Midnight at the Oasis

This is the song which plays when Rory looks at the clock at Dwight’s house, while putting the African violets back. It’s a woven basketwork clock that a china figurine pops out of when the hour strikes.

“Midnight at the Oasis” is a 1973 song written by David Nichtern. It was recorded by Maria Muldaur for her self-titled debut album, and released as a single in 1974. It peaked at #6 in the US, and was the #13 song of the year, becoming one of Muldaur’s most popular concert songs.

“Midnight at the Oasis” is about an offer of a love affair in a fantasy desert location, and is considered to be one of the most sensual songs of the 1970s, apparently inspiring numerous sexual encounters. It seems as if Dwight has more than just board games in mind now he’s moved to Stars Hollow! Perhaps he’s even set his sights on Lorelai – the gossipy Babette would have told him Lorelai was single.

The clock reads eight o’clock at this point, providing the name of the episode, “Eight O’clock at the Oasis”. I can’t see how it can be 8 am – Rory is meant to be at school in five minutes! And although they were running slightly late, Lorelai still thought they could have breakfast at Luke’s, as long as she drove Rory to school. Why do the Gilmore girls seem to have all the time in the world sometimes, and at others, time just suddenly disappears? They weren’t at Dwight’s for that long.

Keister

DWIGHT: You know, I just got this beautiful lawn put in, really amazing shade of green, and the guy who put it in for me, he told me that I have to keep each blade of grass very moist for the first few days while the roots take, but I have to go on a business trip for a few days. Huh, last minute, and believe me, I tried to get out of it but my boss said, ‘Dwight, get off your keister and go make us some money’, so I gotta go.

Keister, slang for the anus or the buttocks. Its origin is uncertain. In the 19^th century, it was criminal slang for a burglar’s tool box, then later, criminal slang for a strongbox or safe, while “tripe and keister” meant a conman’s display case on a tripod. It probably comes from kiste, a German and Yiddish word for a box or case.

It seems Dwight not only moved in without Lorelai and Rory noticing anything, he also got a new lawn laid down without them noticing!

I am not sure what business Dwight works for that he could commute to it from Stars Hollow. He could work in Hartford and drive in every day, but he’s really presented as more of a big city person, with a New York vibe. By the way, people really take a lot of business trips in the Gilmore Girls universe!

Beenie Morrison

DWIGHT: I just moved in across the way.

LORELAI: Oh, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Beenie Morrison’s old place.

Although Beenie Morrison was never seen or mentioned before, he used to live in the house directly opposite Lorelai and Rory. Oddly enough, they never noticed Beenie talking about selling, putting the house up for sale, erecting a FOR SALE sign, saying goodbye, or moving out. This has led many fans to the theory that Dwight simply murdered Beenie and moved into his house! Although this doesn’t explain why they didn’t also notice Dwight moving in, and why they never heard anything, when Stars Hollow is so gossipy. It’s strange how very, very oblivious the Gilmore girls have been to the house across from them until their attention is drawn to it.

Even Lorelai seems to suspect something isn’t right with this scenario. When Dwight says it’s “great” to be in his new house, Lorelai says, “Only if Beenie Morrison didn’t want to live in it any more”, as if she wonders whether Beenie was forced out in some way. Dwight says he paid Beenie a good price – even overpaid. That might suggest that rather than Beenie putting his house up for sale, Dwight picked it out on a visit to Stars Hollow, and made Beenie Morrison an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Dwight

The Gilmore girls get a new neighbour in this episode, named Dwight, who moves into the house opposite them, previously occupied by a man named Beenie Morrison. Dwight is played by Jason Kravits, who had been involved with the Washington DC theatre scene, and then in a writer’s collective in New York City. From 1999 to 2001, he played the role of A.D.A. Richard Bray on medical drama The Practice.

As with so many of these characters, don’t expect to ever see or hear of Dwight again – he will disappear as mysteriously as Beenie Morrison after this episode.

7 Up, Salad Water

RORY: Oh, a girl told me once that if your scalp is hurting from bleach, drink a 7 Up. It’s something to do with the bubbles.

LANE: The Kim household does not have soft drinks.

RORY: Well, what do you got?

LANE: Something called Salad Water imported from Korea. Believe me, it’s nothing like 7 Up.

7 Up, a lemon-lime flavoured soft drink owned by Dr Pepper, and distributed by Pepsi. It was created by Charles Leiper Grigg in St Louis in 1929, two weeks before the Wall Street stock market crash of that year. Originally called Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda, it contained lithium citrate, a mood stabiliser used to treat manic states and bipolar disorder. It became 7 Up in 1936, and nobody really knows why that name was chosen – some say that it refers to the seven original ingredients, some that it’s a coded reference to lithium, which has an atomic mass around 7.

7 Up won’t do anything to stop your scalp hurting after bleach (and if it’s the bubbles, wouldn’t any soft drink do the same thing?), but I’ve seen it recommended for stomach ache and the common cold, so there seems to be a lot of belief in it as a folk remedy. I suspect Rory is saying anything to distract Lane, and possibly hoping for a placebo effect.

Salad Water, or Water Salad [pictured], is water flavoured with green salad, produced by Coca-Cola in Japan. I’m not sure why the Kims have imported it from Korea when it’s a Japanese product – perhaps the Korean import-export company imports it from Japan, then exports it to the US.

Vin Diesel

LANE: Thinking about the last movie I saw. Vin Diesel was in it. Thinking about Vin Diesel now. Thinking about where Vin Diesel got the name Vin Diesel. Thinking about Vin Diesel’s mysterious ethnicity.

Vin Diesel, professional name of Mark Sinclair (born 1967), actor and producer. One of the world’s highest-grossing actors, he is best known for his role in the Fast & Furious film franchise, the first one being released in 2001. His professional name is taken from his mother’s maiden name, Vincent, and the fact that he is highly energetic.

His most recent film at this point was XXX, which came out in August 2002. Vin Diesel plays Xander Cage, a thrill-seeking extreme sports enthusiast, stuntman and rebellious athlete, turned reluctant spy for the National Security Agency. Cage is sent on a dangerous mission to infiltrate a group of potential Russian terrorists in Central Europe. It was a commercial success and received mixed reviews. The film’s soundtrack made #9 on the album charts, and #1 on the soundtrack charts, which might have been a reason Lane wanted to see it. She presumably watched it during her summer vacation.

In a 2001 interview, Vin Diesel described himself as being of “ambiguous ethnicity” – Lane seems to be alluding to this statement. He was raised by his white mother and adoptive African-American father, but his biological father’s origins are a mystery, although reported to be part African-American. Vin Diesel has never met him, and says all he knows from his mother is that he “has connections with many cultures”. He added, “Italian, and a whole lot of other stuff”. (Wouldn’t a DNA test provide some answers?).

Diesel considers himself to be a person of colour, and made a film about his ambiguous ethnicity in 1995 called Multi-Facial. On film, he has played characters from a variety of ethnic backgrounds (Italian, Cuban, Jewish etc), and their ethnic background is never essential to the plot.

[Picture shows Vin Diesel in XXX]

Stars Hollow Beauty Supply

This is the beauty store in town where Rory and Lane buy Lane’s hair dye. Amusingly, it has a typically practical, generic name, like Stars Hollow Agricultural Supply. You don’t get lured into shopping for beauty products in Stars Hollow by something called Charmaine’s House of Glamour, or The Beauty Spot – you buy beauty products in the same pragmatic manner you pick up animal feed or a box of nails.

I take it Lane and Rory don’t usually shop here, as Rory is surprised to find that Shane works at the store – possibly as as an after-school job, I’m not sure if the show ever confirms whether Shane is still in high school.

I’m also not sure if Rory ever knew Shane before – they’re about the same age and live in a small town, so it seems likely, but she never says anything like, “Ugh, that awful Shane, I’ve hated her ever since she stole Jimmy Dandridge’s lunch in Fourth Grade”. Perhaps their paths didn’t cross, but they are not strangers either, so that she was vaguely aware of Shane’s existence, but never gave her a thought. Stars Hollow is just big enough that this is possible, especially if Shane’s family moved to town only in the last few years.

“Three years of going there”

LUKE: I hate that building.

LORELAI: What, the school?

LUKE: Three years of going there, I have no good memories.

Luke attended Stars Hollow High School for three years, meaning he didn’t complete the full four years of high school available in the US. He may have dropped out of school (sixteen was the legal age for this in Connecticut at the time), or done his last year of education at a trade school. From a conversation Luke had with the school principal, the second one seems the more likely.

If Luke regrets not doing four years of high school, then it might explain why he is so insistent that Jess remains at school. There is some irony in the thought he is forcing Jess to attend the school that he himself supposedly hated, when Jess is miserable there.

Debbie Fincher

Lorelai gets a phone call from Debbie Fincher, one of the mothers from Stars Hollow High School Parents and Teachers Association. We learn here that when Rory was a student at the school, Lorelai was actively involved in the PTA and got along well with the other parents, even being considered “a kick” because of her wicked sense of humour (very much like Emily, as it happens).

Rory was even friends (or at least friendly) with Debbie’s daughter Kathy Fincher, and used to go to her house to swim in their pool. Perhaps Kathy was one of the mysterious Stars Hollow girls who appeared at Rory’s sixteenth birthday party, and was never seen again? It does seem a little odd that Rory lives in a small town with teenagers that she went to school with and was apparently even friends with, yet has only kept in contact with Lane. Perhaps she runs into them offscreen.

The reason for Debbie’s call is to ask Lorelai to give a talk at the high school about her success in business, and to think of someone else they might ask. Lorelai agrees, and promptly suggests Luke as the second person.

Debbie Fincher is played by Heidi Swedberg, who had been in TV series such as Northern Exposure (1991), Murder She Wrote (1994), and Touched by an Angel (1996). She was best known for playing George Costanza’s fiancée Susan Ross in Seinfeld (1992-1997).

Band Practice

LANE: Hello Stars Hollow, are you ready to rock?

LORELAI: Let me guess, band practice tonight?

Lane was given permission by Sophie to use the music store to practice drumming two evenings a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6 pm (evenings when she knew her mother would be out doing church activities). Lane is now really pushing that generous offer by finding a band that needs a drummer and letting them use Sophie’s music store as a free rehearsal space! It sounds like a pretty awful way to repay Sophie, but maybe Lane already fixed this up with Sophie offscreen. I hope so.

You may be wondering whether this episode starts on a Wednesday evening – it can’t be Friday, because Lorelai and Rory are having dinner at the diner, instead of heading off to Hartford for Friday Night Dinner with Richard and Emily. It appears to be a Saturday, oddly enough, so perhaps Lane also got Sophie to agree to a third evening of band practice per week. How Sophie would have agreed to all these changes to the orginal agreement, I don’t know.

This scene shows how happy Lane is to finally be in a band and playing music, she is absolutely radiating joy as she bounces into the diner and starts eating Rory’s dinner. Lane isn’t making any effort to keep her activities a secret, and even though Stars Hollow is super gossipy, she doesn’t seem worried about Mrs Kim finding out. Maybe that’s how confident she feels now she’s actually living her dream.