Welcome to the Friday Night Readers podcast! In this Gilmore Girls podcast episode #3, we break down our pop culture rewatch of Season 1, Episode 3, “Kill Me Now.” Listen below and get the full transcript.
Recap: What Happened in Stars Hollow in Season 1, Episode 3: “Kill Me Now”
The episode begins with Emily cataloging all of the maids she’s gone through. Her latest, who she calls Mira, is actually Sarah.
Richard then refers to the first Lorelai, his mother, in the past tense, but it’s hard to say if this is truly a plot hole. Luckily for the writers, it can also be interpreted as meaning that she was accomplished not before her death, but rather “in her day.”
Rory has to pick a team sport to play at Chilton, and Emily suggests she learn golf with Richard at the club, with which Lorelai disagrees. Emily boasts that Lorelai is just nervous she’ll actually like the club, and, to be honest, she’s probably not wrong.
Emily utters what I deem to be her second most savage burn of the series:
“You can use her old golf clubs. They’re upstairs gathering dust along with the rest of her potential.”
Ouch. What do you think– did Emily cross the line here?!
At the Independence Inn, Lorelai plans a double wedding for snooty blonde twins and their moody mother, whose demands force her to beg, “coffee, coffee, coffee.” By the way, did I mention the twins are marrying twins?!
Back at the Gilmores, Richard is not too thrilled about his golf outing with Rory, but obliges.
On the golf course, we learn that Richard is the executive vice president of the Gehrman-Driscoll Insurance Company. We also learn that Rory and Lorelai plan to backpack in Europe after her high school graduation.
Kirk (who is still, technically, Mick) delivers swans to the Inn, which Michel hates on account of once being attacked by a band of them.
Lorelai and Rory reconvene at Luke’s, and Lorelai is surprised to learn Rory had a good day.
Then, Richard calls Rory about loaning Mencken’s Chrestomathy from him, which makes her excited for Friday night dinner, to Lorelai’s dismay. This, ladies and gentleman, unofficially solidifies their newly formed bond– and causes Lorelai to pick a fight with Rory over who has the bigger chest.
Is all well that ends well? Lorelai pulls off the double wedding and makes up with Rory. They attend Friday night dinner, and Richard shares both Mencken’s Chrestomathy and his memoirs, to Rory’s delight.
The Gilmores’ World of Books
Let’s break down this episode’s most iconic literary references for those taking the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge with us on Fridaynightreaders.substack.com, where we read from the list of books mentioned on Gilmore Girls.
First, at the club, Rory shares with Richard all the salacious tales she learned from the women in the steam room, and Richard says, “It’s Peyton Place.”
Peyton Place may be best known as an American prime-time soap opera in the 1960s, or even as a 1957 film, but it was first a book by Grace Metalious. And, it has the absolute best plot description:
Switch off those TVs, kill your mobiles and settle down with the most controversial book ever written. Once denounced as ‘wicked’, ‘sordid’, ‘cheap’ ‘moral filth’, PEYTON PLACE was the top read of its time and sold millions of copies worldwide. Way before TWIN PEAKS, SURVIVOR or BIG BROTHER, the curtains were twitching in the mythical New England town of Peyton Place, and this soapy story exposed the dirty secrets of 1950s small-town America: incest, abortion, adultery, repression and lust.
I don’t know about you, but I’m adding this to the very top of my “to be read” list immediately. Talk about juicy!
Next, of course, this episode is very much about Richard’s and Rory’s sharing of H.L. Mencken’s A Mencken Chrestomathy and his memoirs.
I’ve got to admit to you– this is one Gilmore Girls reference I am clueless about! But, in a weird way, this just amplifies for me how special Rory’s and Richard’s literary connection is.
My research tells me that H. L. Mencken was one of the most influential American journalists, critics, and cultural commentators of the early 20th century. He was known for his satirical critiques of American life, politics, religion, and cultural trends. So, it does make sense that our aspiring journalist, Rory, and her newspaper-reading grandfather, Richard, both like his work.
The Days Trilogy, including Happy Days, Newspaper Days, and Heathen Days, is the collection of books considered “his memoirs,” covering his childhood, early career in journalism, and his life in American intellectual circles.
One more fun fact: Rory’s line, “[Golf is] a good walk spoiled,” is often attributed to American author Mark Twain, but there’s no confirmation of this fact. I’ve looked many times over the years!
Curious about every single book mentioned in this Gilmore Girls episode—even the obscure references most people miss, like the very subtle, blink and you might miss it, quote from a must-read children’s classic? Head to this episode’s page at Fridaynightreaders.substack.com. When you upgrade to a paid membership, you’ll get printable episode guides for every Gilmore Girls episode—perfect for tracking your own Rory-inspired reading journey.
Oy With the Pop Culture Already!
Now, because I want you to understand even more of the Gilmore Girls’ fast talk, here’s what some of this episode’s best pop culture references mean.
Fashion
We’ve got to talk about Rory’s golf outfit! While fitted oxford shirts like hers were kind of “in” at the time, paired with her outdated style of high-wasted and too-short khakis, it just looks like she’s wearing a uniform rather than a “fit.” At the time, we preferred to layer our fitted Oxford shirts and would probably pair them with boot-cut or flared khakis that were more akin to the styles of denim or cargo pants.
As for Rory’s striped, knitted cap with a pom-pom on top, well, I’m not sure where it came from or what to say about it, other than that every time my sister golfs, I send her a picture of Rory wearing it.
Movies & TV
Michel tells Lorelai she’s “the teacher in the Charlie Brown cartoon.” It is my deepest hope you already know what this means because Charlie Brown cartoons are feel-good bliss! They are also super seasonal, making them perfect for Gilmore Girls fans. I watch all the holiday specials multiple times each and every year.
Anyway, on the cartoon, the teachers and adults have muffled voices that sound like trombones: “wah wah.” So, Michel is essentially saying that he’s ignoring Lorelai’s words.
Famous People
Emily says that if Rory has fun golfing, she “wins,” and Lorelai calls her Bob Barker. I also hope you have the joy of knowing Bob Barker! He was the longtime host of The Price Is Right, otherwise known as the game show we all watched when we were home sick from school. He was a charming man known for his catchphrase, “Come on down,” calling audience members up to play, and his animal activism.
Then, when Emily places the golf hat on Rory’s head, she tells Rory, “Now you look just like Tiger Woods.” While Tiger Woods remains, to this day, a popular professional golfer, the early 2000s were his golden years. He was a completely dominant golfer, considered to be the best of the best in the world. Later, he became known for scandalous affairs, a bad (and very public) breakup with his wife, and a terrible car accident.
At the Inn, Lorelai tells the bride’s mother to have a massage by a man who looks like Antonio Banderas, a suave Spanish actor very popular at the time, well known for his roles in movies like Desperado, and The Mask of Zorro. He was basically our “hunk.”
Also, Lorelai compares the twins to the Doublemint commercial. I am guessing younger listeners may not know what this is, but it refers to one of the most iconic commercials of the ’90s, Wrigley’s Doublemint gum ads. They marketed the word “double” through a catchy jingle and sets of twins.
Drella calls Michel Pepé Le Pew, which is simply referring to the Looney Tunes French cartoon skunk who acts very over the top. She’s poking fun at his background and personality.
Later, Lorelai says she’s thinking about Madonna and Sean Penn getting remarried. While Madonna and Sean Penn aren’t in the news as much these days, she was the hottest pop star of the 1980s, always pushing boundaries, and remained very famous into the early 2000s; and he has had a decades-long career as a renowned, award-winning actor. Two very big personalities, their contentious 1985–1989 marriage was often tabloid fodder.
Music
When Michel says he was once attacked by a band of swans, Lorelai asks if this band was like the boy band NSYNC:
“Was it an all-boy band? Kind of a scary, feathery NSYNC kind of fiasco?”
Oh, listeners, where do I begin telling you about NSYNC, the very center of my core as a teenager?! At the turn of the millennium, when Gilmore Girls aired, boy bands were all the rage, and NSYNC was, arguably, and in my personal opinion, the best, and not just because Justin Timberlake was the cutest (although her was).
You know how Gilmore Girls fans pick teams for Dean, Jess, and Logan? Well, we picked them for boy bands.
And, when I tell you my first foray into hosting digital content was running an NSYNC chat group on AOL– that’s America Online, which is how we connected to the internet in those stone ages!
I also slept overnight at the Steamtown Mall in Scranton (which you may know from The Office), to get front row concert tickets, then weaseled my hormone-driven high school self into an after-party, where I snagged a few close-up photos of the group and attempted to talk to Joey, but ultimately just stood there with my mouth open. Ah, the good old days!
Next, the mother of the brides pays Drella to play “Man, I Feel Like a Woman!” by Shania Twain. This was one of the most popular songs and music videos of the time. Even today, when you hear women of a certain age say, “Let’s go, girls,” in a singsong voice, it’s a reference to the beginning of this female anthem.
Book Tease
Lastly, the time has come for me to be what Jess called Rory—a book tease. Tune in next week, when we dive into episode 1.4, “The Deer Hunters,” and books like Who’s Who and What’s What in Shakespeare, as well as a reading of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 by Paris.
Frequently Asked Questions
The twins get married at the Independence Inn on Season 1, Episode 3 of Gilmore Girls (“Kill Me Now”).
In Season 1, Episode 3 of Gilmore Girls (“Kill Me Now”), Mrs. Shales is the mother of the twins having a wedding at the Independence Inn. She is played by Meagan Fay, best known for Roxy in Ohara , Principal Halloron in Life with Louie, Gretchen Mannkusser in Malcolm in the Middle, and Rhonda in Loot.
