Season 2, episode 5
Nick & Nora/Sid & Nancy
Rory worries she'll be late since it's her first day of school after the summer. Luke gets a call from his sister, Liz, asking him to take her son in an straighten him out. Luke tells Lorelai the boy's father left two years ago.Paris starts off the school year by giving Rory the wrong time to show up for the meeting at the Franklin and follows up by giving her a piece about paving and then one about her mother's ex.
Lorelai invites Luke and his nephew to dinner at her house. Jess reluctantly shows but doesn't eat anything though Sookie cooked pot roast and grilled cheese, and steals a beer that Lorelai steals back before he can drink it. Lorelai claims she has done all the rebellion Jess has done. Jess is unimpressed and accuses Lorelai of sleeping with his uncle. Instead of telling Luke that, she tells him in general terms that his nephew is an awful person, which Luke takes offence to, but Lorelai feels that she's in the right and refuses to apologize.
Rory interviews Max Medina for the Franklin. They have a small off the record heart-to-heart.
Jess is rude to Luke, which makes Luke realize that Lorelai had a point. Just as Lorelai becomes mature again and explains that it takes work to raise a kid like Jess, they learn that Jess stole Babette's gnome Pierpon. Rory has gone to buy a folder for her interview with Max and runs into Jess, who was on his way to return her book he stole.
Tropes
- Bilingual Bonus: In-universe, Jess learns of the existence of two languages he's never heard of before, what with Stars Hollow High saying the Pledge of Allegiance in six different languages.
- Blatant Lies: Jess claims he can't speak to his mother because he's too busy settling a dispute between two of his band t-shirts.
- Bookworm: Rory being one is lampshaded by Jess, who inspects Rory's bookshelf and says she's "hooked on phonics." Jess reveals he is a bookworm, too, when he tells Rory he's read one of her books "at least 40 times."
- Captain Obvious:
- Luke explains to a Boy Scout that he can't make non-existent fries crispy.
- Another boy scout claims he won't fit under the lid on the donut plate.
- Luke argues that "You take three left turns and you're back in the center of town," which is not exclusive to Stars Hollow but rather how driving in circles works.
- When Luke remembers to ask where Jess is going, the answer is "out."
- Child Hater: Luke remembers why he's not a kid person. One of the things he hates is how sticky their hands get for no reason, which Lorelai points out is a phase Jess is probably past.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Luke doesn't even try to pretend to Jess that he doesn't know Lorelai is this, but claims that Rory has a slightly firmer grasp on reality.
- Comically Missing the Point: Luke pushes Jess in a lake in frustration and then goes to Lorelai to confess. He admits it was bad, and Lorelai tells him whether or not it was bad depends on if Jess can swim.
- Dark and Troubled Past: It's never explained why Liz ships Jess to Stars Hollow, only that she can't handle him anymore.
- Embarrassing Middle Name: Max Arturo Medina. "Arturo" comes from his father's butcher, who cut Max's mother extra big slices for the same price while she was pregnant.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Jess gets plenty, as much of the episode seeks to establish him firmly as the town's newest "bad boy." From his flippant dismissal of Luke and the entire town, to his anger towards his mother, to stealing a beer from Lorelai's fridge and taking off whenever he pleases, there are plenty to choose from.
- One is subverted by Jess. He meets Rory and is derisive about her bookshelf, teasing her for being "hooked on phonics" and implying he's not into books, as would be suggested by his characterization thus far. Not long after, he reveals he's just as big a reader as she is.
- Everyone Can See It: Jess spends all of two minutes listening to Lorelai talk about Luke and asks if they're sleeping together.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Luke admits that losing her mom was hard on his little sister, but it was hard on him and his dad too and they didn't become flakey selfish basket cases.
- Genius Book Club: Jess and Rory find a Commonality Connection in Beat poet Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl."
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Paris is still mad that she once thought Rory was going to a concert with Tristan, so she feels she has no choice but to sabotage Rory in small ways.
- Lorelai refuses to openly buy food from Luke after their argument. Luke in turn refuses to sell Rory more food than he thinks she can eat in one sitting.
- Promotion to Parent: Luke becomes Jess's guardian pretty much overnight. Lorelai has concerns, Luke doesn't want her advice.
- Product Placement: Luke prepares for Jess's imminent arrival by buying Frosted Flakes.
- Rule of Pool: Luke impulsively pushes Jess into a lake after reaching the end of his rope with Jess's surly attitude.
- Sarcasm Mode: How Paris handles being an editor.
- Shout-Out:
- The title references The Thin Man, about the couple Nick and Nora Charles, and the 80's biopic about Sid Vicious and Nancy Punget.
- Lane asks Rory to procure records from a store in Hartford by Charles Mingus, The Sonics, MC5, and Bee Gees and Fairport Convention.
- Now Lane only needs Whistler, Chaucer, Detroit, and Greenhill to have all the good 60's music.
- Lorelai wonders if Liz has tried making Jess watch The Shawshank Redemption to deter him from being rowdy.
- Lorelai worries that Jess is Fredo.
- Lorelai claims not everyone in town is from a Federico Fellini movie.
- Jess claims his tool t-shirt doesn't get along with his Metallica t-shirt.
- Lorelai calls Jess's rude behavior his The Breakfast Club audition.
- Rory calls Jess Dodger after he steals and returns her copy of Howl.
- When Jess meets Rory, he notices her bookshelves and remarks that she's "hooked on phonics."
- Slapstick: Lorelai mentions wanting to hit Jess in the face with a cream pie, but Luke is the one who pushes him in a lake.
- Sleight of Handiness: Jess is introduced with a penchant for Stage Magic, and it's implied he used it to nick Rory's copy of Howl so he could annotate it and have an excuse to talk to her.
- Small Town Boredom: Jess doesn't think much of Stars Hollow. One of his ECMs (and one of the more subtle) is when he leaves the diner to get away from Luke. As he opens the door, he encounters an over-saturated, saccharine scene while Elvis Costello's "This is Hell" plays in the background.
- Title Drop: Lorelai claims her talk with Jess and subsequent argument with Luke wasn't Nick and Nora, it was Sid and Nancy.
- What Have We Ear?: Jess attempts to charm Rory this way. She is not impressed.
- You Said You Couldn't Dance: Reading is used in place of dancing when Jess returns Rory's book filled with his notes in the margins.Rory: You've read this before.Jess: About forty times.Rory: I thought you said you didn't read much.Jess: Well, what is "much?"
