Season 2 Episode 5: “Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy”

Episode 5: Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy

written by Amy Sherman-Palladino   directed by Michael Katleman

original airdate: 10/30/01 (Tuesday)

When Luke’s rebellious 17-year-old nephew Jess moves in with him, Lorelai offers unwelcome parenting advice. Rory’s on the school newspaper staff. But editor Paris is eager to write Rory’s journalistic obituary.

 

References (in order of appearance)

• Charles Mingus, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, The Sonics, MC5, Kick Out the Jams, Fairport Convention, Liege & Lief, Bee Gees,  Mojo, Odessa, Whistler, and Detroit

Rory: Got it. Place your order now.

Lane: Okay, Charles Mingus, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady.

Lorelai: Mm.

Rory: Right.

Lane: The Sonics, Here are the Sonics.

Rory: Burn me a copy. Next.

Lane: MC5, Kick Out the Jams. Fairport Convention, Liege & Lief. Bee Gees, Odessa.

Rory: Bee Gees, really?

Lane: Well, Mojo says.

Rory: So it must be true.

Lane: Okay, that’s it. Now if I could just find a copy of Whistler, Chaucer, Detroit and Greenhill, I will finally be done with the sixties.

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is a 1963 jazz composition and album by bassist and composer Charles Mingus.

The Sonics are an American garage rock band from Tacoma, Washington, originating from the early and mid-1960s.

The MC5 is an American rock band first formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan.

Kick Out the Jams is the first album by Detroit protopunkers MC5, released in 1969.

Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today.

 Liege & Lief, released in 1969, is the fourth album released by the English electric folk group Fairport Convention.

The Bee Gees are a musical group that was originally made up of a singing trio of brothers — Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb.

Odessa is a studio album by the Bee Gees, released in 1969.

Mojo is a British-music lover’s guide to essential rock recordings.

Whistler were a British indie band who released two albums on the Wiiija label.

Detroit was a rock group formed by Mitch Ryder as a successor to his Detroit Wheels in 1970.

 

 

• Grups

Lorelai: Grups, huh?

This is a reference to Star Trek: The Original Series, episode “Miri.” The children in that episode referred to adults as “grups” (short for “grown-ups”).

 

 

• Taylor: That’s right. She’s breaking the rules, and people who break the rules end up very lonely with no friends because they have become society’s outcasts.

Lorelai: Planning on burning a little Huck Finn after lunch, Taylor?

Reference to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a book by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885.

 

 

• Frosted Flakes

Lorelai: Frosted Flakes? Since when do you buy Frosted Flakes? [Luke drops some bags, food spills all over.] Okay, now what is going on?

Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes or Frosties is a breakfast cereal, produced by the Kellogg Company and consisting of sugar-coated corn flakes.

 

 

• Der Wienerschnitzel

Lorelai: Where’s his dad?

Luke: Oh well, the great prize that my sister picked up at a Der Wienerschnitzel left her about two years ago, whereabouts unknown.

Wienerschnitzel is an American fast-food chain founded in 1961 as “Der Wienerschnitzel” that specializes in hot dogs, but is currently expanding to other items.

 

 

• The Shawshank Redemption

Lorelai: Well, you might want to find out. Ask a couple of subtle questions, you know, has he seen The Shawshank Redemption, did the setting seem homey to him? Stuff like that.

The Shawshank Redemption was a 1994 film about an innocent man who goes to prison for life in 1947 Maine.

 

 

• Fredo

Lorelai: Yes, I respect that, but what if he turns out to be Fredo?

Fredo is the ne’er-do-well son of Don Corleone in the The Godfather who felt bemoaned his lack of power and respect.

 

 

• Riff

Rory: Yeah, Riff, everything’s fine.

Riff is the leader of the New York City teenage gang The Jets in the musical West Side Story, Riff’s death is the event that causes hero Tony to commit murder.

 

 

• Luke: Well, here we are. It’s pretty simple. You know, this is the room. That’s my bed, that’s your, uh, bed for now, but the sheets are new. There’s the bathroom, there’s the closet, there’s the dresser, the phone, and over there is the kitchen. I’ve got Frosted Flakes.
  Jess: Wow, that’s grrrrreat.

This comes from the Frosted Flakes slogan, “They’re more than good, they’re grr-eat!”

 

 

• Fellini

Lorelai: Sookie will cook, Rory will be there. It’ll be a little ‘Hey, welcome to Stars Hollow and see, everyone here’s not straight out of a Fellini film’ kind of an evening.

Fellini was an Italian filmmaker renowned for his offbeat, sometimes surreal sequences.

 

 

• Regis

Rory: What’s he like?

Lorelai: Well, he’s not gonna be subbing for the new dodo on the Regis show any time soon, let’s put in like that.

 Regis Philbin is an American media personality and occasional actor and singer, known for hosting talk and game shows from the 1950s to the present.

 

 

• [Jess is sitting on his bed smoking and shuffling cards as Luke walks in.]
  Luke: So you get unpacked?
  Jess: Yup.
  Luke: Get enough space in the closet?
  Jess: Plenty.
  Luke: You hungry?
  Jess: Eighteen.
  Luke: What?
  Jess: Just counting how many questions ’til we hit twenty.

Jess is referencing the game Twenty Questions, which is a spoken parlor game which encourages deductive reasoning and creativity.

 

• Tool and Metallica

Jess: Tell her I gotta take another crack at that closet. You know, I think I hung my Tool T-shirt next to my Metallica T-shirt and they don’t really get along.

Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1990.

Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1981.

 

 

• Poker

Jess: You wanna play some poker? Five bucks a hand?

Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually (but not always) hand rankings.

 

 

• John and Jackie

Madeline: Hey, did you hear that Kimber Slately and Tristin are a major item?

Louise: I thought that Kimber and Shawn Asher were this year’s John and Jackie.

John Kennedy, commonly referred to by his initials JFK, was an American statesman who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy.

 

 

• The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and Pulitzer Prize

Madeline: I know. Hey Paris, what do you think about me writing a gossip column for The Franklin?

Paris: Huh. I don’t know. That’s a hard one. I mean, this is The Franklin, a newspaper that’s been around for almost a hundred years. There have been at least ten former editors of The Franklin that have gone on to work at The New York Times. Six have gone onto The Washington Post. Three are contributing editors at The New Yorker. I think one even went on to win the Pullitzer Prize. But never mind them. I could be the first editor in the history of The Franklin to introduce a column exclusively devoted to who Biffy’s boffing today. Quandary. You know, I’m gonna have to get back to you on that one.

Madeline: Okay.

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851.

The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.’s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877.

The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry published by Condé Nast Publications.

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition.

 

 

• Henry VIII

Sookie: I want everything to be perfect. We are gonna make this kid think that he died and went to heaven.

Jackson: Or Henry the Eighth’s house.

Henry VIII was King of England from April 21 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) and claimant to the Kingdom of France.

 

 

• Milady

[Lorelai knocks on Rory’s bedroom door.]

Lorelai: Milady?

Rory: Come in.

Milady (from my lady) is an English term of address to a noble woman.

 

 

• Hooked on Phonics

Jess: Wow, aren’t we hooked on Phonics.

Hooked on Phonics is a commercial brand of educational materials, originally designed for reading education through phonetics.

 

 

• Roman Empire

Lorelai: Hey, perfect timing. Sookie’s about to break her own record for the most food served outside the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean.

 

 

• Doctor Laura

Jess: You don’t know anything about me, or my life, or my mom, or Luke, so why don’t you Doctor Laura someone else?

Doctor Laura– Dr. Laura Schlesinger, television talk show host and self-help guru.

 

 

• Breakfast Club

Luke: Where’s Jess?

Lorelai: Outside working on his Breakfast Club audition. He’s getting good.

Breakfast Club is a John Hughes film about ill-behaved kids and their Saturday detention.

 

 

• Nick and Nora, Sid and Nancy

Lorelai: Rory, this was a bad one, okay? This was not Nick and Nora, this was Sid and Nancy, and I’m not going in there.

Nick and Nora – Dashing, martini-sipping husband and wife characters from The Thin Man film series.

Sid and Nancy – Not so dashing, heroin imbibing bass player in The Sex Pistols and his equally besotted girlfriend.

 

 

• Barbara Walters

Max: I’m not completely sure of that myself. We could sit.

Rory: Sit, sure, that’s good. Barbara Walters sits, or walks sometimes if the person she’s talking to has a horse or a ranch or a big backyard sometimes, but usually she just sits. Okay, so I guess we should just start.

Barbara Walters is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality.

 

 

• Pledge of Allegiance

Jess: Look, what exactly do you want from me? You bring me here to this place, you put me in a school that says the Pledge of Allegiance in six different languages, two of which I’ve never heard of before. You take me away from my home, my friends, and now you want what from me?

The Pledge of Allegiance is an oath of allegiance to the United States, addressed to both the flag and the Republic.

 

 

• Kabbalah

Luke: The weekends are for chores and selected pre-approved outings, i.e. Kabbalah studies, freeway beautification projects, Color Me Mine pottery painting, all discussible options.

Kabbalah is an aspect of Jewish mysticism that is an offshoot of traditional Judaism, Kabbalah is frequently misused by non-Jews and has been recently made famous by celebrities such as Madonna and Demi Moore.

 

 

• Potluck and Tupperware

Rory: Uh huh. So, that was quite a disappearing act you pulled the other night.

Jess: Potlucks and Tupperware parties aren’t really my thing.

Rory: Too cool for school, huh?

Jess: Yes, that is me.

A potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food to be shared among the group.

Tupperware is the name of a home products line that includes preparation, storage, and serving products for the kitchen and home, which were first introduced to the public in 1946.

 

 

• Dodger and Oliver Twist

Rory: What? [looks through the book] You’ve read this before.

Jess: About forty times.

Rory: I thought you said you didn’t read much.

Jess: Well, what is much? Goodnight Rory.

Rory: Goodnight Dodger.

Jess: Dodger?

Rory: Figure it out.

Jess: Oliver Twist.

[Rory smiles and nods. They both walk away.]

Dodger is the character of the Artful Dodger from Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist.

Oliver Twist is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838.

 

 

Trivia

• In this episode we can see that Luke gets pretty upset when Lorelai tries to help him with Jess. It foreshadows how he will shut her out when April enters his life.

 

• In the beginning of the episode where Lorelai and the boy scouts are waiting in line, the cash register is on the opposite side of the counter. In other episodes it’s on the other side.

 

• When Rory attempts to buy the two coffees and two Danishes, Luke refuses to sell her more than one, which is what she says to Lorelai. However, Rory never gave any money to Luke, so he actually gave her the coffee and Danish for free.

 

• In the very beginning of this episode, while at Luke’s, Rory is in a hurry to get to school since it is her first day. Lane also stops in on her way to school. Taylor then brings in a group of scouts for breakfast. Why would Taylor be running a scout meeting on what was obviously a school day? While it is possible that the high school started earlier than the elementary school, wouldn’t the kids at least order breakfast rather than the burgers and fries that they asked for?

 

• When Rory left the house, it was daylight, when she met Jess it was night time. Although in a large city this time inconsistency is feasible, in a small town like Stars Hollow it seems improbable.

 

• At the beginning of this episode, when Lorelai helps Luke carry the food upstairs, Luke tells her that Jess’s father left Liz two years ago. How can that be true when Jess doesn’t recognize his dad when he shows up in a later episode? Also in the third season, Luke says explicitly that Jess’s dad left when Jess was a baby (he went out for diapers and never came back.)

 

• When Rory walks into the Franklin meeting room she puts her book on the table and starts to sit down. However, when they switch shots, she is only just taking her book out of her backpack and setting it down on the table.

 

• When Rory comes back out of the diner with only one cup of coffee and one Danish, Lorelai is wearing different jeans than she was a few minutes ago.

 

• Rory’s Book List:
  Selected Letters of Dawn Powell by Dawn Powell

          Jess’s Book List:

          Howl by Allen Ginsberg

 

• This episode marks the first time that Milo Ventimiglia (Jess) appears in the opening credits.

 

• Alexis Bledel (Rory) and Milo Ventimiglia (Jess) started dating when he co-starred on the show.

 

• Paris is the editor of the The Franklin in high school and also becomes editor of the Yale Daily News in college.

 

• Music:
  “This Is Hell” by Elvis Costello
  “Girl From Mars” by Ash