Season 1, episode 8: “Love and War and Snow”
Original air date: 14 December 2000
Directed by: Alan Myerson
Written by: Joan Binder Weiss
Summary: Max and Lorelai run into each other one snowy evening and have an impromptu date. Rory is absorbed by her fledgling relationship with Dean, leaving Lane feeling neglected.
On this page: All References in Chronological Order | References Sorted by Category | Frequent References | Image Credits | Indigenous Land Acknowledgment
All References in Chronological Order
00:00 – 📖 reference
Episode title: “Love and War and Snow”
- This title calls to mind the common English saying, “All’s fair in love and war,” which “expresses the idea that, like war, where any strategy is accepted, affairs of the heart are also no-holds-barred contests” (Phrase Finder). The sentiment has appeared in various forms over hundreds of years, but is often attributed to English writer John Lyly, who wrote in his 1578 novel Euphues, the Anatomy of Wyt, “Anye impietie may lawfully be committed in love, which is lawlesse.”
00:15 – 🏷️ reference
TAYLOR: Some of us have businesses to run that don’t involve peddling drug paraphernalia to kids.
ANDREW: It was a lava lamp, Taylor.
TAYLOR: There is no use for a lava lamp unless you’re on drugs.
- A lava lamp is a decorative lamp most often credited to British inventor Edward Craven Walker, founder of lighting company Mathmos. The lamp consists of a glass vessel containing a translucent liquid and a wax mixture; when heated, the wax rises and falls in a fluid, continuous manner reminiscent of molten lava. Originally dubbed the “Astro” in 1963, it was later sold as the “Lava Lite Lamp” in the United States. Lava lamps are often associated with the hippie and cannabis cultures of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Many aspects of the material culture of this period were repopularized in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
00:55 – 🎥 reference
MAYOR HARRY PORTER: We have leash laws, people! … Rover will not leash himself.
- In English, Rover is a stereotypical name for a dog. While the name has a long history dating to at least the 18th century, it may have been popularized by an early British story film, Rescued by Rover (1905), in which a dog reunites a father with his kidnapped baby.
01:30 – 🪶 mention
MAYOR HARRY PORTER: It was a frigid November night some 224 years ago. The brave Stars Hollow militia stood in wait for the Redcoats.
- This episode aired in 2000, placing Harry’s story somewhere in or around 1776, near the beginning of the American War of Independence, or Revolutionary War (1775-83). The primary combatants in the war were British colonial subjects and British soldiers, the latter of whom were sometimes referred to as Redcoats due to the scarlet color of their military uniforms. While some colonists (known as Loyalists or Tories) fought on the side of the British, the fictional Stars Hollow militia were among those (referred to as Patriots or Whigs) who rejected British rule. The Revolutionary War was discussed previously in the pilot.
- David Huddleston, the actor who plays Mayor Harry Porter, is best known for his roles as the eponymous character in The Big Lebowski (1998) and Olson Johnson in Blazing Saddles (1974).
02:35 – 🪶 reference
LUKE: Have any of you ever considered the fact that you’re glorifying a war we fought so we could keep land that we stole?
- Luke is referring to the fact that the United States were established through the forcible removal of Indigenous peoples, as well as treaties made with Indigenous leadership but not honored by the US government. (Some such treaties are still being contested today.) While some Indigenous nations fought on the side of British colonists in the Revolutionary War, most “opposed the union of the Colonies as a potential threat to their territory” (Wikipedia). Approximately 13,000 Indigenous people fought for the British, with the largest share (1,500) being Haudenosaunee, or Iriquois.
- In the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Revolutionary War, Britain and the United States negotiated new boundaries in North America. The British ceded control of lands to the northwest of the original Colonies, extending the territory of the United States to the Great Lakes and the Ohio River. Indigenous nations of these regions were not party to negotiations, and they formed the Western Confederacy to resist further US settlements, resulting in the Northwest Indian War (1785-1795).
02:40 – 🗺️ reference
MAYOR HARRY PORTER: If you don’t like it here in America, why don’t you go stand in line for toilet paper in the USSR?
LUKE: There is no more USSR, Harry.
- The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or Soviet Union, “was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. … As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, it was a flagship communist state” (Wikipedia). Rationing was implemented several times throughout the history of the USSR, with citizens waiting in line to receive apportioned goods; breadlines feature prominently in the popular perception of the Soviet Union. The USSR dissolved in 1991 to form 15 post-Soviet states.
04:40 – 📖 reference
MAX: It’s now two o’clock in the afternoon on a Thursday, and I’m in my office reading a paper entitled “Emily Dickinson: Get a Life.”
- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was a US poet. “Evidence suggests that Dickinson lived much of her life in isolation. Considered an eccentric by locals, she developed a penchant for white clothing and was known for her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even to leave her bedroom. Dickinson never married, and most of her friendships were based entirely upon correspondence” (Wikipedia).
08:25 – 🎧 reference
LORELAI: Hey, babe. Sergeant Pepper.
- Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) is the name of the eighth studio album by English rock band the Beatles, as well as its opening track. Considered an early concept album, it sprang from an idea vocalist and bassist Paul McCartney had “for a song involving an Edwardian military band” (Wikipedia). The four Beatles appear on the album cover wearing now-iconic “satin day-glo-coloured military-style uniforms.”
08:45 – 🎥 mention
RORY: Right, Rich Bloomenfeld. Does he still wear the Star Trek shirt?
- Star Trek is a US science-fiction media franchise that began with a 1966-69 television series; that series is referred to retroactively as Star Trek: The Original Series in order to distinguish it from later spin-offs. The story follows the starship USS Enterprise on its missions “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before” (per the opening titles). Star Trek was also referenced in episode six.
09:40 – 🎥 reference
LORELAI: Will you tell Grandma and Grandpa that I’m gonna be late, and that I’m having Satan’s baby? You pick the order.
- In Roman Polanski’s 1968 psychological horror film Rosemary’s Baby (also referenced in the pilot), a New York City woman is groomed by a Satanic cult and impregnated with Satan’s heir. The film is based on Ira Levin’s 1967 novel of the same name. Levin is also author of The Stepford Wives (1972).
11:20 – 📖 feature + 📖 mention
RORY: You liked it. You liked Jane Austen. … I told him he would, but he was all, “Forget Jane Austen. You have to read Hunter Thompson.
Dean returns a copy of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to Rory.
- Jane Austen (1775-1817) “was an English novelist known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry” (Wikipedia) of the late 18th-century and early 19th-century Regency Era. Her novels, which include Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), and Emma (1815), are part of the 19th-century transition to literary realism. They are sometimes dismissed as simple romance – historical “chick lit,” essentially – by audiences who aren’t aware of or don’t understand her keen use of irony and social commentary.
- Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) was a US journalist and author. He pioneered a style of journalism known as gonzo journalism, in which the author makes no pretense of objectivity and often includes themselves as a first-person observer in their writing. He is known for his books Hell’s Angels (1967), which he researched by living for a year with the Hells Angels motorcycle club, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971), in which he grapples with the apparent failure of the 1960s counterculture movement.
11:40 – 📖 mention
DEAN: Wow, she brings me cookies. How can I repay her?
RORY: How about a little Charlotte Brontë?
- Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) “was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature” (Wikipedia). Her best-known work, the 1847 novel Jane Eyre, “revolutionised prose fiction, being the first to focus on the moral and spiritual development of its protagonist through an intimate first-person narrative… Brontë has been called the ‘first historian of the private consciousness’ and the literary ancestor of writers such as Marcel Proust and James Joyce” (Wikipedia).
12:20 – 📖 feature
Michel reads a copy of the Financial Times behind the reception desk at the Independence Inn.
- The Financial Times (abbreviated FT) “is a British daily business newspaper printed in broadsheet” (Wikipedia). It was founded in 1888 as the London Financial Guide.
12:40 – 🕊️ reference
EMILY: A bad storm is heading your way. It’s already hitting us here.
LORELAI: Well, don’t panic. I’ll get the ark, you get the animals.
- The Genesis flood narrative is a myth from the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible. In the story, God decides to wipe out life on Earth by way of a global flood and begin anew. He exempts a man called Noah, as well as Noah’s family and a sampling of the world’s animals, all of whom survive in a vessel known as Noah’s Ark (Hebrew: תיבת נח, Biblical Hebrew: Tevat Noah). Though searches have continued into modern day, no confirmable evidence of the Ark has ever been discovered. The notion of a global flood is also inconsistent with the Earth’s geological record. The story itself bears a strong resemblance to a flood myth contained in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 1800 BCE), which predates the Book of Genesis.
12:50 – 🎥 reference
EMILY: So, anyhow, what time will you get here?
LORELAI: Well, uh, gee, Mom, I don’t know. Let me see, black ice, treacherous roads. I guess I’ll just put on my red-white-and-blue leotard, grab my golden lasso, and fly the invisible plane on over?
- Wonder Woman is a fictional superhero within the DC Comics universe. She first appeared in comic form in 1941 and was portrayed by Lynda Carter in the live-action television series, Wonder Woman, from 1975 to 1979. Wonder Woman’s primary weapon is the golden Lasso of Truth, which magically subdues its captives and compels them to tell the truth. In her earliest iterations, Wonder Woman can’t fly, so she creates a silent, invisible plane piloted through telepathic command. (I would peg Lorelai as more of a TV watcher than comic book reader, so I am placing this entry under Film, Television & Theater.)
13:40 – 🏷️ reference
LORELAI: All right, honey. Now, tell Grandma that you arrived there not a member of the Junior League. I’d like you to leave there the same way.
- The Association of Junior Leagues International is a private, non-profit volunteer organization “founded in 1901 in New York City by Barnard College debutante Mary Harriman Rumsey” (Wikipedia). It aims “at improving communities and the social, cultural, and political fabric of civil society” through fundraising and committee participation. The Junior League is often associated with high-society women like Emily who have ample time and money to spend on charitable work. (Historically, and again, like Emily, such women did not hold professional jobs.) As such, the Junior League is sometimes viewed as preppy, snobbish, or elitist. Many famous women have been members of the Junior League, including Shirley Temple Black, Julia Child, Katharine Hepburn, Sandra Day O’Connor, Eudora Welty, and First Ladies Barbara Bush, Laura Bush, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
13:50 – 🪶 feature
Luke talks to the reenactors, who wear the blue uniforms of the Continental Army.
- Patriots (also known as Continentals, Rebels, or Whigs) were combatants in the American War of Independence, or Revolutionary War, that spanned 1775 to 1784. They rejected British governance over the Thirteen Colonies, and the Continental Army, representing their side, fought against the British Army. They had no uniforms in the early years of the war, but “in 1779, George Washington ordered that uniforms for the soldiers in the Continental Army consist of blue coats, white waistcoats and facings of varying colors” (History of Massachusetts).
- Historical reenactment “is an educational or entertainment activity in which mainly amateur hobbyists and history enthusiasts” (Wikipedia) adopt historical dress and recreate past events or time periods. “Reenactments cover a wide span of history” and have been staged since antiquity.
14:50 – 🏷️ mention
LORELAI: I think some traditions are nice. Birthdays, holidays. Taking a walk in the first snow of the season.
LUKE: I didn’t get the Hallmark card for that one.
- Hallmark Cards is “the oldest and largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States” (Wikipedia), founded in 1910. They are known for creating cards specific to every recipient and occasion, and aisles of their cards can be found in drugstores, grocery stores, and their own franchises.
17:30 – 🗺️ mention
MAX: I was on my way back from Stamford. My car decided to stop.
- Stamford is the second-most populous city in Connecticut, after Bridgeport. It is located in the southwest corner of the state (Hartford, for comparison, is in the north central part), just 34 miles from New York City. It was called Rippowam by the Siwanoy people of the region prior to colonization. Today, it is named for the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, England.
20:55 – 🗺️ reference + 🏷️ mention
MAX: She’s in Thailand now.
LORELAI: Sex trade?
MAX: Bank of America.
- The Kingdom of Thailand (known historically as Siam) is a country in Southeast Asia. It is known for its sex industry, and sex tourism is a de facto part of the Thai economy. According to Wikipedia, an estimated 10% of tourist dollars go toward sex tourism, with the sex trade accounting for about 3% of the national GDP as of 2003. Non-sex tourism, exports, and agriculture also account for large parts of the Thai economy.
- Bank of America (BofA or BoA) “is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company… It is the second-largest banking institution in the United States and the second-largest bank in the world by market capitalization, both after JPMorgan Chase” (Wikipedia).
21:45 – 🗺️ reference
MAX: A match made in heaven.
LORELAI: Or in Bellevue.
- Bellevue Hospital was founded in 1736 in New York City, making it the oldest public hospital in the United States. Though it is a full-service hospital, it is known for its psychiatric facilities, so much so that the name has become synonymous with such facilities. “Bellevue opened its first ‘pavilion for the insane’ in 1879” (Asylum Projects) and opened Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital in 1931. It became notorious for its use as “a dumping ground by the police for many of the city’s so-called criminally insane… It also served as a revolving door for homeless patients.” Some of its more famous patients include Norman Mailer, Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol, and John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman.
24:50 – 🎥 feature
Max and Lorelai watch House on Haunted Hill at the Stars Hollow movie theater, and Lorelai keeps asking Max if he’s scared yet.
- House on Haunted Hill is a 1959 US supernatural horror film directed by William Castle. In the film, a wealthy eccentric (Vincent Price) and his wife (Carol Ohmart) invite five cash-strapped strangers to stay overnight in a haunted house, promising $10,000 to each guest who remains in the house until sunrise. This is the scene visible on screen at 25:05.
26:05 – 🎧 reference
RICHARD: Perhaps instead of that horrible salmon that keeps showing up.
EMILY: That salmon is a fine delicacy.
RICHARD: Hmm. Po-tay-to po-tah-to.
- Richard is obliquely referencing “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” a song written by George and Ira Gershwin and performed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the 1937 film Shall We Dance. The song is famous for its lines like, “You like to-may-to / And I like to-mah-to,” comparing regional pronunciations of words. The song has been recorded many times, including by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong in 1957 and by Harry Connick Jr. in 1989, for the soundtrack of When Harry Met Sally.
27:50 – 🗺️ mention
RICHARD: She lives in Paris. Our great expatriate.
- Paris is the capital city of France. It is the most populous city in the country, and the fourth-most populous in the European Union (after Berlin, Germany; Madrid, Spain; and Rome, Italy). “Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world’s major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture, fashion, and gastronomy” (Wikipedia). It is one of the cities Rory mentions wanting to visit, in episode three.
28:25 – ⭐ reference
RICHARD: You also knew you wanted to marry Errol Flynn.
RORY: Really? Grandma had a thing for the pirate guy?
…
RICHARD: She was mad about him! She even tried to get me to grow one of those little mustaches.
- Errol Flynn (1909-1959) was an Australian actor known for his swashbuckling roles in Golden Age of Hollywood films like Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). He usually had a mustache, which came to be seen as a personal trademark. He also had a “reputation for his womanising and hedonistic personal life” (Wikipedia), including accounts by personal acquaintances of voyeurism and sexual acts with underage girls. He had four children of his own, including a daughter named Rory.
30:45 – 🎧 feature
“Someone to Watch Over Me” by Rickie Lee Jones plays as Max and Lorelai walk through the snow. Luke spots them, though they don’t notice him, and he sees them share a kiss. They continue on to Lorelai’s house.
33:10
The song resumes after Max and Lorelai talk on the porch, when she invites him in for coffee.
- This song comes from the 2000 album It’s Like This by US singer and musician Rickie Lee Jones. It was written by George and Ira Gershwin (referenced previously at 26:05) for the 1926 musical Oh, Kay! It has been recorded many times, including by Chet Baker, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Willie Nelson, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand.
34:50 – 🎧 feature
LORELAI: Oh. That’s the Cure. I have to go back in there.
At Lorelai’s house, Lane interrupts Max and Lorelai kissing. After running back to Rory’s room, she begins to play “Pictures of You” by the Cure. Lorelai senses Lane is having a “bad teen day” and goes to talk to her, turning off the song as she enters the room.
- This song comes from the 1989 album Disintegration by English gothic rock band the Cure. They formed in 1978 and released several hits, including “Pictures of You,” in the 1980s and early ’90s.
37:50 – ⭐ reference
LORELAI: I swear to god, if this wasn’t a major Judy Blume moment, I would kick her cute little butt right out of here.
- Judy Blume (born Judith Sussman, 1938) is a US writer best known for her juvenile fiction. She was one of the first authors of young-adult fiction to address taboo topics, such as masturbation, menstruation, teen sex, and birth control, in her writing. Her best-known works include Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (1970) and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (1972).
39:00 – 🏷️ feature
Lorelai wakes up wearing the same pajama top, featuring Julius the monkey by Paul Frank Industries, she wore in episode two.
- Paul Frank Industries is a US apparel company established in 1995 by Paul Frank (born Paul Frank Sunich, 1967), a US cartoonist and fashion designer. The brand features several cartoon characters on its products, the most famous being Julius the monkey, whose face was a common sight in the 2000s.
40:55 – ⚽ reference
RORY: Do you love him?
LORELAI: I, uh… We had one date. It was a great date. World Series level. But it was just a date.
- “The World Series is the annual final championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada” (Wikipedia). It has been played since 1903. Winning the World Series is the highest achievement for a team in North American baseball.
42:30 – 🏷️ reference
RORY: You totally fit in.
LANE: Yeah?
RORY: I’m talking Legos.
- Lego (stylized LEGO) is a line of toys manufactured by Danish company The Lego Group. It consists of small, colorful, interlocking plastic bricks. When fitted together, they can form any number of structures, and they can be taken apart and reassembled any number of times.
References Sorted by Category
Jump to category: Brand Names | Famous Figures | Film, Television & Theater | Geography & Politics | History | Literature | Music | Religion | Sports
🏷️ Brand Names
- 00:15 – lava lamp (decorative lamp)
- 13:40 – Junior League (volunteer organization)
- 14:50 – Hallmark Cards (greeting cards)
- 20:55 – Bank of America (financial institution)
- 39:00 – Paul Frank Industries (apparel), Julius the monkey (character)
- 42:30 – Lego (toy)
⭐ Famous Figures
🎥 Film, Television & Theater
- 00:55 – Rescued by Rover (1905 film)
- 08:45 – Star Trek (television show)
- 09:40 – Rosemary’s Baby (1968 film)
- 12:50 – Wonder Woman (television show)
- 24:50 – House on Haunted Hill (1959 film)
🗺️ Geography & Politics
- 02:40 – USSR (former Eurasian country)
- 17:30 – Stamford, Connecticut (US city)
- 20:55 – Thailand (Asian country)
- 21:45 – Bellevue Hospital (hospital and psychiatric facility)
- 27:50 – Paris, France (European city)
🪶 History
- 01:30 – Redcoats (British soldiers)
- 02:35 – stolen land (US history)
- 13:50 – Continental Army (army of the Thirteen Colonies)
📖 Literature
- 00:00 – Euphues, the Anatomy of Wyt by John Lyly (book)
- 04:40 – Emily Dickinson (poet)
- 11:20 – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (book)
- 11:20 – Hunter S. Thompson (journalist and author)
- 11:40 – Charlotte Brontë (author)
- 12:20 – Financial Times (newspaper)
🎧 Music
- 08:25 – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles (album)
- 26:05 – “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” by George and Ira Gershwin (song)
- 30:45 – “Someone to Watch Over Me” by Rickie Lee Jones (song)
- 34:50 – “Pictures of You” by The Cure (song)
🕊️ Religion
- 12:40 – Noah’s Ark (Biblical narrative)
⚽ Sports
- 40:55 – World Series (baseball championship)
Frequent References
A few things come up so routinely in the show, I am not going to include an entry for them every time they do. I wrote about the following people, places, and things when they first appeared or were mentioned.
- Hartford, Connecticut (US city)
- Harvard University (academic institution)
- Herman Beeftink (piano and string composer)
- Independence Inn (named for the American War of Independence)
- Jeep (automotive brand)
- Sam Phillips (series composer)
- “Travel to Historic Brazil” (poster in Rory’s bedroom)
- “Where You Lead” by Carole King and Louise Goffin (series theme)
Image Credits
Image [1]: This edition appears to be the one Dean returns to Rory. (See a better version of the cover on Biblio.) Book citation: Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Signet Classics, 1996.
The image behind the book cover in image [1] is a still from the episode, as are images [2] and [3]. Episode citation: “Love and War and Snow.” Gilmore Girls, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, cinematography by Teresa Medina, season 1, episode 8, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, Hofflund/Polone, Warner Bros. Television, 2000.
The still on the theater screen in image [2] comes from House on Haunted Hill. Directed by William Castle, cinematography by Carl E. Guthrie, William Castle Productions, Allied Artists, 1959.
Indigenous Land Acknowledgment
In beginning my work on this guide, I’ve come to realize just how many references (however subtle) the show contains to the Revolutionary War and the colonial history of the United States. It is important and necessary to acknowledge the people whose lands were usurped when these events took place, though this is not a simple matter. Please visit my land acknowledgment page to view the results of my research.
Posted 16 February 2021 (updated 5 May 2024)