That'll Do, Pig
Paris has a new boyfriend and cancels Student Council meetings to spend time with him. Rory decides to be friends with Dean and has coffee with him at Weston's. Richard's mother, Lorelai the first, comes to visit for Richard's sixtieth birthday. There is a winter festival in Stars Hollow. Jess doesn't want to go, but Rory does, and when they run into Dean and Clara on their way there, he changes his mind.
Kirk's job: Waiter at Weston's.
Tropes
- Affectionate Nickname: Richard calls his mother Trix, despite her name being Lorelai. Meanwhile, Emily calls her "Mom" despite not liking her very much.
- Amicable Exes: Rory and Dean.
- Brick Joke:
- After they randomly run into each other on the street, Dean asks Rory if she wants to go to Weston's and talk. She expresses hesitation, and he suggests they just head over to Weston's and randomly run into each other instead.
- The bow tie Lorelai bought Richard comes back as the wrapping of the gifts Rory bought that she decides to share.
- Captain Obvious:
- Rory and Dean randomly run into each other, and Rory points out that they seem to be doing that a lot lately. The last time they ran into each other was when he came by her house, and Dean points out that that wasn't so random, since she lives there.
- Clara watches Jess throw balls, informing him he missed when he misses.
- Child Hater: Jess is not fond of Clara's Stuart Little voice nagging him.
- Informed Judaism: Paris spent her first Christmas with her boyfriend and decides that it's more pleasant than Hannukah. Justified, since her mother has not been very caring towards her even on those occasions.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- Lorelai accidentally lets slip that she thinks the marching band uniforms look stupid.
- Lorelai's gift ideas for Richard's 60th birthday range from boring to mildly insulting.
- Rory finds Clara pestering Jess with slightly insulting questions to be cute.
- Ironic Echo: Rory pulls Francie into the girls' room for a "chat" just like Francie did to her in episode two.
- Mondegreen Gag: Louise keeps hearing Zionism in math lectures, such as hearing "new power" as "Jew power". She finds that antiderivatives make much more sense if she divides by the new power.
- Motor Mouth: Clara. Jess compares it to having Stuart Little stuffed in his ear.
- My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: Michel mispronounces a polite Hungarian phrase as a horrible insult, and the Hungarian tourists take a busboy hostage for it.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Francine catches on to Paris's suddenly relaxed behavior.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat:
- Rory engages in this in the opening scene, because Lorelai hogged all the hot water in the shower that morning.
- Emily gets back at her mother-in-law by taking her time with her food.
- Pet the Dog: The normally sardonic Michel is genuinely concerned for the busboy the Hungarians took hostage.
- Right Behind Me: Invoked by Lorelai to tease Lane.Lorelai: (suddenly waves to nothing) Hi Mrs. Kim!
Lane: (looks around, alarmed) So not funny! - Rule of Three:
- Lorelai shows Rory three gift options for her father's birthday. She has a fourth one that lights up and sings, but Rory doesn't want to see it.
- Rory called Richard and asked what he wanted for his birthday; he told her a Chuck Berry LP and a couple other things.
- The Scapegoat: Emily's role in her relationship with her mother-in-law.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a quote from Babe.
- When Paris asked her mother if they could get a Hanukkah bush she was made to watch Shoah for a week.
- The spider from Annie Hall gets into Lorelai's kitchen. Despite being the size of a Buick, she manages to trap it under a cup.
- Rory claims to be the Rainman of college application requirements.
- Rory gives Richard a Chuck Berry record and The Complete History of the Peloponnesian War.
- Lorelai claims she scares the men away with her Minnie Pearl impression.
- Richard's father had a humidor that belonged to Victor Hugo.
- Korn rents a house from Richard's mother.
- Lorelai has a Betty Boop figurine that Emily disapproves of.
- Rory has read The Art of War (Sun Tzu).
- Francine compares Paris to Gidget.
- Francie calls Rory Marlo Thomas.
- Rory calls Francie Tina Louise.
- Preparing her house to be inspected by her grandmother, Lorelai goes for the look "woman who owns no Spice Girls memorabilia."
- Jess makes a reference to Fantasy Island that goes over Clara's head.
- Jess thinks Clara has an annoying voice, like having Stuart Little shoved in his ear.
- Lorelai refers to Jess and Dean as Cheech & Chong.
- Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: Lorelai tells Emily how to deal with undeserved criticism by treating it as a joke.
- Slapstick: Sookie got a huge slash down the back of her shirt by dropping a chop upwards, lunging for it and slipping.
- Stage Magic: When Emily asks what she would find if she went into Lorelai's house with white gloves, as in cleanliness inspection, Lorelai quips that she would find she could pull a rabbit out of a hat.
- Take That!: Madeline and Louise point out that Paris once said if the student council was only going to have one meeting a week they might as well buy a ranch in Texas.
- Title Drop: After Emily decides to enforce her boundaries to her mother-in-law by taking her time finishing her food, Lorelai leans in and whispers: "That'll do, Pig. That'll do."
- Yes, Except No: Lorelai and Rory assure Lane she doesn't look stupid in her band uniform, but also that she doesn't want Dave to see her in it.
