Season 5, episode 18
To Live And Let Diorama
Old Mr. Twickham dies and leaves his house to the town to make a museum of for a couple of months. Rory and Paris both wait around for their boyfriends to call, until they decide that they want to be able to read an in-depth biography about their lives and not puke. The town meeting discusses where to put Kirk, who doesn't want to be a burden, but finds Miss Patty's studio too cold and that the Morris kids put things up his nose while he's awake.Character whose last name we learn: Sophie Bloom.
Provides examples of:
- The '60s:
- Paris laments that all the people in a movie she watches are dead. Rory points out that it's a sixties movie so some are probably still alive.
- Taylor includes a bit about that decade in the diorama.
- Absurd Phobia: Kirk is creeped out by goldfish. He finds them too golden and unblinking.
- Blatant Lies: Drunk Paris tries to convince Rory that she's going to the bathroom in a public restroom by leaving her shoes and socks behind.
- Captain Obvious:
- Rory comments that recently deceased old man Twickham has never died before.
- Taylor asks if the person Luke means to start a family with is Lorelai.
- Cliffhanger: Parodied. The dramatization of the history of Stars Hollow tries to leave it up to interpretation what they named the hollow, from where they could see stars. Lorelai complains about leaving them on a cliffhanger.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Lane doesn't catch that Sophie's suspiciously specific criteria for having coffee with her is a rejection.
- Taylor thinks Luke is joking when he volunteers for a community project.
- Continuity Nod: Luke asks Dean if he still has a problem with him because of "Pippi"-night and the bop-it.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: "But I know what cleaning products he likes" is one of Lane's arguments that she's better for Zach than Sophie, who she suspects of having an affair.
- Cute Mute: Joseph, the pilgrim child born without speech.
- Earworm: The Buff Rite inc. song. Sookie keeps humming it.
- Foreshadowing: Lane angrily states that she and Zach are hypothetically lovers if they ever get married.
- Funny Answering Machine: Logan's voicemail assumes the person calling is Finn.
- Godwin's Law: Lorelai compares Emily to Mussolini and Stalin, and claims they both come out looking pretty good. She admits to Rory that she called her "the female Pol Pot".
- Implausible Deniability: Paris tries to convince Rory that she isn't going to lok for a payphone to call Doyle by leaving her shoes behind, but her cover story is that she's going to the bathroom, and it's hard to believe that anyone would willingly go barefoot in a public bathroom.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Invoked and inverted by Dean. He insists that Lorelai won't be happy with just Stars Hollow, because Rory isn't.
- Manchild: Kirk sleeps over at rotating houses, and when he crashes at Lorelai's she takes a very motherly tone, which proves useful when he builds a cereal box fort and defiantly watches tv when he has to put on his jacket.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Lane suspects Zach of cheating on her with Sophie, the middle-aged woman who owns the music store. She calls out Sophie, who decides to clear up the misunderstanding by showing Lane that her husband is simply in a secret banjo band.
- The "Mom" Voice: Lorelai uses hers on Kirk, which is something she doesn't even use with Rory.Kirk: I don't need a jacket.Lorelai: Well, it's chilly, Kirk.Kirk: (whining) I don't want to wear a jacket.Lorelai: Well, then, maybe you won't go to the grand opening of the Stars Hollow museum.Kirk: I'll put on my jacket. (stomps out of the kitchen)
- Non Sequitur: When the mother mannequin in the diorama says she loves making dinner for her family, her daughter chimes in with "and I love Jesus!"
- Noodle Incident: The limerick Lorelai made about Emily. It contains at least two dirty words.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Dean claims that Luke's situation with dating a Gilmore girl is not so different from his own recent situation dating a Gilmore girl. Luke takes exception, seeing as Rory was a kid both times she dated Dean, whereas Lorelai is an adult.
- Product Placement: Paris reenacts the Maxell tape add.
- Punny Title: Merging the phrase "to live and let die" and the word "diorama".
- Rule of Three: Rory, Paris, and Lane all get drunk on Miss Patty's homebrew and get more upset about their evasive boyfriends.
- Running Joke: Kirk keeps asking the town not to just leave his corpse there if he dies of homelessness.
- Shout-Out:
- Right before he died, Mr. Twickham mumbled something about Lori Loughlin.
- Andrew says old man Twickham was tivo-ing Summertime.
- Sophie thinks Lane gets to the point like Garrison Keillor.
- Superman's Fortress of Solitude was a Jamaican beach compared to Lorelai's childhood home.
- Emily dialled back is Benito Mussolini, who dialled back is Pol Pot.
- There is a funny story about Jimmy Carter in the same hotel as Emily.
- Joshua Twickham has an old letter that Taylor figures could be from George Washington.
- Slapstick: Luke apparently threw a frying pan at Taylor's head (after instructing him to duck) and Lorelai thinks it would have been fun to watch.
- Spit Take: Defied. Lorelai is glad she wasn't drinking coffee when the journalist said Emily was a good mother.
- Take That!:
- According to Sookie, the only people who don't love Muzak are people who love music.
- Taylor doesn't find the Theory of Evolution too plausible.
