Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (Good, Bad, and Awkward)
So the Gilmore Girls Revival has come and gone and thereâs a lot of conflicting feelings about it. I, personally, am all over the board. Thereâs a lot that I liked, but the stuff I didnât like was completely overwhelming (ie Rory). I am going to break it down to The Good, The Bad, and The Awkward.
The Good:
Emily almost adopting that family and moving to Nantucket was just fantastic. Not to mention that scene with the D.A.R. and her saying âBullshitâ might just be my new favorite Emily scene. I absolutely loved that she started volunteering at that whaling museum as well. For as weird and out of character it may seem, it felt right while watching her arc throughout the revival.
Lorelai and Luke actually being together, especially that scene where Luke fights for Lorelai and tells her that heâll never leave her and needs her and that he loves her just broke me.
Luke being Roryâs father and Superproud of her.
Michelâs and Lorelaiâs friendship and how sad it was for both of them to say goodbye to each other.
Paris Gellar. Sheâs the love of my life. I would watch hundreds of episodes about Paris.
The Stars Hollow Musical. I know that it was too long for the short amount of time they had to get to everything, but I thought it was amazing. I think it would have worked better to have it start with the first song and have Lorelai react and then cut to the after-performance meeting. Or cut the meeting entirely and have Lorelai telling Luke (or calling Sookie as she walks into her house) that everyone loved it and it was just horrible. (Side note, I also donât know why Lorelai didnât like it? She normally loves all that stuff.)
Emily and Lorelaiâs final conversation felt very satisfying as a way for those two to move forward and really learn how to communicate better. Though I do wish there had been more or that it had happened in an earlier season so the last season showed us their relationship as it is now.
The Bad:
Rory. She was by far the absolute worst thing about this revival. And itâs honestly nothing against Alexis Bledel; it was all the writing and direction ASP and DP had for this character. They wanted to show that she was struggling, but I also feel like they didnât even really try to show what Rory was fighting for. She spent a year talking about how busy she was, had a lot of stuff in the works, and was always trying to catch a plane. But what was she busy with? What story was she chasing? What jobs were she trying for? What job did she have initially? Sheâs travelling where? Is she following a certain story? Honestly, it seems like she was just flying back and forth to London for a very extensive booty call while literally waiting for someone to hire her and tell her what to write about. It just showed that Mitchum Huntzberger was right about Rory: She didnât/doesnât have what it takes to be a journalist because she just doesnât seem to really have any drive to be one.
Rory and Logan. Just why that situation? You not only created a situation that makes zero sense for the end of their story in season 7. He proposed and she said no. Itâs not a relationship that can be no strings after that? Even though ASP and DP clearly hated season 7, it still happened? You canât just ignore it? Why not have Rory and Logan meet accidentally at the same restaurant while Roryâs meeting with that one woman and then they could have an encounter to explore the road less traveled? All this special did was show Rory cheating on her current boyfriend who she was awful to (The Paul joke stopped being funny when Rory was in Logan apartment and her phone chimed to remind to break up with Paul or have dinner with him. You canât tell me that Rory kept forgetting to break up with her boyfriend of TWO YEARS but remembered to have sex with Logan. He canât be that good in bed.) while also being the other woman to her ex-boyfriend who is ENGAGED at the time. Why on earth would you think the audience would root for them or like that? Besides, we already saw Rory in this situation with Dean. We didnât need a repeat. We really didnât.
The final four words. Again, this does nothing but cause me irritation. I get that ASP was so invested in this idea of coming full circle and having history constantly repeat itself, but it doesnât work as an ending in this situation. If youâre going to tout for years that you always knew how you wanted this show to end, you need to make sure it then lives up to the hype. This doesnât feel like an ending for Rory because she ends up pretty much jobless (sheâs not getting paid to work at the Gazette), living at home with her mother, and pregnant from her ex-boyfriend whoâs engaged to someone else. This is not a situation that makes me want to root for her. If they intended to end with Roryâs life in shambles and basically no way forward, then they accomplished it. I am, however, assuming that wasnât their intention. (If they had used this ending at the end of the original series when Rory was around 22-23, I think it would have felt more like an ending. This just feels like baiting for another season.)
The Awkward:
The Life and Death BrigadeâWhy? You know what I hate? Entitled rich white boys who do whatever they want because they donât face any consequences. You know what I hate even more? Entitled rich white men who have never matured and think they can do anything. (Like buy a Tango club because you donât like the music. Then leave. That wasnât cute. It was irritating.) I never liked the LDB because they are entitled assholes, but as adults, No. Not having that at all. Especially not the ten minute chunk we got.
Alex Kingston as whoever the hell she played. That entire character was completely unnecessary.
Roryâs money problems. She spends the year complaining about having no money, but can travel from London to Stars Hollow for a night before flying right back out. This is also the girl who has at least two trust funds, if not a third from her father. I didnât buy the idea that she has no money.
Sookieâs explained absence as learning to cultivate soil and fruits and vegetables (or whatever it actually was) felt so wrong to me. Sookie wasnât that type of person, but her husband Jackson wasâremember heâs the farmer of the family. Sookie taking a 6 month sabbatical which accidentally turns into two years was very Sookie, but she would have gone somewhere for cooking. They could have done almost anything else and I would have bought it (the kids are sick again; âMichele, you know we had to give Sookie the time off to do this Celebrity Chef thing. She wouldnât be able to be here at the same time as them;â Rune and Bo are in town and Sookie and Jackson have to entertain them; Sookie went to Paris for a sabbatical to refresh her culinary skills and seems to have forgotten to come back or keeps extending it because thereâs always a new âcourseâ that she could be taking). It just wasnât believable to me that Sookie would leave the Dragonfly Inn to do something else because sheâs always wanted to run her own kitchen at an Inn that sheâs helped build.
The Missed Opportunities:
Lane. Literally anything at all to do with Lane. I would have settled for a scene of her selling at her motherâs antique store. I mean, Lane got the short end of the stick throughout the series and there was so much potential for her, but I really felt like they failed her in this revival.
Paris and Doyle. There was an amazing opportunity for Paris and Rory to have a conversation regarding how to tell whoâs right for you and how to fight for them, especially if they were committed to having Rory be a mistress to an engaged Logan.
Town Meeting. They had one, but Miss Patty wasnât there. I know that scheduling was difficult, but they should have made comments on it.
Rory struggling as a writer because she doesnât have a âvoiceâ and this idea of her dual personas. Rory still sees herself as the small-town girl whoâs worked really hard for everything and grew up without a ton of money. Sheâs actually part of the wealthy elite now and acts like it, so the two personas donât work together. It could have been this really amazing arc with her trying to come to terms with who she wants to be and accepting who she is. Thatâs when she finds her voice and that New Yorker piece gets picked up.
