwich and watching TV when her labour pains begin. We know it’s a pepper sandwich (I think this means a bell pepper or capsicum sandwich, which sounds weird?), because it was mentioned in an earlier episode. There is a cut, and then we see her at the hospital registry, filling out forms on her own.

She has come to the hospital by herself (presumably in a taxi) and there’s nobody to help her with the paperwork or offer support, not even Christopher. To add poignancy to this, there is a young man standing behind Lorelai with a bunch of flowers for someone, but there is nothing for Lorelai.

“I could grab a train”

RORY: Well, I’m actually done with school now. I could grab a train and –

Hartford is three and a half hours from Boston by train, requiring a change at New Haven. The trains are two hours apart, meaning that if you miss one, there’s quite a wait for the next. Rory would also need to take a 15 minute bus ride from her school to Hartford Union Station in order to catch the train.

If Rory has finished school for the day, then it’s after 4.05 pm. Even with all the bus and train schedules lining up perfectly, Rory would not reach Boston until at least 8 pm. She would then need another 15 minutes to reach the hospital using the subway, and finishing the last part on foot. 8.30 pm seems to be the earliest she could get there, and 9.30-10 pm is probably more realistic.

It’s a truly terrible thing to ask a teenage high school student to do without any warning in the middle of winter, and with no time to get changed into warm clothing or to take anything other than her school bag with her. It is also a crazy thing for Rory to agree to, and quite impractical.

By the way, the meeting at the hospital for Sherry’s C-section was originally for 6 pm. How was Rory ever meant to get there in time on a Friday, when she has school?

Napoleon III and Chagall

LORELAI: Okay, then, it’s settled. We’re not staying at any place that wasn’t built for Napoleon the Third’s doctor or doesn’t have a Chagall in the bathroom.

Napoleon III, born Charles Napoléon Bonaparte (1808-1873) the first President of France from 1848 to 1852, and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew of Napoleon I, he was a popular monarch who oversaw the modernisation of the French economy and filled Paris with new boulevards and parks. One of his doctors was the surgeon Félix-Hippolyte Larrey; he owned a small castle, but I have been unable to learn if he had a house built for him.

Marc Chagall [pictured], born Moishe Shagal (1887-1985), Russian-French artist. An early modernist, he was associated with several major artistic styles and created works in a wide range of artistic formats, including painting, drawings, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints.

Flashback 1

This episode, one of the more complex in structure, has a series of flashbacks within it. In the first flashback, we see a teenaged Lorelai and Christopher coming to the Gilmore home after school. They are wearing the same uniform, although I don’t think the show ever mentions them attending the same school. We know it is December, because they have finished their midterm exams, and are discussing the upcoming Christmas vacation.

With no adult supervision (Richard and Emily are out, and the maid has been fired, of course), Christopher – naturally – heads straight to the liquor cabinet and pours them drinks. Getting Lorelai drunk seems to be part of his technique.

Christopher reveals that his plan (more of a dream, actually), is to take a year off after graduation and go backpacking around Europe. He asks Lorelai to come with him, and she agrees – just as she and Rory are planning to go backpacking around Europe as soon as Rory graduates. During the conversation, it is clear that Christopher and Lorelai are close friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend, and that Christopher would like something more. By the end of the scene, they are kissing, although it is unclear whether this is the first time or not.

The young Lorelai and Christopher are played by Chelsea Brummet and Phillip Van Dyke. Brummet would later become a regular on kid’s sketch comedy show, All That, and Van Dyke had previously been on several TV shows, including Hey Arnold, and The Amanda Show. His acting career finished in 2003.

Town and Country

EMILY: Aunt Maureen would never hike up her skirt in public.
LORELAI: She would after half a gallon of eggnog.
EMILY: Richard, who was the one who got drunk at our Christmas party and hiked up her skirt in front of the Town & Country photographer?

Town & Country, formerly the Home Journal and The National Press, is a monthly lifestyle magazine. Founded in 1846, it is the oldest continually published general interest magazine in the US. Its current name dates to 1901, and it was about this date that its focus changed from poetry and literature to the social activities of the upper classes.

Aunt Maureen, another member of the sometimes eccentric Gilmore clan – unless she is Emily’s aunt. It seems that Richard and Emily’s Christmas parties were so notable that they were covered by Town & Country! Presumably this was in their heyday in the 1970s or 1980s, before Lorelai had Rory.

Eggnog, previously discussed.

“It’s okay not to like Jess”

RORY: It’s okay not to like Jess.
LANE: I said I was happy for you.

Rory has that awkward conversation with her best friend where she gently lets Lane know that she knows she doesn’t approve of Jess, and that’s okay. She doesn’t need to pretend. Lane immediately feels bad about not liking Jess, but says that she’s protective of Rory, and doesn’t want her to be hurt.

Rory asks her to give Jess a second chance (even though she just said it was okay for Lane not to like him), and Lane gamely says that maybe they can double date with she and Dave some time. Double dating seems to be the default position on Gilmore Girls!

We never see if the two couples ever did go out together, but I imagine Jess would have refused – even though he would have a lot in common with Lane and Dave. It seems like a missed opportunity.